Ch.62Up

Humans have limits.

Limits of strength. Limits of endurance. Limits of species.

Clear endpoints that willpower alone cannot overcome.

A law established since the moment the first god created all life at the beginning of time.

Humans were weaker than any other race.

Still.

What should one do if retreat is not an option?

I couldn’t live as a toy for fairies.

I didn’t want to live as livestock for Werebeasts.

Living as a slave to Dwarves was nothing but suffering.

I wanted to escape the fate of being bred as a vessel for countless half-breeds.

We needed strength that would not yield.

To face humanity’s enemies and finally triumph.

Humans resisted.

They raised their swords and rebelled against the providence set by the creator.

If we cannot reach it as humans.

If this is the limit of the human species.

Then, let us transcend humanity.

Somewhere in the heavens, an unknown being admired them and blessed them.

It was the beginning of Karma.

—-

“Haschal…?”

Demian called my name with difficulty.

His mutilated body was covered in wounds.

Scars that would have been severed limbs had they been cut any deeper.

…It seemed impossible for him to move properly anymore.

What about Millia?

Surely she’s not dead?

Right, Demian?

Tell me you protected her.

I listened intently with desperate hope.

“……, ….!.. …, …..!..”

I could hear labored breathing.

A heartbeat sounded. Slowly. Very slowly.

Still, she was alive.

Barely.

I took out the glass vial I received from Frider. The grayish-white liquid sloshed inside.

One of the last three vials I had left after using everything else.

It was meant to be drunk when I could no longer move, to keep fighting.

…Good thing I saved it.

“This is a healing potion, use it on Millia. And if possible, retreat.”

I handed it to Demian without hesitation.

I’m still fine.

Just a little tired. I can fight. My legs and arms can still move.

“What about… you?”

“I… must fight.”

I raise my sword again. Toward the black leopard who watches us with a grin while picking at its claws.

Yes, you think you can kill me easily, don’t you?

With trembling arms, I grip my drooping longsword again and charge.

I needed to buy time. At least until Demian and Millia could escape.

Just a little longer.

—-

– Clang!

My swung sword is easily deflected.

The body I always relied on is helplessly pushed back.

I had no feeling in my fingertips.

The Champion of the Werebeasts.

Warriors who had trained their naturally robust purebred bodies to their limits.

Not an opponent I could face with an exhausted body.

“If the primary target is here… Boris must have failed. How unfortunate.”

“If you mean the Black Wolf, you can see him in the special viewing area. Looking like a dog that died pathetically…!”

“Is that so?”

The black leopard smiles.

About 2 meters tall. Small for a purebred, with muscles that were sleek rather than bulky.

Golden skin covered with black leopard-specific patterns, creating a mottled appearance.

“Well then, I’ll have to do it myself. Die like a dog, and tell Boris who’s waiting for you. Tell him Natalya sent you.”

Natalya’s longsword gleams with a dark luster.

Her light armor, covering only vital areas, shines red, soaked with human blood.

An arrow stuck in her shoulder wobbles, and thin blood seeps from several slightly cut areas of her fur.

The wounds were so minor they were hardly worth calling injuries, but even that was miraculous.

With Demian and Millia’s skills, even holding out would have been difficult.

Yet they had endured.

Against an overwhelming enemy, without retreating.

So I too must do the same.

“Haaaaaah!”

Our swords collide.

With a flash of sparks, my arm is pushed back from the impact.

My sword was still sharp, but lacked the strength to advance.

The tip of Natalya’s sword shoots toward my neck.

“Kuh, aaaah!”

I block it with my left arm. The black iron gauntlet is gouged and my forearm is torn.

It’s fine. It still moves.

I thrust it forward like a spear. Aiming for the leopard’s heart.

“Too slow.”

My outstretched hand is easily caught.

Her leg strikes my empty torso.

My body folds in half.

“Kuhuk!”

I’m thrown back, gasping for breath.

I crash through the wall, breaking through it.

With a thunderous sound, broken bricks pour down.

Dust billows up.

I roll across the ground.

Debris from the floor tears through various parts of my body.

My scraped skin stings. My shoulder that hit the wall throbs.

Something hot rises from my stomach.

“Kuk, kuhuk…! Khaaak!”

I vomit what must be several bowls of blood.

Is it my blood, or the beast’s?

A puddle of blood mixed with stomach acid spreads a sour, fishy smell.

Is my waist still attached?

My head goes blank from the excruciating pain.

My side feels like it’s been torn open, terribly painful.

Painful, so painful.

Too painful even to scream.

But what of it?

I use my sword as a cane, stabbing it into the ground to stand up.

I run again, gritting my teeth.

Not yet.

This isn’t my limit yet.

Hersella’s body couldn’t reach its limit from just this.

I roar and reignite my will.

Remembering the people who died.

Recalling the screams that echoed through the burning city.

The culprit was right before me.

The enemy I had to kill was right in front of me.

So I cannot stop.

At that moment, a brilliant light rose from the distance and covered the city.

It was the holy light of Elpinel.

—-

The pain subsides.

My strength returns as if time has been reversed.

My power comes back.

My running legs rapidly accelerate. For the first time, I run while thanking a god.

I couldn’t tell exactly what had happened.

But this feeling of fullness spreading throughout my body with the dawn light was undoubtedly a miracle.

“Holy light…?! A saint candidate…!”

Natalya’s expression becomes urgent for the first time.

The black leopard swings her sword at me.

A black arc cuts through the air.

Unlike before, it was a strike with genuine intent to cut me down.

One that would have sent me tumbling helplessly if I tried to block it.

– Kaaaang!

I block it.

I can block it.

The two swords push against each other, howling roughly.

I don’t yield. Finally.

“Kyaaaaat!”

I push forward with a roar.

Brilliant sparks fly.

My Jin sword gradually cuts into the black iron blade.

“Tch!”

Once again, the beast’s leg aims for my stomach.

I jump back to avoid it.

Natalya’s leg cuts through empty air.

My body felt light, as if I’d leaped out of a swamp.

If my body had been in proper condition, I could have dodged this much originally.

“I said you were slow, how about now!”

I shout as I leap. My revitalized body heats up and dances.

I swing my sword. I shoot out my arm. I thrust my leg.

I continue attacking endlessly, rampaging.

Natalya growls.

“Getting cocky!”

I block her swung longsword in mid-air.

With a whoosh, my body flies backward.

I flip my body in the air and land. My feet slide, leaving long tracks.

“Grrrrrr…”

Natalya lowers her upper body and bares her teeth.

Emitting a fierce aura completely different from before.

“Human, how dare you…!”

I grip my sword hilt. Yes. We’re just at the starting line now.

She was still stronger than me.

—-

“Kaaaaat!”

“Kyaaaaa!”

Person and Werebeast collide repeatedly, baring fangs and howling.

Sword against sword, claw against claw, aiming for each other.

Their appearances were remarkably similar.

A longsword in one hand, claws raised in the other, attacking ferociously like beasts.

Ignoring injuries, roaring with rage-filled howls.

It was like looking in a mirror.

“Are you one of us?!”

“My mother was human!”

Blood sprays in all directions like strokes from a brush dipped in red paint.

My entire body is stained with blood again.

I just keep attacking relentlessly.

…I could feel myself gradually being pushed back.

My physical abilities were slightly inferior. The quality of my sword was actually superior.

In front of Jin, a Werebeast’s regeneration meant nothing.

Yet defeat was clearly approaching.

Equal conditions. Sword wounds of the same depth.

But when Natalya’s sword scraped my bones, my sword only cut through the enemy’s muscles.

Human versus Werebeast.

The simple difference in class slowly tilts the scales of battle.

My instinct mocks me, saying I’ll only die slowly at this rate.

That humans cannot defeat Werebeasts.

But I cannot accept that.

I gather my fighting spirit once more and step forward.

I whip my body forward, scolding the mind that speaks of defeat.

If the enemy cannot be defeated, then until I win.

Memories from the past few months flash through my mind in fragments.

Is this what they call a life flashing before your eyes?

The smiling faces of those who were with me.

And then, the sight of them falling, bleeding.

By these creatures.

Millia.

“Kuh, uaaaaaaah!”

I throw my body at the thrusting longsword.

With a sound of tearing flesh, my shoulder is pierced. I grab it and take one more step.

Forward.

The jagged sword scrapes my shoulder bone and muscles, sending both chilling sensations and burning pain through my nerves.

Suppressing a scream, I swing my sword.

Natalya’s left arm is deeply cut.

The bone appears, scraped between the torn muscles.

“Khaak…! You bastard!”

The Werebeast’s knee strikes my abdomen like a cannonball.

Vomiting blood, my body flies into the air.

My fingers lose strength and I drop my longsword.

Nigel.

I grit my teeth and twist my body, tensing my stomach.

Suppressing the tearing pain and rising blood, I kick the longsword.

The blade shoots like an arrow and pierces Natalya’s thigh.

“Kuuuh…!”

Natalya’s hand strikes my head.

I fall like a thrown dog, rolling across the floor.

The suppressed blood erupts from my mouth.

My consciousness wavers.

I bite my lip hard. My mind returns.

I place my hands on the ground and rise, staggering.

Something catches my fingertips.

A massive sword, broken in half.

Demian.

I grasp the greatsword and stand.

“Aaaaaaah!”

I leap, spin, and strike downward.

With all the momentum left in my body.

“Aishan-Gioro!”

Natalya pulls my longsword from her thigh and throws it.

The sword tip shoots toward my heart, gleaming sharply.

It was too late to block. I couldn’t dodge either.

I could only twist my upper body to avoid my heart.

– Whoosh!

Imelia’s longsword turns as if by magic.

Caught in the wind of the greatsword? It rotates half a turn, and only the hilt strikes my body as it passes.

Natalya’s face fills with shock.

She raises her own longsword.

Like thunder splitting rock, the two swords collide with a roar.

The black iron blades shatter into pieces and scatter.

A fragment of the greatsword grazes my cheek.

Dozens of blade fragments embed themselves in Natalya’s body.

Natalya sprays blood from her entire body.

Even with a black iron greatsword stripped of its silver, wounds like these…!

“Kwaaaak!”

Ah.

With a roaring cry, four blades pierce my body.

A spray of blood erupts.

“Aaaaaaak!”

My mind, which had slightly relaxed, can’t help but scream.

Four long claws pierce through my collarbone area and tear.

Right. Claws. Even with weapons broken, Werebeasts have claws…

Her open jaws approach.

Aiming for my neck, as if to tear it apart.

I reflexively kick her away and roll across the floor.

Crimson blood streams wet the torn ground.

“Haa…! Haaaa….!”

I exhale suppressed breaths.

My body trembles.

The holy light of Elpinel, pushed to its limit, gradually fades.

The body that had been raised again and again by the power of blessing was finally approaching death.

Even the pain was gradually becoming hazy like a mirage.

Through darkening vision, I look at my enemy.

Natalya howls. She charges with a roar.

Arms spread wide, eight claws raised.

Wildly ferocious like a beast.

Unlike the longsword wounds, the injuries from the greatsword were healing quickly.

Growing flesh spits out the black iron fragments.

…I wanted to rest.

So exhausted, unable to bear the pain, I wanted to close my eyes and sleep.

But I still had to fight.

—-

I pick up the longsword that was somehow stuck beside me.

I make one final pledge to myself.

A pledge I must never forget.

I will never lose.

I will never die.

I will survive, absolutely survive.

To protect. Myself. Others. This terrible, cruel world.

It’s not faith.

Faith burned to ashes.

It’s not atonement.

Speaking of atonement without accomplishing anything would be hypocrisy.

So, this is simply.

Yes.

It is my duty that I must fulfill.

Protect humanity.

With a sword.

From all enemies of the world.

From the distortions I created, from the calamities that will come someday.

Protect the people.

The blue afterglow circling the blade deepens.

More and more clearly. More and more brilliantly.

The golden seal burns like the sun.

[L’une des douze épées qui défendent l’humanité]

One of the twelve swords that protect humanity

Something seeps into my entire body.

A sensation I cannot describe, just like warm sunlight.

Now I could feel it.

Only now could I finally understand.

This is Karma.

Not the murderous Karma of Murder filled with terrible madness, but the protective Karma that embraces with brilliant light.

This was the form of Karma I had built up, not Hersella’s.

Certainly, compared to the Karma of Murder, it was an insignificant force.

If Hersella’s Karma was like a river overflowing with blood, mine was merely a small stream.

However, that blue light sparkled so clearly.

Like the morning sky when looking up. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

As if entranced. I hold the sword-

Above my head.

And.

I swing.

Without even a scream, the Werebeast Champion is split in half.