Time goes back only a little further than the battle of the ramparts was settled.
On a plain a short distance from the royal capital, a fierce battle was being fought that would change the topography of the land.
“Ooooooooooooooo!!”
“Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”
A voice of supremacy, like the roar of a dragon or the cry of a monstrous bird, echoes across the plain.
Two swordsmen are violently exchanging sword fights, clashing their fighting spirit loaded with the intent to kill.
“Cursed sword fighting method――【Scorpios】!”
On the other side, is the swordsman named Raidorl, the chosen holder of the holy sword Dáinsleif. He is the regent of the Kingdom of Zain and now the de facto king.
As Raidorl wields the holy sword, a jet-black blade, like the darkness of night, shoots out from the tip of the sword and flies toward the enemy.
“Corpse sword method――【Death Touch】!”
The other swordsman was Zansha, one of the Four Knights of the Apocalypse, who was discovered by the witch Osman. Zansha is the knight who presides over 『Death』 and was given the magic sword Gáe Bolg by Osman, he had became her trusted swordsman.
When Zansha wielded the magic sword, a grayish-white blade like a white bone shot out from the tip of the sword, striking the oncoming slash and cancelling it out.
“Shah!”
Zansha thrust his sword into the ground with a return thrust.
Countless blades of bone protrude like thorns from the earth and attempt to skewer Raidorl’s body.
“Haaaa!”
However, when Raidorl struck the ground with his holy sword with a cracking voice, a large amount of miasma overflowed and transformed into a giant serpent, swallowing the bone blade.
The jet-black serpent continued to devour Zansha, but when…..Zansha ran her magic sword into a sideways cleave, the serpent disappeared as its upper and lower jaws split open.
“YareYare……This is getting tedious, for goodness sake! And to these weasel fights!”
Raidorl barks in frustration.
So much time has passed since their battle began that the sun is visibly tilting and yet neither of them has suffered any noticeable external injuries.
The battle between the two men has been going back and forth, with neither side gaining an advantage over the other, and the two men have remained completely evenly matched.
“I, too, am getting tired of this. YareYare……you have found a much stronger swordsman than his predecessor. Holy sword Dáinsleif.”
Zansha also sighs with a depressed expression.
There are several reasons why their battle has yet to receive a winner.
First, their swordsmanship is very similar.
Raidorl combines the clean swordsmanship he learned as a child raised as royalty with the crude fighting techniques he developed as an adventurer.
In contrast, Zansha combines the swordsmanship he practised when he was a knight with the evil swordsmanship he learned in the underworld after becoming an undead.
Coincidentally, their swordsmanship, which is a combination of the purity and impurity, is similar. Therefore, it is difficult for them to make a decisive move, since they can somehow anticipate each other’s moves.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d die with open arms if you’re getting tired! Don’t tell me you’re not afraid to go back to the Underworld by now!?”
Raidorl unleashes the miasma blade again.
“【Death Road】!”
But the gray-white blade shot by Zansha cancels it out.
As Raidorl thought, it doesn’t work. Seeing the predictable scene, Raidorl’s lips were caught in a sarcastic smile.
“『Distortion』 and 『Death』Huh?……so there’s no way to settle the matter. YareYare…”
The holy sword Dáinsleif, held by Raidorl, is a holy sword that presides over 『Curses』. Its essence is 『Distortion』.
By distorting the state of things as they should be, it inflicts curses such as poison and paralysis, and ultimately has the ability to distort existence itself, causing it to disappear.
Zansha, on the other hand, has the power of 『Death』 as its name implies. It has the ability to bring death without question to anyone it slashes at, and normally, a single strike from the greyish-white would have resulted in instant death.
However…the power of both of them doesn’t work against the opponent in front of them.
The 『Distortion』 is meaningless to an opponent who is dead from the start, and the power of 『Death』 has little effect on a distorted existence that even brings the power of annihilation.
It is not that it does not work at all, but their attack that should normally be a kill can only inflict a scratch or two.
It was a very difficult situation to deal with.
‘But I can’t leave this difficult enemy alone just because ……if left unchecked, he could take the entire army under my command to hell.’
Raidorl knows it is hard to do, but the enemy infront of me needs to be dealt with.
Zan-sha is a peerless warrior. He is a monster who has mastered unparalleled swordsmanship and spreads death. If anyone other than Raidorl were to fight him, they would suffer tremendous damage.
“Mu….”
And Zansha, who is raising his eyebrows, also has good reason not to ignore Raydor.
Zansha is not the general of the undead army. It is the witch Osman who reigns supreme and Zansha is her sword and shield.
If Zansha had not stopped him, Raidorl would have broken through the undead soldiers and reached Osman.
In order to fulfil the knight’s true duty of protecting his lord, he had no choice but to deal with Raidorl, even if they could not reach a settlement.
“「「This is tricky……」」”
The two muttered at the same time. Seeing how difficult their situation is.
In a sense, this may have been a fateful battle.
Although they were in different positions and had different titles, they had similar power and skills, and they met and crossed blades in this way.
They can be called like friends. The fact that they met as enemies in this way may be the result of some kind of causality.
‘Rather than destiny, it’s fate. Or maybe it’s a bad fate… I don’t care, I want to end this battle too…’
Strictly speaking, Raidorl has the means to break the balance.
Raidorlhas a trump card hidden away, and activating it will surely end the barren tug-of-war.
‘But, should I use it though……? At this stage?’
Zansha was a formidable opponent, but by no means the last.
If he used his trump card, Raidorl would be worn out and unable to fight fully.
‘With the Knights of 『War』 still remaining, and Osman, the leader of the enemy, standing behind them, is it okay to use the trump card lightly?’
“Nn….?”
But……suddenly Raidorl felt something and looked up over his head.
Even though they were competing against each other, they were still in the middle of a battle. It was an action full of gaps that should not have been done.
“…What is it?”
However, Zansha, like Raidorl, also noticed the presence and stopped his sword to look up at the sky.
Something golden fell from beyond the sky like a comet.
A golden meteor with a trailing tail pierces the ground, as if a fallen angel who defied the Creator were to be banished to the earth.
“……….!!”
The roar echoed to the distant plains.
Apparently, the meteor had fallen on the walls of the Royal City, where the Zain Kingdom’s army and the undead army would be engaged in battle.
“What’s going on……?”
“Kuku…..”
Raidorl clears his throat as Zansha looks dubious.
That surge of power. He remembers the magic within it. Realising the identity of the falling meteor, Raidorl relaxed his shoulders and laughed.
“Kuku…… hahaha, Is that how it’s going to be? You’ve reached that point too huh……Celia.”
“You….”
“Don’t ask. I have no obligation to tell you. More importantly….. it looks like we’re winning this battle.”
“…………”
In the distance, the mighty magic is raging on the battlefield.
Her flamboyant fighting style is a true representation of her character. It seems that the lightning heir is slaughtering her enemies as she pleases.
The battle was in stalemate. With the sudden appearance of Celia, Raidorl’s side was bound to win with reinforcements backing them.
“You understand, don’t you? You won’t be able to win anymore. It seems that the winning battle has been decided. I sympathise with you…you have to fight even after your loss has been decided!”
“……..stop laughing.”
When Raidorl told him to get on his nerves…..Zansha answered curtly, pulled out the scabbard at his waist, and threw it far away as it was.
He has abandoned the scabbard that should hold his sword. In other words, he was ready to fight to the death.
“I will kill you….I will strike you with a new skill…..and that’ll be the end of it. The victor has not yet been decided.”
“Aaa, that’s right. We’re both hiding trump cards, aren’t we?”
Raidorl’s smile disappears from his mouth and his eyes narrow coldly.
Now that the reinforcements have arrived and victory has been decided, there is no longer any need to be coy. The time had come to play the trump card that had been hidden away, and settle the long-running battle.
Zansha also no longer needs to hide his trump card and he takes a serious stance with his magic sword held horizontally in a single line.
“Holy Armor――【Hvezlung, The twilight trickster】”
“Holy Armor――【Thanatos, Guide of the Dead Sea】”
Raidorl and Zansha said at the same time, and they were clothed in an aura of magical power like a blasting storm.
TL: Thanatos, in ancient Greek religion and mythology, the personification of death. Hades is the god of the dead, but Thanatos is the god of death.
Time goes back only a little further than the battle of the ramparts was settled.
On a plain a short distance from the royal capital, a fierce battle was being fought that would change the topography of the land.
“Ooooooooooooooo!!”
“Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”
A voice of supremacy, like the roar of a dragon or the cry of a monstrous bird, echoes across the plain.
Two swordsmen are violently exchanging sword fights, clashing their fighting spirit loaded with the intent to kill.
“Cursed sword fighting method――【Scorpios】!”
On the other side, is the swordsman named Raidorl, the chosen holder of the holy sword Dáinsleif. He is the regent of the Kingdom of Zain and now the de facto king.
As Raidorl wields the holy sword, a jet-black blade, like the darkness of night, shoots out from the tip of the sword and flies toward the enemy.
“Corpse sword method――【Death Touch】!”
The other swordsman was Zansha, one of the Four Knights of the Apocalypse, who was discovered by the witch Osman. Zansha is the knight who presides over 『Death』 and was given the magic sword Gáe Bolg by Osman, he had became her trusted swordsman.
When Zansha wielded the magic sword, a grayish-white blade like a white bone shot out from the tip of the sword, striking the oncoming slash and cancelling it out.
“Shah!”
Zansha thrust his sword into the ground with a return thrust.
Countless blades of bone protrude like thorns from the earth and attempt to skewer Raidorl’s body.
“Haaaa!”
However, when Raidorl struck the ground with his holy sword with a cracking voice, a large amount of miasma overflowed and transformed into a giant serpent, swallowing the bone blade.
The jet-black serpent continued to devour Zansha, but when…..Zansha ran her magic sword into a sideways cleave, the serpent disappeared as its upper and lower jaws split open.
“YareYare……This is getting tedious, for goodness sake! And to these weasel fights!”
Raidorl barks in frustration.
So much time has passed since their battle began that the sun is visibly tilting and yet neither of them has suffered any noticeable external injuries.
The battle between the two men has been going back and forth, with neither side gaining an advantage over the other, and the two men have remained completely evenly matched.
“I, too, am getting tired of this. YareYare……you have found a much stronger swordsman than his predecessor. Holy sword Dáinsleif.”
Zansha also sighs with a depressed expression.
There are several reasons why their battle has yet to receive a winner.
First, their swordsmanship is very similar.
Raidorl combines the clean swordsmanship he learned as a child raised as royalty with the crude fighting techniques he developed as an adventurer.
In contrast, Zansha combines the swordsmanship he practised when he was a knight with the evil swordsmanship he learned in the underworld after becoming an undead.
Coincidentally, their swordsmanship, which is a combination of the purity and impurity, is similar. Therefore, it is difficult for them to make a decisive move, since they can somehow anticipate each other’s moves.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d die with open arms if you’re getting tired! Don’t tell me you’re not afraid to go back to the Underworld by now!?”
Raidorl unleashes the miasma blade again.
“【Death Road】!”
But the gray-white blade shot by Zansha cancels it out.
As Raidorl thought, it doesn’t work. Seeing the predictable scene, Raidorl’s lips were caught in a sarcastic smile.
“『Distortion』 and 『Death』Huh?……so there’s no way to settle the matter. YareYare…”
The holy sword Dáinsleif, held by Raidorl, is a holy sword that presides over 『Curses』. Its essence is 『Distortion』.
By distorting the state of things as they should be, it inflicts curses such as poison and paralysis, and ultimately has the ability to distort existence itself, causing it to disappear.
Zansha, on the other hand, has the power of 『Death』 as its name implies. It has the ability to bring death without question to anyone it slashes at, and normally, a single strike from the greyish-white would have resulted in instant death.
However…the power of both of them doesn’t work against the opponent in front of them.
The 『Distortion』 is meaningless to an opponent who is dead from the start, and the power of 『Death』 has little effect on a distorted existence that even brings the power of annihilation.
It is not that it does not work at all, but their attack that should normally be a kill can only inflict a scratch or two.
It was a very difficult situation to deal with.
‘But I can’t leave this difficult enemy alone just because ……if left unchecked, he could take the entire army under my command to hell.’
Raidorl knows it is hard to do, but the enemy infront of me needs to be dealt with.
Zan-sha is a peerless warrior. He is a monster who has mastered unparalleled swordsmanship and spreads death. If anyone other than Raidorl were to fight him, they would suffer tremendous damage.
“Mu….”
And Zansha, who is raising his eyebrows, also has good reason not to ignore Raydor.
Zansha is not the general of the undead army. It is the witch Osman who reigns supreme and Zansha is her sword and shield.
If Zansha had not stopped him, Raidorl would have broken through the undead soldiers and reached Osman.
In order to fulfil the knight’s true duty of protecting his lord, he had no choice but to deal with Raidorl, even if they could not reach a settlement.
“「「This is tricky……」」”
The two muttered at the same time. Seeing how difficult their situation is.
In a sense, this may have been a fateful battle.
Although they were in different positions and had different titles, they had similar power and skills, and they met and crossed blades in this way.
They can be called like friends. The fact that they met as enemies in this way may be the result of some kind of causality.
‘Rather than destiny, it’s fate. Or maybe it’s a bad fate… I don’t care, I want to end this battle too…’
Strictly speaking, Raidorl has the means to break the balance.
Raidorlhas a trump card hidden away, and activating it will surely end the barren tug-of-war.
‘But, should I use it though……? At this stage?’
Zansha was a formidable opponent, but by no means the last.
If he used his trump card, Raidorl would be worn out and unable to fight fully.
‘With the Knights of 『War』 still remaining, and Osman, the leader of the enemy, standing behind them, is it okay to use the trump card lightly?’
“Nn….?”
But……suddenly Raidorl felt something and looked up over his head.
Even though they were competing against each other, they were still in the middle of a battle. It was an action full of gaps that should not have been done.
“…What is it?”
However, Zansha, like Raidorl, also noticed the presence and stopped his sword to look up at the sky.
Something golden fell from beyond the sky like a comet.
A golden meteor with a trailing tail pierces the ground, as if a fallen angel who defied the Creator were to be banished to the earth.
“……….!!”
The roar echoed to the distant plains.
Apparently, the meteor had fallen on the walls of the Royal City, where the Zain Kingdom’s army and the undead army would be engaged in battle.
“What’s going on……?”
“Kuku…..”
Raidorl clears his throat as Zansha looks dubious.
That surge of power. He remembers the magic within it. Realising the identity of the falling meteor, Raidorl relaxed his shoulders and laughed.
“Kuku…… hahaha, Is that how it’s going to be? You’ve reached that point too huh……Celia.”
“You….”
“Don’t ask. I have no obligation to tell you. More importantly….. it looks like we’re winning this battle.”
“…………”
In the distance, the mighty magic is raging on the battlefield.
Her flamboyant fighting style is a true representation of her character. It seems that the lightning heir is slaughtering her enemies as she pleases.
The battle was in stalemate. With the sudden appearance of Celia, Raidorl’s side was bound to win with reinforcements backing them.
“You understand, don’t you? You won’t be able to win anymore. It seems that the winning battle has been decided. I sympathise with you…you have to fight even after your loss has been decided!”
“……..stop laughing.”
When Raidorl told him to get on his nerves…..Zansha answered curtly, pulled out the scabbard at his waist, and threw it far away as it was.
He has abandoned the scabbard that should hold his sword. In other words, he was ready to fight to the death.
“I will kill you….I will strike you with a new skill…..and that’ll be the end of it. The victor has not yet been decided.”
“Aaa, that’s right. We’re both hiding trump cards, aren’t we?”
Raidorl’s smile disappears from his mouth and his eyes narrow coldly.
Now that the reinforcements have arrived and victory has been decided, there is no longer any need to be coy. The time had come to play the trump card that had been hidden away, and settle the long-running battle.
Zansha also no longer needs to hide his trump card and he takes a serious stance with his magic sword held horizontally in a single line.
“Holy Armor――【Hvezlung, The twilight trickster】”
“Holy Armor――【Thanatos, Guide of the Dead Sea】”
Raidorl and Zansha said at the same time, and they were clothed in an aura of magical power like a blasting storm.
TL: Thanatos, in ancient Greek religion and mythology, the personification of death. Hades is the god of the dead, but Thanatos is the god of death.
