80: Zenith’s Sword (3)

Sable faltered at the magic which came from behind.

He felt dizzy at the unexpected attack. However, it wasn’t a strong attack so he was able to withstand it.

The problem was the next attack.

“Take this too!”

A sphere composed of holy power flew in from the front.

He tried to defend himself, but for a moment his body went stiff. And it was the influence of the magic which had hit him.

‘Was it lightning magic?’

Apart from destructive power, lightning magic could paralyse nerves.

Sable looked at the sphere condensed at the fist of Ricky with a troubled expression.

Tch, he clicked his tongue. He had to take the attack.

A dazzling light burst out so bright that nothing could be seen.

He felt pain all over his body.

The holy power of the Goddess he was hostile to came in with destructive force.

‘Hmm.’

He winced at the sizzling pain in his body.

He was able to move.

Sable gave strength to his legs and held on.

‘The Reverse of Causality’ could get him out of the crisis.

‘The price.’

His right arm twisted.

It was his right arm which got sacrificed.

And the price felt less. Because if he stayed there, he would have become miserable.

But that wasn’t the end.

Shhh!

The wind.

Sable raised the sword with his left hand.

Clang!

His arm bent back at the terrifying power.

And the attack flew in again.

However, it wasn’t very difficult to block the attack.

Shhh!

This time, before his hand moved back.

Sable put strength in his hand and waited to check the face of the enemy in front of him.

“… why are you here?”

“That is what I want to ask.”

Beryl frowned as he looked at Sable who had blocked his sword.

He blocked the sword master’s sword not once but twice.

The first time could be a miracle, but the second time it wasn’t.

Beryl asked again.

“Explain why you, the aide of the Marquis, is trying to kill the apostle of the Pyro Goddess. And the holy power from you!”

“Things are getting troublesome. You, who is supposed to be away from Apton, intervened. This is completely a mess.”

“Stop talking nonsense and answer me!”

“He is a paladin of the Zenith Church!”

The answer came from behind.

Ricky rushed to Lars and informed Beryl about Sable’s identity.

Beryl stared at Sable in disgust.

“… minion of Zenith?”

“I am not a minion. Please refrain from making such vulgar remarks. I am the first sword of God Zenith!”

At that, Beryl was shocked.

He knew what the ‘first sword’ meant.

“You are the head of the Seven Knights.”

“Haha. You seem to be aware of it.”

“Dirty and disgusting. And you stayed with the Marquis for 5 years…!”

Beryl couldn’t stand it and was about to say more, but someone called from behind.

“Sir Onyx!”

“Why are you stopping me, Jamie?”

Sable saw Jamie appearing from behind.

The boy, no different from usual, was looking at him with the same expression as usual.

“J-Jamie!”

“Later.”

Ricky greeted him warmly, but Jamie’s answers were serious.

Jamie left behind Ricky who was crying and spoke to Beryl.

“There is something I need to check with him.”

“Young master, you have questions for me?”

“Stop calling me young master.”

“Haha. If it bothers you, sure… “

“Why did you release the demon?”

Sable smiled at the straight question.

“You thought that you wouldn’t fail? If not that, did you think that it didn’t matter even if you were caught?”

“Young master. You make a sharp statement.”

“Not young master.”

“Haha. You seem a little angry. Well- neither is wrong. It is true that failure wasn’t in mind, and it didn’t matter even if we were caught.”

Jamie didn’t understand that.

The former didn’t matter, but the latter would cause a huge blow to the Zenith church.

A contract with Demons.

Since the existence itself was a symbol of evil, those who followed the demons were treated as traitors of mankind.

And a church had made a contract with those beings.

A leader in the rank of an archbishop in that church making contracts with those beings would be a huge blow.

“Even if it was Zenith Church, I don’t think it can handle the backlash.”

“Those are wise words.”

“So why…?”

“I have no reason to tell you. We haven’t even known each other for long, have we?”

It was right.

Jamie turned his head and spoke to Ricky.

“Healing brother Lars. Can you do it?”

“Y-yes!”

“Brother Jamie, are you here?”

Anna, not knowing what was happening, clinged to Ricky and asked.

The two were the reason for the fight.

And they shouldn’t die in the hands of Sable.

Jamie turned his head again.

“The scent of flowers is terrifying.”

Beryl mumbled that while he was still blocking the sword.

And Jamie agreed to that.

It was making his head throb. This scent was different from what he first felt.

“It is because I am cornered.”

Sable continued to look at people gathered.

“So all have gathered here?”

Jamie shook his head.

“There is another one.”

“Looks like we have more troops. Haha. This is turning out to be pretty daunting.”

“No. Just one.”

“One?”

Did adding another person change anything?

Before Sable asked who it was, Jamie dispelled the invisibility spell.

And the person who appeared, Sable, had no choice but to stiffen his expression.

“Marquis.”

It was Marquis Bell who was concealed by the invisibility magic.

And now there was no need for that.

The cold-faced Marquis opened his mouth.

“Sable. I want to understand you.”

“…”

“You were the one who did this?”

At that question, Sable couldn’t help but sigh.

“I never thought that I would be seeing my Lord, whom I served for 5 years in a place like this.”

Sable answered with a bitter face, rubbing the nape of his neck.

“Yes. Everything was done according to my plan. And it failed due to some variables.”

Sable looked at Jamie when he said that.

Oddly enough, Jamie couldn’t feel any emotions in that gaze.

And the Marquis said,

“Then your approach to me must have been intentional.”

The Marquis sighed as he looked at Sable being silent.

“Do you remember 5 years ago?”

“I remember. Vickers Kingdoms.”

5 years ago.

There was a small war in Vickers Kingdom which was beyond the North.

Marquis Bell was the commander-in-chief.

The Vickers Kingdom was small compared to the Seldam Kingdom. And the odds were higher. Combat was easy.

So, he thought it was only a matter of time to end the war.

Then came the massive counterattack from the enemy. In terms of the size of the kingdom, the troops which came were unreasonable.

The flow of war had changed, and the battlefield turned fierce.

It was the time when an arrow flew towards the Marquis.

-Dangerous, Marquis!

The young man he saw for the first time threw himself to block the arrow.

In a situation where everyone was looking after themselves, only this one young man did his best to protect him.

-What’s your name?

-Sable. I am a wandering mercenary.

That was their first meeting.

Without thinking about anything else, Marquis hired the lifesaver.

But somehow, the abilities turned out to be outstanding.

Despite being a wanderer, he surpassed the nobles.

-It is my dream to be in a position next to the Marquis.

Sable smiled brightly as he said that.

A task entrusted to him, and he rarely made a mistake.

Thanks to that, the sales of the business handled by Sable for the Marquis jumped several times higher.

And Marquis continued to trust him.

And it was around three years ago.

The old aide went back to his home due to chronic illness.

-I will do it. I can do my best to support the Marquis.

Because he was the reliable Sable, the Marquis gave him the post.

And he did his best. And the results were worth it.

-Come into the family as my adopted son.

It was a pity to leave him as a commoner.

And it was clear that Sable wouldn’t cause damage to the name ‘Bell’.

But Sable refused.

-The name Bell is too much for me. As long as I can be with the Marquis, that is all I need.

He had no greed.

And Marquis understood what he meant.

That Sable would be the same whether he was the adopted son or not.

A reliable aide, the pride of the Marquis who faithfully carried out everything.

That was until this incident.

“From where was it planned?”

“From the beginning.”

“… from the moment the arrow came at me?”

“The arrow too was planned.”

All planned for today.

“You could have stayed hidden, but why did the head of the Seven Knights come out?”

“Wouldn’t this be more fun?”

Sable’s expression as he said those words were innocent.

Marquis closed his eyes.

He benefited a lot from Sable, and he tasted joy a lot. He wanted to hope that this was all a lie, but the reality was cruel.

His expression, which was filled with regret, calmed.

And when he opened his eyes again, only cold emotionless eyes appeared.

“Then all fine. You will have to die here.”

An emotionless voice.

Sable realized that the Marquis had completely accepted the situation.

For 5 years, he had watched the Marquis as he stayed by his side. From now, the Marquis will really do anything to kill him.

“Beryl. Bring his corpse to me.”

“Alright.”

At the command of the Marquis, Beryl went closer to Sable, with the swords still locked together, forming an X.

At that moment, Lars’ voice came.

“No, his power reverses the results! Something about reverse of effect because of cause! Please think before moving in.”

“Haha. The ability is out. I didn’t want to tell you.”

Sable smiled.

Beryl vowed to crush that smile.

“Jamie. You know what to do even if I don’t tell you, right?”

“Leave it to me.”

He thought of helping Beryl, but this was a battle between Sword Masters.

And if he tries to help, then he would be a burden to Beryl.

Jamie went to Ricky, Anna and Lars, and even brought the Marquis with him. A place to hide and be safe.

“Be careful.”

“Don’t worry.”

Beryl’s confident answer made Jamie teleport without hesitation.

And the Two Sword Masters were the only ones left.

Sable laughed and provoked.

“Won’t you be lacking now?”

“Have a taste and you’ll see that nothing is lacking.”

The wind blew.

Sable felt the rushing sword attack and brought down his sword.

Jamie used teleportation to move everyone to a vacant place near the cliff.

The Marquis landed safely and walked to the edge of the cliff. It was to watch the battle.

“You! How did you come here!?”

At that moment, Ricky, who was silent, pulled Jamie’s arm and asked him.

Jamie went close to his ear and spoke so no one would listen.

“How would I know? You are the undead I made before being turned into an apostle. If you are in danger, I will know.”

“No wonder. I did think that.”

Ricky seemed to have expected it.

And then he smiled and spoke about Pyro.

“The Goddess has been restored.”

“I know. The holy power exuding is steady, how could I not know?”

“Hehe. If this situation passes, things might change.”

“We will know. Brother Lars doesn’t seem that good.”

Lars wasn’t in a good condition as his vital points were attacked.

Fortunately, with the holy power of Pyro he did heal him, but he wasn’t fully healed.

“Don’t worry.”

“Anna stay next to Ricky, got it?”

“Huh!”

Jamie stroked Anna’s head and walked over to the Marquis’s side.

“Grandfather.”

“I am fine.”

The Marquis stood on the cliff, watching the two Sword Masters fight fiercely.

Jamie looked there.

‘It is hard to follow with eyes.’

All they could see were afterimages.

And there was only the wind which was Beryl’s power moving around.

As Lars said, Sable’s power was something which reversed the effect.

‘I don’t even know what to say.’

Even in the first two slashes with Beryl, Sable wasn’t using that power.

The two shuffled their words and moved away to a safe distance.

It was then.

“KhuM!”

Blood gushed from Beryl’s right shoulder. Beryl grabbed his shoulder from the injury.

Jamie’s eyes widened.

Sable didn’t attack. Could it be that the sword was so swift that it couldn’t be followed with an eye?

‘That isn’t right.’

He didn’t move.

He didn’t even wield the sword.

Meanwhile, Sable just pretended to wield the sword.

Now he understood what Lars meant.

“It is indeed a terrifying power.”

At the mumble from Marquis, Jamie nodded.

Beryl was nervous and Sable was approaching him leisurely.

He looked up the cliff and smiled.

The ability which could even overwhelm the Sword Master.

Sable moved again.

Beryl responded, but –

“…!”

Soon his face contorted.

Jami saw the object which flew into the air.

“This could happen too.”

Beryl’s neatly severed arm fell into the floor.

Zenith’s First Sword was terrifyingly powerful.