Ch.925Don’t gamble if you’re not certain.

I’ll burn the owner of Gram alive.

The floating traffic light lizard’s goal was to preemptively kill Demian before he could grow into a threatening power.

Judging by how they gathered in alarm the moment they sensed the holy sword’s energy, though I can’t be certain, they must have suffered terribly from the holy sword’s terror during Carlos the Great’s prime.

So despite being dragons, they’re resorting to such pathetic tactics. Because they’re confident they can still win now.

“Bring him to me! I shall burn his corpse to ashes and scatter them across the fields, and melt that accursed sword to throw into the endless depths of the sea!”

Kudsedra roared, shaking the castle walls and striking the air with its tail, presumably trying to intimidate me.

The saying that the weakest dogs bark the loudest came to mind, making me smirk.

“You can stop talking now. I’ve heard everything I needed to.”

I casually rested Durandal on my shoulder and curled up the corner of my mouth.

I now knew everything I needed to know.

Their objective.

The danger of using the holy sword during training.

What they know and what they don’t.

And how I should fight them.

They knew nothing about me.

Unlike Amitamir, who recognized me as Astraea’s saint and a person with the flesh of the Thousand Killing Star with just a glance.

Thanks to Durandal, they barely figured out that I was Rotholandus’s descendant, but nothing more.

Who I am. What I’ve done. What I can do.

And even what I’m about to do now.

“You said you’d find and kill the owner of Gram?”

I reach out with my left hand to grip the sword hilt and take a deep breath.

All preparations were already complete. The power of Karma I had secretly been gathering had long since reached its peak.

The evacuation of residents should be complete by now, and Demian along with Hestella’s core forces had arrived right below my feet.

The dragon-slaying crossbows I had positioned around the walls should be ready to fire by now.

“Krrrrrrh! Yes! Right now, we shall…!”

So there was no reason to listen to their nonsense anymore.

“I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.”

I smiled as I slightly raised Durandal from my shoulder.

These four dragons, perhaps because they’re too far for my sword to reach, seem to be completely letting their guard down…

How arrogant.

If you planned to attack my country, you should have done some research about me first.

“He’s mine.”

As I firmly stated my refusal, I simultaneously released the power of Karma I had been containing within me like an erupting volcano.

【Defying Fate】

Superhuman power overflowing. The achievement within my soul bursts forth like a roar, dyeing the world black.

The dragon’s roar cut off abruptly, and their wing beats froze as if suspended.

A world of stillness that lost its color like a black and white photograph.

In this world that existed only for me, I stepped forward and slashed diagonally through the empty air.

Karma so vast it would overwhelm even a hero.

Embedding half of it into this single strike, overlaying the power of severance that cuts through the world onto the rippling blade.

【Sky Slash】

The pale glowing blade tore through my world.

And then.

– Whoooosh…!

In a world that regained its sound and color.

Beyond the clouds split in two, under a starlit night sky that had come too early.

“Ga, Gruaak…?!”

The blue dragon, eyes wide with shock, let out a questioning death cry as it split apart.

– Splaaash!

Blood and entrails poured down like a torrential rain.

—-

“Brosna?! Kraahk-! What is this? What just…!”

“Spatiotemporal severance?! Without any warning? Impossible!”

Kudsedra and Ismenios. The red and yellow dragons stared in utter shock, looking as if their souls might leave their bodies.

Their expressions are quite the masterpiece.

Just moments ago, they were speaking arrogantly and condescendingly as if they had no equal in the world, but now they look like ducks that have been smacked in the face.

Well, it’s understandable. One of their kind who was roaring perfectly fine just a moment ago has been split in half and is falling before they could even blink.

“Haaah…”

I exhaled all the air from my lungs and drew in a fresh breath, forcing strength back into my body that was feeling extreme fatigue from the recoil of Sky Slash.

‘As expected, it didn’t go quite as planned.’

The Sky Slash I had secretly gathered power for and unleashed as a surprise attack. While Brosna, who took it head-on, was sliced diagonally and died without even leaving last words… honestly, it wasn’t something I could be entirely happy about.

‘I was aiming for two at once… but the trajectory was a bit off. That’s unfortunate.’

My target wasn’t just Brosna alone, but also Ismenios who was flying alongside him, hoping to finish them both with the first strike.

However, regrettably, I was only able to cut down Brosna.

Sky Slash is a technique that releases compressed power of severance all at once, creating a slash that reaches the sky from the recoil.

Since the fundamental principle involves bursting compressed power, while it has great destructive force, it has serious flaws in accuracy.

At close range it might be different, but the further the distance to the target, the higher the probability that the trajectory of the slash would deviate.

That’s why I didn’t even dare to use it during training with Demian.

If the trajectory had gone wrong, a Sky Slash aimed at an arm could have vertically cut from crown to crotch instead.

…Anyway, for that reason, I couldn’t help feeling a bit of regret as I looked up at Brosna falling lifelessly.

I wanted to take down one dragon for certain and at least slice halfway through the other’s flank before properly starting the battle…

But I missed even the wing, let alone the flank. It was enough to make me sigh.

[Still, you caught one, didn’t you? I would be pleased with that.]

Hersella said something that might have been meant as comfort.

‘…Well, I think it’s too early to be pleased.’

“This residue is clearly a trace of spatiotemporal severance…! Not seeing the movement means… could it be that you cut through stopped time and space?”

The yellow dragon, Ismenios, seemed to have roughly figured out what I had done with just that one strike.

“Rotholandus’s spatial severance. Carlos the Great’s wide-range slash. And on top of that, time stop…? Unbelievable. But if that’s true…!”

Though he was slightly off the mark, his monologue accurately grasped the essence of Sky Slash as a “combination of time stop and spatial severance.”

In other words, he now knew what I was capable of.

And… knowing means being able to respond.

“…It’s not the time to be wary of Gram’s owner. To think there was an even greater monster here!”

This was evident just by seeing Ismenios immediately covering himself and Kudsedra with some unknown magic as soon as he finished his monologue.

I’m not sure what kind of magic it is… but it’s certainly meant to counter time stop or spatial severance.

This was troublesome.

Sky Slash being an invincible and fatal strike was only true for the first attack.

If the enemy possessed abilities that could interfere with time or space, failing to kill them with the first strike meant subsequent attempts would likely be blocked.

Like Persiella, who used the technique of spatial collapse to offset Sky Slash.

Therefore, having failed to kill both dragons with the first strike, it was fair to assume I wouldn’t get another chance.

The remaining Karma was about half of my normal amount.

In other words, if I were to use Sky Slash again, the power of my achievement would be completely depleted…

What if, by some chance, those lizard bastards managed to endure or block it?

If that happened, my only remaining option would be to grab Astraea’s skirt hem and beg for help one more time.

Moreover, there was no guarantee she would readily help me.

The goddess Astraea had been silent since the battle with Amitamir.

I don’t know why. Perhaps she’s sleeping. Like Buddha.

Anyway, with the goddess silent, I couldn’t rashly gamble.

So now, instead of Sky Slash which leaves no room for failure, I had to fight normally like before.

—-

And so.

Just as I finished all my judgments within two breaths and was about to concentrate the power of Murder Karma behind my back to ignite Karma flames…

“Krahaak…! What are you saying, Ismenios!”

Kudsedra roared fiercely as if denying Ismenios’s speculation.

Unlike Ismenios, who immediately cast defensive magic wary of Sky Slash, this one still couldn’t let go of its arrogance.

Even after witnessing Brosna becoming Bro/sna and falling.

“Impossible. A mere insect’s flesh and soul could never withstand such power!”

No, rather than not letting go of arrogance… how should I put it?

It felt more like an expression of stubbornness—refusing to believe, not wanting to believe.

“This cannot be!”

It was a roar filled with indescribable passion, like a boy crying out that this can’t be reality after discovering the girl he liked was actually a man.

“It worked for me though.”

I mocked him with a sarcastic tone while tapping the ground with my toe, signaling to the others gathered below.

“I don’t understand. What exactly are you! What has Elpinel, that goddess of accursed favoritism, created?!”

“Well, why don’t you go ask her yourself.”

Everyone should come up to the wall right now.

It’s time to start fighting in earnest.