TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 161
A lightning bolt struck amidst the pouring rain.
-Rumble!
The descending lightning created a flash, and The Man’s dark smile flickered before Mikhail’s eyes.
Mikhail stared at The Man in front of him.
At the wound on his eye.
At that black hair.
At that unforgettable smile, glaring with veins of rage in his eyes.
“…”
Mikhail moved his stiffened body coldly and drew his sword toward The Man.
It was the first time.
That he exuded killing intent toward someone.
That he wished to kill someone.
That he felt the urge to tear someone apart.
It was a first for Mikhail.
Mikhail, who used to be bound by the conviction of justice, now held his sword toward The Man, revealing intense killing intent.
Mikhail shouted softly toward The Man.
“I’ll kill you.”
Mikhail’s voice, filled with deep anger, was drenched in a glistening killing intent. In Mikhail’s eyes, which stared at The Man with sticky malice, only the emotion called rage remained.
“If only… if only it weren’t for you… if it weren’t for you!!!”
At Mikhail’s figure, vomiting out boiling rage, The Man let out an empty laugh.
“Wow… A masterpiece.”
The Man admired as he looked at the trembling tip of Mikhail’s sword. Because the masterpiece he had created was so fascinating.
Most Archbishops of the Heretics were broken in some way.
Some with extreme inferiority complexes.
Others with twisted art.
And the The Man in front of him was an Archbishop of the Heretics obsessed with the emotion of revenge.
The Man smiled as he stood under the falling raindrops.
“How is it? Doesn’t your chest boil when you see me?”
“…”
“Right, isn’t it?”
“…”
The Man spoke with eyes filled with nostalgia, as if reminiscing about a beautiful memory.
“Back then, don’t you remember when you went ‘stab’ into that Little Kid’s belly?”
“Shut up.”
“Your expression back then was a masterpiece, gasping for breath while your hands went ‘tremble…'”
“…I said shut up.”
The Man mimicked Mikhail’s trembling hands, imitating the moment Mikhail stabbed The Boy with a tearful expression. At the sight of a grown man reenacting that scene, Mikhail impulsively swung his sword.
“I said shut up!”
The Man lightly dodged Mikhail’s sword and stepped back a pace.
“Oh my, how dangerous. You’ve gotten sharper.”
The Man smirked mockingly as he observed the aura rising from Mikhail.
“I knew you had talent. From the moment you went ‘stab’ and drove that knife in, I thought… Ah, this one’s promising.”
“Shut up… shut up!”
Mikhail, overwhelmed by exploding emotions, swung his sword wildly in all directions.
The Man, with sharp eyes, pulled out the dagger he had tucked away and approached Mikhail’s abdomen.
Just as The Man’s dagger was about to pierce Mikhail’s abdomen.
“Snap out of it, Senior!”
With a booming shout, Hanna’s sword swiftly moved toward The Man’s neck.
The Man, letting out an incredulous laugh, looked at Hanna.
“What is this now? Two Aura Users? Wow… The world is going crazy.”
The Man, wearing a troubled expression, sighed deeply and raised both hands, muttering, ‘The Academy sure has a lot of talent.’
“I can’t handle this.”
The Man prepared to retreat.
Hanna, without lowering her sword, kept her gaze fixed solely on The Man.
Because The Man was smiling.
As The Man’s pupils darted around, searching for an opening, Hanna swallowed nervously, adjusted her grip on her sword, and spoke to Mikhail.
“Snap out of it, Senior.”
“This is my fight…”
“I said, snap out of it.”
Hanna spoke to Mikhail in a small voice.
“It seems like you’re the target. Focus on defense.”
“I’ll kill him…”
“I said, snap out of it!”
Mikhail hesitated.
He didn’t want to lose sight of The Man in front of him.
He hesitated to move, his feet seemingly glued to the ground.
In the tense situation that made his entire body crawl with goosebumps, The Man smiled and spoke.
“What are you doing? I told you to run away.”
“Why aren’t you running?”
“It’s what you’re good at, isn’t it?”
“Why”
“aren’t you running away?!”
With a loud roar, The Man slammed the ground and rushed forward.
Mikhail, responding late to the sudden attack, flailed as he swung his sword, and The Man didn’t miss Mikhail’s opening.
Grab. The Man seized Mikhail’s neck and hurled him against a huge tree.
“Hahaha! See, you should’ve run when I told you to. Did you leave behind a teddy bear again, like last time?”
Groaning, Mikhail wiped the red blood trickling from his mouth with his sleeve and raised his sword.
The Man, not giving Mikhail a chance to recover, once again kicked off the ground and charged.
In front of Hanna, who was rushing at great speed, a group of heretics blocked her path, while The Man stood before Mikhail with his sword raised.
“Finally, it’s just the two of us.”
The Man gripped the dagger in his hands and slowly walked toward Mikhail.
“Did you feel very betrayed?”
The aura flowing from Mikhail’s exhausted body gradually began to fade.
Because he had consumed his mana rapidly due to his inability to control his emotions.
The Man smiled as he watched Mikhail’s aura grow fainter and, with a ground-shaking sound, hurled himself toward Mikhail.
The endless confrontation began.
-Clang!
The clash between The Man, swinging his sword to end Mikhail’s life, and Mikhail, swinging his sword to end The Man’s life, echoed throughout the forest.
At the moment The Man’s sword and Mikhail’s sword collided, the trees in the forest trembled, and The Man’s smile deepened.
“Good!”
“…”
“With those eyes desperate to kill me, come on! Do more!”
Mikhail gritted his teeth and swung his sword. He swung it madly, wanting to grant The Man’s wish to die.
“Haaaah!”
The Man smiled as he parried Mikhail’s attack.
“Hahaha! This is fun. This is so fun!”
“Shut that mouth of yours!”
“Ha… This is so thrilling. I’m glad I spared you back then.”
The Man, catching up with Mikhail’s sword at a rapid speed, spoke to Mikhail, who was drenched in Cold Sweat.
“You know that?”
In a low, Small Voice.
As if whispering to Mikhail.
The Man said.
“When you ran away, that Kid, you know.”
“…”
The moment the word ‘Kid’ came out of The Man’s mouth, a small crack began to form on Mikhail’s face.
Kid.
He had always wondered what happened to The Boy who had been left behind after he ran away.
The Man, noticing Mikhail’s subtle change, swung his sword broadly and whispered once again into Mikhail’s ear.
“He was alive?”
“What… did you say?”
“He clung to my leg, holding on so desperately. Even though I stomped on his face multiple times, he didn’t budge.”
“…No.”
At The Man’s laughter, which burst out with a ‘Kheuk,’ a massive crack began to form on Mikhail’s face.
At the trembling Tip of the Sword, The Man’s lips twitched slightly.
“Originally, I was going to kill you too.”
“I was planning to kill him, and then you as well.”
“But.”
The Man spoke to Mikhail once again.
“That Guy wouldn’t let me!”
Mikhail shouted at The Man’s words.
“I said, shut up…!”
Swinging his sword with a scream filled with Resentment, Mikhail’s attack wavered with Emotion.
He knew that The Man’s words could be lies.
He understood it could be a strategy to disrupt his focus, but the surging Emotion wasn’t something Mikhail could resolve on his own.
If it were The Boy, he would have done that.
He thought that if it were him, he absolutely would have.
The Boy who had always been kind without expecting anything in return, surely…
“Aaaah!!! I’ll kill you!”
He thought it was possible.
Mikhail shouted, spewing his boiling rage. Like someone possessed, he swung his sword violently, blooming Aura’s Flower to kill The Man before him.
Mikhail was growing.
And yet, The Man, as if finding this situation amusing, couldn’t hide the twitching corners of his lips as he let out Maniacal Laughter.
“So! Do you know what I did?!”
“…”
“Do you know what I did to that Kid who looked like he was about to die any moment?!”
“Aaaah!!!”
The Man, as if watching an entertaining Theater Play, let out Maniacal Laughter and spoke nonchalantly.
“I sold him to the Heretics.”
“…”
“You know, don’t you? What That Guy does to civilians. You’ve heard the Rumors, haven’t you?”
“…”
At Mikhail’s trembling gaze, The Man laughed loudly and mocked him.
“It’s a famous Rumor, and you didn’t know?”
“How pitiful for that Kid.”
The Man took a deep breath and swung his sword broadly.
“And to think he was burned alive without anyone even knowing.”
The Dagger of The Man, cutting through both the trees and Mikhail, tore through the air with a deafening Sound of Air Splitting.
With a ‘Clang,’ Mikhail’s body staggered. The Man kicked Mikhail’s body and spoke.
“That Guy said they’d buy him as long as he was still breathing.”
“…”
“So I sold him.”
-Clang!!!!
“While you were playing in a warm place! He was probably in a Basement without even being able to drink water.”
-Crunch!
“Waiting for a rescue team!”
-Hesitation.
The Man smiled as he looked at Mikhail’s frozen sword.
“Burned to death. You didn’t know, did you?”
The bright Aura flowing from Mikhail’s body had ended. He no longer had any Mana left or the strength to endure.
Mikhail, with an empty expression, stared at The Man.
At Mikhail’s tearful expression, biting his lips, The Man, feeling exhilarated, smiled and spoke.
“How is it?”
“Stop it…”
“Isn’t it fun?”
The Man brought his Dagger toward Mikhail’s neck and spoke. Mikhail, who had poured out all his strength, held his sword with trembling hands but, unfortunately, couldn’t move.
“Send my regards to that Kid.”
And The Man thought to himself.
‘Though he might already be dead.’
The moment The Man’s gleaming Blade brushed against Mikhail’s neck, Mikhail closed his eyes and shed tears.
“Goodbye.”
Just as The Man’s Dagger was about to touch Mikhail’s neck.
“Stop.”
A cold Voice stopped The Man in his tracks.
-Hesitation.
The Man stiffly turned his head and looked back. He felt a Killing Intent that seemed to freeze his Entire Body.
At the chilling energy, almost mistaking it for that of an Apostle, The Man turned his head, and before him stood a Young Man wearing a Black Mask.
The Young Man in the Black Mask was smiling as he looked at The Man.
Wearing a Black Uniform, the Young Man simply stared at him, and The Man felt as if his body was turning ice-cold.
The fear of having his neck placed on a Guillotine.
The chilling sensation that any movement might sever his head made The Man swallow hard as he stared at the Young Man.
And Mikhail slowly opened his previously closed eyes.
-Kiddo.
A shadow that obscured the Darkness.
The fear of Death.
A massive back that shielded him from despair.
Mikhail, momentarily mistaking the figure for The Boy’s back, shed tears and gripped the Sword Hilt tightly.
‘Again… by this guy.’
Mikhail, having received help from the one he hated most, The Man, lowered his head in rising humiliation and let go of his sword.
-Clang.
After a long silence, the Young Man slowly opened his mouth.
“How about stopping here and going back?”
The Man, with trembling eyes, spoke to the Young Man.
“What if I refuse?”
“Then you die.”
Crazy Bastard.
The Man let out a hollow laugh and spoke to the Young Man.
“Let me ask just one thing. Who are you?”
“A human.”
“No…”
The Man, coughing up Giheum, spoke.
“I’m asking, what kind of human are you.”
The Young Man, with a Smile, said.
“I am their guardian.”