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Side Story Chapter 114

‘…Coal?’

The moment Kireua remembered Coal’s existence, a black cotton ball popped up in front of him. But Coal was with someone who looked like a mouth now. It was a ridiculous sight, with its two eyes dangling over the disembodied maw. The mouth kept opening and closing its mouth, noisily clattering its teeth together.

“Huh? When did you make a friend, Coal?” Kireua asked.

-You brought this guy to our home, Kireua!

“What are you talking about?”

-Don’t you remember?

Kireua’s eyes slowly widened as he remembered what had happened in western Avalon.

“Wait a minute. Is that…?”

The mouth continued to chomp loudly. Kireua instinctively knew its identity.

“The power of Gluttony?”

The mouth stopped as if to tell him, “Yes”. Its eyes curved into crescent moons like it was smiling.

“…In other words, I now have two of the Demon Kings’ powers?” Kireua murmured, awash with disbelief.

-Congratulations!

-Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!!

“Oh my god.” Kireua’s jaw dropped to the floor. Lilith Aphrodite had manifested one single Evil Sin power, but she was now treated as a pariah by her own country—no, she was still being hunted by the entire continent. If it became known that Kireua, the Second Prince of Avalon, harbored two of the Evil Sins’ powers…

Kireua’s eyes popped open, alarmed.

“…No! I can’t let Avalon…?”

He trailed off, tilting his head in confusion at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

“Are you awake?”

“This voice is…” Kireua turned his head.

Cain immediately pushed himself off the wall and bowed. “I’ve been worrying about you, Your Highness.”

“…Sir Cain.” Kireua’s forgotten memories slowly resurfaced, drawing a sharp gasp from him. “Wh-What happened to the battle?”

“It’s still ongoing.”

“That means—” Kireua tried to rise but immediately stopped, groaning. “Urgh…”

“You haven’t recovered fully yet, so why don’t you lie down?”

“B-But…”

“Even if we go to the battle, we’ll only get in the way. You already had a similar experience with that man named Bel,” Cain advised Kireua.

Kireua froze. Although Bel wasn’t in the room, Kireua remembered him as clear as day. Bel, the Battle God, was the Absolute of the Hubalt Empire, and he was so unbelievably strong that it was hard to view him as a fellow human.

“Are you afraid?”

Kireua couldn’t reply to that either. Was he afraid? He immediately wanted to yell “no”, but his reflex was honest—his fingertips instantly started to tremble.

“…Don’t worry. For some reason, he already left the Palace,” Cain said.

“He l-left?”

“Your Highness, His Majesty can’t carry all the burden forever.”

“I… know and I don’t want him to do that either,” Kireua bitterly answered.

“Yes, which means it’s up to you from now on.” Cain slowly approached Kireua’s bed. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but I was personally taught by the Dark God, the late Duke Agnus.”

“Th-the former Duke of Agnus?!” Kireua’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yes. From that day forward, I abandoned the longsword I originally used and changed to that greatsword.” Cain gestured behind him at the enormous sword leaning propped up in the corner. A greatsword like Cain’s had range comparable to a spear; at over two meters in length, most people had trouble swinging it even with both hands.

“Just like the day I was taught by the Dark God, I’ll teach you, Your Highness,” Cain offered.

“Pardon? Are you… asking me to use a greatsword?”

“As soon as I saw your techniques, I could tell that you’re a swordsman like me.”

“Bu-But my teacher never said…”

“Of course he wouldn’t say it. Since the Flame Emperor hasn’t used a greatsword himself, it would be hard for him to notice it, and his cherished weapon isn’t a conventional sword either.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you know that the Flame Emperor originally used a weapon called a snake sword?” Cain asked.

A snake sword was also called an urumi[1] in the eastern continent. The sword had flexible material added between the metal, allowing the wielder to lash out at their opponents like a snake, hence the name.

However, Kireua had never seen Ulabis using such a weapon.

“I-I’ve never heard this before.”

“After reaching a certain level, the Flame Emperor never encountered an opponent who was capable of withstanding his flame, so he never really had his chance to use his ultimate technique.”

“Then how do you know about this, Sir Cain?”

Cain shrugged. “Well, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. For your information, the opponent in question was His Majesty.”

“His Majesty?”

Come to think of it, Ulabis had said that he had met Joshua in a Masters’ Battle which had taken place in Reinhardt, the neutral city.

“Let’s go outside,” Cain said.

“Right now?”

“Yes, I’ll show you why you need to use a greatsword.”

“But the battle…” Kireua reluctantly replied.

“We’ll only be a hindrance even if we join the battle, and… the battle must be coming to an end by now.” Cain made for the door. “However, don’t let your guard down—your time with me will be much more painful than fighting your enemies.”

“Sir Cain…?”

“I\'m going to teach you everything I learned as a swordsman,” Cain declared.

* * *

“Raphael!” Gabriel screamed.

Raphael was scattered on the ground in hundreds of tiny pieces; it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to recover even with his super-healing ability. How could someone be so deadly without swinging their sword?

“Sword Emperor… Damn it!” Gabriel growled.

Selim interrupted the moment by thrusting his spear right toward Gabriel’s head, forcing the Paladin to parry away Selim’s spear.

“Argh…!”

“Can you afford to be distracted now?” Selim asked, arching an eyebrow.

As time passed, the paladins’ odds were rapidly deteriorating. Those with divine bows were collapsing one by one due to exhaustion, although naturally the mages bombarding them from above weren’t any better off.

Nevertheless, the paladins’ outlook was abysmal. Avalon’s reinforcements outnumbered the paladins by at least three to one and had entirely surrounded the north gate, leaving no room for Hubalt’s paladins to flee.

“Shit!” Gabriel cussed.

“Your name is Gabriel, yes? Why don’t we end this battle with a duel?”

“What?”

“Let’s not sacrifice our subordinates anymore. We shall decide this fight between you and me.”

Gabriel had a feeling this baby prince got shot in the head with an arrow or something for him to make such an insane offer when it was obvious that Avalon was on the verge of winning this fight.

“If you win, I’ll withdraw our knights.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m the prince of this land. I don’t go back on my word.” Selim pointed his spear—an ordinary, metal implement no different than that used by the infantry, at Gabriel.

The difference in terms of experience alone between Selim and Gabriel was so enormous it wasn’t even funny.

“You arrogant boy… don’t regret this later,” Gabriel growled.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Gabriel and Selim rounded on each other.

An enormous set of wings sprouted from Gabriel’s back, and his divine bow-turned-sword grew to gigantic proportions. Then he flew high into the sky.

“…He’s pretending to be an angel,” Selim mumbled, and then leaped after him. It wouldn’t be bad to send that arrogant paladin plummeting from his sanctimonious perch in the sky.

Selim reached the mages’ altitude in no time.

“Selim!” Iceline worriedly shouted.

“It’s okay,” Selim said with a reassuring smile.

Selim focused his mana at his feet and walked through the sky on steps of pure materialized mana. Although it was going to consume his mana and stamina on an outrageous level, it didn’t matter because the fight would be over shortly.

“You cocky bastard…!” Gabriel gritted his teeth.

A horde of white swords manifested in the air, produced by Gabriel’s Falling Light Blade technique. The swords usually fell downward like a rain of light, but Gabriel had to fire them horizontally, not vertically, when Selim stood in front of him in the sky.

“Die!” Gabriel screamed.

Swords that were several times bigger than the divine bows’ arrows flew toward Selim.

Selim swung his spear, parrying away the swords. With the force behind the swords, he didn’t have to bother creating mana steps anymore; he let the swords push him away without risking closing the distance.

“Are you running away?” Gabriel sneered at Selim. He spread his wings and took off after Selim.

Selim smirked.

“Idiot.”

“What…?”

Selim somersaulted midair and drew his spear back as, his back bending like a bow.

And then his entire body flexed, sending his spear streaking toward Gabriel. While Gabriel was able to follow the spear’s trajectory, it was far too fast for Gabriel to avoid it.

Gabriel gasped.

The Paladin wobbled on his pierced wing, and before long, Gabriel could no longer stay in the air. He plummeted to the ground, Selim hot on his heels.

It was obvious that Gabriel was losing.

“The Four Paladins are much weaker than I expected.”

Iceline flinched, her anxious attention dragged away from the fight by a voice. When she turned her head, Duke Tremblin was standing next to her in the air.

“What do you mean, Duke Tremblin?”

“The real mastermind behind them is still in Hubalt, considering there is no easier creature to manipulate than a man who is high on glory.”

“…Are you talking about the man Sir Cain and Selim fought?” Iceline assumed.

Tremblin quietly nodded. “Yes—it’s Bel, the Battle God.”

1. It’s actually a whip sword that originated from southern India. ☜