Chapter 113

I swung my Hand Blade Imbued with Resonance, stronger than ever before. There was an enemy before me that I had to defeat. An enemy so powerful that even giving my all wouldn’t guarantee victory.

The King of Specters stretched out his arm and blocked my attack, but the impact was enough to twist his expression.

“Resonance! Have you overcome death? Marvelous! Yes! That’s the warrior I acknowledged! You too, give it your all to defeat this tyrant!”

“…Let me say one thing.”

I grabbed both of his arms, sealing his movements.

“I’m a sociable person who moves with my comrades.”

“What…?”

At that moment, a flaming greatsword descended from the sky, aiming for the king’s head.

But the King of Specters noticed it and caught it with another pair of arms. Though his hands were burned, he easily blocked both of our attacks.

“Even fire has come. The Empire’s heroes have all gathered. As a warrior, I am grateful for this unparalleled blessing, and with my utmost respect, I shall serve you death with this bow.”

Whatever he said didn’t matter to me.

He shook off my hands and glared at me from a distance.

Then, something sharp wrapped around my body.

“Raul…”

Suddenly, Camilla rushed over and hugged me tightly. Even in the midst of battle, she rarely let her guard down, but here she was, doing this in front of the King of Specters. I was a little surprised.

“You fool…!”

“…I surprised you, didn’t I? Both of us. Seems like today we’re showing each other sides we shouldn’t see.”

“How much… how much…!”

Something warm seemed to soak my clothes.

“Camilla.”

“What…”

“I’ve found the courage. It’s too late, but… I now have the courage to face your feelings without avoiding them.”

I won’t avoid someone and hurt their pure heart anymore.

I’ve just learned how painful that is.

I’ll tell Layla later. That unlike her, I’m a man who can face love properly.

“Really…?”

“You know it well. I’m not the type to lie.”

“To be precise, you’re a fool who doesn’t know how to lie.”

“You don’t like it, huh?”

“No. It’s just that I have one more reason not to die.”

Camilla smiled brightly and readjusted her spear, and I, without realizing it, smirked slightly and charged at the King of Specters.

Even His Majesty the Emperor, who had retrieved his greatsword and landed, and Her Majesty the Empress, who was catching her breath, seemed to be smiling, but that wasn’t important right now.

The most important thing right now was to defeat the King of Specters, this tyrant.

I closed the distance in an instant and grabbed one of his arms again.

“As you said, I didn’t die. Just as those who wish to live face death, I, who wished to die while looking at the face of my loved one, faced the opposite.”

I struck his bow with my resonance-imbued staff, breaking it.

“I survived again. So there’s no way to soothe this grudge, King of Specters.”

“…Are you trying to provoke me?”

With one bow broken and his hand free, the King of Specters punched me in the stomach.

Truly, as one skilled with a bow, his punch was sharp… but compared to the Dragon Queen, this was nothing.

Her punches even surpassed me. Even using my resonance, I couldn’t deflect half of her strikes. That says it all.

Compared to that, the King of Specters’ martial arts were top-notch but still bearable. Of course, if the shock kept building up, it could be dangerous.

“Why do you complain about surviving in front of me? Don’t you know that the life you lament is a treasure someone else desperately wanted but was trampled upon…!”

“You trampled on everything that gave me hope for tomorrow.”

My father’s honor, Layla, and a healthy body to live tomorrow.

All taken by the demons.

Yet if they dare preach to me about the beauty of life, I might get a little angry.

“The people you trampled had to close their eyes in misery despite wanting to live! Yet you dare talk about the misery of life in front of me! That’s nothing but deceit!”

“There’s one thing I’m curious about.”

I wasn’t the type to enjoy arguments.

My belief that conflicts could be resolved through dialogue had long since vanished. Or maybe it disappeared recently.

But I wasn’t the type to hold back curiosity either, so I had to ask.

“I want to ask why you’re called a king.”

“What…?”

“Raul! Don’t ask!”

Her Majesty the Empress tried to stop me, but I couldn’t resist my curiosity.

“I haven’t seen you often, but I’ve never once seen the people you rule. A king is a concept that requires subjects to exist… So why are you called a king when you have no subjects? I want to know.”

“……………………………… Now. You. You are now… in front of me… with the blood of the Empire… with that mouth that devoured the Empire’s grain…”

“…What’s wrong? Was there something unclear about my question? If you want, I can explain it again…”

“You foolish traitor!!!!”

He roared and unleashed a powerful strike.

Perhaps amplified by his rage, even though I defended, it still bit into me, and I coughed up blood.

“Raul… why are you provoking the enemy…?”

“I just asked a question.”

Then Her Majesty the Empress explained everything.

The King of Specters was actually the king of a small kingdom destroyed by the Empire long ago. And the land of that kingdom was the hunting ground we were standing on now.

She told us everything, from the cowardly methods used to destroy his kingdom to how he had harbored his anger for hundreds of years.

“…Raul. Sometimes your talent frightens me.”

“…Raul, your mouth seems to be a genius at causing trouble.”

“……It’s fine. Once he’s dead, no one else will know.”

I admit, I made a slip of the tongue, though it wasn’t intentional.

“King of Specters. I apologize for my earlier statement. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

I didn’t enjoy provoking enemies with dirty words in battle.

“And you would have been the greatest king to your people.”

“………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

I instinctively knew.

I had just said something I shouldn’t have.

“How far do you intend to humiliate this tyrant? This pain, this sorrow, this regret. How much more will you defile it? Now that’s all that’s left. Why do you try to insult even the meaning of this tyrant’s existence!!!”

Then, ivory arrows flew faster and more fiercely. Even without directly hitting, the wounds appeared, clearly spinning violently.

“Well done, Raul. I’ve once again confirmed that my choice not to appoint you as the diplomatic envoy was not wrong.”

His Majesty clicked his tongue and stepped forward. Using his unique flames, he charged and swung his greatsword, but the King of Specters easily blocked it with his bow.

Then, the King of Specters quickly pulled a bone from his body, creating a second bow, and tried to shoot it with another pair of arms.

But Her Majesty the Empress and Camilla stopped him.

And… I took advantage of the opening and struck his stomach with my resonance-imbued staff.

“…Not bad.”

He tried to shoot me this time, but His Majesty and Her Majesty stopped him.

And Camilla struck his chest with a lightning-imbued arm.

“…Ugh!”

He tried to shoot Camilla this time, but I knocked the bow away, and His Majesty burned the arrow in his other hand.

Then Her Majesty the Empress drew her sword and slashed his thigh.

His stance crumbled momentarily, and His Majesty’s flames engulfed him again.

And when he tried to attack Her Majesty the Empress, His Majesty and Camilla blocked him, and I landed a strong resonance-imbued strike on his chest.

This time, he tried to shoot Camilla, but Her Majesty and I knocked it away, and His Majesty and Camilla simultaneously struck him with fire and lightning.

Using a strategy similar to when we fought the Demon King, he couldn’t keep up and kept getting hit.

“Empress. There’s a word that just came to my mind…”

“Don’t say it, Your Majesty.”

“This is just a beatdown…”

“No, it’s not.”

As we continued to dominate, the King of Specters seemed to give up resisting and stopped counterattacking.

Just as we were about to deliver the final blow to grant him peace, a ghostly voice echoed.

“Indeed… is this what you meant, Demon King… no, Tyrant Blade… Yes… standing at the crossroads of death, I finally understand… the stage you spoke of… where I stand… and how to take a step forward…”

We all felt uneasy.

“Everything is a matter of mindset…”

We had to kill him before he could do anything. We didn’t give him a chance to draw his bow and aimed to behead him.

“You all…”

Just as our weapons were about to reach his neck,

“I’ll shoot.”

Though invisible, ivory arrows faintly shimmering pierced our bodies.

His Majesty was hit in the thigh, Her Majesty in the shoulder, Camilla in the side, and I in the stomach.

We all fell, caught off guard by the unexpected attack.

“Ah… now I see.”

The aura he emitted had clearly changed.

We all instinctively knew.

This man had now reached the realm of the Demon King.

“Rules and justice… how futile they truly are.”