Ch.85Diminuendo (5)

The Roman family was one that revered the sword. Adel had heard this since he was young.

Born as the eldest son in a family that revered the sword, he knew there was only one path for him.

He swung his sword. Breaking bones at a young age, scraping his hands until they bled, forcing his exhausted body to move and swing the sword again.

‘You have talent.’

When his father, who had never even spared him a glance, said those words, Adel still remembered how happy his young heart had felt.

He wanted praise, he wanted recognition.

Swinging the sword became his daily routine, pushing himself to the limit and beyond with maddening determination.

Before he knew it, he had become the heir to the Roman sword.

‘I heard that knight Evan Fried has become an Expert?’

‘They say he’s faster than even the Crown Prince. I wonder if we’ll see a new Master soon.’

When he heard about a knight who had become an Expert at a younger age than himself, he had dismissed it.

Surely that person hadn’t worked as hard as he had. Surely they hadn’t put in the effort he had. And yet…

Adel smiled.

Looking at the knight before him who radiated brilliant light, he twisted the corner of his mouth as memories surfaced.

No matter what he did, he could never reach them.

Every step he took, others were already leaping far ahead.

He had thought that rather than living his whole life like this, he should just give up everything.

When he had fallen to the troll, he remembered that contemptuous gaze.

He could have done it himself, so why did another knight have to appear and block his path?

*Thump-*

His cold heart slowly began to beat again.

It was a pulse so slow it could hardly be considered that of a living person, but Adel casually gripped his sword.

The day he accepted the shadow, he had essentially died once already.

Because blood no longer flowed, because his heart no longer beat, he could become stronger.

Dark mana leaked out, enveloping the surroundings like fog.

He bit his lip, but no blood came. Instead, black liquid flowed from his mouth and down his body.

“Huu…”

Adel inhaled with a sob-like sound and quietly laughed.

His neck bent backward, tearing the flesh and exposing bone, but he felt no pain.

…Wasn’t it pleasant? Now even those who had been above him could no longer ignore him.

Evan’s heart was beating violently, as if it might burst at any moment.

Adel noticed that Evan was pushing himself. To face him? No, it was probably because of Airin Yuris who would be above…

But what did that matter?

*Kwang!* In an instant, Adel’s form disappeared as he approached Evan.

A thunderous sound erupted from the clashing swords. Momentary confusion flashed in Evan’s eyes.

The speed was faster than expected; it seemed better to assume this Adel was completely different from the one he knew.

*Chwaralak*, a white sword flowed out from between the flipped cloak.

The sword, once again emitting brilliant light with the power of the spirit, aimed for Adel’s chest.

‘…Something’s strange.’

Perhaps this attack could end it all. But Evan felt a faint uneasiness.

There was something he didn’t know. It was certain that Adel Roman was no longer human.

He felt that even stabbing the heart wouldn’t kill him. In that moment, Evan sensed something chilling.

The sensation of a sword thrusting toward his neck—he twisted his body and wrist, and blood trickled from where the sword grazed his neck.

He hadn’t reacted. Or more precisely, he hadn’t anticipated it.

Evan stepped back and looked at Adel. His arm was strangely twisted into a digeut shape.

Yet Adel wore a comfortable expression… he no longer looked human.

*Kkuk*, Evan readjusted his grip on the sword. It was difficult to predict the direction of attacks.

If that was the case, it would be right to rely purely on instinct.

*Hwarluk!* Flames once again enveloped Evan’s body.

Simultaneously, another burst of light—the light spirit greatly enhanced his physical abilities.

He couldn’t have done it before, but now it was possible.

“Huu.”

Exhaling once, Evan planted his foot on the ground and thrust his sword forward.

In his vision, there was only the dark mana spread like fog, not Adel.

Adel’s original swordsmanship wasn’t particularly high-level.

But what was troubling was that mana—it was the mana used by dark mages, but now that a knight was using it, wasn’t it quite tricky?

Evan’s sword sliced through the air. In that moment, Adel ducked his head and his blade grazed Evan’s shoulder.

*Hwarluk*, golden flames wrapped around Evan’s body as he gritted his teeth and twisted his waist.

His body bent low, and his sword moved upward in a diagonal slash.

*Kwang!* As the swords collided, Evan continued his attack.

Grabbing the deflected sword, he twisted his wrist and thrust it straight forward.

*Puk-*

The moment he stabbed, Evan saw the corner of Adel’s mouth twist and quickly withdrew his sword.

No blood splattered. Seeing that nothing stained the cleanly withdrawn sword, Evan looked at Adel.

“…What on earth.”

How did it come to this? The Adel Roman he first met had quite a different impression.

He still didn’t like him, but he didn’t have the madness in his eyes that he had now.

What on earth had made him like this? His wounded shoulder ached.

Though he disliked Adel as a person, he never meant to deny his existence.

If he hadn’t become a dark mage, apart from being Airin’s fiancé, wasn’t he quite decent?

With his knee joints twisted and legs bent inward, Adel giggled.

He was muttering something, but it was impossible to understand what he was saying.

He was becoming accustomed to the spirit’s power. He could achieve explosive speed.

Perhaps he could generate enough destructive power to kill this specter in one blow.

*Tat*, Evan stepped forward again. Adel quietly raised his sword.

The black fog surrounding his body—Evan had been breaking through it well so far, but…

There was one thing he didn’t know. That Adel hadn’t truly used the black fog yet.

Adel’s eyebrow twitched momentarily. Wasn’t it enjoyable?

Seeing him, who had always been his point of comparison, struggle so much. The wound on his shoulder was visible. This time, he would completely sever that arm.

He planned to cut off his arms and legs, drag what remained of his body to Airin Yuris,

tell her that the knight she cherished so much was gone,

and then use that barely breathing body as a sacrifice… to see the red moon again.

There were no hitches in the plan—he was still Adel of the Roman family. For now.

*Kwang-!* As the swords collided, Adel’s body was pushed back.

Despite gritting his teeth and resisting, he was being pushed back by this force, and Adel quietly smiled.

Equal? No, he was still far from enough. Despite being this broken,

despite working this hard. He was still being pushed back! He gritted his teeth.

With all his might, he moved the black fog to attack Evan’s back.

Evan slightly twisted his body to avoid the attack. There was no need to move excessively.

The power given by the light spirit was antithetical to darkness. Though not as purifying as dragon blood,

it was blocking the sticky darkness emitted by the black fog to some extent.

*Chwarurururu-!*

A chain made of light flowed from Evan’s empty hand.

He could use it because he had instinctively understood how, but he didn’t know how strong it was.

Just briefly stopping movement would be enough.

The chain, with a will of its own, wrapped around Adel’s body.

As Adel’s arm was bound by the tightly pulled chain, Evan raised his heartbeat.

*Thump,*

Light enveloped his body. The burning white flame, touching the light, emitted an even more brilliant radiance.

The black fog no longer reached him. The dispersing darkness soon reached the ceiling, and the black cloak fluttered in the brilliant light.

And from within, a pure white sword was revealed. *Tak*, Evan stepped on the ground. And then.

He disappeared from Adel’s sight.

Adel’s eyebrows trembled finely. He had lost track. It was a speed too fast for him to perceive,

but he thought he would soon be able to track it. However, unable to see, Adel swung his sword, breaking the chains wrapped around his body.

*Woong-* The black fog wrapped around Adel. He didn’t like that he had lost track of Evan even for a moment.

Consuming the black fog would strain his body, but… what did that matter now?

The sound of his heartbeat stopped. He was in a completely lifeless state,

but Adel felt his body becoming lighter. Now, he should be able to sense Evan Fried. But when he opened his eyes.

‘Ah?’

Adel realized that he still couldn’t track Evan’s form.

*Puk*, he blankly stared at the blade that had pierced through his back and protruded from his stomach.

This level of injury was fine. After all, everything would regenerate. But somehow, it wasn’t regenerating.

As wounds continued to accumulate from attacks he couldn’t track, somehow they weren’t healing.

‘Light.’

Only then could Adel see it. The line drawn by a light cluster surrounding him.

Every time the gently curving line moved, more wounds appeared on his body.

He couldn’t reach it. That was the truth, but he feared that admitting it would make everything crumble.

“I…!”

He hadn’t lost yet. He could win. Gritting his teeth, Adel swung his sword wildly.

The darkness-wrapped sword tore through the light. Wounds on his body increased,

and his nearly severed arm could no longer hold the sword, swinging like a pendulum from his shoulder.

He wanted recognition. He wanted his father to acknowledge his skills.

Whether it was the Crown Prince or Evan Fried, he didn’t want to be compared to others; he just wanted to be called Adel Roman for who he was.

“It’s not my fault…!”

What was wrong with being born this way? He had worked hard, he just couldn’t reach it.

He had chosen this method to reach it, so why did he have to go through this?

His chest ached. Not because of the large hole, but because of the unbearable emptiness in his hollow chest.

Despite all this, he was still being pushed back. He had accepted dark magic, distorting his own form.

*Hwarluk*, as the white flame rose, Adel felt himself becoming increasingly desperate.

Evan’s body, wrapped in light, accelerated again. *Tukwang!* The weight of the sword was much heavier than before.

Evan thought coldly that Adel was already finished. But why did he feel desperation in those eyes?

The thought didn’t continue for long. *Seoguk*, as Adel’s severed arm scattered in the air,

Adel blankly stared at it with slightly parted lips. At the place where his arm once was, now feeling phantom pain, lay his sword. Adel knelt and picked up the sword with his mouth. Not yet, it wasn’t over yet—

*Puk.*

As the sword that pierced his back dug into the ground, Adel dropped the sword he was holding in his mouth due to the sudden intense pain.

The reason he could feel sensation. It meant he had reached his limit, didn’t it?

He could still do more. Even without an arm, if he used the black fog, he could fight more.

But… his body wouldn’t move. His mind was saying he could fight more, but his damn body wouldn’t move.

“…Hehe.”

*Kung, kung.* As Adel banged his head on the ground and started laughing like he had lost his mind, Evan quietly watched him.

Why did he feel strangely complicated?

In the gaze looking at him, there was a slight reverence mixed in.

Hadn’t he felt that when he first saw Adel Roman?

It was still those unpleasant purple eyes. Adel, who had been writhing on the floor,

stopped laughing when he met Evan’s gaze and quietly opened his mouth.

“Sir Evan. How was I?”

“……”

“When I saw your sword at Mount Berden… I felt ecstasy. I vowed that someday I would become like you… but here we are.”

His voice was no different from the one Evan had heard that day at Mount Berden.

A voice filled with goodwill, even reverence for him—Evan quietly looked down at Adel.

Not a trace remained of the teal hair from that time.

The black fog that had wrapped around Adel’s body was slowly devouring his flesh.

Perhaps soon, Adel Roman would be consumed by the black fog and disappear.

“Are you pitying me?”

At that question, Evan couldn’t easily open his mouth.

Pity? No, he had no intention of pitying a dark mage.

It’s just that he had once seen his form. He knew him from the novel.

He felt a subtle emotion at seeing such a fallen state.

The content of the novel no longer existed.

Adel Roman, who had abandoned Airin and sought his own survival… would now disappear.

Evan, who had pulled the sword from Adel’s back, quietly passed by him.

He had no intention of exchanging more words. The strange feeling aside, Airin was still above.

As he was about to pass by, Adel’s voice reached his ear.

“…I wanted recognition.”

It was a voice tinged with moisture. Though his body had lost the ability to cry, Adel looked at Evan’s turned back with blurred eyes.

“That’s the answer, Sir Evan.”

His body was dispersing. Feeling this, Adel quietly closed his eyes.

The emotion he felt at the end was neither regret, nor grief, nor remorse, nor sadness.

It was just relief, and what remained on his fading lips was a single smile.

Silence, in the space where only stillness remained, nothing was left.

Only a single sword remained, lonely, telling that Adel Roman had once been here.

After watching this scene for a moment, Evan eventually began walking upward again.

Trying to erase from his memory Adel Roman, a being now completely gone from this world.

#

*Seuuuu-*

Evan, taking a deep breath, slowly looked up.

If he climbed just one more floor, he would soon meet Duke Roman.

His trembling fingers were visible. He might be a bit nervous.

A first-time enemy, perhaps one against whom he had no chance of winning.

Yet he moved forward. Even if it meant giving up his life,

he recalled his vow that he didn’t want to regret any more than this.

*Hwarluk-*

A faint flame rose from his heart. The spirit’s power intertwined with that flame, and pure white mana emitted a bright light.

The dark ducal residence began to be dyed in white light. Looking at that light, he gradually calmed his pounding heart.

It was still fine.

He had fully accepted the spirit’s power, and he hadn’t wasted time fighting Adel.

Closing his eyes tightly for a moment, Evan then exhaled lightly and moved forward.

*Juruk*, drops of blood from his fingertips fell to the floor.

Seeing the blood flowing from the wound inflicted by Adel, Evan gave a bitter smile.

Somehow, the healing speed of the wounds on his body seemed to have slowed.