─ Drink this blood.
Contrary to popular belief, Ray Yuris was not merely a ‘bastard son’ of the Crimson King.
─ With this, you shall break free from the shackles of humanity and be reborn as part of the great clan.
The one who inherits the blood legacy built by the great clan.
《Young Blood》.
Flowing within Ray Yuris’s veins was the blood history forged by his clan and the power of bloodline inheritance—a bond that could never be compared to that between mere parent and child.
‘I will never disappoint my father.’
Thus, steeled in resolve, Ray Yuris raised his head. There stood the eldest son of House Saxon, none other than the ‘Black Prince’ himself.
The empire’s foremost genius, victor of the Black and White Revolution, war hero of the island of Britannia…
He was the very embodiment of absurdity, symbolizing the very unfairness of this world itself.
“──Your Majesty, the ‘King of Cold Ashes’.”
The silence ended here. By defeating Saxon’s Black Prince, Ray Yuris would prove his worth to his ‘clan’.
The grimoire of the ‘Demon King Valour’, who had fallen to the hands of a hero long ago.
Amidst the whirlpool of fire and darkness, the power of the demon lord’s ideology revealed itself.
Within the lake of darkness, the spiked tentacles of the Shadow Lurker plunged downward, and Ray Yuris’s body began to scatter like ashes.
Even if he couldn’t yet fully harness that power, it would at least suffice to bring down a mere child of Saxon.
The history embedded in Ray’s blood was not something that could be overcome by the ‘mere talent’ possessed by Saxon’s Black Prince.
‘Here, I will strike down the empire’s greatest genius.’
Fire and darkness swirled, forming the shape of the Death Knight.
That day, the black power devoured from the elder of the Black Magic Tower and seized.
The Flame Death Knight, built upon that very power, grasped the Black-Red Sword once more. The sword of fire and darkness swung, and the black flames dwelling within it vaporized the lake of darkness.
From within the lake, the Shadow Lurker revealed its horrific true form. An incalculable number of Shadow Lurkers.
The predator of darkness, revealing its true form, was about to confront the Flame Death Knight.
Dale spoke.
“Quad Barrel,” “12-gauge birdshot.”
An incantation from another realm, incomprehensible to Ray, echoed through the air. Four barrels, and birdshot.
Unlike buckshot, which packs seven or eight large, lethal lead pellets into a single shell for hunting large game like deer or cattle… birdshot fires hundreds of tiny lead pellets from a single shell for hunting small game like birds.
And now, what Dale intended to fire was by no means an attack meant to kill.
Four blue barrels swayed behind his back, scattering the Blue Dissonance contained within.
“Do you know why we don’t pile up Death Knights with flames or cold?”
“……!”
“Because nothing is more difficult than maintaining a creature composed of magic power.”
For instance, if what exists now is merely an ordinary Death Knight. It wouldn’t be affected by the “Blue Dissonance” scattered by Dale.
Dissonance shatters only magical structures, not the flesh or armor of the dead. Locating the intricate black particles embedded within a corpse is nothing short of impossible.
But Ray Yuris’s Death Knight had no physical form. The flames and darkness composing it were themselves magical structures created by his magic.
In other words, it was powerless against the dissonance that twisted the very fabric of its magical structure. It was not without reason that blue mages were called the natural enemies of mages.
Only the ‘Blue Mage’ could so easily defeat the Flame Death Knight led by Ray.
Unfortunately, that very Blue Mage stood before Ray Yuris.
“Did you think someone who doesn’t understand the meaning of black magic could win by recklessly imitating the spell?”
Dale retorted.
By now, Ray Yuris’s physical form had turned to ash, scattered throughout the chamber, and no human substance remained there.
Simultaneously, the ashes of death began to scatter. Inevitable death, scattered from all directions.
The ashes settled within the chamber, and that spot began to corrode and weather away as if a clock were being wound back rapidly.
The demon lord Balor’s grimoire──The King of Cold Ashes.
Deathly ashes began swirling toward Dale, who drew the knight’s sword from his waist. After drawing it, he channeled his will along the blade.
The power dwelling within the hero’s beloved sword, Peacemaker.
The Peacemaker.
Simultaneously, the ashes of death swept toward Dale. Particles of annihilation, inescapable, enveloped him. And yet.
“…!”
The power of the ashes scattered by Dale’s body—no, Ray Yuris—vanished.
It was nothing more than ordinary, drifting ash.
Ray Yuris could never have imagined it.
The power of the Peacemaker that Dale unleashed here and now.
《Forced Peace》.
And that ‘peace’ meant only one thing.
A barrier nullifying all irreversible and irrevocable acts of aggression occurring in the vicinity.
A sword cannot tear human flesh. Flames cannot burn anything, nor can they extinguish or destroy anything. At least within this barrier where the power of the Peacemaker holds sway, shattering that ‘peace’ is impossible.
Even that is merely a fragment of the hero’s power, yet the demon king’s power wielded by Ray Yuris is likely no different. No, it was so immature and clumsy it couldn’t even be called a ‘fragment’. At least, the demon king’s power that Dale remembered, the grimoire he possessed, was far beyond this level.
Just as the Peacemaker in Dale’s hand.
‘Revealing a hero’s power recklessly carries great risk.’
Yet, just as he had scattered the Blue Dissonance moments ago, Dale had proven his aptitude as a blue mage.
Therefore, even if he nullified Ray Yuris’s secret technique, it would not arouse suspicion in that direction.
After all, it was entirely plausible for the empire’s foremost genius to nullify an opponent’s magic.
Adjusting his grip on the Peacemaker, Dale moved forward. Within the peace he enforced, even Dale’s pride and joy, the Death Knight and the Shadow Lurker, were no exception.
Except for one—the very enforcer of that peace.
Ray Yuris’s body lay scattered as ashes across the land, but to Dale, it was of little consequence.
“Freeze.”
Dale murmured softly. Not black, but a thorough blue power swirled.
Projecting the bitter cold and darkness dwelling within Dale’s world, the entire arena began to freeze.
“──!”
The scattered fragments of Ray Yuris’s body coalesced into a single point.
Enveloped in fire and darkness, Ray Yuris stared intently in this direction.
Activate the grotesquely twisted bio-fused artifact, ‘Dragon’s Jawbone’. His mouth, twisted bizarrely like a dragon’s maw, moved.
“How…?”
The Flame Death Knight, and the Ashes of Death. The decisive strike, delivered with full force from the start, was rendered completely ineffective.
Before him, the ‘Black Prince’ showed not a shred of hesitation.
“Even seeing the black magic, did you think I wouldn’t use the power of a Blue Mage?”
Dale calmly feigned ignorance, bluffing, while Ray Yuris remained silent.
“Do you know about this grimoire?”
“Is there anyone who doesn’t know that grimoire?”
After a silence, Ray asked again, and Dale answered calmly.
“You know this power is beyond your current grasp.”
Ray Yuris currently lacks the capability to wield the 『King of Cold Ashes』. Even Dale, right now, treats the power he can draw from the 『Book of the Black Goat』 during his 3rd Circle days as if it were nothing special.
“…Why didn’t you take out the grimoire?”
“Because I don’t have the grimoire yet.”
Dale answered as if it were someone else’s business.
“…You’re lying.”
Ray Yuris answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Surely it’s not a ‘magic tome you can show in front of everyone,’ is it?”
“That doesn’t sound like something someone who possesses the Demon King’s grimoire would say.”
“──The Book of the Black Goat?”
For a moment, Dale held his breath.
“You’re underestimating the Red Tower’s intelligence capabilities.”
“…….”
“But then again, I suppose I too underestimated the power of the ‘Black Prince’.”
To Dale, who was struggling to maintain his composure, Ray continued.
“Now I understand.”
“What do you mean you understand?”
“That the title of the empire’s greatest genius is no empty claim.”
Ray Yuris said.
“Even a wall I could never hope to reach in my current state.”
Yet in Ray Yuris’ expression, there was none of the frustration seen in those who had faced Dale until now. Not the despair felt before the embodiment of absurdity, but rather as if he had found the worthy opponent he had so desperately sought.
The grotesquely twisted jawbone of the dragon held an inexplicable thrill.
Not the expression of one facing an insurmountable wall, but that of a challenger before a wall he must overcome.
“This contest is my defeat.”
Ray Yuris opened his mouth. Or rather, he tried to.
“Shuv.”
Dale cut him off. Chanting the 『Book of the Black Goat』, whose tentacles were rooted deep within his own heart.
Right here, in front of everyone at the Fight Club.
─ Wow, there are so many people!
Shub grinned like a child. And to everyone in the Fight Club, including Ray Yuris──.
The most repulsive and horrific monstrosity in this world stood there.
A monstrosity from another realm, hundreds, thousands of tentacles writhing and coiling like worms.
Black, tar-like, dark mucus dripped down along the tentacles.
Splash!
Those very pitch-black tentacles began to extend outward in all directions across the stadium grounds. As if flaunting the power of the Black Goat’s Book before everyone’s eyes.
CRASH!
The tentacles slammed down and shattered the entire arena, spreading a terror as if an untouchable monster was rampaging.
Clang!
Before the flailing tentacles, the Fight Club’s protective barrier shattered helplessly.
Amidst screams and horror, a roar filled with madness echoed out.
After all, it’s hardly unexpected that the Crimson Mage Tower knew about the ‘Book of the Black Goat’. At the very least, once they began to suspect, verifying its authenticity wouldn’t have been difficult, and by now the Sistine Church Province must be in an uproar.
Given that, it was better to show it to everyone. The power of the grimoire held by Saxony’s ‘Black Prince’.
After flaunting Shub’s power for all to see, Dale retrieved the Book of the Black Goat.
“I accept your defeat.”
Even if this is Fight Club, I cannot kill the son of the Crimson Duke and heir to the Red Magic Tower here. Just as the Empire and the Red Magic Tower are wary not of the still-young Dale, but of the ‘Black Duke’.
Eliminating the young heir of the Crimson Magic Tower would only be a misstep, granting them justification in the long run.
Accepting defeat, Ray Yuris silently nodded.
For the first time, he left behind his legs, which had begun to tremble faintly.
