Chapter 223. I Will Come Find You, No Matter What (2)
Death Knights, wearing the bodies of Caron's former subordinates, charged at him.
Crack!
There were fifteen Death Knights in total. Each one had reached the level of a 7-Star knight.
The dark mana they exuded surged in like a choking fog, threatening to suffocate Caron, yet he remained unfazed.
Whoosh.
The mana flowing from Guillotine began to take shape. It informed Caron, "At most, I can only maintain this for five minutes."
"That's plenty," Caron said calmly. "Leo, I'll leave the rear to you."
"Got it," Leo replied.
Three Carons stepped forward, their forms identical. They were his doppelganger clones.
He had studied this trick thoroughly back in Riad. It was his first time using them in active combat, but wielding the ability itself posed no difficulty.
Each clone had been granted its own autonomy. All Caron had to do was swing his sword as he always did, and his other selves would handle the support.
Whoosh!
As the clones absorbed mana, the core's reserves drained in an instant. But Caron showed no sign of concern.
Ssssshhhh!
"This is what true unlimited power looks like. Something not even mages or scientists have ever achieved—but here I am, doing it," Caron said with a grin.
"You're insane. Weren't they your old subordinates?" Guillotine muttered.
"They're illusions," Caron replied nonchalantly. "Plus, if they met their end by my blade, they would call that an honor."
Caron armed himself in shameless resolve. That was the only answer right now.
Letting old feelings get in the way and holding back out of sentimentality was the kind of drama that didn't suit someone like Caron.
"I'm sorry," Caron said politely, offering a final apology to his fallen subordinates.
And then, he charged in.
Crash!
A crashing wave burst from Guillotine, ripping through the Death Knights' formation. Many vortexes bloomed in its wake.
The rules for fighting many were simple: The battlefield had to be controlled. He had to limit the Death Knights' ability to attack all at once.
Crash!
Caron's clones followed his lead, conjuring waves of their own. The crashing waves collided with one another, erupting into massive shockwaves.
The Death Knights tried desperately to shield themselves from the onslaught, but they couldn't move freely.
Crunch, crackle! Crunch, crackle!
At some point, Pluto had been summoned; it created a black mire beneath their feet, rooting them in place.
Over that darkened swamp, violent waves surged. And then, riding just behind them...
Ssshhhh!
Moonlight and petals shimmered into view.
Moonlight fell over Caron's sea, and upon that eerie sea, dark blue petals began to drift down.
...Ah. Leo found himself momentarily entranced, watching the vision born from Caron's blade.
It was beautiful. Moonlight and sea wove together into a haunting harmony.
Leo knew very well that it was all sword aura, manifested through Caron's technique. And yet, despite that knowledge, he wanted to reach out and touch it.
It was swordsmanship that couldn't be imitated. Perhaps, in the entire world, only Caron could wield a blade like that.
And because of that, Leo didn't feel envy. He simply let out a quiet breath of awe at the mastery Caron displayed.
Ssshhhhhh.
At that moment, Leo sensed movement behind him. A group of Death Knights—those who had managed to slip past Caron's swordsmanship—were now charging in from the rear with frightening speed.
Leo caught his breath and raised his sword. He knew better than anyone that he could never reach the level of Caron's blade. Caron's sea belonged to Caron alone.
I walk my own path, Leo reminded himself.
Even if he couldn't catch up, that was fine. As long as he could protect Caron's back, even just that much was enough.
...Or perhaps even that was too much to ask. After all, keeping pace with someone like Caron was already a struggle in itself.
Whoosh.
Still, Leo would make it happen.
Caron had always charged ahead at breakneck speed, ending each battle soaked in his own blood, proof of how fiercely he fought.
Just standing back and watching as his younger cousin bled was the most disgraceful thing an older cousin could do.
"I'm the older one... I can't embarrass myself like this," Leo muttered.
He poured out every last drop of mana from his core. There was no reason for him to hold anything back. If he could just protect Caron's rear, then Caron would handle the rest.
After all, Azureocean Castle's famous Mad Dog never showed mercy to his enemies.
A massive wave exploded from Leo's sword, crashing toward the charging Death Knights.
Crash!
The Azure Mana of the two cousins from the Ducal Family of Leston flooded the vast main palace.
Even the dark mana unleashed by the Malevolent Emperor was helplessly swept back in the face of that overwhelming power.
Crack!
Craaack!
The two hues of dark blue light and piercing, endless azure merged, driving out the darkness.
Caron's dark blue aura devoured the dark mana in greedy waves, and Leo's radiant blue light filled in the void it left behind.
The lights became one.
Whoosh!
The two seas resonated and surged forward, relentlessly piercing through the ranks of the Death Knights.
A violent sea, and a sea that embraced that violence...
Both seas of the Ducal Family of Leston now ruled the battlefield.
"Caron!" Leo shouted.
Caron surged forward as if he had been waiting for that call. And so did his clones.
Ssshhhhh.
Pluto coiled around Caron and his clones, and in an instant, they vanished from sight.
Moments later...
Crunch.
Four Carons reappeared directly in front of the Malevolent Emperor. He looked at the four identical Carons and smiled, almost in amusement.
"You've absorbed quite a bit of the doppelganger's ability. I was rather fond of that subordinate, you know. Do you like that ability?" the Malevolent Emperor asked.
Then, he flicked his pale, slender finger.
Ssssshhhh!
From the swirling mass of dark mana behind him, hundreds of swords burst forth.
Fsshhh! Fsshhh!
Blades brimming with fearsome dark mana skewered the four Carons without mercy.
In contrast, not a single one of the Carons struck the Malevolent Emperor.
Leo let out a scream, horrified by what he saw. "Caroooon!"
"History always finds a way to repeat itself," the Malevolent Emperor said. "In your previous life, and in this one as well. You cannot reach me. How pitiful... my loyal hound."
The Malevolent Emperor extended a hand toward the Caron standing at the front. Out of the four Carons, the one at the front radiated the most powerful mana, so he figured that one was the real Caron.
Clash!
Leo pushed past the Death Knights and sprinted toward Caron. He, too, assumed that the Caron standing in the lead was the real one.
But just then...
Shhhk!
"Oh? So you really weren't an illusion after all?" Caron remarked.
The real Caron emerged from the shadow beneath the Malevolent Emperor, grinning as his blade pierced the Emperor's pale neck.
With his left hand, Caron seized the Malevolent Emperor by the hair. He yanked the Emperor's head back without hesitation, forcing him to lock eyes.
The Emperor's neck was twisted at an unnatural angle. Any ordinary human would have died instantly.
But the Malevolent Emperor's glowing eyes sparkled with amusement as he spoke. "I told you, didn't I? That my presence here is of my own volition."
"A thoughtform, then?" Caron asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I would never let some mere remnant of will take my place in an opportunity to reunite with my dear knight," the Malevolent Emperor said smoothly.
Caron chuckled and replied, "How amusing. You broke through a dragon's ancient magic just to see me?"
That made the Malevolent Emperor smile brightly. He replied, "You have it backward, foolish knight. I did not wait for you here. You were the one who called me into this ancient spell."
His voice echoed in the air right before Caron's face as he continued, "It's a wish . This mysterious ancient magic shows each person the illusion they most desperately long for. Everything you've seen, every single vision, is what your heart desires above all else."
His eyes sparkled with delight as he looked at Caron, who smiled just as broadly in return.
"In the end," the Malevolent Emperor continued, gesturing toward Leo—or more accurately, the Leo cloaked in Halo's image, "You dreamed of cutting off my head alongside your closest friend."
But Caron shook his head with a smirk, then said, "You're wrong."
Shhhhk!
With one clean motion, Caron swung Guillotine in his right hand and severed the Malevolent Emperor's neck.
Caron's eyes gleamed with madness. He didn't hold back his joy—not for an enemy he had waited a lifetime to destroy. He said, "I don't care who's beside me. All that matters is slicing your throat."
Whoosh!
Through Guillotine, Caron felt a surge of pure dark mana radiating. It was no illusion. It was evil in its purest form, something even a dragon's power could never replicate.
Caron knew it better than anyone. It was unmistakably the Malevolent Emperor's dark mana.
"So Halo didn't manage to kill you after all," Caron muttered.
That single realization revealed a secret Halo had kept hidden all this time: The Malevolent Emperor hadn't died that day—not truly. And the vivid power flowing from this dark mana proved it.
The thought of being betrayed by a friend didn't even cause a flicker in Caron's heart. If Halo had failed to end the Malevolent Emperor, then there had to have been a reason.
What filled Caron now wasn't a sense of betrayal. No, it was definitely joy.
"I always thought you could still be alive," Caron remarked.
The resurgence of the Revanchists, and the dark mana they had released...
All of it had pointed to one conclusion—that the Malevolent Emperor had survived.
But seeing it with his own eyes—feeling that vile power again—was an overwhelming thrill.
"Don't you see? I can actually kill you with my own hands," Caron said coldly.
A chilling wave of hostility crashed toward the Malevolent Emperor—hatred sharpened and condensed over not one, but two lifetimes.
"You'll change too," the Malevolent Emperor said. "Just like I did. Time will distill your hatred, until it becomes a single, pure drop. And tasting that drop... Wouldn't that be the sweetest kind of amusement?"
The Malevolent Emperor's dark mana continued to pour into Guillotine—an unending stream, as if he were offering it willingly. He didn't resist. If anything, the Malevolent Emperor looked as if he was indulging the weapon.
"Both your birth and your death, all of it happened just as I wished. A great soul finds its place only after passing through a corrupted life. That, too, was by my design," the Malevolent Emperor added.
Whoosh!
Guillotine began to hum violently.
"...Owner, this mana... It's not the kind of power that belongs to a mere underling," G uillotine's voice rumbled, low and grim.
And Caron felt it, too. This mana flowing through the blade—it was definitely the Malevolent Emperor's. But it was nothing like the energy he'd faced fifty years ago.
This dark mana was on another level entirely. It carried the weight and gravity, the presence, that he had only felt in the presence of the Demon King of Slaughter and the Demon King of Sloth.
And now... Caron could feel that same dread power radiating from the Malevolent Emperor, which meant one thing.
"It's pure malice and dark mana," Guillotine murmured.
Caron clenched the Malevolent Emperor's severed head even more tightly.
And even through that head, the Malevolent Emperor whispered softly to Caron, "The one who defies divine order, and the one who urges others to shatter it. That, too, is all me."
The Malevolent Emperor's voice echoed across the entire throne room.
Creak!
All the Death Knights dropped to their knees at once. Their armored forms clattered as they kneeled, united in reverence. They were worshipping the Malevolent Emperor.
And at last, Caron understood who the Malevolent Emperor truly was.
"...The Demon King of Havoc," Caron muttered under his breath, calling the being by his true name.
The Malevolent Emperor's lips curled into a serene smile, and he said, "Oh, my poor, foolish knight. Even now, you thrash and scream in the center of my palm."
The mockery was wrapped in a pleasant tone, yet it burrowed deep into Caron's ears.
Something stirred inside him. It was a storm of emotions that could no longer be held back. The realization that someone had twisted and desecrated his entire life—it made his thoughts blur with fury.
Rage boiled up in Caron, impossible to contain. The urge to draw his sword and cut everything down surged so violently it nearly consumed him.
Caron turned to glance at Leo.
Leo, who bore Halo's face... For reasons he didn't understand, he wanted to run Leo through with a blade as well.
But Caron quickly shook his head. He knew exactly where his hatred belonged. So he focused on it, and without hesitation...
Crack!
"What the hell are you even saying, you pathetic bastard?" Caron growled, then stomped down on the Malevolent Emperor's head with his right foot.
He ground the half-crushed skull into the floor, sneering.
"Was driving me insane your grand plan?" Caron asked, his lips curling into a crooked smile. "Well, tough luck."
He pressed his heel down harder and continued, "Because I was already insane from the moment I was born."
His voice dropped, dark and gleeful.
"And it's all thanks to you," Caron added.