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Side Story Chapter 305

“Bel isn’t a god or a human. He’s like you, a demi-god.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Bel’s birth was quite surprising, enough to shock Joshua, who was famously composed.

First Flower pointed at the sky. “You know about the neutral zone that isn’t part of the Angel Realm or Demon Realm, yes?”

Joshua’s eyes widened. “Are you talking about the Gray Zone?”

“Yes, it’s called Chaos. I heard it\'s now also known as the Great Battlefield of Angels and Demons. It isn’t part of any realm, and nothing can exist there.” First Flower looked into Joshua’s eyes. “After the Angel Realm’s collapse, the universe’s balance was broken, leading to the collapse of the Demon Realm. Obviously, the neutral zone would not have been spared, especially when the Human Realm is also crumbling.”

“You… know the Human Realm is collapsing,” Joshua said, suppressing his pain.

“It doesn’t matter. Anyhow, it’s very well-known that the neutral zone is so barren that almost no one can make it their home—but some people still managed to survive.”

Joshua knew about these inhabitants from his memories of his past life. Some fallen angels had ended up in Chaos after being banished from the Angel Realm like Joshua had been. Some demons had fled to the neutral zone to escape the fierce battle for survival.

“Many of those survivors were stranded in the neutral zone after passing through a dimension rift after the Great War of Angels and Demons.”

Joshua was extremely curious about First Flower’s identity now because there was no way an ordinary human would be this familiar with the neutral zone.

“Those ones were strong. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, even if you’re an angel or a demon. Ninety-nine percent of them were annihilated in the dimension rift, but one percent of them managed to survive and arrived at the neutral zone. They were waiting for an opportunity to go back, but that became impossible after you caused the destruction of both the Angel and Demon Realms…”

“Are you telling me that even the colossal neutral zone collapsed? Wait, so who in the world are you?”

“…You already guessed, haven’t you? We carry the authorities of the gods stranded in the neutral zone.”

In other words, the Blood Flower Knights also had the tenacity of the rare few gods who had managed to survive in the neutral zone until the end.

“Then does that mean Bel also has an authority from one of those gods?” Joshua asked.

“No, Bel is Chaos itself.”

“Chaos… itself?”

“The Demon Realm had an owner named the Demon Spirit, and the Angel Realm had the Angel Spirit. Why do you think the neutral zone wouldn’t have one?” First Flower shrugged.

Joshua had a hard time accepting that. After being abandoned by both the Angel and Demon Realms, he had reigned over the neutral zone. Even though the place was endless, Joshua should have run into the owner at least once.

“Talk to Bel himself to hear the rest—but of course… you’ll have to hear it from inside your ice boulder where your original body is.”

The light that had enveloped Joshua was gone now, meaning that Creshua’s dragon heart was completely sealed. Once all possible precautions were in place, the rest of the Blood Flower Knights took action.

“Your Majesty! Let me help you!” Cazes was the first one to notice that something was off and immediately tried to aid Joshua.

However, he was stopped by the Blood Flower Knights, who thrust their swords at him from all directions. Viper and Valmont couldn’t even look because they were too busy taking on their share of the Blood Flower Knights.

“…Then let me tell you something now,” Joshua quietly said.

“If you people have inherited the memory of those gods, you must have heard about my past life,” Joshua said with small smile.

The First Flower and the eight other Blood Flower Knights’ faces darkened.

“You people are greatly mistaken if you still think I’m just trapped in a black dragon hatchling.” Joshua manifested a white spear and pointed it at the Blood Flower Knights. “I am Joshua Sanders.”

***

Only Selim and Hawke, the commander of the Marital Knights, were left in the underground vault. The enormous space was silent like the calm before the storm.

“What is your name?”

“…It’s Hawke. Selim Sanders, do you actually believe you can stop me on your own?”

“You’re awfully confident for a person who lost his authority,” Selim nonchalantly answered. In contrast to the Martial Knights, he reached his current level with only his Magic Spear Arts.

“You’re misunderstanding something here.”

“Misunderstanding what?”

“I didn’t have an authority in the first place,” Hawke said.

Selim\'s eyes widened. Hawke was a commander of the Martial Knight Order, a group of people with authorities, so it seemed preposterous that Hawke didn’t have an authority.

“I did think that the commander would be different from his knights… but this is still surprising.”

“Zactor the Martial Emperor was the best in Hubalt, and Sir Bel is the strongest in Hubalt now. But they both reached their supreme level without any authorities, and I’ve been personally trained by Sir Bel the longest. Do you seriously think I would rely on an authority?” Hawke cracked and grinned. “Keep in mind that I surpassed Zactor long ago.”

“You certainly like to bluff.”

“We’ll just have to see about that.”

Hawke threw a punch. It looked like a light punch, but Selim could immediately feel alarms going off in his head.

A giant tiger, made from the air pressure of Hawke’s fist, launched itself toward Selim, roaring.

Selim gasped and quickly swung his spear in response.

The impact catapulted Selim away and sent him rolling across the floor several times.

“I see…” Selim hacked up a mouthful of blood. “You had a good reason behind your confidence.”

“It’s too late to regret it. You’re not going to leave this place alive.”

Hawke strode toward Selim.

Wiping off the blood on his face, Selim slowly stood up. “…Let me ask you one last question. Why do you and the Martial Knights worship Bel?”

“That’s an odd question.”

“If I were you guys, I would be furious if I had to train my entire life for someone else’s satisfaction. Do you genuinely like your life?”

Bel chuckled. “That’s because you haven’t witnessed Sir Bel’s true power.”

“When you faced a wall you knew you’d be able to surmount for your entire life, what did you feel?”

After pondering for a moment, Selim concluded that there was no such thing. If he ever ran into such a wall, he would have tried to climb over the wall using any way he could come up with.

“You’re an open book, aren’t you? Let me rephrase my question: there is a wall you will never be able to climb over—on top of that, the ‘wall’ is a human like you.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“To the other Martial Knights and I, Sir Bel was that wall. He instilled piety in me even though I never thought I was capable of such an emotion,” Hawke answered.

He thought back to his first encounter with Bel.

***

Like a rabbit thrown into a hungry tiger’s cage, Hawke was forced to fight the vicious monster that Hubalt was raising in secret. He lost.

‘He’s a monster…’

Just like the rumors said, the monster was strong. It was everything one would expect from the weapon created to counter the Martial God.

Hawke had already heard about the demise of the monster’s puppets; he realized when he was defeated that he was going to meet the same ending.

“I’m getting tired of killing people.” Bel sighed. “Why don’t you become my friend?”

The bewilderment Hawke felt was indescribable.

“Just stay here. Pretend you don’t know anything and don’t tell anyone about it.”

“Wh-What are you talking about…?” Hawke stammered.

“Maybe I’m a human after all, because I’m getting a little lonely. It got me thinking: although it feels good to wreak havoc on my own, Joshua Sanders is an emperor, isn’t he? He’ll have an army of his own, so it seems like a good idea to have a couple of reliable friends on my side.”

“...Why did you choose me?”

Bel shrugged. “Out of all the guys who were brought to me, you have the most potential. And I like the fire in your eyes.”

“Hah…”

“Yeah, I know it’s ridiculous. I get tired of my wishy-washy emotions too. Anyway, I’ll just tell those people outside that I want to keep the more durable puppets a little longer, so stay by my side and pick some people who have potential like you. I’ll spare them.”

***

That was how the Martial Knight Order had been founded.

“…Just think of it this way: the strongest man in the continent spares and decides to personally train you. For a knight, it’s rarer than a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so how can I not be loyal to him?”

Selim nodded. “I understand now.”

If the Emperor of Avalon were to teach his spear skills to a knight who wasn’t even his family, the knight would try to pay his grace with their life.

“Then is this going to be a battle between the Battle God’s best student and the Martial God’s?”

Hawke laughed quietly. “A battle? What we’re going to do is called one-sided violence.”

“…Well…”

Hawke stiffened when an overwhelming rush of Selim’s energy hit him. Selim inhaled and exhaled sharply.

‘I’ve been delaying it, but it’s time to move to the next level’

From their fight so far, Selim was certain that his enemy was strong. He instinctively knew that he had a ninety percent chance of defeat, but he had to win even if the odds were against him. That meant, even though he was still in his early twenties, that he had to reach a level that even the Emperor of Avalon had only accomplished close to his thirties.

‘The Magic Spear Arts, Level 8.’ Selim tightened his grip on his spear before charging toward his enemy like a lightning bolt.