Side Story Chapter 313

“Mmm...”

When Joshua finally broke out of the ice boulder, he clenched and unclenched his fists and stretched. He was in good condition—so good that it was hard to believe his body had been inside a block of ice for the past decades.

“...I have a chance of winning this fight.”

-Be careful. Bel is the last person you can take lightly.

Arash, the Angel Spirit’s Fragment now within Joshua, cautioned him.

“...I guess so. Even I never thought I would meet someone who’s as skilled as me.”

-What do you mean? There is and will never be anyone like you.

Joshua couldn’t understand what Arash was saying given that she’d just warned him about Bel.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

-Can’t you tell what Bel’s true identity is by now?

Pondering for a moment, Joshua closed his eyes and focused on sensing the energy in the palace. After some time, Joshua’s eyes slowly widened.

“...Why can I detect my energy from Bel?”

-It’s because he’s your Fragment.

Bel’s overwhelming strength, his thirst for a higher level of martial arts, his slightly terrifying obsession with Joshua... Everything made sense to Joshua now.

-Are you shocked?

Not many people in the world would actually fight themselves, but it didn’t take long for Arash to realize that she was dead wrong.

“...Things always end like this. Maybe it’s for the better,” Joshua muttered.

-Pardon? What in the world do you mean...?

“I’ve already experienced something similar. Besides, I’m much more comfortable fighting an opponent that I know than one I know nothing about.” Joshua shrugged.

Joshua remembered that after losing Aden von Agnus and Marcus ben Britten, the Demon Spirit had chosen to use the body of Joshua’s doppelganger.

“I’m used to this kind of fight.”

On top of that, Joshua had been reflecting on his last fight against the Demon Spirit inside the ice boulder for decades.

“Hey, buddy.”

Joshua turned toward the voice and saw Theta, the Tower Master, looking back. Theta’s weariness was clear to see.

“Since there aren’t many people around, I can drop the formalities, right? I went through a lot of trouble to bring you here.”

Joshua smiled faintly. “Avalon and I will never forget what the Magic Tower did for us.”

“You can repay us by getting rid of Bel, that fucking shit. If you do that, the Magic Tower is more than willing to provide more deluxe service.” Theta grinned, pointing at the skies to the west, which were decorated by the spells cast by the Magic Tower’s mages.

“Joshua Sanders, Arash is still alive within you, isn’t she?” Anna came forward after quickly regaining her composure. “She’s a poor kid. Please take good care of her.”

“You’ve grown up a lot.”

“Huh?” Anna blankly blurted.

Joshua gave her a mischievous look “I can’t believe you’re the same girl who always ran for her life whenever she caught a glimpse of me.”

“Wh-What? Haven’t you heard that I’m an emperor like you now?” Anna asked, feigning nonchalance.

In response, Duke Aaron del Killian and Akshuller slowly approached Anna. Akshuller winked at Joshua—carefully keeping it hidden from Anna—and gave him a desperate look.

“...Hmm. Then am I wrong about how you’re in a romantic relationship with Kireua?”

“Huh?” Anna’s face reddened like a tomato; the question had caught her completely off guard.

The three Avalon Queen Consorts stopped and stared. They were so surprised as well that they forgot about maintaining their composure.

“After Arash told you that she asked Kireua to marry him, you gave her a death glare. So jealous—”

“Argh! Stop! Stop! Stop!” Anna waved her hands around and then tried to cover Joshua’s mouth.

Of course, that didn’t work on Joshua; he simply took a step back and dodged her following attempts.

“You must be quite embarrassed, but being in love and dating is part of life. There’s no reason to be embarrassed... You know, the empress of the great Swallow Empire can be a little bolder,” Joshua teased with a naughty smile. His three wives burst into quiet laughter.

“Arash, you bigmouth! I take back what I said! Do what you want with her!”

“We’re both emperors, but doesn’t this make me superior? Call me father-in-law, not ‘you’.”

“Fine. Be superior to me all your life. That would be marvelous,” Anna sarcastically answered.

“It’s interesting that you act like you hate it but you don’t try to deny it.”

“Cut it out already! What is wrong with you?” Anna snapped. She floated into the air with her elemental spirit. “I’m going to go help out with the battle! Swallow, follow me! We’ll breach the west gates first!”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty!”

The remainder of Swallow's forces followed Anna. After watching her and her people in interest for a moment, Joshua turned away.

“...It’s finally quiet.”

The three Queen Consorts silently eyed Joshua. He knew how much they had sacrificed for him.

Whenever she had a chance, Iceline came by the mountain to take care of the ice boulder and make the place colder. After watching him for several days without saying anything, Iceline had returned to Arcadia.

Icarus was the true ruler of Avalon. The throne had been empty for decades, but she had been ruling the empire near perfectly such that the vacancy was hardly noticeable. In fact, Joshua wasn’t sure if he would be able to be as good a ruler as she was once he returned to his throne.

Charles was the same. During Avalon’s difficult times, she had used her merchant group’s private assets to bring public opinion to the Imperial family’s side. As always, people with power grew greedy without their rulers. As a matter of fact, a long civil war had taken place in Avalon, but Charles had been using her astronomical assets to protect Joshua’s throne.

“...We’ll wait for you.”

As the four of them shared a deep bond, they didn’t need to make any apologies.

“I’ll be back.”

That was all they needed to hear from each other.

*

Kireua coughed up dark blood. He looked at his hands; they were a mess. He didn’t have any strength left to hold his sword, and the others were even worse off than him.

“...Monster.” Kireua gritted his teeth as Bel arrogantly looked back at him.

The main reason he was able to last until now was the powers of Greed and Wrath. Viper and the Black Knights had been incapacitated long ago; even Selim, the greatest genius of his generation, couldn’t withstand ten attacks against Bel once he had a spear in his hands.

“He’s coming,” Bel abruptly said. “I’m sorry, but all of you should leave. I don’t want to be interrupted during this moment.”

He suddenly approached Selim, who was lying motionless on the ground.

Kireua’s eyes widened. “W-Wait! What are you doing?!” he shouted.

“I want Joshua Sanders to fight me with his full power. I need an indisputable victory to achieve my goal. ”

A being now existed in two forms, a body and a soul. In order to make that being complete again, any unnecessary personalities had to be gone, so Bel had to bring Joshua down to his knees by breaking his current body and mind. That was the only way for him to be dominant when they merged.

“Don’t do it, you son of a bitch!” Kireua screamed.

Bel simply raised his foot as if he couldn’t hear Kireua. The moment he dropped his heel, Selim’s fragile human skull would be crushed like an egg.

But then things took a turn that no one expected.

“...Why didn’t you dodge it?”

“If it’s you, I can tolerate it,” Bel casually answered despite the dagger sticking out of him.

Isaac’s face darkened. “Are you... insulting me?”

“Did it sound that way? I meant what I said.”

Isaac’s head filled with despair. It felt like she would never be able to escape the fence that her late father put around her. Her grip on the dagger trembled.

“Die, you fucking bastard!”

Someone else jumped into the fight, swinging their sword. Unlike before, Bel lifted his finger to block the sword.

“Carmen von Agnus...?” Kireua couldn’t pull himself together.

Bel firmly gripped her sword, preventing her from moving.

“Oh, yeah,” he mumbled. “You’re still here.”

“I’ll— I’ll kill you no matter what it takes!”

“You think you can?” Bel grinned as he mobilized his spear that had been floating around in the air on its own. “I’ll put an end to both of your bitter, pathetic lives.”

The spear spun three times and pierced Carmen through the chest.

“...Ach!”

“Carmen von Agnus!” Kireua, dismayed, got up and ran toward her.

Even though Carmen von Agnus led the rebels during the last civil war, she was no stranger. Kireua could not let her die like this. It felt like his arms and legs weren’t attached to his body because he could barely move. Nevertheless, he desperately kept on running. He struggled onward, slowly but surely.

But then someone landed on the ground.

“...That’s enough now. Leave it to me.”

Kireua’s head went blank when he recognized the back of the man in front of him—the most reliable man in the world.

Kireua’s lip quivered.

“...Your Majesty?”

“You’ve raised quite a commotion.”

Joshua’s voice made everyone’s eyes fly open.

“You’re here.” Bel threw away the two women in his hands.

Joshua’s gaze grew frigid. “...Let’s start the final chapter of our fates, my accursed karma.”