Chapter 128. This Place is the Underworld
Chzzzz―!
Shine’s momentum shifted in an instant at that very moment.
Hyper-focus, it was a realm she had once entered already, back in the great Hamern Forest. Focus drawn to the utmost extreme, erasing the world and feeling only herself. However, this time it was different from when she had artificially forced herself into hyper-focus during the Death Knight fight.
Originally, ‘hyper-focus’ did not end at simply erasing the world.
Expansion of the ego. Enlarging one’s existence to the fullest, enveloping the world. And when that is done, what happens?
‘The world is me and…’
…I am the world.
Shine’s sword, filled with her very presence until it overflowed into the world, split space.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
Relentless blades of frost. Piercing ice spikes were slashed apart. Until now, the only sword strike that mattered was a single blow.
Shine lowered her sword and stepped forward.
This was the step of a knight, a step that carried within it all that one sees, hears, and feels. Contained within this one stride was… All that a knight can do.
Advance, retreat, slash, thrust, parry, every possibility was held inside that one step. And that step shattered Parun’s concentration.
“…!”
A pressure as heavy as a mountain. Parun halted all spells he was weaving in that instant.
‘I must evade…’
His trademark multi-tasking deduced survival. All nerves divided across the Eight Hearts moved purely for survival. But…
Within the snowstorm, Shine’s fangs gleamed sharply.
‘There will be nowhere to dodge.’
Strength poured into the step she took. As her waist twisted, ether gathered into the sword, now quietly sheathed. A state of total defenselessness. And yet, not a single spell touched Shine.
Crackle, crack-crackle!
Bzzzaaaam!
Lightning struck within arm’s reach, savage ice spikes grazed past her by only an inch, as if she were simply avoiding what must be avoided.
It was a bizarre sight.
But, would you believe it?
That Shine’s single step had pierced through all possibilities. That her stride had accounted for odds of tens of thousands to one. This was not transcendence.
It was simply… Shine von Leman, the King Slayer.
The once-in-an-era prodigy who reigned supreme in her age. Without even wielding any transcendent artifact such as a demonic sword, she had slaughtered Master Knights guarding the Emperor… a prodigy. The absolute being who stood at the pinnacle of all knights!
That absolute now reclaimed her rightful place.
“Let us end this.”
It was but a single word. There was no contraction nor expansion of muscles. Not even breath. The forearm clutching the sword, the soles pressing the ground. The thighs releasing power, the waist, shoulder, and arm delivering it. Every muscle was serene.
Of course, for this strike surpassed the realm of flesh…
‘Cut.’
It was a blow that stepped into the very concept itself. And with that, it was over. When Shine’s sword reached its rightful destination…
Slice!
The world was severed. And through the rift torn across the snowstorm, Parun’s eyes widened, taking Shine into his gaze. When their eyes crossed midair, Parun, aghast, could only utter, “Enough… indeed.”
“Of course, it could only be enough.”
Blood sprayed high only after that.
Shhhhhh―!
From Parun’s chest, cleaved diagonally, crimson gushed forth like an explosion. And then…
Thud!
Parun lost consciousness and toppled. The once thunderous dueling hall was now drowned in icy silence.
Shine von Leman, the unparalleled knight with a demonic gift. Though her body was now that of a vampire, her talent shone radiantly still.
* * *
Shine closed her eyes softly, savoring the aftertaste of battle.
“…How delightful.”
At last, she felt alive. Yes, this was proof she lived.
Since gaining the body of a vampire, Shine had spent nights restless with an unfulfilled emptiness. It was a kind of void. But why?
As a Death Knight, she had understood.
To deny the natural order and remain in the world as one of the dead was an existence of pain.
It was bearable. Because she had enjoyed herself with Aster, Obern, that loudmouth Pathfinder, and so on… It had been suffering she deemed endurable.
Of course, anger against the necromancer who had defiled her corpse was anger indeed, but what person lives on anger alone?
What sustained one through pain was not fury but the joy that came in between moments of suffering.
Yet, in truth, what had supported Shine was nothing else but…The sword.
No, all-encompassing martiality.
The sheer joy of it had made the pain bearable.
And yet… why?
The pain did not disappear.
‘Why?’
She had a body now, the agony of the soul was gone.
Yet still, unending pain scrambled her mind.
‘A gap between body and soul?’
She thought so.
A vampire’s body, a vessel for her mind, yet its contents remained human, there was bound to be dissonance.
She thought that was all, she thought it bearable. And yet…
“…So that wasn’t it.”
“Huuu!”
Shine inhaled the icy air piercing to the depths of her lungs, then exhaled in full.
In that very moment, she realized.
The presence or absence of flesh is no measure of life. What makes her breathe is not skin, not a beating heart, not any of that. What lets her live is solely the martial path. The path she had dedicated her life to, and would dedicate the rest of her life as well. Now that she had realized this truth, though late…
How could it not be joyous?
“This very body is Shine von Leman.”
She spread her arms, as though to embrace the world. Stars spilled across the night sky. Not literally, but that was how Shine felt. Unable to contain her excitement, she spoke out her grand ambition.
No, she attempted to.
“This body alone… shall stand at the pinnacle of all knights, the one and only… Aagh!”
A blunt shock suddenly struck the back of her head.
Stars flashed before her eyes.
Were stars truly filling the heavens? No, it was just damned painful.
It didn’t take long for Shine to grasp the situation and for fury to surge. But Shine never got to spit out her wrath.
“Who dares to strike this body…!”
“It’s me.”
“Do you wish for death? To dare lay hands upon this body, do you know what crime—”
“I don’t know what crime. But I know full well what you just did.”
“…?”
Shine tilted her head in bewilderment.
Has this bastard lost his mind? Why so brazen?
To strike the back of her head was a capital offense deserving death.
When she had been a Death Knight, she could not judge such a crime due to their bonded servitude, but now she could. Surely, he knew that too…
“You still don’t grasp the situation, do you?”
“…?”
Aster stared at Shine, still lost, then jerked his chin.
“Do you see?”
“See what… huh.”
Shine gasped sharply.
Only then did she see.
“Sir, Sir Parun…!”
Where Aster’s chin had directed her gaze, Parun lay still.
And the sight was chilling.
The floor soaked in blood.
The man’s pallid face.
Lying flat, arms folded neatly upon his chest, like a corpse.
“C-could it be?”
“It could be. A vampire would know.”
Shine shook her head, unable to accept.
“No, no. Impossible… I held back. It wasn’t enough to kill. Y-you know that!”
“I wouldn’t know. You were the one swinging the sword.”
“No, no way…”
Even if she had been intoxicated with the moment, she wasn’t one to cross that line.
That final strike, it had, perhaps, carried a bit of true intent, but it was not a blow meant to kill.
Well, maybe the impact had dug a bit deep… but still.
“No, but this degree of injury, you get this all the time in sparring, don’t you? Hm?”
Yes, in her house, such injuries were countless.
The Leman household thrived as a sword family precisely because their training was as fierce as actual combat.
However…If asked whether she had truly controlled her strength…
The more she thought, the more Shine’s mind began to break down. And Aster drove the nail in.
“You’ll likely be hunted forever as the one who killed a professor of Zenion Academy. Even the principal won’t protect you. In fact, he might be the first to deliver you.”
“D-don’t spout nonsense!”
Shine screamed as if her chest collapsed.
Without realizing it, her steps pounded toward Parun. And when she reached him…
“…Uh? What?”
Shine tilted her head.
Parun’s condition was strange. Not in a bad way, but in a good way.
Though she had seen blood gush forth, his chest beneath the torn front was smooth.
Not even a scar.
For Aster, while Shine was drunk in self-delusion, had already struck with healing light!
At that moment, into Shine’s bewildered ears, Aster’s voice stabbed.
“Fooled again, parasite.”
“Y-you… You bastard, you son of aaaaaaaa!”
Parun’s estate.
Shine’s hollow wail echoed through.
* * *
After Shine and Parun’s spar ended, we carried the unconscious Parun back to the office.
I dumped him carelessly on the sofa and immediately claimed the head seat.
“Wicked one. Is that your place to sit?”
“Seats aren’t inherently fixed. It’s the seat that shapes the man.”
Shine, displeased at me sitting at the head, threw a scolding, but I brushed it off with nonsense.
That aside.
‘Shine, that parasite…’
Since when did she become so immense?
Of course, she had grown immense over 200 years before I was born.
No, she hadn’t just grown. She had died, rotted, crumbled to bones, and scattered to dust. Naturally, what I meant by ‘immense’ was not physical growth.
— “Let us end this.”
That final strike.
‘…It was not transcendence.’
And yet, when I saw it, I was shocked enough to think it might be transcendence. For the realizations contained in Shine’s strike were not few.
Put simply… yes.
‘A strike containing everything.’
It was the same kind as the final spell I had used against Destrow in that great battle.
A single move containing all realization. Only difference being…
While I borrowed transcendence to imbue all, Shine imbued all her realization with nothing but her own skill.
It sounded simple.
‘It sounds simple… but utterly absurd.’
Seeing her anew, I realized the stark difference of ‘talent.’
You could call it… relative deprivation. A strange feeling for me. One I had never even felt in my past life.
‘So this is how a common man feels looking at a genius?’
From others’ perspectives, I too held absurd talent.
The wall of transcendence.
Though I had failed to pierce it in my past life, most mages never even neared it before death.
And yet, after dying once, I pierced it?
Even a hundred deaths would not let some achieve it. So now, I could proudly claim my own gift.
However…
‘There’s still a difference.’
I cast a tense glance at Shine, nervously checking Parun.
‘Truly… immeasurable.’
If transcendence is the sword, then reaching it is akin to forging. Endlessly hammering, refining one’s realization to its sharpest edge. And thus, the transcendental sword is born.
Yet for me, that sword was unbearably heavy.
Not only because my body was unripe. They say one sees only as much as one knows. And I now knew for certain.
‘Even if my body matures, mastering transcendence freely will take ages.’
An uncontrollable sword.
But Shine?
Even if there were a step beyond transcendence, she would master that as well.
As though a bird knows how to fly at birth, as though a fish knows how to swim.
This is the difference of talent.
‘A genius.’
It is their life, a theme I had never dwelt deeply upon in my past life. And without Shine, likely never in this life either.
But now… I thought.
‘Talent, huh…’
I want to surpass it. Not surpass a realm. Rather… I want to shatter the very limits of talent itself. Even if it takes my whole life, I want to go beyond this inborn boundary.
Creak!
My clenched fist screamed under the pressure, yet I clenched harder.
For the first time ever, a spark of competitive spirit burned. I could not let it die out.
…And so, how much time passed?
“…Where am I?”
Parun regained consciousness.
“Y-you are awake, Sir Parun? How do you feel?”
While Shine rushed fretfully to check his face, I cleared my mind and opened my lips.
“Ah, you ask where this is?”
Then I must answer.
“This place is the underworld.”
It was a line I rather fancied. And yet, for some reason…
“…..”
“……”
Their gazes chilled flat.
What? Why?
…They say you shouldn’t take in a black-haired beast. Damn bastards only ever pick on me.
Well, anyway, that wasn’t the point.
“…Since you’re awake, get yourself together, yeah? Let’s talk about what’s ahead.”
Definitely not because I felt awkward and wanted to change the subject.
Honestly.
Really… It was because the Infinite Chain affair was a matter of utmost urgency, one where every moment counted.
