Chapter 273 (1): Auston, What Have You Protected?

“Darkness Knight...”

“What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?”

Auston sneered and mocked, “Vice Minister Alan, I don’t know your source of information, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that I am not the Darkness Knight.”

“You’re right. You’re not the Darkness Knight. You merely stole the power.”

Alan made a shocking declaration, revealing his identity and the source of his information: “I am the Darkness Knight. I met the Goddess of Darkness’s messenger, and they told me everything. Hand over Twilight Despair, and I’ll pretend that none of this happened.”

Auston’s expression shifted. “The goddess’s messenger? You’ve been deceived, haven’t you?”

He did know of a messenger of the Goddess of Darkness—the black cat, Monica. Its origin was mysterious, and it was impossible to kill, perfectly fitting the stereotypes for a divine messenger.

Monica had arrived at the Lando Estate after Auston acquired the antique silver coin of luck. The Death artifact severed his communication with the Goddess of Darkness, so, unable to get through to him, the goddess had naturally sent a messenger to surveil him from a close distance.

Did Monica run away from home and tell Alan the truth... No, impossible. If Alan were truly the chosen knight, Monica would’ve long relocated rather than staying at the Lando Estate for so many years.

No matter how Auston looked at it, it was clear that Alan had been used.

“Auston, you’ve stolen the power of the Darkness Knight for years, hiding your secret so deeply that no one other than the Goddess of Darkness knows your identity.” Alan’s belief was unwavering. “A messenger who has received divine oracles is the only one who could’ve known about the truth. Why would you think I was deceived?”

Both sides followed their logic. Alan continued pressing, and seeing how Auston refused to produce Twilight Despair, he smiled and looked at the dragon-blooded mother and daughter in the distance.

“You’re afraid that they’ll learn the truth, aren’t you, Auston?”

“...”

“Of course. The Darkness Knight once slaughtered those at the Church of Nature’s Londan head office, and both your wife and daughter are followers of the Goddess of Nature. Once the truth comes out, you’ll become their enemy. The family will fall apart.”

Alan combined the information at hand and went for Auston’s deepest vulnerability. “Or must I attack them before you’ll hand over Twilight Despair?”

Auston’s face darkened. This time, he didn’t deny his identity.

“For the sake of our time working together, I won’t make things difficult for you. They won’t know who you are.”

Alan raised both hands and created a legendary mage’s vitality field. Boundless darkness cascaded down, sweeping Auston into his world.

“Damn it!”

Silvia, who had been keeping an eye on the bastard, frowned, concerned about her husband’s safety. As his partner, it would be a blatant lie if she claimed not to know that he had been hiding something. She was curious about his secrets.

Such as the silver coin he was never seen without, his durable body, and the stamina he claimed to have acquired through workouts. Those were glaring signs that something was wrong with him.

Silvia had interrogated him, but Auston would rather endure the domestic violence than tell the truth. Gradually, she stopped looking for the truth, waiting for him to reveal his secrets himself.

She couldn’t imagine how big the secret was. Assessing the legendary mage’s magical prowess, she worried that Auston wouldn’t be his match.

However, her instinct told her that the secret was beyond her imagination, and perhaps the legendary mage truly would lose.

“Let’s stop fighting. Alan has left.” Juno swung her sacred spear to defend herself. The phantom angel behind her back was repeatedly crushed by Nature’s divine arts. Knowing that she wasn’t Silvia’s match, she put aside her competitiveness and revealed her true stance.

“Alan made up an excuse to target Mr. Lando, asking for Celeste’s assistance. Celeste and I came to warn you, and if necessary, we’ll stop Alan.”

Juno spoke quickly, adding, “I’m Juno, Princess Elizabeth’s knight. I know Wayne, the Lando heir. After working together many times, we’ve gotten close. Of course I’ll help a friend.”

The Princess’s knight!

Silvia and Veronica caught the operative words. The former flew into a rage at the mention of the illegitimate daughter’s name, while the latter was equally furious because Trash Jr. knew Trash Sr.’s other daughter.

“What kind of friend? How deep does your friendship go?”

Veronica’s eyes turned red. She suspected that Wayne had bedded her half-sister—the Princess. In fact, as the Princess’s knight, Juno might have made the valiant sacrifice out of devotion to serve the couple as they rolled in the bed, worried that the Princess would be in pain.

Outrageous! That bastard has been playing around too much!

Veronica was furious. Senior was one thing, and she could accept Vera. They were close like sisters, and Wayne would still belong to their circle, but the Princess...

Oh, she was also a sister to Veronica, and an actual sister at that.

Still unacceptable!

Juno sighed in relief after revealing the truth. Dragonbloods were irresistible forces, and she could finally end the intense battle that had overwhelmed her. But then she realized that something was wrong. Silvia’s eyes were fierce, and Veronica’s fiercer. The visible killing intent overflowing from their expressions left Juno flabbergasted. They reacted like she had stolen their men.

She hadn’t, had she? Given her preferences, she would sooner steal the mother and daughter from their men.

“Um, no offense, but is there a misunderstanding here?” Juno took a cautious step back with her spear, reminding them, “Again, I’m the Princess’s knight and Wayne’s friend. I’m here to warn you.”

You’re getting it!

x2

Two figures dashed toward Juno, backing her into a corner from both sides.

***

Under the overcast sky, the dark sea stretched endlessly. Howling winds stirred up damp, chilling, and gloomy energy, crashing into the reef on the coast. The barren reef area was like an abandoned corner of the world, all black and grey and desolation, with no trace of vibrancy.

In the distance, a black sea of trees fluctuated, the deep darkness permeated with an indescribable sense of oppression. The reef area and its surrounding darkness stood against the ocean of darkness.

Auston stood upon the reef, putting away the antique silver coin and releasing the power of Darkness that had been suppressed within his body. Dark light spread from Twilight Despair to the entirety of his body, forming an armor that devoured all luminance on Auston, turning everything about him black.

He drew Twilight Despair from the void and closed his eyes to look for Alan.

He didn’t believe Alan’s promise. Putting himself in Alan’s shoes, he would’ve pressed relentlessly after finding out about his opponent’s secrets and weaknesses. It was highly likely that halfway through the fight, Alan would suddenly withdraw the vitality field to expose the Darkness Knight to Auston’s wife and daughter.

Even so, Auston transformed. Compared to his wife and daughter finding out the truth, he was more afraid that Alan would take them hostage and force him to transform.

Twilight Despair was the Goddess of Darkness’s little game of curse, bringing him tremendous pain. After transforming into the Darkness Knight, the pain would be alleviated temporarily, but if Auston was facing an enemy he couldn’t defeat and needed greater power, he would have to learn more pain from Twilight Despair.

The greater the pain, the stronger the Darkness Knight became!

To prevent Alan from suddenly withdrawing the vitality field, Auston continued to embrace and understand pain, turning it into his power.

High in the sky, the dark clouds parted to the sides as Alan’s enormous face looked down at the ground. Lightning and wind were his voice. He was the god of this world!

“Auston, you’ve finally drawn Twilight Despair. Hand it over. The power doesn’t belong to you. You’re nothing but a thief.”

“You’ve been deceived, Alan. I’ve never stolen Twilight Despair’s power. I’ve acquired the sword from a deal with the Goddess of Darkness!” Auston didn’t go into the exact terms of said deal. He held onto Twilight Despair because the goddess wanted him to find the real chosen knight.

He didn’t believe Alan to be the chosen knight, and Auston needed Twilight Despair, so even if the real chosen one were standing before him, he still wouldn’t hand the sword over.

Pain spread throughout his body, tormenting Auston’s thoughts. A pair of crimson eyes suddenly opened on the black faceplate.

At this moment, Auston was like a human black hole, plundering all light and sound in his proximity. Even the energy of the four elements that exclusively belonged to the vitality field was mercilessly devoured upon contact with his body.

Around the black figure, the vitality field faded, and the reef became a translucent white, like white ink falling on a rich watercolor painting. Only the center remained dark.

“Hand over Twilight Despair!”

Thunder roared in the sky, and chains of red lightning crackled in all directions. Alan was terrified by Auston’s all-devouring power of Darkness, but also delighted that the power would ultimately be his. Manipulating matters and converting energy, he drew the giant hand of red lightning down from the sky, targeting the reef Auston was standing on.

The black figure looked hazy. His red eyes seemed to possess infinite mana, impossible to look away from.

Black sword aura shot toward the sky, severing the hand of lightning and sweeping across the approaching dark canopy, bisecting Alan’s massive face. The dark clouds split vertically in half. The distorted face dissipated into black clouds, and with a furious roar, the entire dark world came alive.

Hundred-meter-tall giants roared and emerged from the sea of Darkness. From the endless forest, bizarre, differently-shaped humanoid creatures that resembled Astral Beasts approached the reef area.

Earth, fire, water, wind... Energy converged and reassembled, the four elements forming countless powerful figures. It looked as if the opening scene of the age of mythology was being reenacted.

Amid the rolling black smoke, a giant of wind elements mixed with Darkness arrived first. The figure inflated like a balloon, soaring to a thousand meters tall in the blink of an eye.

Its mountainous foot lifted and stomped down toward the reef. Rolling wind surged, and following radiating black light, a straight cutting line sliced through the giant from its feet to its shoulders and neck, severing the body of wind elements. The giant staggered, slowly toppling into two halves.

A legendary mage’s vitality field was built on falsehood, and everything was a false creation the legendary mage made out of their lifetime of knowledge by projecting the Astral Plane. By combining energy, the mage made the world vivid.

Auston was a Silver-ranked mage, but that didn’t stop him from confronting the world. Even with distorted senses, he had the power to oppose a legendary mage.

Real or fake didn’t matter. He only had to cut everything he could and couldn’t see into pieces.

Many Gold-ranked mages understood that solution, but very few could actually execute it. They either lacked mana or thoughts, and once they entered a vitality field, they could do nothing but fall under the mercy of their enemy.

Auston wielded Twilight Despair and received both pain and power from it. He swung it without worrying about exhausting himself. He would not fall before the pain drowned him.

Bam!

Two black giants of earth elements landed with their arms crossed and their hands overlapping. Their fearsome power exploded in the air as they smashed at Auston’s head.

The pain prevented Auston from moving from his spot. Instead, he swung Twilight Despair toward the sky and sliced through the four elemental arms.

Darkness corroded and devoured all elemental energy it came into contact with. As the black light swept past, another white line appeared in the world of the vitality field.

More and more white ink fell on the canvas, claiming more and more space. The crisscrossing white lines mercilessly divided the drawing, filling Alan with both shock and delight.

The Chosen Knight’s power was indeed formidable. If Auston was able to wield such impressive power as a thief, how powerful would Twilight Despair be if he, the true chosen knight, wielded it?

Goddess, from today on, he would be the most devout follower of Darkness!