Side Story Chapter 127

“Wait—!” Kireua couldn’t finish speaking before Selim thrust his spear again. The attacks were fast, accurate, and as fleeting as a shadow.

Selim delivered numerous strikes, each exquisitely embodying all of the foundations of battle—speed, strength, and focus. Kireua reflexively responded, leaving him no time to talk.

Kireua’s sword rose to match Selim’s spear; the clash of metal sent aura fragments flying everywhere, creating small craters in the ground where they landed.

“Whoooooaaaaa!”

The audience’s excitement was reaching its peak. Although they had been ambushed by a hostile nation three days ago, the marvelous battle between two highly skilled knights captured their hearts and minds.

“Wait, hear me out...!”

Kireua’s eyes widened. A rain of powerful lightning bolts blocked his view—but Selim’s mana didn’t have any attribute, which was a rare case in Igrant. Therefore, unlike Joshua, who had the power of Bronto, a primordial stone, normally no lightning bolts would appear even if Selim perfectly executed the Magic Spear Arts’ techniques.

‘How....?’

Kireua wondered.

A memory flashed across his mind. He recalled that there was a similar precedent: Marquess Dargo from southern Avalon had the authority of the White Tiger, but after his death, the authority had manifested in somebody else.

‘Is this the same case as Sir Ranger...?!’

In other words, that meant that Marquess Drenius had been defeated and was now stone cold dead.

‘Iruca succeeded!’

Even while Kireua was rejoicing over the news, Selim continued his attacks. Kireua responded more quickly—no, Selim attacked

even faster

.

“...Ugh!” Kireua groaned. His entire body ached as the lightning flowed through him.

Then things took a surprising turn.

“...What?” Selim shouted, shocked for the first time.

The lightning bolts that were harassing Kireua were suddenly engulfed in black fire; Kireua’s was even devouring Selim’s lightning attacks. Thanks to his ebon flame, Kireua had bought himself some room to breathe.

“Let’s stop here!” Kireua quickly yelled.

“What are you talking about—”

“There is an enemy nearby with the same level of demonic power that corroded the knights’ minds three days ago!” Kireua shouted.

Selim came to a halt as Kireua’s voice echoed across the spectators’ seats. Unsurprisingly, the audience fell silent as if someone had thrown a wet blanket over them.

“Wh-What did Prince Kireua just say...?”

“There’s someone with the same level of demonic power as the one that tortured us?”

It didn’t take long for them to take action. The knights who were watching from below the arena drew their swords first.

“Where is it?”

“Who is it?”

Kireua let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

‘Coal.’

-Yup.

‘Where is this person with an Evil Sin’s power right now?’

Kireua asked.

-There.

The voice came from the inside of Kiruea’s head; Coal didn’t even reveal itself in its usual coal-lump form. However, Kireua didn’t have to look around—his head turned to exactly where the spectators who weren’t citizens of Avalon were, as if he and Coal shared senses.

“That person is...” Kireua trailed off. There were three people wearing robes that covered their faces. They were quietly leaving the arena through the rear exit. Since they were in the Palace, it wouldn’t take long to find out their identities, but Kireua had no intention of letting them walk away right before his eyes.

“Get those three people who’re leaving the arena right now!” Kireua shouted.

The trio quickly disappeared.

Kireua jumped off of the stage. “It’s a shame, but we’ll finish this battle later.”

Selim gave him an expressionless look. “...You...”

“We’re out of time—are you going to get them or not? If we lose track of these trespassers in our own front yard, Avalon’s reputation will end up in the gutters.”

Selim opened and closed his mouth, like there was a lot he wanted to say, but after a moment, he just let out a long sigh. “...Yeah, I’ll have to tell you later.”

“Huh? Tell me what?”

Before Kireua could get an answer, Selim vanished.

Kireua stared blankly at his back for a moment. “...What is he talking about?”

Then the younger prince darted away.

* * *

“Argghhhhh!”

“Stop! Stop them! We have been ordered to guard the gate with our lives!

The three mysterious people were incredibly skilled. Anyone who stood in their way was before they could delay the mysterious trespassers for even a second.

“You’re better than I expected,” Genos, the man in the middle, said to the man on the right.

“Thank you,” he replied, right after stabbing a knight through the chest.

However, the man in the middle suddenly frowned. “Demon, what did you say your name was?”

“Just call me Edin.”

“What about him?” Genos pointed at the man on his left.

After chopping off a knight’s head with a knife-hand strike, the man answered, “Forbison.”

“Come to think of it, you’re speaking awfully arrogantly,” Genos said with a frown.

Edin and Forbison flinched.

“You two clearly said that you’d make me the ruler of the realm. I don’t think the issue is that you two are demons and have no idea what it means to become ruler of the entire realm. You aren’t going to tell me some nonsense about how you two are exceptions, are you?”

Edin and Forbison were among the highest-ranking demons. They were two of the one hundred strongest in the Demon Realm, so needless to say, their pride was as great as their strength of arms. Surprisingly, though, they yielded.

“...I’m sorry.”

“Do you not know what respect means?” Genos demanded, his frown stretching.

“My apologies, sir.”

Genos’s brow finally unfurrowed. “You’ve seen him with your own eyes now, so how is he? Are you sure the Second Prince of Avalon has three Evil Sins’ powers?”

“I’m certain of it.”

“Your answer is both encouraging and frightening. Even with one Evil Sin’s power, I could have become much stronger, but he has three...”

Edin quietly shook his head. “It’s the opposite, actually.”

“The opposite?”

“The history of the Demon Realm is so long that almost no one remembers when it started, but even through all those millenia, only a few acquired more than one Evil Sins’ powers. If I limit the timeframe to one thousand years, only one person has done it.”

“I heard that all of the Demon Kings who possessed more than one Evil Sin’s power were at the apex of the Demon Realm.” Genos recalled.

“But all of them met a tragic end.”

“What do you mean?”

“The two Evil Sins’ powers constantly fought for dominance inside the Demon Kings,” Edin explained.

Genos’s eyes widened. “Does that mean that the Demon Kings who possessed more than one power self-destructed? Is that possible?”

“In contrast to what you know, each Evil Sin’s power has an ego, so the Prince of Avalon over there would no doubt meet the same end.”

“What? Then that means he’s going to self-destruct anyway even if I don’t do something about it, so all this is a waste of my time.”

Edin shook his head. “But there are variables that we didn’t expect.”

“What ‘variables’?”

“One is that the latest person to possess multiple Evil Sins’ powers is a human, not a demon.”

Genos nodded along, because he knew that a different subject could cause major change in an experiment.

“And it’s Joshua Sanders we’re talking about. On top of that, he’s the emperor of this country and the godslayer of both the Angel and Demon Realms, so he might have a way to solve the problem.”

Genos frowned. Were there any humans who didn’t know Joshua Sanders’s name? Genos’s country was basically on the edge of the continent, and yet, even the humblest of his people knew the Martial God’s legends.

“He’s a truly remarkable man in many ways. I’ve heard many rumors, but...” Genos trailed off.

“We definitely learned something new from this trip. Kireua Sanders’s dominant power is probably Greed.”

“Can you tell that kind of stuff just by looking at him?”

“It’s a feeling. Among the Seven Evil Sin powers, the power of Greed is the most special one because its ego and power grow,” Edin said.

“In other words, you can strengthen the power of Greed, huh?” Genos grinned. “That’s cheating.”

During their conversation, they had removed all of the obstacles in their path.

“It’s a tempting power. I will have it, no matter what,” Genos muttered to himself. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ll keep my end of the bargain and give you two one Evil Sin’s power each. Besides, you two can’t have two Evil Sins’ powers at once, right?”

Despite fearing the burden of possessing two Evil Sins’ powers at once, the demons were trying to gather at least three of the Evil Sins’ powers so that they could obtain the Demon Spirit’s soul. Once they had it, they would not only be able to wield multiple Sins at once, but they could also turn the Human Realm into a new Demon Realm. However, destroying the magic barrier where the Demon Spirit’s soul was sealed was impossible without using multiple Evil Sins’ powers.

‘Hahaha. Yes, I’ll keep my promise and cooperate with you as much as possible. At the last moment, I’ll take the Demon Spirit’s soul and become the true ruler of this land!’

* * *

At the white snowy mountain, Joshua’s eyes were tightly shut while he was lost in thought.. Meanwhile, the Demon Spirit continued to lambast him.

-Can you feel it? Hehehehe, the monsters have finished descending this damned mountain and will arrive at the human villages in no time. Despite all your big talk, your people are going to get slaughtered now. How long will your children be able to hold out?

Joshua opened his eyes. His fingers twitched slightly... And he raised his hand and tapped the inner surface of the ice boulder.

The Demon Spirit was stupefied.

-Wa-Wait, how can you move already?

‘You think this is “already”? Really?’

-What...?

‘The seasons have changed several times, so it’s about time,’

Joshua said, calculating today’s date. Winter was already here. In other words, it was the end of Year 749 of the Continental Calendar. Judging from his condition...

‘...One year from now. The moment I destroy this ice boulder and return to the Palace, there will be no traces of demons on this land.’