Chapter 1272: Side - Balfon

What even is that thing?

A sword, yes, I can tell as much. The one the little girl was carrying.

But how do you explain that sinister aura emanating from it? The cloud of evil energy is so dense that I can no longer make out its original shape.

And that is only the beginning.

Something has been mixed into that evil energy! There can be no mistake! That “something” is extremely similar to the higher-order mana known as “royal energy” in Raydoss, which is the power source of our relics!

Royal energy is a transcendental power. Only through the relics do I gain the ability to manipulate it ever so slightly.

Yet the amount wielded by the sword vastly exceeded the highest tier relics bestowed upon the dukes, and perhaps even the prototype held by the king! No, this seemingly endless source may be capable of matching the sealed divine machine, the original source of them all…!

『GRAAAAAAAAAH!!!』

「GRRRRR!!」

A silver flash blinded me as the merging of various powers completed.

And then, my arm was blown off.

Before I knew it, the sword was now behind me.

This was no teleportation, but a dash with such immense speed that I couldn’t even perceive it.

Indeed, activating my relic prevents me from moving. Still, I had set up a sturdy power with royal energy.

And said barrier proved to be completely useless… Why!

「Nugaah…!」

My regeneration is slow! Is it because of the blade’s magic clinging to my wound?

『UROOOOOOOORH!』

A roar? Coming from the sword…? Can a mana really make a sound like that? It’s almost as if someone is shouting at me.

More precisely, an enraged shout for my death.

「Again…?! Kwoorgh!」

A black light flashes twice, then thrice.

More pieces of my body are shredded off. Yet again, I fail to comprehend what has occurred, and my regeneration refuses to start.

『AWOOOOOOOOON!』

The sword roars again. Its decorative string splits and swells up into… a wolf? Several metallic wolf heads.

All of them charge at me simultaneously, biting into my body and devouring the pieces. I can do nothing to resist, the same as earlier.

I am torn apart and devoured by the beasts. Perhaps this is how small animals feel when getting preyed upon.

My mortally wounded body finally crumbles apart, and my head hits the floor. Even I find it surprising that I’m still alive.

But this cannot be allowed to continue.

Each blow was infused with a golden aura scraping away at my soul, interfering with any attempts at healing.

At this rate…

（Nooooo…!）

Laranflura screamed out of fright. It seems being eaten alive was too much for her to handle. That means she probably can’t come out for a while.

Suffering such severe injuries is a first for me as well. The blood and vitality dripping out through my severed neck only exacerbates Laranflura’s descent into madness.

As I suspected, her mind cannot completely avoid my relic’s powers. Even if we share the same body, we have different personalities and souls.

Thinking back on it, choosing her was a coincidence. I knew that those who volunteered of their own accord would have a higher chance of survival, so I simply asked the slaves I obtained if any wanted to volunteer for the experiment…

Who could have thought that she would be the only survivor? Either way, one was enough. Laranflura had the potential hidden within her.

By fusing her with a high rank Valkyrie, she quite literally became our goddess of war. I gave her the name of my deceased daughter Flura, which combined with her original name of Laran to become Laranflura.

With her completion, my research finally bore fruit. Our plan had reached the final stage.

The plan to sacrifice the people in order to annihilate and reseal the Evil God must be carried out in full. This is the entire reason for our country’s existence.

Long ago, a divine sword wielder visited this land. The foolish nations there had unsealed the fragments of the Evil God, and that man resealed them. Then, he formed an organization for monitoring and maintaining the seals, known as the Raydoss Warriors.

During that ancient battle, the fragments were drawn to each other and converged in a single location. That is why the current Raydoss Kingdom contains four fragments of the Evil God. Our ancestors had challenged the fragments, weakened them, then sealed them away again.

The Raydoss Warriors went on to obliterate the countries who revived the Evil God, wiping out their royal families aside from a few children. Subsequently, the Warriors built a nation of their own, and took various measures to ensure that the fragments would never revive again.

This new nation of Raydoss boasted a powerful military, and granted significant autonomy to its dukes for rapid response in case of emergencies. Furthermore, it continued annexing other countries to expand its territory.

All of these were measures to maintain the seal.

The divine sword wielded by our country’s founder king was used to seal away the Evil God. But ever since then, the sword remained in an active, released state.

Generally, the divine swords are trump cards for delivering a quick and decisive end to any battle. They are not intended for continued activation over hundreds of years.

Nevertheless, Raydoss must maintain the divine sword to keep the Evil God sealed. Two main resources were required in order to accomplish this feat.

The first resource is mana. The divine sword consumes enormous amounts of mana.

As such, our ancestors gathered massive amounts of magic stones, and also created a giant magic circle to drain surplus mana from the entire country. All to supply the divine sword. Expanding the country’s borders was necessary to complete this magic circle.

And the second resource is the divine sword’s “compensation” for activation. Raydoss’s divine sword gradually transforms the wielder’s body into an inhuman existence for as long as they use it. And eventually, the wielder themselves is absorbed into the divine sword.

The requirement for wielding the divine sword is being of the first wielder’s bloodline. In other words, they must be from the royal family. Furthermore, only royals with high compatibility can wield the divine sword.

Therefore, in our country, the one chosen by the divine sword becomes king. And the king is always short-lived. Again and again, we have prepared new members of the royal family, placed them on the throne as a sacrifice, and continued to maintain the seal.

However, it seems this “compensation” has been getting heavier year by year. About 300 years ago, the king had an average lifespan of about 35 years.

But for the past 100 years or so, the average lifespan of the king fell to around 20 years. The main causes were thought to be dilution of the royal bloodline and the increasing resistance of the sealed fragments.

As a result, our kings die before having many children, reducing the number of royals with pure blood. Anyone can see where this path leads in the not-so-distant future.

We have fewer royals capable of wielding the divine sword, and they are also much younger than before. For years, we’ve had to puppet uneducated children into offering themselves to the blade.

Naturally, such young kings will not be able to have children of their own.

As a last resort, we’ve conducted research into homunculi with royal blood, as well as reanimating past kings as undead. However, the results were not satisfactory. While we did gain a boost to our military, we were unable to produce anyone recognized by the divine sword.

About 30 years ago, we concluded that the resurrection of the Evil God Fragments was ultimately inevitable. Thus, we adjusted our plans and began preparing for a battle with the fragments.

We developed all sorts of technology to strengthen our military, expanded our territory further, and arranged secret weapons in preparation for the decisive battle.

However, several problems arose. The history of the royal family and divine sword was a secret only fully known to eight individuals: the King, the Chancellor, the Chief Priest, the Head of Intelligence, and the Four Dukes. Not even the Red Knights know all the details. Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Vermilion Eye Captain knew something due to the properties of her relic.

Either way, these eight were steering the country for years without any problems.

But over the long years, many lesser nobles came into power, and we no longer had enough authority to reign them in.

The kings are always chosen by the divine sword, although publicly, they get “chosen” by the Chief Priest’s ritual. Thus, these foolish nobles came along and began advocating royals that suit their interests for the throne.

Perhaps such behavior is permitted in other countries, but not Raydoss. However, restraining the nobles forcefully would result in internal conflicts and may even escalate into a civil war.

The main reason we offered our citizens to the sacrificial ritual was to cut off those who can’t or won’t contribute to our forces, thereby consolidating their power into the few individuals that do. But there was also a second reason: completely eradicating the annoying nobles and their power base.

Of course, revealing everything and gaining their cooperation would be a preferable outcome. But alas, that was not possible. When we were bestowed our relics, the proof of our position, we also entered a contract to protect these secrets. This contract has existed since the original generation of dukes, and the relics would not recognize us without it.

Furthermore, the relics would leave our possession if we attempt to revoke the contract somehow, causing me to lose my title as duke as well as my life. We, the trusted eight, could not reveal the truth to even our children or closest friends.

As more time elapsed, an even greater problem arose. The Chancellor started showing resistance towards the plan. He began suggesting more moderate methods, proposing ridiculous ideas like seeking aid from the Kingdoms of Kranzel and Belioth while still keeping everything secret.

Unbelievable! Does he plan to ignore everything Raydoss has sacrificed on our mission to seal the Evil God Fragments? We’ve been fending off the powerful fiends and magical beasts born on our land ever since the founding of the country ages ago.

All while our inferior neighbors were indulging themselves with the adventurers they had robbed from us. They know nothing of our great cause, so why should we be the ones to bow our heads to such scum? The Chancellor must have contracted stupidity from the foolish lesser nobles that occupy Central Raydoss!

He tried to split off and start his own plan, which had to be put down. We intervened in the affairs of Kranzel, Belioth, Phyllius, and other countries, sowing the seeds of discord and intentionally worsening their relations with Raydoss.

As a result, the Chancellor’s scheme collapsed, leaving us to deal with the situation using Raydoss’s military strength alone. Just as planned. Well, I suppose it would be even better if we brought Kranzel, Belioth, and Phyllius under our reign, but the mission can be fulfilled regardless.

All that is left is to achieve victory!

We will strike down the resurrected Evil God and fulfill the true purpose of our country! Thus, I cannot afford to let myself fall here!