Chapter 236
Before the intrusion of the colossal golem into the battle between the White Lamb Order and the Lion Order.
Kraush and a boy were clashing.
The boy's name was Glen Diana, Mary's cousin.
Pouring out golden airflow, he was currently running as if his heart would burst.
The reason was simple.
It was because something like shackles was currently bound to his heart.
Shackles formed in the shape of red and black snakes were tightly gripping Glen's heart.
The identity of the snake was a relic of the ancient era, the Demonic Core.
It was an aura amplifier.
A relic from three thousand years ago during the Relic Era when the Ten Great Heavenly Swords were first created.
Unlike the modern era, artifacts from that time, which heavily relied on artifacts, were all either grotesque or absurdly destructive.
However, as much as they possessed destructive power, many of them came with a price close to death.
Most of them were strictly managed by each nation or stored in secret libraries.
The Demonic Core Glen was now wearing was also of the same kind.
The Demonic Core, created in the Relic Era three thousand years ago, constantly pushed the limits of aura.
However, in return, it continuously tightened the heart and ultimately crushed it completely.
Thanks to that, Glen was now producing tremendous output.
But the Demonic Core was tightening his heart moment by moment, killing him.
'Sigrid, you crazy woman.'
The Demonic Core was not something meant to be used by humans.
A power that draws on the user's future.
It allowed one to use a realm they would eventually reach sooner, but it made it impossible to progress toward that future, earning its reputation as a deal with hell.
To give that to Glen solely to achieve her means and goals.
Kraush could not possibly tolerate it.
Chaaaang!
Kraush's black flame and Glen's golden airflow collided, and the sound of swords echoed.
Both were pushed back a step by each other's power.
Kraush looked at Glen.
"Glen."
Kraush vaguely noticed the burden Glen was carrying.
For someone as young as him, his family was everything in life.
There weren't many people who could abandon the place where they were born and raised.
Especially for someone as responsible as Glen, this tendency would be even stronger.
Glen, noticing Kraush's thoughts, gripped his spear tightly.
"Don't look at me like that."
His face bore a self-deprecating smile as if it was about to break.
"This is the path I chose, Kraush."
Knowing that, isn't that why you told me to come at you with everything I've got?
That's what Glen was saying.
Kraush's mouth opened and closed repeatedly.
Kraush did not have deep memories with Glen.
Before the regression, Glen was a follower of Mary.
He revered Mary, and because of that, he wasn't particularly close to Kraush, whom Mary didn't favor much.
They were just distant enough to see each other from afar.
But today, Glen of that time and Glen of now had changed significantly.
Back then, Glen, who was busy respecting Mary rather than focusing on his spear.
Now, he had somehow come to focus solely on his spear.
Furthermore, instead of the strong figure of Mary, the star he was now looking at was Kraush.
Kraush, shining proudly as the top of the Special Class, even stood up against injustice.
He was someone even Mary, his cousin, who was often criticized by others, proudly acknowledged as a strong figure.
Someone who could confidently express his beliefs to anyone.
That appearance was admirable even to Glen, who was of the same age group.
As a fellow member of the Special Class, Glen was proud of Kraush.
He was strong, always ahead, and dignified.
Glen had thought he wanted to become someone like that.
Kraush also knew about such a Glen.
He had watched with both eyes how Glen honed his skills for his spear.
As a fellow member of the Special Class, Glen was someone who would one day shine brilliantly even among the Skyborne Generation.
However, that light was now fading too quickly.
The schemes of Sigrid were eating away at him.
Kraush could not allow it.
He didn't want to allow it.
Annoyingly, he was a stubborn person who couldn't tolerate such things.
He was sick of someone being unilaterally used or being used himself.
People change with time, experience, and flow.
Through Pendal in the past, Kraush had learned that fact.
So.
"Let's make a bet."
The output of the black flame flowing from Kraush's body increased by another level.
"If I win, leave the White Lamb Order."
Glen's eyes shook violently.
"......No."
And it was something he absolutely could not accept.
The moment he left the White Lamb Order, Sigrid would no longer look after the Diana Family, and the Diana Family would eventually be driven out of the Empire.
Glen could never allow that fact.
"Then let's change the terms."
Kraush decided to set a different condition.
"I'll forcefully secure a position for the Diana Family."
Glen looked at Kraush with an expression as if asking what on earth he had just heard.
Kraush was a Balheim of the Starlon Kingdom.
Balheim and the Empire were almost sworn enemies.
How could someone like him possibly secure a position for the Diana Family?
Glen looked at Kraush, telling him not to spout nonsense.
But when he saw the determined look in Kraush's eyes, his gaze wavered violently.
Because he knew it too.
That Kraush was someone who always fulfilled what he said out loud.
"There's an opportunity to directly negotiate with the Empire. I'll put the Diana Family on that negotiation table."
"What the......."
What on earth could put the survival of an entire family on the line?
Glen looked at Kraush with a mix of confusion and doubt in his eyes.
Was there even a reason for Kraush to go that far?
Glen couldn't understand it now.
How this world would move toward destruction and how everything would collapse.
And that even in a destroyed world, there must be at least one more star shining.
But it didn't matter if he didn't know.
'Because I know.'
Because I know the value of letting the Skyborne Generation spread their wings and soar into the sky.
Each and every member of the Skyborne Generation was a feather in those wings.
Only when those feathers came together could the Skyborne Generation truly take flight.
Kraush would be the framework of those wings.
He would become the strongest framework in the world so that he could become the wings that completely cover the blue sky.
Therefore.
"If you lose to me, don't use what is lodged in your heart until the Diana Family is restored."
Kraush said this with a hearty laugh.
That laughter shone so brightly that Glen's eyes momentarily froze.
"Kraush, you..."
Glen tried to say something, his lips moving as if to speak, but no words came out.
Instead, he let out a hollow laugh at some point.
"Yes, you were always like that."
Glen, being part of the Special Class, had heard many things until now.
That he was someone who could genuinely give everything of himself for others.
And today, he felt it firsthand.
"If I win, none of this will matter."
Glen's spear fiercely thrust toward Kraush as he kicked off the ground.
Kraush's sword also filled the space in the same way before anyone could notice.
Chaaaeng!
Kraush's blunt sword and Glen's swift spear began to clash.
One side, a spear meant to pierce through the blunt sword.
The other side, a sword meant to block the spear.
Each time the sword and spear collided, walls crumbled, and windows shattered.
At some point, Meiri screamed and fled to a distant corner for safety.
The airflow erupting from the two was devastating everything around them.
Yet Glen's spear and Kraush's sword showed no signs of stopping.
Squeeeak!
The Demonic Core in Glen's heart tightened his heart once more.
Glen, whose aura momentarily erupted irregularly, gripped his spear to the point of crushing it, feeling as though he was coughing up blood.
However, the golden aura flowing from his body only grew stronger.
Glen's muscles swelled roughly.
The destructive power contained in his spear rose another level.
The Demonic Core had a total of twelve shackles.
The more a shackle tightened, the more it forced the body to awaken at the cost of burdening the heart.
Now, seven shackles had tightened.
Five shackles remained, but Glen knew.
He knew that ten was the limit.
Once he surpassed ten, Glen would no longer be able to return to his original self.
However, at this point, with seven shackles tightened.
Glen realized.
It's not enough.
To defeat Kraush, this wasn't enough.
Crrrack!
Glen's teeth ground together as if they were about to shatter.
At the same time, his spear drove even more fiercely toward Kraush.
The spear shaft thrust toward Kraush's chest.
Kraush's sword, which had somehow already positioned itself, struck Glen's spear shaft away while simultaneously attempting to dominate the space.
Glen rotated his spear, barely preventing the spatial domination.
A double strike aimed simultaneously at Kraush's neck and side was executed.
Kraush's sword, flowing like water, deflected the neck strike while drawing a circle to block the side strike as well.
To Glen's eyes, Kraush's sword seemed unbearably slow.
Yet, that sword was undoubtedly blocking all of Glen's spear techniques.
Strong.
Kraush was too strong.
Well, it was only natural.
Even his sister, who possessed the Heavenly Martial Body, had been defeated by Kraush.
Though he had some talent in spear techniques, he couldn't even reach his sister, so there was no way he could defeat Kraush.
But why?
A smile never left Glen's face.
Squeeeak—
The eighth shackle tightened around Glen's heart.
Glen's momentum grew even fiercer, but Kraush also raised his own momentum to respond.
Strong.
Kraush was undeniably strong.
But now, it was Glen himself who was clashing against such strength.
Kraush was looking solely at him in this battle.
He wasn't underestimating Glen's skills in the slightest, facing him with complete sincerity and without a hint of carelessness.
'Kraush, how can you be like that?'
Glen wanted to ask.
If he was that strong, wasn't it natural to have some arrogance or carelessness?
On the surface, Kraush always pretended to be arrogant, but once in battle, it was always clear.
He never overestimated himself and always gave his all without letting his guard down against any opponent.
That was admirable and enviable.
And because he envied it, he wanted to emulate it and respected it.
I want to become a strong person like you.
I want to wield my spear in a future like yours.
And then, I want to challenge you once again.
Glen swallowed a hollow laugh as he felt the Demonic Core tightening his heart.
To think such thoughts when he stood here, trading his future for the sake of his family.
It was truly a contradictory thought.
Squeeeak!
The ninth shackle tightened around Glen's heart once again.
Glen's eyes and hair were now glowing golden.
As a result of too much aura being infused, his body began to change uncontrollably.
The aura surrounding Glen's body now resembled golden armor.
Each time he swung his massive golden spear, the atmosphere vibrated.
Boom! Boom-boom!
At some point, explosive sounds erupted uncontrollably from the spear.
With the resulting sonic boom, Glen now wielded destructive power he had never possessed before, devastating his surroundings.
Fwoosh!
Yet Kraush moved in response.
His spear, imbued with Black Flame, collided precisely with Glen's spear, amplifying its firepower.
Kraush's pupils turned red.
The heat emanating from his body caused mirages to rise in the air.
Squeeeak!
And Glen's limit.
The tenth shackle tightened around his heart.
Thud!
For a moment, the surroundings seemed to freeze, and the air came to a halt.
Within that space, Glen gripped the spear shaft held by his golden gauntlet.
Rrrrrumble!
The atmosphere distorted along the path of Glen's spear.
The airflow gathered in his spear had reached a different dimension.
"This is the full strength I can muster right now."
Originally, Glen intended to use the shackles of the Demonic Core up to twelve times today.
Because he had been ordered by Sigrid to absolutely defeat Kraush.
However, facing Kraush, Glen could not do so.
Because Kraush was directly telling him to move forward into the future.
And because he himself wanted to stand alongside Kraush in that future.
So, at the moment Glen unleashed his maximum ability.
Fwoooosh!
The black flame and red airflow that erupted from Kraush's entire body surged forward.
Because Kraush also responded in kind.
Glen gripped his spear so tightly it seemed his hands might burst, as if to express his gratitude.
Then, the blade of his spear began to condense, emitting a pure white light.
It was none other than the Charge technique Glen had learned by observing Kraush.
For an instant, it felt as if all the light was being sucked into Glen's spear.
At that moment, when all the surrounding air seemed to hold its breath at the sight.
In a space where all the light had been absorbed, leaving only darkness.
Glen's Golden Spear was swung.
Super Light Gold Spear Style
Fifth Form
Golden Flash Slash
Glen's Golden Flash Slash, which split the pillars and walls of the building, surged toward Kraush.
The power of Glen's Golden Flash Slash, unleashed after breaking the tenth shackle, was enough to sever the entirety of the White Lamb Order Building.
Glen, who had sacrificed his future, was strong.
His strength in this Confrontation was so absurd that there were almost no individuals capable of receiving his spear.
Therefore, Kraush decided to respond to his full power with his own full power.
Creak—
At that moment, Kraush bit down on the Instant Enhancement Elixir he had in his mouth.
Simultaneously, as that power seeped into Kraush's body, the heat of Annihilation Erosion was further enhanced by Excel.
The accelerated heat coursed through his body, causing it to spin at high speed in an instant.
Accordingly, his body advanced one step further, and then another, amplifying its power.
Annihilation Heavenly Rakshasa
The ultimate peak Kraush could reach.
At the moment Kraush reached Annihilation Heavenly Rakshasa, Glen felt as though his entire vision was filled with black flame.
Before the black flame, which even surpassed his golden light.
Even as Glen felt as though he was going blind, he continued to swing his spear without stopping.
Even if it could be called a futile act.
To give his all against him.
At the moment Glen's Golden Spear shone.
Finally, Kraush's sword fell before Glen.
Annihilation Erosion
Sixth Style
Heaven-Destroying Flame Net
For a very brief moment.
The silent black flame swept through the area.
Krrrrrrashhhhh!
With a belated explosion, the black flame engulfed and swept away everything.
The building was half-destroyed and began to collapse, swept away by the black flame.
Beneath the burning remains of the White Lamb Order Building.
Kraush exhaled the black smoke flowing from his lips and looked ahead.
There lay Glen, collapsed, his entire body burned.
He showed no signs of consciousness.
But Kraush, unconcerned with that, spoke.
"Remember what I said."
That guy would surely manage well on his own.
Kraush lightly stomped his foot.
"Eek!"
At that moment, Meiri, who had been trying to slip away, screamed as Kraush grabbed her by the scruff.
Kraush, grabbing her, kicked off the ground and sprinted.
And at the moment he lifted Glen and exited the building.
Boom!
The entire building collapsed, turning into chaos.
"Kyah?!"
As Meiri screamed while being flung from Kraush's grasp.
Kraush raised his head.
There stood a massive golem of absurd size.
'John Gray's colossal golem.'
The First Year Special Arts Department President.
The Student Commander of the Magal Unit, John Gray's colossal golem, without a doubt.
As Kraush had expected, other orders had joined this battle.
Surely, they intended to target the bracelets amidst the melee while the White Lamb Order and Lion Order were fighting.
But they had overlooked one fact.
That was none other than the fact that this side could also target the bracelets.
Especially now that Kraush had activated Annihilation Heavenly Rakshasa thanks to Glen.
Kraush's red pupils, exhaling black smoke, slowly curved.
"Meiri."
"Y-Yes?"
"From now on, find all the members of the other orders who have bracelets."
"Huh? W-Why me?"
"I'll give you a bracelet as a gift."
Meiri blinked her eyes.
If Kraush gave her a bracelet, Meiri wouldn't lose hers.
Naturally, she could also avoid Sigrid's wrath.
"...Are you serious?"
"I don't take back my words. If you're still suspicious, I'll even swear on the name of Balheim."
Though he didn't place much value on the name of Balheim.
But thanks to that, Meiri's eyes filled with determination.
Kraush smiled and raised his head.
An impromptu alliance was formed.
Let's make a big haul.