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Side Story Chapter 44

Coal’s mouth yawned cavernously creating a black hole in the air. The Red Turtler Knights froze.

“Wh-What is this?”

“I just felt goosebumps…”

“Hup!”

The first knight that responded was the one whose face had been dented earlier, perhaps because he had used a lot of his power to recover. He opened his mouth and let out a horrible scream.

“Ahhh…. Arggghhhh!” A cloud of black smoke rose up from the knight’s head—but that was just the beginning.

“Urgh!”

“I fe-feel like my head is going to explod—!”

“What… is this…?!”

Just as Kireua expected, the black smoke was demonic power. Given the sheer size of the continent, there must have been someone who had acquired an authority related to the Demon Realm. Many of the knights in the Hubalt Empire had manifested authorities from the Angel Realm.

However, no one with an authority related to the Demon Realm had shown themselves to the world because of one reason: in every era, anything or anyone that was related to demons or demonic power was treated as a fugitive by the entire continent. With the recent history of Avalon, the tendency only got stronger in the current generation.

The most and second-most powerful people of the Empire had lost their souls and were almost robbed of their minds. If that hadn’t been for the hero named Joshua Sanders, the current Avalon Empire may have been called the Empire of Demons now.

The very idea made Kireua clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug into his flesh.

No, that was because of the scene unfolding in front of him. Coal kept on swallowing the black demonic power coming from the Red Turtler Knights.

‘Coveting the Demon Spirit and feeding on demonic power… Coal must be related to the Demon Realm.’

Judging from Coal’s abilities, there was a high possibility that Coal was one of the highest-ranking beings of the Demon Realm. Like the Seven Demon Kings, who were known for their combat power…

-I’m full!

Coal’s feast finally came to an end. The black bundle, now as big as a house, bounced up and down, licking its lip.

“What are you all doing? You guys suddenly stopped moving.”

However, there was one person whose mind was sound—that was the captain of the Red Turtler Knights. Aside from him, every knight was blankly staring into the middle distance as if their souls had exited their bodies.

‘Demonic power and mana are polar opposites of each other. Since their mana halls are contaminated, these people need demonic power to survive, but Coal ate all their sources of life…’

Kireua broke away from his thoughts and dropped from the ceiling.

“Who are you?” the captain demanded.

Kireua came to a decision. These people weren’t humans anymore, so he needed to exterminate them before they went out to the world and run amok.

“Identify yourself!” the captain insisted.

“The person you guys were looking for.”

TThe captain\'s eyes widened. “The Se-Second Prince…?”

“I answered your question, so I hope you can answer mine.”

“What…”

“Did the western rebel army ally with a demon?” Kireua asked.

It was said that silence was as good as yes; in this situation, that was good enough for Kireua.

“You crazy bastards,” he muttered. “You sold your subordinates’ souls for power?”

“…Keep your fantasy to yourself, Kireua Sanders.”

“Judging from your state alone, I can tell that none of the higher-ups have escaped the effects of demonic power.”

“Stop your nonsense!” the captain shouted. He threw himself at Kireua.

Kireua regarded him coldly. This was a problem—if the rest of the continent found out about this incident, they would point fingers. Avalon would really become known as the Empire of Demons.

The captain’s sword clashed against Kireua’s, scattering fragments of aura everywhere. Living up to his title as the Red Turtler Knights’ captain, he was as physically strong as a Class A knight—but he was definitely weaker than Lacoon had been when he fought Kireua earlier.

“Hup!” the captain gasped in surprise when Kireua deflected his attack away with a powerful parry. He staggered backward, numbness radiating off of his fingertips.

“Up until now, I gave most of my enemies a second chance because they’re all citizens of the Avalon Empire,” Kireua quietly said. “But there is a line you shouldn’t cross, and you and the other rebels in the west are well past it.”

Kireua’s face darkened. His aura intensified. Right now, he didn’t need to seek help from Coal, who was burping in the corner.

“…You’re just a cat born from a tiger by mistake, not a tiger. Do you really think you’re the same as your father? Don’t be cocky!” the captain howled.

The captain’s sword hummed with a strength that eclipsed anything he had shown before. He was pouring all his mana into the sword right now. He instinctively knew that the current situation was related to Kireua.

The knight catapulted forward, the ground exploding under his feet and leaving the floor in ruins behind him. He moved like one with his sword—in fact, he was so fast that it looked like there were two of him now.

Kireua’s countermeasure was truly simple. He used the fuller of his sword to deflect the captain’s attack away from him with a little ding. Timing, distance, accuracy… if Kireua had made a mistake in any of those areas, he would have been immediately eviscerated, but he pulled it off with ease.

He didn’t stop there; using the momentum after the collision in his sword’s fuller, Kireua rotated into a slash.

“Urgghhh…!” Blood bubbled out of the captain’s mouth.

“An ordinary Class A knight is no match for me now,” Kireua quietly noted.

The captain’s headless corpse fell to the floor a beat later.

Kireua took a look around and saw that the Red Turtler Knights were in the same state as before. Their eyes were blank, and their mouths were wide open and drooling; they were definitely not in a normal condition.

The creature that had done such fearsome work was stroking its belly with its newly created hands.

-Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!

“…You…” Kireua mumbled.

-Kireua, I think I got stronger!

The more powerful Coal became, the stronger Kireua became. However, he didn’t feel great about it at all. Even one of the highest-ranking demons couldn’t indiscriminately absorb another demon’s demonic power like that, which meant that, based on the information Kireua had been gathering, there was a high possibility that Coal’s ability was related to the Seven Deadly Sins— particularly gluttony or greed.

‘If Coal’s ability is really from one of the Seven Deadly Sins, then I should cut ties with Coal right now,’ Kireua thought.

He had heard about the stories of the previous emperor and the Dark God’s deaths a thousand times. Their greed and their lust for revenge had ended in the annihilation of their souls. Of course, the demon they had signed a contract with was the Demon Spirit, but it didn’t look like a power of sin—the demon kings’ power—was going to bring about a different result.

“Argh… Ahhhhhhh!”

Just then, one of the knights suddenly screamed, his bloodshot eyes bulging.

Kireua\'s eyes widened.

The nearby knights also went berserk, one after another, as if his scream was a trigger.

“Urrrghhhhh!”

“M-My head…! My head is going to explo— Arggghhhh!”

Kireua had no time to hesitate anymore.

“I’ll have to take care of this area first.”

The outside was too quiet even though the lobby was full of soldiers. If they had scattered to search the nearby area, then they would find out what happened here. Kireua had to come to a decision, soon.

“…I have no other choice,” Kireua mumbled, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

* * *

“Inside the castle! Go, quickly!

One thousand Black Turtle Knights had just returned from the foot of the mountain to the castle. The bell at the top of the castle was still ringing loudly. The knights were furious at the idea that they might have been fooled.

“Hup! Why are the knights here…?”

However, the Black Turtle Knights were forced to a halt because they ran into the soldiers coming out from the castle’s main gate. The soldiers had extended their search to the outside when they hadn’t been able to find anything suspicious on the inside.

“Si-Sir Lacoon is over here, but he’s unconscious!”

The air abruptly changed. Although the soldiers hadn’t intended it, the path was blocked. The Black Turtler Knights gritted their teeth.

“Those idiots! We don’t have time! Get out of our way!”

“T-To where…?”

“Gahhh! Listen, Black Turtle Knights! Kill everyone in your way!”

“Hup!”

Despite how shocking the order was, the knights followed it dutifully.

“Arggghh!”

“Do-Don’t kill—!”

“G-Go back! The enemy is still in the castle!”

The terrified soldiers turned around in panic.

It was pandemonium. The knights forced their way in while the soldiers hurriedly retraced their steps. When the Black Turtle Knights entered the castle completely, they quickly got into formation.

“Wait, where are the Red Turtler Knights?” the vice-captain of the Black Turtle Knights asked.

“Come to think of it, we haven’t seen any of them!”

“…The central chamber,” the vice-captain murmured.

“Pardon?”

“Split into two groups! One will go to the central chamber and the rest of you will head to the inner keep where Lord Turtler is! Quick!” the vice-captain commanded. He headed to the central chamber, which was closer.

But when he got there, he went still as a statue. “Wh-what is this…?”

A shocking sight awaited him inside the chamber.

“A-All their hearts have been pierced.”

Despite the fact that there had been two hundred Red Turtler Knights in here, there was not a single survivor inside the chamber. The vice-captain’s lip trembled while he examined their corpses because only their hearts had been pierced—there were no other wounds on them. Yet, that wasn’t even the most shocking thing.

The vice-captain gaped at them. “That’s… impossible.”

Judging from the traces on the corpses, it seemed that there was only one invader, but he had single handedly killed the western rebel army’s hidden ace. If something also happened to their commanders…

“…One person will be the end of us all,” the vice-captain murmured. He had to stop that from happening no matter what.