Chapter 171

A whirlpool formed.

The sea spun around Nana, who was clad in the power of an ancient god.

It was as if it were rejoicing.

It spun so fiercely that both Amethus and I had no choice but to stop for a moment.

Broken ships and fishmen were swept into the whirlpool and shattered.

Patches of red appeared here and there before turning blue again.

From the center of the whirlpool, like a sharp maw, Nana Nereyades slowly rose.

“Amethus senior.”

Her limbs were covered in a sea-colored carapace.

They were sharp, menacing, and large, as if the hands and feet of a dragon had been cut off and attached to her.

From inside her long coat, a pointed tail moved.

A few scales had also sprouted on her face.

Revealing inhumanly sharp canines, Nana murmured.

“I looked up to you. Even more than I looked up to His Majesty……”

Who at the academy didn’t look up to Amethus?

When he held a sword, no one could stop him.

But Nana had admired his jade-colored eyes more than his sword.

No, looking back on it now, this feeling wasn’t admiration.

She belatedly realized that she had liked Amethus.

That was why she clenched her fists tightly.

“But just as you said, sunbae, that’s all in the past.”

Without even needing to charge, she threw a firm, straight punch.

A ripple spread out.

Waves crashed and the air vibrated.

My whole body tingled.

Nana rode atop the ripple.

In other words, she was levitating in mid-air.

Her Ars, ‘Freestyle,’ allowed her to swim effortlessly even between things that were invisible.

“…Heavy.”

“Is that your first word, sunbae?”

Amethus let out a groan at the weight transmitted to his sword.

Nana’s fist, which drew upon the power of an Ancient Weapon, certainly possessed a different weight than before.

But it was still not heavy enough to crush Amethus.

The jade-colored eyes flashed.

Nana’s fist cut through the empty air in vain.

Amethus Aretion’s Ars, ‘Oracle.’ He glimpses the future a moment later.

No matter how heavy a fist is, it is meaningless if it doesn’t land.

Nana clicked her tongue.

It was those eyes.

Before those jade-colored eyes, strategic battles were meaningless.

Overwhelming power was needed.

She pulled the sea toward her with her carapace-covered hands.

She grasped the great sea.

And then, like a blanket, she whipped it up and threw it over Amethus and me.

A wave the size of a mountain crashed down on us.

Even Amethus and I had no choice but to dodge.

Nana swam atop the wave she had created.

With her Ars ‘Freestyle,’ she could swim anywhere, but she was fastest when swimming in the sea. It was also the most enjoyable.

Riding the wave, she leaped over Amethus’s head.

She headed for me.

The way I had been attacking from a distance with the ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’ was quite irritating.

Naturally, I tried to dodge. Nana scoffed and stomped her foot.

A whirlpool formed at her feet.

It sucked in a massive amount of seawater in an instant, and in another instant, shot it out.

The condensed water shot toward me like a flash of light.

A total of eight streams of water were fired.

I dodged seven, but I couldn’t dodge one.

This was because ‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps’ only pushes away things with a will.

It couldn’t push away the mindless stream of water.

A long wound was left on my side.

‘…An Imperial Ten Great General, as expected.’

Several ships of the 9th Legion were broken and sunk.

It was because they were hit by the seven streams of water I had dodged.

A lightly fired stream of water destroys a warship. It was a power that elicited admiration.

I bit my lip and clutched my side.

A shadow seeped out and covered the wound.

‘Armed with an Ars and an Ancient Weapon, she’s not easy to fight even with the two of us.’

Before I knew it, Amethus was once again swinging his double-edged sword at close range to Nana.

Nana tried to create distance, but Amethus wouldn’t allow it.

The fact that she was fighting on par with Amethus at close range proved her skill.

‘…If Niko had been here too, it would have been dangerous.’

But Niko wasn’t here.

It was as I intended. It would take at least ten days for the Whale of Hobel Bay, the 11th Legion, and the 14th Legion to arrive.

‘The Whale of Hobel Bay. It’ll take ten days, but I can’t be sure……. No, he’ll definitely arrive faster than ten days.’

Even while lost in thought, I didn’t stop my hands.

I was still running on the sea, dodging streams of water, and swinging the ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’ toward Nana.

The sea boiled with heat.

My heart grew impatient along with it.

‘I can’t let my guard down.’

This was the first step.

I had opened the floodgates to the empire’s collapse.

I steeled my resolve once more.

‘Nana Nereyades dies today.’

***

I raised my voice.

“Amethus!”

Shouting, I swung the ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’ even more fiercely.

As ‘Fantasy Finger’ changed its trajectory here and there, the iron bloodline flew in from all directions.

While Nana groaned as she blocked it, Amethus leaped back greatly.

Nana saw it.

She saw the white mask Amethus took out from his bosom, and how a jade-colored flame began to flicker as his hand touched it.

Her carapace-covered limbs buzzed and vibrated.

Nana gritted her teeth.

“An Ancient Weapon……!”

Just like the ‘Sinew of the Great Sea,’ Amethus’s mask was also the remains of an ancient god.

It was a memory left behind by the being worshiped on Arete Island, the Breath of Light.

Amethus put on the mask.

Jade-colored flames fell from the sky and surrounded his head.

[…Take my face…….]

An auditory hallucination was heard.

Yet, it was heard clearly by Shion, Amethus, and Nana alike.

[…Remember me. Live on, holding onto me, whom no one will remember, until the end…….]

His name was Light.

Breath of Light, Breathing Light, Altemaios, it was correct to call him any of those.

Since no one remembered his name, there was no reason for any name given to be wrong.

It was only clear that he was an ancient god who resembled the sun.

[…Please… do not… leave… me… so, alone, lonely…….]

The auditory hallucination faded.

The jade-colored flame did as well.

The sun seemed to set, but dawn broke in Amethus’s two eyes.

As if they had absorbed all the brilliant jade-colored flames, his two eyes blazed and blazed again.

Sunrise.

A jade-colored sun rose in Amethus’s two eyes.

Allowing the remains of an ancient god to transform one’s soul is called Ancient Transformation.

It is the deepest state reached by those who use Ancient Weapons.

Amethus had not yet reached it.

He had only just begun to use an Ancient Weapon.

But he was Amethus, and he was already menacing enough to be excessive.

“Nana.”

The double-edged sword was sharp.

By the time she saw the flash of its blade, she had already been cut.

A diagonal wound appeared on Nana’s chest.

She was not the only one cut.

Along the diagonal line’s extension, the garrisoned ships and the sea itself split open with a crack.

“I have no grudge against you.”

That was a lie. Amethus resented Nana.

Niko Nereyades, her grandfather, knew the secret of Arete Island.

If so, he couldn’t be certain that she didn’t know either.

Even Ferbias had deceived him, so he couldn’t believe Nana wouldn’t have deceived him.

But he decided to say he didn’t resent her.

At least, he decided to pretend so.

Because he knew her life, he decided to just let it be.

Therefore, his sword held no emotion.

It would only take her life in a businesslike and dutiful manner.

“Amethus sunbae……!”

“You’re slow, Nana.”

“…You’re just too fast, senior!”

Nana suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.

It seemed they had had a similar conversation during their academy days.

They had sparred often, and Amethus had been incredibly fast back then too.

Swords and fists were exchanged.

The sword was imbued with jade-colored flame, and the fist was covered in sea-colored carapace.

Since both held the power of an ancient god, the world whined every time they clashed.

Among the elites of the 9th Legion, let alone the fishmen, there was no one who did not hide in fear.

The sea is vast.

A horde of twenty thousand fishmen, the elite fleet of the 9th Legion.

But the fishmen hid in the sea, and the elites of the 9th Legion hid below deck.

Only three stood. Nana, Amethus, Shion. All three stood proudly on the sea as if it were a matter of course.

Watching Nana and Amethus clash, I summoned a shadow.

It was Mana Armor Valziart.

Seeing the two of them imbued with the power of an ancient god, I too felt the urge to wear something.

Dressed in shadow armor, my movements also became a notch lighter.

“…Ugh!”

Nana was cornered.

Amethus’s sword was fierce, and my heated iron bloodline was heavy.

She had used her Ars and an Ancient Weapon, but Amethus and I had unveiled new powers as if we had been waiting for it.

“…Where, just where did you bring such a person from……!”

She glared at me.

Amethus was a genius among geniuses who was expected to take a seat among the Imperial Ten Great Generals from the start.

But Shion, a man she had never seen before, was this strong.

She couldn’t even imagine that I was still holding back my most powerful Ars.

“…But, I am Nana!”

Nana swam through the air.

Amethus’s sword cut her ankle, but she swam on as if flying, scattering drops of blood.

She headed for me once again.

“Nana, Nereyades-!!!”

She kicked her feet three times as if splashing in the water and just like that, she was in front of me.

A fist covered in sea-colored carapace tried to smash my head.

An invisible hand blocked her, but it was not enough.

My head was about to be crushed, but I was not flustered.

The second Ars of the Septem Arcana.

‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps.’

Nana’s body was pushed back. Her fist cut through the empty air.

The Ars that pushes away things with a will had sent her far away from me.

I once again swung the heated iron bloodline. Amethus charged from behind with his double-edged sword.

Nana broke out in a cold sweat.

“Nana. I’ll tell you the reason for your defeat.”

“……Shut up!”

“First. You fought with your bare hands even though you actually use a spear.”

There were two reasons she didn’t use a spear.

First, since the retired Seven-Forged General Marina Debius used a spear, she didn’t want to be told she was just imitating her.

Second, because it was Niko who taught her how to use a spear, she couldn’t help but think of that old man when she used it.

“Second. Your Ars is more advantageous on land with many obstacles, not in the open sea.”

‘Freestyle’ is an Ars that allows one to swim in all directions.

If we had fought in a forest or a city, it would have been incredibly tricky.

What could one do when she could freely move through walls, ceilings, and the ground?

But we were in the middle of the great sea. It was extremely disadvantageous for Nana.

“Third. You didn’t prepare for these weaknesses, even though you know them better than anyone else.”

The double-edged sword broke through Nana’s defense.

A crack appeared on the sea-colored carapace, and blood scattered.

Once the defense was breached, the rest was easy.

The heated iron bloodline struck relentlessly.

The cracked carapace soon turned to dust.

“These three points of arrogance are why you die today.”

“Ah……”

The heated iron bloodline whipped across her face.

Her cheek turned red and smelled of burning.

Amethus’s double-edged sword slithered in through the opening like a snake.

The jade-colored eyes wavered for a moment, but the tip of the sword did not tremble.

Watching the double-edged sword aiming to pierce her own throat, Nana Nereyades finally closed her eyes.

‘Grandfather…….’

***

Hot blood stained the sea.

The smell of burning lingered over the red sea.

Amethus’s double-edged sword cut bone and my heated iron bloodline burned flesh.

But I could only let out a sigh.

“…Damn it.”

My face contorted.

“Still, this is too much. Don’t you think, Amethus?”

“…It certainly is too much. It’s a distance that takes twenty days by high-speed ship……”

“You heard him, right?”

I looked at the sky.

The sun was at its zenith.

“…Half a day from Hobel Bay to here is too much, Niko!”

“Shut up.”

The old man stood up, bleeding.

The reason he was bleeding was simple.

He had leaped over from far across the sea and taken the double-edged sword and heated iron bloodline with his body in place of his granddaughter.

Nana carefully opened her mouth toward the large old man who had protected her.

“…Grandfather?”

“Yes, it is Niko, General.”

“…How are you here?”

“It is disloyal of me to say, but I was worried about you, General, so I have been nearby all along. I ran here as soon as the fight broke out, but I was late. Please forgive me.”

The Whale of Hobel Bay embraced his granddaughter with his wounded body.

Nana flinched but did not refuse.

Usually, he was a grandfather she wanted to push away.

No, she didn’t even want to think of him as a grandfather.

But today, she just couldn’t bring herself to do that.

“How dare you……”

The old man’s name is Niko Nereyades.

Commander of the Cordis 11th Legion, former 9th seat of the Imperial Ten Great Generals, the Nine Harbors General, the man who struck the Emperor’s face, the Whale of Hobel Bay and above all, the grandfather of Nana Nereyades.

“…Two young men ganged up on one delicate girl.”

“…An Imperial Ten Great General is not delicate, Niko.”

“A descendant of Aretion, I see. That doesn’t matter.”

Niko scoffed.

He remembered Amethus and me.

One was the kid from seven years ago, and the other was the Emperor’s right-hand man from seven years ago.

Back then, they were chasing and being chased by each other, but it seemed they had become allies in the meantime.

But that didn’t matter at all.

He was just so angry it was hard to bear.

He trembled, his white beard quivering.

“The only thing that matters is the fact that you bastards laid a hand on my granddaughter.”

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