Episode 100
─ Drink this blood.
Contrary to what most believed, Ray Eurys was not merely the “adopted son” of the Crimson Duke.
─ With this, you shall transcend your human limitations and become part of our great lineage.
He was the heir to the blood legacy of a great lineage, a lineage that had built its history on the power of blood. This was a bond far beyond the simple ties of parent and child.
‘I will never disappoint my father.’
With this resolve, Ray Eurys lifted his head. Standing before him was the eldest son of the Saxon family, the “Black Prince.”
The empire’s greatest genius, the victor of the black-and-white duel, the war hero of Britannia Island…
He was the very embodiment of the world’s unfairness, a symbol of absurdity.
“──O King of Cold Ashes.”
The silence ended there. By defeating the Black Prince of Saxon, Ray Eurys would prove his worth to his lineage.
The grimoire of the Demon King Balor, once defeated by a hero, emerged from the vortex of fire and darkness, revealing the power of the demon clan’s leader.
From the lake of shadows, the tendrils of the Shadow Lurker struck, and Ray Eurys’s body began to scatter like ashes.
Though he couldn’t yet fully harness this power, it was enough to defeat a mere child of Saxon.
The history embedded in Ray’s blood was not something that could be overcome by the mere “talent” of the Black Prince.
‘I will defeat the empire’s greatest genius here.’
Fire and darkness swirled, forming the shape of a Death Knight.
The black power he had gained by devouring the elder of the Black Tower that day.
The Death Knight, built upon that power, wielded a sword of black and red. The sword of fire and darkness swung, and the black flames within it evaporated the lake of shadows.
From the lake, the shadow lurker revealed its terrifying form. Countless Shadow Lurkers.
As the predator of the dark prepared to confront the flaming Death Knight, Dale spoke.
“Quad Barrel, 12-gauge birdshot.”
An incantation from another world echoed, one Ray could not comprehend. Four barrels, and birdshot.
Unlike buckshot, which uses a few large lead balls to hunt big game like deer or cattle, birdshot fires hundreds of small lead pellets to hunt birds and other small creatures.
And now, what Dale intended was not an attack meant to kill.
Four blue barrels shimmered behind him, scattering the Blue Dissonance within.
“Do you know why I don’t build Death Knights with fire or ice?”
“……!”
“Because maintaining a creation made of magic is one of the hardest things to do.”
If it were an ordinary Death Knight, it wouldn’t be affected by the Blue Dissonance Dale scattered.
Dissonance disrupts magical structures, not the bones or armor of the dead. Finding the black particles intricately embedded in a corpse is nearly impossible.
But Ray Eurys’s Death Knight had no physical form. The flames and darkness that composed it were magical constructs.
In the face of dissonance that twisted the very structure of magic, it was powerless. There’s a reason blue mages are called the nemesis of wizards.
Only a “blue mage” could so easily dismantle the flaming Death Knight Ray commanded.
And unfortunately for Ray Eurys, that very blue mage stood before him.
“Did you think you could win by blindly imitating spells without understanding the meaning of black?”
Dale asked.
By now, Ray Eurys’s body had turned to ash, scattered throughout the arena, with no trace of a human presence.
Simultaneously, the ashes of death began to swirl. Death, unavoidable, scattered in all directions.
The ashes settled in the arena, corroding and weathering the ground as if time were being rewound.
The grimoire of the demon king, Balor──the “King of Cold Ashes.”
The ashes of death began to swirl toward Dale, who drew the knight’s sword from his waist. As he drew it, he infused it with his will.
The power within the hero’s beloved sword, Peacemaker.
Peacemaker.
The ashes of death surged toward Dale, enveloping him in particles of annihilation that nothing could escape, and yet.
“……!”
Dale’s body, or rather, the power of the ashes Ray Eurys scattered, vanished.
It was nothing more than ordinary, drifting ash.
Ray Eurys could never have imagined it.
The power of Peacemaker that Dale wielded here and now.
Forced Peace.
And that “peace” meant only one thing.
A barrier that nullifies all “irreversible and irrevocable acts of aggression” within its bounds.
A sword cannot cut flesh. Flames cannot burn anything, nor can they annihilate or destroy. At least within the confines of Peacemaker’s power, breaking that “peace” is impossible.
Even this is but a fragment of the hero’s power, yet the same could be said for the demon king’s power Ray Eurys wielded. It was so immature and clumsy that it couldn’t even be called a “fragment.” At least, the demon king’s power Dale remembered, the grimoire he possessed, wouldn’t have stopped at this.
Just as the Peacemaker in Dale’s hand did.
‘Revealing the hero’s power recklessly carries great risk.’
But just as he scattered the Blue Dissonance earlier, Dale had proven he possessed the qualities of a blue mage.
Therefore, even if he nullified Ray Eurys’s secret technique, it wouldn’t arouse suspicion.
For the empire’s greatest genius to nullify an opponent’s magic is “entirely plausible.”
Adjusting his grip on Peacemaker, Dale moved forward. Within the peace he enforced, neither Ray’s Death Knight nor the Shadow Lurker were exceptions.
Except for one, the enforcer of that peace.
Ray Eurys’s body had turned to ash, scattered throughout the area, but to Dale, it was of little consequence.
“Freeze.”
Dale murmured softly. Not with black, but with the pure power of blue, creating a vortex.
Reflecting the chilling cold and darkness within Dale’s world, the arena began to freeze.
“──!”
Ray Eurys’s scattered body converged into a single point.
Wrapped in fire and darkness, Ray Eurys gazed at him.
Activating the grotesquely twisted bio-fusion artifact, the “Dragon’s Jaw.” His mouth, twisted like a dragon’s maw, moved.
“How…?”
The flaming Death Knight and the ashes of death. His ultimate strike, unleashed with all his might from the start, had all been nullified.
Before him, the “Black Prince” showed not a hint of hesitation.
“Did you think I wouldn’t use the power of a blue mage after witnessing the black and blue magic?”
Dale bluffed nonchalantly, and Ray Eurys remained silent.
“Do you know about this grimoire?”
“Is there anyone who doesn’t know that grimoire?”
After a moment of silence, Ray asked, and Dale replied casually.
“I also know it’s not a power you can handle right now.”
Ray Eurys lacked the capacity to wield the “King of Cold Ashes” at this moment. Just as Dale, in his third circle, found the abilities of the “Book of the Black Goat” to be of little consequence.
“Why didn’t you bring out your grimoire?”
“Because I don’t have one yet.”
Dale answered as if it were someone else’s business.
“…You’re lying.”
Ray Eurys replied without a moment’s hesitation.
“Surely it’s not a grimoire you can show in front of everyone.”
“That’s rich coming from someone with a demon king’s grimoire.”
“──The Book of the Black Goat?”
For a moment, Dale swallowed hard.
“You underestimate the intelligence network of our Red Tower.”
“…….”
“But I, too, underestimated the power of the ‘Black Prince.’”
Ray continued, maintaining his composure.
“Now I understand.”
“What do you understand?”
“That the title of the empire’s greatest genius is no empty boast.”
Ray Eurys said.
“That you are a wall I cannot yet reach.”
Yet, there was no trace of the despair that others who had faced Dale had shown. Not the despair of facing the embodiment of absurdity, but rather the expression of a challenger who had found the rival he so desperately sought.
The grotesquely twisted Dragon’s Jaw held an inexplicable joy.
Not an insurmountable wall, but a wall to be overcome.
“This match is my loss.”
Ray Eurys began to speak. Or rather, he tried to.
“Shub.”
Dale interrupted him, invoking the power of the “Book of the Black Goat” that had taken root in his heart.
Right there, in front of everyone at the fight club.
“Wow, look at all the people!” Shub beamed with the innocence of a child. And for Ray Uris and everyone else watching at the fight club—
The most grotesque and horrifying abomination in the world appeared before them.
A monstrous entity from another realm, with hundreds, thousands of tentacles writhing like worms, all tangled together.
A dark, tar-like slime dripped from the tentacles.
Swoosh!
The pitch-black tentacles began to extend in all directions across the arena, as if flaunting the power of the “Book of the Black Goat” for all to see.
Boom!
The tentacles slammed down, shattering the arena, instilling a terror akin to an unstoppable beast on a rampage.
Crash!
The protective barrier of the fight club shattered helplessly before the thrashing tentacles.
Screams and gasps of horror filled the air, mingling with cries of madness.
It wasn’t entirely unexpected that the Red Tower knew about the “Book of the Black Goat.” At the very least, once they began to suspect, uncovering the truth wasn’t difficult, and by now, the Sistine Church would be in an uproar.
In that case, it was better to reveal it openly. To show everyone the power of the magical tome possessed by Saxon’s “Black Prince.”
After displaying Shub’s power, Dale withdrew the “Book of the Black Goat.”
“I accept your defeat.”
Even in a place like the fight club, they couldn’t kill the son of the Blood Duke and heir to the Red Tower. The Empire and the Red Tower were wary not of young Dale, but of the “Black Duke.”
Killing the young heir of the Red Tower would only give them a pretext in the long run.
Accepting his defeat, Ray Uris nodded silently.
For the first time, he felt his legs begin to tremble slightly as he stepped back.