Chapter 52

Raul Berze.

Raul Berze.

Raul Berze.

My name.

But I don’t know. Even though it’s my name, I can’t be sure of it anymore. Now, I even doubt whether what I see or hear is real.

That’s why I didn’t want to see anything. I didn’t want to hear anything. I just wanted to breathe.

Yet, there was something that seemed to go against my nerves. Like a bug I had to kill crawling inside my shirt… that kind of unpleasant sensation.

So, in the darkness, I turned my eyes to the light. To stare at the darkness more comfortably. Just for that.

I opened the door and went outside. Knowing that the lock on this door was meaningless, no one had locked the room.

“……..”

The air was unpleasant. The air I breathed in, aware that it was tainted with dirty blood, was nauseating.

Breathing in that unpleasant air, I walked towards the source of the discomfort, and there I saw that face.

The reason for all the farewells I had experienced, the culprit who caused her death, the reason I had to kill my other half.

Yet, at one point, I even thought he was pitiful.

“Oh, the Giant Hunter. It’s good to see a familiar face.”

As soon as I saw that face, I could guess.

That everything I experienced today was part of this man’s scheme.

“Beled!!!!!!!”

How long has it been? My throat, which had only emitted a calm and monotonous voice, now screamed.

How long has it been? Since I harbored this much hatred and murderous intent.

I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.

I just need to kill that man.

I ran towards him, reaching out my hand.

“Still terrifying, that hand. Just touching it can tear and pierce. Truly a monster.”

He dodged my hand blade by a hair’s breadth and drew his sword.

“If it’s you, I have no choice but to draw my sword. To catch a beast, you need steel.”

“… I can’t understand you. Everything about you is starting to disgust me.”

“Pity. I’m just starting to understand you. Your ugly nature is so pitiful, I even feel sympathy.”

I adjusted my grip on the cane, imbued it with a strong resonance, and swung it.

“Swinging isn’t your specialty, is it?”

He cleverly chose to evade rather than block my weapon with his sword.

I aimed to destroy his sword, but he dodged my attacks and started looking for an opening.

As he swung his sword, I blocked the knee strike aimed at my abdomen with my left hand. It was purely defensive, so it didn’t deal any damage.

Even though I blocked it, my fingertips started to go numb.

“Still, your tricks don’t work. Swordsmen are all about the sword, after all.”

Something’s different.

The Demon King hasn’t recovered from the fatal wounds we inflicted. He should be in a state akin to being half-paralyzed.

Yet, with such a body, he easily dodged my attacks and launched the same kind of attack as before.

How did he recover his body?

“Shall I raise the level of my technique just a little… Raul Berze?”

I see.

He didn’t recover his body.

The fiery rage I felt before was gone. Instead, it had turned into a freezing cold.

And with that cold rage, he began to utilize his techniques.

Not just overwhelming power with hot rage, but refining his techniques to the extreme with cold rage.

“The wounded are putting on quite a show, Raul Berze.”

His sword strikes were fierce. The swift kicks and punches targeting my blind spots were threatening.

Yet, the weapons he wielded weren’t the end. There were still many techniques lurking in the depths of the abyss.

“Come at me with all your might, Raul Berze. Fight me as you did in the last battle, burning your lifespan. I have never been an easy opponent to face.”

“… Shut up.”

“If not.”

He said as his sword barely grazed the bridge of my nose.

“Do you plan to use your full power only after everyone here is dead?”

Rizel, Rosie… and Mother…

I don’t know.

I don’t know, but I don’t know what I don’t know. I can’t even be sure that I don’t know. My mind is just as black as the darkness I was staring at.

Yet… I didn’t want them to die.

I resonated my heart through my right hand. To increase my heart rate, blood circulation, and physical abilities dramatically.

“… So you’re that kind of person. Someone who can casually use their lifespan.”

The Demon King looked at me with a melancholic gaze.

“People like you are beautiful. Truly beautiful. The will to face me without fear of death… is the very essence of the beauty of humanity I once believed in.”

The Demon King sheathed his sword and began to persuade me.

“You are different from the ugly humans. You embody the beauty of humanity. That’s why I want to invite you.”

He extended his hand to me.

“Let’s destroy this Empire together.”

“What…?”

“You know it too. This Empire is nothing but a rotting corpse. All that’s left is decaying flesh and maggots.”

I couldn’t understand.

After exchanging blows just moments ago, he calmly extended his hand.

I couldn’t understand at all.

“You devoted yourselves to this Empire. You crossed the line of death on the battlefield, lost loved ones, and after a fierce battle, defeated even me and overthrew the tyrant. But what about the humans of this Empire?”

His words began to shake my soul.

“Lunatic noble, parricidal emperor, crippled prostitute, monster. Are those the epithets for heroes? Is that the treatment befitting the heroes who saved them? Calling them heroes to their faces and slurs behind their backs…”

I wanted to cover my ears, but I couldn’t.

“Was it really worth protecting?”

Only my body should be trembling, but my heart began to shake even more.

“It wasn’t.”

“…”

“The humans of this Empire are worse than beasts. Even beasts wag their tails and show gratitude when given something. The humans of this Empire can’t even do that.”

I should have rejected those words.

I should have just laughed it off and moved on.

I should have swung my hand and ended it right now.

“Worthless insects with no beliefs, no morals, no will. Only seeking a place to throw the stones they hold. That’s what this Empire is.”

“…”

“So let’s destroy this ugly Empire together…”

At that moment, a voice I missed came to me.

‘Raul.’

I swung my hand blade and cut the Demon King’s cheek.

Originally, I aimed to split his head in half, but he quickly pulled back, so it only grazed his cheek.

“Still protecting those uncivilized insects.”

“… I won’t say all the humans in this country are clean.”

“Then?”

“… I don’t know. Just a voice I missed came to me. That’s all.”

“A sufficient reason.”

I distanced myself and focused all my resonance on the tips of three fingers.

“Oh… that white ripple, is it White Break? I know it, the technique that killed several of my disciples.”

This man knew all the secret techniques I learned from my master. Even though I had never shown them in battle against him.

Of course, I didn’t care at all.

No matter what he knew, no matter what he said, no matter what he had, I just needed to kill him.

“I shall also respond with a technique of my own.”

He bent his waist, crossed his sword arm and the other, and took a stance.

“One Sword…”

An inexplicable sense of unease made me move without thinking.

I felt like I had to kill him before he could properly execute his technique.

If he completed his technique, everyone in this area would die.

“…Ha.”

And at that moment, a massive arrow pierced my wrist and abdomen.

Only one person could shoot an arrow that surpassed sound and perception.

“Still alive, you ghost.”

“… Pointless.”

The Demon King relaxed his stance and approached me, speaking again.

“I wanted to compete in skill, not strength, this time. To block that pleasure, you ghost, how presumptuous.”

I couldn’t muster any strength.

The resonance I had given to my heart was also undone due to the sneak attack.

Moreover, I vomited blood from the recoil.

“Pitiful struggle. A struggle that won’t even receive a small reward. Pitiful.”

I should have raised my hand and killed him now, but I couldn’t muster any strength.

“I’m not so cowardly as to kill a wounded man. Nor am I so friendly as to ease your pain.”

“…”

“Ponder my words, Raul Berze. Was this Empire really worth protecting? Was your devotion truly rewarded?”

The Demon King sheathed his sword and handed me a recovery potion.

“Were you truly loved as much as you loved?”

The Demon King left those words and disappeared.

I couldn’t give any answer as my unstable consciousness closed.

The blood soaking the floor and my freezing mind were just unpleasant.

I wished I could lose consciousness and faint a little sooner.