59. With Death and Words.

If someone transformed, they would undeniably become stronger. If an opponent became stronger, they would become more bothersome to take care of. Therefore, according to Davey’s flawless logic, he had concluded that he should attack without hesitation.

Clash!! Boom!

Davey immediately charged in and tackled Pace to the ground. Then, he quickly used his two twin swords to pierce through Pace’s arms and pinned him down. Soon, alongside a destructive sound, the surroundings were overcome by a great pressure and began forming a nasty gravity field.

“Co—Cough… You coward…”

“I’m about to show you something better than that disgusting transformation. What do you think?”

“You will never be able to kill me. That blue sword is damaging, but do you think you’ll be able to do something with that lowly power?!”

[Bl… Blue Ribbon can do it!!]

‘Be a good girl and wait patiently.’

‘You’re underestimating Blue Ribbon too much. She hasn’t even shown you anything yet.’

If Davey wanted to let Pace go easily, he could’ve just done it with the power of Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon. Pace seemed to think that this was the limit to the twin swords’ power, but their abilities were amplified based on how much power Davey put into them.

At last, the method Davey chose was…

“Do you know something called ‘brutal murder’?”

“What?!”

[5th level Holy Magic]

[Holy Fire Ball]

Boom!! As if a huge defibrillator was shocking someone’s heart, a white shock wave made of intense holy power burst through Davey’s palm and into Pace’s face.

Pace groaned loudly and glared at Davey with strange, half-closed eyes. “This is not nearly…!”

[6th level Holy Magic]

[Holy Fire Ball]

Boom!!!!

“Keuhuk! Gurgle… Keugh?!”

‘[Holy Fire Ball] is a powerful demon-type attack… Perhaps it doesn’t affect you that much? Then, how about this?’

[7th level Holy Magic]

[Holy Fire Ball]

Boom!!! The huge crater vibrated once again and became deeper. A crater within a crater; the overall size began expanding…

“Does it hurt? There’s still more.”

“W… Wait?! S—Sto…”

[8th level Holy Magic]

[Revised Holy Fire Ball]

It was much smaller than the replica of [Holy Wings], but a pair of white wings symbolizing God showed up on Davey’s back. He flapped them.

Boom!!!

The shock wave of light was incomparably huge. Pace, crushed into the ground, was distorted in a semi-transformed state, but he was still alive. The fact that he was still regenerating although most of his strange power of immortality had been wiped by Blue Ribbon’s slashes meant that his physical abilities were powerful.

‘It is really best to slash this with Red Ribbon.’

“Ke… Kehehehe!”

As the wings, which symbolized a large amount of holy power, disappeared, the holy power that surrounded Pace disappeared as well.

“Oh, did it end?” Pace commented. Instinctively realizing that the attacks were over, he smirked despite looking half-dead. He went on, “Ke… Kehe. Kehehe! Is that all? Is that all?! That’s right! Damn you! My body is still transforming! When I’m done, I will make sure to rip you into…”

“Not yet.”

Of course, Davey was no longer using holy power, but he was nowhere near done with Pace. He interrupted Pace, then his eyes momentarily shone with a gold light. He grabbed Pace’s face with the hand that was closer. He said, “I have one more shot left.”

“W… Wait?! Stop…!!”

[9th level Holy Magic]

[Strong Spirit]

[Finger of God]

[Great Holy Fire Ball]

It was the ultimate level of [Holy Fire Ball]. Davey was using [Strong Spirit], a 9th level holy magic spell, and [Holy Fire Ball], which was a little different due to the effect of [Strong Spirit]. The mechanism was similar to a poke of a finger, but this was being done with God’s finger.

Davey usually stayed away from 9th level holy magic spells because they had a long rebound effect, but…

‘I will attack you with all that I’ve got.’

And the power…

‘Will hurt quite a bit.’

Boom!!! A huge explosion engulfed the entire surroundings along with strange, white feathers and white luminescence.

* * *

The news that Swordmaster Marquis Enza, who went to stop Prince Davey, and Pace, the incredibly powerful vampire, had lost resonated tremendously within the rebel army. First Prince Davey, who won against the monster that had threatened to slaughter a great number of people without blinking an eye, was marching towards them. Furthermore, the royalist army that followed Davey was now much larger compared to before. The freed rebel forces, the oppressed, and the powers who were testing the waters had all joined him.

As Davey’s ranks kept multiplying and most of the rebel army was on their way to the royal palace, the core of the rebels was just hanging on by a thread. There was no way that the rebels still had the will to fight, especially since they weren’t that motivated in the first place.

The army was still a force to reckon with in terms of numbers, but they knew that the thousands of soldiers at the Verbooth Fortress had been destroyed in just a few hours. Only a few had probably actually fought with their swords, but the fact remained that the army was very shaken up. Their main army was already on another route leading to the royal palace; the only outcome left for them was to surrender while completely surrounded or to be slaughtered.

Boom!!! Boom!! The explosion far away vibrated the entire tent. It was clear that it was the sound of the battle mages—though not the wizard tower’s elite—whom Duke Bariatta had been preparing in secret.

Boom!! Boom!! The explosions continued. Even while the ground was shaking, Duke Bariatta silently stared down at his hand with a tense expression.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

This was a battle they could not lose; even without that vampire Pace, his airtight plan and the numerous secret weapons should’ve been enough for him to win without any problems. However, everything went wrong because of one person. It all went wrong because of the first prince Davey O’Rowane, the son of Lennie Alishad, the woman from a nameless baron family located on the outskirts of the kingdom who had risen to the throne instead of his daughter Lynesse, who was originally chosen. Duke Bariatta had used a large sum of money to buy new dwarf-made weapons to be prepared, but the weapons of Davey’s army that were engraved with his strange energy couldn’t be slashed with blue steel easily; it actually worked worse than regular steel.

The price of accepting it knowing it was a trap was ruthless. Duke Bariatta didn’t scream about how this wasn’t possible, but just stared down at his hands.

‘Every flow must have its ebb.’

Davey had told him this when he tried to drive him out with his stigmata and make Carlus the seigneur of the Heins territory.

‘Duke, there is a saying from a very far place. ‘Every flow has its ebb.’ It means that all periods of good fortune have an end. Do you understand me?’

Everything deteriorated with time. Perhaps Davey had predicted this situation then and had prepared for it. No, there was no actual preparation; it was just Duke Bariatta’s mistake to bite at the delicious bait in the trap.

“Ah… Ahh! P—Please?!”

Boom!!!! With a dense sound, one of the large nobles tumbled into the tent. He was fried to a crisp.

“Groan… Squeak…” The man crawled on the floor, groaning in pain. His skin burned unbearably.

“You didn’t run away?”

There were still thousands of rebel soldiers here, and a small number of the battle mages who hadn’t died were probably left as well. However, that didn’t matter considering the situation now. Furthermore, about half of the soldiers were forced to serve; there was no way these soldiers would choose to be loyal to them as they had no legitimate reason. All of them would dissemble into a mess or oppose them if they were given the chance. Duke Bariatta would have used that to pressure them to extend more control over them if they were at an advantage, but the boy in front of his eyes had messed up everything and had led their army to flee. A few of them were attacking his army in anger at what they had to endure for all this time. Even in the midst of this chaos, Duke Bariatta looked up at Davey and said, “You should not have awakened from your coma.”

“You’re right. That was probably your last opportunity.”

“…”

“Davey…” Carlus, who was nervously sitting beside Duke Bariatta, stood up, trembling. Then, he grabbed a bow from the table, loaded it with an arrow, and pointed it at Davey. It was just like he did the day he had participated in the competition at ten years old. “You damn lowly being! You are an obstacle until the end!”

“Get your facts straight, idiot little brother. You should understand that you’ve caused this situation, not me.”

‘Your stupidity from the moment you’ve shot me with an arrow has left our kingdom in this state. Unlike Queen Lynesse who used vampires without leaving any evidence, you blatantly dealt with vampires and kidnapped people as sacrifices for them.’

“Well, since you kept quiet even when you knew about it, Duke, you’re probably old news now, too.”

“The vampires have unbelievable power. If one could harness that power, we could be untouchable conquerors.”

“Those snobby nobles just used you,” Davey scoffed and mumbled, then stared at Carlus, who was trembling like he was about to release his bowstring. Davey asked, “Why do you think I didn’t kill you and Queen Lynesse?”

“What?”

“It’s because I don’t intend to.”

‘So that you can suffer in pain forever.’

“Don’t even think of running away through death.”

‘Especially you and your brother Benedict.’

“A… Ah!!!” No longer able to hold back, Carlus let go of his bowstring in anger.

A luxury bow made with a unicorn’s horn from the western continent was much more elastic than normal ones; it was powerful enough to penetrate human skin without a problem. And since Carlus was able to use it, it was probably a first-class weapon with all kinds of supporting magic spells on it.

Swish!! Splatter!!! Soon, a horrifying sound of penetration was heard.

“Keuahh!!!!”

A terrible scream rang throughout the tent from none other than Carlus. The arrow that should have flown toward Davey had been seized in one fluid motion, and before he knew it, Carlus’ eye had been struck by the arrow. It was amazing how Carlus was even alive after a fatal hit like that.

“Wheeze… Keugh… Ah!!!!”

Ignoring Carlus, who was screaming and rolling on the ground with his hand on his bloody eye, Davey glanced over at Duke Bariatta.