WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 256

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Carpe Diem (6)

Demons are, by nature, immortal beings.

You cannot kill a demon by ordinary means. There are extraordinary methods, like pouring in starlight, holy power, or transcendent physical force, and those can kill demons, but even that stops working once a demon's rank rises high enough.

A demon that has gone beyond top rank and touched Transcendence.

Transcendents called Demon Kings.

Even mortal humans become immortal the moment they touch Transcendence. Then what happens if a demon, already immortal by nature, reaches Transcendence? A monster is born, one with horrifyingly powerful undying vitality.

To kill one, you have to shatter its concept, destroy its Imagery, cut its body to pieces, burn it, pour in starlight to block regeneration, and even that is not enough. You then have to drag it through a long war of attrition until the Demon King's rank itself drops.

Which means that to kill a Demon King, you first have to reduce it to something below a Demon King, back down to a demon.

And it means killing a Demon King while it still remains a Demon King is almost impossible.

That was why Demon Kings did not fear death.

「You.」

Demon Kings had no fear of death.

「All of you.」

At least, that had been true until one thousand years ago.

「Will die.」

The seven Demon Kings that ruled Outland a thousand years ago were all killed. Dozens of top-rank demons that followed them, and hundreds more beneath them, were all slaughtered.

Demons that were not supposed to die, died.

Demon Kings that should have been immortal were annihilated.

From that day, that moment, demons learned the fear of death. The word death was carved deep into their souls. They were no longer immortal beings, nor even undying ones.

「As long as I live.」

A single human turned them mortal.

「There will be no place for your kind to set foot on this land.」

Arthur, Slayer of Demons.

The being who held Excalibur and scattered platinum Sword Aura, slaughtering nearly ninety percent of all demons on this land. Fear of that being took root in the deepest part of every demon.

Even after a thousand years, that fact had not changed.

"...Ah?"

Carpe Diem's eyes shook.

She did not know Arthur. She had never seen him, and had never seen the platinum Sword Aura he supposedly created.

And yet Carpe Diem trembled.

Her pupils shook, her breathing broke, her fingertips quivered, and that trembling spread through her whole body.

"Ah, ahhh..."

Her soul, the fear carved into that soul, the fear felt by demons before her who must have known the concept called "scream," swallowed her mind whole. It was fear close to pure instinct.

Sword Aura glowing platinum.

Before that Sword Aura, a Demon King was reduced to a demon. Carpe Diem tried to deny that truth, but...

Pit.

The moment Najin's Sword Aura grazed her skin,

Carpe Diem felt terrible pain. Pain like her soul was burning. It had only lightly brushed her flesh, but she felt pain she had not felt in hundreds of years. The agony was so severe it numbed her reason.

".........!"

A ragged scream burst out. The demon that had collected human screams screamed herself. The dignity she had shown until now vanished, and Carpe Diem began stepping back.

"Ahhh, ahhhhhhh!"

Screaming, Carpe Diem swung her arm. Lightning crashed down and the ground shook. She was still a Transcendent, that had not changed, but...

She was no longer an immortal being.

She was only a lowly creature, terrified of death, too busy fleeing the death closing in on her.

2.

Carpe Diem's attitude changed.

The warrior who fought even death was gone, and a coward fleeing in terror stood there instead. Watching a Demon King scream and flail her arms as if begging death not to approach, the Transcendents narrowed their eyes.

Star Incarnation, Yuel Razian, Karan, Gerd.

They were those who had reached Transcendence in human bodies. Born mortal, then seizing immortality. It meant they had either overcome fear of death long ago, or had minds strong enough not to kneel before it even if they feared it.

"Ha."

To them, Carpe Diem looked pathetic beyond words.

The atmosphere among the Transcendents reversed.

Fighting a warrior charging in after accepting death was difficult, but dealing with a coward trying to run from death was easy.

First Star, Gerd's star shone.

Under eight stars, Gerd's sword cut off Carpe Diem's leg. She regenerated it at once and fled on all fours, crawling across the ground, but...

Star of Polar Night, Star Incarnation's star shone.

Six stars lit up, and a pillar of light pierced through Carpe Diem's back. Nailed to the ground, Carpe Diem coughed out breath. But that kind of attack could not kill her. What she feared was not things like that.

Carpe Diem screamed and swung her arm.

The sky blackened, and lightning swept through the area. The lightning spread in a widening circle and blocked pursuit.

The Star of Heavenly Slaughter and the Star of a Thousand Swords shone.

Two streams of Sword Aura split the lightning apart.

The Transcendents realized what Carpe Diem feared. They cut her legs, severed her arms, smashed her spine, blocked every attempt she made to resist, and opened a path.

"Ahh, ahhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhh!"

Carpe Diem's screams grew louder.

Please, please!

The demon ran from death. She ran and ran, threw away all dignity as a Demon King, and crawled with both arms across the floor. But death did not grow distant. In Carpe Diem's ears, the sound of footsteps kept ringing out, tap.

The footsteps came closer.

Death came closer.

...Death was always like that.

Terrifying and terrifying again, everyone tried to run from it, but no one could. Death always caught up.

Tap.

Carpe Diem turned around.

Death was standing there.

A sword holding platinum Sword Aura fell over her head like a guillotine.

If Carpe Diem had not turned her back and run.

If she had resisted while facing her fear of death.

She could have taken one, maybe two or more of the Transcendents gathered here down with her. She was a Constellation with that much power.

Maybe.

If the stage had not been shattered.

If the Imagery had not collapsed.

If the Praise Horn had still been alive.

If she had not dragged in the Carnival King's star.

If she had not wasted her strength at the very end.

If, if, if...

Maybe...

A different ending might have existed.

At her final moment, the demon regretted everything, just as humans do when death is right in front of them.

Thunk.

Carpe Diem's head fell.

3.

Headless, Carpe Diem sprayed her power in all directions. She thrashed around mindlessly, but the result of the battle did not change.

Carpe Diem had lost.

She was only like a fish still flopping after decapitation, pouring out every bit of power left in her body. The Transcendents left her alone. There was no need to engage her anymore.

Carpe Diem rampaged for a long time and turned the entire area into ruins. Her domain became ash, and even the remaining jesters were swept up in her lightning and burned down to a handful of ash.

After a long while like that.

Carpe Diem herself, after emptying all her power, also became ash and scattered. It was, by any measure, a shabby death.

"Huh."

Watching from a distance, Karan muttered,

"She had that much power and that was all she could do? That's surprising in a different way."

"If things had gone normally, this should have been much harder. Carpe Diem was a Demon King with eight stars, not an enemy we should have beaten this easily."

Yuel added,

"She reigned as a Demon King for five hundred years. She was that mighty a being, and Carpe Diem's undying vitality was so great that even by simple estimation, her heart would have had to be split dozens of times before it even started to fade."

Yuel was the Inquisitor General of the Starblood Sect.

As the Great Warrior of a sect that hunted demons, she knew demons deeply and could estimate their rank at a glance.

"A battle that should have taken three days was cut down to one hour. This is quite astonishing. Yes, even my patron deity expresses surprise. Najin."

Yuel glanced at Najin.

"Najin? I am very rational and objective."

"...Pardon?"

"The world may call me words like lunatic, psychopath, butcher, or murderer, but I define myself as a rational and reasonable person."

Karan and Star Incarnation, overhearing that, made very strange faces. Yuel ignored them and continued.

"So, based on rational thinking, I have one hypothesis."

Yuel's eyes narrowed.

"Are you the one who pulled Excalibur, Najin?"

The moment she asked that, the gaze of the Transcendents naturally turned to Najin. Karan, Star Incarnation, and Gerd all looked at him in silence.

At this point, not knowing would have been weirder.

Najin had begun standing out from the moment Excalibur was pulled, and in less than two years he had built achievement after achievement that broke common sense. Even so, until now it had remained only suspicion, but...

"Your Sword Aura."

Yuel pointed at Najin's sword.

"Your Sword Aura originally had white and gold separated. It resembled King Arthur's Sword Aura, but was not the same. The Sword Aura we just saw is different."

Sword Aura with white and gold mixed together.

Platinum Sword Aura.

In all human history, there had been users of white Sword Aura and gold Sword Aura, but there had only been one person with platinum Sword Aura.

"That is King Arthur's Sword Aura."

He rose to prominence at the same time Excalibur appeared.

He built impossible achievements.

At nineteen years old, he already had six stars.

And now he was a boy who even used King Arthur's Sword Aura.

"I can only conclude that you are the one who pulled it."

Najin said nothing.

He had drawn out platinum Sword Aura because he judged that otherwise allied damage would be severe. He had also judged that with the people gathered here, revealing it was acceptable.

Only six had witnessed the platinum Sword Aura.

Yuel, the Thorned Martyr, Gerd, Karan, Star Incarnation.

And.

The Carnival King, who would be watching this place.

"That..."

Najin was about to speak.

"No, that's not it."

Star Incarnation cut into the conversation. She looked at Yuel like she was hearing nonsense.

"I told you Excalibur was already seen near Eternal City. I said I saw it clearly with my own eyes."

"Could you have seen wrong?"

"Hey, I wasn't the only one who saw it. Do you not know what happened when the sky split open back then? There were over a hundred Constellations descended in that spot."

No way all one hundred Constellations were blind, Star Incarnation grumbled.

"It vanished inside Eternal City after that, but it was definitely there. The person holding Excalibur."

"Hmm."

Yuel rubbed her chin. She looked at Najin with doubtful eyes. In truth, Yuel was not the only one here thinking along those lines.

People who had once been designated candidates to pull Excalibur.

Gerd, Yuel, Karan.

All three had long suspected Najin. They just had not been certain. But the moment they saw platinum Sword Aura, their suspicion had moved very close to certainty.

Excalibur sighted near Eternal City.

That information alone stopped them from making a final conclusion.

"I had no intention of pressing you."

Yuel let out a long breath.

"I was only curious. Najin? If you are the one who pulled Excalibur, then I absolutely must duel you. I am very curious what sound Excalibur makes when struck."

Yuel shrugged like it did not matter either way. Karan reacted much the same.

"Can I swing Excalibur once too?"

"...Pardon?"

"I mean, well. You'll reveal it someday anyway, right? Could you lend it to me once then? I want to try one swing."

"..."

"I'm joking. We do not even know if you pulled it."

Karan laughed.

He said it was a joke, but it did not sound like one.

"..."

And Gerd.

He walked up to Najin in silence. Gerd did not ask if he had pulled Excalibur, or what that platinum Sword Aura was. He only patted Najin on the shoulder.

"The Empire owes you another great debt. Well done. Your contribution to this victory was enormous."

He looked around.

"Also, my thanks to the Starblood Sect, the Starbody Society, and the Order of the Sword for assisting in the subjugation. The Empire will not forget this favor. We will reward it generously."

After settling the situation, Gerd exhaled.

"There is much to discuss, but."

He spoke briefly.

"First, I need to ask this. How did you know to come here? You looked like you already knew the Praise Horn was a traitor."

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