WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 119: A Favor

──────

One great diagonal slash.

Baal was a greatsword. Shaped like a butcher's cleaver, its blade alone was as large as a full-grown adult. Swinging Baal in such a wide arc meant exactly what it sounded like.

It had split the body in two.

Most beings died when their bodies were cut in half, but the thing Kyle had just cut was not most beings. Baal possessed the authority of annihilation, and Kyle had put everything he had into that strike, but still.

Better to be certain.

Kyle raised Baal, which he had slashed straight down with, and cut across.

Riiip!

A chilling sound, a satisfying sensation in his hands. Baal cleanly severed the demon's neck. Its severed head spun up into the air.

"Huff."

Kyle let out the breath he had been holding and stepped back. The flower that had been chewing on his left foot opened its mouth weakly and released him.

When he glanced down, his left ankle was nearly severed, blood pouring from it.

'Is this going to leave me limping?'

Medicine was advanced these days, so it would probably be fine.

As Kyle steadied his breathing, the poisonous energy that had filled the space began to fade. The mana was disappearing as well.

"Uh..."

A voice slipped from the demon's head lying on the floor. Even with its neck severed, it had not died immediately. Its eyes were wide open.

"Wow."

Kyle spoke in genuine surprise.

"You're tough. You're still alive?"

It was only a matter of time. The demon's will was rapidly fading away. Kyle gave a hollow laugh and looked around.

Crack...!

Every flower and tree the demon had grown was withering and shriveling away. The demon's body, split in two with its head cut off, was doing the same.

"You... You dare...!"

The demon's head rasped. Its eyes bulged as its twisted face glared at Kyle.

"I, I barely... barely returned, and this is how I die? I... to the likes of you?"

"Death is always sudden and unexpected."

Having died once before, Kyle answered with a calm face.

"Who dies because they want to? It just happens in an instant."

"How dare you...!"

"You look like you won't be talking much longer, so answer my question before you go. Hey, what the hell is a Turning Point?"

It was time to consider the question he had put aside earlier.

"You said I'm full of sin. What sin did I commit?"

"Heh... Heh heh, heh heh heh!"

The demon laughed.

"You are full of sin, so very full of it...! You brought me back. Not just me, you! Because you have been observed, the world will change. Ascension, the Ascendants are returning!"

The demon glared at Kyle with bulging eyes. Its gaze was full of hatred, but also mockery.

"Those who have already returned, and those who will return! All of them will covet you! You, you! In life, you will become a puppet. In death, you will become nourishment!"

"Hm. I have no idea what kind of bullshit you're talking about."

Kyle nodded as he muttered. At that, the demon rolled its eyes back and laughed.

"Do not understand. Fear it, fear it! You sinful, pitiful wretch. You, you... Ah, ahh... Aaaaaah...!"

The demon's mocking words turned into a scream. Despite having only a head left, it somehow writhed around and shrieked.

"N-no! Don't come, don't come for me! Do not come for me! Let me die like this..."

The space behind the screaming demon's head warped, and a rift opened.

Kyle flinched without realizing it.

Darkness flowed from the rift and seized the demon's head.

"You, you! Kill me, kill me! With that sword! Cut through my brain, right now!"

The demon screamed, vomiting blood. Its cry was so desperate that Kyle briefly considered swinging Baal once more.

But only considered it.

Kyle lowered Baal and answered.

"No."

"Ah... Aaaaah...! N-no, I don't want to go back..."

Swoosh!

The darkness swallowed the demon's head and returned through the rift. Then the rift slowly began to close.

::Cute::

::Beloved::

::Child::

::Come::

::Here::

A will that leaked from the rift engraved itself into Kyle's mind. It was a will without any discernible gender, but the emotion contained within it was clear.

Affection.

The Angel he had encountered in the Secret Realm on Beltua Island. The emotion in that grotesque eye, directed toward small and cute things.

That same emotion existed in the will now pressing into his mind.

'It isn't an Angel.'

Perhaps because his mind had opened.

He could tell instinctively. Though the emotion conveyed by that will was the same as the Angel's, the being sending it was not an Angel. It was vastly greater and higher than the Angel, an apostle of a sky god. A being of a wholly different rank.

This was a space influenced by the Black Cube, filled with the mana of dark magic.

And dark magic was the manifestation of power borrowed from outer gods.

The thing that had emerged from the Black Cube.

The returned Ascendant known as the Flower Immortal, who called himself a demon.

[If you die, you will be plucked from the cycle of reincarnation and enter the mouth of a sky god. If you ascend, you are fated to enter the mouth of an outer god along the way. I find that pitiful.]

The words Demon King Astaros had spoken circled through Kyle's mind. Other than Ruin Alastor, who had supposedly achieved complete Ascension, every Ascendant was devoured by an outer god during their Ascension.

That rift had swallowed the demon again.

There was only one thing that could mean.

"An outer god..."

Kyle muttered under his breath.

Was it his imagination? The rift seemed to smile brightly.

::Come::

::Here::

It even felt as though it were beckoning to him. The emotion radiating from that will was surely affection, but people all showed affection differently. Someone might pet and hug what they loved, but someone with a broken nature might think tormenting, destroying, or eating what they loved was affection.

He had not the slightest desire to go closer just because it called him.

Kyle took a step back and spoke.

"No."

Perhaps the answer had been unexpected. Confusion came from the rift. It did not merely feel that way. As the slowly closing rift released something like a sorrowful sigh, its will reached him once more.

::Next::

::Time::

The rift closed completely.

Gurgle...!

The mana lingering in the space began to evaporate rapidly. The laboratory made of flesh rippled, while the dried trees and flower petals crumbled into ash and vanished.

Kyle steadied his breathing and checked his condition.

There was not a single part of him that was unharmed. His head spun and throbbed, while his eyes ached as if they might burst. Every breath made the organs inside him scream. The symptoms of poisoning had vanished along with the demon, but his condition was terrible regardless.

"Hoo..."

Still, he had not died.

He had survived.

Kyle smiled at that fact. Too many things about this felt suspicious, but he was relieved that he had not died today.

Thud. Thud.

Two things fell to the ground.

When he turned his head, the Black Cube, now a cloudy gray, was lying on the floor.

Near it, Orban lay wrapped like a mummy in the Holy Shroud and black feathers.

Kyle gave a hollow laugh and dragged his left foot along.

"I forgot about him."

He had been so focused on fighting the demon that he had not thought about Orban. Even though the battle had been fierce, not a single mark could be seen on the Holy Shroud or the black feathers wrapped around him.

'What are those things made of?'

The remnants of Ascension.

That was what the demon had called Orban in that state. It had also said the same thing about the artificial Boundary Realm created by the Crows.

'The strange power Helenas mentioned, neither swordsmanship nor magic. Are those the remnants of Ascension...?'

Kyle stopped in front of Orban and thought for a moment.

No matter how it had happened, the dangerous situation was over. The demon was dead, no, it had returned to the belly of an outer god. The Black Cube had lost its power as well.

Yet Orban showed no sign of waking up. He probably needed to remove the Holy Shroud and feathers wrapped around him first, but how was he supposed to do that?

Kyle slowly raised Baal.

"Wait."

Just as he was about to bring Baal down.

The black feathers swelled, and a man wearing a crow-beaked mask appeared. Standing over Orban, the man raised a hand to stop Kyle.

"If you take him to the Central Branch headquarters, he'll wake up on his own."

"Who are you?"

Kyle did not lower Baal from above his head. He asked first.

"Garcia Rubalt."

"Duke Oun."

He was not particularly surprised.

This was not someone surprising enough to make him react. A crow-beaked mask, a black-feathered cloak draped over his shoulders. Duke Oun looked so unmistakably like Duke Oun that anyone would have recognized him.

"Have you been watching?"

"To some extent."

"Why did you only watch?"

"Because watching was all I could do."

Duke Oun answered in a smooth voice.

"As you know, I am in the very distant western dark frontier."

"What if we had all died?"

"I would have been saddened."

"Is that all?"

"I would have mourned you too."

Duke Oun shrugged.

"What else could I have done? Just as the Thunder Emperor would have lost a grandson he cherished, I would have lost a son I cherished. Had you died, I would have shed tears beside the Thunder Emperor."

"You must value your son greatly."

"To tell the truth, I would not have been sad if Orban died. I would not have shed tears either. I would have had a drink and gotten over it. I am only telling you my honest feelings because you survived today."

Duke Oun added with a snicker.

"Keep it a secret from Orban. It is not the sort of honesty a son should know."

"Couldn't you have intervened?"

"If I could have, I would have. I did not refrain because I chose to. I refrained because I could not."

"What exactly happened here?"

"Did you not roughly figure it out yourself? An outer god spat out something that had been in its stomach. No, spat out is not quite right. Perhaps it would be better to say the outer god had its mouth open, and something from its stomach crawled its way out..."

Bleurgh.

Duke Oun made a retching sound and shuddered.

"It was not that the outer god wanted to do it. Something enchanted it, and while it stood there with its mouth hanging open without even realizing it, this happened. Remarkable. You enchanted an outer god that thoroughly."

"Did you know this would happen?"

"Not at all! How could I have known something like this would happen? I am quite startled myself. This is the first time a Black Cube has been discovered. I never imagined that cube was an object capable of summoning an Ascendant."

Duke Oun laughed heartily.

"Still, you got lucky with Hua Zhongxian Mak-i. He was an Easterner who ascended four hundred years ago. At the time, he was considered the lowest of the Ten Masters in the East... You could call him low-grade even among Ascendants."

"Low-grade?"

"It means his caliber is low."

Kyle laughed without meaning to.

"No wonder he was weak."

"Naturally. He was only someone who walked the path your Founding Ancestor paved when he achieved complete Ascension. He was not even in perfect condition, which was why you could defeat him. You were lucky in many ways."

As he said that, Duke Oun watched Kyle with smiling eyes.

"Of course, that does not diminish your accomplishment. Imperfect or not, you defeated someone who had reached Ascension."

"Imperfect..."

"Every Ascendant besides your Founding Ancestor is imperfect. The great Sword Saint, Ruin Alastor. His achievement deserves praise."

Duke Oun lifted both arms and raised his voice as though he were deeply honored.

"Why is that? The Ascendants before him failed, and the Ascendants after him are imperfect. Do you think people avoid Ascension because they do not know how? They do not attempt it because they know they will end up like that."

Kyle's eyes flashed.

"Can you ascend as well, Duke Oun?"

"That is human sacrifice disguised as Ascension. The offering is myself."

"What does it mean that the Ascendants before my Founding Ancestor failed?"

"They could not even set foot on the path of Ascension. They climbed toward the sky, then fell back down. That was their ruin. They became something neither angel nor demon, wandering the Nine Heavens. Have you heard nothing, despite being part of the Alastor bloodline?"

"Whenever I ask something, people tell me they'll answer after I reach the Boundary Realm."

"Hm, I can understand that. Alastor is a family that bears an especially great burden."

Duke Oun chuckled, waving his raised hand.

"Should someone outside Alastor be saying these things? Well, it does not matter. I am not the one taking responsibility, and you have reached the Boundary Realm now. You can tell just by looking at its towering majesty, but the Sword Tower is close to the boundary of the sky. Unless one can protect their own mind, too much knowledge becomes a curse and corrupts it."

The hand that had been swaying like a dance lowered and gripped Duke Oun's head.

"Now that you have reached the Boundary Realm, you will bear the duty of Alastor's blood as well. Standing at the boundary and protecting the boundary. The duty of Alastor, protectors of the northern end."

"Why does only our family bear that duty?"

"Because you are the descendants of the one who pierced the sky. Your Founding Ancestor benefited the world, but it was not only benefits that were added to it. Breaking through the world's ceiling means setting a new high point for the world. It also means letting the things beyond it peer into this world."

Kyle narrowed his eyes as he listened to Duke Oun.

What Duke Oun was telling him was a truth Kyle had only guessed at until now, one he had never heard stated clearly. That made it all the more strange.

"Duke Oun. How do you know these things? You are not an Alastor."

"In a sense, I also stand at a boundary. The dark frontier is a goddamn miserable place. If you develop that place long enough, you learn things you would rather not know."

Duke Oun let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

"To be honest, I am tied up in it too. I have poured too much money and resources into it to pull out now. Had I known it would be like this, I would not have started such a venture in my generation."

"There is a saying that it is never too late to start."

"Hahaha! I think so too, but I am in no position to withdraw even if I want to. This land will not let me go."

Duke Oun laughed, but his laughter sounded more mournful than joyful.

The land would not let him go.

It seemed Duke Oun had remained at the dark frontier for decades for reasons beyond his determination to develop that land.

"You are unexpectedly willing to answer my questions."

"I have always been somewhat talkative, and aren't you someone worth treating kindly?"

"Is it because of Fenris?"

"That is part of it, but did the demon not say it? You are a sinful Turning Point. I do not fully understand what that means either... But Turning Point likely means that the world may change because of you."

The laughter vanished from his voice.

"So, Sir Kyle, grant me a favor."

"A favor?"

"Save me."

Thud.

Duke Oun dropped to his knees.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried