N/T: Translation made by our friend 'Irving'. A big round of applause for him :)
C 298
Tacheon descended slowly, like stepping down a staircase built in the sky.
A strange energy, a mixture of sanctity and malevolence, chaos and order, emanated from his entire being.
Raon narrowed his eyes as he observed Tacheon, who exuded a presence that seemed to transcend humanity.
"So, Tacheon has arrived as expected."
Although there were only two individuals capable of stopping the White Blood religion leader at the advanced level in Eden, only one person was active, so it had been predetermined that Tacheon would come here.
"His presence is so overwhelming that it's almost imperceptible."
Tacheon's mana was so immense that his own aura couldn't be felt.
It felt like facing an endless sea.
"Then."
Raon forced his gaze downward and nudged Wrath.
"What does it mean that he's 'mixed'?"
Literally as I said.
Without taking his gaze off Tacheon, Wrath answered.
One of the powers of a Demon Lord is embedded in him.
"...A Demon Lord?"
As soon as the term "Demon Lord" was mentioned, the memory of the formidable Sloth he had encountered in Habun Castle came to mind.
An overwhelmingly powerful force that felt like it could shatter the sky.
Even now, having advanced to the Master Intermediate level, he doubted he could stand before Sloth without faltering.
"The interesting thing is that half of him seems to be pure sanctity. He's called Tacheon, right? His name is quite fitting."
Wrath looked at Tacheon and let out a mocking laugh.
"There's only one lunatic who would do something like this."
"Who is that lunatic?"
"Pride."
Wrath grimaced at Tacheon and scrunched up his nose.
He spoke with an irritated expression, one that Raon had never seen before.
"He's the ruler of <Arrogance>."
"Arrogance..."
Uttering that word sent shivers down Raon's spine.
The name alone was enough to evoke an unsettling feeling.
"Come to think of it, that guy mentioned it often."
Wrath had recounted stories about Pride several times, and each time, he had shown a rather unfavorable reaction.
Considering his temperament, Pride seemed to be a Demon Lord as powerful as Wrath, if not more so.
"Does that mean both of us, like you and me, are tied to his body?"
"That's not it. I can't sense Pride's presence from him."
Wrath shook his head, clearly not pleased.
"Ugh..."
Raon's hand holding the sword trembled.
"The Eden pillar had a connection to a Demon Lord..."
It was even more shocking than the appearance of the White Blood religion leader herself.
"What about her?"
He gestured toward the White Blood religion leader within the cauldron, who was leisurely observing Tacheon.
"I don't know."
"Huh?"
"She's completely concealing her power. Normally, I wouldn't know, but my aura is too strong right now, and I still can't see inside her."
Wrath rubbed his temples with a frustrated look.
Just when things were critical, he wasn't of much help.
Thud.
Tacheon descended with an air of elegance, radiating an aura of grandeur.
He was so radiant that it was as if light was emanating from his face, making him seem like a divine being.
"If he's already this imposing..."
Raon spat out a dry cough, trying to calm his racing heart.
"He's truly in a commanding presence."
Taking advantage of this opportunity, he had to assess the situation and figure out how to escape from their enemies, rather than being intimidated by him.
"It's been a while, White Blood religion leader."
Tacheon approached the cauldron where the White Blood religion leader was seated.
The mask of the young man's face bore a gentle smile.
"Your appearance has changed again."
He tilted his head slightly as he looked at the crimson figure within the cauldron.
"It's about time for a change."
The White Blood religion leader gazed at Tacheon, emitting an aura of languidness and amusement.
"Is this the first time you've seen me since the Agreement?"
"No. We've met once since then."
"Ah, I see."
The two exchanged soft words as if meeting an old acquaintance.
However, beneath their voices lay a chilling aura, cold enough to freeze blood.
"If you had called, I would have gone to see you. Why have you come all the way here?"
Tacheon took a step towards the furnace and brushed his sleeves.
Whether it was because of the mask or the atmosphere, every action he took seemed to exude elegance.
"I have something I want."
"If you want something..."
"That child."
The White Blood religion leader extended a finger towards Raon outside the red gate.
"I want to take him with me."
"Hmm."
Tacheon turned his head and looked at Raon.
The edge of his mask's lips curled slightly upwards.
"Unfortunately, I can't grant that request."
"Why?"
Once again, the White Blood religion leader asked confidently, as if she had entrusted Raon to him.
"All the members of Eden have gathered for the sake of Restoration. We may not know about other things, but we don't hand over comrades."
Tacheon echoed the words that were spoken to the White Blood religion leader.
"And that helmet is special."
"Special?"
"I didn't make that blue dragon helmet. Merlin created it from start to finish. Neither the helmet nor the one who wears it belongs to me, so how can I give it to you?"
He spoke with the utmost politeness before raising his head.
Raon bit his lip.
'I'm so nervous I could die.'
Contrary to expectations, the two monsters were too composed, leaving no room to intervene.
After clearing his mind using the Ring of Fire, he waited for an opportunity.
"Merlin, huh."
The White Blood religion leader smiled and touched her lips with the finger she was pointing.
"Well, then I can't go back empty-handed, can I? After all, Merlin was the one intervened in our plans and captured Raon."
"Ah, such a thing happened."
Tacheon seemed to not know about that and made a short gesture of contemplation.
However, his expression remained calm.
It felt like he was saying, 'So what?'
"It's a regrettable situation, but that child has already worn the helmet. I'll say it again. Eden doesn't hand over comrades."
Upon hearing the word "comrades," Raon blew a puff of air.
Saying something like that in front of the White Blood religion leader, he didn't know whether to call it crazy or brave.
"Then let's make a bet."
The White Blood religion leader raised a finger.
"A bet, you say?"
"You said that child is a member of Eden, so naturally it's a bet related to him."
She said it would be simple and fun.
"Hmm."
Tacheon turned to look at Raon again, sweeping his mask slightly.
Raon narrowed his eyes at the White Blood religion leader and Tacheon.
'Now's the chance.'
To sow discord between Tacheon and the White Blood religion leader, it was advantageous for him to accept the bet.
He had to make sure they accepted it no matter what.
"I am not your possession. The only one who can give me orders is Princess."
He scratched his voice provocatively.
'I have to provoke him.'
Since he claimed to have the power of pride, even if he looked polite, he must have an arrogant personality deep down.
Seeing how he didn't back down in front of the White Blood religion leader, he wasn't the type to just stand still after hearing such words.
"I have an obligation to protect my fellow countrymen. But that's only if he is still committed to Restoration."
Tacheon's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Only if he's still aiming for Restoration, right?"
He turned his head and looked at the White Blood religion leader.
"Tell me. What kind of bet are you suggesting?"
"It's simple. If that child is truly consumed by the helmet's spirit, I'll withdraw my claim. However, if that child managed to overcome the helmet's spirit, I'll take him with me."
The White Blood religion leader relaxedly raised her hand.
"Well, he's not your comrade, so it doesn't matter, right?"
"How will you determine whether he's been consumed by the helmet's spirit or not?"
"Well, there's a way."
She smiled, saying she knew exactly how to find out.
"Fine. I accept. However, I have a condition too."
"A condition?"
"Yes. After doing your method, I need to receive Merlin's approval, then I will agree."
"Okay."
The White Blood religion leader nodded as if she was satisfied with the situation.
"Then show us. How will you determine whether that child succumbed to the helmet's spirit or not?"
Tacheon spread his hands as if to indicate, "Go ahead."
Raon looked at the White Blood religion leader and Tacheon, swallowing his dry saliva.
'Neither of them seems to be considering the possibility of losing.'
They both didn't seem to be thinking that they could lose in this wager.
They were confident that no matter how the wager turned out, they wouldn't lose themselves.
'This might work in my favor.'
Raon had already planned out what he would do based on Rockta's actions.
With the absorption of his soul, there was no chance of revealing his true identity through words or actions.
The best outcome would be a war between Eden and the White Blood religion.
He calmed his mind by focusing on that goal.
"Alright."
The White Blood religion leader nodded her head as if she liked the idea.
When she turned her gaze to the side, the Fifth Apostle appeared.
As the Fifth Apostle manipulated his energy, a man engulfed in grey energy surged out from the grey pool beneath his feet.
Hooooo!
As his energy was released, his figure became visible. He had sky-blue hair and innocent puppy-like eyes.
He was unmistakable.
'Why? Why is he here...?'
Dorian.
The moment Raon saw the man with eyes unfocused, his heart sank.
He never imagined Dorian would be here.
"Ugh..."
Raon bit his tongue to hide his surprise.
"He helped us reach here thanks to the Continent-Tracking Perfume he gave to you, Raon."
The White Blood religion leader patted Dorian's head like a pet.
His stray hairs settled down.
'Continent-Tracking Perfume. So that's what it was.'
He had been found out after all, giving the perfume to the Tenth Apostle.
The White Blood religion leader had obviously used the Continent-Tracking Perfume carried by Dorian to trace his location.
'This is a mess.'
Dorian might have used the Continent-Tracking Perfume to save him, but things had gone horribly wrong.
It was an unexpected turn of events, and his head was spinning.
"Looks like you've caused quite a stir."
Tacheon nodded with an understanding of the situation, yet he remained composed.
Arrogance.
His personality was showing that he was truly empowered by the force of Pride.
"Now do you understand what kind of wager I'll make?"
When the White Blood religion leader pointed her finger, the Fifth Apostle brought Dorian in front of Raon.
"If Raon kills this child, I'll admit defeat. But if Raon doesn't kill this child, I'll take him with me."
She smiled, confident that she would win.
'Damn it...'
Cold sweat trickled down his back.
He was relieved to be wearing the helmet.
If his expression had been visible, he would have been caught instantly.
'There's no way out.'
If Dorian were here, handing himself to Wrath wouldn't be easy.
If he went berserk, he'd target Dorian first, kill him as his closest person
"Not bad, but it's a little vague."
Tacheon grinned at Dorian as if he understood everything.
"Simply consuming a human soul doesn't immediately turn you into that person. Raon wore the helmet just yesterday. It's not the moment where his soul and body are fully integrated."
'Now is the time.'
Raon looked at Tacheon disapprovingly, as if he didn't like the idea of the wager.
"Why do I have to kill this child?"
He glared at Dorian with eyes full of incomprehension.
"I am a knight. I don't swing my sword at someone without a reason."
He lifted his head, echoing the words Rockta might have said.
'Please...'
His expression was confident, but his heart wasn't.
Tacheon seemed to hope that Raon would reject the wager, so he clenched his fist.
"Doesn't it seem fake to you?"
Within the red robes, the White Blood religion leader's pupils flickered.
"It looks like I'm winning the wager anyway."
"No."
Tacheon shook his head.
"The soul embedded in that helmet belongs to Draconian, the Knight Commander Rockta Deport. As a knight, it's not strange for him to make such a claim, so we need to speak properly"
He approached Dorian's side.
He pointed to the symbol engraved on the reverse side of his uniform's top, which represented an inverted sword.
"Do you see this? The inverted sword is a symbol of our greatest enemy. In other words, it represents Merlin's foe, which you serve."
Tacheon lightly chuckled as he touched the symbol of Zieghart.
"Not long ago, Merlin suffered a significant injury to his chest, and that was also their doing."
"Ugh..."
Raon exhaled a low breath, pretending to be angry.
'That's not a lie.'
He remembered how Sheryl had struck Merlin with a dual blade to drive her away.
Tacheon was talking about that incident.
"This swordsman is one of our enemies and one of the culprits who harmed Merlin. Shouldn't that be reason enough?"
It was enough.
If Merlin were the center of the world as Rockta,
He would have struck Dorian down right here.
But he was not Rockta.
He was Raon Zieghart, and he could never harm Dorian.
"Then I guess I'll make it easier for you."
The White Blood religion leader snapped her fingers.
With the sound echoing through the air, Dorian's large pupils regained their light.
"Huh? Where... Where is this... Ah!"
Dorian let out a groan as he looked around at the peculiar furnace and the White Blood religion followers and helmet-wearing spirits surrounding him.
When he saw the Tenth Apostle, he shivered as if he recalled the time when he was kidnapped.
"You wicked fellow."
The pupils of Dorian's eyes widened with disbelief as he muttered.
'This isn't helping; it's almost the same as stabbing me with a knife. The White Blood religion leader clearly knows that I didn't succumb to the helmet.'
"Uh…?"
Dorian, who had been rolling his eyes endlessly in anxiety, stopped when he saw Raon.
He froze as he looked at the blue dragon helmet and the attire and sword beneath it.
"Young master Raon?"
Hearing his innocent voice, shivers ran down Raon's spine.
A sense of danger rang alarms in his mind.
If he made a wrong move, they could all die here.
"I'll say it again. This man is affiliated with our enemies, Zieghart. It is for Merlin's sake that you must strike him down."
"...I see."
Raon held onto the sword tightly and looked at Dorian.
"Ah!"
Dorian, upon seeing his own eyes reflected in the helmet, shut his mouth tightly.
His frightened pupils trembled.
'He recognized me.'
Because they had spent a long time together, it seemed that Dorian had recognized that he hadn't been consumed by the helmet's spirit.
"So, you accept the wager?"
The White Blood religion leader gestured towards Tacheon with a chuckle.
"Yes. As I mentioned earlier, once Merlin's verification is complete, we'll let him go. But it seems that he's not planning to cooperate easily. We didn't mention the time, did we?"
Tacheon smiled faintly, tilting his head.
"Ah, I wish he would make up his mind quickly."
As the White Blood religion leader turned her head to the right, the old man who had been carrying the cauldron stepped forward.
Even if three people were supporting the legs, the cauldron didn't waver.
Ooo!
As the old man rolled his foot, a long and narrow blood energy pathway opened on the ground.
From the dense blood energy, ten men and women emerged. They all had dilated pupils like Dorian.
"A knight can't stand injustice, right? From now on, I will kill one person every minute."
As his laughter mixed with his words, the old man immediately plunged his fingers into the throat of the young man in front of him and tore into the flesh.
Squish!
Blood sprayed from the decapitated body and splattered onto Raon's shoulder.
Tacheon smiled innocently as he looked at the splattering blood on the ground.
"Aaah!"
Dorian trembled as he saw the neck of the person next to him vanish in an instant.
His lips quivered, and his pupils shook endlessly.
Squish.
Raon tightly gripped the hilt of the Heavenly Drive sword as if it would shatter.
'He knows too.'
Tacheon knew as well that he hadn't been consumed by the helmet's spirit.
He was mocking him knowingly.
Enjoying this situation despite knowing.
"Hehehe."
"Hahaha."
The laughter of the two monsters sounded nothing like human laughter.
It squeezed his heart as if he were looking at a demon's smile that saw people as mere food.
"Whoosh…"
A sense of death bloomed in the breath he exhaled.
It might be a good idea to get caught up in a fight to escape, but that was only if he had the intention of saving himself.
Both the White Blood religion leader and Tacheon were enemies he couldn't defeat, especially since he couldn't kill Dorian.
This was the worst moment beyond his expectations.
Gruh...
Raon spat out rough breaths as he looked at the frightened Dorian and the nine people who knew nothing.
"What are you doing? It's been a minute already."
"Please, as a knight, strike down Merlin's enemy."
The White Blood religion leader and Tacheon lowered their voices as if they were bored.
Splash!
Even though a minute hadn't passed, the old man broke the heart of the second woman.
She collapsed without even knowing she was dead.
"Two down."
"How far will it go?"
They were crazy.
They were completely out of their minds, more insane than he had ever encountered in this life or the previous one.
While they claimed they wanted to take him with them, they hadn't given any thought to what would happen afterwards.
Their arrogance was extreme.
However, he couldn't rebel.
The air spoke to him.
If he made a foolish move here, he would die.
The intangible energy exuding from the Absolute Beings made every hair on his body stand on end.
One by one, thoughts that could bring him a bit of comfort floated up in his mind.
They were all going to die anyway.
Even if it weren't them, I would have become the White Blood religion's prey.
I have something to do.
I can't die here because of them.
And Dorian, Dorian...
Raon looked at Dorian and swallowed his dry saliva.
Dorian was the one he had spent the most time with, aside from his family.
He had shown more of his heart to Dorian than anyone else.
Even if it was a lie, he hadn't said that he was abandoning him.
A solution.
A way to escape...
If he didn't kill Dorian here, Tacheon would kill him, and if he kill Dorian, the White Blood religion leader would capture him.
Even if he handed himself over to Wrath, Dorian would die
He stood at a crossroads of death where there was no way out.
"Raon Zieghart!"
Dorian looked at Raon with his eyes wide open.
"You idiotic bastard!"
He clenched his teeth and yelled.
Droplets of blood fell as he bit his lips.
"I never liked you from the beginning! I knew pretending to be all that would lead to this. There wasn't a single day that I enjoyed being with you!"
Dorian's pupils shook like crushed balls as he stared at Raon.
"Remember this properly! It's not just me, no one, not a single person, would like an arrogant jerk like you!"
"..."
"Why are you staying silent? Kill! All you know how to do is not to run your mouth! If you're going to act arrogant, then go ahead and kill!"
Raon gripped the sword even harder.
'Dorian...'
Dorian's pupils no longer trembled.
His eyes were filled with determination.
That foolish coward was asking him to gather his courage and kill him.
Usually, before dying, one would spew sharp resentments and curses, but he only criticized himself, empty of any anger.
He worried about him until the end.
"Ha!"
Raon let out a bitter laugh and lowered his head.
'He can't even curse properly. But he's brave.'
More than me.
He was much more impressive than me, who was searching for a way to escape at the cost of his own honor.
'I have to live humbly. It's meaningless otherwise.'
Living like a rat is enough for my previous life.
This life won't end like that.
Thanks to Dorian's courage, he was able to regain his composure.
'It's getting interesting.'
'That's why humans are interesting.'
The White Blood religion leader and Tacheon smiled.
They laughed as if they didn't care about what happened next.
Raon no longer paid attention to the two of them.
He gripped the Heavenly Drive sword and headed towards Dorian and the hostages.
'Wrath. I'll bear your anger. Even for a moment...'
-Not necessary. The King is also furious.
Wrath frowned as he looked at the tearful Dorian.
-Despite being foolish and dull, he is the King's subordinate. I will provide as much help as I can at this moment.
'Thank you.'
Raon nodded his head and stood at the center of Dorian and the hostages.
"You foolish child."
"Ugh..."
Dorian closed his eyes, prepared for death.
"Phew."
Raon drew two swords at once.
Clang!
The first sword pierced the throats of the Fifth Apostle holding Dorian, and the second sword pierced through the old man's chest.
Phuaaah!
As he drew both swords simultaneously, a fierce stream of blood sprayed from the Fifth Apostle's throats, and the old man fell to his knees and collapsed.
"Living like this is foul."
Raon removed the blue dragon helmet.
His bright red eyes retained their color even in front of the Absolute Beings.
"I'd rather die here."
