Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble - Chapter 218

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

Chapter 218: To Sever What Must Be Severed (1)

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“This is impossible...!”

The voice of Ian, the master of Krono, trembled.

He was one of the finest swordsmen on the continent. Naturally, he had mastered the six concepts of Aura control to their limits.

Among them, Awakening of the Senses was the area Ian was most confident in.

Of course, he did not keep all five senses heightened at all times, but even his basic abilities far surpassed those of an ordinary person.

What was more, he had only recently received word from the Holy Kingdom that demons were on the rise. His vigilance was higher than usual.

And yet...

‘Something this steeped in evil appeared after deceiving my senses?’

A being powerful enough to shroud such a vast Lake in darkness was not a Demonoid. It had to be a demon.

Ian had never seen one in person, but his accumulated experience, age, and knowledge of history told him so with certainty.

What he could not understand was how he had failed to notice the appearance of such a powerful being until only minutes ago.

“...”

It should have been impossible.

Yet it had already happened.

Feeling sweat gather in his palms, Ian clenched and unclenched his fists before moving again.

First, he needed to approach the curtain of darkness and assess the situation.

‘There’s nothing wrong with my senses. Everything still feels clear.’

‘What trick did it use? I could understand if it were a Demonoid, but a demon, a being from another dimension, left its lair and pulled a trick like this... and I failed to see through it?’

‘I thought I would eventually cross swords with a demon, but I never imagined it would happen before Abilius had even made its request...’

‘Airen and the others couldn’t have been caught up in this, could they?’

Countless thoughts crossed his mind.

Naturally, the last one was the most overwhelming.

Who would have thought stepping away for a moment to collect himself would lead to this?

‘No. Stay calm. Nothing has been confirmed yet.’

Ian drew a breath. He repeatedly relaxed and tensed his muscles, bringing his body into its best condition, and made thorough preparations for Aura control.

In an instant, he regained the dignity of an absolute powerhouse and fixed his blazing gaze ahead.

The curtain hanging before him, no, the barrier.

Ian drew out the greatest power he could summon.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

An enormous amount of Aura flowed through his body and along his blade.

Streams of energy surged high into the sky, even higher than when he had faced Kun, before condensing into a two-meter blade.

An aura that seemed capable of splitting even a mountain flowed from Ian, the master of Krono.

There was no battle cry.

There was not even the sound of a blade cutting through the air.

As if he had cut through time itself, Ian brought down his sword at a speed no one could follow and looked toward the barrier of darkness.

A hollow groan escaped his lips.

“Ha...”

“We can’t do it.”

“...”

The Hall Master turned around.

Kiril Farreira and Lulu had appeared at some point and were approaching him.

Relief briefly crossed his face before it hardened again. He was glad the two were safe, but Airen was still nowhere to be seen.

He spoke.

“Explain the situation.”

“I can’t explain it clearly. Lulu and I have never seen anything like this before... Still, from what we can tell, it’s closer to Sorcery.”

“Sorcery?”

“Yes. A barrier born from my brother... a world of his own, where no one can enter and no one can break it.”

“...Is it the same as that Sorcery barrier from a few years ago?”

Ian asked with a grave expression.

Kiril shook her head and continued.

“It isn’t. As you can see... this barrier wasn’t made from Sorcery alone. There’s demonic aura, and an incredibly dense amount of it... I don’t know for sure, but perhaps ancient demons possessed this much... phew, this much power?”

“Calm yourself.”

Bwoooong.

Ian quickly stepped closer, took Kiril’s hand, and poured Aura into her.

The power of the Five Elements Divine Technique, Fire Aspect, which he had learned from the Durkali tribe in his youth, spread through her and drove away the fear rising within her.

“Thank you. Phew. Ah, don’t worry about the others at the Lake. We already moved them far away...”

“Good. You did well.”

“Anyway, to continue... it seems the demon slipped into my brother’s powerful desire and pulled some kind of trick. It’s a very strange space, difficult to call Sorcery, yet difficult to call a pact with a demon, too...”

“...”

“That is what Lulu and I believe this curtain is.”

“...You’re strangely calm. Ah, don’t misunderstand. I’m not mocking you. Not at all.”

Ian spoke with an awkward expression.

With everything happening so suddenly, he had voiced his thoughts too bluntly. He realized that might have hurt Kiril.

Perhaps she wanted to collapse and cry at any moment, forcing herself to hold it in.

Fortunately, Kiril truly was calm.

She shook her head and answered Ian.

“No, I don’t misunderstand.”

“That’s a relief. But how can you...?”

“My brother won’t lose to some demon.”

Kiril’s voice was firm.

They had not spent much time together compared to all the years they had lived, but she had seen and heard many times how her brother overcame hardship.

He had completely overcome his childhood trauma.

He had proudly stood before those who had looked down on him.

He had performed better than anyone in the Demonoid Subjugation Force.

He had driven away a terrifying, powerful demon she had only heard of in stories.

And that was not all. Recently, he had become so dependable that even she was surprised.

Remembering all of it, she smiled.

“My brother will come out. He’ll break the barrier with his own strength and walk out like nothing happened.”

“...”

“Of course, I’m not completely unworried, but...”

“Hmm.”

Ian let out a low sound.

He immediately understood what Kiril meant. She was worried about how long it would take Airen to break through the barrier.

Still, her expression was not entirely bleak.

As expected, she had something she trusted.

When the Hall Master looked at her, Kiril turned toward Lulu.

Fwoosh.

Lulu flew into the air and stared at the barrier of darkness.

It was true darkness, where nothing could be seen.

Yet the black cat’s eyes shone sharply, as if she could see straight through it.

“I can feel it.”

“...Don’t tell me you can see Airen?”

“No. I can’t see Airen. But I can feel something. More precisely...”

After pausing for a moment, Lulu continued.

“I can feel the energy from the necklace Airen is wearing, the Five-Spirit Amulet.”

“...”

“Strangely, whenever I think about that necklace, I feel like there’s no need to worry. That’s just how it feels.”

There was no basis for it. Anyone listening might have gotten angry and called it nonsense.

But Ian and Kiril did not argue with Lulu.

They simply believed. They simply waited.

Strong wishes filled the eyes of the three as they watched the darkness.

* * *

“...”

It was dark.

Airen, who had been meditating while standing, looked around. Then he looked up at the sky.

Everything was shrouded in darkness. There was no familiar starlight or moonlight pouring down.

Sensing something strange, he examined his surroundings with his heightened senses.

But he felt nothing.

His younger sister, who had been nearby only hours ago.

Lulu, who had climbed a tree behind him to groom herself after growing tired of splashing in the water.

Everyone else was gone as well.

Just as he realized something was terribly wrong, raindrops began falling from the sky.

Tap, patter.

Patterpatpatpat...

The light drizzle soon turned into a heavy downpour.

Airen lowered his gaze.

The Lake water was slowly rising toward him, as if there had been a flood.

‘I can’t stay here.’

His head spun for a moment.

Airen shook his head, turned, and ran.

He only wanted to get away from here, but no matter how long he ran, the darkness remained the same. The rain continued falling.

What was even more absurd was that despite covering such a great distance, he could not get farther from the Lake.

“...Fine.”

Airen summoned his Greatsword.

He slowly closed his eyes and focused his mind. Then he formed an image.

Something harder to cut than anything solid.

Harder than rock, steel, or a mountain itself.

The image of himself cutting water!

Airen snapped his eyes open and brought down his sword.

Kwoooooosh!

A golden Aura Sword burst forth and split the water’s surface.

Water sprayed upward faster than the eye could follow, then shattered as it met the rain. Its power was tremendous.

But that was all.

Having failed to cut the water, Airen sighed and raised his sword again.

“It’s fine. I just have to keep trying until it works.”

He remembered the past.

Airen had faced countless hardships, trials, and obstacles, but he had always endured them in the end.

He had refused to give up and ultimately achieved what he set out to do, becoming stronger each time.

This would be the same.

He would overcome it in the end.

If only he could realize the Water Sword.

If only he could master swordsmanship capable of cutting water.

Then he could escape this strange, unpleasant space filled with nothing but dampness.

Just as Airen Farreira was about to swing his sword again...

“Really? Can you, though?”

“...!”

A voice came from behind him.

Airen spun around in shock. Someone had approached this closely, and he had felt nothing.

His carelessness was part of it, but he suspected the rain and water soaking his feet were interfering with his senses.

Naturally, that suspicion turned toward the being that had revealed itself.

No, he did not need to think any further.

The moment he saw the figure, Airen ground his teeth and muttered.

“...Jester Demon.”

“Ha ha, how did you recognize me? I look very different from back then! Oh dear, was it because of this mask?”

The Jester Demon removed its mask and smiled.

Its face was horrifying. Flesh had been torn away, exposing bone in places, while blood and pus streamed from its wounds and soaked the ground.

They soon mixed with the water on the ground and spread quickly toward where Airen stood.

His expression hardening, Airen quickly put distance between them.

But he could not avoid it.

As he felt malice spread through the entire space in an instant and was about to speak...

“Hey, hey. Don’t look so upset. I came here to help you.”

“That’s...”

“Ah? You don’t believe me? That’s fine, because it’s a lie. But the result is the same. As you know, ordinary swordsmanship won’t be enough to escape this place. So...”

“...”

“...What you must cut. What you have to cut. You’ll need to become capable of cutting that... if you want to escape this sticky, damp, unpleasant place.”

“And if you can’t? You’ll die. What else can you do?”

Kihihihi!

Having finished speaking, the Jester Demon burst into loud laughter.

A wave of emotion surged from within Airen Farreira.

Bwoooooong!

Airen Farreira’s sword let out a long cry. Golden flames that burned away the darkness covered the blade.

It was the very sword that had made even the mighty Jester Demon tense.

No, it was not the same. Ignet Crescentia’s teachings had made it even stronger.

Slaaash!

Yet even such a powerful Aura Sword could not defeat the Jester Demon.

The demon shattered with a spray of water and sank beneath the surface.

A moment later, it emerged again in perfect condition.

It removed its mask once more, smiled, and shook its head.

“No. No, my friend. Sadly, you cannot kill me. At least not here. No matter how powerful the flames you wield, you cannot harm me. This is a place for a wager, made where your desire and my malice meet. It is not a place where one side can crush the other unilaterally.”

“A place for a wager?”

“Hey, you can feel it to some extent, can’t you? No matter how remarkable I am, I’m not powerful enough to drag someone like you here by force.”

“Then that means...”

“I want to kill you.”

The Jester Demon spoke.

Its mood had completely changed.

Its eyes gleamed, and it was armed with vicious malice as it continued.

“I don’t just want you dead. I want to savor you as you die painfully and miserably, unable to obtain what you want, for a long, long time, very slowly. So I placed my wager on you failing to obtain the swordsmanship you seek. As I said before, the price is your painful death.”

‘Is that it? Without realizing it, I placed my wager on the opposite side.’

Airen nodded.

Now he understood. Why he had entered this place. Why he could not harm the Jester Demon at all.

Because harming the demon had nothing to do with the wager.

To finish the demon off, he first needed to win this contest. He needed to fulfill his desire to cut water before he could talk about anything afterward.

Having reached that thought, Airen frowned.

‘It does seem a little unfair...’

If he won the wager, he could obtain The Sword That Cuts Water.

But to win the wager, he needed to awaken The Sword That Cuts Water.

What kind of nonsense was that?

“...”

Still, there was no other choice.

He did not like the situation at all, but he was the one who had come to this place for a wager in the end.

That could only mean his desire was that strong.

Airen nodded toward the clown.

“I understand.”

“Good! Then do your best, my friend!”