Chapter 222: Pope of the Black Sun (6)

Chapter 222: Pope of the Black Sun (6)

The scar on her soul had been barely stitched together, and now, it split open once more. The memories buried deep beneath the surface rose to the light. Voices echoed in her ears, voices of people crying out for salvation.

— Lady Lapicel! Please save us!

— Help us, Lady Lapicel!

She let out a lament. "

Ahh

..."

She was the Martial King of Cyphras. She bore the duty to protect her people. No matter the cost—be it her life, her honor, or anything else—she was bound to protect them.

But she had failed. In the end, she had broken. Her sword had been shattered, her soul ripped apart into shreds. She had lost even the honor of the martial king that her master had passed down to her, and had fallen to become a servant of evil.

As one of the dead, she obeyed the commands of the dead, guarded the king of the dead, and slaughtered and killed the living. With every life she took, her soul wore away. With every living being she slew, her spirit withered further.

It hurt. It drove her mad. No, she had gone mad long ago. Decades of memories flooded back all at once. Decades of agony ravaged her entire being.

"

Ugh

..."

She barely managed to hold herself together. She forced her eyes open and looked around. Her companions were there. Karnak, Varos, Serati, Leven.

They were her precious comrades, whom she trusted and followed. They were good people who had welcomed her, an orphan with no one else in the world. They were heroes who protected others without selfish motives.

And yet, in that same place, there stood an evil she could never forgive. Before her stood an unchanging evil, a living hell descended upon the earth, and his wicked minions who had sold their souls to darkness. Her mind swirled in turmoil.

Lapicel slowly raised the sword in her hand.

"Karnak..." From between her crimson lips, a voice like cold steel slipped out. "Cursed Monarch of Death!"

***

With a grim expression, Karnak looked at the girl standing before him. "Damn it..."

She was no longer the young Lapicel who had once followed him. Her expression was entirely different. A girl’s gaze could not sink so dark and deep. The Martial King of Cyphras, Lapicel Crotium, had awakened!

"Why now of all times..."

Leven, too, had heard of Lapicel’s condition. "Don’t tell me... has she regained her memories?"

—Yes!

—Then what do we do now?

—Well, uh...

No answer came to Karnak’s lips. Nothing came to mind. Varos and Serati were equally at a loss. But they had no time to worry. They couldn’t think of a solution, but they simply didn’t have the luxury of standing around either.

Why had they struggled so hard until now? Wasn’t it all to buy even a sliver of time against the giant of light? There was no way their enemy would just stand by and watch now. Whether Lapicel had awakened or not, its immediate priority was clear: to kill Karnak on the spot!

With a roar, the giant of light unleashed a rain of blazing beams.

Karnak cast Wind Walk while gritting his teeth. "Come on! Seriously?!"

The giant began pursuing Karnak, and Varos, Serati, and Leven all hurriedly followed after. But Lapicel did not join them. She stood frozen in place, groaning in pain.

***

A life of living as a pile of bones had been agony. A life trapped in rotting flesh was even worse. But a life stripped of flesh and clinging to dead matter, that was pure hell. Yet none of these torments compared to the agony of a soul torn to shreds.

"

Ahh

..."

The cruel, unending passage of time had branded itself upon her memory, so deeply that even recalling it caused the pain to come rushing back, vivid and raw. Pain begot rage, rage begot hatred, and hatred begot the urge to kill.

All that pain, all that fury, hatred, and bloodlust, swelled together and fixed upon one man. She became fixated on the one who had destroyed the world: Karnak, the Monarch of Death.

Killing intent surged from Lapicel’s entire being. It was a murderous aura deeper than the abyss, heavier than hell itself. It was born of pure hatred and fury.

"K...ar...nak..."

Another memory surfaced from the depths. A small, foolish girl with ash-gray hair watched a young man who tirelessly rushed about to save others.

She knew the truth. It was all an act. A deception, a lie. He was not someone who could change. He was an evil that would never waver. And yet...

—O Goddesses...

—Why must this happen...

When even the warriors and mages were consumed by fear, and when a terrified child burst into helpless tears, she had been unable to save them. But he had.

—Do not wait endlessly for salvation! Stand up! Struggle to survive!

—If you do, I will save you!

That immutable evil had saved people. He had thrown himself forward to save them once again.

Lapicel let out a deep sigh before gripping her sword tightly. The memories of agony still tore mercilessly at her soul. The pain they brought, the rage and hatred they birthed, were undoubtedly deeper than the abyss and heavier than hell.

But even so, they were not heavier than the tears shed by a child trembling in fear.

***

The giant relentlessly unleashed its divine light, obliterating its surroundings. Varos froze for a moment whilst swinging his chain blade and dodging the blasts.

Tch!

He sensed an intense surge of aura burning nearby. It was Lapicel. Her entire body was wrapped in crimson aura, and she was radiating terrifying killing intent.

If Lapicel turns against us here, we’re in real trouble.

The small girl began sprinting across the street. As she charged toward them, everyone tensed, bracing for the worst.

But contrary to their fears, with a short shout, she slashed her aura blade against the giant’s shoulder as she passed. Thanks to her strike, a beam of destruction aimed at Serati veered off and struck elsewhere.

"Lapicel?"

Seeing her come to their aid, Serati narrowed her eyes.

Has her memory been sealed again

No, that didn’t seem to be the case. Lapicel landed atop a building before turning to Varos and speaking in an icy voice. "Lord Varos."

Varos, his expression grim, turned to face her. "Sir Lapicel."

"Just looking at you makes me want to draw my blade and cut you down right here and now..."

In the middle of her words, Lapicel threw herself into motion once more. The giant had targeted her, sweeping its arms toward her.

She dodged and landed before finishing her thought. "But right now, saving the citizens comes first. To do that, we need to deal with that monster."

Surprisingly, she was remarkably composed. Surely, her soul-crushing pain was still weighing on her, yet she remained so calm.

Even Karnak couldn’t help but admire her mental fortitude.

Unbelievable. Even in that state, her first thought is still to save others?

—Sheesh, isn’t that basically a mental illness? She’s almost obsessive.

Only someone who had once been the Monarch of Death could manage to sound so begrudgingly impressed.

—Will you shut up already, you shameless man!

After snapping at him, Serati looked back at Lapicel. She was moving toward Karnak across the opposite street.

Landing nearby, she spoke in a calm tone. "Eternal evil."

"

U-uh

?" Caught off guard, Karnak replied in a low voice.

With so many things that weighed on his conscience, he couldn’t help but feel nervous.

"As unbelievable as it may be, you are trying to save people right now. So I will help you," she said.

Karnak was surprised. "You still have the memories from when you were a child?"

Lapicel didn’t answer. Instead, she acted. She called out, "Sir Serati, Sir Leven."

If she knew Serati’s name as well, not just Leven’s, it meant the memories from her current era remained intact. The giant of light charged toward Karnak once again.

Lapicel raised her sword and pointed it at the enemy as she continued. "Follow me. I’ll show you how to fight the Fallen Sun."

An indescribable aura of pressure radiated from the small, young girl. Without realizing, both of them nodded in response. Lapicel leapt forward, and the two followed right behind her.

Charging at the giant as well, Varos asked, "Do you know that giant’s weakness, Sir Lapicel?"

A faint smile appeared on Lapicel’s lips. "No, I don’t know."

It was the first smile she had shown since her memories returned. "I’m going to find out starting now, just as I always have."

***

Lapicel flicked her sword. The crimson aura blade shifted to blue. Just like Varos had done, she forcefully elevated her aura to a higher level. Though she had once pushed it to the purple tier, it seemed her current limit, perhaps due to a lack of aura reserves, was the blue tier.

"

Hup

!" Catching her breath, she darted low toward the giant’s feet.

The giant lashed out with a whip of light. Dodging in a zigzag to evade the assault, Lapicel raised her blue aura high and slashed. For a brief moment, a wound opened on the giant’s leg, but almost immediately, the light sealed the injury shut.

"This isn’t it?" Her expression didn’t change in the slightest. "Then how about this...?"

Varos, Serati, and Leven joined in, attacking from all sides. Amidst their combined assault, Lapicel continued to strike.

Suddenly, she murmured to herself, "I see."

At some point, the giant’s radiant body had begun to falter. Parts of its wounds were distorting. The giant had healed almost instantaneously from their attacks until now. But for some reason, its regeneration was slowing.

"So this was it?" With a look of understanding, Lapicel carved along the giant’s forearm with her blade.

Fragments of light scattered in all directions as the giant staggered back, letting out a pained roar. For the first time, they had landed a meaningful blow.

Startled, Serati turned to Lapicel.

How... how did she do that?

Watching from below, Karnak nodded to himself.

Yes... this is the Lapicel I knew.

Among the Four Martial Kings, she had been the weakest in sheer power, but when it came to facing unknown enemies for the first time, she was the strongest by far. No matter the opponent, she would always find their weaknesses and figure out how to bring them down.

Karnak knew this better than anyone. After all, he himself had been the one to lose to her strategies the most. There had even been times when Karnak hadn’t realized his own techniques had vulnerabilities until he faced Lapicel.

Wounded, the giant of light roared and rampaged even more violently. Beams of destruction and flashes of light exploded wildly in every direction.

Dodging the relentless attacks to reach her side, Varos shouted urgently, "Don’t just keep it to yourself! Explain it to us!"

"Watch and see, Lord Varos." Nimbly avoiding another blast, Lapicel replied swiftly. "You have the ability to see it. You just haven’t realized it yet."

"How?" Varos responded.

"Look at the difference between the light and the path of our blades," explained Lapicel.

For a moment, Serati blinked in confusion.

Huh?

It was such an absurd explanation that she nearly got hit by a beam of light. There was a limit to nonsense. Who could possibly understand anything from that kind of explanation...?

"Ah!"

"Of course!"

Unsurprisingly, there were two. Varos and Leven’s eyes sparkled with realization as they charged at the giant of light. Varos’s aura blade slashed along the giant’s side.

The giant’s wound, unlike before, healed at an agonizingly slow pace.

Left alone, Serati wore a dazed expression.

Again? Am I the only one who still doesn’t get it?