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Side Story Chapter 97

“This is a surprise,” he murmured. “I thought I wouldn’t have many rivals on the continent anymore…”

“…I also realized once again that the world is enormous. Have you heard about the dragonblooded folk, Your Highness?”

“Dragonblood?”

“It looks like that Bel is one of them.”

Selim\'s eyes widened, though he quickly regained his composure. A human with dragon’s blood...

“He says that he devoured every single dragon living in the southern part of the continent,” Cain commented.

“…So I heard.”

“Obviously, it’s nonsense; mages wouldn’t even find that funny.” Cain shook his head. “Dragon blood is so toxic that a drop of it would melt a human’s entire feeble body.”

A drop of dragon blood was worth several million gold. The blood itself possessed abundant mana, making it useful for engraving magic circles in several artifacts.

“Even a Magic Tower mage has to spend days neutralizing the blood before they can use it, so I’ve never even heard of someone consuming dragon flesh, much less eating their hearts.” Cain eyed Bel as the self-proclaimed dragon eater brushed the dust off of his clothes and cracked his knuckles. “If what that man said is true, calling him Dragon Battle God would hardly be an exaggeration.”

A majestic resonance put their conversation to a halt.

Bel stood tall with a silver dragon on his left and his right arm covered with his black dragon’s aura. He grinned.

“Shall we begin round two?”

Selim quickly gathered his mana, and Cain nervously fixed his grip on his sword. For a moment, the world seemed to dance on a knife’s edge.

But suddenly, a mighty clamor grabbed all three men’s attention. The noise came from someone they’d all forgotten about for a moment.

“Kireua…?” Selim turned and witnessed a bizarre sight. The ground was cracked and buckled, giving way to black fire jetting out from below. A black wind whipped the air into a frenzy while black lightning bolts slammed into the ground.

“...Mammon,” Kireua finally said. “Yes, I can finally tell why you’re the only Evil Sins’ power with a personality.”

“Why is he talking to himself?”

From other people’s perspective, Kireua looked like a maniac, but he didn’t care.

“You are the power of Greed itself. Your greed is as big as heaven and devours your own owner. That is why you don’t really have a name. You are Coal, the power of Greed, and Mammon the Demon King, your last owner. Everyone is still living inside you.”

Kireua held out the sword in his right hand. Ferocious energy rose up from it that made Selim and Cain\'s eyes widen in alarm. That energy was demonic power, the most wicked in the world.

“In the end, you’ll try to devour me too—but you know what? You may have become Mammon, but you’ll never become Kireua. Never.”

Kireua began to release more demonic power, so much that even Bel was intrigued.

“The Demon Spirit is stronger than you, but Joshua Sanders took his soul inside himself and won in the end. And I am his son. I won’t lose. I’ll endure until the end, just as you should conquer your instincts too, Mammon—no, Coal. Don’t become a monster enslaved by your instincts.”

Kireua marched toward Bel, one step at a time, the very thing that made Coal feel so threatened that it let loose its full power.

Calling Coal’s name meant that the two people who shared the same memory and soul would become a complete whole, but one of them would be tragically erased.

“Let’s go to take down the enemy who threatens you and me,” Kireua said.

* * *

“Huh…” The Fordran knights stared blankly. The knights of the Allied Powers of Palentine tried to wrap their heads around the situation, and the other foreigners were equally confused.

“One of the Four Paladins… was unable to take a single attack.”

“I-I heard about how great the Martial God is over and over again…”

“But now it feels like the rumors are underestimating him.”

The younger knights were especially shocked. They had only heard stories about the Martial God, so this was their first time witnessing his power.

However, Joshua, the man in question, was quite bitter.

‘I’m not sure how long this vessel will hold.’ He was going to discard this body anyway, but he had to sort out the situation as quickly as possible and return to that man named Bel. With that said, there was someone else in the arena that he had to take care of first.

“Joshua Sandersss!”

Joshua turned to regard the woman who dared to scream an emperor’s name with a voice filled with grudge and fury. The woman was the deceased Dark God’s heir and the cause of the civil war still bleeding out the Avalon Empire, so her anger came as no surprise.

Carmen leaped down from the roof and charged toward Joshua like a lightning bolt.

His divine power spear had disappeared long ago, but that wasn’t a problem now that Joshua had removed his restrictions and was prepared to abandon his current vessel.

Although no blades met, the clang of metal assaulted their ears when Carmen’s black greatsword and Joshua’s fingers clashed.

Carmen boggled at his hand. “H-How…?”

“Isn’t this basic?”

“Wh-What?”

“In a battle of aura, the less-skilled knight can never defeat the more skilled knight by brute force.”

“Don’t patronize me, Joshua Sanders!” Carmen bit her lip so hard that it bled. She immediately fed more aura from her mana hall into her blade. The more aura she infused, the thicker the aura around Joshua’s fingers was.

“I see your pride is the same as ever,” Joshua noted.

“Your damned mouth is the same as ever too, you son of a bitch.”

“I’m an emperor; I think calling me son of a bitch is too much.”

“I’m your aunt, you fucker,” Carmen growled.

“…Aunt, huh?” Joshua chuckled. He had settled all the debts he had with the Agnus family long ago. Of course, the people involved might still hold grudges against him, but Carmen was the last.

“When I was young, the previous Duke Agnus always asked me something,” Joshua abruptly said.

“What?”

“Whether or not I resent him.”

Carmen flinched. “So is that why you killed your father with your own two hands, you damned murderer?”

“You already know the circumstances, don’t you? I don’t think I need to explain it.”

“No, the fact that you slew my brother won’t change, regardless of your reasons.”

“Resentment, grudge, favor, spite… They are part of a never-ending cycle, but I only realized that at this age.”

“Why are you acting like an old man in front of me?”

“I just hope another person like me won’t show up again. Even if you cut off my head with your sword, my children will take revenge because it’s easy for history to repeat. We thought we were done with civil wars when the last one came to an end, but we’re going through one right now.”

“Hmph. I’ll cut your children’s heads off with my sword too when the time comes. Regret and suffer in hell, Joshua Sanders,” Carmen cursed.

However, Joshua just shook his head. “No, the result won’t change even if this toxic cycle continues.”

“What the hell are you saying?”

“My and my people’s history always ended with our victory.”

“Your arrogant bastard…!”

Someone suddenly shot off of the ground.

“Martial God!”

With a sword in one hand and a shield in another, Uriel rose up into the sky with his wings spread wide. His white divine power instantly took the shape of a cross. His sword of flame slew all injustice, and his sword of earth crushed the karma of sins. Who could not kneel before the punishment of the cross?

“Punishment of the Cross!” Uriel shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing out his full power. With her eyes shining, Carmen gathered all her strength as well and poured out her aura.

From everyone’s perspective, Joshua was clearly in a crisis. What happened next, however, was nothing like what they were expecting.

Carmen’s greatsword snapped like a twig, and the cross ascending to the heavens collapsed into specks of dust. And all that took was a single cook from Joshua.

Uriel slammed into the ground, and Carmen looked at Joshua with trembling lips.

“Umm… If anyone saw me, I’d look like a villain.” Joshua tilted his head.

The foreigners staring up at the sky were certain that they’d made the right choice—or maybe they’d just been lucky to not make the wrong decision.

“…Send a message back to Palentine.”

“P-Oardon? What did you say?” one of the Palentine knights stammered.

“Why are you goofing around? Use a crystal ball, contact the Magic Tower, whatever it takes to tell the people that we should never get on the bad side of Avalon—even if we have to go to war with Hubalt!”

“Y-Yes sir!” The knight snapped off a salute and then sprinted out of the arena.

“L-let’s get going too.”

“Don’t tiptoe around the Hubalt guys, just get moving! We don’t have a lot of time.”

Joshua’s guests finally began to make their move.