Chapter 481: Final Act (4)

“Yula...!!!”

Aidan Hamil’s thunderous voice, crackling with lightning, echoed across the battlefield as currents of electricity surged outward from his entire body.

Behind him, Kungen, the Spirit King of Lightning, raised both arms above his head, summoning a barrage of sharp lightning spears.

Crackle—BOOM...!

Kungen’s spears rained down upon Yula, their power far exceeding ordinary elemental energy, rivaling even Divine Power.

“Tsk?!”

For the first time, Yula struggled to fend off the attack, her blade slashing through the descending lightning spears.

“Excellent! This might actually work. Yula, let’s see you block this!” Kungen roared.

Known for his ferocious temperament among the Spirit Kings, the Thunder Lord unleashed a relentless storm of fury, as if releasing every ounce of his pent-up rage.

“Hup!” Aidan raised both arms, gathering clusters of lightning and thunder around him.

He remembered the moment he first tapped into the Thunder Lord’s power to save Paul Hendt back in Piasta. Back then, Kungen had told him he hadn’t even scratched the surface of what his power could do.

The Spirit King’s energy was overwhelming, infused with multiple elemental attributes—fire, water, wind, and darkness. But it was that very diversity that made it dangerous, threatening to overwhelm its contractor. At first, Aidan had barely managed to contain it.

But now, things were different.

The divine energy of the Dimension Spiral encompassed all attributes. Though it was a fleeting power, like a candle burning at both ends, both Aidan and Kungen understood one crucial thing—this battle was their once chance to wield everything they had.

“Pitiful vermin...”

Against the ferocious lightning, Yula’s expression twisted with contempt.

Shing!

Yula yanked her blade from Zarka Hochi’s chest, shoving him aside as she locked eyes with Aidan.

“Give me the fragment...!!!”

Woosh!

As she swung her sword, the space around the blade twisted and warped, as if the very fabric of reality were on the verge of collapse.

The sword roared like a beast, the vacuum of force compressing and distorting the air, dragging Aidan toward her.

“...”

Everything folded and crumpled—space, matter, even sound—as if drawn into a monstrous void. The ground beneath groaned and split apart as enormous inky tendrils erupted, reaching for Aidan from all sides.

In that instant, Aidan cried out, “Anchar!”

***

“Anchar, you’re the only one among us who can use the power of Tarak, right?”

Watching Zarka Hochi’s clash with Yula, Aidan had turned to Anchar.

“When Pharel appeared, there were times when the aura of the Pure Spirits would go wild. Back then, I thought it was just the spirits running amok. But after Alkar helped maintain my sanity, I realized something. It wasn’t the power of the spirits. It was Tarak,” Anchar explained, nodding slowly.

“That’s most likely what it was. Pure Spirits, with their untainted essence, seem especially vulnerable to the taint of Tarak. Alkar’s light has helped me purge it from within myself, but...”

Aidan furrowed his brow slightly at her response, his expression pensive.

“Can Tarak be controlled?”

Anchar shook her head.

“It’s difficult. Just resisting the corruption seeping from Pharel is overwhelming. Releasing the power of Tarak would amplify it even further, but resisting that would be twice as hard.”

“What if there was a vessel to contain it?”

“Are you suggesting I act as a conduit to transfer Tarak?”

“Exactly.”

Anchar tilted her head, deep in thought.

“It might be possible. I can’t control it directly, but I could create a pathway for Tarak to flow, using Alkar’s light.”

“That’s good enough.”

Without hesitation, Aidan placed his hands firmly on her shoulders.

“You can’t mean—”

“I’ll be the vessel for the Tarak. Please send that power to me, Anchar.”

“Absolutely not! Humans can’t endure Tarak. Even the Great Sorcerer Nain Darhorn couldn’t handle it directly. He had to create an entire legion to wield that power.”

“I’m different.”

Crackle! Zap—!

His blades glowed with radiant light.

“The power of lightning courses through me. It may give me the strength to endure the amplified energy, even if only briefly. Kungen is the only Spirit King who possesses both light and darkness, but his strength alone won’t be enough. We need to unleash every last drop of light and darkness in this world in a single, decisive moment.”

Aidan turned his gaze toward the unconscious Miliana.

“That’s my role to play.”

“...”

Anchar stared at him, momentarily speechless.

“...You’ll die. You’re thinking of using not just Kungen’s power, but also Miliana’s divine energy, aren’t you?”

“There’s no other way to harm a god. Likewise, Kungen’s strength will only hold up temporarily in this world.”

[Human, you are mad.]

Kungen spoke up, his deep voice dripping with incredulity.

[I’ve seen countless humans in my time, but none as reckless as you, ready to throw your life away.]

“Assassins from Burning Darkness live their lives in darkness,” Aidan replied.

[...?]

“Nameless, formless, we exist only to carry out orders from the shadows,” he went on, his lips quivering slightly. “When darkness sees the light, it’s only natural for it to fade away. If I’m going to disappear, I want to burn brightly before I do.”

As someone who had lived his entire life in the shadows, embracing death every step of the way as his companion, Aidan now found this battlefield—the heart of peril and suffering—oddly precious. As his final and most important mission was upon him, a bitter smile strayed on his face.

“As a nameless assassin, I never cared about leaving a legacy. But after meeting Lord Karyl and fighting alongside him, I dared to dream for the first time.”

He brought a hand to his trembling lips, swallowing back the rising emotion.

“I want to leave my name behind.”

As he bit down on his lip, a thin trail of blood trickled down his chin.

“Aidan Hamil... I shall fight my final battle under my own name, and by doing so, I’ll carve it into history.”

With that declaration, any trace of fear vanished from his face.

“For a future filled with light, not shadow.”

***

“Yan! Kamun! Ji! Tantra...!”

Answering Aidan’s cry, Anchar chanted her druidic spells. The energy of the Pure Spirits surged around her, intertwining with the Tarak flowing from Pharel.

Kaaaahh...!

Graaaar... !

Hiss...!

The souls of the Pure Spirits turned pitch-black in an instant, thrashing violently as if in a frenzy.

“Mew!”

Witnessing the chaos, Alkar licked Anchar’s palm. With that, the young deer’s coat began to shine brightly.

“Don’t die. Leaving your name behind while alive will make a greater mark on history.”

Amid the raging madness of the corrupted spirits around her, Anchar fought to remain conscious, channeling the power of Tarak into Aidan. She had once resented her destiny as a devotee of the Pure Spirits, but watching him put his life on the line for the sake of humanity spurred her to do everything in her power to fulfill her role.

“Ghraaaaah...!!!”

A black current swirled violently around Aidan Hamil’s electrified body, drawing waves of inky lightning from him.

He was the core of the raging storm.

Crackle! BOOOOOM...!!!

The tendrils of Tarak attacking him burned and crumbled in an instant, consumed by the black electricity. Even the compressed space threatening to devour him popped like a balloon under the pressure of his thunderous aura.

Thud...!

When his feet touched the ground, dirt and rocks rose into the air as if pulled by a magnet, and the ground trembled as though afraid of him.

Aidan planted his right foot firmly, twisting it into the ground as he sheathed his blades and assumed a stance.

Ssshhh...

He lowered his body.

Clink—

He tightened his grip, the sound of his scabbard shifting acting like a signal.

BOOOOM...!

Shockingly, it wasn’t his sword that shot out, but Aidan himself. Moving at a speed impossible to perceive, the world appeared frozen to him.

However, Yula merely scoffed. “Not nearly fast enough. Where there’s light, there’s shadow. But do you think shadows lurking in the light can truly kill a god?”

She raised her sword, seemingly poised to swing in the wrong direction—behind her.

“...!”

Her sword struck just as Aidan emerged from the storm of lightning, as if Yula had known all along where he would aim to strike.

“NOOOO...!!”

Anchar, still linked to Aidan through the power of Tarak, broke into a shrill scream, overcome with a sudden wave of terror.

“As a god, I’ll always be faster, and stronger, than you,” Yula declared as if passing judgment, her sword moving unerringly toward Aidan’s chest.

“How long are you going to keep lying there? It’s embarrassing...”

The murmur was too faint for anyone else to hear.

“Struggling to crawl when you should be biting at their throats. My dolls should be better than this.”

It was Kay Rothschild.

Snap—!!

The transparent threads connected to the rings on her fingers were pulled taut.

“If you can’t move, I’ll make you move. If you have no teeth, then use your gums. As my doll, your duty is to rip into the enemy’s neck.”

“...!”

At that moment, just as Yula’s blade was about to cut into Aidan, Zarka shot up and intercepted the strike, defending Aidan like a shield.

Slash!

The sword slashed diagonally from his shoulder, embedding itself halfway into his torso. Zarka had gripped the blade with both hands, stopping it from cutting all the way through.

“Heh... Hehe...”

Though Yula’s sword was lodged deeply in him, Zarka Hochi showed no sign of pain. He tightened his grip on the blade as if embracing it.

“Yes, this will do.”

Yula’s expression twisted in frustration.

“There’s your opening, assassin.”

Shing!

Aidan’s twin blades left their sheathes with a sharp ring.