Chapter 66
Tracking the Demon of the Demon Sword wasn't difficult. The demon, having annihilated the subjugation force, openly committed massacres as if it had nothing left to fear.
Yuriene and the Giosa Owners encountered the Demon of the Demon Sword in early 1632.
It was a day when snow fell lightly and then stopped. The sky was cloudy, as if in a foul mood. In the parched fields, the demon left behind corpses and blood like footprints. The acrid stench of blood trailed behind them like a tail.
"There she is."
Vice-Captain Baron pointed ahead. Wavy black hair fluttered in the wind. The woman, clad in rags, was laughing, her appearance a mess of dust, blood, and filth.
In her right hand, she held the Demon Sword Bardelgiosa, black Mana swirling around it, and staggered. Her dirty bare feet carelessly kicked a severed human head.
Yuriene took the lead. Sensing their presence, the demon turned to face them. Their eyes met.
[How awful.]
The Holy Sword muttered, clicking its tongue. Yuriene, having seen her with True Sight, agreed with that opinion. It was awful. A black light, like that of the Abyss, bubbled up like foam. Obscured by it, her original soul was nowhere to be seen.
Those things covering her soul were darker, uglier, and more terrifying than any malice Yuriene had ever seen.
[I've seen humans tainted by Bardelgiosa a few times, but this is unusually intense. Is it because of the long period of corruption? It's been three years, I think. A normal human would have already broken down a long time ago, but she's holding on, so that must be it. Be careful.]
The Holy Sword warned. Yuriene didn't answer and took a step toward the unfortunate woman.
"You who are tainted by the Demon Sword."
That woman was probably an innocent victim. Unluckily tainted by the Demon Sword. He felt a human pity, but there was no way to save her.
Seen with True Sight, she was an irredeemable evil. The malice was so thick that his eyes stung slightly. Yuriene closed his True Sight.
"As Azure Knights who protect the Giosa, we will subjugate you."
He aimed Rangiosa. The woman raised Bardelgiosa. Through her tangled hair, she bared her white teeth and smiled. The Holy Sword and the Demon Sword clashed.
The battle wasn't long. The more their swords met, the more Yuriene felt a chill.
He was a genius. From childhood, he had no equal among his peers, and as he grew older, even those who could mentor him disappeared.
With each passing year, he grew rapidly stronger, surpassing everyone. He became a Master as a matter of course. He had never felt a wall, not even once. He had never felt the feeling of being unable to win.
Even when he lost while still learning the sword, he had an intuition that he would surpass that opponent someday. And that intuition always became reality.
But now, Yuriene encountered a wall for the first time. The first premonition of defeat he had ever felt. He couldn't picture an image of victory.
She parried every attack, not allowing even the slightest mistake. As time passed, it became harder and harder to endure. Death grazed his neck precariously.
[No, cooperate with the other Owners. She's too strong.]
Rangiosa finally intervened. Yuriene, who had been wielding his sword as if possessed, came to his senses at that warning. He stepped back sharply. The woman stared at him with black eyes that didn't seem human.
"Impressive. Truly regrettable."
His heart pounded beneath his heaving shoulders. He was genuinely regretful. That the opponent who overwhelmed him for the first time in his life was a demon he had to subjugate.
Why, of all things, did someone with such outstanding talent become the Demon of the Demon Sword? If they had met differently, they could have sparred countless times and seen even higher realms. His mouth moved on its own.
"If you had been a Knight… I would have truly crossed swords with you."
"Captain Yuriene."
Dietrich called out to him as if warning him. I know you have nothing to obsess over but swords, but don't do that even here, you crazy bastard. He could almost hear Dietrich's condensed nagging in that call.
Yuriene smiled bitterly. The regret and disappointment were merely personal feelings.
"I know. This isn't a duel, but a subjugation."
"Shall we join in soon?"
"Yes."
He affirmed Baron's question. Baron's Light Sword Sallikgiosa, Teresa's Guardian Sword Dimongiosa, and Dietrich's Conquest Sword Reminggiosa appeared in turn.
Noticing the change in atmosphere, the woman raised Bardelgiosa like an animal raising its hackles.
What followed was a fierce battle. The woman didn't fall easily. She held out for a considerable time even against four Giosa Owners fighting with the intent to kill.
But she couldn't hold out forever. The demon finally fell.
Yuriene knocked her down, straddled her, and pressed his sword against her neck. To be precise, he was about to cut her neck right away, but her black Mana rippled and wrapped around her neck, preventing him from doing so.
A struggle ensued. The demon, who had only been soaked in the blood of her victims, was now covered in her own blood and writhing like a beast.
The exhausted Giosa Owners grumbled around them. Vice-Captain Baron's muttering reached Yuriene's ears.
"What a waste. As the Captain said, she would have been excellent if she had been a Knight, but to lay hands on a Demon Sword with that talent."
Yuriene was slightly annoyed by those words. Who would intentionally wield a Demon Sword knowing what it was? As he said, what was someone with such outstanding talent lacking?
It wasn't this woman who was wielding the Demon Sword, but the thick and ugly human malice that made his eyes sting just by looking at it with True Sight.
"Would she… have wanted to hold this?"
While suppressing her limbs and pressing his sword against her slender neck, Yuriene muttered those words.
Eyes so black that the pupils were indistinguishable looked up at him. Eyes that didn't seem human. Glassy eyes gleaming with murderous intent.
Whether it was because he regretted her talent, or simply out of pity for the unfortunate woman, Yuriene impulsively tried to find something human in those eyes.
He opened the True Sight he had been keeping closed throughout the fight. Looking down at the malice that covered her so much that he couldn't tell what her original soul was like, he said quietly.
"You wouldn't have wanted to do this."
At that moment. The moment his words reached her.
Beyond the swirling black malice, like a swamp with rising bubbles, something burning flickered. That light writhed as if wailing, pushing through the black things clinging to it, and rose to the surface. It stretched out its arms as if wanting to escape from the malice.
Yuriene forgot to breathe.
He froze.
A faintly burning purple silhouette. Although not as clear as a real person, he recognized that soul. A forgotten memory vividly revived the moment he saw her.
The woman he had seen fleetingly at the banquet. A soul harboring a spark. That seed, no bigger than a fingernail, was here, now, burning as a flame.
Her soul, breaking through the malice, stared at him. For a very brief moment, her essence suppressed the malice, found its place, and moved her body.
That soul was crying. Following her soul, her body also cried. Moisture spread through her eyes, which had been full of murderous intent, and just one drop. A single drop of tear flowed down.
[Good heavens, she's holding on inside there? She even managed to regain control of her body for a moment?]
He didn't need to hear the Holy Sword's sighing admiration to know it as soon as he saw it. Just one drop, but that tear was a miracle. Like a new leaf sprouting on a blackened, dead tree.
What, what did I just see.
"Tears."
"Captain?"
"She's crying."
"...Who? Surely not."
Yuriene didn't know what he was saying. As he spoke, her soul was sinking back into the malice. The seed had bloomed, but it wasn't strong enough yet.
True Sight showed her frantically struggling before finally being swallowed by that swamp-like malice. He stared blankly as the light sank into the bubbling darkness.
She's struggling like that.
She's alive and wailing even inside there.
That small light is burning so brightly, holding on with all her might.
He wanted to help her. He wanted to take her hand. But there was no way. He could only watch.
Even the tips of her slender, trembling white fingers were completely submerged, leaving only bubbling malice. He felt as if something sharp was piercing his chest. A sense of numbness spread throughout his body.
"Once you're eaten by the Demon Sword, there's no self left. Captain, that's just a body being wielded by the Demon Sword."
Dietrich's bewildered words reached his ears.
No, that's not it. She's not dead yet. She's alive. He saw it. He saw it. Yuriene shook his head and replied, half out of his mind.
"There's something left. She's fighting."
"Fighting? With what?"
"The Demon Sword, and her will."
Only after speaking those words did he come to his senses. He realized the meaning of what he had just seen. That small spark, even in those terrible malice, hadn't collapsed and remained, burning even more intensely.
She's fighting. He couldn't believe how such a thing was possible. The Holy Sword said hesitantly.
[…In the past, there was a human who overcame the Demon Sword. A human who overcame that and awakened Bardelgiosa to regain their body. This woman too… perhaps, it might be possible.]
The woman's body, filled only with malice, bared its teeth and snarled. Yuriene, holding down that thrashing body, looked down at her.
There were tear stains on her face. Traces left by a miracle.
Her wrists, held in his grasp, were slender. On top of the bloodied woman stained with black, Yuriene superimposed the woman he had seen for the first time.
The woman he had seen laughing and talking with the other young ladies at the banquet. The woman he had thought would just live a peaceful life and had forgotten, was now so miserable. So intensely. Sprouting that faint light.
"This is unsettling. Let's finish this quickly and go back."
"Even if there's a consciousness left, it doesn't matter, does it? Our job doesn't change."
Dietrich and Teresa urged him, but Yuriene couldn't move.
Until just a moment ago, he had thought that although he pitied her, he had to kill her. But having seen her soul surviving and holding on inside there, he simply couldn't kill her.
His right hand, holding the Holy Sword, trembled slightly.
[The Demon of the Demon Sword is evil, but this woman is not guilty. Whether you judge her or give her a chance to overcome it, either way is justice. So I'll leave the decision to you.]
The Holy Sword whispered quietly. Judgment, judgment. His judgment had already been made. There was a possibility, she was struggling like that, it was impossible for him to cut it off with his own hands.
Having seen the spark that had begun to burn, how could he stomp it out? How could he do that?
"I can't do that."
He decided to save her.
"I will give her a chance."
