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Side Story Chapter 75

“Your Majesty, why in the world did you follow me to such a dangerous place?” Cain asked in a hushed voice.

“My son is in danger, so what parent wouldn’t come?”

“Pardon? Does that mean—?”

“Kiruea is being tested by two different Evil Sins’ powers, just like Emperor Marcus and my father were by the Demon Spirit in the past,” Joshua said.

Cain’s eyes widened. The Demon Spirit, Evil Sins’ powers, tests… not a single word could be taken lightly.

“A-Are you serious?” Cain stammered.

“I don’t lie.”

“But why are you so composed? You know how the people who lost their bodies to the Demon Spirit ended up—!”

Joshua shrugged. “That isn’t the Demon Spirit.”

“But the Evil Sins’ powers are the Demon Kings, and they’re the strongest demons after the Demon Spirit!”

“It’s okay. Unlike before, I’m here from the start,” Joshua said.

Cain closed his mouth. It definitely was different than before since Joshua couldn’t withstand one all-out attack from Cain in his current state.

“…Alright, but stand back. Don’t even think about getting caught up on your pride.”

“Sure.” Joshua stepped away so readily that Cain gaped at him for a moment.

‘He’s so unpredictable,’ Cain thought as he fixed his grip on his sword.

Cain’s golden aura undulated around him. He was known as the Combat Emperor Star by the people of Igrant, so his enemy wasn’t the only one who was the second strongest after a god.

“I’ll do my best to exterminate this evil, but if His Highness gets injured in the process, I’ll leave that matter in your hands.”

“Don’t worry.” Joshua gestured at Cain. “Just do your best like you said.”

“…I will.”

Cain didn’t hesitate any longer. The greatsword he held upright turned black. Although many people had forgotten it, Cain had once been taught by the greatest swordsman of the Avalon Empire: the Dark God. Despite the turmoil the Dark God had caused in the past, he had been an undeniably great martial artist. His name was Aden von Agnus, Joshua’s biological father.

-How dare you…

“That voice… you’re definitely not His Highness.”

-Die in my demonic flames.

Cain\'s eyes widened.

The demon stirred up fire quite literally straight out of the Demon Realm itself. Pillars of black flame shot out of the ground in an arc around Cain and charged toward him.

On his part, Cain ignored the five pillars of fire flying toward him and sprang toward Kireua as fast as lighting.

Cain inhaled sharply and launched a black aura attack in the same moment, forcing Kireua to brandish his burning black blade to counter it.

The two attacks slammed into each other.

“Mmm…” Cain groaned, the rebound numbing his fingertips. A human couldn’t attack with a force like this. Cain felt like he was pushing against a gigantic boulder.

Sparks flew menacingly from the nearby black flames, threatening Cain and soaking him in sweat in seconds. Cain’s skin stung due to the extreme temperature. Kireua was also in the vicinity of the fire; he should also have been affected by the ebon flame, but he just grinned as if that was nothing.

-No human can endure this flame.

“What happened to His Highness?” Cain asked.

-Can you afford to worry about another person like this?

“What?”

-It looks like you’ll die any minute, human.

Kireua’s cruel smile deepened.

A sudden flurry of activity grabbed Cain’s attention. The five pillars of fire that were coming after Cain were rising to the sky. The ends of the fire pillars met at the top, trapping Cain like a cage.

-It’s called the Demon King’s Cage.

“You put a pretty fancy name on your technique, demon,” Cain said sarcastically.

-Don’t you humans do that often?

“…Well, I can’t deny that.” Cain shrugged.

-Keep in mind that this cage will become narrower over time.

“Then let this old man show you some similar stuff.”

The situation wasn’t looking too good for Cain, but he was still relaxed.

-Why would a boy like you pretend to be an old man? Tsk.

Kireua slowly raised his sword. To Cain’s astonishment, ebon flames dripped off of the five fire pillars and gathered at the tip of Kireua’s sword.

-Die.

When Kireua swung his sword, his fire flew through the air. Cain was already prepared and swung his sword in reply, sending a powerful aura attack of his own.

The two auras attack collided, showering their surroundings with sparks and fragments of aura. Nevertheless, Cain didn’t pause to consider the results and dove straight into the storm of fire. Although he wrapped himself in his aura, his skin stung, and every instinct screamed at him to not approach. Nevertheless, Cain went deeper into the storm.

At that moment, Cain became one with his sword, the level that only advanced A-Class swordsmen could even begin to try. Was he a sword or a human? It was impossible to distinguish with the naked eye.

The only sound in the world then was a mighty hum that shook the sky. The sword became the man, and the man became the sword, finally reaching perfect unity between Cain and his sword. The embodied sword was with a black fang now.

‘Embodied Sword Dark Moon Slash,’ Cain mumbled.

As the sword itself, Cain leaped high into the air and flew down to Kireua as a crescent-shaped aura attack to slash the enemy.

-…How remarkable.

The person in Kireua was genuinely surprised. He had lived for eons, but he had never run into a swordsman like Cain. Throughout the vast Demon Realm, many demons used the sword as their primary weapon, but their mastery was incomparable to a mere human’s. Humans lived for one hundred years at maximum; in contrast to them, demons lived for eternity, as long as they weren’t annihilated. However, the human in front of him demonstrated sword skills that were just as good as any demon’s.

An explosion wracked the area that made everything that came before look like firecrackers. The nearby pillars of fire visibly dimmed because most of the fire gathered around Kireua’s sword. The ground heaved from an earthquake, and thunder cracked through the sky when their two darknesses collided, followed by a mighty boom that shook the earth itself. The attacks that the combatants threw out clashed as if they were trying to devour each other.

Surprisingly, Kireua gave first. A spiderweb of cracks began to spread across his blade until it finally exploded in his hands.

-No…!

“Give us back His Highness!”

A look of panic appeared on Kireua’s face for the first time as his medium for his ebon flame was gone. With that barrier eliminated, Cain swung his sword like a tsunami as if he was trying to slay the space itself, not merely Kireua.

-…I have no other choice.

Cain flinched just as he was about to put an end to the fight.

-I’m not used to this body yet, so although it’s a shame, I have no other choice but to discard it.

‘D-Discard?’

-Are you sure about this? Once I pull myself out of this body, it’ll become as fragile as fine china. Considering this body is in the center of such a strong aura attack, it would be smashed into pieces.

Cain became visibly anxious. He wasn’t sure who was inside Kireua right now, but the body definitely belonged to Kireua. Cain couldn’t just kill Kireua right now…

‘Wh-What should I do?’

His moment of hesitation was a mistake. Although it was a blink of an eye for ordinary people, it was like half a day for someone like Kireua.

-You weakling, hehehehe.

“…Oh, no.”

When Cain lost his composure, he wasn’t able to maintain his Embodied Sword form anymore, and his energy became turbulent, which Kireua used to his advantage.

“…Urgh!”

Although Cain turned his torso at the last moment, his shoulder was left undefended, allowing Kireua to pierce the area beside Cain’s collarbones. The injury was clearly critical—worse, disgusting demonic power rushed into the wound.

“I can’t believe I made this kind of mistake…!” Cain quietly groaned.

-Hehe… This is your end, human.

Cain could feel his face reddening in embarrassment. Despite his big talk, a momentary lapse of judgment caused him to make a critical mistake.

‘I still have a long way to go.’ Cain quietly closed his eyes. His hands were already full just stopping the demonic power from entering his body.

The situation took an unexpected turn.

“Good job, Cain.”

“Y-Your Majesty?”

When Cain opened his eyes, he could see Joshua grinning at him.

“Hold onto him so he won’t be able to run away,” Joshua said. “If we miss this attack, it’ll be the end of you and me.”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty.”

Despite the wave of pain rushing through his body, Cain faithfully carried out Joshua’s order. He squeezed his muscles, making sure that Kireua couldn’t pull his hand out of Cain’s shoulder.

-What are you trying to do? How did you enter the cage?

Joshua had approached Kireua’s back from outside the cage of fire.

“Do you want to know how?” Joshua asked, hefting his white spear with a grin. “Then give me back my son first, you jerk.”