Chapter 89: Red Shoes

A bustling crowd had gathered right outside the mansion.

Despite the late hour—well past midnight—the crowds’ eyes were bloodshot and feverish.

No one knew if they were intoxicated by drugs, had gone mad, or were simply looking for a place to vent their anger.

The only thing that was certain was that the situation had spiraled out of control.

“Let the baron go!”

“Give us back our baron!”

“You bastard! If you’ve so much as touched a hair on the baron’s head, I’ll kill you!”

“Get away from our paradise! Why do you come to harass us when we’re just minding our own business?!”

Such cries and unreasonable tantrums were being thrown around,

“…”

Just as it was starting to become difficult for Isaac to stay still without responding to them, the Grandmaster returned through the mansion’s back door.

Carrying three tachi in her hands.

One was her own odachi, while the others were Isaac’s.

“Thank you.”

“You still need to pay. My fees are expensive.”

She tried to make a light joke, but Isaac’s lips didn’t even twitch.

He was feeling the weight and responsibility of what he had to do from now on.

“I’ll help you.”

The Grandmaster said calmly.

No matter how much Isaac had grown as a swordsman, it was still too much to expect him to go against such a huge crowd alone.

If she stepped in, they could sweep through them without much trouble.

After all, her odachi could easily cut down 3-4 grown men with a single swing.

“No.”

But Isaac shook his head.

“This is something I have to bear.”

After all, I have executed Baron Volten on my own volition.

“I’m gonna say this, just in case.”

“…”

“Don’t interfere. Under any circumstances.”

“Are you being serious right now?”

He nodded.

It wasn’t because he didn’t want to rely on her, or because he didn’t want her to be involved in a massacre.

Earlier…

While they were taking care of the charging crowd…

He had seen something in the Grandmaster’s eyes.

A hint of sorrow, and it was clear that she was holding back tears.

Something’s going on with her for sure…

He didn’t know if it was related to the past she hadn’t spoken of even in his previous life, or if it had to do with the half-Transcendent blood flowing in her veins.

“I’m going out.”

Regardless, he moved forward. With the tachi on his waist, he strode towards the mansion’s entrance.

“…Come back safely.”

Watching his back, the Grandmaster saw him off, trying her best to appear calm.

Creak.

Isaac opened the door and stepped outside the mansion.

Before the crowd could react, he immediately threw the head he was holding into them.

The head—Baron Volten’s head—spun through the air.

While splattering the not-yet-congealed blood drops in all directions, it fell among the crowd.

After being accidentally stepped on and kicked by some of the people, the head finally rolled on the ground, and…

“…!”

“B-Baron?!”

“No! Nooo!”

It was like watching a scene from a painting.

In the dark dawn.

The masses who had come bearing torches looked as if they were marching for freedom, but…

In reality, what they were doing was tightening the chains of drugs around themselves.

Was this the sight you saw after the revolution?

This was the moment when Isaac came face to face with the madness that Baron Volten had spoken of.

And…

That madness stared back at him.

“That bastard!”

“Kill him! Kill that fucking bastard!!”

“Baron…! How dare you…! How dare you do this to him—!”

“Burn him! Burn that son of a bitch at the stake!”

“Go to the warehouse! Find the drugs!”

Voices from all sorts of people, regardless of age or gender, rang out.

The crowd in front of him seemed endless.

As he watched them trying to break through the mansion entrance or climb over its walls…

He agonized over the karma he had shouldered upon himself.

Regression.

It was an amazing miracle that was bestowed upon him.

But, had such a miracle really come with no price?

Isaac was always skeptical of the concept of ‘fate’.

Because accepting it meant that he accepted losing his leg was also part of his fate.

But now, for the first time, he wanted to use that word.

The price of regression…

If fate actually existed…

Then, this moment…

Is the karma I have to bear.

Isaac drew his tachi.

The moment he cut off the throat of the man charging from the front with his Iai…

“That bastard is swinging his sword!”

“Kill him! Beat him to a pulp!”

“Tear his limbs off! Hang him around the city!”

They charged at him, foaming at the mouth as if they had received an even stronger dose of drug.

Meanwhile, Isaac’s tachi flowed like water, cutting them down as he advanced silently.

I’m sorry, Milly.

For destroying your hometown…

But, I hope you can understand why I’m doing what I’m doing…

[Humans are ugly.]

[Inferior lifeforms.]

[Greedy insignificant bastards.]

[They have taken the world that’s rightfully ours.]

Inside the baron’s office.

Such voices continued to echo in the Grandmaster’s ears as she stood in the darkness.

These were memories of the past.

To be exact, the brainwashing she had been listening to while kneeling with her schoolmates.

“…”

Being visited by the ghosts of her past memories, the Grandmaster stood silently with her arms folded, pretending not to hear, but…

[Look at what’s happening to the world.]

[The humans always fight among each other, unaware of the blessings that the sun and earth had bestowed them.]

[It’s war after war, and more war afterwards.]

[Do they truly deserve to possess such a blessed land?]

Those voices kept on echoing in her ears.

The riot that was happening before her eyes only served to make the voices in her ears grow louder.

Like a scholar raising his voice, insisting that his point of view was right.

[Do not pity humans.]

“…Stop it.”

[Do not stop hating humans.]

“I have the right to judge them myself.”

[Open your eyes and take a look.]

“…”

A bitter headache struck her.

The remnants of the past left a bitter taste in her tongue to the point that her tongue ached.

She let out a sigh, trying to push away the emotions that were piling up.

[Why would you take the side of humans?!]

“Because I hate you.”

She knew answering those voices was meaningless.

Because these voices weren’t real; they were just words she had heard back when she was younger.

[Do you think humans are any different than me?]

But, it was hard to deny that those words were hitting her current concern.

[You will begin to expect something of them.]

“…”

[You will deny what you’ve learned here.]

“…”

[Then, they will disappoint you.]

“…”

[And eventually, you will drown in your despair.]

Crunch.

[Trainee Number 10, the possibility you speak of does not exist.]

The Grandmaster’s gaze slowly fell. Unable to bear looking at those who were drowning in their own madness any longer, her eyes dropped.

Clang!

But, in the midst of that madness, there was a man, wielding his two swords alone, utilizing the narrow terrain.

“…No, it exists.”

The blood flowing down his cheeks looked like tears.

Even as he swung his swords tirelessly at the mansion entrance, guilt and regret painted his face.

But there was no hesitation in his actions.

Like the last of human’s pride, desperately struggling, as if by instinct.

Indeed, it was the most innocent one who was bearing the heaviest sin.

“He… That man…is different from you…”

[…]

“He is…the possibility I’ve been looking for…”

[Your wish will end in vain.]

Eventually, the voice returned to the past.

Buried in memories, lying in wait for another opportunity.

But at least, it wouldn’t come back again anytime soon.

As the Grandmaster placed her hand on the window, looking down at Isaac.

Whoosh!

She heard it. The sound of him cutting through the wind; it changed.

Not only that, even his flow had shifted.

It had become lighter, but at the same time, heavier.

“…!”

And then, she saw the blue light flowing through his swords. Her eyes immediately widened, unease flashed across them.

“Demonic energy…?”

She remembered of what happened in the Blackthorn Mansion.

Of the Primordial who had taken countless lives and their life force.

Of their Origin. Of the thing that Isaac’s sword had started to resemble.

He didn’t know when it started.

At some point, his blood-stained vision became clear.

The movements of his sword became lighter, and the tip of his tachi became infinitely sharper.

Then, a blue afterimage appeared in his vision.

For a moment, he thought that it was Aura, but…

It was too heavy to be called Aura, and unlike Aura, it rippled as if it had a life of its own.

“You monster—!”

Shunk!

Ah.

That was when he realized. His sword drank their blood.

No, to be precise…

Through their deaths, something within him was changing.

When he thought about it, it made sense.

The reason why Transcendents couldn’t use Aura.

Conversely, it meant they had no concept of mana.

“Damn it all!”

“Just why…!? Why did you come and destroy our paradise—?!”

Isaac’s eyes flashed a cold blue.

The tachi in both his hands traced the same arc as he swung them simultaneously.

Swoosh!

That sword strike cut down not just the two people in front of him, but everyone around them at once.

At some point…

Before he even realized it…

He was wielding something that was similar to what the Sword Demon wielded back in Blackthorn.

Is this…right?

There was a feeling that if he advanced further, something else would be layered on top of the sword he had built up.

Regardless…

“My father—!”

“You trash! Kingdom’s lackey!”

“We never hurt anyone!! Why did you do this to us?!”

Those addicts charged at him without fear, even after seeing the corpses that piled up around them.

Meanwhile, the pair of tachi imbued with the cold demonic energy swung wildly as if by instinct, trying to seek their prey.

The shoes he wore were now soaked red in pools of blood.

Like cursed shoes that made him dance until he drew his last breath, Isaac continued to swing his sword without rest.

It was like something out of a fairy tale.

Only by cutting those people down could this terrible dance be stopped.