Chapter 4
“I…”
Eki thought he would say something to her. Whether it was regret, anger, resentment, or even a curse. But he stopped there and quietly drew his sword.
Yuriene alone couldn't defeat her. After a long battle, Ekinesia stabbed him in the heart.
Eki clearly saw the white-clad man stained with crimson blood as he breathed his last. The blue eyes that had trusted and watched over her couldn't even close and lost their light. She couldn't even close those eyes for him.
The Demon Sword indifferently discarded his corpse and left the spot.
Something shattered within her.
From then on, Eki stopped even the imaginings she had been doing to endure. She didn't even think about what she would do after winning. Only hatred for the Demon Sword remained within her.
'I'll kill it.'
On the boundary between unconsciousness and consciousness, watching her own silhouette, dyed black and wavering, she only thought that. Now, even in the sensation of the Demon Sword's slaughter, she could concentrate.
The Demon Sword moved on to find its next prey. Because of the ceaseless massacre, experience accumulated endlessly. She also became increasingly skilled in handling Mana.
Two years passed since then. It had been six years since she was tainted by the Demon Sword.
At the age of twenty-six, Ekinesia surpassed a certain realm. She knew it instinctively. That she had reached somewhere beyond the known realm of Master. Since she was not a knight, she didn't know what to call that realm.
In any case, she had reached it, and finally broke free from the Demon Sword.
It was in a small fishing village that Ekinesia regained her body. Of course, there was no one alive in that village anymore. She threw away the Demon Sword she was holding and moved her body, which had become hers again after six years.
Skin with no black stains, hair that had regained its original color. My hands. My arms. A body that moves as I will.
"Ha."
A laugh escaped her lips. She collapsed in the middle of a pool of blood.
"It's too late! It's too late!"
She screamed. No one heard. The surroundings were filled only with death, and irreversible events clung to her entire body.
Ekinesia looked down at the Demon Sword. She struck it with her bare hands, not even enveloping it with Mana. She kept hitting it, not caring about being cut by the blade. Not satisfied with that, she burst into tears.
'What do I do now? What should I do? I…….'
Even though she had finally overcome the Demon Sword, nothing remained for her. No one was left to wait for her. She had killed them all with her own hands.
Her blood, dripping from her wounds, flowed with her tears along the transparent blade and touched the patterns engraved on the blade. The patterns glowed faintly. It was then that a 'voice' was heard.
[Go ahead and try all you want. See if I break.]
A voice that resonated not in her ears but in her soul. It was impossible to distinguish whether it was male or female, young or old. Eki was startled.
"Wh-Who is it?"
[Me? Bardelgiosa. The sword you're holding now.]
"……What?"
[You're the second one to awaken my ego since I was created.]
She stared blankly at Bardelgiosa for a while. Her frozen mind began to turn, and the meaning of the words slowly became clear.
"You're…… the Demon Sword? Your ego awakened?"
[You awakened me. That means you've finally earned the right to be my Giosa Owner. Congratulations!]
"……Congratulations?"
Ekinesia gritted her teeth.
"This cursed Demon Sword, what are you saying now?"
[What do you mean, 'now'? You just awakened me, didn't you?]
"Yeah, but what does it matter? I'm going to break you anyway."
When she looked down at the Demon Sword with fierce eyes, a voice that sounded terrified was heard.
[Hey, hey, calm down. Uh, you seem to have gone through a lot.]
"Gone through a lot? You say that so easily?"
Blue hatred blazed. Her Mana flickered and overflowed from her body. She spat out the words as if chewing on blood.
"It's all, all your fault. My mother, my father, Lansel, Nicole, even Yuriene! All, all of them were killed by you! Everything! Nothing is left now! Everything is broken! Because everyone is dead! By my hand! Because of you!"
[No, wait a minute, I think you're misunderstanding something. That wasn't 'me'.]
"Shut up!"
A Master infuses Mana into a sword and adds a blade of Mana. It was called Sword Aura. Even for a Master, it was difficult to create Sword Aura without a sword or something similar to a sword. But Eki gathered Mana in her bare hands and created a blade.
She struck Bardelgiosa with that Sword Aura. With a bang, the ground was dug up and dirt splattered. Despite the earthquake-like tremors, the sword didn't even crack.
[Ah, ah! That hurts! I'm not going to break anyway! Calm down and listen to me, Master!]
"Who's your Master."
When she replied in a chilling voice, Bardelgiosa seemed to tremble. She repeatedly struck the sword with a blank face.
If it doesn't break in one go, she'll just keep going until it breaks. Ekinesia's eyes, flushed red, didn't seem to be in her right mind. The Demon Sword said urgently.
[It can be reversed!]
"……?"
She paused at the strange words. The Demon Sword hurriedly continued.
[You were possessed by murderous intent and lost control of your body, right? The one who made you like that wasn't 'me', but the human malice and murderous intent that resided in me. The creator used malice and murderous intent as materials to make me- Hey, hey! Hey! Wait a minute! Hey!]
"Nonsense."
Mana re-coagulated in her hand. The Demon Sword screamed.
[There's a way to go back to when you hadn't killed anyone!]
Eki froze. The Mana in her hand scattered. She asked in a trembling voice.
"What did you just say? You can reverse it? To before…… all this happened?"
[Yeah, it's possible to turn back time. The guy who awakened me before you also killed a lot of people, so after awakening me, he reversed it. I think you can do it too?]
"……How?"
It was a situation filled only with hopeless despair. She felt like she wanted to grab at straws. To her, Bardelgiosa's words were the only hope.
[Of course, it's not easy.]
"Shut up and tell me. How? Can I save everyone?"
[I'm saying, it's not saving, it's turning back time.]
"That's enough, just tell me the method!"
She desperately gripped the Demon Sword. The patterns engraved on the sword sparkled. The Demon Sword readily said.
[Gather the Giosa Series and use Kairosgiosa.]
"……What are you talking about?"
[You know I'm one of the Giosa Series, right? Do you know the Giosa legend?]
Of course, she knew it. Because it was a famous legend.
Long ago, there was a blacksmith who was praised for reaching the realm of the gods. The blacksmith was convinced that he was second to none, even to the gods, when it came to making swords.
One day, a god really came to this blacksmith.
The god lent his power to the blacksmith. That power was the ability to create swords from materials that could not be seen or touched, like night and day.
The god said.
【I have given you a power equal to mine. Use it to create the best swords. This is my test for you.】
The blacksmith pondered for seventy days and seventy nights. And over a hundred years, he forged ten swords from special materials. All of the swords were beautiful and had amazing abilities that had never existed before or since.
The blacksmith proudly showed his works to the god.
The god quietly looked down at them and instantly created two swords out of thin air. There were only two of them, but even one of them was more beautiful and stronger than all of the blacksmith's swords combined.
Only then did the blacksmith kneel. He regretted his arrogance in daring to covet the gods. The god generously forgave the blacksmith and took him to the divine realm.
After the blacksmith and the god left, the twelve swords left in the world were called the Giosa Series, taking the ancient word for 'test'.
The ten Giosas created by the blacksmith chose those with outstanding talents as their Giosa Owners. However, the two Giosas created by the god did not accept anyone as their Giosa Owner. It is said that those divine swords only lend their power to those who possess all ten of the remaining Giosas.
This was the legend of the twelve special swords, the Giosa Series.
Those who were recognized as Giosa Owners were called Giosa Owners. The criteria for choosing a Giosa Owner varied slightly for each Giosa, but it was said that one usually had to be at least a Master to be chosen by a Giosa.
In the past, Giosas were scattered all over the continent. However, as several incidents occurred involving Giosas with great power, a group emerged one day to manage the Giosa Series.
That was the beginning of the Azure Knights.
With the exception of Giosas whose locations were unknown, most Giosas were under the management of the Azure Knights.
And the Demon Sword Bardelgiosa was one of those Giosas whose location was unknown.
"Why that legend?"
[The thing about being able to borrow the power of the divine sword if you possess all ten of the Giosas made by humans. That's real.]
"The power of the divine sword? Can you turn back time with that?"
[Of course. My previous Giosa Owner succeeded, you know? If you use Kairosgiosa out of the two divine swords. Kairosgiosa is a sword made from time, so it can manipulate time. Of course, changing the entire world is a huge task, so once you use it, you won't be able to borrow the power of Kairosgiosa again.]
Hope dawns. She can turn it back, everything. Her vision blurred. Ekinesia murmured with trembling lips.
"……That, that's not a lie, is it? If it's a lie, I'll break you."
[Hey, why would I lie about something like this? And it's impossible to break me. This body is Bardelgiosa.]
"Whether it's impossible or not doesn't matter. If you tricked me, I'll make you pay for it no matter what."
[Wow, look at those eyes. You, you have a pretty face, so why are you so fierce?]
Eki ignored the Demon Sword's nonsense and rummaged through her memories. She tried to recall as much as she knew about the Giosa Series. Not much came to mind. She could count the Giosas she knew by name on one hand. In the first place, there was no way she, who wasn't even a knight, would have memorized all ten Giosas.
She was at a loss as to how to obtain information and how to gather the Giosas. As that Demon Sword said, it was not an easy task.
But it didn't matter. She would not give up even on a slim possibility.
She would turn everything back. She would revive everyone who had died at her hands.
She decided to win a miracle for herself.
