Vol 4. Chapter 46: Passing the Blame

The Sword Demon.

Among Demon King-class existences, it was one of the most terrifying beings of all. The major powers of the Anqieka Continent feared it even more than the oldest of the Demon Kings, the Red Spider Lily.

The reason was quite simple.

It was this legendary Demon King of the sword that had thoroughly carved the fear of Abyss Demons into the hearts of every race.

After Abyss Demons first appeared in the northern part of the Anqieka Continent, those who feared them most were naturally the people of the north. As for the central and southern regions, Abyss Demons rarely made it that far, so the people living there were not particularly afraid of them. Quite a few believed that no matter how terrifying Abyss Demons might be, their armies and guardians would still be more than enough to ensure their safety.

That belief lasted for a very long time...

Until the Sword Demon came charging in all by himself...

The Sword Demon was, without question, an utterly insane monster. In the past, even after the first and second Abyss Demon subjugation campaigns ended in failure, there were still plenty of overconfident powers that looked down on the Abyss Demons and even planned to continue sending troops into the Great Winter Forest.

And that was when the Sword Demon appeared...

This Demon King-class existence, appearing before the world for the first time, quickly made everyone understand just how terrifying Abyss Demons—especially Demon King-class ones—truly were.

All by himself, he proceeded to beat the living hell out of virtually every powerful faction on the continent.

Aside from the Asumos Church, which had already been beaten unconscious by the Red Spider Lily inside the Great Winter Forest, every faction that was still planning to attack the Great Winter Forest—the Five Great Empires of that era, the Three Towers, and even Skyvault floating overseas—was thoroughly ground into the dirt by the Sword Demon.

After one battle after another, the Five Great Empires became the Four Great Empires. The Red Moon Tower, one of the Three Towers, was forced to disappear from public view and rebuild its strength. The Ethereal Tower suffered an even worse fate—it was directly blasted into useless scrap by the Sword Demon...

And while the Sword Demon's terrifying might was ravaging the continent, the one who finally stopped this Demon King-class existence was the Elf King of that era—Constant.

There were two main reasons why the Sword Demon was so feared. One was the enormous pale sword in his hand, capable of annihilating souls. The other was his despair-inducing defensive power.

The deep-purple armor covering the Sword Demon's body nullified virtually every attack directed at him. Even the Ethereal Tower Master's ultimate killing move was distorted by the armor, ultimately resulting in his defeat. The Sword Demon cursed him out and sent his head flying with a single slap.

Yet when that same armor faced the Thirteenth King of the Elves—Constant—it was broken for the first time.

...

"Th-Then, Dad!! The sword Grandpa used back then to cut through the Sword Demon's armor... was our race's Holy Sword?!!"

After hearing his father's story, the still-young Audom excitedly jumped up.

The composed elven man beside the bed smiled indulgently and rubbed Audom's head.

"That's right. It was the Holy Sword—Ishufiel. The Holy Sword possesses the attribute of piercing through everything. Even though the Sword Demon's armor possesses the power to distort space, Ishufiel can still pierce through it!"

"So... so that's how it was! No wonder Grandpa could drive back the Sword Demon and protect our race!"

"That's right. That's why Grandpa is considered the strongest Elf King in our history. After all, he accomplished something that countless powerful beings across the continent couldn't."

The elven man's voice was filled with pride.

But after hearing this, Audom tilted his head and looked innocently at his father with his wide eyes.

"By the way, if Grandpa is already that powerful, why does he still have to go away and train so hard? And if he already drove the Sword Demon back, why did we suddenly have to move our capital?"

"Ah, well... that... That's a little complicated..."

...

...

Audom could no longer remember exactly how his father had answered him back then.

But there was one thing he knew very clearly.

The Holy Sword was unquestionably one of the rarest and most powerful divine weapons in the entire world!

But...

How could such a powerful Holy Sword now...

"H-How is this possible? That's the Holy Sword Ishufiel?! Why can't it break through her defense?"

Staring at the utterly unimaginable scene before him, Audom clutched his head in disbelief.

Although he genuinely didn't want anything to happen to the black-haired girl, now that he saw she was truly completely unharmed, Audom still felt an inexplicable sense of contradiction. He simply couldn't bring himself to accept what he was seeing.

Under Audom's stunned gaze, Ishufiel finally exhausted the last of its strength.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The light covering the blade shattered completely, revealing the original platinum-white edge beneath.

Yet that incredibly hard blade, supposedly capable of splitting heaven and earth, trembled for a moment before drooping feebly like a wilted pillar holding up the heavens...

"Wh-What did I... hit...? So hard... I... My head... I'm so dizzy..."

As a certain little girl's voice mumbled dazedly, the barrier enveloping the garden abruptly collapsed into nothingness...

Meanwhile, the victim of the attack remained standing exactly where she was, completely dumbfounded, as countless question marks practically materialized around Lady Yumo.

??

Huh?

What the hell just happened? Why did it suddenly stab me?

And besides...

"It stabbed me in the chest out of nowhere and then said it was hard?!!"

The hell?!

At that moment, a trace of displeasure flashed through Lady Yumo's crimson eyes.

"Is... is this damn thing saying my chest is small?! That I'm flat as a steel plate?! It's clearly gotten a little bigger than before!"

Lady Yumo unhappily pouted her little lips.

However, after realizing that the little girl's voice belonged to the Holy Sword's sword spirit, Lady Yumo stopped caring quite so much.

Lady Yumo had always been extremely tolerant toward children.

Even if the Holy Sword's sword spirit was a fake loli more than a hundred years old~

No longer particularly bothered by the insult to her chest, Lady Yumo slowly lowered her head and looked at it.

At this moment,

under the baptism of such tremendous power, even the clothes made from special materials had failed to escape destruction. The fabric covering her chest had been torn to shreds by the Holy Sword's power, and even her bra had been annihilated into nothingness.

Of course, Lady Yumo wasn't actually exposed. The blood-colored butterflies very obediently settled over the girl's washboard...

Ah, no. Over her little buns, concealing the alluring sight that would have been enough to make anyone's blood boil.

Still, Lady Yumo didn't particularly care that her clothes had been torn apart.

Nearly all of the black-haired girl's attention was focused on her chest—more precisely, the spot directly struck by the Holy Sword.

"Hmm, not bad?"

Lady Yumo generously gave Ishufiel's powerful strike her approval.

Not only had this legendary Holy Sword avoided shattering immediately after striking her like most weapons did, but it had even managed to leave a small patch of her skin red.

Although the Holy Sword subsequently lost all its fighting strength and drooped like a deflated balloon, its achievement had already surpassed that of the vast majority of powerful beings.

After all, those three Earth Braves had spent seven whole days hacking away at her body back then without managing to leave even the slightest injury...

This Holy Sword called Ishufiel was also the only weapon thus far that had struck her body directly without being damaged.

From that alone, Yumo was quite satisfied with both the power contained within the Holy Sword and the toughness of its blade.

"Hehe, if I give this weapon to Mengxi, that girl should be really happy~ Hasn't she always wanted a weapon that suits her~?"

As the graceful figure of the silver-haired girl surfaced in Lady Yumo's mind, a sweet smile unconsciously blossomed across her face.

However,

after thinking about it again, Yumo suddenly felt that something wasn't quite right.

"But... why did it suddenly attack me? All I did was pull out the sword, right? I didn't do anything else?"

Although she was confused,

Lady Yumo quickly thought of a serious problem.

This Holy Sword was originally supposed to be given to the Child of Destiny.

Yumo didn't particularly care that the Holy Sword had gone berserk when she pulled it out. In fact, she had practically hoped it would go berserk so she could use her own body to test the Holy Sword's power.

But if this Holy Sword went berserk while someone else was holding it, the consequences would be unimaginable.

What if the person who had pulled out the Holy Sword hadn't been her?

What if it had been Mengxi instead...?

Merely imagining the platinum-white blade of light piercing through the silver-haired girl's chest made Lady Yumo shudder uncontrollably. With lingering fear, she raised a hand to cover her own chest, her crimson eyes filling with unease.

"That child... wouldn't she... No... No!"

...

And as her unease grew increasingly intense, it gradually transformed into anger.

The girl couldn't help clenching both fists.

The dazed look in her breathtaking eyes slowly disappeared, replaced by an indescribable coldness. Before anyone realized it, a heavy gloom had enveloped the black-haired girl.

Then,

she slowly turned her gaze aside.

Her crimson eyes instantly locked onto Audom, the elven prince standing nearby.

Could this guy be trying to harm Mengxi?

The instant she realized that Mengxi might have been placed in danger, Lady Yumo unconsciously released a chilling wave of killing intent.

Caught beneath that killing intent and icy gaze, Audom felt as though he had been dropped straight into an ice cellar. His entire body trembled uncontrollably, and even the blood flowing through his heart seemed to freeze.

Combined with the bizarre, deathly silence surrounding him, Audom's heart practically leaped into his throat.

Crap... Crap!

Surrounded by countless blood-colored butterflies, Audom immediately realized that things were going very, very badly.

Although the Holy Sword's attack hadn't managed to hurt the black-haired girl in front of him, it had unquestionably angered her.

Damn it!

I wasn't even the one who attacked you! The Holy Sword started fighting and attacked you all on its own! Why the hell are you glaring at me?!

Audom suddenly felt like crying.

At that moment, as he sensed the terrifying Power of Shadow of Silence surrounding his body—power that could crush him into meat paste in an instant—Audom's instincts screamed that if he didn't explain himself immediately, he might actually die right here.

Unfortunately, although he desperately wanted to explain himself, Audom was trembling all over beneath the overwhelming pressure, and his brain had descended uncontrollably into chaos.

No!

I can't take the blame for this!

It clearly wasn't my fault!

It was that Holy Sword's fault!

No... Wait, it wasn't my fault... but it wasn't the Holy Sword's fault either...

It... it was that guy's fault!

At that thought, Audom couldn't help turning his gaze toward the black-haired man standing not far behind Lady Yumo, who likewise had an uneasy expression on his face.

Xiao's threats were certainly terrifying.

But compared to the immediate threat of dropping dead on the spot, they didn't mean a damn thing!

The Black Rose Family's revenge?!

He could worry about revenge later! First he had to fucking survive this!!

Audom held his breath and completely ignored Xiao's warning glare from nearby.

The elven prince gathered his courage and decided to throw caution completely to the wind.

The next moment,

under Lady Yumo's somewhat caught-off-guard gaze, Audom endured the crushing pressure of the Power of Shadow of Silence around him, violently bit his lip, raised his hand, and pointed straight at the black-haired man nearby.

Then, in the most aggrieved voice he had ever used in his life, he cried out:

"No! Lady Yumo! I don't know anything! I have absolutely no idea why the Holy Sword went berserk!! You have to ask him! He's the one who kidnapped the Holy Sword back then and took it away to train it!! This has nothing to do with meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"

"Hm?... Huh?... Eh?!"

Audom's hysterical, utterly aggrieved wail made Lady Yumo cry out in surprise.

Meanwhile, not far behind her,

Xiao's expression instantly darkened.

...

...

"Shit!"