CH 345

“Kekeke.” The Grand Duke, “Crimson Sky” Lucifer, currently one of the strongest Absolutes, quietly chuckled with his back turned to Joshua.

Joshua silently stared at the Duke’s back with cold eyes. Even without exchanging attacks, he could tell that there was a reason why Lucifer was called the strongest person in the Human Realm. But, of course, that didn’t matter to Joshua.

Joshua twirled his white spear. Although he didn’t have the Demon Spirit Lugia anymore, even if he fought with his bare hands, everyone had to kneel before him and admit their defeat.

“Ah…!” Iceline gasped after she regained consciousness. She could immediately see how shockingly high she was—and she only had the hand that was suffocating her to keep her from falling.

“This… is… ?” Iceline choked out. She heard powerful, nonstop gusts of wind, and lowered her head slightly.

Iceline froze. Just a minute ago, she was at the top branch of the thick tree, but when she opened her eyes again, she was floating in the empty sky with Lucifer's hand still creepily wrapped around her neck.

‘I can’t… use my mana…’ Iceline thought despairingly after she tried circulating her Circle just in case. The Circle of mana in her heart, a mage’s source of power, didn’t move. It seemed to have been tied up. Although she had not lived for a long time, that had never happened to her in her entire life.

“Kekeke, stay still if you don’t want to turn into pulp,” Lucifer warned her.

“You…!” Iceline gritted her teeth.

“Watch your friend perish here, Ice Archmage,” Lucifer said.

Iceline’s eyes widened—it turned out Lucifer knew exactly who she was.

“…Proud soldiers of our Swallow Empire, listen.” Lucifer’s dignified voice quietly echoed over the plain. His voice was quiet yet clear, such that all two hundred thousand soldiers could hear each word. “Before I get to the point… some quick-witted people must have noticed already, but the man responsible for our fallen colleagues is standing behind me.”

Lucifer’s voice gradually spread far across the plain like the ripples from a pebble thrown into still water.

“H-he’s indeed the Hero King!”

“I can’t believe it’s really him…!”

“He killed Toby!”

All two hundred thousand soldiers turned their heads to stare at the man venomously. For his part, his eyes remained fixed on the soldiers’ idol.

“His name is Joshua Sanders. Although he doesn’t deserve it, he’s the man who earned the title of Hero King by slaying numerous heroes of our Empire.” Lucifer slowly turned and locked eyes with Joshua. “He foiled our grand plan in the past, and he’ll continue to do so… Therefore, I am trying to crush him now. I’m going to make him kneel and then make a toast with his blood.”

The soldiers trembled with inexplicable excitement, which grew with every word Lucifer spoke.

“Are you afraid?” Lucifer asked.

“No, sir!” came the soldiers’ ear-splitting reply.

However, Lucifer quietly shook his head.

“No, you must be scared, because even if we’re talking about one enemy, many of our heroes were killed by that one man.”

Suffocating silence fell upon the plain.

“Still… I’m sure we’re completely different from before. We’ve become stronger, more special, enough to surprise even me.”

Lucifer started to speak in the way that Joshua had done before—with Aura Force. It was the power of wordwielding, an ability only a select few could use.

“So… don’t be afraid.”

“The Gr-Grand Duke…”

“I’m standing with you….” Lucifer smiled crookedly. “I am Lucifer, your colleague, patron, and the First Celestial of the continent.”

“Wowwwww!!”

The moment Lucifer finished speaking, all two hundred thousand soldiers roared thunderously, loud enough to crack out over the entire plain.

Five hundred wyvern knights soared up into the sky as if they had been waiting for this moment. It was said that one of them could take on one hundred knights if they were fighting in the sky.

Duke Eima had been looking up at the sky, lost in thought.

“…Yes,” he finally said with a crooked smile, “it won’t work in the first place.”

While Lucifer had been speaking to the soldiers, he had sent another telepathic message to Eima, telling him that the Dark God and Joshua Sanders seemed to be connected in an unknown way. Eima was quite surprised by Lucifer’s sudden remark because the Dark God and Joshua never behaved like they were in fact, father and son.

Eima shook his head. ‘It doesn’t matter, even if they’ve been acting until now.’

Since the Swallow Empire had become the strongest country on the continent over the past three years, even the Dark God’s grandfather wouldn’t be able to turn the tide. Still, there must have been a reason why Lucifer chose to send a telepathic message now since he was the most perfect and meticulous person Eima knew.

“…Let’s continue our conversation, Sword Emperor,” Eima said. Duke Tremblin immediately flinched. Eima’s lips curled into a deep smile. “Don’t you want to know the whereabouts of Emperor Marcus? Well, I happen to know them.”

Tremblin’s eyes had been glued to the sky, but he lowered them right away as if he had been looking up at all.

“Emperor Marcus is…” Eima trailed off.

Tremblin nervously swallowed his saliva.

“He’s in the hands of Aden von Agnus, the Dark God.”

“Wh-what?” Tremblin instantly growled. “He’s alive? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

Eima shrugged. “I’m not joking.”

“You keep saying nonsense…!” Tremblin gritted his teeth.

“We were the ones who spread the rumor of the Dark God’s death,” Eima reminded him.

Tremblin froze up, and Eima didn’t miss that.

“Ha… you already suspected it. Well, you’ve been searching for Emperor Marcus more desperately than anyone…”

“What are you talking about…” Tremblin narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t you already know? He didn’t get killed and he returned to Avalon,” Eima said. His story was clearly different from the accepted story.

When the Hero King had been buying time for the Avalon Empire’s army to retreat, the Dark God hadn’t been with the army nor could he be found anywhere else. However, Tremblin had never believed the news of the Dark God’s death, so he had been conducting an investigation about Duke Agnus in secret. Still, Tremblin couldn’t let his enemy know that.

“Then… why hasn’t he appeared yet?” Tremblin murmured.

Eima shrugged. “Well, I don’t know…”

“Are you kidding me?” Tremblin frowned.

“That was the deal.”

“…What?”

“The Dark God demanded that we not interfere with his business and help him make the world forget about him.”

Tremblin gaped blankly at Eima.

“Why would he make such a demand…?”

“In return, he promised to not interfere with our business. Isn’t that why we felt free to start another Continental War?” Eima asked.

It seemed the last pieces of the puzzle were coming together.

“On a side note…” Eima trailed off and pointed up. “Joshua Sanders over there is the Dark God’s son.”

Tremblin’s boggled at him. Was Eima trying to trick Tremblin into something? If—if—Joshua Sanders and the Dark God were truly involved in Emperor Marcus’ disappearance, Tremblin had to come to a decision.

On the other hand, in the sky, Lucifer stared fixedly at Joshua.

“Hehehe, the dice have been cast,” he said. “You must also have questions for me, don’t you? You won’t be able to say you don’t, so… let’s have a duel.”

Joshua stayed silent.

“The winner takes everything from the loser. Answers to all the winner’s questions and hegemony of this continent. Of course, I have no intention to fight on my own.”

Lucifer took a step backward.

“I haven’t forgotten about that day, so prove to me that what I witnessed that day is still true. You confidently fought back one million soldiers without hesitation.”

Joshua heard a flurry of loud flapping sounds and realized that the wyvern knights had already completed a perfect encirclement. If anyone looked up from the ground, it would look like a swarm of ants was besieging their prey.

Joshua looked around for a moment.

“If you want,” he quietly answered.

“Hah… I like how you give me an answer straight away.” Lucifer glided backward, receding further away from Joshua. Although he was in the air, his movements were as graceful as the wind.

Joshua nodded. “It won’t take long.”

“…Hm?” Lucifer smirked. “I see you’re still confident.”

Joshua didn’t bother to answer Lucifer; instead, Joshua’s attention turned inward. He began circulating his mana, then used it to cover his entire spear. The power Joshua was going to use from now on had been created by the person who had been called “Grand Duke” long before Lucifer had.

With both hands, Joshua continued to spin the white spear to awaken the second most shining darkness after the Demon Spirit, the power that was deeply related to Joshua’s past life.

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Lucifer watched Joshua silently.

“…What?” Lucifer murmured in surprise. Joshua’s spear had begun twirling so quickly that Lucifer was having trouble following its movement. The faster it spun, the more Joshua’s spear resembled a bright ray of light.

Joshua's movement conjured a strong gust of wind out of nowhere. A sudden resonant sound made Lucifer’s eyes widen, but Joshua didn’t pay much attention to Lucifer’s reaction—he focused on swirling his spear more quickly.

It was the Grand Duke of the Demon Realm’s trademark technique—Awakened Magic Spear Arts Level 7, Peak Demon Spear. The deepest and most brilliant darkness was about to reveal part of its power to annihilate every enemy in its path.

Joshua’s white spear accepted as much power as it could handle. It shook violently—and exploded.

Boom!

Hertonia’s masterpiece was worthy enough to be called a treasure in the Human Realm. It burst into pieces like a glass window, flinging compressed aura fragments in every direction. The fragments struck the wyvern knights, who had been having trouble approaching due to fear.

Their remains fell to the earth in a surreal shower of gore. The wyvern knights had literally been torn to shreds—Joshua had crushed all five hundred of them with a single attack. He stood amidst their remains and quietly fixed his eyes on Lucifer.