CH 41

༺ Malevolent Star (3) ༻

Full-body armor wreathed in black flames.

A spear as crimson as blood and as long as thorns.

“Really… It really was Malevolent Star…”

1

Daisy realized that the Eon standing in front of her was the real Malevolent Star.

She was prepared to do anything for revenge. Captured by hatred and sorrow, she could not find another path and had no reason to stop.

However, if she had to kill Malevolent Star to achieve her revenge, Daisy was not confident that she could do it without hesitation.

The memory of the fall of the Ionia Kingdom is still vivid.

The kingdom’s army was completely destroyed by the relentless assault of the seemingly endless undead army, and the capital city of Karia was occupied in an instant.

Even if they abandoned the city and fled from the undead’s attack, there was no way to repel the tireless and endlessly advancing undead.

As everyone was preparing for death in their hearts, and even when death itself would not be a comfortable resting place, despair set in.

A single hero defeated the Immortal King alone.

No one witnessed the actual fall of the Immortal King. Because of the overwhelming number of undead troops, no one could get close to the Immortal King.

However, the sight of a hero swinging a crimson spear like a fiend, cutting through the undead army and advancing, spread like a rumor among countless soldiers.

And a few days later.

The assault of the commanding army against humanity suddenly ended.

They turned into wild undead hordes, aimlessly wandering around as if they had lost their commander.

If it weren’t for Malevolent Star, most of the kingdom’s people would have lost their lives without even having time to evacuate, and the commanding army that occupied the kingdom would have attacked the Empire as their next target.

Daisy and all the survivors of the Ionia Kingdom were indebted to Malevolent Star for their lives.

And now, the Malevolent Star who saved her life was standing in front of her to prevent her revenge.

What kind of joke is this fate?

Daisy’s fighting spirit gradually faded away.

Although they had been fighting as if to kill each other just moments ago, she never thought she would face Malevolent Star here. She was not at all prepared for the current situation in which she had to kill him.

-Grrrrrrr…!

However, the Dread Lord was different.

The Dread Lord was furious that the summoner no longer wanted to fight.

A king reigning high in the dark realm. He gladly responded to the summoning because it had been a long time since a human called him.

However, having descended into the human realm himself, it would be against his dignity as a king to return without doing anything.

Therefore, the Dread Lord ignored the summoner’s will and began to act on his own.

“Ah, aaaaaahhh-!!”

Daisy screamed and vomited blood. It was because the Dread Lord forcibly maintained the soul bond between the summoner and the summoned, expanding the connection.

The bloodline of Ionia originally helped humans make contact with higher beings that they could not access, but it was powerless to forcibly subdue beings that were already connected.

She succeeded in summoning the Dread Lord, but she was far from being able to subdue him, and she could no longer send the Dread Lord back on her own.

With Daisy’s long scream, the hole in the sky tore even larger. Soon, the Dread Lord, who had only been showing his skeletal face, reached out with a gigantic bony hand.

At this rate, it seemed like only a matter of time before the whole body would be pulled out of the hole.

At that moment, a black shadow flew towards the Dread Lord.

Eon kicked the ground and in an instant, he cleaved through the air, charging towards the Dread Lord’s huge skull face. Behind Eon, who flew like an arrow with Ajetus held high, a long trail of dark red streaked.

-Grrrrrrr….

The Dread Lord, noticing Eon flying towards him, flashed a red gleam in his eyes. Then, a thunderous sound echoed in the clear sky, and black lightning struck down from the sky towards Eon.

Rumble!!

The Dread Lord had no doubt that with this blow, the audacious human who dared to confront him would turn into a pile of charcoal.

However, as Eon twisted his waist in mid-air and swung Ajetus over his head, the lightning split in half just before touching him and dispersed in vain.

Ajetus could cut through intangible things. Naturally, it could cut through magic as well.

The Dread Lord was astonished, but Eon’s movement did not stop there.

He used the centrifugal force generated by swinging his spear to rotate his body dramatically. When the rotation reached its peak, he channeled the force throughout his body and thrust his spear forward at the moment he made contact with the Dread Lord.

– Screech!

The spear struck the Dread Lord’s forehead, causing him to stagger violently. With that blow, the half-emerged skull head was pushed back into the hole.

It was an unbelievable feat to repel the giant skull, which could overwhelm a decent fortress with just human strength, but Eon, who accomplished it, was unsatisfied.

“Sturdy.”

He intended to pierce the forehead with one strike, but it withstood his assault. Considering that even humans have the strongest skull, it’s possible that area is particularly strong.

But it didn’t matter.

If one time wasn’t enough, he would keep striking until it broke.

-Grrrooooo…!

“Is that all you can say?”

The Dread Lord roared in fury and reached out with his bony hand. Since magic didn’t work, he intended to crush the reckless human with physical force.

In the overwhelming sight, as if a wall of bones was pushing forward, Eon instead stretched his foot forward.

Eon took a deep breath and applied strength to the arm holding the spear, and soon Eon’s arms blurred, and black flames and red streaks exploded in all directions.

In a short breath, 72 consecutive strikes were unleashed, and the Dread Lord’s massive arm bones shattered into pieces.

However, as soon as the Dread Lord’s arm broke, the scattered bone fragments gathered in midair and quickly reassembled.

The Dread Lord mockingly struck Eon with his perfectly restored arm. The ground around them sank completely due to the blow of the skull giant, and the skeletal warehouse building evaporated entirely.

The Dread Lord thought Eon would be flattened like a trampled bug.

However, Eon was steadfastly holding on, blocking the Dread Lord’s fist with his spear.

Despite the ground splitting and the land sinking as if an earthquake had occurred, Eon’s arm supported the weight without flinching, like a solid rock.

Not only that, but as Eon pushed his spear forward, the Dread Lord’s arm began to rise slightly.

In the contest of strength between a human and a giant, it was astonishing that the human was gaining the upper hand, and the Dread Lord’s red eyes flickered like a candle in the wind.

– Grrrooooo…!

“Huff!”

Eon pushed the spear with all his might, causing the Dread Lord’s arm to be thrown upwards.

The Dread Lord had lived as the ruler of the dark realm with overwhelming magical power and physical strength, but he did not have much actual combat experience.

Thus, he was astonished to be pushed back by a human in terms of strength and failed to properly assess the situation, and Eon did not miss that opportunity.

Eon slashed, stabbed, and swung his spear like a madman, just as he had done against the demon army.

The Dread Lord’s arm, shattered into 72 pieces, was further broken down into smaller fragments before being reassembled, and those fragments were further split by Eon’s spear tip. The Dread Lord’s arm, within the reach of Eon’s spear, eventually turned to dust.

However, as long as the main body was not dealt with, no matter how much the arm was shattered, it would just reassemble. Eon knew that, so he leaped into the air, kicking off the ground before the arm fully recovered.

Eon and the Dread Lord faced each other at the same height.

Eon tightly gripped the Ajetus spear and pulled his arm back as if to throw it immediately. Then, a voice echoed in Eon’s head.

｢Stop! Cease this!｣

He had never heard that voice before, but Eon quickly realized that the skull in front of him was speaking.

“You can speak the human language, too.”

｢I cannot speak the human language. However, it is possible to exchange thoughts without language. Exceptionally strong human, I will return to my world as I am. So do not touch me anymore.｣

“You were the one who started the fight.”

｢Human, think carefully. My summoner wanted your life, so as one who responded to the summon, it is natural for me to fulfill the contract. But now that I have realized this is impossible, I will retreat.｣

Eon let out a cold laugh from inside his helmet.

What a cheap trick.

“I refuse.”

Entering might have been easy, but leaving was not.

Dark mana surged violently like flames from Eon’s entire body.

The Dread Lord sensed the danger from the powerful magic pumping from his heart and reached out his arm, but the pulverized bones still did not recover.

｢No… No!!｣

Eon twisted his waist in mid-air and stretched out his arm, throwing the spear.

– Clang!!

Though he had only thrown the spear, the sound of air exploding like a blast resounded in all directions.

The Ajetus left Eon’s hand, drawing a straight red streak toward the Dread Lord’s forehead, splitting his skull, and tearing his soul apart along with the core inside.

– Grrrooooooo―!!

The Dread Lord, with its forehead pierced, let out its last gasp. Beyond the gap to another world, its skeletal body could be seen crumbling.

If it had completely escaped from the dark realm, it would have been a powerful being that Eon could not have easily defeated. However, it was far from enough to compete against the human with just a face and one arm.

The Dread Lord’s skull fragments soon shattered into dust, and at the same time, the portal connecting to the dark realm began to close as the summoned creature vanished.

Just before the portal completely closed, the Ajetus spear flew back to Eon’s hand on its own.

As the Dread Lord disappeared, Daisy, who had been forcibly maintaining the passage, exhausted all her strength and plummeted to the ground.

Eon caught Daisy in mid-air as they both fell, landing softly on the ground.

Daisy slowly opened her eyes in Eon’s arms.

“Are you okay?”

Instead of answering, she coughed up blood.

Her dark, dead blood stained Eon’s helmet, but he didn’t care, only tightening his embrace to keep her steady.

“…I don’t think I’m okay.”

Her eyes, weakly murmuring, were dim and lightless. Due to the Dread Lord excessively draining Daisy’s power, her optic nerves were damaged, and she lost her sight.

However, Daisy’s problems were not limited to her vision. In the process of summoning the Dread Lord, she had already consumed much of her lifespan, and her magical and vital energies were stolen when forcibly opening the passage.

Fortunately, Eon had completely annihilated the Dread Lord, so the souls it had captured returned to her.

Daisy’s heartbeat was incredibly faint, as if it could stop at any moment. Eon, holding her in his arms, knew this fact better than Daisy herself.

Eon and Daisy realized this was her last moment.

In a situation where they didn’t know what to say, they remained silent.

Daisy broke the silence with a slow, gentle word.

“Did I… receive my punishment?”

Daisy’s voice, facing death, seemed somewhat lighthearted.

“I actually knew… that one massacre cannot justify another. But I didn’t know what else to do besides seeking revenge, and I couldn’t find a reason to stop….”

Daisy forced a smile.

“So… I’m glad someone appeared to stop me now….”

“……”

Daisy turned her head, trying to see Eon’s face with her barely open eyes. However, her eyes, which had already lost their light and become blurred, saw nothing.

Realizing she couldn’t see Eon, Daisy raised her trembling hand to his cheek and slowly stroked his face.

“That dark flame… it’s black magic, right?”

“…Yes.”

“I don’t know why you’re using demonic power… but there must be a reason… People say you were once a demon who turned to the light… I didn’t believe that rumor, but… I can see why people would say that…”

Daisy looked at Eon with sad eyes.

“Having saved so many people, yet being abandoned by the goddess… you’re such a pitiful and unfortunate person…”

Daisy’s hand slowly fell, as if she had no strength left to lift it.

Eon firmly caught her hand.

Daisy smiled faintly.

“You said the person you missed… looked a lot like me.”

“Yes.”

“By any chance… was she a girl with the same blonde hair… blue eyes… about fifteen years old?”

At those words, Eon inhaled sharply. It matched precisely the appearance of Ella when she had left the village.

“Maybe… it could be her.”

“That girl?”

“The Immortal King… was originally… a royal mage of Ionia… He told my father… that eternal life magic exists… and that the bloodline of Ionia was needed… He seduced my father…”

Daisy continued, catching her breath.

“But… sacrificing himself would be meaningless… and it must have been difficult to offer his own daughter as a sacrifice… So, my father sent his illegitimate child… a knight to fetch her… That girl… I don’t know her name, but… she really… looked a lot like me…”

Daisy’s breathing grew weaker. Her heartbeat was slowing down, and her body temperature was cooling.

She didn’t have much time left.

Eon looked down at Daisy and asked.

“Is there anything you’d like to say as your last words?”

“Ah…”

Daisy’s shoulders trembled thinly, sensing the end. She faced death shivering, as if she was in the cold.

Eon hugged her shoulders tightly, so she wouldn’t shiver any longer. Just like he had done for Ella.

Daisy’s trembling soon disappeared. She spoke in a small voice.

“When you meet the Malevolent Star…you… always… thank him… next time… let’s drink … even better wine…”

Eon nodded and said.

“I’ll definitely go for a drink.”

Daisy slowly shook her head with her eyes closed.

A gentle smile remained on her lips.