Sword Pilgrim

“Grrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!”

Boom! Booooom!! Boom!!

It tried to get up, fell down, got up again and fell down again.

Even though it crashed back to the ground each time, it never stopped trying.

Although the Light Dragon was in the body of Prince Chloe holding the sword, it didn’t have a human form anymore.

The claws holding the sword were as sharp as an animal’s, and the limbs were covered with red-black scales like the Light Dragon’s original body.

Because Chloe had been under the Light Dragon’s control for too long.

Not only was his mind already tainted, demonic energy had corroded it even further, as per the archbishop’s plan.

‘What tremendous power.'

Despite unfolding the sanctuary, Callius couldn’t control the Light Dragon’s movement by the force of gravity.

It flailed like a wild beast, even though its blood splashed, bones broke, and flesh got carved off; and displayed its claws and teeth in an attempt to kill the enemy.

Callius’ divine power was in a state of fullness because of what he’d just swallowed.

So he himself could keep fighting like this, but his sword wasn’t in good condition.

As time went by, the sword groaned more and more under the high power output, and the cracks forming on its blade sped up.

Time definitely favoured the Light Dragon.

And therefore –

“First, one arm.”

The reason why the Light Dragon was going wild right now was because of the demonic energy, but the more fundamental reason behind this situation was the Light Dragon Sword.

If the arm holding the sword could be cut off, the primary source of its power would be gone.

The erosion of the demonic energy could be tackled afterwards. First, Callius had to prioritize removing the sword from the equation.

Crumpt!

Ting!

“Graaaaaah!!”

“Tsk.”

The dragon’s scales were far too hard.

Even with the help of Other Shore Flower, Callius couldn’t cause even a small scratch.

His sword simply bounced off.

If he wanted to cut those scales, he’d have to use the technique that was the privilege of a Sword Master.

By manifesting a sword boundary.

‘That’s not an option for me.'

Therefore, Callius had no choice but to look elsewhere.

This was the sanctuary of the Tyrant Sword – Karaktu.

He just had to make the most of it.

“Huff.”

The Light Dragon’s whole body was trembling, resisting.

But it hadn't gotten fully used to the gravity of the Tyrant Sword yet.

It still couldn't wield its own sword at will because it was having trouble moving.

So now was Callius’ chance.

Scales didn’t cover the dragon-man hybrid’s whole body. But it'd be dangerous to get too close, so Callius decided to start with the thighs first.

Slaaaaaaash!

The Light Dragon's cries rang through the air, loud like an explosion.

From that tiny little scratch on the thigh? What a wuss.

“This is workable.”

The cut had been on its left thigh.

Adding on the original gravitational field, the weight of the thigh had increased tenfold.

No matter how strong the Light Dragon was, it couldn’t easily adapt to such an explosive surge in weight.

And not only that –

Wasn't this the sanctuary of the Tyrant Sword?

“Release gravity.”

Whooosh-thoom!

Gravity was removed from a localized area.

The Light Dragon's body floated up, due to the pressure of its own footfalls, leaving a completely bewildered look on its face.

Immediately afterwards, gravity once again pressed back on its body.

Crash!!

And then gravity was removed again.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

But this time, the Light Dragon tried to run like a flash of light as if it was determined not to be caught again.

"Release."

Whooooosh.

Unfortunately, no matter its thoughts, the plan didn't work.

Furious, the Light Dragon kicked at the air.

Pop! The air wave gave it momentum, and when the tip of the Light Dragon Sword was about to touch Callius’ nose –

His lips curved up as he chanted.

"Reverse."

Swoooooooosh!

The figure of the Light Dragon soared high into the sky.

And once again –

“Be crushed.”

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!!

Truly, it was a disaster.

This was the true power of the Sword of Downfall.

“Grrrrr.”

But the Light Dragon wasn't at a loss either.

At some point, it’d begun to resist the force of gravity.

No, rather – it was adapting to it.

With an animalistic intuition, it was noticing the release and reversal of gravity, and beginning to find a way to deal with it.

By inflating its own muscles, or relaxing them.

As if growing during battle, it seemed to be analyzing the sanctuary’s power of gravity.

Truly astounding.

“But I already expected it.”

This wasn’t particularly extraordinary, in context. This was the Light Dragon that didn’t die even after the kingdom killed it and turned its corpse into a sword.

Callius closed his eyes.

Soon, the amount of divine power emanating from his body surged explosively.

Its purity was also increasing.

「Constitution」–『Smelting Bones』 and 「Characteristics」– [Gluttony], had helped increase his absorption rate of the sacred stones and the reverse scale exponentially.

Callius temporarily used the pure divinity of the sacred stones, strengthening it with the power of the reverse scale, and increased his physical abilities.

Whooooosh.

A wave of ripples spread violently around Callius.

That was then.

Thooom!

The size of Callius’ Sanctuary began to gradually expand.

Beyond the royal audience chamber.

From the heart of the royal castle, to the outskirts.

The size of the sanctuary quickly rose to such an enormous extent.

Callius groaned and vomited blood.

But he didn't stop.

Couldn't stop.

“Converge.”

As he chanted, the tip of his sword pointed at the Light Dragon's body, floating in the air.

The more the figure struggled, the more blood flowed from Callius' mouth and eyes.

But the resistance soon began to diminish.

Because the broken rocks and crushed debris left by the Light Dragon’s rampage began to converge around its body, bindings its movement.

Boom! Booooom! Craaaaaaaash!!

The strong gravity made the rock fragments into missiles, that struck the Light Dragon with booming roars.

Not only did it get beaten, the rocks quickly also became its prison.

The Light Dragon, rocked by the impacts and imprisoned in stone, couldn’t even twitch.

Still, Callius didn’t relax.

No matter how weak it looked now, soon it’d reveal its true power and free itself.

Callius gestured, lifting the large rocky spheroid high into the sky.

Up, and up, and up again.

As far as the twinkling stars in the night sky above.

Once he’d raised it so high it felt like he was touching the edge of space –

As it hung there like a new moon –

Callius spoke.

“Moonset (月落).”

A dull moon fell from heaven.

Slaaaaaaash!

A redhead was riding the shadows, cutting through the ankles of enemy soldiers, attacking them from the back and beheading them.

Helena, wiped the blood splattered on her cheek and looked around.

She killed and kept killing, but the enemy didn’t decrease in number. In the distance, Esther was weeping as she fought against evil, and other captain-level knights wee also wielding swords, unable to contain their resentment.

Imperial invasion.

Revolt of the nobility.

But the saddest had to be the death of Sullivian.

Her death was a matter of grief for the whole kingdom.

The shock had turned to sadness, and tears, to anger.

There was only one way to vent that anger.

Neither the imperials nor the rebels in front could be given any mercy.

Helena calmly calculated as she continued killing the enemy.

‘There’s a limit to the number of people who could’ve been transferred.'

The transference was limited by the degree of spiritual power.

The number of personnel who could’ve been transferred under such constraints, had to be limited.

Even if it was a sacred object, it wasn’t omnipotent.

The number Helena counted after checking all the shadows –

‘Four Masters. Twenty captains. About a hundred soldiers.'

Plus around three thousand rebels.

This was a sufficient number to conquer the royal castle.

‘It was fortunate that a lot of powerful people from the kingdom were already in the castle.'

Without that, they wouldn’t have been able to sustain this long battle.

For the empire, this must’ve been an operation to decapitate the kingdom's main force by surprise, but luckily or not, some of the relics had failed.

That was the only good fortune for the kingdom.

But it was an undeniable fact that the kingdom lacked power compared to the empire, so their side could only endure.

Besides –

‘The Light Dragon has gone to the queen's place. I can't confirm because of the sanctuary, but from the waves of power, a fight must be going on.'

The Masters were almost equal.

‘Fire Demon isn’t here, so we have Victor, Gerald, the pope, and Leviathan.'

Guardian Sword Victor.

Gerald of Judgment.

Quake Sword Felice.

Black Knight Leviathan.

There were four, but there was an equal number of Masters from the empire.

The number of captain-level combatants at the kingdom’s side was only thirteen, but somehow they were holding on.

So the two sides –

Didn’t differ too much in strength.

But when she thought about it, there was one thing that bothered her the most.

‘The Light Dragon.'

The future of the kingdom would change depending on whether the Light Dragon could be put back to sleep, or not.

Its power was famously equivalent to a Master…

"Huh?"

At that moment, as she was contemplating whether she should join the fight inside the palace where the Light Dragon was –

Whoooooooooosh-!!

Suddenly, a strong feeling of pressure swept over the entire castle.

“Ugh! What is this…”

Which Master had this kind of a sanctuary?

How could it envelop such a wide range? At the same time as she thought that, her knees buckled to the ground.

The other troops were not much different.

The soldiers couldn't stand it at all, and they all collapsed the floor, and only the captains could barely resist a little.

An absolutely massive pressure.

Helena couldn't understand what kind of power this was.

As far as she knew, no one in the kingdom wielded such power, so she thought this might be an unknown Master from the empire.

While the kingdom's defeat was looking more and more inevitable –

From under her feet, pieces of stone and debris began to rise slowly.

At the same time, the strong pressure was gone.

“Huff. Haah… Hm?”

As if by magic, all that debris, from small pieces of stone to large chunks of rock, slowly floated into the air and began to converge towards one place.

Towards the royal audience chamber inside the castle.

As the pieces of debris smashed through the stone walls, the roof of the castle exploded, and a huge sphere floated up to the sky.

Then it shot upwards with a loud roar, out of sight.

As Helena unconsciously looked up at the night sky, there was a sense of discord among the twinkling stars.

“The stars… Wait. Is that even a star?"

Why did it look so big?

It wasn't even shining.

A huge dull boulder was floating high, high above the castle. Then it started to fall down.

"Uhhhh… Dodge!!"

Thooooooooommmmmmm-!!

A scorching heat scoured the air.

A violent, rupturing pressure made the winds buckle and groan.

Helena immediately grabbed Esther, who was still trying to fight, and ran away.

Far, far away.

After she’d been running away for a bit –

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaasshhhhhh!!

The falling megalith exploded against the ground.

Booom! Boooooooooom! Boooooooooooooommmmmm!!

“Kgghhhhhhh!”

“Owwwwww, it hurts…”

As the shockwave rolled towards Helena’s running form, still clutching Esther –

Helena was bounced around for a while before she could finally come to a stop.

“The queen…”

Although the megalith hadn’t been particularly large, its fall hadn’t spared the surroundings. The royal castle was almost destroyed.

The proud spire of the castle had collapsed from the shock.

The royal castle, the pride of the kingdom, had crumbled under the meteor’s descent.

“What is this…”

“It might not be so bad…? But it sure as hell looks bad… I don’t know.”

Esther and Helena, seeing the ruined castle, did not know what to do.

Even so, it was difficult to determine whether the falling meteor had been a good or a bad thing.

Because where the meteor had fallen, although inside the castle, was close to where the Grand Spears of Gollus had initially descended. Therefore the imperials had suffered much more damage than the kingdom’s forces.

After a moment of thought, Helena and Esther started running. First of all, it was urgent to check the queen’s condition.

There was a Master beside her, but it might not have been enough in the face of that shockwave.

They neared the place while cutting down the remaining imperial soldiers along the way.

They also met imperial knights.

They didn't want to fight, so they dodged and detoured, since checking the situation was the priority right now.

When they arrived at the audience room that had collapsed from all sides –

Helena and Esther's hearts pounded violently.

Because there –

"Aaahhhh….”

– Stood Callius, the Light Dragon Sword pierced deep into his heart.