VIP Chapter 494: The Source
Treya, however, did not react as she had before…
She did not use her most skilled sword style and precise footwork to evade the incoming attacks.
“How can a demon teach a ‘sword style’? All Entak Styles are purely mental techniques…”
“It seems like she’s dancing with her sword, but in reality, she’s utilizing…”
Instead, she stood her ground, facing the glowing white blade of the Undead Swordsman.
“So, the battles here are all about the heart. Right? You can do it, so can I?”
The Shadow Nightmare Sword in her hand swung casually, with extreme speed, creating layer after layer of afterimages.
These afterimages were a deep purple in the Black and White world.
This purple made almost all of the Undead Swordsman’s attacks ineffective.
These afterimages continuously deflected all of the Undead Swordsman’s sword strikes.
Like a protective barrier, they allowed Treya to advance step by step.
“Entak Alpha Style – Shield. I just made it up.”
Treya spoke coldly, but a clear anger was evident in her voice.
Just like the sword dance that year, the sword style she wielded was completely different from the Entak Style, with no “reference” points to be found.
Yet, it was hard to call it “wrong.”
Because every step precisely blocked all the incoming attacks.
“Uh…?! Whu?!”
This was the first time Treya had heard the Undead Swordsman whimper.
And…
For the first time, Treya saw the Undead Swordsman’s desperate, almost life-saving defense.
What had just been attacks from her sword, swung by an invisible arm as before, now felt like a storm of attacks directed at Treya.
“…Heh.”
Treya let out a soft chuckle.
The boots she wore spun in place, and the Shadow Nightmare Sword in her hand twirled several times in the air.
Her purple eyes maximized their “detection” power.
—She had promised.
—She had sworn.
—She had acknowledged.
—Her “contract” with Will.
—She had to find a way to win it all in this battle in this damned world!
A gust of wind kicked up from the Coliseum floor.
“Entak Beta Style – Gale.”
As she dodged and weaved, Treya’s body weaved through the flying white sword light, a few strands of her silver hair being sliced off.
But…
Finally…
In a battle of attrition and sustained attacks, the Undead Swordsman, who believed herself to have the most abundant ammunition, was finally defeated—
The sword wind whistling past Treya’s ears stopped for a mere 0.05 seconds.
This must be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—
“I am truly sorry. I know you might not even be my Nemesis—just a monster shackled by them.”
Treya stepped in her boots, flashing forward. As the shadow of the Shadow Nightmare Sword broke through the barrier of the surrounding swords…
As if teleporting, she appeared before the Undead Swordsman.
This was the closest she had ever been to the Undead Swordsman.
And the closest she had ever been to killing her…
The purple sword wind attached to the deep black blade erupted towards the Undead Swordsman’s head—
—“The Undead Swordsman’s weakness is its head.”
—“They are ‘beings’ without hearts. They do not rely on heart or other bodily functions to live.”
—“Instead, they rely on their ‘consciousness,’ the ‘organ’ universally recognized as the source of consciousness…”
—“That ‘brain’.”
Before her eyes, the Undead Swordsman’s skull, where her beautiful long black hair was attached, where her vacant black eyes resided…
Had been fiercely slashed by her sword wind.
Completely…
Completely turned into…
A shattered skull…
“Heh.”
However, from beneath the half-shattered skull, the Undead Swordsman suddenly curled her lips into a smile.
“!?”
Treya looked down, towards her abdomen.
Her only human hand, holding a sword, had fiercely stabbed through Treya’s chest.
Treya’s blood flowed slowly down the ethereal white blade.
Just like before, whenever she was on the verge of victory, a strike, as if an inevitable mistake of hers, would land a fatal blow.
“…Is that so?”
Blood also flowed from the corner of her lips.
Crimson blood dripped onto the Black and White ground like a strange omen.
She felt it, the prelude to “losing consciousness,” just like before, her death would take her away from here.
The prelude to returning to “reality”…
The prelude to lying on her large bed again after opening her eyes.
But…
“As expected, you demons are truly cunning. Your contract… the core of everything… is hidden in a place like this…”
A smile played on Treya’s lips.
“Should I say, the most dangerous place is indeed the safest?”
Fighting wits with demons could never be done with conventional thinking.
The demons must be hiding somewhere, manipulating this ceremony; the fact that she awoke every time after receiving a fatal wound was proof.
Even though she was close to victory this time, she couldn’t escape this fatal attack.
But…
If that’s the case, why not follow the clues and find the demons’ location?
Treya gazed at the wound on her chest that was slowly bleeding.
The demons’ ultimate goal was “self-destruction,” to make her “self-destruct” alone and merge with them, so…
The endpoint of self-destruction…
Was right…
*Thump—*
Treya, suppressing the drowsiness that threatened to pull her back to reality, fiercely grabbed the Shadow Nightmare Sword and plunged it deeply into the wound the Undead Swordsman had inflicted.
“It’s here!”
“All wounds are the true origin of the contract.”
“This is why I can still feel the pain after waking up… right…”
There was no pain.
After this wound-on-wound attack entered, Treya felt no pain at all.
Quite the opposite, after plunging the sword into herself, she raised her head and…
In this world of Black and White, controlled by the Black Sun, she saw the only color.
The entire floor of Zero Demon City began to “disintegrate.” She had indeed followed the wound to find the “culprit” of everything.
She found…
The demons who had plotted against her.
In front of her eyes was a rectangular room, its retro style allowing Treya to smell the decay even while standing there.
She recognized this place.
It was in the Royal Palace, the place she disliked the most but was most familiar with…
The Exhibition Hall of Former King portraits of the entire Entak Empire.
It was a place her “biological father” used to bring her to repeatedly.
“I should have known your hiding place would be related to your experiences.”
On each portrait, it was not the Former King she had seen when her father brought her as a child, but…
All sorts of demons with sharp horns, long tails, faces of deep red, light green, pale purple, and bright yellow, so garish they were nauseating.
They were like caricatures of the demons’ faces, mocking the portraits of the Former Kings.
“Will, I found it.”
“The source of those who obstruct us.”
“And the place where I truly intend to wreak havoc.”
