Chapter 365

R​e​a‍d​ ​o​n‍ K​a‍t‍R‍e​a​d​i​​n‍g‍​C‍af‌e‌

To her, strength was the goal of life.

She didn’t know why. She didn’t know the reason. It was just natural. Like no creature questions the act of breathing.

That was before she was even called ‘Ere.’

Before she was taken in by Astaroth and gained her current ‘body.’

It was a consistent theme in her life, even back when she was just a Death Knight, a mere monster, not a named monster.

Seeking the ultimate through the sword. Aiming for the pinnacle through martial prowess. An endless staircase lay before her, and the Black Knight kept walking and climbing it without stopping. The immediate goals changed from time to time, but the destination was always the same.

Ere didn’t know her origins.

She was on the battlefield from the moment she first became aware.

Holding a rusty, blood-stained sword, dragging her battered body.

Even in those days when she barely knew proper language, when she was closer to a beast.

The Black Knight was consumed by only one desire, slaughtering the enemies before her.

‘I must become stronger.’

What is a Death Knight?

There are differences between individuals, but most are at least high rank monsters. Some, like the Black Knight, were named monsters. 

Knights of death. Those who refused to rest even in death and fought with weapons. Their birth was similar to that of other undead monsters: ‘death’ 

Those who couldn’t forget their desires even in death. No, rather, they clung even more to their past regrets because they had nothing else left.

‘More power.’

She would do anything to achieve that obsession.

Even acts that others would find incomprehensible, like challenging a Devil God, she would not hesitate if there was a reason to do so.

‘I can become stronger.’

A smile spread across Ere’s face.

Her lips curved slightly as if she was truly enjoying herself.

The battle with the Devil God was, in reality, just a stalling tactic.

It seemed equal at first glance, but the reality was slightly different.

Murmur wasn’t very interested in the battle itself, and Ere was borrowing external power from Lucia’s flesh.

A fragment of the Blessed Saintess’s body.

What was contained within was a massive amount of death energy that even Ere couldn’t fathom.

Ere couldn’t fill it all alone, so she had to borrow help from her master.

‘I see death.’

Even so, the odds of winning were low.

Not entirely nonexistent, but a difficult probability to achieve.

She would lose. Losing the battle meant death.

All sorts of emotions began to boil in her chest. She had never really feared death. A knight of death fearing death? 

A fish afraid of water. It was a joke that didn’t even elicit a smile. Impatience. Tension. And within it, an uncontainable joy bloomed. The fierce beating of her heart echoed in her ears.

‘I wonder what kind of ending I will face.’

Will she be buried here as the price of her recklessness?

Or will she somehow survive and move on to the next stage?

‘This life should have ended a long time ago.’

She was already dead as a Death Knight.

Yet, she was given a second chance, and then she faced death again.

That day. Right when the cherry blossoms were blooming beautifully.

She lost her life to the weaklings who were much weaker than her as a price for her arrogance.

Eugene. Alice. Lucia. She was defeated by the weaklings due to a moment of carelessness. It should have ended there. The knight of death would have finally found rest.

[How ignorant.]

But long ago.

For some reason, the 1st ranked Devil God, who had been watching the Black Knight, gave her another chance.

[I like you.]

The 29th ranked Devil God took that opportunity and bestowed a new body upon her.

Thus, she obtained her third life.

Ere decided to burn that impossible final life brightly. 

If she failed, she would die. She would simply return to the natural order. Her bad luck would finally run out. 

If she succeeded, she would simply move forward steadily towards the next stage. 

Ere bet her life on the roulette wheel. The sight of her using even her own life as a stake was certainly not sane. 

But that was how she had lived. Starting as a weak, low rank monster, the fact that a mere undead monster could become a Death Knight was only possible because she had used even herself as a chess piece.

“Haa, really.”

Murmur sighed, realizing that Ere had no intention of backing down.

“You really intend to go all the way?”

“Of course. If I was going to stop here, I wouldn’t have drawn my sword in the first place.”

“Yeah, I guess so. A martial artist like you can’t stand it if you don’t cut something once you draw your sword.”

Stroking her white cloud mask, Murmur slowly shook her head from side to side. She had been humoring her, but at this rate, it would never end.

“Should I do this, or should I do that? What to do…”

It’s annoying, should I just break the Underworld and run away? The Underworld interferes with Murmur’s spatial abilities, hindering her escape. 

It’s sturdy, but the foundation is messed up, so breaking it wouldn’t be too difficult. It’s unpleasant to show her back to a monster, but it’s better than being annoyed. 

Besides, she’s arrogant but has potential. If she could fix her rebellious nature, she would be a perfect subordinate.

“Should I just kill her?”

A dog that bites its owner is not needed.

If she doesn’t know her place, she has to carve it into her body.

Should I turn her into dust so that no trace remains?

“!”

Ere reflexively stopped her demonic sword. One step. She instinctively retreated. The energy had changed. The atmosphere emanating from Murmur had changed completely. The coldness, as if the air was freezing, suffocated her.

“…Did you finally decide to fight properly?”

“I hate Astaroth, that damn bitch. She’s always been selfish, but after entering a human body, she’s become so uncontrollable. But I still have some affection for her, so I was thinking of sparing her subordinates…”

Creak. Creak. A sound like scraping metal began to be heard. Ere frowned. It was the sound of scraping space.

“There’s a limit to my patience. If you mess around too much, you’ll get punished.”

“You talk too much. If you don’t come in, I’ll go to you.”

“…Okay, fine. You asked for it.”

Yeah, okay.

I’ve decided.

Let’s just kill her.

The sound of scraping metal stopped. But a change occurred. Darkness broke away around Murmur. Ere’s Underworld was being encroached upon by Murmur’s authority. It was a natural course of events. If you play with space in front of the ruler of space, you will naturally be overwhelmed. Ere wasn’t flustered because she expected it.

“Impressive.”

With this, the odds of winning dropped even further. Now it converges infinitely to 0. Nevertheless, the smile didn’t leave Ere’s face. The restraint was over. 

From now on, it was truly a battle to the death with the Devil God. Her chest throbbed. Her eyes, intoxicated with excitement, narrowed.

“Then I shouldn’t be picky about methods either.”

Ere took out something crimson.

Something blackened as if rotten.

But only the appearance was like that, and the inside remained quite fresh.

A piece of Lucia’s flesh.

A part of the body that was cut off while kidnapping and torturing her.

Ere stared blankly at the flesh of the Blessed Saintess, then brought it to her mouth.

Gulp.

She swallowed it in one bite. A disgusting sensation went down her throat. From here on out, it was a real gamble. Not drawing from the outside, but swallowing it directly and making it completely her own. 

It was a foolish act. The death energy contained in the piece of flesh exceeded the total amount that Ere could handle. She would obviously self-destruct, unable to withstand the overflowing death energy.

“It’s been a while. This sensation of the body breaking…”

But it was familiar to Ere.

Back when she was a Black Knight.

She always carried death energy that she couldn’t handle.

“I miss it. It’s like I’ve returned to those days.”

The overflowing death energy escapes the control of the body.

A dark mist began to spread under Ere.

The body couldn’t withstand it and cried out in pain.

Her eyes turned red and shone eerily in the darkness.

She takes a stance.

Left foot forward.

Raising the magic sword firmly held in both hands to her right shoulder.

What is in front of me? Is it my death? A reaper who will end my life? Or is it a stepping stone? An obstacle that I must step on and overcome? It will be decided from now on. All I can trust is myself and the swordsmanship I have honed so far.

‘This one…’

Murmur clicked her tongue. Putting aside everything else, if you only consider the total amount of simple power, she has reached the Devil God level. 

It’s probably Astaroth’s arrangement. But does she really not have any thoughts? Or does she have them but not use them? Is she crazy to want to self-destruct? 

Forcibly containing power is a suicidal act if the vessel can’t withstand it. The signs are already visible. How many minutes will she last? 5 minutes? 10 minutes?

‘At this rate, I can just stall for time and win.’

Ere had a time limit, and victory was assured if she just dealt with her appropriately and stalled for time. Murmur, who had been lost in thought for a moment, let out a snort.

“Okay. If I’ve decided to do it once, I have to do it even if it’s annoying.”

I’ll show you.

You foolish child.

What a Devil God is.

◈

However,

Contrary to that determination.

Neither the Demonic Beast nor the Devil God.

Neither of them achieved their goals.

Before Ere, who was burning herself, and Murmur, who revealed her true intentions, clashed.

An unexpected anomaly suddenly intervened without warning.

“Johan?”

Ere was the first to notice.

Due to her characteristics as a Death Knight, she was even more sensitive to ‘light’ than the Devil God. 

At first, she thought that Johan, who had been watching all along, had intervened. She quickly realized that it was a hasty judgment. It’s not Johan. This power originated from outside the Underworld, not inside.

“…What is it this time?”

Murmur expressed blatant annoyance.

Unexpected things keep happening.

Unlike Ere, she didn’t sense ‘light’. What Murmur felt was a huge presence. Something unknown was approaching. Ah, she said. Murmur unwittingly exclaimed. A cold sweat formed on her forehead due to a strange sense of déjà vu. 

Something. Really something. Something feels weird. Hasn’t something similar happened before? You know, like, when I first encountered the God of War, it was similar to now…

No.

It can’t be that.

We sealed that monster.

There’s no way there’s another one like that.

The chosen one hasn’t awakened yet.

The already crumbling Underworld collapsed. Ere doped her abilities by eating Lucia’s flesh. It was to rebuild the collapsing Underworld. All those attempts were rendered meaningless. At the same time as the ‘light’ touched it, the gate of the Underworld was being forcibly closed.

“It’s really hard to meet you, isn’t it?”

A collapsing world.

Beyond that.

What appears is a small girl.

A black uniform of the Celestial Corps.

A white coat symbolizing the captain.

It suited her, but it only looked like cosplay because of her young appearance.

But no one in this place thought it was just a costume.

“I finally found you.”

The girl looked at Ere.

Ignoring everything else, she only looked at her.

Her voice trembled slightly. She blinked her moist eyes.

“Riel.”

At the call full of affection and longing, Ere’s lips twitched.

Regardless of her will, a certain word flowed out of her mouth on its own.

She tried to stop it, but her body refused her wish.

“Sis… ter?”

Unfamiliar.

Yet, it was a familiar word.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Her sister came to drag her back home.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Incompetent battle junkie and loser child getting some sense beaten into them by yet another child.

In this case, we call it irony. Otherwise, it’s just called being a dumb person.

Yeah, kill them all!