Translator: Alpha0210
He saw the fist flying toward him.
The clenched fist was small and dainty, so delicate it seemed it would struggle to knock down a sandcastle, yet the actual force contained within was enough to make every hair on his body stand on end.
If he took that head-on, he might lose half of his remaining lifespan.
Residue twisted his body with genuine desperation to dodge
‘…Did I dodge it?’
Did he actually dodge? Residue touched his forehead, half on instinct. A warm sensation met his fingers, and he felt blood trickling down. His forehead had been split open. His skull was ringing like it had been struck by a hammer.
The mere pressure of the wind had ripped his skin. Still, with a body that had gone through hundreds of millions of evolutions, his basic physical resistance should have been quite significant.
The Half King’s offensive continued. She threw a straight punch with her left hand, and this time, Residue dodged more carefully. He didn’t just avoid the fist itself, but also paid attention to the aftershock it created.
In the meantime, the Half King raised her right leg and kicked. Chwak! The water pooled on the ground followed behind her heel like a tail. It looked very flashy, as if a liquid shadow had been attached to her, but this wasn’t the time to be admiring it.
Just in case, Residue avoided not only the kick but also the scattering droplets, which inevitably forced him to retreat far away.
The Half King seemed about to extend her right hand again to continue the pursuit, but then suddenly stopped moving as if caught on something.
“……”
At that moment, Residue saw something hidden behind the Half King’s hair.
Countless electrodes.
So many that it was hard to count, electrodes were densely embedded in the back of her head and her back, and the reason she had just abruptly stopped was because the electrodes had restricted her movement.
“……”
An oddly uncomfortable silence descended.
Because of the hair that had fallen forward, the Half King’s expression wasn’t clearly visible. As Residue continued to observe with a wary look.
“To gaze upon the royal visage without permission or blessing. How rude.”
A reproachful voice was heard, but the tone itself was calm.
When the Half King slightly raised her head, her hair slid back to reveal her pale face. It was an expression difficult to read. If anything, it was close to expressionless, but it felt somewhat different from Agolet’s. From the start, the Half King never showed an emotionless face. Although of a different type, she always wore something like a smile.
That said, she didn’t appear surprised or flustered by Residue’s sudden actions either, which meant that his surprise tactic had failed.
‘…Well, it’s not like I expected her to scream or lose her composure and stammer.’
Still, her reaction was disappointingly lacking.
Should he try provoking her more? Not with some childish taunt, but in a more unusual way. But how is the Half King’s combat ability right now? Were the electrodes that had just been stuck in her and this artificially created environment meant for recovery? Was the Half King fully healed? Or had only her appearance been somewhat restored? In the first place, was this even the real Half King?
“……”
After about three seconds of locking eyes, Residue obtained most of the answers to his questions.
No matter what he tried, it would be difficult to shake the Half King’s composure, and her combat ability was intact. Though not fully recovered, she had regained at least 90 percent of her original skill, and there was no possibility she was a fake.
The Half King began to walk slowly.
Plop. Plop.
The tightly attached electrodes fell off and sank into the water. Residue did not move until the Half King approached right in front of him.
Though she had thrown a punch earlier, the act of walking so lightly toward him carried no hostility.
As expected, once she came within close range, the Half King raised her head and looked at Residue with her still, serene eyes.
“It’s been a while, Beginning Wizard. Have you been well?”
A dry laugh escaped him. Been well, my ass.
Who was it that had the Black Knight and the Red Knight imprison him?
In the end, things had worked out well and he wasn’t particularly holding a grudge about it now, but that didn’t mean the relationship between Residue and the Half King had naturally recovered.
“Ah. Right. Your Majesty. Have you been in good health?”
He halfheartedly returned the greeting and glanced over the Half King.
Her build was similar to Luca’s, but the atmosphere was completely different.
While having such a pointless thought, the Half King spoke again.
“Bring forth the royal robe.”
Clothes?
Bring clothes? Me?
Being ordered by someone was a foreign experience, so Residue stood there blankly for a moment. Then, as if slightly annoyed, the Half King gave a small nod of her chin.
It felt like a refined way of urging him on.
“Tch.”
Residue scratched his cheek, then for some reason looked around and headed toward a bench a short distance away.
On the bench, the Half King’s garments were neatly folded. Not only clothes, but also a cloth to cover the face, a hairpin, rings, a necklace, earrings, and other accessories like bracelets were there.
Residue roughly grabbed them and brought them over to the Half King.
“They’ll get wrinkled.”
“You can just straighten them again. Just take them already. My arm hurts.”
“……”
“What are you glaring at? Don’t tell me I have to dress you myself?”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm, my ass.”
Residue practically threw the clothes at the Half King, then returned to the bench and sat on it, propping up his chin.
The Half King didn’t particularly call out the rudeness and began quietly dressing herself.
She delicately put on each accessory one by one, and finally, her hand reached for the last item, the face cloth.
“……”
Before covering her face with the cloth, she glanced briefly at Residue, then decided not to wear it.
Instead, she looked his way and spoke.
“You.”
The Half King said.
“Seem to have changed a little.”
“I’ve been hearing that constantly. Don’t you have any fresher observations?”
“No. More importantly, I want to ask. Why have you come here?”
Residue asked with a faint smile.
“How’s your condition?”
“Is that your purpose for coming?”
“That’s one of them.”
“I see.”
The Half King nodded and said,
“Not bad. Actually, I feel better than before I shut my eyes.”
“……”
“This time, I’ll ask. How does my condition relate to your purpose?”
So she wanted to cut the small talk and get straight to the point.
Residue liked that attitude very much, and so he replied with a smile.
“My business. Right. My business isn’t actually that long. There are a few types of it, but most can be resolved with a few words. So first, I need to clearly understand what happened to you. Why you ended up like that, unable to endure even the First Destruction.”
“……”
“You’re not going to play dumb at this point, are you, Your Majesty the Half King? The entire universe has already witnessed your disgrace.”
Even with that blatant provocation, her expression remained as calm as ever.
Had she not fully woken up yet?
Anyway, Residue was starting to get tired of that dull face, so he began sharpening his tone.
“I’ve heard you subjugated half of the Twelve Void Lords after kicking me out. In other words, the other half ultimately didn’t follow you. But it’s not all that important that they didn’t participate in that insane plan. What I focused on is what happened afterward.”
“……”
“You failed, even after gaining the forces of half the Void Lords and half the Knights. I haven’t confirmed how much damage you sustained in the process… but even if the damage was minimal, my impression wouldn’t change. It’s pathetic, that’s how I feel. Do you understand me, Your Majesty? I came all the way here personally to mock you.”
As he spoke, Residue realized that this wasn’t something crafted to provoke the Half King, it was simply his genuine impression.
Without waiting for a response, Residue continued in a calm voice.
“It was truly disgraceful. You shouted so loudly about handling everything alone, but in the end, you couldn’t even endure the First Destruction and nearly died. To the weakest of the disasters still to come, no less.”
“You’re right on all counts.”
The Half King opened her mouth.
“I failed disgracefully this time. I have no excuse.”
Residue fell silent.
He hadn’t expected her to admit her fault so readily.
Because strong beings all had strong convictions.
If one were to put a nicer label on it, it could be called principle, or even belief, but Residue still felt the best word for it was stubbornness. It was the most intuitive.
To exaggerate a bit, it was one of the absolute conditions of a strong being.
Entities who reached a certain realm possessed indomitable beliefs. Whether right or wrong, that belief hardens over the course of honing one’s strength. For someone with power on the Half King’s level, it was impossible to imagine how strong her stubbornness must be.
That’s why Residue had expected her to brazen it out.
‘What is this.’
Come to think of it… he had felt a similar discomfort once before. Back during the conference, when he was both fighting and talking with the Half King.
What had been vague then now felt a bit clearer.
‘A fake?’
Suddenly, that word surfaced in his mind.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Residue concluded that this was a point that definitely needed to be addressed.
The method of confirmation wasn’t difficult.
Crackle.
Lightning surged from his fingertips and enveloped Residue’s entire body. His hair and robe flared violently, and bolts of lightning struck all around. Because of the lightning, his surroundings turned completely white, and the thunder that pierced his ears rendered him deaf to all other sounds.
Residue felt as if he were standing at the very center of a storm of ten thousand thunders. Of course, it wasn’t actually the case, it was just that the current of electricity surrounding his body was so intense.
However, at the moment he moved, everything was deathly silent.
“……”
In an instant, Residue passed by the Half King.
The moment he turned around to look back, the raging vision settled, and the sounds vanished. Residue looked down at his left hand. In it was a torn sleeve. Of course, it belonged to the Half King.
‘She dodged.’
A half-laugh slipped out.
The Half King probably knew nothing about One Step Through Time and Space. And yet, she dodged it. Next time, she would evade it even more easily. Residue hadn’t gone all out, but… even with that taken into account, a monster was still a monster.
All suspicion vanished.
This was indeed the Half King.
“What are you doing.”
“I suddenly thought you might be a fake, so I tested it… but there’s no room for doubt. You are the Half King.”
But… in that case, it was even stranger.
Residue scratched his head roughly and said,
“I don’t get it. Why would a being like you suffer such serious injuries?”
“The power of Destruction exceeded my expectations. I already told you.”
“That’s really all there is to it?”
“You don’t seem satisfied with the answer. Or would you only be content if I repeatedly admitted my own disgrace?”
“That’s not what I’m saying. Until I came here, I thought the reason you were injured was because of betrayal from the Twelve Void Lords. But I was wrong. Even if you were betrayed by Destruction and all three of the Lords, you still have the power to subdue them all.”
“……”
It was a comment thrown out without much thought, yet it evoked an unexpected reaction.
The Half King’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Were you just pretending to be injured?”
“No.”
“Then what? Was it part of some plan? A scheme devised by one of those idiotic Lords who follow you?”
“Do not insult my subordinates. They have done nothing wrong.”
“……”
“…I’ve said it many times. This failure was due to my own lack of ability.”
Was Residue imagining it, or had her voice gotten slightly sharper? No, he wasn’t mistaken.
At that moment, Residue realized which kind of words the Half King reacted to with a human response. Tilting his head, he spoke.
“The Lords that follow you.”
He continued, watching her pupils carefully.
“They’re all trash. The universe’s biggest cowards, with a few screws loose in the head. I don’t know why you defend garbage like that, when they’ll only hinder the royal path you’re trying to walk. And on top of that, they even betrayed you.”
“There was no betrayal. Why do you keep saying that?”
“Because if what I said isn’t true, then there’s no way to explain why you were holed up in here. And judging by your reaction, it seems I hit the mark.”
The Half King’s eyes now trembled greatly.
Seeing that, Residue couldn’t easily tell whether this was a good thing or not.
The sigh about to escape his lips suggested that, for now, he felt more overwhelmed.
…So the truth was.
This being, who was thought to be an absolute powerhouse, undoubtedly the number one in the united world in terms of sheer force, had no such strength in terms of mental resilience.
That’s why she had taken such heavy damage from the betrayal of the Lords.
From the beginning, she had been imbued with ideology, a manufactured existence.
Because of that, some degree of side effect had been expected.
But the Half King’s current state was more serious than expected.
Residue looked at the Half King, now flustered as if her mask had been torn off.
“You don’t mean…”
He stared straight into those trembling eyes and spoke.
“Did you consider the Lord who made you to be your parent?”
Splash.
Waves rippled across the still water.
For the first time, the Half King took a step back.
*****
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