I Became the First Prince

Chapter 234

Legend’s Second Coming (2)

‘Quaddeuk!’

The moonsword ripped over the floor and then flew up.

‘Qawah!’

Twilight arced through the air. Two swords collided and fragments of Aura Blades scattered everywhere. The fragmenting pieces of light disturbed my eyes. Beyond them, Morte’s creepy glance flashed through his helmet.

‘Quaddeuk!’

His sword began to push Twilight back. If this had been like before, I would have been in a hurry to resolve the invading wave. At this point, I would’ve withdrawn my blade and waited for the next attack. Now, however-

“Hah,” I took a short breath and then gave strength to both hands. The enormous energy from my mana heart ran toward both hands without any interference. I gathered that power at my fingertips – and put that energy on the blade. As Twilight pushed up, the moonsword began to tremble. I wasn’t satisfied with this and pressed forward even harder. Then Twilight battered Verduisterung down, down, ever down, as if dawn was driving away the night.

‘Kwagagak!’

His large pauldron screamed metallically as it was being severed from his armor. The black knight gave strength to his sword and pushed against Twilight. However, Twilight kept biting into his shoulder plates. It was only a matter of time before his shoulder was severed.

‘Check!’

The resistance that had held my blade at bay suddenly disappeared.

‘Waschak!’ Twilight struck down in an instant. Having lost its target, my sword struck into the hard floor. With a roaring bang, pieces of stone splattered in all directions.

I raised my head as some of the fragments pounded into my body. The black knight looked at the sliced edge of his pauldron and turned his gaze to me.

“I was thinking of cutting it all off. Looks like my strike was shallow,” I chatted away, as if sorry. Of course, it was not really regrettable. From the start, I never thought that I could easily inflict fatal injuries on Morte. Besides, I also didn’t want him to fall under my blade so swiftly because there weren’t many chances where I could fight a mighty Penta Knight.

The fight started in earnest, then.

“Hnngg,” Morte stared at me and made a muddy sound as if he was a squid from the deepest depths. “Do not expect mercy from me anymore.”

“Just ten steps.”

“What?”

“We begin from here again.”

The black knight looked at my feet then looked at me again. I remained silent. The spot where I was standing now was outside the area I had declared as Morte’s region, and he only then noticed I had fallen back from him.

“I hope you can keep me away this time,” I said and stepped forward. The moment I stepped into his territory, a tremendous wave began to crush me. But it couldn’t stop me anymore. I took to the floor vigorously as I proceeded toward him. Then, I came to face his front and once more struck out with my sword. It bashed into his greatsword, driving away the darkness. I withdrew my sword, and again stabbed out, then slashed out.

‘Klang, klang!’

Countless attacks came and went. The heavy shock of Morte’s strikes seemed as if they ceaselessly shook my intestines. But at the moment, the pain didn’t matter at all. My blood boiled, my body was hot; it was as if an inferno was raging deep inside my body. The sensation brought me such joy that I laughed out loud.

‘Klang, klang!’

I didn’t relent in my strikes for a moment. Swinging my sword like crazy, I moved forward. The black knight struck out with his greatsword — a narrow strip from my robe’s collar was cut off.

The black knight shook his greatsword in a dizzying stab — several strands of my hair scattered into the air before my eyes. Again, the black knight struck at me with his greatsword. My face was hot; it felt as if it was being ripped off.

‘Klang, klang!’

The front of my robe had a cut in it, and my sleeves were torn. The trinkets that had dangled from my collar were ripped off. My palms were wet; it felt as if my hands were severed. I tasted the coppery flavor of blood in my mouth. This was all due to the moonsword’s ability to damage its opponent’s insides with the merest scratch. My body was full of signs of my foe’s attacks, yet, Morte didn’t look so different either.

His appearance as a man who wore a crooked and shattered suit of armor was a far cry from the grandeur he had sported when I first saw him. He was aware of this.

“Aahhhh!” Morte screamed, “Now I am mad!”

Getting him to scream was the basic pleasure; the venom in his words was the bonus. It was fun! I was pleased that this man, who had acted as if sitting in the highest place, acting like my master while he looked down upon the world, was now barking like a mad dog baring its teeth.

I was so glad, and the fact that I had been hitting him with all my might was raising my fighting spirit endlessly.

“More! More! More!” I shouted excitedly as I swung my sword out like crazy. We fought and fought again; I even became oblivious to the passage of time. Then, when I woke up, oddly enough, I was standing in the middle of the royal palace’s garden, far away from the banqueting hall.

“Hawhaa!” the black knight cried out as he vigorously swung his sword and forced me to retreat a few steps. He looked terrible as if he was wearing scrap metal, and I could see how his shoulders sagged as he breathed, with his greatsword hanging in his grip before him.

Seeing him, I suddenly looked back. The garden was terribly ruined, and through its center, there was a bloody path. Pagodas were shattered, and the clear imprint of footsteps could be seen in the overturned earth. It was obvious who had created such a messy path that would never have existed in a beautiful garden.

“It looks like I will soon be hearing more nagging.”

Since the elaborately cultivated garden has been ravaged into a plowed field, it was inevitable that someone would come to resent me and hold me responsible for its restoration. I never liked it when people came to me, nagging, even less so if they wanted to make me spend the kingdom’s money.

Only then, while thinking about regrets that would come only later, did I feel gazes upon me. I raised my head. Most of the people from the banqueting hall, including the king and Maximilian, were looking at me from a distance. The emotions in their eyes were surprisingly familiar. Adelia, still calm, had the same eyes as I had when she battled. Her gaze, as if looking at a crazy guy, bothered me.

“Brother…”

Among them all, Maximilian’s gaze was particularly burdensome; he looked at me with a face full of his usual admiration. Pretending not to notice my onlookers, I turned my head and shouted, “How dare you desecrate the garden of the royal palace!”

“What bullshit-?”

“You must surely now get your master to pay for the damages incurred here!” I shouted as I fixed my sword. The black knight stepped back.

“How long do you intend to continue this meaningless fight?” He offered me a ceasefire.

I snorted. “Just because this fight might mean nothing to you, there’s no law saying I have to stop it.”

I was drunk with excitement for a while and had forgotten the essence of my plan, but I knew that this fight was not just entertainment for me.

“I wanted to know,” it meant far more than that to me, “how far humans can advance with mana rings.”

I was in the process of estimating the power of mankind before the war that will break out in the future — that is what this fight was to me.

“You were a lot stronger than I thought.” Obviously, the black knight was strong. “But you’re not that great compared to them.”

However, the problem was that he was not mighty enough to deal with the monsters that would soon appear in the world. Nevertheless, I was very pleased with the potential of mana rings.

I glanced around; there were the knights of Leonberg, their eyes now opened to new possibilities they had never known of. I was sure: they too would soon realize, realize what they had and what they could get. My enlightenment wasn’t deep enough to pass on to others yet, but it wouldn’t take too long to get there. And when that day comes, the Knights of the Ring will gain new power. I thought about it, and knew that everything I had tried was worth it. I was able to gain the answer to a question I had long asked myself.

“This is all thanks to you.”

If Morte hadn’t shown up to face me, I would have been left in the dark for a while longer. My gratitude to him was not false. But, unfortunately, I had no intention of sending him back just yet.

“Because we have already taken this one step, you have to help me a little more.”

Morte had more roles left to play.

“I will prove myself through you.”

I raised my sword.

“By breaking your five rings, the world will know that the era of mana hearts is not over yet.”

With that said, I unraveled my existence.

“Do you still have the ability the fight even after you have been cut like that by Red Lunar Eclipse!” The black knight was astonished as he faced my momentum. He expressed his disbelief that I could even have energy left to bare after being cut by his magic sword, which cut into its prey’s very soul. It seemed Morte had been biding his time, waiting for the curse of the moonsword to take effect. Even if I had been cut dozens of times and stabbed once, there was no way that even a single of those wounds would remain in my soul. I laughed at him.

“My first and last advice to you,” I warned him coldly, “is that you will have to do your best from now on. If you can’t stop me, you will die.”

If he wanted to live, he would have to use every grain of strength within him. The black knight could not disregard my words, and he raised the energy of his rings. Brilliant flashes gathered over his sword.

‘Grrrro,’ the moonsword began to cry gloomily. In the meantime, the light continued to gather upon it. I waited, standing still — so that Morte could draw out all his remaining energy so that Verduisterung could collect enough light. I waited and waited.

I stood like that for a while until his energy stopped expanding.

‘‘I cut the scales of the dragon that cannot be cut by any sword, and drink its hot blood.’’

I quietly recited the dance poem, channeling its power into Twilight.

At that moment- ‘Shhh!’ The world was split into two. Nothing stopped the piercing energy: Not the air, the solid earth, Morte’s intense Aura Blade, the notorious sword, or the black iron armor.

I cleaved through all of it, without a single exception. The black knight raised his hand and groped at his helmet.

‘Krshkk,’ a faint crack appeared in the helm. At first, the gap was as thin as a thread, then in opened little by little until the helmet was completely split in twain. Its two halves clattered to the ground, and white hair suddenly spilled out as the wrinkled face of an old man was revealed. The old knight looked at me opened his mouth.

“This is the Dragon Slayer that his Majesty said-”

A red line appeared over the old man’s face as his words turned into a sigh. Around that line, his face began to twist, contort — very slowly, little by little. Then Morte’s head split apart completely, and the left side of the old man’s body collapsed to the ground. The remaining half also toppled, and blood gushed from the bisected corpse one instant later. It was a miserable end, and there was no pride in it.

I brushed the blood from Twilight and turned around. Suddenly, dizziness overcame me. My body, which was hot, cooled in an instant. I had been intoxicated by excitement; the pain I had forgotten poured now into me. My legs loosened, my knees buckled, my body tilted. I couldn’t stop it, but I really didn’t want to hit the ground in so tacky a manner after cleaving clean through a Penta Knight. Contrary to my heart’s desire, the ground kept getting closer.

Then, suddenly, a hand supported me. I turned my head. Through my blurred vision, I saw ebony hair and a pure white face. I thought I knew who it was.

“Arwen.”

“Yes, Your Highness. It’s me.”

Her words sounded so sweet, and Arwen pressed her face to mine.

“It hurts so bad.”

She laughed, revealing her perfect teeth.

“You enjoyed our dance, so why don’t you bear with the pain?”

I laughed as I heard Arwen’s words.

“Ian.” Then the king’s voice came to my ears. “Is that the royal family’s dance you spoke of?”

I gave a small nod. The king’s sighs broke through my ears, but he didn’t sigh for long.

“What are the details of the attack?” I asked.

The king didn’t answer. “Leave the rest to me and take a rest.” Instead, in an anxious voice, he urged me to rest. Even if I didn’t want to, it was a matter of fact: I had to.

“Good work, Ian.”

The king’s voice quickly started fading away.

“… of … nasty … hear me?”

Then it became completely inaudible.

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