Chapter 457: Change (1)

A lady sat down on a destroyed terrain with a spaced-out expression.

“…”

The air calmed down, and the lady seemed exhausted, judging from her cloudy eyes.

Clack.

She used her sword as support to lift herself up to her feet.

Even if her mind and body were exhausted, she couldn’t afford to sit down.

She couldn’t let her weak side show.

With that thought, she barely managed to get back up to her feet.

“Hah…”

Her head felt dizzy as she got up. It was the recoil she got due to her trying to use her energy forcefully.

On top of that, because she stopped midway through using it, the pain she felt was greater.

“Cough-!”

The Celestial Sword suddenly coughed out loud. Blood came out along with it, painting the ground.

After looking around for a second, she wiped her mouth.

“…”

Tap, tap.

She then erased the trace of her blood on the ground using her foot.

Then, she took out a small container and gulped down what was inside.

After drinking all of it, she was finally able to let out a sigh.

“…”

She looked around with dry eyes.

The powerful Lightning Qi still remained on the ground, burning away what was nearby.

Trees were pulled out of the ground because of the powerful wave from earlier.

It was the trace of a harsh battle.

The Celestial Sword thought about what had happened just earlier while checking up on her body.

She wasn’t recovering from a battle. It had been long since that was necessary.

Moreover, she wasn’t even disappointed at the fact that she let the Demonic Sword escape.

Instead, I’m more disappointed that…

The Celestial Sword thought to herself.

She thought about the young man who stopped their fight as their battle was about to reach its climax.

“…”

It was the person who belonged to the Black Flame Army that the Dancer ordered her to bring.

She didn’t even tell her what kind of person he was, nor what he looked like.

Instead, she only said that the Celestial Sword would know instantly after seeing him. After hearing the order, the Celestial Sword moved.

As she expected, she had to face the Demonic Humans, and she indeed met the person the Dancer ordered her to bring.

Like she said, the Celestial Sword was able to know that it was him as soon as she saw him.

So that’s what she meant by it.

How could she not know? The young man possessed the energy that only one person underneath this heaven was able to have.

Moreover, the young man seemed to know this energy as well.

The resonance between their energy was intense.

…

Even if his face, tone, and scent were different, the Celestial Sword knew that he was exactly the one the Dancer was looking for.

Moreover, the Celestial Sword even knew his true identity.

How could she not? It was impossible for her to be unaware of it.

Of course, it wasn’t easy for her to believe it at first.

It was strange for two of the same person to exist in the same world.

Because of that, she couldn’t be reckless.

…

She thought about the young man who stopped the fight between her and the Demonic Sword.

The Celestial Sword failed to stop the young man from carrying away the Demonic Sword, who slowly collapsed shortly after.

However, their eyes met right as he was about to leave.

She wasn’t able to ask him the question she wanted to ask, and that was still on her mind.

-What’s your name?

It was a question she wanted to ask last night, but never got to.

If the young man responded, what would he have said?

Would he have said the name the Celestial Sword was expecting?

Or would he have given a completely different answer?

Whichever it was, it was too late.

“…”

In the end, the Celestial Sword didn’t stop the young man from carrying the Demonic Sword to safety.

No, it was more so that she failed to do so.

The Celestial Sword didn’t stop him. She shouldn’t have let them escape.

She should’ve captured the Demonic Sword for the better of the Alliance’s future, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so when those and the young man’s eyes met.

…Why?

Why did he stare at her in such a way?

His eyes contained pity and worry, which made the Celestial Sword feel conflicted in her heart.

The unknown, mysterious gaze he gave her made her wonder why he stared at her that way.

She wanted to ask him.

She wanted to ask what kind of relationship they had if they knew each other in a different world, and if the energy he possessed was truly the same as the one that she had.

Despite wanting to ask, she couldn’t due to all the weight on her shoulders.

“…”

After erasing the blood off her mouth, the Celestial Sword observed the spot the young man left.

A strong recoil would tackle her momentarily.

It wasn’t going to last that long, but she had to go to a spot with no one around as she needed a rest.

“Ah…”

She felt exhausted.

That’s what she suddenly thought in her mind.

However, she erased it right away.

She couldn’t afford to become exhausted.

With that thought, she immediately got up and started to move her feet.

“Are you sure you can let them leave?”

“…!”

Then, she heard a cold voice.

The Celestial Sword turned her gaze and looked at the man with the voice. It was the Heavenly Venerable.

With his cold blue eyes, he gazed at the Celestial Sword.

“…Heavenly Venerable…?”

“I don’t understand.”

Crack.

Lightning Qi rose from the Heavenly Venerable’s body.

“You had your chance. How come you did such a thing?”

“…”

“Perhaps you wanted to give this old man a chance?”

The Heavenly Venerable spoke with a smile, but his voice definitely held annoyance.

Then, his body started to levitate in the air.

Lightning Qi only lingered around his body as he was controlling it, but the Celestial Sword had cold sweat running down her face due to his overwhelming presence.

“How unfortunate… it would’ve been better if I came here a bit faster.”

“Heavenly Venerable… what are you doing right- …Wait…!”

“I have already received the order.”

“…!”

The Celestial Sword opened her eyes widely after hearing his words.

“I was already given the order. I have no reason to wait any longer.”

The Celestial Sword bit her lips after hearing him.

She knew exactly what he meant by those words.

“Decide. Will you join or stay?”

“…”

The Celestial Sword couldn’t give a response despite hearing him.

The Heavenly Venerable silently shook his head after seeing her.

“I pray that this hesitation of yours doesn’t stay until the end.”

Slam-!

After making a calm expression, the Heavenly Venerable became one with his Lightning Qi and quickly flew forward.

The Celestial Sword tried to shout at him in order to stop him,

“Ugh…!”

But she had to kneel down due to the recoil she suddenly felt.

“Huff… Huff!”

The Celestial Sword tried her best to hold her sword, but her breathing and sight became worse and worse.

In the end, she lost consciousness for a moment.

I managed to return to the Sichuan forest. I ran crazily with the sun behind my back.

The sight in front of me changed endlessly due to how fast I was moving, but I continued to increase my pace.

How much further do I have to go?

My destination was the center of Sichuan.

I didn’t know my current location as I was blindfolded when I was brought here.

I was just guessing my directions.

Ugh, for fucks sake.

I originally planned to move to a different area while hiding myself so that I could observe the situation more.

What is this mess?

But because of the girl behind my back, I couldn’t even do that.

The Lightning Emp- …No, the Demonic Sword, who swung her lightning sword crazily, was now on top of my back.

“Huff… Hah…”

I heard exhausted breathing in my ears.

The Demonic Sword seemed to have lost her consciousness.

Is it the recoil?

It seemed like there was a recoil in her body due to her being in the Lightning Empress state.

I couldn’t be any more shocked when I saw her suddenly collapse after she was glad to see me.

…It meant that her body was at its limit.

I was aware that the Thunder Fang brought recoil to the user’s body, but it wasn’t severe enough for the Demonic Sword to pass out from it.

However, she lost consciousness as she used the Thunder Fang when she was already completely exhausted.

So why did you do that?

I couldn’t help but grind my teeth.

There was no need for her to go this far.

It would have been all over if she had died.

It was a different case for me as I regressed into a whole new life, but I didn’t think the same thing was going to happen for the Demonic Sword.

So please, live for me. Stop risking your life so recklessly like this.

At the very least, I didn’t want her to do that for me of all things.

Dammit all.

I frowned as I became aware of how light the Demonic Sword was.

Was she even properly eating? Why was she so light? It got me concerned, which was annoying.

I leaped with more force.

I had to get out of this place. I glanced backward for a second.

…Celestial Sword.

As I hurriedly carried the Demonic Sword on my back, my eyes met with the Celestial Sword’s.

I expected her to stop me, but she instead looked at me with a frown without saying a word.

Had she planned to let the Demonic Sword go from the beginning?

Judging by how she didn’t do anything when I started leaping away, it seemed like that was the case.

If she wanted to catch me, then she was more than capable of doing so.

However, I didn’t know why she chose to let us go.

Are you different in this world?

Considering this was a whole different world, it was possible that this Celestial Sword had a different personality than the one I knew.

Even if they looked the same appearance-wise.

“…Hmgh…”

Then, I felt something move around behind my back.

“Are you awake now?”

“…”

I called out towards her, but I heard no response.

I guess she’s still passed out, huh?

Then, do I just go back to the headquarters like this?

I couldn’t go anywhere with the Demonic Sword passed out like this, so I had to return to the headquarters.

There was a problem, though…

How do I explain this?

I didn’t know how to explain this situation.

…Maybe it’ll be fine?

It was the Demonic Sword who went into the enemy’s base alone to save me.

All I had to say was that she was successful in saving me, but she passed out after using too much energy.

I hoped that such an excuse would work,

But it’s not going to work, is it…

Considering it was none other than ‘me’ whom I had to give this excuse to, this was a big problem.

Putting aside the fact that the Demonic Sword made this reckless decision herself, the Alliance wanted me over her, yet I came out perfectly fine while the Demonic Sword ended up this way. This was the problem, as I had no excuse to give.

Maybe I just spill it all out?

To his face, I’ll say I’m actually him, I came from a different world, it’s nice to meet you, dumbass.

At least I was tempted to do this…

…But would it work?

It would be the worst-case scenario if it didn’t.

It was also safe to assume that it wasn’t going to work.

Considering the bastard’s personality, he wasn’t going to believe me.

I was still relieved about one fact.

He’s not going to kill me.

Since we both managed to come out alive, he would keep me alive as he would see me as somewhat useful.

The Celestial Sword wanted me, and I ultimately returned with the Demonic Sword still alive.

…However.

The problem was that this had a high chance of being reported to the Heavenly Demon.

It was necessary for a big situation like this to be reported to the Heavenly Demon.

Then.

The Heavenly Demon might come directly herself.

She could appear in Sichuan to see the twist that was brought to the world.

If that happens, I would seriously end up in big trouble.

I had to choose either to run away or solve the situation.