WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 490: A Stage for All (6)

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Najin's steps were not as light as usual.

They couldn't be.

What stood in his way now was different from every enemy he had faced before. They were neither wicked beings nor creatures like the Witch or demons.

The people blocking Najin's path were ordinary humans.

They were not obvious villains.

They were ordinary people.

The Witch had merely stirred their emotions. All they wanted was for today to remain peaceful. Najin had no intention of denying their feelings. For themselves, the people they loved, and their families' peace, people could become cruel without limit.

「Sacrifice yourself.」

「This can be resolved with your one life.」

「I'm sorry. But I have...」

「Please, sacrifice yourself.」

「We want to bet on the higher possibility rather than one with almost no chance. All lives are at stake. We have no other choice, do we?」

「Please stop.」

「I know we have no right to ask this of you, but please.」

「For humanity.」

「Choose sacrifice instead of challenge.」

Their voices and wishes lingered in Najin's ears.

He did not let their words go in one ear and out the other. He listened to every one of them.

At the very least, he believed he had to.

'I don't know what the superman the Witch speaks of truly is.'

One who advances without being shaken by anything. One who creates what has never existed before. Najin did not know exactly what kind of being that was. He did not fully understand the Witch's idea of a superman.

Still, he was certain of this much.

Could someone who refused to listen to anyone truly be called a superman? Could that be the ideal one should strive toward?

Najin did not think so.

The superman Najin imagined was not someone who walked his own path with his ears shut.

'Listen to what they have to say, and sometimes empathize with them...'

Respect their choices.

Respect their opinions.

'But even so.'

Do not change your decision.

Do not change your conviction.

Do what you believe is right.

"Is that so."

Najin looked at the people shouting at him. Seeing that he had listened, they began to hope. They nodded, pleading with him to understand and stop where he was.

"I have no intention of saying you're wrong."

But Najin could not grant their wish.

"I understand. I understand the situation you're in, why you have no choice but to do this, and why you want to choose the option with the higher chance right now. I understand all of it."

Najin took another step forward.

"Then I suppose there's nothing for it."

There would be no compromise. No middle ground.

Once neither side could yield, people eventually resorted to their final measure.

「Do you think we'll let you pass through here?」

「We will stop you.」

「If you won't sacrifice yourself, we'll put you in a position where you have no choice but to sacrifice yourself.」

「Are you planning to make the whole world your enemy?」

「Are you truly going to do this?」

Constellations, knights, and soldiers raised their weapons.

All humanity had become one and blocked Najin's path.

Watching them, Najin spoke briefly.

"Then try to stop me."

Thud.

"I'll break through."

Everyone raised their voices.

There was no way he could pass. Even if he died here, they would not step aside. He would die. They would tear the Stars from his corpse and offer them to the Witch, inflicting that humiliation upon him.

The agitated voices echoed all around him.

Listening to the crowd the Witch had incited, Najin shrugged.

'It feels like I'm the god of the end here.'

Najin lowered his sword.

"Then do so."

They could do as they pleased.

He would not kill them.

He would only smash their bones badly enough that they could not walk on their own two legs for the next few months.

2.

The road to the Abyss.

All humanity stood in its way.

Those who had once fought alongside Najin, countless Stars, soldiers, and knights were blocking him. The sight almost resembled Leviathan's army.

It truly was everyone.

The entire world stood in Najin's way.

And Najin intended to crash into that massive wall.

'One individual opposes the world.'

Mulling over that single sentence, Najin burst out laughing.

Well, if he meant to challenge the Witch, he should be prepared for at least this much.

The moment Najin took a step forward, the whole world turned white.

Circles spread across the sky.

The circles cast by countless Mages, along with their individual spells, filled the sky. Magic poured down like rain in flashes of light, each spell carrying the determination to stop Najin's advance even if it meant killing him.

And Najin...

"Hoo..."

He let out a long breath and lowered his stance.

Platinum particles crackled as they burst from Najin's body. He began releasing starlight.

Unity of Body and Sword. If the sword was himself,

then his body could become a single sword as well.

The falling droplets of magic touched Najin's body and evaporated with a sharp sizzle. His wide-open eyes turned platinum.

Just as the rain of spells was about to reach him, Najin moved.

It was like thunder striking.

The light came first. The light Najin scattered as he moved flashed ahead, and the sound followed a beat later.

Slice.

Something had been cut.

By the time the Mages heard that sound, it had already happened. A single straight line crossed the sky. The spells pouring furiously toward Najin froze for an instant.

Then, crack!

The scenery was cut away at an angle.

Every spell lost its focal point and exploded in midair. The thunderous blasts and flashes of light swept through the area. For one brief instant, the light blinded them and the explosions numbed their hearing until they could hear only a high-pitched ringing.

That instant was enough for Najin.

The distance vanished.

Several hundred meters disappeared in a moment. Najin landed in the middle of the formation where the Mages had gathered. They must have put up barriers to stop anyone from approaching, so how had he...?

Crash.

Only then did the sound of shattering glass ring out, and fragments of broken barriers scattered behind Najin.

He had broken through them with his bare body without even swinging his sword.

"Kh, huff..."

The Mage at the center of the formation, the Empire's Red Mage Tower Master, understood what had happened just as Najin's fist sank into his abdomen.

The air fled his lungs.

Even so, the Tower Master tried to respond at once.

Whirl, crack.

Najin kicked out his leg and broke it, then wrenched his arm out of its socket. When he tried to swing mana-filled fingers at Najin, Najin bent those fingers backward.

It all happened in an instant.

"Khk, cough, kh..."

The Tower Master's vision shook. The moment his consciousness began to fade, Najin kicked him away.

Crack.

Launched like a cannonball, the Tower Master slammed into the other Mages. Perhaps they could not bring themselves to cast a reflection spell or defensive spell against their own Tower Master flying at them. As the Mages hurriedly caught his body...

Boom.

Najin kicked off the ground.

His movements were impossibly fast. They had never expected him to close the distance this easily. Even the Transcendents gathered here could not properly follow Najin's movements.

Light flashed.

By the time their eyes moved to follow Najin, he was already gone. Beside them, a comrade with a twisted arm and every finger broken fell to the ground.

By the time they saw that, by the time they heard their comrade scream, it was already too late.

"Khk..."

It was already their turn.

In an instant, more than a hundred Mages collapsed.

The Mage Corps the Empire boasted of.

It took only a few seconds for the corps led by the Red Mage Tower Master to be wiped out. Najin dealt with an entire unit in a single breath.

By the time he drew his next breath, he was already kicking off the ground and running.

There were dozens more Mage Corps like this in the Empire.

Najin was one of the Empire's pillars himself, so he knew its military well. He knew how its units were organized and deployed.

As he recalled that knowledge and moved, Najin suddenly laughed.

"...Of course."

Right. You were here.

"Did you know I was coming?"

Najin looked at the figure standing like a massive wall before the Empire's soldiers, as though he had known Najin would come.

Whenever the Empire moved, there was one man who always moved with it.

The old man stood waiting for Najin with his sword raised.

Gerd Isabalt, First Horn of the Empire.

The old man said nothing. His eyes merely tracked Najin's movements at tremendous speed.

Even Gerd could not fully keep up with Najin's movements.

But Najin was not facing Gerd alone.

The entire Empire poured magic at him.

Artifacts created by the Platinum Tower Master shone. Countless Mages and alchemists threw all their power into slowing Najin down, affecting his movements by even the slightest amount.

And it was not only the Empire joining the fight.

Najin's enemy was all of humanity.

Countless Transcendents rushed toward him. Among them were people Najin knew.

No, there were many of them.

Very many.

'Kirchhoff.'

Kirchhoff had once been Najin's comrade and promised never to stand against him under any circumstances.

Now he was swinging his spear at Najin.

Blue petals bloomed everywhere. The flowering petals became blades and swept toward Najin.

'Anton.'

The man who had said he would gladly become Najin's rower was nowhere to be seen.

In his place stood a hunter with a cold blade, aiming for Najin's blind spot.

'Star Incarnation, Rena, Roselin...'

Najin closed his eyes as he watched those who had once been his comrades unleash their Absolute Techniques.

He steadied his breathing, then opened his eyes wide.

Slash!

Platinum Sword Aura cut through the blue petals. Najin smashed Anton's blade with his fist as it slipped through a gap in his movements.

Aurora fired by Star Incarnation came at him, and Najin let go of Excalibur and caught it with his bare hand.

Aurora was a massive mass of starlight.

Najin had plenty of experience wielding condensed starlight. Holding Aurora in his grip, he swung it like a sword.

It was something Siegfried had done, and now Najin could do anything Siegfried had done.

The Aurora he swung collided with Gerd's Sword Aura.

Light burst out like an explosion, and Najin took a step through it.

'I know.'

He struck Kirchhoff's body.

But Kirchhoff would not go down easily. As though fists and kicks could never bring him down, he urged Najin to kill him.

'I know.'

Even so, Najin had no intention of killing him.

He did not want to kill them.

Even if it took time, even if he was wounded himself, Najin bent and broke their limbs until they could no longer stand.

Yet Kirchhoff rose again.

It was not only Kirchhoff.

As though they could not be stopped unless Najin killed them, they rose with desperate determination.

Just as they had when they fought humanity's enemies alongside Najin.

Imperial Sword.

Najin's head snapped around.

Triumph.

Najin's eyes narrowed at the Sword Aura falling like a guillotine. He had not expected to face this again.

Just as Najin swung his sword to deflect the Sword of Triumph, something caught his senses.

Whoosh.

A sword slipped in and swung at him.

That sword was sharp.

Sharper and keener than the sword of any Transcendent here.

It was Karon.

Karon gripped Gramr and rushed at Najin. Najin could not immediately cast Karon off, and the moment Karon held him down, every Constellation rushed in without missing the opening.

Even if he shattered Imperial Sword, another Absolute Technique followed.

They grabbed at Najin by any means necessary, as though they would gladly offer up their lives.

To them, Najin was now a being bringing about the world's destruction, no different from the Witch of the Abyss.

Then they had to stop him somehow.

Like heroes, they clung to Najin.

Even with broken arms and legs, they bit at him with their teeth.

"......"

Najin was strong.

No one among present-day humanity could catch up to him. Even looking back a thousand years, only Siegfried, Arthur, and Merlin could have faced the Najin of today.

Not even they could be certain of victory against him.

If Najin wished, he could cut down everything blocking his way like the Sword Demon.

Even now, he could see it.

He could see the path that would take Karon's head, the opening that would let him sever Gerd's arm, then drive in and pierce his heart.

Countless sword paths lay before him.

If he wanted to kill them, he could kill them all. He could choose the easy path. He could cut away every hand trying to hold him back and keep moving.

Najin was strong enough to do that.

But because he was strong enough...

Najin did not choose the easy path.

Even if he had to take a detour, even if he had to bleed more, Najin moved to reach an ending he could accept.

"You're trying to stab me with the sword I gave you? If this was how it would be, I shouldn't have given it to you. What a teacher without a shred of conscience."

Smiling bitterly, Najin rushed at Karon.

Instead of taking Karon's head, he grabbed Karon's wrist. He took Gramr from Karon and broke Karon's arm.

"Azure Hydrangea. It's good. It really is."

Najin swung the Lance of Crossed Star at Kirchhoff's spear. The shaft drew a curve similar to Kirchhoff's, but far more graceful, and tore apart the blue petals.

"But I'm better at using it."

Kirchhoff was not the only one who had learned an Absolute Technique from Blue Spear.

Najin had as well.

Instead of piercing Kirchhoff's heart, Najin pierced his arm and sent his spear flying.

That was how Najin fought them.

Blood flowed.

He had chosen the hard path over the easy one, so naturally it was not easy. He cut down most of the magic pouring toward him, but one or two spells struck his body through openings the Constellations made at the risk of their lives.

The ground burst apart.

The sky was stained with magic of every color.

Just as they had against Leviathan, countless Constellations charged down at Najin.

Najin faced the Transcendents raining down like a meteor shower all by himself.

Blood flowed.

Even so, Najin did not change his method.

He wavered. He hesitated. At times, he even felt the urge to cut off the heads of those who had never shared anything with him.

Najin was human too.

He could not be completely free of the Witch's provocation.

Even so, he resisted.

He wavered. He regretted. He hesitated.

But he would not change his choice.

'Have confidence in yourself.'

Do what you believe is right.

'Only that can be the answer.'

It was hard. It was painful. Trials came for him.

Amid hardships that struck without pause, Najin chose to smile.

As the Star of Jovial Discourse shone, Najin let out a breath.

"If there are no stars in the sky."

Najin's inner world expanded.

"If that sky is false."

After much thought, he gave his answer.

Even through countless hardships, that answer did not change. Like iron that became sturdier the more it was forged, his inner world did the same.

People grew by asking themselves questions and answering them.

"Nothing has changed since the beginning."

Najin recalled his origin.

The Underground City, Artman.

That starting point was Najin's inner world itself.

His expanding inner world soon spread beyond Najin and into his surroundings. The scenery changed. The wilderness leading to the Abyss was soon covered by the dim light of the Underground City.

This was Najin's stage.

Najin overlaid the stage the Witch had created with one of his own.

Footnotes:

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