WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 99

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Episode 99. Seek Life, Find Love.

* * *

Head looked toward the thorn trap he'd dug deep into the ground and smiled with quiet satisfaction.

"The Ledger of Life and Death is absolute. Even a hero like you can't defy fate."

The moment he finished speaking.

Fwoosh-!! With that sound, a blade of compressed air came flying at him.

"This is.. Void Slash?!"

One of the Ten Greats. Drake the Dragon Slayer's technique.

Supposedly created after watching Emperor Rook generate a sonic boom through sheer physical strength alone.

A chill ran through him at the thought of a hero who relied on nothing but a holy sword's power somehow using this.

"Wolf Fang."

"What-?!"

Wind rose. Raindrops scattered upward through the air in an instant. The man in the Black Knight's helmet closed the distance at speed and swung his sword.

Clang. Revolver and steel collided once. Head barely managed to block the blade with his gun.

A cut opened across his right arm. Spatter. Blood sprayed onto the sand.

"..How? How did you nullify the Ledger of Life and Death?!"

"Guess I'm just a man of pure devotion."

"Bullshit..!!"

The trigger pulled again, aimed at Licht's face and heart, but the Black Knight turned into droplets of water and dodged every bullet, as if he were the gun's natural predator.

Had they fought before he'd gained Giyu, the situation would have been completely reversed. Drake's swordsmanship normally required a long windup.

He'd assumed the man would have learned at most Shadow Slash. There was no way a hero from another world would have bothered mastering a technique that took years to learn.

'I really should have watched the grade exam myself,' came the belated regret.

He had relied on nothing but his omniscience.

But what was this scene in front of him now? Watching the hero use techniques from the Heavenly Demon he'd never anticipated, wielding multiple holy swords, the Demon King felt a hollow despair.

To deal with Licht, who struck from somewhere and vanished, Head brought the gun's muzzle to his own temple once more.

"It's useless no matter how you dodge!!"

Bang. The gunshot's report hummed and shook the air. At the same instant, a massive bullet formed beside the man in the Black Knight's helmet.

A bullet spinning at high speed, angling to strike from the side.

"No matter how unavoidable the attack..."

Even against an enemy attack that defied the laws of physics, Licht simply summoned another sword and dealt with it calmly.

"Old Thought, Reminiscence."

In the rain-soaked battlefield, something jet black fell again. The sword that had once buried itself in Head's body and shattered his heart and every blood vessel.

The Heart Sword, whose power reshaped the surrounding terrain. The moment its trigger fell all the way down.

"..This one's way too obvious, Head."

As if the spot where Old Thought struck became the reference point, the ground flipped at a right angle and a wall rose up to the side. A defensive wall, made instantly.

"You flipped the ground into a wall?!"

"Isn't it simple?"

Seeing the sight, Head couldn't hide his shock. His bullet tried to erase rock and sand and punch through the wall, but.

Boom. Kaboom. The bullet struck the wall again and again, while Licht repeated the same motion over and over, using Giyu to shift to a different spot each time and throw off the pattern.

"..He blocked it."

The massive bullet, stopped by the wall, its spin finally halting. Watching it, Head looked up at the sky with hollow eyes. The book recording the life and death of everyone he'd seen through omniscience.

Head pulled the Ledger of Life and Death from inside his coat and tossed it onto the ground with a thud.

"The Ledger nullified. Omniscience, Erasure of knowledge, both useless. A hero who even blocks my holy sword."

"No, are you even listening? I'm the Black Knight..."

"Let's see if that's really true."

Head took off the monocle he'd been wearing and loaded the last remaining bullet into his revolver.

Click. The final round slid in.

"Whether or not you're truly the hero, I'll confirm it myself. Black Knight Lee Suhyun."

He spoke with blood streaming from his eyes.

* * *

I looked at Head Ache's changed appearance and thought.

'Phase three, maybe.'

Normally he'd have chosen to shoot himself here. The cylinder I'd first seen had held seven bullets.

'Now it's eight.'

Maybe it meant the number of times he'd regressed. He looked like he was on his seventh regression.

'..Something's off. Way too off.'

He'd said I wasn't part of his regressions. And even after regressing that many times, was he saying my Phine becoming the Nameless Saintess was still the best outcome?

The sudden question sent blood rushing dizzily to my head. 'Why, exactly?' filled my mind completely.

That was when it happened.

"..Now this is finally getting interesting. Yes."

Head bent his neck backward at a grotesque angle, then turned his gaze back to me. Blood kept streaming from his eyes.

"Lee Suhyun, hero of Conviction."

"..What?"

"'Omniscience' is now fully active. So that's why my power hasn't been working on you."

A grin. His mad smile made my whole body flinch. I'd thought Head never kept omniscience active at all times.

I'd read in the setting materials that he knew everything through omniscience, recorded it some way, and calculated from that record.

Which meant he couldn't grasp information updated in real time, and that was exactly how I'd been able to fight my way through.

'Don't tell me...'

Had he switched on full omniscience on the assumption that he'd regress anyway? The chilling thought set every nerve in my body on edge.

"Quite a mouth on you, hero, for someone wearing that 'Helmet of Ideology' that won't come off."

So that was the name of the bonus item the developer gave me. Interesting.

"A person isn't decided by the gear they're wearing in the first place."

Phine wearing her Masterpiece and Phine wearing her pure white Saintess robes were the same person, after all.

"I'm not some grand hero like that."

I just want one person's happiness. And if I can save other people along the way, I save them too, that's all.

I'm just greedy like that. There was also the part of me that didn't want to leave behind regrets like, I should have done this back then, or I should have done that.

I'd already learned that lesson to the bone at the fire. A person's life is limited. So at the very least, I should try everything I want to before I die.

"And also, one guy happens to be a massive bastard."

The developer of <Black Heart>, yeah, the one who possessed me into this garbage excuse of a game and slapped the label "hero" on it.

If that's what a hero is, then I'm just a Black Knight.

Taking down the Demon King right now isn't about following some noble divine will.

I'd already cut him down, ignoring the status window's warnings.

I'm doing this for one person's happiness, because I want to see the bright smile of the person I love.

If she's been unhappy for years, isn't it about time she got to be happy?

"At this rate my head's going to burst too.. Even if this doesn't work out, next time I'll be sure to kill you."

He hooked the revolver on his finger and spun it once, and it turned into a red scythe.

So the setting about an otherworldly reaper being summoned as a hero really was true. I was stunned by a phase I'd never seen before.

"..That's exactly why you're no good, thinking so lightly."

I readied White Wolf, Shadow Fang.

"There won't be a next time, Head."

Awoooooo-!!

A howl rang out through the rain. An image formed behind me.

A white wolf, massive as a snow-capped mountain, took shape.

A wolf carved from thinking of nothing but Phine Gransia. Weaker than my ultimate, Demon-King Slaying, sure, but.

'Less risky than a counter technique that all but guaranteed death if it failed.'

I planted my feet hard against the ground and leapt forward one heavy step at a time. An honest charge, without a single trick.

Every muscle in my body twisted and screamed. The damage I'd already taken wasn't small. It was like being hit once by a moving car.

'If I don't kill this bastard completely right now..!!'

The world would rewind again, and Phine Gransia in this timeline might still end up happy, but.

'The Phine in the next loop will be unhappy.'

I clenched my back teeth and endured the pain surging through me. If I let this bastard slip away now, her unhappiness would be certain. Even if it was a world that had nothing to do with me,

'I hate even imagining it.'

Because I love her. Because I'd adore her endlessly no matter what form she took.

I ran with my sword raised. I forced my stone-stiff legs to move.

I exhaled breath that had filled me to the throat, and let the blood rampaging through my body boil.

"White Wolf, Shadow Fang.. The white wolf behind you is clearly an illusion."

The Demon King of Omniscience called me the hero of Conviction.

"The real body is the shadow trailing behind it, the black wolf."

But the conviction I held wasn't anything special.

"So if I just cut down the shadow..!"

"Who said that?"

Pure love is invincible. Just some common conviction like that.

Wasn't it a truth that held everywhere you went? I shot a sneer at Head as he swung his scythe at my shadow.

"Sorry, but they're both real. That's just how my love works."

Calling my Phine fake, of all things. Ridiculous.

"This can't be. Don't tell me 'Conviction' has overridden 'Omniscience'..?!"

Head was barely managing to hold back the white wolf's fangs with his scythe, and.

"Guh..!"

Because of that, he couldn't block my thrust, and it pierced his heart. Just die already at this point. The Demon King's had more than enough time on stage.

"Is it over."

Watching the Demon King go limp, the tension drained out of me. His regression had probably failed to trigger too. If I really was the hero of Conviction, like he'd said.

"Then he wouldn't be able to go back to the past anymore."

All I had to do was use Conviction to block his regression. It looked like I'd just blocked his full omniscience too, just now. Then again, was it really ever complete to begin with?

"Kh-heh-heh.. Kwahahahahak!!"

"Still alive, Head."

"Lee Suhyun. You really are the best!!"

His whole body trembled again as he spun the scythe once more. The holy sword shifted again, back to its original revolver form.

"If you're willing to stake your life, then I suppose I should do the same!!"

"..What?"

Blood gushing from his heart, Head raised a hand toward the sky. What was he trying to..

「Catastrophe.」

The instant he finished the incantation, everything around us went dark as night. A wave of dread crept over me as I looked up.

'This is insane..!!'

Like a meteor.

"Kuh-hak..!! Big enough to catch even the friends who fled!! My ultimate move!!"

A scale overwhelming as a natural disaster. A massive, spinning bullet was falling from high above.

"With omniscience behind it, it won't misfire, and it'll erase everything within its radius. Now then, what will you do?! 'Hero of Conviction'!!"

Head Ache spoke with blood streaming from his mouth and eyes. Was this really the end now.

「Demon-King Slaying.」

There was no other way left. Even if using this technique meant I died.

'I have to stop Phine from becoming the Nameless Saintess, or from getting hurt.'

I too had no choice but to stake my life to protect her. The instant I cast Demon-King Slaying, blood began pouring from my eyes and mouth, just like Head's.

"What do you think you'll accomplish with that shoddy knockoff, not even true Dragon Slaying!!"

Head sneered at me while spitting up blood, but whatever. I kicked off the ground hard and leapt high. I cast the third form, Wing Deflection.

'What kind of weight is this..?!'

Creak. The hand gripping my sword trembled. I needed to land the counter first before I could chain into the motion for Demon-King Slaying.

"You made a foolish choice. Just get crushed as you are..."

At that moment, something transparent and glittering began appearing at the edges of my vision.

"Phine Gransia..!! Trying to interfere even now, to the very end?!!"

The Glass Knight's magic. Mirror Mirage.

Transparent duplicates made of glass joined in, taking on Head's ultimate move together with me.

* * *

A fleeting instant passed.

Wing Deflection, which turned an opponent's own force against them.

Reverse Scale Pierce, which found and struck a weak point.

Void Slash, born from watching Emperor Rook's sonic boom, focused purely on cutting power.

And finally, Shadow Slash.

The ultimate technique combining every secret art of Drake the Dragon Slayer. Demon-King Slaying was complete.

"I'm.. not wrong.."

A sword strike came down from above and cut through someone. Demon-King Slaying struck true against the Demon King of Omniscience, and Head Ache crumpled to the ground.

A single crimson arc was drawn across the academy's training grounds, and the one still standing on two feet amid the chaos was.

"You're wrong, you bastard."

None other than Lee Suhyun, the hero of Conviction (信念).

"Licht..!! Behind you..!!"

Just as he was drunk on the relief of victory, someone's urgent voice rang out across the battlefield.

"Behind me? I just took care of behind me..."

Bang-.

In that instant, one more gunshot rang out.

"My.. last.. attack.. let's see if you can survive this one too.."

Thud. Head's eyes finally rolled back this time as he collapsed onto the ground, spent. A shot fired with every last scrap of strength he had left.

"This.. bastard.."

Struck in the heart, Lee Suhyun staggered and fell backward. A glass barrier immediately unfurled to try to block the bullet, but it was already too late.

"No. Nooo!!"

The sound of someone running. Footsteps pounding closer, ragged and desperate.

'Phine..'

The last thing he saw was the Glass Knight rushing toward him, before his consciousness cut out.

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