Chapter 108 Black Fire
The twin moons hung high in the sky, but their pure moonlight was stained by the orange-yellow, tainted firelight.
The city’s main street was still burning with chaos and bloodshed. Church knights fought on the front lines against the Orc rebels with their light-stained swords; further away, the Silver Lion Knights, clad in silver swords and white armor, advanced rapidly. Under the moonlight, the resisting Bloodwind Blade thieves bled onto the cold light of their sword edges.
But there was more: an endless, deep black night.
“Boom!”
Darkness seemed to swallow everything. A black sword blade pierced his chest. Farnos roared in pain, forcefully shattering the solidified light from the sword that had been pulled from his chest. With the little remaining strength in his body, mixed with his shattered domain, he launched a desperate attack.
His response was a dismissive snort. The opponent raised his sword and slashed again, the dark light cutting down silently, swallowing any color that overflowed from the light in the air.
The dark, silent sword light instantly extinguished. The Saint Rank domain, which he had forcefully erected, was torn apart. Darkness consumed any flickering energy within it, and it fell to the ground like shattered glass. After shattering, the terrifying power, enough to destroy the entire street, was swallowed by the dark sword light and then struck Farnos himself.
His transcendence to sainthood, the brilliance of his shattered Saint Rank domain, was dazzling but withered in an instant, turning to annihilation. Farnos knelt on the ground, the blood coughed out soaking his beard. He forced himself to hold up his body, his murky eyes now looking fiercely at the dark figure emerging from the darkness.
“Cough, cough, Lancelot’s lackeys! You have fallen to such a state, how dare you face the past kings of Peka!”
The blacksmith’s clothes and protective Dou Qi were all shattered. On his bloody chest, darkness writhed and spread. The intense pain made him tremble uncontrollably. But he still spoke with deep hatred.
Heavy boots pounded on the ground. The alchemical armor seemed to gleam with dark light in the darkness. The opponent raised his sword, and the metal joints of his gauntlet made a clanging sound.
“The will of the former King of Peka cannot shake our resolve… Moreover, Farnos, remnant of the blood race, slandering His Majesty the King here will only deepen your sin, even though you are already beyond redemption.”
A hoarse, deep voice echoed from the darkness. The murky black space seemed to twist. Among the three Royal Guards, the tall figure in the lead picked up the black sword blade, his pitch-black armor reflecting strange black light.
“Farnos, Oran’s lineage follows you. Hand her over, and you will be spared from a thousand cuts.”
“Heh, you know that’s a fantasy. How can the daughter of Duke, a degenerate fiend, be defiled by scoundrels like you and Lancaster!”
Farnos shouted. He pressed his injured left chest and forced himself to stand up. After that last saber blow, his completely destroyed Dou Qi foundation and Blood Race inheritance made it difficult for him to suppress the invasion of abnormalities within his body. The flesh and bones at the wound turned into decaying black water, each wisp spreading like a thousand cuts.
Farnos straightened his body, staring angrily at the black sword blade before him. The accumulated dust of fifty years was washed away from his body. “Blade of Peka”: I once fought for the glory of Peka, and my body should not be decided by your filthy, decaying blade!”
The leading black swordsman let out a mocking cold snort from beneath his black mask. Ignoring the nearly extinguished remnant of his life force, the heavy black domain in the sky above descended completely.
“Remnant of the blood race, your glorious past has long since rotted. We are not desperate for your answer. Whether it be you, or the daughter of blood, or even Oran himself, in present-day Peka, you are nothing but dust.”
The voice of the black-armored swordsman carried little fluctuation, but it was more dismissive than contempt. He had no intention of asking again, raising his right arm and slashing down with his long sword.
“Farnos, you will not meet the former Kings of Peka—because the sins you committed against Peka will surely cast you into the ninth hell!”
The black light silently slashed down, but anything that obstructed it was erased before the blade arrived.
But suddenly, a cloud of grayish-black dust swirled up from the ground, blocking the black sword blade, and the spreading light was instantly extinguished.
The black-armored swordsman’s expression suddenly became serious as he tightened his grip on the sword hilt. The two swordsmen in similar alchemical armor beside him took a step back, positioning themselves slightly to the side of the leading swordsman, forming a formation.
The black-armored swordsman recognized the figure emerging from the black and gray dust. The figure also held a black sword, and a dense aura of death shrouded him as he stood before Farnos.
“Lord Burns, it has been a while.”
Farnos’s body was crushed by the black domain, and he knelt halfway, pierced by several dark tendrils. But before being crushed into fragments by this extremely heavy black domain, the figure standing before the blacksmith unleashed magic power, forcefully creating space within this domain that was heavier than mountains and oceans.
“Shadow Blade of the Undead Army? Sword attendant of the Magic Monarch, the person behind you is a traitor to Peka. I have not heard that the kingdom of magic or even the empire has any intention of opposing Peka and our King.”
The leader of the black Royal Guard pulled his sword blade, and a muffled voice came from under his black mask, but it was not lacking in caution compared to before. At this moment, he sensed that several similar auras were faintly appearing behind the other party.
“Shadow Blade of the Undead Army,” a low laugh came from beneath the black robe.
“Lord Burns, you misunderstand. Lord Fatter’s admiration for the King of Peka is no less than that of His Majesty the Emperor. It’s just that Lord Farnos once fought alongside our King, and Lord Fatter is unwilling for his old friend to perish silently under the swords of the Royal Guard.”
“I think… the King of the Sacred Sword can understand this.”
As soon as the other party’s voice fell, substantial magic power stirred up waves in the black ocean. The Royal Guard coldly snorted and drew his sword blade. The dark sword light was silent, but a terrifying storm erupted again in the darkness!
—
On the high path of the tower, a tall and slender man waved his sleeve, the black hem of his robe resembling the color of the sky. He turned and smiled at the noble girl beside him.
“I didn’t expect the Royal Guards of the King of Peka to come in person. His Majesty still remembers to watch over his land while recuperating. I just didn’t expect the Magic Monarch’s sharp sword to personally set foot in this city.”
“Regarding the conflict between these two important figures, Verodia, do you think we are honored to get involved in this?”
Even though he didn’t know the specific incident, and even though the battles they unleashed were very subtle, like a drop of water in a dark sea, Dylan could see through the auras of these two strange existences as if seeing fire.
The woman beside him turned her face to the side, her expression showing impatience.
“This is not our concern. Dylan, the Saintess’s will is in Duke Oran. We are not allowed to leave any trace.”
