Chapter 221. Blood is Thicker Than Water (3)
"...Are we under the sea?" Leo muttered under his breath as he looked around.
The air was damp and heavy. However, thanks to the glowing stones embedded in the walls, they could at least see a little.
Caron scanned the surroundings through Pluto, but there didn't seem to be anything dangerous nearby.
"We probably are," Caron said calmly.
"Does that even make sense?" Leo asked, furrowing his brow.
"When dragons are involved, even the most ridiculous things become possible," Caron replied with a shrug.
Gratia had said that those who entered this place would face a trial. What exactly that meant was still unclear. All they knew was that it involved illusion magic.
Leo kept walking forward, gripping Rigor tightly in his hands. Caron, watching his cousin's back, let out a faint chuckle.
"If you're scared, I can hold your hand," Caron teased.
"...Do I look like a child to you?" Leo said, then sighed deeply.
Leo had thought Caron would be the only one going through a special Coming of Age Ceremony, but somehow, he'd gotten roped into it too. He couldn't deny that he was nervous, but he didn't want to turn back and run away.
This is my chance, he thought.
It was a chance not to fall behind Caron.
Leo had long since given up trying to stand on equal footing with Caron. His goal had become simply to support Caron from behind. But even that had proven difficult.
I can't fall any further behind, Leo thought.
He knew just how much Caron had looked out for him all this time. He didn't want to disappoint Caron.
Drawing in a breath, Leo stepped forward with renewed resolve.
"I'm so proud of him. Leo is already a grown-up. Owner, now it's just you who needs to grow up," Guillotine muttered proudly from behind, watching Leo's back.
Caron smacked the hilt of Guillotine with his palm and said, "I raised him like that."
"...Sure you did," Guillotine replied dryly.
"That's just because you didn't know what he was like as a kid. He was trash—bad enough to disgrace my father," Caron explained.
Caron's theory that even a troublemaker could be reformed with the right mix of violence and positive reinforcement seemed to have proven true.
He nodded to himself while glaring at the back of Leo's head, then said, "I should start paying more attention to the Academy too."
If he could reform the future troublemakers growing up there, it would be a huge benefit in the long run.
Rumor had it that the Academy's newly formed Reformation Club was making waves with its brilliant results. There were regular community services and deep respect for parents. Apparently, the students' parents were overjoyed.
While Caron was caught up in his mix of pride and complicated emotions toward Leo...
Shhhrrrk!
"Owner, the flow of mana just shifted," Guillotine warned.
"I felt it too," Caron replied.
It seemed the trial Gratia had mentioned had begun.
Caron called out to Leo, who was walking ahead. "Leo, stay sharp. I think the trial's starting."
But there was no response.
"Hmm... Is it some kind of barrier?" Caron muttered.
It seemed that the moment they entered a specific zone, the illusion magic had activated.
Caron exhaled slowly and closed his eyes.
Then at that moment...
Fwaaaash!
From all directions, a rush of pure mana surged toward him. It was the same kind he had felt from Gratia—the mana of blue dragons, similar to the Azure Mana.
The dragons' mana began to envelop him. Caron briefly considered resisting it, but in the end, he chose to accept the flow.
Whoosh!
When Caron opened his core, the dragons' mana surged into him in an instant.
Time passed, and eventually, the waves of magic subsided.
Caron slowly opened his eyes. A sigh slipped from his lips before he even realized it.
"...Hah."
A familiar scene lay before him. It was a place he could never forget, no matter how hard he tried.
"Of course it's this place again," Caron said to himself.
It was the imperial palace, engulfed in flames. All around, monstrous roars echoed through the chaos, mingled with the screams of the dying.
Caron looked down, examining himself. He was wearing plate armor embossed with the golden lion crest. It was the uniform of the Imperial Guards.
"...So I'm still stuck on this day," Caron muttered to himself, a bitter edge in his voice.
There was no mistaking it. This was the day he had died inside the palace.
"The dragons really have a twisted sense of humor," Caron remarked dryly.
And then, a voice whispered into his ear.
"Face your fear."
It wasn't Gratia's voice. But Caron immediately understood the meaning behind it.
There had only been one being in the palace that day who truly filled him with fear. The one he hated more than anyone, yet couldn't bring himself to strike down.
It was the Malevolent Emperor.
The illusion wanted him to confront that being.
Caron clenched his left hand and unclenched it. Even though this was just an illusion, every sensation felt startlingly real.
The black sword at his hip—yes, he recognized it. It was Luin, the sword he had wielded in his previous life. It was the demonic sword, the one that dragged its wielder's soul into the deepest pits of hell.
But the Luin of the present...
"This was me back in the day? Damn, I was basically a full-blown demonic sword," Guillotine remarked.
"You wore it well," said Caron, smirking. "It's exactly like you."
It wasn't really Luin. It was just Guillotine, taking on the form of the weapon from Caron's previous life.
Caron gripped the hilt lightly, exhaled slowly, and murmured, "This is going to be easy."
Judging by the flames at the front gates, the rebel army led by Halo had just breached the palace.
Boom!
Caron looked up toward the sky above the palace—a sky stained purple.
From the half-formed Gate of Chaos, massive demonic monsters were beginning to emerge.
Caron's lips curled into a faint grin as he said, "Did you think dragging me back into these old memories would scare me?"
If anything, he decided to take this chance and flip the script.
"This place was crawling with people I wanted dead anyway. Might as well relieve some stress while I'm here," Caron added.
The ones he couldn't kill back then, all because of the Malevolent Emperor... This time, he would behead every single one of them on sight.
"Now then... Who should I start with?"
The Mad Dog licked his lips and moved with purpose.
Moments later, the imperial palace was filled with screams.
***
"Whew! Honestly, I could chew them all up and still not feel satisfied," Caron said.
"You know this doesn't change anything in the real world, right? It's just an illusion," Guillotine commented.
"It does change something, you dumb demonic sword," Caron replied.
"What does it change?" Guillotine asked.
"My mood. I feel better," Caron answered.
Caron sat on the steps leading up to the main palace—the same steps he'd once guarded with his life. A sharp, almost feral grin tugged at his lips.
Below him lay the corpses of countless demonic monsters. And in between them, scattered like trash, were the broken bodies of a few humans.
Cain—no, Caron—let out a long breath, almost a sigh of relief, and smiled.
At the top of these stairs waited the Malevolent Emperor.
Caron wanted nothing more than to storm up and tear the Malevolent Emperor limb from limb. But he decided to delay that pleasure just a little longer.
"What are you doing just sitting here? Guillotine asked.
"Waiting," Caron said. "I want to see something for myself."
He had stabbed Guillotine into the stone beneath the stairs and now sat there calmly, watching.
This time, unlike in his previous life, the bodies littering the palace grounds belonged not to his fallen comrades, but to beasts and demons.
Getting here had taken considerable effort, and Caron's body bore the evidence—wounds deep and raw, pain that felt far too real for an illusion. True to its origin, the dragons' illusion magic didn't dull anything.
But Caron accepted that pain with a laugh, saying, "I was just wondering how I'd do now... if I fought the Halo from back then."
"Why bother?" Guillotine asked.
"I'm just curious. Don't you want to know?" Caron replied.
He didn't know if he could win.
The Halo of that time had reached the rank of an 8-Star knight. Caron, even now, was only at 7-Star—the odds weren't in his favor. But still, he wanted to cross swords with Halo again.
Since Caron had mastered the swordsmanship of the Ducal Family of Leston, maybe... the outcome would be different this time.
"Guillotine," Caron said. "You're right. What happens here won't affect reality. So even if I clash with Halo, it won't mean anything. Am I wrong?"
"'I'm pretty sure this isn't what the dragons had in mind when they gave you this trial," Guillotine said.
"I do things my way," Caron replied.
It was nothing but curiosity and a lingering regret.
"What if you can't handle it?" Guillotine asked.
"I'll back off, and when Halo's busy fighting the Malevolent Emperor, I'll just quietly stab my sword through the Malevolent Emperor's neck," Caron answered.
"You're so damn shameless," Guillotine said.
"There's no rule that says I have to pass this trial honorably, is there?" Caron asked.
He sat there, quietly watching the bottom of the staircase. Eventually, he said, "It should be about time now..."
He still remembered the exact moment Halo had appeared on this battlefield. It was right when the watchtower near the palace gate was engulfed in flames. Halo had walked through the blaze, wreathed in Azure Mana.
Boom!
And right on cue, the explosion came.
"...Hmm." Caron let out a breath and looked up at his old friend.
Halo was wearing armor bearing the mark of the Azure Wolf. Azure mana shimmered around his frame. And... he also had that annoyingly handsome face.
Perhaps it was because Caron had seen Halo as an old man for so long, but the younger version now looked almost unfamiliar.
"He really was stupidly good-looking back in the day," Caron muttered with a half-laugh.
He rose from the steps and pulled Guillotine free from the ground, saying, "Welcome."
Standing there like this, old memories stirred in Caron's mind. Memories of the day when he had stood in Halo's path, fully prepared to die.
Caron had no desire to repeat history. He only wanted to cross swords with the Halo of that time—nothing more. He looked down at the younger Halo and smiled faintly.
Looking back at his memories, the first thing Halo had done was offer him a chance to surrender.
Let's live together, Halo had said. Let's join forces and drive out the Malevolent Emperor.
But the Cain Latorre of that time... His soul had already been stolen by the Malevolent Emperor. There was no room to accept Halo's offer back then.
If he had been free, if he'd still had his will, he wondered what choice he would have made.
Most likely, he would have driven his sword into the Malevolent Emperor's throat alongside Halo.
Caron waited eagerly to hear those same familiar lines.
Did he start by asking me to surrender? Caron thought. That was how it had gone, as far as he remembered.
But after a few moments, something entirely unexpected came out of Halo's mouth.
"...Cain Latorre?" Halo asked.
The voice was unmistakably Halo's from his younger years, but the words were different.
Instead of urging surrender, Halo looked at Caron as if he was seeing him for the first time. His eyes darted with uncertainty, confusion written across his face.
With a grimace, Halo scanned the area around them. He murmured, "This really is... the imperial palace from fifty-some years ago? But it's nothing like what I heard..."
"What did you hear?" Caron asked, squinting slightly.
"Ah—Cain Latorre. No, I mean, Sir Cain," Halo said.
"Halo never called me that. Who are you? Are you some kind of doppelganger?" Caron asked.
"N-No, it's not that. It's, uh... kind of a really long story—" Halo answered.
The way he spoke—it was too familiar.
Caron narrowed his eyes and leveled Guillotine toward Halo. His anticipation cracked and crumbled. So much for fighting the real Halo of this era. Whatever this was, it wasn't going how he'd hoped.
Caron sighed deeply, then asked, "Are you not going to fight me?"
At that, Halo bit his lip and drew his sword. He stuttered, "I-I will fight."
"For real? With me?" Caron asked.
"...If it means I have to surpass you, then... I don't have a choice. If I ran off without even crossing blades, he'd never let me hear the end of it. And honestly... I'm more scared of him than I am of you," Halo answered.
At this point, Caron became sure of Halo's true identity. But he played dumb, tilting his head slightly.
"And who exactly is he?" Caron asked.
"You don't need to know. He's an unpredictable lunatic and a demon in human form. Even a Demon King would probably keep his distance. If the demons ever built an academy, they'd definitely make him a professor," Halo explained.
"If he's that terrifying, why not just cut ties with him?" Caron asked.
Halo let out a deep sigh and gripped his sword tighter. He said, "No matter how much I hate him... he's still family. And I'm the older one. Older ones don't abandon their little siblings. That's not how it works."
Caron couldn't help but let out a quiet laugh, nodding slowly. Then, he said in a low voice, "Let's cross blades, for old time's sake."
"This place is just an illusion, so I guess I can tell you... The truth is, I'm actually—" Halo began, but was cut off.
"I know," Caron interrupted.
"...What?" Halo asked.
"I said, I know. So let's just have our little spar," Caron replied.
With that, Caron lightly swung his sword at Halo—no, Leo.
And in that moment, he finally understood the true meaning behind this trial.