Chapter 177: The Last Possessed (2)

-Tap tap.

I looked up at the sound of something gently tapping on the window. A white dove, straight out of a movie, was pecking at the glass with its beak.

A small, rolled-up note was tied to the dove’s leg. Seeing it, I could easily guess the bird’s purpose.

‘What is this, the Middle Ages?’

I’d expected some kind of magic when he said he’d send a letter at night, but this method of delivery was far more old-fashioned than I’d imagined.

Even in this world with its ambiguous level of civilization, carrier pigeons were usually only seen in remote fortresses where neither magicians nor couriers could easily reach.

‘The location is…’

A forest not far from here. The message said that once I got there, the wizard from before would transport me with teleportation magic.

‘It’s not far, so should I go right away?’

I’d finished showering and eating, and thanks to a good rest, both my body and mind had recovered from the exhaustion of training.

Before getting up, I gently stroked the hair of Jessica and Julia, who were sleeping soundly beside me. Then I rose from the bed, taking Jinta and Wolffang with me.

“Girls, I’m off to my final battle now.”

[Final? Does that mean you won’t fight anymore after this, Master?]

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

[You stupid mutt…]

As Jinta scolded her foolish younger sister in a sisterly manner, I slipped out of the mansion under the cover of darkness.

Even if I were caught, it wouldn’t be a problem, but I didn’t want to worry the girls in the mansion any more than necessary.

If they found out I’d snuck out, it might cause unnecessary commotion.

Although things had calmed down recently, if Jessica found out, her jealousy might flare up again, and she’d cause a scene, accusing me of going to meet another woman.

“…Hey, I’m here.”

After leaving the mansion and arriving at the stable, I whispered softly to Silence, who would likely be asleep at this hour.

Though Silence showed signs of annoyance, he slowly got up and offered his back to me.

“Bear with it just a little longer, even if you’re tired. This will probably be the last time.”

Silence tilted his head as if he didn’t understand what I meant, but still followed my will and leapt over the mansion’s fence, galloping towards the agreed location.

After crossing the fence and passing through the gate, we arrived at a prairie where you could see the forest if you looked up a bit. As soon as we arrived, a green light like a firefly flickered, as if signaling to us.

‘…Is that it?’

As I rushed towards the flickering light, sure enough, the puppet I had fought with Marina the day before was waiting near a teleportation gate large enough for two people to pass through.

“I thought you’d come around dawn since you said you had things to prepare, but you’re here earlier than expected. Time is precious, so let’s go quickly.”

“…Alright, but can I ask you one thing?”

The puppet’s single eye in its face wavered slightly, as if it hadn’t expected to be questioned.

“If it’s something I can answer, I’ll do so briefly.”

“Why do you follow him? Determining who’s the strongest among the possessed might be interesting to us, but it should be irrelevant to you.”

“Irrelevant… You’re right about that. To be honest, I don’t really care who the strongest possessed person is, though Lord Ganryu might.”

“Then why do you follow him?”

It made sense for Ganryu to follow someone who had defeated him, but why would this puppet, who was neither a warrior nor anything else, follow him?

Curious about the reason, I asked this question, but the answer was surprisingly materialistic.

“He told us. After everything is over and the strongest possessed person is decided, he’ll conquer the world and establish the Great Sword Empire.”

“So the reason you’re sticking around is…”

“I want to wield power in that empire. Is there anything wrong with that?”

“…I guess not.”

“Good. Then shall we go?”

With a somewhat bitter feeling in my heart, I stepped towards the teleportation gate. In the blink of an eye, the scenery around me changed completely.

The place we arrived at through the gate was a wasteland where the setting sun dyed the sky orange, suggesting we had traveled quite a distance.

Seeing the scattered ruins of pillars and traces of what might have been a city, I wondered if this place had once been home to some civilization.

The architectural style of the building remains and pillars was quite different from the academy’s, making me realize just how far we had come.

Curious about where exactly we had landed, I kept looking around until he spoke from a distance, his back to the setting sun.

“This is where I was born. Though it’s in ruins now. We’ve come far, but don’t worry, we’re not on another continent.”

“So you’re here. Uh…”

I hesitated for a moment, not knowing what to call him, and he smirked with a sheepish expression.

“Come to think of it, we haven’t even introduced ourselves properly. I’m Bisword. As you might guess, it’s a play on ‘Big Sword’.”

“Your naming sense…”

I’d felt this way about other possessed individuals’ names too, but I often wondered if they couldn’t have put a little more effort into choosing their names.

I was lucky that my name was similar to Baldo, the most beautiful sound in the world. If I had been obsessed with something else, I shudder to think what my name might have been.

“…I’ve been waiting for this day for 500 years.”

“520 years. No, is it 521 now?”

Ignoring my correction, Bisword continued speaking.

“The other possessed, except for you, were utterly pathetic.”

The whip who abandoned his beliefs after just one defeat.

The ninja who clung to life by becoming Myne, only to gain such meager power.

The rapier who lost his conviction and took his own life over a mere woman.

“…And the bald martial artist.”

“Being bald has nothing to do with conviction.”

“He purged his impure thoughts, so the hair, being part of his body, left. Otherwise, there’s no way he’d be bald.”

“Is that so??”

I’d thought he was just a simple-minded brute who liked swinging around an absurdly large sword, but now I saw he was quite eloquent.

“But look at you. In just 21 years, you’ve become this strong. Now you stand before me with power equal to or perhaps even greater than mine.

Finally, we can prove who the true protagonist is, who was truly right, according to God’s will.”

“…About that. Did that bastard really think about such things?”

“Huh?”

“I met him once, and he didn’t seem to care about any of that at all. If that was his intention, there’d be no reason to send us down in 100-year intervals.”

At first, I had thought the same as Bisword, but if the goal was to determine who was truly right, wouldn’t it have been better to send us all to the same era?

Above all, it was hard to believe that the Swordmaster, who treated all of us equally as dimwits, would have orchestrated something like this.

“You… met him directly? No, no, it doesn’t matter anymore. Once I defeat you, he’ll have no choice but to show himself!!”

With those words, Bisword plunged both hands into the ground and then pulled out two greatswords as if drawing them from scabbards.

Those two massive greatswords, which looked enormous even in the hands of Bisword, who was a head taller than me, exuded a menacing aura just by looking at them.

[…Master, those are demon swords.]

“I know…”

Even a fool could tell by the ominous demonic energy that seemed ready to dye this wasteland black.

Being demon swords, they must have some special abilities, but I neither wanted to know what they were nor wait for him to demonstrate them.

I gripped Jinta, taking my stance with the intention of ending everything in a single attack.

“You can come at me first if you want.”

“Is that so? Then I won’t hold back.”

As Bisword raised his two greatswords high, I felt an immense pressure that made it seem as if space itself was distorting for a moment.

In terms of pure brute strength, his power was at least equal to mine, if not superior.

I couldn’t afford to use the same strategy of sacrificing flesh to strike bone as before. It would be better to assume that even the slightest graze could be fatal.

‘…I’ll use that technique.’

Although it was the first time I’d be using this technique in actual combat, and against such a formidable opponent no less, strangely, I felt no anxiety.

Rather, at the thought of finally meeting a worthy opponent to test this technique against, I couldn’t help but smile, even though I knew this wasn’t the time for it.

“Here I come.”

With leg strength as superior as his arm strength, Bisword stomped the ground and closed the distance between us in an instant.

Seeing Bisword suddenly right in front of me, I stepped forward with my left foot and drew my sword, but Bisword, as if he had anticipated this, leaped back mid-charge, spinning his body.

Naturally, my sword cut through empty air instead of Bisword, and he, with a face devoid of any humor, spun back around to strike at me while I was vulnerable after drawing my sword.

I had known.

Someone who had been observing my fights would have seen through my timing and dodged.

But this ultimate technique, passed down by that Swordmaster at the end, is inescapable even if the first strike is dodged or blocked.

As proof, Bisword’s body, which should have dodged, began to be pulled forward as if drawn by some unseen force.

“What in the—!!”

As Bisword’s body was pulled in, my second attack, following immediately after the first missed strike, slashed across his body.

Even if you dodge the fang of the dragon racing across the sky, the raging storm robs you of your freedom of movement, and its claws tear into your body.

The name of this technique is…

“Heavenly Dragon Flash.”

The ultimate technique of that Swordmaster, which I had finally mastered the moment I made the dimension-cutting sword my own.

At last, I had succeeded in making it mine.

“Baldoooooooooooo!!!!!”

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