Episode 96
“The people of the Shadow Court will protect the Guild Master.”
With those words, Dale vanished from sight.
Left alone, the Guild Master of Calimala shivered at the thought of the impending bloodshed.
Guild City. The Golden Empire, composed of the seven great guilds and the Shadow Court.
And at the heart of Guild City, a fierce battle over the City Master’s ledger, a struggle among the powerful.
In the face of their overwhelming might, the Guild Master of Calimala realized for the first time the fleeting nature of gold.
At that moment, Dale was at the Shadow Court’s hideout.
The Grand Shadow Court. A place reminiscent of an underground chapel, where the continent’s greatest assassin sat before him.
“Ah, damn, this beer is amazing.”
Baro, the master of the killing sword, gulped down his beer, his feet propped up on the table, ignoring the formalities of the Shadow Court.
“You don’t seem particularly devout to the Shadow Church,” Dale remarked casually, matching Baro’s informal tone.
“Hah, you could say that,” Baro chuckled, nodding.
“Not many places would take in a bastard like me who stabbed his lord in the back and ran.”
“Why did you betray him?”
Betraying one’s lord is an unforgivable taboo for a knight.
“Well, I guess I just lost my mind,” Baro replied nonchalantly.
“My lord went mad, claiming his young daughter was possessed by a demon.”
”…….”
“And he ordered me to behead her.”
He spoke matter-of-factly.
“So while I hesitated──.”
After finishing his beer, Baro continued.
“That madman gouged out his daughter’s eyes with his own hands.”
“No way…….”
“Yes, exactly that.”
Dale swallowed hard.
“That daughter is the saintess you see wandering around your place.”
”…….”
“I took her and fled to Guild City, and the religious fanatics of the Shadow Court declared, ‘A saintess has appeared,’ causing quite a stir.”
“There’s no doubt she received some form of ‘divine revelation.’”
“Yeah, whatever about the sister goddesses,” Baro scoffed coldly at Dale’s words.
“Let’s say there are some incredible beings watching us from above, huh?”
”…….”
“Do you think they have even a shred of love for us?”
“Probably not.”
“Oh.”
Baro seemed surprised by Dale’s agreement.
“So, did you become the Shadow Court’s sword without faith, just for that girl?”
“Leaving her among these fanatics would be unsettling.”
“She’s already become an irretrievable puppet of the gods.”
“It’s only natural for a girl who lost her eyes at her father’s hands to seek the divine.”
Baro muttered, feigning indifference.
“I have no intention of questioning her faith.”
Dale inadvertently recalled the image of the Shadow Saintess approaching him and Shub.
“I’m content just staying by her side.”
Without faith or anything else, he became the Shadow Court’s sword to protect the saintess. Dale smiled bitterly at his situation.
“You seem like someone I can talk to.”
“Hah, this young fellow has quite the silver tongue,” Baro said, finishing his beer with amusement.
“So, why did you choose to become the god of these religious fanatics?”
“Because the Shadow Court needed a sword.”
Dale answered without hesitation.
“The continent’s seven swords, the assassin known as the Killing Sword.”
The significance of such a title was beyond words.
“Is that all?”
“That’s all there was.”
Baro couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Dale’s response.
“At least there’s no doubt you’ll become the messiah for these foolish bastards.”
Before the Black Market opened, the ‘Winner’s Game’ of the Fight Club was approaching.
A battleground where representatives of the continent’s greatest aristocrats gathered, concealing their ambitions and desires.
The ‘Black Prince’ of the Saxon family was no exception.
Fight Club.
Dale stood in the underground arena, with the Death Knight he acquired here at his back. There was only one identity people could associate with that image.
“The ‘Black Prince’ of the Saxon family has appeared!”
“An unexpected heavyweight right from the first match!”
A no-holds-barred arena where one could fight with all their might, except for the world of ideas and avatars. And those who would face Dale now were no easy opponents.
These were formidable figures, different from the small fry he had faced before. Representatives participating in the Black Market on behalf of the empire’s leading aristocrats.
As a battleground to establish hierarchy among them, Dale’s opponent revealed himself.
A knight clad in pure white armor. It wasn’t hard to identify the armor’s origin.
“Look at that armor!”
“Armor forged from mithril… It must belong to the Knights of Saint Magdalena!”
The existence of the ‘Mithril Mine’ in the Brandenburg County was the foundation of the current count’s family.
Now, the mithril-forged white armor was a symbol of the Knights of Saint Magdalena.
A representative of the holy swordsman.
“Did the great Count of Brandenburg have any business in this shady market of heretics?”
An opponent like no other.
“You…”
At Dale’s mocking words, the tip of the Saint Magdalena Knight’s sword glowed with a white aura. The Death Knight at Dale’s back also adjusted his grip on the Saxon family’s black sword.
‘Where should I project the Peacemaker?’
In the midst of the standoff, Dale thought calmly.
Focusing all his power on the Death Knight wasn’t a bad idea. But the opponent would likely try to kill him for real, and he couldn’t rely entirely on his guard.
This was different from when Master Baro was merely testing him.
Srrng.
Thus, Dale drew the knight’s sword from his waist.
“Lost in the Black and White Tournament, lost on the island of Britannia…”
Projecting the Peacemaker’s intent along the blade, Dale spoke.
“You’ll lose here too.”
There was no more conversation to be had.
“Why does your family seem to get destroyed every time I see it?”
Taat!
Even without using an avatar, the Saint Magdalena Knight, who had reached the level of an Aura Master, charged with full force.
He was fast. In his third circle days, Dale wouldn’t have been able to counter that move, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if his head flew off in one strike.
But Dale was different now.
No longer just a magician, but a knight wielding the Peacemaker, imbued with the essence of a hero, and a fourth-circle magician hailed as the empire’s greatest talent.
Having fused the two, reaching a level of rapid growth, the Death Knight guarding Dale’s back charged forward.
The Saxon black sword clashed with the holy swordsman’s strike, and Dale wasn’t just watching.
He adjusted his grip on the Peacemaker, his shadow cloak billowing as he charged.
The sword pursued by the hero.
In some ways, it wasn’t much different from the ‘Killing Sword’ of Master Baro. A sword of an assassin, meticulously designed to take lives.
The path to slaughter.
The black and white lights clashed as the Saint Magdalena Knight and the Death Knight’s swords collided. Simultaneously, Dale slipped into the knight’s guard, thrusting the Peacemaker forward.
Kaang!
The knight deflected the Death Knight’s sword without panic, blocking Dale’s thrust with a sidestep.
”……!”
An immediate counterattack followed.
Strong. But what Dale possessed now was not just a sword. As the Saint Magdalena Knight deflected Dale’s sword and charged, the shadow cloak billowed. From beneath, the shadow bullets of the “Gatling-style” formula were fired.
A barrage of shadow bullets rained down, and the Saint Magdalena Knight swung his sword in response.
With a single swing, the aura surging within him formed a ‘shield.’
Aura protection.
A shimmering aura shield, akin to that of a powerful sorcerer, deflected Dale’s Shadow Bullet with ease.
“The intensity of this aura is no joke.”
If one were to compare an Aura Master knight to a sorcerer, this knight would be on par with at least a sixth-circle mage.
An elder of the tower.
But having the same circle doesn’t mean their combat skills are equal. Knights aren’t scholars.
They don’t spend their days holed up in a tower, buried in books and meditation. They live by the sword, cutting down enemies on the battlefield, surviving by the skin of their teeth.
The pinnacle of swordsmanship, the Avatar state, is achieved through relentless combat and bloodshed.
Even without using the Avatar, the knight before Dale was a formidable opponent, one he couldn’t guarantee victory against.
And that made his heart race even more.
Hunting down these immeasurable powerhouses, reaching the next level. With each hunt, the memories of past lives embedded in the Peacemaker would awaken.
After a fierce clash, they distanced themselves. Dale murmured as he caught his breath.
“This is my domain.”
Following the fluttering shadows of his cloak, the area was submerged into a lake of darkness… and the predators lurking within the shadows began to stir.
Shadow Lurkers.
A chorus of shrieks erupted as spiny tendrils shot up from the shadows. Several fully-formed Shadow Lurkers emerged, revealing themselves.
Their bodies were like massive serpents, with eight scythe-like limbs and spiny tendrils writhing along their backs.
These creatures positioned themselves in front of Dale, acting as his shield.
Outnumbered, the overwhelming force of numbers. This was the power of the Black Tower’s necromancer, a master of dark magic.
”…!”
Faced with these monsters, the knight of Saint Magdalena had only one choice. Ignoring all attacks, he charged forward.
A direct breakthrough. The most straightforward strategy for a knight against a sorcerer.
There’s no need to elaborate on what happens when a sorcerer lets a knight close the distance.
Leaving Dale’s creations behind, the knight of Saint Magdalena surged forward. The gap closed. But Dale was no mere “sorcerer.”
A sorcerer who loses just because a knight closes the distance wouldn’t survive against the world’s strongest.
Clang!
Sword met sword.
Dale’s blade blocked the knight’s, without even a hint of aura, just a simple iron sword.
One strike.
But the knight of Saint Magdalena didn’t relent.
The eldest son of the Saxon family, renowned for his genius with the sword, had anticipated such a defense.
Clang! Clang!
Yet, as the simple iron sword deflected the knight’s pure white aura strikes multiple times…
“How is this possible…!”
The knight of Saint Magdalena couldn’t hide his shock any longer.
At the same time, the Shadow Lurkers he had turned his back on lunged, their spiny tendrils aimed at him.
Crash!
He managed to raise an aura shield just in time to avoid instant death, but an aura shield is not an invincible defense.
Clang!
The shield shattered, and the Shadow Lurkers’ tendrils struck. Dale, without hesitation, launched himself forward.
The real reason noble proxies flocked to the Fight Club. The outcome didn’t always have to end in death.
A simple cry of surrender would suffice.
But the proxies didn’t join the Fight Club to hear their opponents surrender.
By decisively killing their opponent, they could eliminate competitors in the black market in the most certain and legal way.
That was the true meaning of the Fight Club’s “victory match,” and Dale was there to fulfill that purpose, ready to drive his sword home.
Or so he intended.
Boom!
An unexpected explosion erupted from the knight of Saint Magdalena’s body.
“An explosion? No, that’s not it.”
It wasn’t an ordinary explosion. It was a shockwave from an absurd amount of aura swirling violently.
And that act signified only one thing.
”…!”
A pure white knight stood there. No trace of humanity, just a knight of pure white.
“Avatar!”
The ultimate combat form pursued by the knights of Saint Magdalena.
Considering the impact a knight in the Avatar state could have, the damage to the arena would be unimaginable.
The Fight Club was aware of this and had measures in place.
The “high assassins of the Shadow Court,” led by Master Baro, were poised to act against anyone breaking the rules…
But before they could move, a dark blue magic surged beneath Dale’s feet, enveloping the arena.
Whoosh!
Dale and the knight of Saint Magdalena vanished from sight.
Into the sorcerer’s realm.
That night, into the otherworldly white and dark winter night.