Chapter 63. The Flame that Opens the Future (4)
The Empire commissioned dark mages.
Enoch’s eyes narrowed at that fact.
‘So the existence of dark mages was merely defined by the Empire as a means for control.’
Dark mages, blindly detested in the Empire.
But not all of them were evil.
Even in the original work, there were countless characters unjustly branded as dark mages.
[…I heard the whole truth from the Beast-kin.]
The Sword Saint learns the full story from the Beast-kin.
[The Empire at the time of the mass Magical Beast appearance was an unstable nation, laying its foundations after continental unification.]
[Furthermore, they absolutely had to conceal the existence of Magical Beasts, which might cause chaos among the Imperial citizens.]
Therefore, the Empire doesn't officially dispatch high-ranking mages to stop the Magical Beasts.
Because if mages renowned within the Empire participated, it would inevitably attract public attention.
[However, if the endlessly pouring Magical Beasts were left unchecked, eventually everyone in the Empire would suffer and find out.]
[Thus, the Empire secretly joined hands with dark mages to devise a solution.]
Thus, the condoning of unethical experiments was guaranteed.
[The dark mages, supported by the Empire, found the answer to stopping the Magical Beasts through repeated human experiments.]
Over the corpses of countless non-mages, including the Sword Saint’s parents, the dark mages, having completed the ‘trial and error’ of human experiments, finally reach a conclusion.
[…To stop the Magical Beasts, by utilizing their biological information to create powerful biological weapons.]
The process was simple yet horrific.
[By implanting and manipulating Magical Beast factors within the test subject's body, they gain powerful magical talent.]
[However, as a side effect, most soon lose their reason, their bodies transform, and they undergo ‘Magical Beastification’.]
Naturally, no matter how strong a biological weapon, if it loses its reason and control like that, it has no value as a weapon.
[Therefore, ‘Beast-kin’ were chosen as materials.]
Beast-kin, born with innately stronger bodies than ordinary humans, were the best experimental materials capable of suppressing the side effects, even slightly.
[Thus, the Empire presented the only method to some Beast-kin pushed to the frontier lands, marginalized by other Beast-kin for lacking magical talent.]
The dark mages approached the non-mage Beast-kin, helplessly ravaged in the war against Magical Beasts.
[Beast-kin unable to use magic.]
Not only marginalized and despised by the Empire, but also abandoned ones cornered by Magical Beasts.
The dark mages proposed to such non-mage Beast-kin that they become subjects of biological experiments.
[The best biological weapon materials, and easy to use and discard because no one in the Empire cared about them.]
Worthless individuals because they weren't mages.
Marginalized Beast-kin with no land left to cling to.
[The Beast-kin, on the verge of losing even their last home, had no choice but to accept the only option.]
The non-mage Beast-kin joined hands with them.
However, after the war ended.
No matter how robust the Beast-kin bodies were, they couldn't remain forever free from the side effects of human experiments.
[Eventually, Beast-kin losing their reason one by one due to the experiment's side effects and undergoing ‘Magical Beastification’, attacked peaceful Imperial citizens indiscriminately.]
To the Imperial citizens of the time, Beast-kin came to be perceived as extremely dangerous beings who might turn into Magical Beasts and attack them at any moment.
[The Imperial citizens, attacked without knowing anything, were seized by fear and came to view all Beast-kin indiscriminately as hateful beings. Just as the Empire wanted.]
Now, Beast-kin were treated like ticking time bombs among ordinary Imperial citizens, ready to explode at any moment.
Naturally, even Beast-kin who manifested magic naturally and lived normally in Imperial society quickly became targets of everyone's hatred and contempt.
[Without even knowing the fact that the Magical Beasts were stopped thanks to their sacrifices in a war nobody remembers.]
“…Please, us. No, at least the innocent ones and families, accept them as your domain subjects.”
Before the throne where the Sword Saint sat.
The Beast-kin male prostrating there seemed unable even to speak properly due to the side effects of the experiment.
However, he pleads for mercy from the Sword Saint, even while shuddering from the pain of his body transforming into a Magical Beast.
“We have nowhere left to go in the Empire.”
[Whether they received the experiment or not, the Empire, ‘as if waiting’, began indiscriminately tracking and eliminating the Beast-kin using their Magical Beastification as a pretext.]
[And the last surviving group of Beast-kin fled to the territory of mine, their former comrade-in-arms.]
“As a former comrade-in-arms, and as one who sinned, I implore the Sword Saint on behalf of ‘Great Chieftain Lycaon’!”
The Beast-kin male looked up at him, crying out.
“Grant us mercy!”
Before the fortress throne where the Sword Saint sat, sword in hand.
The Beast-kin male, groaning from the side effects of the experiment consuming his body, nevertheless desperately pleads with the Sword Saint.
“If this continues, we will not escape destruction. So please…”
Their shabby backs, having endured great sacrifices on the battlefield once, trembled pitifully from the pain of the side effects.
The Sword Saint gripped the armrest of the throne.
[…What is good, and what is evil.]
He repeated lowly.
[The Beast-kin struggling to survive. The dark mages who participated in the experiment. All were merely used by the Empire.]
The dark mages who participated in the secretly conducted Magical Beastification experiment had also already been eliminated entirely by the Empire’s Imperial family.
Dark mages were beings ostracized by the Empire.
The fact that the Empire joined hands with villains must not exist in the Empire’s history.
Swish
The Sword Saint silently stood up from his seat.
Strength entered his grip holding the sword.
[…Must I cut down the Empire?]
The Empire instigated the human experiments by dark mages and eliminated them to destroy evidence.
The Empire also used and discarded the Beast-kin, who merely struggled to survive, as it pleased.
Instantly, a fierce impulse brushed against the hand holding the sword.
If so, must the Empire be cut down?
If he indiscriminately slaughtered all Imperial citizens and sliced the necks of all Imperial family mages, would his vengeance finally be achieved then?
[No, that’s not it.]
The Sword Saint denied lowly.
My parents died innocently at the hands of dark mages.
Did I reach the realm of the Sword Saint merely to recreate such a past?
The flames bloomed on my sword are not flames meant to repeat the history of someone’s suffering upon the world.
[…That cannot be called true vengeance.]
Furthermore, even if he did so, the Empire would recover completely from all wounds over several years, several decades.
Because the magic used by the Imperial citizens of the current era was such an omnipotent power.
[The way to truly take vengeance upon the Empire is….]
“Kraaaaaaaaak!”
Just then, the Beast-kin male pleading before the Sword Saint’s eyes screams.
Writhing in extreme agony, he succumbs to the side effects and undergoes Magical Beastification right there.
Other Beast-kin prostrating with him see this and scream, a mixture of fear and despair.
However, just before they all fell into panic.
The Sword Saint cut off the neck of the creature letting out a twisted roar with a single slash of his flame-engulfed sword.
“Listen.”
He aimed the flame-wreathed sword low and spoke to the other greatly agitated Beast-kin.
“If you undergo Magical Beastification, I will cut you down with my own hands.”
The Beast-kin trembled with fear and helplessness.
The Sword Saint quietly added to them.
“However, within my domain, no one other than myself shall be able to kill you.”
[…To protect their wrongful past deeds that the Empire wishes to hide and erase, and leave them for posterity.]
“Even if they are mages of the Imperial family.”
Fwoosh!
On the Sword Saint’s sword pointed towards the Beast-kin, flames suddenly surged intensely again.
[The world always revolves around the black-and-white logic of good and evil defined by someone.]
The standard of good and evil is ultimately subjective.
Even the distinction between light and darkness, believed without doubt by all, was the domain of the haves.
The world is that unfair and irrational.
Therefore.
[The flames bloomed on my sword finally found meaning.]
The Empire defined incompetence as evil.
And defined the Beast-kin, who were comrades-in-arms, as evil.
He gripped his sword.
[If the world defines what I sought to protect as darkness─]
He raised his sword from the dark fortress throne, swearing to himself with flickering flames.
[─I shall become the final flame, illuminating the future of those submerged in darkness.]
The flames of the sword he raised illuminate the Beast-kin kneeling in reverence before the Sword Saint in the dark fortress.
The warmth burning redly from the sword blade drives away the darkness looming over their backs.
Thus.
The Sword Saint accepted the Beast-kin into his domain.
Fwoooosh!
Enoch’s vision filled with surging flames.
And above the wildly swirling flames, an immense amount of white text began to float up.
? Memory Source: Inheritance Complete!
? Synchronization with Inheritance Target: Limit Reached!
? Proficiency of all inherited skills drastically increased!
? Notification: Overall Swordsmanship Proficiency Increased!
Sense of Mana: Limit Reached!
Form 1 Explosive Sword: Limit Reached!
Form 2 Fire Wheel: Limit Reached!
? Reaching certain overall synchronization level: 「Glass Shard of the Inner World」 Level 1 Enhancement Successful!
? 「Glass Shard of the Inner World」 - First Function: [Communicate with Sword Saint's Consciousness] Unlocked
? Achievement Unlocked: 「Seeker of Lost Truth」
? Notification: Unlocked achievement used as currency for future content of the ‘World of Impermanence’ to be unlocked
?
***
Enoch slowly opened his eyes.
His senses were confused.
But even amidst that, he barely recognized he had just exited the World of Impermanence.
His vision was still blurry, perhaps not fully recovered yet.
‘Must have put quite a strain on the body.’
Blankly feeling the senses of reality slowly returning, he suddenly realized his body had lost balance and fallen.
‘Did I fall over?’
His body still lacked proper strength.
‘Well, I did push myself quite a bit until now.’
A much stronger fatigue than after previous entries into the World of Impermanence enveloped his body.
But that wasn't all.
Enoch’s heart was pounding fiercely.
All the emotions felt by the Empire's Last Sword Saint in the past swirled within his chest.
Emotions not his own, yet feeling like his own, resided within like flames, burning internally.
‘Didn't know why it was called overimmersion prevention, but now I roughly get it.’
The source of memory, was it called?
The story closest to the Sword Saint’s own will itself.
Inheriting that seemed to carry a heavy burden.
Even now, his body lay collapsed, unbalanced in reality. He couldn't imagine what might have happened if the safety measure hadn't activated last time.
‘But, why doesn’t it hurt even though my body fell?’
Suddenly, an unrelated question came to mind.
The fortress floor should be hard stone.
Since he fell backward, he should be hoping the back of his head was okay, yet the fact that he felt no pain at all was quite puzzling.
‘Rather, it’s soft and squishy. What on earth…’
Blink
And finally, when Enoch’s vision fully returned, his pupils widened slightly.
‘…?’
Long hair shining faintly silver.
Lien was looking down intently at him.
Looking at her for a moment, Enoch suddenly realized.
Enoch was lying with his head on her lap.
Lien had caught him as he lost balance and fell, quietly providing a lap pillow.
Realizing that, Enoch muttered quietly.
“…Didn’t know you followed.”
She replied emotionlessly as usual.
“This was Vendetta’s occupied territory. Remnant forces or traps might remain.”
Not wrong.
For her, who prioritized Enoch’s body’s safety above all else, following him into such a place would be natural.
‘Anyway, judging by the situation, Lien must have seen me collapse.’
Even if Lien accused him of breaking the contract like last time, he would have no excuse, but she just looked at him silently and said quietly.
“You’re overdoing it.”
Instead of answering, Enoch tried to sit up, then unknowingly let out a faint groan.
“Kuk.”
Sure enough, his body hurt quite a bit.
As she said, he must have overdone it.
Because he had been doing missions without rest until now.
But there were reasons he had to.
Swish
Lien silently rolled up Enoch’s shirt sleeve.
Red blood flowed from the open wound on his arm.
‘Come to think of it, having performed missions without rest until now, the wounds haven’t had time to heal properly.’
Lien, as if anticipating Enoch’s condition, took out bandages she had prepared beforehand.
Then she began carefully wrapping the wound.
Silence flowed for a moment.
Silver hair brushed slightly against Lien’s white cheek.
Surprisingly, she neither scolded Enoch like before, nor asked about his condition.
At her unfamiliar behavior, Enoch too silently watched her wrap the bandage on his wound for a moment.
‘Still hard to know what she’s thinking.’
At least, her demeanor suggested she already fully grasped Enoch’s rough physical condition.
Somehow, right now, that aspect of Lien felt strangely trustworthy.
“…As you know too.”
Lien, having re-fastened Enoch’s shirt button, finally opened her mouth quietly.
“You can’t keep going like this forever.”
Lien spoke lowly, checking Enoch’s wound.
Enoch too nodded briefly.
“Probably right.”
The swordsmanship he currently wielded was an extreme style lacking even defensive or deflecting techniques.
Solely ‘attack-oriented’, the swordsmanship of the Last Sword Saint.
And that was, metaphorically speaking, no different from walking a tightrope.
If hit by an enemy attack even once due to a momentary mistake, it would likely be a fatal blow.
‘Of course, the Last Sword Saint managed just fine cutting down mages even with this swordsmanship, but that was only possible because he was the Sword Saint unleashing fully completed techniques.’
Right now, Enoch hadn't inherited all his swordsmanship yet, nor was he hardened against mages like the Sword Saint, who must have gone through countless trials throughout his life.
Who knew when he might suffer a fatal wound instead of such minor scratches.
Therefore, Lien’s words weren't wrong.
Enoch glanced back at his wound and said.
“There’s a way to solve it.”
“A way?”
“Yes. Though this mission will likely be the crux.”
Enoch pointed towards the top of the fortress and added.
“Healer-mages dispatched from the Order, not affiliated with the family, are on this Allied Mission.”
The reason Enoch had avoided the family’s healer-mages until now was because it would be troublesome if they noticed anything strange while examining Enoch’s wounds.
‘But what if the healer-mage isn’t affiliated with the family?’
Healer-mages belonging to the Order.
Since they didn't belong to the Elsyde family, they would likely have much less information about the original Enoch.
Therefore, even if they noticed something strange about him, they likely wouldn't easily realize the fact of possession.
But Lien quietly shook her head.
“Even if belonging to the Order, cannot fully trust them.”
“I know. That’s why I held out to the limit.”
Certainly, even with Order-affiliated healer-mages, there was definitely an unknown risk factor.
Precisely why he had held out without treatment as much as possible until this precarious point.
‘Endure until 1 HP, then receive healing!’
The number of times receiving treatment through contact with others is proportional to the threat towards me. Then, just like in games, efficiency in the number of treatments received is naturally important.
‘Extreme efficiency is the essential quality of a seasoned player!’
Even if reality, that mindset didn't differ.
‘…Of course, it’s not like my condition is serious enough to require immediate treatment right now either.’
Besides, if he truly felt it was dangerously close to the limit, he would have found a way to get treatment long ago.
But so far, it wasn't a major issue for combat. It was bearable enough.
Just then.
Noisy presences were heard from outside the fortress corridor.
“Nemesis is returning!”
As if signaling preparations were complete, bustling presences and noises were heard from outdoors.
Lien spoke quietly to Enoch, who was getting up.
“What will you do now?”
Enoch answered simply.
“Isn’t it obvious.”
He turned his gaze towards the direction of the Beast-kin village and said.
“Need to stop what’s about to happen.”