Ch.280Verdant Archipelago. Belka (4)

Piercing the sky and boiling the sea with massive heat rays, the mysterious monsters in the form of sailing ships writhed in agony, letting out terrible screams.

“Behold the power of the sun. And feel it! This earth is not a place where you may set foot!”

I shouted as I unleashed slashes filled with equal parts aura and light from above the sky, beginning to burn the dark, tentacled things rising from beneath the sea.

SHRIEEEEK!

BOOOOOM!

And the 460mm high-explosive shell that grazed my cheek struck, with intense light, the face of the evil god that had burst through the ship I had placed as camouflage.

A powerful explosion. And light spreading in all directions.

Resembling a cephalopod but certainly not one, this embodiment of evil that could not be considered of this world opened its mouth, revealing countless teeth to me, and I faced it with my sword wrapped in aura.

“Come, master of wickedness! As an apostle of heat and light, I shall vanquish you!”

Glancing down, I could see barnacle humans like grains of rice walking toward the shoreline with guns and swords.

And as my soldiers poured artillery fire upon them, this truly became a mythical battle.

A reenactment of the struggle for world supremacy between darkness and radiance from over a million years ago.

WHOOSH!

“Urgh!”

The sound of air being sliced.

Even though I was flying through the sky, gravity still pulled at me.

Shock waves and the turbulence that followed. I swung my purifier to cut, sever, and burn tentacles while commanding bombardment satellites that poured the sun’s power from above.

KUOOOOO….!

Thousands of heat rays. And boiling seawater with steam rising toward the sky.

I felt salt crystals forming on my face as I gripped my sword with both hands.

It wasn’t over yet.

Only one god had fallen. More than ten evil gods still remained in this sea, trying to kill me, no—trying to extinguish the sun.

“Come! Incarnations of darkness! I am the embodiment of radiance and the representative of Lord Saburo! I am the enemy who destroyed your world and the beloved of the one who spread light across the world! Who dares to face me! Come and try to extinguish my light with your darkness!”

As I enveloped my body in light, the numerous “gods” made of tentacles trembled and called out to their nemesis.

-Nariakira… Saburo…-

“How dare you speak his name! You who could not withstand the light and disappeared into the dark depths and abyss have no right to utter his name!”

As I rebuked them, the mass of crawling tentacles cackled and raised their bodies from the sea.

-He was strong… But… you… are not ‘him’… Weak. Insignificant being….-

Their laughter grew stronger, and soon twisted beings unlike any living creature revealed themselves from the depths of the sea.

-You can kill an apostle.-

-You can kill a believer.-

-But you cannot kill a god.-

Saying this, they extended countless tentacles toward me.

*

“Long live the sun!!! Under the name of Nariakira, we shall seize victory!”

I raised my sword high and began turning the blades rushing at me into takoyaki ingredients.

With each swing, supersonic shock waves crushed the tentacles, but while I was alone, they were many, and their strength gradually began to push me back.

-Accept the darkness. No matter how bright the light may be, you were all born from the dark womb of a woman, and you cannot go against that instinct.-

“I’m an orphan, you twisted things! Do you think you can defile the body of the sun?”

-Ah… poor thing. Trying to survive in this harsh world without mother or father. Come here. We will become your family.-

“The only family you will have is ruins of devastated relics and history recorded as defeat! Prepare to burn before the radiance! Impure ones!”

I swung my sword, ignoring the wicked whispers trying to tempt me.

Tentacles bound my limbs, and tens of millions of eyes stared at me.

A deep fear, as if darkness itself was invading my mind, consumed me, but I already had a darkness deeper than anything else within me.

A darkness different from theirs—the darkness under moonlight that brings rest and rebirth, not corruption and doom.

[My love. Overcome this.]

I faintly hear my wife’s encouragement in my mind.

Yes.

It’s about overcoming.

I am the sun.

I am the holiness that burns brightest, having received the divinity of the sun, a meteor!

Light and heat are part of me and the only concepts that constitute me!

“Nothing can stop the march of light!”

In that moment.

I became a tiny sun and burned all the tentacles that had bound me.

The light was so bright that tens of millions of eyes were blinded at once, and even my soldiers blessed by the light had to shield their eyes as I radiated brilliantly, driving away the darkness.

“Impure evil! Your tentacles shall be burned and your eyes scorched! And upon your corpses, we shall celebrate our precious victory and continue for eternity! Brace for impact! The apostle of light will burn you!”

I was burning.

It’s painful.

Every nerve in my body screams, and I vividly feel myself turning to ashes and charcoal from scalp to sole.

This is the burden the sun bears… this is the pain the sun endures.

In this terrible agony that could make me lose consciousness at any moment, I opened my boiling pupils to look at my enemies, thinking of the one who has endured this pain for 350,000 years.

-Impossible.-

-A sun above the sky and a sun below the sky?-

-The body crumbles. The mind burns! The radiance will annihilate our existence!-

With the brilliant radiance secured by pain, darkness recedes and light fills in. Emptiness vanishes and heat takes its place.

This is the contract the world made with Him. A world of endless opportunity given to humanity, secured by eternal pain.

“Behold, armies of the sun! We are both specks of fervor and mountains! Point your weapons at the enemy and pour out your anger! Kill! Kill! Kill! They are those who deny the sun and followers of darkness! Our light is the truth! Through our sacrifice, our brethren will obtain the blessing of life!”

I swung my burning purifier blade and set the sky ablaze.

Clouds were torn apart by my sword strikes, and lightning born from thunder scorched the earth, returning the barnacles to sand.

Thousands of heat rays evaporating the sea were puncturing holes in the self-proclaimed gods who had lost their tentacles and eyes, and I, still burning, was embodying humanity’s hostility toward them.

“I bring you good news! Rejoice, citizens! The radiance will embrace you!”

“Our master is burning! He is the new sun and our lord!”

“Lord Nariakira Saburo is divine and Lord Victor Walker is invincible! Come at us, powers of darkness!”

“Hail to the master of fervor! We fight for the radiance!”

Ah…. I hear voices.

The voices of tens of thousands of soldiers who believe in and follow me… This isn’t heard through the ears.

It’s heard through the soul… I instinctively knew that.

Lord Saburo… Can you see? I am shining following you.

Look at me… and be pleased… I am your blade…! I will burn away the enemies of light..!

“Long live the sun!!!”

It burns me.

Leaving nothing of my flesh, and nothing of my soul.

Only one step remains toward complete combustion.

It burns my skin. Burns my muscles. Burns my bones. Burns my organs. Burns my nerves. Burns my pupils. Burns my eardrums. Burns my brain.

This is truly radiance.

My soul ascends to an even higher place.

To the sky, above the sky, toward the center of the universe.

Ah… I see it…! The center of radiance!

I reach out with hands that no longer exist toward the being waiting for me.

Accept me! I am you!

“I’m sorry. That cannot be.”

I pushed myself away.

I saw tears flowing, even those tears turning to salt and evaporating in the heat.

I still have work to do on earth.

I cannot be extinguished yet.

“My son. Return below the heavens. And never come back.”

Why.

“I ascended here to prevent you from burning, and I will surely establish another empire.”

I am me.

That’s how it should be.

I… was pushing myself away.

“I have shared myself with you, so you are the smallest me and my only blood… Victor. Build an empire worthy of your name and save humanity. Strip away barbarism and ignorance and usher in an age of civilization and enlightenment once more.”

No.

I should be here.

I should burn here.

That is… my mission…

“And someday. Come to save me, her, us.”

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And the Sun sent His apostle, Victor Walker, back to the human world below the heavens.