Chapter 174

I set out at dawn.

I had only closed my eyes for a very short while, but my body felt light. No particular armament was necessary.

The seven secrets within my soul, the ‘Septem Arcana,’ were sufficient.

If I were to add anything, it would be Mana Armor Valziart.

“I’ll be back, Amethus.”

“Alright.”

The jade-eyed man saw me off.

I pouted my lips, pretending to be disappointed.

“You’re not even worried that I’m going to fight the Whale of Hobel Bay?”

“Niko is a legend of the old era.”

Amethus said.

“He only cooped himself up in Hobel Bay, but he is a man who is in no way inferior to the Great Emperor’s three confidants.”

“Yeah. And I’m going to fight a man like that.”

“Are you going to die?”

“No.”

“Then that’s settled.”

Amethus trusted me.

It didn’t mean he respected my character or anything of the sort, but he firmly believed that I wouldn’t die, even if I were killed, before bringing down the Empire.

The Regressor Prince chuckled.

“It is the time of secrets.”

***

Sunrise.

Sunlight shattered over the dawn sea.

Ships lined the horizon.

It was the fleet of the Cordis 9th, 11th, and 14th Legions.

There were twelve large warships alone, and if you included all the smaller vessels, it came to two hundred and fifty.

It was more than enough to turn the Bururade Peninsula into a wasteland.

The sentries of the West were all terrified.

Even those who were not on watch could not sleep due to fear and loitered outside for no reason.

The fleet alone was fearsome, but to have two Imperial Ten Great Generals as well, there was no one whose heart was not seized by despair.

Amidst the hearts soaked in despair and fear, the Regressor Prince walked out aloofly.

His blond hair was always brilliant under the sunlight.

It was not that I did not know despair and fear.

It was just that I had been tormented for so long that I had lost even the energy to be afraid.

I strode between the waves and the sunlight.

Likewise, there was another man walking on the sea.

He had come out alone, leaving the hundreds of ships he could command at his back.

Such a man could only be Niko Nereyades.

I pushed through despair and fear.

Niko set aside authority and arrogance.

One was a young man and the other was an old man.

At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.

Tens of thousands of pairs of eyes watched them.

The Western side, which had hastily gathered reinforcements, had a little over ten thousand soldiers.

The Empire, even excluding the fishmen, had fifteen thousand elite soldiers from three legions.

Even while receiving a terrifyingly large number of gazes, I and Niko did not waver in the slightest.

Rather, the two men standing on the sea overwhelmed the tens of thousands and that was before they had even done anything.

The quiet sea.

The sky is colored by the breaking dawn.

And the two men between them.

The two who hated bloodshed, yet were more inured to it than anyone else.

Two heroes who had lived on, dragging their hearts that had turned to mush under the weight of their burdens.

“Let’s have a fight, kid.”

The old hero opened his mouth.

He looked behind him, at the elites of the three Cordis legions.

They were young men who wanted to show off their strength by shedding the blood of others.

They could do so because they did not yet know the weight of blood.

But if so, he would have to teach them. An old man has such a duty.

“Let’s show those clueless youngsters what a proper fight is. How fierce, how smelly, and how terrible it is.”

Niko Nereyades bared his teeth and smiled.

He caught a scent from me.

The smell of blood, the smell of screams, the smell of tears.

It was a stench that could only be emitted by one who had come to realize what a fight was, yet lived a life where he could not put down the fight. In other words, he was of the same kind as Niko.

“So that no one dares to say they want to fight anymore. So that they run back to the mainland right away, saying they can’t fight anymore, and don’t even dare to jump into such a foolish thing as war. To that extent, to the point where their spirit is not just broken, but their blood runs dry……”

The old man laughed heartily.

He was like a mischievous boy.

There was nothing strange about it.

Regardless of how others saw him, Niko considered himself to still be like a child and why wouldn’t he?

He felt hadn’t changed much since his childhood when he used to catch fish and splash in the water.

“Let’s have that kind of fight.”

“Yes, let’s have a fight.”

I chuckled.

I did not like fighting.

It had been like that since I was young.

I was talking about my real childhood, before the regression and yet, I was forced to keep fighting, which was a deplorable state of affairs.

I couldn’t help but find those bastards who excitedly started fights annoying.

“Let’s have a fight that makes them realize just how deeply cutting, how painful, and how agonizing a fight is, Niko.”

“Risking our lives?”

“Of course, risking our lives.”

I raised a finger and pointed at Niko.

I said, as if declaring.

“You die here today, Niko.”

“I already know.”

Niko snorted with his arms crossed.

“But you will die too, Shion.”

“Will it turn out that way?”

“I will make it so.”

“Alright. Do as you please.”

A thick vein popped on my neck.

Hundreds of invisible hands created foam on the sea.

Niko quietly gripped his super-sized oar.

The sea, terrified by the spirit of the two men, grew quiet.

Seven flames flickered in my blue eyes.

“Because I’m going to act as I please too.”

***

Niko leaped forward.

He tried to stomp on me with his monstrously large soles.

‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps.’ The second, repelling Ars.

Niko already knew.

He had not forgotten the memory of seven years ago.

He swung the super-sized oar in a wide arc as if it didn’t matter if he was pushed back.

A wave rose.

It was close to a tidal wave.

It was a natural consequence of him swinging the super-sized oar, which would have required twenty grown men to handle, as if it were a tree branch.

Neither the wave nor the oar had a will.

They could not be pushed away by ‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps.’

The same went for not being able to block them with ‘Fantasy Finger.’

That was why I tore out the thick vein from my own neck.

The third Ars, ‘Heated Iron Bloodline.’

Filthily hot and filthily heavy.

The iron bloodline coiled around the super-sized oar.

The weight of my soul did not lose to Niko’s monstrous strength.

The heat of my soul began to burn the super-sized oar. Niko scoffed and shook off the iron bloodline.

The iron bloodline, which could split a warship in two with a single blow, was no challenge for Niko.

I, as if fishing, swung the iron bloodline from a distance.

Even Niko could not approach easily.

Not only did ‘Fantasy Finger’ twist the trajectory of the iron bloodline here and there, but that line was so filthily hot that just touching it would elicit a scream.

But there was a countermeasure.

“Hmph.”

Niko stomped his foot.

The surface of the water shattered, and he was doused in seawater.

The salty water hit his eyes, nose, and mouth, but he paid it no mind.

He charged in that state.

The iron bloodline struck his skin.

Steam spread with a terrible pain.

But thanks to being covered in seawater, a deep wound was not left.

“……”

I silently donned Valziart.

Niko was already right in front of me.

‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps’ began to push the old man away, but Niko’s attack was faster. I knew it too.

I would have to take one hit.

Niko’s fist slammed into my torso, which was clad in Valziart.

The old man with large hands also had large fists, and it was as if he had caved in my stomach.

With a gasp, I vomited blood. Some pieces of my internal organs were also mixed in.

If you get hit, it’s polite to return the favor.

‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps’ pushed Niko away, and I had already swung the iron bloodline, predicting where he would be pushed.

I bit my lip and swung with all my might.

More blood was added to the corner of my mouth.

The iron bloodline struck Niko’s shin.

A terrible sound and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Even if he was Niko Nereyades, he could not help but let out a pained scream.

I and Niko glared at each other.

The area around my mouth was covered in blood.

Even my teeth were completely red. Niko’s shin was burned black.

A black mark remained as if a black snake had passed by, and he limped.

“This is boring.”

Niko said.

“How long is this child’s play going to last, kid Shion.”

“I was waiting for you to end it?”

Both of them acted as if they were uninjured and indeed, their bodies began to heal quickly.

They still felt the gazes.

The sea roiled madly just from me and Niko clashing.

The crowd surrounding them could not take their eyes off the fight.

A sense of awe could be felt.

A little bit of admiration too.

“Look at them.”

“To be surprised by a fight of this level, they certainly need to learn.”

“Still, we have to live up to their expectations.”

“You want to get serious already?”

“There’s no harm in being a little hasty, is there?”

“Let’s just say it’ll be spectacular.”

The two men faced each other and smiled.

On the surface, there seemed to be a fifty-year age difference, but they chuckled with a hint of playfulness as if that didn’t matter.

“Here I come, kid Shion. You’d better be prepared.”

Niko took out the Ancient Weapon ‘Sinew of the Great Sea.’ He wrapped the cord around his arm and then bit it like a gag in his own mouth.

It was as if he had put a bridle on himself.

The remains of the ancient god began to transfer their power to him.

Ancient Weapons are dangerous, and also tricky.

That is because of the immense power they hold.

Nana Nereyades did not yet properly know what an Ancient Weapon was, nor how to use it.

Niko just didn’t say it, but her Ancient Transformation was utterly incomplete.

Niko had spent 33 years as an Imperial Ten Great General.

This meant he had been the master of the ‘Sinew of the Great Sea’ for 33 years, an unprecedented feat in the thousand-year history of the Empire.

He was more familiar with the ‘Sinew of the Great Sea’ than anyone else, and the ‘Sinew of the Great Sea’ also liked Niko Nereyades more than anyone else.

The Ancient Weapon rampaged in Niko’s hand.

It was as if it were happy to see its master, its friend, again after a long time.

His body grew thicker.

His already massive body became twice as large as another person’s, scales sprouted all over his body, and immense power writhed from various parts of his body.

The waves circled around him in a sign of reverence. He became like a dragon in human form.

Niko transforms into something that is not Niko.

And yet, he is still Niko.

Ancient Transformation.

Great Sea Dragonoid Neptunus.

***

“You’re the one who should be careful.”

I let go of the chains that held my heart.

It was to release what had been rampaging.

The thumping sound that echoed from the depths of my soul grew closer.

This was the sound of footsteps.

It was the sound of the real Shion, imprisoned in my soul, wailing and charging forward.

“…My scream is quite heavy, you see.”

[Poesia…….]

A sob.

[Poesia, Poesia, my beautiful Chyallo flower…….]

The woman cried from her empty eye sockets.

She was crying in my heart, but even Niko could hear her.

Tears of blood soaked the surroundings, turning the sea red.

[…Where did you go, Shion, our Poesia has disappeared……. She is gone forever…….]

The woman cries.

I gradually began to change.

A hatred that could no longer be contained began to rise up my throat.

[Ah, my child, my daughter, my, my… joy……. Where on earth, who on earth…….]

“It was them.”

I gritted my teeth.

‘Fantasy Finger’ rushed at its master, grabbed his jaw, and began to tear it open.

My mouth was torn all the way down to my chest. ‘Fantasy Finger’ did not stop and ripped apart my skin and muscles.

“They took her away……”

The hands that were originally invisible became visible to Niko’s eyes.

I tore myself to shreds with thousands of hands. Blood splattered, entrails spilled out, and tears flowed.

“……”

And from my chest, a scream, a black and gaunt heat, crawled out.

That black and gaunt thing was the real Shion.

The one who could no longer live, who could only live without being able to die, who tried to stand up but couldn’t and crawled on all fours, trembling, begging to be allowed to rest now, that miserable thing was Shion.

“Get up.”

I, with only my skin remaining, roared.

I cruelly commanded my own soul, which had withered miserably and burned out completely.

My soul struggled, begging to be allowed to rest now, to forget everything, to just be quiet, but I paid it no mind.

“Get up!”

The ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’ poured out from my skin.

It was like millions of snakes.

The iron bloodline wrapped around my own soul.

It coiled around that thing that had turned to charcoal, which had lost even the strength to stand and could only emit heat, choked it, and forced it to stand.

“Get up, Shion Pollinglight-!!!”

He becomes huge.

He becomes huge and huge again.

So huge that the deep sea only came up to his waist.

But the body wrapped in the iron bloodline was bent.

His neck and back were bent forward, making his chest and head look like a single lump and his hands and feet were grotesquely large. The black hunchback is crying.

The eye sockets, from which tears of blood streamed, melted and flowed down.

The entire sea turned a fishy, bright red.

‘Fantasy Finger’ latched onto the hunchback’s jaw.

Thousands of hands tore the jaw open in an instant, all the way down to the chest.

Only then, a groan came out.

“Ko……”

Shion Pollinglight’s fourth secret,

‘He is imprisoning.’

“Oh, Ko-oh, oh……”

The corresponding fourth Ars of the Septem Arcana.

‘The Screaming Hunchback.’

“…Co-r-diiisss–!!!”

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