Three hundred years after the war ended, Helmuth had become an empire. Had there ever been a time since then when he had been so engrossed in his swordsmanship?
‘ No, never. ’
If he had to make an excuse, it would be that he had lacked time for such dedication. After all, the dawn of the empire had been tumultuous.
While Gavid was absorbed in all the duties of a duke, the other two dukes dedicated themselves to strengthening their power in their own ways.
The Black Dragon Raizakia started with his hatchlings. He attempted to mass-produce dragons through continuous breeding. He had hatched a mad plan of continuously birthing and consuming his own hatchlings — birth, eat, and repeat. Had it succeeded, the Black Dragon Raizakia would no longer be a demonic dragon but a horrendous monster, albeit one of immense power.
The Queen of Night Demons, Noir Giabella, exploited legions of night demons to harvest life force across the continent. At the same time, she focused on meticulously developing her territory. As a result, Noir quickly transcended the level of an ordinary Demon King and became a monstrous entity instead.
On the other hand, apart from his ducal duties, Gavid had no time to devote himself to personal training. But he still managed to become stronger than he had been three hundred years ago. Even without dedicating himself as the others had done, Gavid's power grew stronger as the empire strengthened.
Was it because the Demon King of Incarceration’s dark power became more potent? No, that wasn’t it. The Demon King of Incarceration had already been powerful even 300 years ago.
He couldn’t be certain, but Gavid suspected his strength was linked to his status as the Grand Duke of Helmuth. This was similar to Noir Giabella gaining immense power using two territories; Gavid derived his strength from his title as the Grand Duke of the empire.
'But it's not enough,' Gavid decided.He was not satisfied because the power he sought was not of this kind of power.
Endless dark power? The Demoneye of Divine Glory, which granted him the authority of the Demon King? No. What he desired was a different kind of strength.
"The sword."
Now, Gavid was the only one in the vast residence of the Lindman Ducal Manor. The mansion hadn’t seen a lot of people to begin with, but now, it was empty. Not even the servants kept for its upkeep remained and it wasn’t just the servants either. The furniture that filled the mansion was also completely removed.
What filled this now vast and empty mansion was only Gavid Lindman — as just a demon — and a few swords, but not Glory, and a bundled chain from the Demon King of Incarceration.
With a watery smile, Gavid extended the chain forward.
He had received the bundled chain directly from the Demon King of Incarceration.
Chains represented the authority of the Demon King of Incarceration. They materialize the power of incarceration.
He had served the Demon King of Incarceration for a long time. As long as he had used the Demoneye of Divine Glory, he could understand the essence of incarceration without needing to be told directly. Chains could bind. They could control. And they could confine. The power of incarceration was precisely that.
This chain was no different. It was confining something.
Naturally, Gavid had failed to discern its purpose when he had first received the chain.
Gavid had received many things from the Demon King of Incarceration over the years.
He was granted his title as the Blade of Incarceration.
He was given the Demoneye of Divine Glory.
He was handed the Demonic Sword Glory.
He was called the Grand Duke of Helmuth.
All these things were gifts from the Demon King of Incarceration. But those gifts were instantly understandable in their purpose upon receipt. But this time, it was different. The chains he now possessed were difficult to comprehend.
Gavid had spent an entire day pondering over the use of these chains after returning to his mansion. He infused them with dark power and attempted to comprehend them through the Demoneye of Divine Glory, but their purpose eluded him despite the various methods he tried.
— A tuning is necessary.
He recalled these words.
The duel had been unlike any before. He had set aside the titles of the Blade of Incarceration and Grand Duke of Helmuth. He had wished to face the duel as a demon, nothing more.
— Let me aid you.
Such had been the words of the Demon King of Incarceration, who had promised with a laugh. What Gavid yearned for so deeply was rooted in the fear he felt towards Hamel three hundred years ago. He had retreated and failed to see the confrontation through to the end, a failure that haunted him to this day.
He believed he had missed his chance to die properly, and he was bound and burdened by these thoughts. His desire was born from his past failure, and he was now resolved to face everything head-on.
Thus, he knew he must sever ties. If his fixation on Hamel from three hundred years ago was what guided him, he needed to cut that away and replace it with something new. In this era, it wasn't Hamel of Extermination but Eugene Lionheart that he wanted to confront, and not in war, but in a duel.
Gavid silently tightened his grip on his sword as he faced the bundled chain he did not yet know the purpose of. He was not sure if he could achieve his desired attunement even if he devoted himself entirely to training, but he had already wasted an entire day trying to understand the meaning behind these chains.
So, he slashed at the chains.
He did not know what purpose the chains were supposed to serve. He did not know whether this was the correct way to handle them. Yet, he swung his sword without hesitation because he was not willing to waste anymore time. If he couldn't understand their use, he reasoned it was better to cut them away, to remove them from his sight and out of his mind.
The Demon King of Incarceration had offered no explanation for the chains.
And Gavid had not asked. It was a gift from his lord, and he had accepted it with gratitude. Gavid of the past might not have swung his sword at a gift from the Demon King of Incarceration, even if he could not understand their use or lacked time to come to an understanding.
"You are truly mischievous, my lord," Gavid muttered as he aimed his sword at the bundled chain. He could not believe his lord had bestowed such an item to him without any explanation. Gavid raised his sword with a soft laugh.
This act must have been what the Demon King of Incarceration desired. He must have wanted Gavid to cut through the entanglements that tied him to the past, to immerse himself not as the Blade of Incarceration or the Grand Duke of Helmuth but as a single demon. The Demon King of Incarceration must have wanted him to prove his resolve was not just in words.
He acknowledged his king’s mischievousness while also feeling profound gratitude. He brought his sword down.
Clang!
Sparks flew between the blade and the chain, and soon the sparks scattered throughout the empty mansion. Suddenly, the golden sparks turned pitch black, and in an instant, the interior of the mansion was enveloped in the color of flames.
Gavid closed his eyes.
When he reopened them, he found himself not in the Lindman manor but in a completely different place. It was an utterly barren plain, with corpses scattered around like props against the backdrop.
Unperturbed, Gavid walked across the wasteland. The first time he was hurled into this inexplicable realm after striking the chain, he couldn't help but panic. In the beginning, he had struggled to comprehend his situation.
He had tried various means to escape this space. He had wielded Glory and employed the Demoneye of Divine Glory, but even the combination of the two had proved futile against any semblance of escape. After multiple failed attempts, he decided he needed to understand this realm and inspected the surrounding corpses.
Bodies not long dead felt all too real — their smell, their taste, everything about them had mirrored genuine cadavers. After a thorough examination of the corpses, he had embarked on an earnest exploration of what seemed like the end of this wasteland.
The discovery had come suddenly. He had been suddenly cast into an unknown space, which meant that he had been on high alert. It had allowed him to sense someone’s presence ahead of him. And that figure had been distinctly alive, unlike the corpses.
As soon as he had come to a realization, the figure had moved. They vanished, and in that instant, they had appeared right before Gavid.
He had been attacked. A crude, massive sword had aimed straight at his throat. Despite the surprise, he hadn’t delayed in his response. After exchanging a few blows and feeling a sense of admiration for the opponent’s skill, Gavid had died.
The sword he faced had been of a different caliber, as if the first few exchanges had been child’s play. The weapon had been fiercely handled and tore through Gavid's defenses, ultimately ripping through his throat as well.
Had he died so suddenly? He couldn't even harbor such a question or a sense of void. The adversary’s swordsmanship had been so remarkable that he had felt nothing but awe at his inevitable defeat.
Upon death, he had woken up back in the mansion. The memories and sensations of being mutilated and decapitated had been vividly intact, yet Gavid had found himself very much alive.
At that time, he had turned his gaze towards the bundled chain. How such an event occurred remained a mystery, but he had understood it was the chain's doing. He had not needed to think about how such a thing was possible.
What Gavid needed was to tune himself before the duel. For three hundred years, he had been away from the battlefield and devoid of pure dedication to training.
Facing Eugene in a duel under such conditions would be an insult to both of them. Eugene's prowess was at its zenith now, with no signs of decline. He was only growing stronger with the passage of time.
He has far surpassed the realm he had reached as Hamel from three hundred years ago. Even that era's Vermouth would undoubtedly face defeat against today's Eugene Lionheart.
Gavid Lindman was strong. Regardless of how formidable Eugene was, Gavid did not even consider defeat.
However, he didn’t think he would be satisfied with a victory in his current condition. No, it would certainly leave him discontented. Hence, tuning was essential to ensure that the three hundred years were not spent in vain, to avoid insulting the opponent in the duel, and to ensure satisfaction with his victory.
"Thank you,” he murmured while wandering the wasteland again. It had been nine days since he first used the chain, but Gavid felt that the time he spent here was significantly longer than nine days.
The flow of time in this wilderness deviated from reality. No matter how long he lingered here, only a few minutes would have passed in the real world upon return.
It would be near impossible for a human to accept such disparity. Immersing oneself too deeply could essentially shatter one's mind. Even for a demon, excessive repetition could lead to the same fate. Yet, for Gavid, this posed no issue; he yearned to be consumed by such immersion to the extent of breakage.
He had come to understand a few things. This wilderness represented memories from a distant past that Gavid was unaware of.
Through his power, the Demon King of Incarceration had entirely sequestered these memories from a time far beyond Gavid's knowledge. In essence, these memories projected someone who once truly existed in the distant past.
The man who appeared in the wilderness seemed... not human. Gavid couldn't perceive him as anything else; it was inconceivable for a human to possess such strength. This man seemed born for battle, his strength and ferocity intensifying with every encounter.
The man’s sword was perfected for the sheer purpose of killing, honed through thousands if not tens of thousands of battles. It was impossible to refine such a sword outside the chaos of war.
Gavid had thought such a human could not exist. No one in the history he knew of possessed such formidable strength. Then who was 'he'? Was he truly human? What was his name, and in which era was he from?
Initially, these questions had plagued Gavid, but after several deaths, he no longer pondered such curiosity. The identity of his opponent did not matter. What was important here was:
'Not dying.'
The irony of such a thought made Gavid smirk, and he paused in his steps.
He saw the man standing in the distance, casually drawing a great sword and slinging it over his shoulder. He approached Gavid with a nonchalant stride.
Their first encounter had begun with an immediate attack, but it wasn't always the same. Sometimes, the man would appear suddenly from behind for a surprise attack, and at other times, he would wait for Gavid to make the first move.
However, regardless of how each battle began, the end was always the same. Gavid had yet to inflict any significant injury on the man.
Once, Gavid became fed up with one-sided defeats. He had attempted to use the Demoneye of Divine Glory and Glory at full power.
That had been the worst of it.
When Gavid used the Demoneye, the man's power transformed. When Gavid wielded Glory, the man's power became the sword itself, and fought Glory head-on. Gavid had even attempted to suppress the man's strength with the Demoneye of Divine Glory, but it had proved to be futile.
He was utterly overpowered. Gavid faced a humiliating defeat while feeling a stark difference in their power output.
"I don't know who you are,” Gavid said.
It was a futile attempt. Dialogue was impossible with the man, who emitted no sound, not even that of breathing. The only interaction between Gavid and the man was combat.
"There must be some connection to Hamel,” Gavid murmured softly while drawing his sword, Glory.
While different in magnitude, the man's mysterious power bore a resemblance to the sword Eugene used against the specter.
"An ancestor of Hamel? Or perhaps…."
Gavid aimed Glory at the man, who continued his casual approach.
"Hamel's previous life?"
Under normal circumstances, Gavid would not entertain such speculation, having never considered the existence of reincarnation or past lives.
But now, he couldn't dismiss the possibility. If Eugene Lionheart was indeed a reincarnation of Hamel from three hundred years ago, then perhaps... even Hamel could be someone's reincarnation.
The man lowered his greatsword from his shoulder. There was a subtle transformation in his casual stride, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes. Gavid's Demoneye of Divine Glory emitted an ominous glow.
Agaroth's sword descended upon Gavid.