Chapter 423: The Deceived and the Deceiver (3)

Desteran collapsed to the ground, and Chaplin crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut. Serati stared blankly at the sight.

Both of them had been completely neutralized. They were unconscious, and their aura had vanished entirely. But they were alive. Their breathing was steady and their hearts still beating.

She couldn't believe it. What did I just do?

Tesranach was just as stunned. He abruptly turned toward Serati with a baffled expression while in the midst of pressing Karnak and Varos. What was that?

The distraction provided the perfect moment for a counterattack, yet there was none. It was because Karnak and Varos were wearing similarly bewildered expressions.

"Serati?"

"What did you just do?"

Even Grateria was stunned.

—What was that?

Everyone had been stunned into stillness.

—Why is the domination of darkness getting sliced apart like that?

—Was that something you could even cut with a sword?

—And why did the color of the Grace change? Can it even do that?

Flustered, Serati looked back and forth between her companions and the two collapsed men. "I—I just..."

She had to strike them. But she also wanted to save them. She had been caught between the two conflicting emotions when she swung her sword. She had wished that both of them would survive the blow.

Then it dawned on her. She recalled the last time she felt a similar sensation. Ah... Floke.

She had felt similarly when Floke, before Grateria's possession, transformed from a juvenile dragon into a hatchling. Likewise, her wish had become a blessing and descended upon the two of them.

Wait... they're not going to turn into children, are they?

Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. They had simply been rendered unconscious. Serati let out a breath of relief. That scared me.

Tesranach continued staring at her. More precisely, his gaze was fixed on the dark blue-black flames flowing from her entire body.

Her Grace changed?

He too wielded the power of Grace, but such a thing had never happened. The Black God's Grace didn't suddenly become that of a White God.

No... Nothing changed. It was like this from the beginning.

It would be possible if the deity possessed multiple identities, if one was both the Black God and the White God. Only then did Grateria grasp the situation.

—It's the authority of dawn.

If twilight embraced all things as it moved from light into darkness, then dawn burned away darkness as it moved toward light. The Grace of Dawn had severed the chains of domination binding Desteran and Chaplin.

In other words, Serati was no longer merely the Goddess of Twilight. She was the Goddess of Twilight and Dawn. But why? Since when had Serati come to embody the goddess of dawn as well?

Karnak was the first to arrive at the logical conclusion.

—I see! Too many people in this world can't tell the difference between twilight and dawn!

The Twilight Order had clearly taught that Serakal was the Goddess of Twilight and Chaos. They had never once mentioned a goddess of dawn. And yet, when one actually spoke to the believers, quite a few of them assumed she was also the goddess of dawn.

After all, both were transitions between night and day. Weren't twilight and dawn basically the same thing? That grand misunderstanding had seeped into their faith, granting her yet another authority.

Serati found it completely absurd.

—Just for such a simplistic reason?

However, Grateria seemed to accept it.

—Human belief tends to work that way.

In any case, Tesranach no longer had subordinates to distract Serati. He stood completely alone. This was a golden opportunity that would never come again.

Karnak called out to Serati and Varos while reaching into his robe. He pulled out a jet-black cube containing a massive concentration of mana. It was the Anti-Time-Space Transcender.

—We proceed as planned!

***

Dark mana seeped from the cube and surged up through his arms. A vast necromantic force coiled around Karnak's entire body.

Before him stood Varos and Serati. They flanked him left and right while glaring at Tesranach, like knights guarding their lord.

Watching the aura grow denser, Tesranach muttered, "So you think you can grow arrogant just because you've taken them down?"

He continued in a calm voice as he glanced at the fallen forms of the two knights. "I merely wished to spare myself the inconvenience. Did you think I summoned them out of fear of you?"

"We'll find out soon enough!" Karnak swept both hands through the air. "O Black Reaper, deliver the message of death!"

Seven specters of the dead rose up, radiating intense frost as they surged forward. The cold was so overwhelming it caused air to solidify and fall to the ground.

Even Tesranach let out a brief note of admiration. "Far better than your clumsy magic." But it was still weak. Tesranach lightly tapped the ground with his foot.

The Black God's Grace erupted from the ground and took on the form of a nine-headed serpent. The serpent devoured the specters of frost whole, then lunged toward Varos and Serati. It seemed he intended to eliminate the two of them first.

"O Arrogant King Who Lurks in Shadows!" Suddenly, Karnak clad himself in dark armor and hurled himself forward!

What?! Tesranach was startled. At this rate, the nine-headed serpent would tear Karnak to pieces. Has he lost his mind?

He hurriedly altered the direction of his attack. The serpent veered off course and exploded in a distant spot.

Through the thick smoke, two figures emerged and brought down their aura blades.

Reversal Blade, Sword of Endless Night!

Twilight Swordsmanship, Dusk!

Jet-black aura and twilight flames surged in from both sides. Both attacks possessed power comparable to those of a martial king. Hence, even Tesranach had no choice but to focus on defense.

He raised a curtain of Grace to block them, then immediately shifted to offense. Dozens of black spears formed behind him, slicing through the air as they shot forward.

However, Karnak threw himself forward again. "Not happening!"

He didn't block. He didn't deflect. He simply spread his arms wide and jumped in front of the attack like he was offering himself up. But hitting him would be disastrous.

"Damn it!" Clicking his tongue, Tesranach once again redirected the spears. Then he glared at Karnak in disbelief.

What kind of madness was this? A mage was acting as a shield while the warriors hid behind him. And that man was not the type to throw his life away so carelessly.

Which means... he's realized I'm concerned about his life?

Karnak landed back on the ground with a sneaky grin. This was the tactic he had prepared specifically against Tesranach: I am the meat shield.

"Well then, I'll hold the front, so keep hitting him from the back!"

"Got it, young master!"

The flames of twilight and Reversal Blade once again flew toward Tesranach.

***

Varos's signature technique, Reversal Blade, had one serious flaw. It would gradually cause physical collapse in the user and turn them into undead. That was why he had only used it in dire situations until now.

But after repeated use, he was beginning to grow proficient and understood it better. Silver aura was good for the body, but lacked power. Reversal Blade had great power, but was harmful to the body.

Varos found a simple solution to this dilemma. I'll just use silver aura as a remedy.

He wrapped his entire body in a thick layer of silver aura, then coated dark aura over it like layered armor. This way, he could use Reversal Blade while preventing its side effects using silver aura. "Take this! Reversal Blade, side effects minimized!"

Leaping from behind Karnak, Serati unleashed a single strike.

Twilight Swordsmanship, Cleaving Sunset.

Darkness danced, and twilight ran wild. And whenever Tesranach tried to counterattack?

"Not so fast!" Karnak immediately threw himself in the way, acting as a shield. That left Tesranach unable to find an opening to deal with Varos and Serati.

Tesranach was bewildered. He had accounted for nearly every conceivable possibility, but this was one thing he had never anticipated. He's risking himself for someone else? Him?

He was the sort of man who would find a way to save his own skin even if everyone else in the world fell into hell.

"I don't know why, but you people have been far too obvious about it!" Karnak declared triumphantly while standing in front of Varos and Serati. "You clearly aren't afraid of us, but you sure seem awfully afraid of something happening to me."

Tesranach gave a bitter smile. Damn it. That was my mistake.

Then again, it was true that the Church of the Black God had been conspicuously concerned with Karnak's safety all this time. Future Leven had once abandoned a battle he had all but won for that very reason.

Karnak was no fool. Of course he would have noticed something. Even so, it was astonishing. He couldn't have been certain that his life was safe, yet he had thrown himself into danger for his companions based on nothing more than a speculation?

"I never imagined that even a man like you possessed the capacity for self-sacrifice," said Tesranach.

Varos and Serati took on peculiar expressions.

Uh, that's not what this is.

He's only doing that because he already knows he'll be fine.

But they had to pretend otherwise. The fate of the world depended on it.

Karnak shouted again. "Keep going!"

"Yes!"

Varos used Reversal Blade to restrict Tesranach's movements, and Serati seized the opening and drove in an absurdly powerful blow. And whenever Tesranach counterattacked? Karnak immediately stepped in as a shield and broke his momentum.

"I told you, it's no use."

Tesranach could not properly respond to their exquisite coordination. He was severely restricted because he could not act out against Karnak.

He even tried simply knocking Karnak away with just enough force not to kill him, but to no avail. That damned white cat kept disappearing into the darkness and reappearing to hurl spells at him, and it was proving surprisingly troublesome as well.

The spells themselves were nothing remarkable in terms of power, but they slipped perfectly into the gaps between Tesranach's attacks and defenses. It was almost as though the cat knew in advance how he was going to move.

Yet there was something else restraining Tesranach even more than all of this: His own doubts. Karnak was throwing himself into danger for his companions. Karnak, of all people.

Has he truly changed? That immutable evil?

There had been signs. Karnak had shown an unusual number of unexpected sides to himself in this life. He had shown concern for the fate of the world, tried to pursue a human life, and even occasionally cared about his companions.

And so, for a brief moment, Tesranach had indeed felt an ominous glimmer of hope. Could that immutable evil perhaps change after all? Could the world perhaps be saved without covering the entire world in death?

Impossible. No, Karnak was not capable of such a thing. Do not waver.

Evil remained evil, no matter how much it changed.

Have you not confirmed that countless times already? The guardian of the world steeled his resolve. This is the only way to save everyone!