NOVEL NEXT Chapter 237
World of Pure White.
All that exists is simply a white world and white ground.
It’s as wide as a training ground, but beyond that training ground lies an abyss of unknown depth.
“You brought me here after all. Did you want to defeat me that much?”
“I have to win.”
Arpe’s body began to glow slowly.
The white light enveloped her, and soon she was transformed into a dress adorned with a white veil and a mantilla.
“I will do my utmost to win.”
“…That’s true power.”
Fourth awakening of the Holy Sword.
The first awakening is becoming the master of the Holy Sword.
The second awakening is knowing the true name of the Holy Sword, leading to an enhancement of its power.
The third awakening allows one to call upon Spirit Devices.
Both Lucius and Liriez have reached this third awakening.
And now.
Here stands Leberced Arpe, a woman capable of freely using Spirit Devices—she’s a fourth awakener.
She created a world that only a fourth awakener can manifest.
A Garden of Light, formed by gathering the powers of Mana, the Holy Sword, and the strength of one who has reached ‘demigod’ status.
“In this world, fighting has no repercussions in reality. We can battle without worrying about destruction.”
“…Is it a consideration for me?”
“It’s to prevent other factors from intervening.”
Thud.
In the battlefield, two Spirit Devices stood behind us side by side.
Like stone statues guarding a sacred arena, the Light Spirit Device ‘Lux Machina’ and the Wind Spirit Device ‘Sleipnir’ simply hovered, glaring at each other.
Both entrusted their fates to their respective masters.
Even if they are called Spirit Devices.
Ultimately, it is the masters that do the fighting.
“Should I call you the Goddess of Light Arpe?”
“I don’t care about titles, Witch.”
It’s awkward to speak freely, but Arpe is showing her own consideration in the conversation.
“I’ll pull you out of that man’s body, and make you mine.”
“…That’s a dangerous thing to say.”
“Isn’t it a true statement, though? Right?”
It’s a terrifying thing to say.
But at the same time, I can’t deny its truth.
Arpe is doing her utmost to prove that she is ‘not Demon Lord Belphegor.’
“If you go that far, I won’t hold back.”
“You don’t need to hold back. Fight earnestly. At least….”
Click.
“Rather than winning against your weak disciple, it would be faster to defeat you to prove myself.”
Arpe extended her rapier, the White Divine Weapon, long to the side.
“Regardless of whatever threats may come, whatever problems may arise, I will become your hero. Forevermore.”
“…That’s not going to happen.”
I have my own words to say as a witch.
And I have my own words to say as a Demon King.
But if this conversation were to eventually reach Lucius…
“Are you seriously suggesting I take a woman who kidnaps me so carelessly as my hero? Not a chance.”
“…I see. So you’re planning to leave me. Fine.”
Arpe pointed her rapier at me with a refreshing smile.
“After stabbing the Holy Sword into your disciple’s heart and killing him, I’ll make you mine.”
My physical body resides within the Spirit Device Sleipnir.
And right now, the body outside the Spirit Device is Lucius’s.
In other words.
If I lose, Lucius will die.
However.
‘I can’t kill him.’
He’s my disciple.
Moreover, he’s not just any disciple; he’s a disciple who has trusted me with his body.
I cannot kill such a disciple, nor can I be imprisoned by Arpe.
“I’m sorry, but Arpe.”
I grasped the Holy Wind Sword tightly.
“I must defeat you.”
Ascalon.
No, it’s time to call it by another name.
‘Lucius has good instincts.’
What was framed as the Holy Sword might have been me, in a way.
Thanks to Lucius, I’ve gained new knowledge, and putting that knowledge to proper use is the role of one borrowing Lucius’s body.
“With this body.”
It’s still my role to open the doors that Lucius hasn’t reached yet.
“Then.”
Arpe lightly swung her sword.
“Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Clash!
A lightning-fast strike as quick as light.
I countered it swiftly by creating a ‘Holy Spear.’
“What…?!”
“Were you startled by the speed?”
As Arpe’s sword met my Holy Spear, her eyes widened in shock.
“I thought if I anticipated three moves ahead, I’d be fine.”
Clang, clang, clang.
I managed to block her quite easily.
“How…?!”
“It’s all techniques.”
Five hundred years ago, I had never used the Holy Wind Sword.
But thanks to Lucius, I’m now using the Holy Wind Sword with utmost freedom.
Even the Spirit Device.
Thanks to that, I’ve been able to deduce a new ‘default’ for this Holy Sword.
’You little sneak.’
Lucius told me the name of the Spirit Device.
Not just any name, but the ‘true name.’
He taught me the ‘manufactured name’ given by the Ancient Gods while creating the Spirit Device, like ‘Celcius’ or ‘Bahamut.’
Sleipnir.
Having reached the third awakening allowed me to gain a distinct advantage over Arpe.
“Feeling unfair?”
“Urgh?!”
As Arpe was forced back by my efforts, the tremors in her rapier became more pronounced, and her sword couldn’t inflict any more injuries upon my spear.
“Though we both use twin spear techniques, this is different from before, isn’t it?”
“…A person has changed, so that’s only natural, right?”
“That may be so.”
Lucius’s twin spears are impressive, but…
“Even if he doesn’t know how to use the Holy Sword.”
Once I learned that he was trying to wield twin spears.
“I was the one who taught Lucius dual spear techniques.”
I taught him how to fight wielding two cavalry spears in each hand.
“You won’t dodge it!”
I kicked off the ground and charged forward.
I extended one of the golden lances slightly backward and threw it forward as I ran.
A throwing spear.
The golden lance flew directly toward Arpe, and instead of deflecting it, she ducked her head to evade the attack.
Until just a moment ago.
She had been easily redirecting attacks with brute force when facing Lucius.
“Looks like you’re out of confidence?”
Now, she was dodging my attacks.
“Dodging is just more efficient!”
“Then you’ll have to dodge this too!”
I quickly closed the distance to Arpe and thrust my cavalry spear forward.
Arpe’s counter to my abdominal strike saw her raising her rapier vertically, spinning her body.
Clang!
The sound of magical forces clashing rang out as my cavalry spear met her White Divine Weapon.
The magical energies of light and wind collided, entering a power struggle and shattering into fragments that scattered in all directions.
And.
The attack doesn’t stop with just one.
It gives no time for the enemy to retaliate.
“An opening!”
Twisting my toes to pivot on the ground, I twisted my posture and reached back with my empty hand.
The thrown golden spear became a gust of wind and wrapped around my hand, soon taking the form of a cavalry spear again.
Retrieving the throwing spear.
A characteristic of Sleipnir.
The spear must hit the enemy, and the thrown lance returns to its master as wind.
Though I’m using a feature I’m trying for the first time, I’ve used similar weapons often enough to have some application figured out.
“Cheating…!”
“It’s the power of the Holy Sword!”
Arpe was right to call it cheating as soon as she saw its might.
The throwing spear.
And the weapon retrieval.
Without needing to manually retrieve the weapon, extending my empty hand automatically brought it back to me in less than a second.
“Light!”
With Arpe’s shout, the White Divine Weapon sparkled in an instant.
I hastily leaped backward, but I couldn’t do a thing about the increasingly powerful light from the White Divine Weapon.
Flash bang.
Gathering light to instantly obscure my vision.
Though it may seem like a ‘trivial technique,’ obscuring your opponent’s vision in battle is foundational.
But.
Clang!
“Just because my sight is taken doesn’t mean my other senses will be too.”
“Ugh…!”
“Wasn’t it the same before?”
Even if Arpe obscured my vision with light.
Even if she launched an attack while I created distance and turned my body.
“In the end, your attack won’t reach me.”
As long as I can block Arpe’s sword, the vision disruption is rendered meaningless.
“…Hah.”
Though I’m a bit concerned about Lucius’s optic nerves, given that my vision is slowly returning, it seems there’s no significant issue.
Even if I were to go blind, I have plenty of ways to recover.
I wouldn’t plan to let Lucius get critically injured while using his body, but my opponent is a ‘demigod-level’ existence who has awakened the Holy Sword of Light to its ultimate form.
However.
I am at an advantage.
“Arpe, it can’t possibly end with just this, right?”
“Of course not!”
Arpe’s voice echoed all around.
At the same time, the vision that had been returning slowly began to fill with white again.
“What is this…?”
“Explode, light!”
Chain explosions of light.
Ziiiiin—!
The area around me gathered light to trigger chain explosions, now vibrating the air to steal my hearing away.
Vision and hearing have been taken.
If one were absent, it wouldn’t be an issue, but with both gone, it raises major problems in a clash of strong beings.
Still.
“Wind.”
Lightly stepping on the ground, I extended my arms like a windmill back and forth.
In this world stained white, the only visible traces are golden.
Those traces are certainly extending forward from what I can deduce to be my hand.
“I told you. No matter how you attack, if it doesn’t reach me, it’s meaningless!”
No matter where the attack came from.
“Windmill.”
I can fend off everything; it’s just a matter of parrying.
Clang!
The moment I swung the spear clockwise, my spear tip met her blade.
This sensation isn’t an illusion.
Indeed, my spear struck the blade of the White Divine Weapon.
“Whirlwind.”
And.
Boom!
My body spun, the cavalry spear extended as it shot forward, precisely threatening Arpe.
As the cavalry spear swung, the golden traces left in its wake just barely grazed Arpe’s figure.
“Ugh…! It really is cheating…!”
“Only because it’s me.”
“What…?! The sound is definitely there?!”
“I can feel the mana.”
In the world surrounded by golden light.
Even the white light enveloping this world is ultimately composed of Mana.
Even if the world is distorted by light, making it impossible to see or hear anything, the wave of magical power transmitted to me is undeniably present.
“And.”
Though it’s the Holy Wind Sword, I’m not only handling wind.
“If you think you can defeat me just by blocking my senses, you’re mistaken. I can create all kinds of methods. For example…”
Crackle.
“This way, I can generate new senses.”
In this white light-drenched world.
“Whirl and rage.”
Crackle.
“Storm of lightning!”
A blue current began to spread in all directions.