The Great Sword is not the Main Body!
Chapter 213 – Hero

Carpeng’s body, soaring into the sky, was cloaked in a deep [Blood Aura], different from the kind Noah wielded.

Though she was clearly getting farther away, the crimson trail she left behind burned ever brighter, carving massive wounds into Ziz’s body.

Frey was no different.

Even through my blurred vision, I could clearly see her [True Energy] slicing through the dragons’ scales, making no attempt to conceal her presence.

But what they were facing now,   

Were not the dragons I had fought.

Since Ziz’s arrival, the sky had been coated with the Nameless One’s [authority], and the blessings rained down by the hovering Black Sun.

The dragons had become something else,   

No longer simple beasts, but avatars of the Nameless One,   

Beasts worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the Primordial Beasts of the End.

And Ziz, 

Ziz, who hailed from the False Paradise itself, was a monster in a league beyond even the Beasts of the End.

Now, that Ziz had received the Nameless One’s blessing.  

Had been bestowed the [authority] of one who devoured gods.

Even if I fought at my full strength, I couldn’t guarantee victory.

That was the Ziz now before us.

And it was beings weaker than me, Frey and Carpeng, who were holding the line against them.

Naturally, I couldn’t take my eyes off the sky.

“What are you staring at, slack-jawed like that?”

A heavy, composed voice called out.

“Valoran…?”

“It’s good to see you, Kartia. It’s the first time you are seeing me in my true form, rather than as a Beast of the End.”

Valoran’s voice, like Carpeng’s, carried a feeling of clarity.

“Yeah, sure.  

But seriously, cut your damn hair.  

From the back, you look like a girl.”

I forcibly shook off the urgency weighing on my face and slipped back into my usual manner.

“It was the trend back then, you know.”

Valoran chuckled and glanced at my severed arms.

“How are your arms?”

Instinctively, I almost answered “No, they’re fucked”,   

But then I saw Noah’s face next to him, desperately trying to hold herself together.

…I couldn’t say anything but “fine.”

“Not bad.”

“I see.”

Valoran smiled bitterly and nodded.

Then he rummaged through subspace and pulled out something long, handing it to Noah.

“Give this to your master.”

“Uh, sure, but… wait.  

When the hell did you pick this up?”

What Valoran handed over, 

Was the longsword I had dropped earlier.

Noah, hesitant and trembling, finally knelt down and placed it beside me.

I wanted to crack a joke,   

Like, “You think I can use it with no arms, dumbass?”

But my legendary patience kept my mouth shut.

“It’s fine, idiot.”

Noah’s shaking hand gently touched my severed arm.

“D-Don’t lie… to me…”

“Hey now,   

A true disciple trusts even if their master says shit is gold.”

I pressed my forehead lightly against Noah’s, then nudged her back a little harder with a faint laugh.

“Anyway, Valoran, you and Carpeng, how the hell are you two still in those forms?”

Carpeng, especially, she looked exactly as she had before becoming a Beast of the End.

Honestly, she looked healthier than ever.

I could exist like this because I was a fundamentally different being from them.

Sure, there was a method,   

You could manifest using Noah’s lifespan as a price.  

But no one in their right mind would dare use that method, knowing what comes after.

So then, how, 

“What do you mean how?  

You think something Kartia can do, we couldn’t figure out too?”

The answer came from behind Valoran.

From a blind spot hidden by black wings.

“Still as arrogant as ever, even after a thousand years.”

“…Brunhilde?”

“Can’t you tell just by looking?”

“The goddamn attitude gives it away.”

“Big talk for someone who lost both arms because she let her guard down.”

Rustle.   

Not wings of feathers, but membranous wings folded neatly.

“And no, before you ask,   

We didn’t use Noah’s lifespan to do this.”

Brunhilde giggled as she draped an arm around Noah’s shoulders, gently wiping away her tears.

“Your master’s a real mess, huh?”

She whispered sweetly, though her words were venomous.

“Said all that cool shit and ended up like this. If it were me, I’d be too embarrassed to live.”

Noah shook her head furiously, refusing to let Brunhilde’s arm linger.

I, too, pushed myself up and nudged Brunhilde’s side with my foot.

“Don’t say that shit in front of the kid.  

Enough crap, what about the Nameless bitch? Why are you all standing around?”

At that, cracks finally appeared in Brunhilde’s calm facade.

Same with Valoran.

And Noah, 

Her face crumpled as she bit down hard on her lip.

“What, can’t even open your damn eyes properly now?”

I had a million questions, but there was no time for them.

Above us, Frey and Carpeng continued their desperate battle,  

and on this ground, 

The Nameless One’s awakening was unfolding.

I couldn’t afford to dwell on anything else.

So I stomped down on the hilt of the longsword embedded in the soft field of flowers.

Swish!   

The sword spun up, embedding itself firmly.

I stared at it.

Should I hold it with my teeth?  

Jam the hilt into my bloody stumps?

Before I could decide, 

CRACK! KA-CRASH!

A thunderous roar, closer than I expected, gave me my answer.

“Is it Laila?”

“Yeah.”

“With that brat Tylant too?”

“No, he said he had something else to prepare.”

“Hmm.”

I turned my gaze toward the source of the explosions.

All I could see through my blurred vision was the hazy horizon.  

Even when I narrowed my brow and forced magic into my eyes, the result was the same.  

The only way to judge the situation beyond was by the faint noises reaching my ears.

The sporadic bursts of sound,   

If my body were in normal condition, I would have immediately gauged the distance.

So that’s why they made those faces.

Hoping foolishly that rubbing my eyes might clear my vision, I raised my arms.  

But, of course, I couldn’t rub them.

“Oh, right.  

I lost my arms.”

Staring at the stumps waving emptily, I let out a hollow laugh.

Brunhilde turned her head away with a lazy look.  

Valoran looked up toward the sky.

And Noah, 

She kept her head bowed, letting out weak breaths.

A heavy silence.

Contrasting with the relentless roaring of explosions.

Amidst that urgent tension, my mind searched desperately for a solution.

For a long time, 

“From now on, we have maybe a minute.”

Valoran’s voice cut through the heavy air.

“And within that minute, “

At the same time, 

Swoosh!

His wings, scattering black feathers, spread wide, as if to tear the sky apart.

“I will bring down the heavens.”

The Fall of Heaven.

“Brunhilde will shatter them.”

The Breaker of Heaven.

“That is our choice.”

Valoran’s dusk-colored eyes turned to me.

“And you, what will you do?”

I lifted my gaze.

Above, Frey and Carpeng were still locked in a desperate battle.

Lowered my gaze.

There, the longsword, broken once, lost once, was embedded into the soft field.

“And you, what can you do?”

There, Noah, staggering to her feet.

Her complexion pale.  

Even just standing, she struggled for breath.

Thanks to Laila’s aid, the external wounds had healed, but, 

The internal wounds left by the Nameless One, 

Those remained.

The emotions that reached me through [Ki sense] were no different.

Noah’s mind was hanging by a thread, even staying conscious was a miracle.

Yet, 

She stood.

She stood, looking at me.

And, 

“I’ll be… back soon… You stay here and rest.”

Smiling.

I strode straight toward Noah.

Dropped to one knee and looked her in the face.

“Noah.”

She couldn’t even answer properly anymore,   

She only gave me a broken, twisted smile.

Still, I asked.

“What am I to you?”

A childish question.  

A pointless question.

But one I had to ask.

Hearing my question, Noah tilted her head briefly,   

Then, in a voice so faint it could barely be heard, 

She said:

“To me… Kartia is, “

Not the Sword of Victory.

Not a hero.

Not a master.

Not anyone else.

Not anything else.

“Just Kartia.”

An ordinary human.

My friend.

Kartia.

“Yeah.”

That’s right.

“I, “

Who once challenged the gods,   

Who wished to open a new sky, 

Was not a Sword of Victory.  

Was not a hero.  

Was not anything else.

Just, 

Someone who raged.

Someone who grieved.

Someone who trembled in fear.

Someone who hurt.

Someone who laughed.

Someone who loved.

And even now, 

Someone who still chased after hope.

A foolish, 

Ordinary human.

“I am Kartia.”

I proclaimed my name to the world.

Carved my existence into the fabric of this world.

And then, 

Toward the thing sleeping deep within my soul.

Toward the desire that contained everything I was.

I reached out.

And seized, 

The golden thread.

The banner of victory.

The perfect triumph I had yearned for.

And grasped it tightly. 

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