Star-Embracing Swordmaster (Full)

Warm sunlight filtered through the thick leaves.

It was hard to believe that this peaceful and clear forest had been the scene of a fierce battle the day before.

Even the corpses that had been wildly rampaging through the quiet forest, where only the birds' songs could now be heard, had fallen into a deep sleep from which they would never awaken, as if they had finally found rest.

"Are you awake?"

However, eternal sleep was only reserved for the dead.

Unlike them, Vlad, who had just opened his eyes, slowly turned his head at the sound of the young girl's voice resonating in his ears.

"..."

"They said that man didn't die. What a relief, right?"

The price of embracing the World Tree had not been small, and Vlad still felt an unbearable pain throughout his body. For that reason, he could barely articulate a word, but the young priestess kept chattering endlessly, as if she already knew what Vlad wanted to say.

"But he was quite seriously injured, so he might lose the mobility in one of his arms."

"Ugh."

It was Vlad who had exhausted all his energy from speaking due to yesterday's fierce battle.

Even so, he felt uncomfortable being in front of the priestess, so he made an effort to get up and straighten his back.

"….In that case, it could have been worse."

The sunlight shone on the priestess' head as she stood by the window.

Her silvery-blond hair shimmered dazzlingly, which was hard to bear for Vlad, who had just opened his eyes, but even so, he could make out the small picture book she was holding.

"What's that? Is it a revelation?"

"No."

Although the priestess usually received revelations through her drawings, today didn't seem to be the case, and she smiled sweetly.

"You no longer need any revelations from Vlad."

For some reason, the words the priestess had just spoken carried a strange resonance. Vlad, distracted for a moment by her words, suddenly saw a blank sheet of drawing paper resting in her hand.

"He said to thank you, for drawing such a wonderful picture in his place."

"...Really?"

It was a page torn from the book she was holding. Although the sheet didn't seem particularly elaborate, as he looked at it, a faint smile began to form on Vlad's face.

"But you still don't know how to draw."

"Huh?"

As always, it was a clumsy, uneven drawing.

The drawing looked like it had been done by a small child; in it, there was a smiling tree—despite being a tree—and Vlad standing beside it with a sword in his hand.

***

Deep within the elven city. A pitiful cry could be heard from the elven prison, which was completely dark, unlike the sunny exterior.

"Oh my God! Please!"

An urgent sound came from Count Vitskaya, who was hanging upside down. He seemed to have been severely tortured, as he was covered in blood, but it seemed as though he had been interrogated by a highly skilled expert because there were no fatal wounds.

"Bishop Pedro, my faith in God has never wavered. Even if you were to ask me to recite a prayer right now, I could do so without making a single mistake... Aaaah!"

Schrrnnng-

Though the Count pleaded for his innocence with a desperate voice, the priest standing before him seemed to have no intention of listening to his confession. Bishop Pedro, who held a hot iron instead of the Bible, meticulously peeled away the remaining skin with a calm expression and posed a question to the Count.

"When did you start collaborating with them?"

"Aaah! Aaah!"

"Five years ago? Or perhaps longer?"

The Count's horrible screams echoed through the cell, so much so that the elves outside the bars turned their faces away, unable to bear the scene.

However, as a faithful follower of God's will, Pedro simply did his job silently, seeking the truth even in this hellish scene.

"You'd better not try to deceive me. The Vatican has had its eye on you as an impure person for a long time."

"Aaah!"

Count Vitskaya's face grew increasingly pale when Pedro said he had been watching him for a long time.

Bishop Pedro. An exorcist and inquisitor of heresy of whom the Vatican was proud.

Before him, who had claimed to have killed dozens of wicked beings and personally burned hundreds of non-believers, Count Vitskaya was just easy prey.

"...It wasn't exactly collaboration..."

"The elves say that Absilon wasn't created as a poison that could induce suicide."

Pedro set down the hot iron and took a small pair of tongs while continuing his questioning.

They were a pair of tongs that seemed harmless to anyone, but the Count was actually more afraid of the small tongs, whose purpose he couldn't understand, than of the hot iron.

"Though it is highly addictive, it wasn't something that couldn't be abandoned."

"..."

Absilon, the elven drug that had shaken the capital of Brigantes. The number of court nobles who committed suicide after coming into contact with the drug numbered in the dozens, so it must have been a product that could not have been distributed without malicious intent.

"When was that deadly poison added to the elves' resentment?"

However, even the elves who created Absilon said it wasn't a drug designed to kill someone.

They said that, while they may have intended to slowly sicken the empire, they didn't want such an extreme outcome.

The elves knew very well that if they truly did that, Ausurin would be in danger from the Empire.

"From what I see, it seems that this came from your territory."

Someone had added poison to the empire.

Using a shield called the Elves before them.

Through the Count's trembling eyes, Pedro became convinced that there were beings who incited hatred among each other while borrowing others' names.

"Was it the work of the Dragon Blood Duke?"

Constantly drawing and dividing lines between each other.

There were people smiling amidst the deep conflict that had emerged.

A faithful servant of God finally began to shine a small torch on those people who were crouching in every corner of the world.

"I'll talk! So please!"

Pedro, who acted with anger instead of the holy word of God in the righteous path he believed in.

However, the appearance of the venomous insects that Pedro heard about through the Count's mouth was far more repugnant than Pedro had expected.

***

Sounds of anger echoed from the damp corridor.

They were such eerie sounds that they sent shivers down one's spine, but Joseph, who was secretly hiding behind the door, only focused on listening attentively.

-We must scatter again, immediately. We've already revealed too much.

-Disperse after we've gathered with such effort? It could take centuries to reunite!

Beyond the door where Joseph stood, dozens of sorcerers were speaking fiercely, their faces filled with bloodlust.

Though there were at least a hundred of them, counting those who remained silent, the fact that no other noise could be heard only added further tension to the situation.

-If not now, we'll never have another opportunity! Never in history has the Empire been plunged into such chaos as it is now!

With Ramashthu temporarily withdrawn due to the wound inflicted by Vlad, the sorcerers she had summoned began to bare their teeth.

Though they belonged to the same world, each had different dreams. They began to raise their voices at each other as if now was their chance to achieve their goals.

-Now is the time to step forward and rule the empire! This is truly the birth of a great magical empire!

-I'm not interested in something so trivial. I'm only here for the world creation art she promised.

-Let's start with the Vatican and the Northern Orthodox Church! How many of our comrades have we lost at the hands of those damned ones?

For some, it was for an ambition they couldn't reach, for others, for a truth they couldn't find, and for others, for a vengeance buried deep in their bones.

Joseph could feel that each word they spoke was steeped in a darkness so deep it would turn the world black.

But their extreme words reached no one's ears, and so far had only remained in a void, as no one had paid attention to them.

-······First of all, it's true that now is the right time for us to achieve something.

Until Ramashthu appeared and gathered them all under her command.

At that moment, Joseph recognized a familiar voice coming from inside the door.

An unknown headless knight who was Ramashthu's loyal follower.

When the man who had led Joseph deep into the corridor opened his mouth, the sorcerers who had been heated moments before began to fall silent.

-For that, the great feat of Ramashthu, something we all agreed upon, must first be accomplished.

What feat was Ramashthu trying to achieve first?

What tricks had they implemented so far to achieve it?

Joseph's ears began to inch closer to the door to listen to what the headless knight was trying to say.

-Although the Dragon Blood Duke betrayed us, we still have another fragment of the dragon.

The army of Radu surrounding the city of Moshiam clearly seemed suspicious.

Perhaps at that time, Ramashthu and the Dragon Blood Duke had been allies, using a dragon fragment to lure him in.

-Additionally, we've already collected the essence of the spirits and the potential of the children. All that remains is the root of the World Tree.

The most perfect fragment of the world, the potential of the young to become anything, and the root of the World Tree that rises to the heavens.

-Once we have all of that, Ramashthu will become the master of her own world.

Through them, Ramashthu sought to become a god.

Even for the sake of the fragile children whom the current world simply ignored.

In the world she dreamed of, no child would suffer, but to achieve it, she had chosen the path of the worst imaginable blasphemy.

"...!"

Joseph, who finally realized Ramashthu's true purpose, let out a gasp.

Her grand plan, which surpassed the imagination of any mortal, caused Joseph to let out a sigh from deep within his heart without even realizing it.

Creak!

And in a place where no one was breathing, Joseph's breath was something completely foreign.

The headless knight, noticing the sound, pushed his chair back with a screeching noise.

-Who's there?

The headless knight's steps slowly approached from inside the room.

But Joseph, who had nowhere to run, couldn't hide his panic and didn't know which direction to flee.

-I knew it could only be you, Joseph of Bayezid.

Through the door that slowly creaked open, a blue flower floated, carried by the headless knight.

As his eyes, infinitely cold because they held death, swept over him, Joseph felt as if his heart had stopped.

-······.

However, the headless knight did not approach Joseph any further. He simply stood still, staring over his head, as if frozen in place.

-Have you returned?

"Yes."

Suddenly, Joseph was startled by the voice coming from above his head.

"It seems you've gotten lost after I sent you on an errand."

Though Joseph was not a knight, he had sharp perception. But now, behind him stood a man who had lost all color.

The man, whom I don't know how long he had been standing there, opened his mouth while looking at the natural blue flower before him.

"Let me take this guy with me."

-······Alright, Lord Frausen.

"Oh, and by the way..."

Frausen, turning Joseph by his stiff shoulders and taking him along with him, added.

"You still don't possess the heart of the dragon, right?"

Pointing to his heart with a raised finger.

"If you want to obtain the legitimate right to it, you'll first have to kill Sarnus, as we agreed."

You get death, and I get the fragment.

Because that was the contract we made that day in the forest.

With those words, the man who returned from the dead and the man headed toward death began to walk down the dark corridor.

A hallway they would never leave, yet they continued to advance without stopping.