The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 502

Astadear’s Divine King’s Scripture emitted a pale blue light, shining from within his body.

Astadear, having regained his kingly qualities, had begun to use the light of kingship.

“Haha. Even when I was a reigning king, it wasn’t to this extent, but now, of all times!”

Astadear, witnessing the Divine King’s Scripture granting him even greater power than during his reign, had an epiphany.

By abandoning his ego and emptying himself, the Divine King’s Scripture had chosen him.

“Hah!”

The iron nails flew haphazardly, targeting Zekt.

Zekt didn’t conceal the power of the Nether, drawing blood from his own body.

Using blood magic and Nether magic, he transformed the drawn blood into grotesque insects, evading and defending against Astadear’s attacks.

However, Astadear grasped his sword.

-Wrath of Yaegas! [a powerful magical attack]

A spear of light erupted from the sword, striking the iron nails floating in the air and targeting Zekt.

Zekt dodged the Wrath of Yaegas and turned his attention to the iron nails.

The iron nails, colliding and moving erratically in the air, suddenly accelerated.

The radiant energy of the Wrath of Yaegas spread to the iron nails, causing them to resonate with each other, shaking Zekt’s body violently.

“Kuh!”

Zekt was thrown back, colliding with the wind barrier that adorned the Butuma Royal Castle.

As Astadear pursued, Zekt pushed off the ground and fled.

The two Inquisitors dashed through the halls of Butuma Royal Castle, divided by partitions, wind barriers, and temporary walls, exchanging attacks.

With each exchange, Zekt’s flesh was torn away, and blood splattered.

Despite using blood magic, necromancy, and Nether magic against the magic of the Divine King’s Scripture, he couldn’t withstand Astadear’s power.

Of course, Astadear wasn’t unilaterally dominating Zekt either.

His body, ruined by a life of heavy drinking, couldn’t endure the extreme power of the Divine King’s Scripture.

And as the frozen temporary walls and wind barriers shattered, the scene outside the castle was revealed.

Numerous soldiers’ corpses were scattered about.

While searching for Astadear, Zekt had massacred all the soldiers in the area.

“Ah.”

Astadear, who had been gaining the upper hand, also stopped at the gruesome sight.

“Why on earth?”

Zekt and Astadear were both division commanders, but Astadear held a higher position in name.

However, Zekt controlled the military power itself.

That is, most of the soldiers were under Zekt’s command, so there would have been no reason for him to kill them.

Yet, Zekt had killed his own men while searching for Astadear.

“I killed them in case this heart of mine grew dull.”

“Ugh!”

Astadear grabbed the leather strap and swung it.

The iron nails, which had been freely floating in the air, all returned and embedded themselves in his leather strap. Astadear swung the leather strap forcefully, embedding seven iron nails into Zekt’s body.

-Wrath of Yaegas!

And he struck the head of the largest iron nail with the Wrath of Yaegas.

The radiant energy was conducted through the iron nails, penetrating Zekt’s body, burning the Nether-tainted blood within him, and incinerating Zekt alive.

“Kyak!”

Zekt screamed in excruciating pain.

His golden armor shattered, and his body was torn to pieces, scattering in all directions.

“Zekt. How dare you commit such an act.”

“Ha, haha. Then, Lord Astadear, would you tell me why you expected me to betray you? Any reason, no matter how trivial, will do. I want to hear it from your own lips.”

“You are not like other petty people who love only themselves. You love nothing. You have never loved. All that exists within you is absurd pain. And yet, your talent is exceptional. Even if you were a foreseen talent, how could you kill innocent people!”

“I see. So, you thought I would betray you someday because I have nothing to love?”

“Yes. You do not know happiness. If you had chased after desires or pleasures like petty people, you would have been satisfied with the promise of the throne. Neither power nor wealth would please you. But since you are not undead, I had hoped that you might change someday….”

Astadear raised his sword.

It was to strike Zekt’s head, which was still burning from the iron nails.

But then, a sudden anomaly occurred.

The fire of the Divine King’s Scripture within Astadear’s body began to extinguish.

That wasn’t all.

The light of kingship suddenly began to disappear.

The sky grew dark.

Suddenly, even the stars lost their light, and the entire world darkened.

“What!?”

Astadear was bewildered by the sudden wave of intoxication.

He had been standing by compensating his ruined body with the power of the Divine King’s Scripture, but as the power of the Divine King’s Scripture disappeared, he was paralyzed by a wave of intoxication, even though he hadn’t drunk anything.

And Zekt was not one to miss that opportunity.

-Thwack!

Zekt’s sword pierced Astadear’s chest.

“Kuh?!”

Astadear was horrified to see Zekt, who had been shattered by the iron nails, still alive and moving in this situation.

His arms and legs had already been severed.

However, Zekt had transformed his own blood and flesh, managing to move his body and plunge his sword into Astadear’s body.

“How long have you been accepting the power of the Nether to such an extent? At this rate, your whole body….”

Astadear was aghast as he looked at Zekt, who had pierced his chest.

“You were magnificent, Lord Astadear. If you had pushed just a little further, you might have been able to kill me. Indeed, the Divine King’s Scripture. Indeed, Lord Astadear. But you trusted your own abilities too much.”

Zekt praised Astadear as he turned toward his shattered body parts.

His arms, legs, and pieces of flesh that had fallen to the ground transformed into countless centipedes, swarming toward his body and intertwining.

The centipedes all merged, transforming back into Zekt’s form.

“Zekt….”

Astadear knelt on the ground, his chest pierced by the sword.

The coldness of the cold stone floor chilled Astadear’s bleeding body.

But even in the cold, Astadear did not lose consciousness and looked at Zekt.

A faint halo began to emanate from Zekt’s head.

A halo of light, symbolizing holiness, was appearing on Zekt at this moment.

However, this light was a spectacle of ominous red and purple.

The power of the Nether was granting Zekt holiness.

“To open the Age of Jupiter with my own hands. Even though I am an emotionless being with nothing to love, this moment is a little moving.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Astadear closed his eyes, offering an apology to no one in particular.

Zekt approached Astadear, grabbed the sword that was plunged into his chest, and pulled it out.

Blood gushed out, and Astadear’s body collapsed powerlessly.

*********

“Are you alright, Lord Zekt?”

“What is this!? How, how did you do it?”

The Telbarin elves approached Zekt.

However, Zekt refused their approach with a wave of his hand.

“There is no need to be so surprised. Before entering the royal castle, I split my body and hid it underground. And the moment Lord Astadear chased me outside, I was able to safely plunge the sword into the Quartz Throne.”

Zekt had split off a part of his body, had it wield the Nether sword, and plunge it into the Quartz Throne.

Of course, if he had done it directly, Astadear, who was sitting on the throne, would have noticed, so he had engaged him in a fight to draw him away from the throne.

Astadear could not have imagined that there was such a terrible artifact that could open the Age of Jupiter just by touching the throne, so it was inevitable that he was defeated by Zekt.

“Still, it was amazing.”

Zekt staggered as he walked through the ruined Butuma Royal Castle.

Although he had won, he was also critically injured.

The wounds that Astadear had inflicted on him were horrific injuries that would have killed an ordinary person ten times over.

In particular, the wounds inflicted by the sacred power of the Divine King’s Scripture were now burning even more intensely, as he had become a vassal of the Nether.

Even though Zekt’s entire body had transformed into a Nether monster, when he closed his eyes and looked at his body, he could see the wedges that Astadear had driven into him, gnawing at his body like burning coals.

“Then, I must focus on restoring this body. Lord Astadear. Your fight was not in vain. In this age of destruction, you can be said to have shown the most kingly actions, aside from King Azadin.”

That was the highest praise Zekt could offer.

*********

The endless night continued.

The Nether god, Grimsloth, pitied the humans and created shelters with his trees to protect them, but the mercy of Grimsloth, an otherworldly, heteromorphic god, was severely twisted and could not be fully relied upon.

As food ran out, the isolated people ate the fruits that grew on the shelter trees and, under Grimsloth’s protection, transformed into his vassals.

A terrible end, becoming living trees.

But with the continuous night, the seemingly eternal cold, and the Nether giants roaming the distant mountains and fields, who could have hope?

“Don’t eat it! If you eat this fruit, you’ll become a monster!”

“Shut up! We’re doomed anyway! Let us eat!”

“If we die eating, at least we’ll look good!”

Those who controlled the shelters were preventing people from eating Grimsloth’s fruit, but the starving people were trying to eat it.

“You crazy bastards! If you eat it, it’s not just you who will become monsters! Those monsters will kill the remaining survivors! Why don’t you understand why we’re stopping you!?”

“Then give us food! If we had food in our mouths, would we be crazy enough to want to become monsters!?”

Eventually, a fight broke out among the survivors over the remaining supplies.

But then, a warm energy suddenly emanated from in front of them.

A warm heat spread out, centered around a merchant from the Corasar Merchant Guild.

And at that moment, everyone heard a voice.

[In accordance with the ancient covenant, the Emperor calls! Answer, heralds!]

The Emperor’s voice echoed.

The bewildered merchant looked around.

“Uh, me?”

“I, I can hear it too.”

Another merchant asked in confusion.

“Derek, sir?!”

“Hmm.”

Derek, a former herald and current executive of the Merchant Guild, was bewildered by the sudden voice of the Emperor.

The Emperor’s voice should have vanished after his death, and besides, this wasn’t just conveying words.

He was speaking to all the people through them.

‘He’s trying to speak to the people by resonating with the grimoires within us.’

Derek observed the people’s reactions.

When they realized that they were of the herald clan, the people’s expressions changed.

“Are they spies? Going around pretending to be merchants.”

“They have, they have quite a bit of food and supplies.”

“But the herald clan….”

The people were hesitant, their gazes filled with greed, fear, and bewilderment.