WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Ryuu

Editor: Ilafy

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 168

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The Battlefield of Stars (2)

As Najin raised his sword, he thought to himself, ‘I can’t hear or see well.’

Relying on Merlin’s whispers and directions, he took his stance. His half-closed eyes were not looking at reality but at his inner self.

He immersed himself in his own being.

The Imagery condensed on his sword scattered a halo of light. A golden flash erupted over the pure, untainted white Sword Aura that wrapped around the blade of his longsword in white and gold.

Throb.

He frowned.

Even the act of raising the sword was exhausting. He could easily predict what would happen to him after swinging the sword: he would likely collapse, bleeding profusely. Just standing there was already close to a miracle.

He wished that miracle would last just a few seconds longer.

His hand, gripping the sword, trembled violently.

Squeeze.

Merlin placed her hands over Najin’s. Though her touch had no physical form, he could feel her emotions—worry, anxiety, and a slightly stronger sense of encouragement. He couldn’t help but smile.

‘Merlin…’

- Yes?

‘Thank you.’

- You’re going to thank me with just words?

Merlin sighed, as if to say, ‘You better show it.’

Najin steadied his breathing. The trembling in his hand had already subsided. The moment the shaking stopped, he swung the sword.

The First Sword, Triumph—

He brought the sword down, just like Aldaran.

Countless constellations had descended on the battlefield.

Looking up at the sky, over a hundred stars shone in their respective colors. Even Transcendents were reduced to mere extras there.

Naturally, there was no place for Najin, who hadn’t yet reached transcendence.

Everyone thought so; no one paid attention to the boy sitting in the back. There was no need to focus on someone who couldn’t even step onto the stage, but he didn’t let them ignore him.

His stars shone. The light they emitted was incomparably weaker than the starlight of the constellations. It could even be called insignificant—young stars that couldn’t even form a proper constellation.

Despite that, his pure white stars shone.

Drawn to that pure light, the constellations fell silent for a moment. On the chaotic battlefield, all actions ceased. Those swinging swords, thrusting spears, or drawing bows stopped and turned to look.

The boy raised his sword, drawing in starlight as the boy who hadn’t reached transcendence imitated their power.

The moment he swung his sword high into the sky, a Sword Aura erupted from its tip, and a white light raced across the battlefield, followed by a golden halo. It swept through the clowns and charged toward the Carnival King.

The eyes of the constellations who witnessed that strike widened. That was undoubtedly a strike close to transcendence.

Of course, any of the constellations gathered there could unleash a more powerful strike. None of them were weaker than Najin, but they instinctively felt it was different. They couldn’t explain what made it different, but their intuition told them that his strike, born of pure starlight, deserved a leading role on the battlefield.

“Open the way,” someone muttered. “Clear the path.”

The mutter spoke for everyone. The constellations roared and pushed back the clowns. The extras, who had been reduced to supporting roles, charged to clear the way so the boy’s Sword Aura wouldn’t lose speed.

The supporting characters deflected the magic and techniques the clowns scattered to block the boy’s Sword Aura. The constellations, who cherished their starlight so dearly, consumed it as if bewitched, paving the way.

They opened, cleared, and polished the path for Najin’s Sword Aura to race forward.

“How dare you?!” Quixote moved to block the strike, but Yuel and Kirchhoff stopped him. Just moments prior, they had been the leads of the battlefield, but they yielded that position to Najin.

They removed the final obstacle, opening the path to the Carnival King.

Using Merlin’s eyes and ears, with the help of the stars, Najin’s strike finally crossed the battlefield and reached the Carnival King.

Sssshhhk.

Her mask, swept up in the Sword Aura, split apart. A few strands of her severed hair fluttered in the air. It wasn’t a significant injury, far from fatal, but what Najin had cut wasn’t just the Carnival King.

Aldaran’s helmet… Najin had cut through the helmet the Carnival King had placed on Aldaran. The helmet, split in two, fell to the ground. His Sword Aura, born of pure starlight, momentarily severed the threads the Carnival King had draped over his master.

Normally, Aldaran Vasaglia wouldn’t become a Forgotten One. He had destroyed his heart, and Najin had cut through it. With his heart severed by pure starlight, he should have met a complete death.

That’s how it should have been, but the Carnival King had revived him.

Using her authority, she had stitched together his torn heart, turning him into a Forgotten One so he could move. To make him a clown, she first had to revive him, after all.

A variable disrupted her plan when Najin severed her threads. What remained in the place where the threads had been was a Forgotten One who hadn’t yet become a clown.

Twitch.

The Forgotten One’s hand twitched. A Forgotten One was someone who, having forgotten themselves, craved starlight and repeated their actions from life. What Aldaran had done in life… was incredibly simple.

Whoosh.

The moment the helmet was removed, Aldaran’s body moved.

Thud.

In the blink of an eye, his hand shot out and grabbed the Carnival King’s neck. Gripping her neck, Aldaran Vasaglia straightened his bent knee and lifted the Carnival King’s body into the air.

Aldaran Vasaglia was a knight, the First Horn of the Empire. A knight does not compromise with demons, and the Empire’s hero does not yield to the Empire’s enemies. Even as a Forgotten One, he had not forgotten his duty.

As Aldaran choked her, the Carnival King revealed emotions other than laughter for the first time: shock, fear, and then ecstasy and frenzy.

Contradictory emotions colored her face in halves. Soon, countless clowns rushed to save their master, grabbing Aldaran, pulling his arms, and threading him with strings.

Thud, thud, thud!

Shaking off all those hands, he rampaged among the clowns. With a beastly grip, he refused to let go of the Carnival King’s neck. Smashing through the clowns, he roared.

Even dozens of clowns couldn’t stop him. Without even holding a sword, he tore through the clowns with his bare hands, slamming the Carnival King into the ground while still gripping her neck. The ground cratered with a loud boom.

He repeated this several times. Even as his arms were torn and his skin was ripped by the clowns’ grip, he didn’t stop.

Thud, crash, boom!

With Quixote joining in, they finally managed to subdue Aldaran and free the Carnival King… but in doing so, a huge gap was created. Everyone there was a Transcendent before they were constellations, beings who had reached the realm through countless battles.

They didn’t miss the opening.

“Now.”

“Now.”

The tide began to turn.

The Carnival King, freed from Aldaran’s grip, touched the marks left on her neck. With her mask removed by Najin, her bare face was no longer smiling. Raising her head, she looked at someone.

“…” Her gaze wasn’t on the constellations charging toward her, nor was it on Aldaran, roaring like a beast while restrained by Quixote. She was looking beyond them, at Najin, standing in the distance.

The boy who had severed her threads… An existence outside the stage, whom she hadn’t even paid attention to, had created a variable on the battlefield.

The Carnival King slowly brushed her cheek with her finger, blood staining her fingertips.

Najin’s strike had cut through her mask and wounded her face. It had made her bleed, if only a little. The first blood she had shed in 150 years.

It had been a full 150 years since her true body, hidden behind her mask, had been injured. She felt a whirlwind of emotions toward the being who might become her natural enemy, following in Aldaran Vasaglia’s footsteps.

Najin and the Carnival King’s gazes met.

“Quixote.” The Carnival King pointed at Najin. “Kill him.”

After swinging his sword, Najin collapsed without seeing the result. A pool of blood formed where he fell. The price for imitating transcendence without having reached it was steep.

- Stay… awake…!

Merlin’s voice felt distant. His eyelids kept drooping. He tried to force them open, but sleep washed over him like a tide, and he closed his eyes.

Blink. He closed his eyes; then opened them again.

- Hey!

Merlin’s voice sounded loud. He realized he had briefly lost consciousness. In his hazy mind, he saw someone standing before him.

“Are you coming to your senses?” Noticing that Najin had woken up, the person spoke. The voice was familiar—a flat, emotionless voice. Yuel Razian. She turned to look at him.

Najin couldn’t understand why she, who should have been deep in the battlefield, was standing before him.

Perhaps sensing his unspoken question, Yuel spoke and gave him an intent look. “The tide of the battlefield has changed. The Carnival King, trying to flee after retrieving the Forgotten One, changed her course. The clowns are all charging at you now. It seems that demon really wants you dead.”

She pointed ahead. Countless clowns, their eyes glowing, were charging toward them. The constellations blocked them, Kirchhoff and Yuel holding the line.

“That demon, always busy protecting herself and minimizing losses… is now willing to take losses just to kill you. Fascinating.” Yuel swung her sword indifferently. “My patron god is speaking. She says to protect you. She didn’t need to give such an order, but she’s still a troublesome being. Well, whatever.”

With each swing of her sword, screams echoed across the battlefield. In a voice that didn’t match the screams at all, Yuel said, “You did well. The one who brought change to this battlefield wasn’t the Transcendents, but you, who hasn’t even reached transcendence yet. You should be proud.”

She turned to look at Najin. “Najin.”

Najin opened his mouth but couldn’t speak. His voice wouldn’t come out.

As if she didn’t expect an answer, Yuel smiled at him. It was the first bright smile she had ever shown—a smile of pure joy. “You always manage to delight me.”

If the Carnival King feared variables and hated those who created them, the woman before him stood at the opposite end. She was a murderer who loved and reveled in variables.

The Inquisitor of the Starblood Sect laughed, as if she couldn’t contain her joy. Smiling, she lightly said, “Rest now.” She extended her sword. “There’s much I want to discuss, but it can wait.”

Turning her back to the boy who had stepped onto the stage and performed beyond expectations, Yuel swung her sword.

Najin had done more than anyone expected. He had accomplished something none of the countless stars gathered there could.

The world called those who change the tide of a battlefield ‘heroes’. If so, then Najin was a hero.

As always, the world was fascinated by heroes. The constellations gathered there were no different. Though they were called crows, hunters, or opportunists… they too had once been heroes.

On the battlefield a hero was born on, the stars shone to imitate the hero.

The Transcendents imitated the boy who had imitated them. The stars, shining in all colors in the sky, staked their lives to achieve greatness.

The Sword Aura Najin had unleashed didn’t bring victory to the war like Aldaran’s had, but it created a turning point toward victory.

In his own clumsy way, Najin had lit the beacon of triumph.

Countless stars were drawn to that beacon. Grabbing Quixote’s leg and dragging him down, charging at his warhorse to unseat him, tearing into Quixote even as their own bodies were pierced, they began to close in on the Carnival King.

It was closer to madness.

The flames ignited by one boy spread and consumed the battlefield.

“…” Watching the scene, Najin slowly closed his eyes. His mind was hazy. He wanted to join their ranks, but he no longer had the strength. With the last of his strength, he glared at the far end of the battlefield. By chance, his gaze met the Carnival King’s.

No, it wasn’t by chance. The Carnival King had been watching him the entire time. The moment he looked at her, their eyes meeting was inevitable.

Their gazes crossed. Turbid eyes stained with all colors and platinum eyes shining brightly reflected each other—the ruler of the Outland with ten stars and the boy with four stars who had just set foot in the Outlands.

They instinctively realized that they could never coexist. They were natural enemies who couldn’t endure each other’s existence without killing the other.

‘I must…’ Though their backgrounds and beliefs were entirely different, the conclusion they reached was exactly the same. ‘I must kill them.’