Side Story Chapter 114

Side Story Chapter 114This content has its origins in n0v£lbin★

How long had it been? A day? Two days? A week? Or... a month?

‘Mmm...’ Kireua was floating in his subconscious realm. There was nothing in this white space. Yes, nothing, just like the world he had seen when he first met Coal.

‘...Coal?’

The moment Kireua remembered Coal’s existence, a black cotton ball popped up in front of him. But Coal was with someone who looked like a mouth now. It was a ridiculous sight, with its two eyes dangling over the disembodied maw. The mouth kept opening and closing its mouth, noisily clattering its teeth together.

“Huh? When did you make a friend, Coal?” Kireua asked.

-You brought this guy to our home, Kireua!

“What are you talking about?”

-Don’t you remember?

Kireua’s eyes slowly widened as he remembered what had happened in western Avalon.

“Wait a minute. Is that...?”

The mouth continued to chomp loudly. Kireua instinctively knew its identity.

“The power of Gluttony?”

The mouth stopped as if to tell him, “Yes”. Its eyes curved into crescent moons like it was smiling.

“...In other words, I now have two of the Demon Kings’ powers?” Kireua murmured, awash with disbelief.

-Congratulations!

-Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!!

“Oh my god.” Kireua’s jaw dropped to the floor. Lilith Aphrodite had manifested one single Evil Sin power, but she was now treated as a pariah by her own country—no, she was still being hunted by the entire continent. If it became known that Kireua, the Second Prince of Avalon, harbored two of the Evil Sins’ powers...

Kireua’s eyes popped open, alarmed.

“...No! I can’t let Avalon...?”

He trailed off, tilting his head in confusion at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

“Are you awake?”

“This voice is...” Kireua turned his head.

Cain immediately pushed himself off the wall and bowed. “I’ve been worrying about you, Your Highness.”

“...Sir Cain.” Kireua’s forgotten memories slowly resurfaced, drawing a sharp gasp from him. “Wh-What happened to the battle?”

“It’s still ongoing.”

“That means—” Kireua tried to rise but immediately stopped, groaning. “Urgh...”

“You haven’t recovered fully yet, so why don’t you lie down?”

“B-But...”

“Even if we go to the battle, we’ll only get in the way. You already had a similar experience with that man named Bel,” Cain advised Kireua.

Kireua froze. Although Bel wasn’t in the room, Kireua remembered him as clear as day. Bel, the Battle God, was the Absolute of the Hubalt Empire, and he was so unbelievably strong that it was hard to view him as a fellow human.

“Are you afraid?”

Kireua couldn’t reply to that either. Was he afraid? He immediately wanted to yell “no”, but his reflex was honest—his fingertips instantly started to tremble.

“...Don’t worry. For some reason, he already left the Palace,” Cain said.

“He l-left?”

“Your Highness, His Majesty can’t carry all the burden forever.”

“What?”

“Let’s not sacrifice our subordinates anymore. We shall decide this fight between you and me.”

Gabriel had a feeling this baby prince got shot in the head with an arrow or something for him to make such an insane offer when it was obvious that Avalon was on the verge of winning this fight.

“If you win, I’ll withdraw our knights.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m the prince of this land. I don’t go back on my word.” Selim pointed his spear—an ordinary, metal implement no different than that used by the infantry, at Gabriel.

The difference in terms of experience alone between Selim and Gabriel was so enormous it wasn’t even funny.

“You arrogant boy... don’t regret this later,” Gabriel growled.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Gabriel and Selim rounded on each other.

An enormous set of wings sprouted from Gabriel’s back, and his divine bow-turned-sword grew to gigantic proportions. Then he flew high into the sky.

“...He’s pretending to be an angel,” Selim mumbled, and then leaped after him. It wouldn’t be bad to send that arrogant paladin plummeting from his sanctimonious perch in the sky.

Selim reached the mages’ altitude in no time.

“Selim!” Iceline worriedly shouted.

“It’s okay,” Selim said with a reassuring smile.

Selim focused his mana at his feet and walked through the sky on steps of pure materialized mana. Although it was going to consume his mana and stamina on an outrageous level, it didn’t matter because the fight would be over shortly.

“You cocky bastard...!” Gabriel gritted his teeth.

A horde of white swords manifested in the air, produced by Gabriel’s Falling Light Blade technique. The swords usually fell downward like a rain of light, but Gabriel had to fire them horizontally, not vertically, when Selim stood in front of him in the sky.

“Die!” Gabriel screamed.

Swords that were several times bigger than the divine bows’ arrows flew toward Selim.

Selim swung his spear, parrying away the swords. With the force behind the swords, he didn’t have to bother creating mana steps anymore; he let the swords push him away without risking closing the distance.

“Are you running away?” Gabriel sneered at Selim. He spread his wings and took off after Selim.

Selim smirked.

“Idiot.”

“What...?”

Selim somersaulted midair and drew his spear back as, his back bending like a bow.

And then his entire body flexed, sending his spear streaking toward Gabriel. While Gabriel was able to follow the spear’s trajectory, it was far too fast for Gabriel to avoid it.

Gabriel gasped.

The Paladin wobbled on his pierced wing, and before long, Gabriel could no longer stay in the air. He plummeted to the ground, Selim hot on his heels.

It was obvious that Gabriel was losing.

“The Four Paladins are much weaker than I expected.”

Iceline flinched, her anxious attention dragged away from the fight by a voice. When she turned her head, Duke Tremblin was standing next to her in the air.

“What do you mean, Duke Tremblin?”

“The real mastermind behind them is still in Hubalt, considering there is no easier creature to manipulate than a man who is high on glory.”

“...Are you talking about the man Sir Cain and Selim fought?” Iceline assumed.

Tremblin quietly nodded. “Yes—it’s Bel, the Battle God.”

1. It’s actually a whip sword that originated from southern India. ☜