Demon Sword Master of the Holy Sword Academy - Volume 2 - Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

THE ARC SEVEN

The sound of metal being crushed and bent out of shape pierced the air. A massive skull dragon tore the plane’s propellers off with its powerful jaws. The state-of-the-art aircraft sputtered for a moment before falling silent.

The undead dragon roared, its crimson eyes shining menacingly as a deathly vapor escaped its parted jaws.

“The fact that one would think to dub such a pile of trash and bolts with the lofty name of a dragon is pure insolence,” Leonis spat out in displeasure, holding his Staff of Sealed Sins to the heavens.

Balls of light manifested above him, casting rays down on the deck. Leonis gazed below at the surrounding area from atop the monstrous bone creature’s head. After a moment, his eyes locked on to the black-haired dark elf clutching a Demon Sword in her hand.

That must be the ringleader, Leonis concluded.

Something about her seemed different from the other terrorists.

“Dark elf. Are you descended from the Hazashin clan?” Leonis called.

“What?”

“So you don’t know about them. Hmph…” Leonis shrugged.

The Hazashin clan was a tribe of dark elves skilled in assassination. A thousand years ago, they had formed the bulk of Necrozoa’s covert forces. Had this woman been a descendant of that tribe, Leonis might have shown her some mercy.

“Were you the one who granted the beastmen their Demon Swords?” Leonis asked.

“…You… Who are you…?!” Sharnak ignored the question, instead responding with her own confused and frightened inquiry.

“You will answer what I ask,” Leonis stated firmly, increasing the intensity of his Aura of Death.

The beastmen surrounding Sharnak to defend her all fell to their knees at that mere influx of Leonis’s power. The dark elf woman proved more resistant to the aura, but she still swallowed nervously and took a step back.

“Hmph. Very well, then. I shall answer your question first. I am a Dark Lord.”

“…”

There was a brief period of silence. Then, the woman’s mouth fell open.

“…Heh-heh. Ah-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” A manic, high-pitched cackle escaped her lips.

“What’s so funny?” Leonis demanded coldly.

“A child like you claims to be a Dark Lord?!” The woman’s expression contorted in hatred as she summoned mana in her hands. “How dare you assume the name of the almightyyyyyyy!”

She’s using sorcery!

Black flames leaden with cursed energy swallowed up the skull dragon’s large frame, taking Leonis with it.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha! I don’t know who you were, but it seems today wasn’t your lucky day!” Sharnak screeched gleefully.

“Oh? How so?”

“…I-it can’t be!”

Sharnak’s dark fire had been handily deflected by the skull dragon’s mana barrier, fizzling out almost immediately. Leonis let out a long, exasperated sigh.

Seeing her use sorcery made me expect something more, but if that’s all she can manage…

Given how much sorcery had been forgotten in the last millennium, the dark elf undoubtedly would’ve seemed exceptionally powerful to most people. To Leonis, however, her magic was little more than child’s play. To begin with, she’d used a spell Leonis himself had devised: Black Flame Inferno. If he recalled correctly, he’d created it in celebration of Necrozoa’s completion…

“Allow me to demonstrate to you what true sorcery looks like.”

Leonis waved his staff lightly and chanted the same incantation Sharnak had.

Whooooooooooooooooooooooooosh!

Thick flames rose up wildly, causing the three planes behind the dark elf to explode at once.

“…N-no… This is… That’s a secret spell of the Dark Lord of legend…” The elf woman staggered back, her expression stiff with disbelief.

The skull dragon grabbed hold of Sharnak, its bony fingers winding around her body.

“Ahh!… Ngh… Khhh… What is this? Who are you?!”

Though Sharnak squirmed and thrashed as she loosed one spell after another, all were deflected by the skeletal creature’s mana barrier, and she was unable to free herself. The skull dragon tightened its grip, and Leonis could hear the visceral sound of cracking bones.

“Stop clamoring, fool. I have some questions you are going to answer,” Leonis commanded, his voice like ice.

“…Ugh… Gah…”

“What’s your objective?”

“D-drop…dead…”

Leonis had the dragon tighten its grip yet again, and a sound like a branch being snapped reached his ears.

“…Ngghhaaahhh! Demon…Swords…to produce more Demon Swords…,” Sharnak admitted.

“Is that so…?”

At the Undead King’s command, the skull dragon slackened its grip on the dark elf.

“And what are Demon Swords, exactly? Are you capable of granting that power to others?”

“Aah, nng, aah…I…bestow a power…that is the opposite of a Holy Sword…”

“I see. So unlike a Holy Sword, one doesn’t awaken to this power. It’s something that is given.”

“Th-that’s right! W-we should be allies!” the woman screamed in a desperate bid to win Leonis’s favor. “I can give you a Demon Sword! With the power you already possess, you’re sure to rise through the ranks of the cult. The goddess will most certainly smile upon you!”

“Wait. What did you just say?” Leonis’s expression changed.

“I… I said…we should work—”

“Not that! Did you just speak of the goddess?” Leonis pressed. “The gods should have fallen to ruin a thousand years ago. What goddess? What’s her name?”

“…Her…name is…” Sharnak gasped.

“Yes? What is it?!” Leonis leaned forward expectantly.

At that moment, however, the dark elf woman’s lips contorted in a maddened smile.

“Her…name is… Name is… Name, name, name, namenamenamename!”

“…?!”

Sharnak’s black Demon Sword suddenly tore into her own throat.

What?!

A spray of blood bloomed from the dark elf’s neck, dyeing the skull dragon’s chest red. Her head now wrested from its perch, the strange woman’s body melted away.

Did she kill herself?! No, I don’t think so…

The bubbling remains of Sharnak coiled around the Demon Sword and began to swell. Blood and flesh writhed, assuming the shape of a disgusting monster.

I see. That woman wasn’t the ringleader. It was…

At last Leonis understood. He knew the identity of the creature forming before his very eyes.

Regina desperately ran down a corridor cast in crimson by the emergency lights. The ship’s hull was creaking audibly, though perhaps that was the sound of Voids clawing their way into reality. It was hard to tell. Apparently, a water pipe had been damaged, because the floor was flooded.

I have to hurry.

Leonis had promised to save her sister, Princess Altiria, and had headed for the deck where the terrorists were waiting all on his own.

I’ll let the kid save her. I have to…

Regina’s task was to regain control of the ship and turn it away from the Void reef. At the end of the corridor, she could see a door. The Carbuncle, which ran ahead of her, let out a cry. It had to be the control room.

Crack…

It seemed things weren’t going to be easy, however, as a fracture carved its way through the air in front of the door.

“…?!”

Regina stopped in her tracks. Voids pushed their way out of the tear in space. A swarm of writhing sea devils approached her. Regina held up her Holy Sword to protect the Carbuncle.

“Out of my way!”

The Drag Striker spewed fire, its bullets gouging through several of the monstrous beings at once. Unfortunately, it was like trying to scoop out an ocean with a spoon. The Voids were appearing faster than Regina could fell them.

“No! Not when I’m so close!”

Again and again she fired. Though she slayed many of them, squirming tentacles gradually coiled around Regina’s legs.

“N-nooooooooooooooooo!”

At this rate, she would be dragged into the swarm forming at the other end of the hall! That’s when a streak of light cut through the room, slashing through the many aquatic Voids.

“Regina!”

The argent-haired swordswoman had appeared just in the nick of time.

“Lady Selia!” Regina called out.

“I made it!” Riselia said with a smile.

Riselia lunged at the Voids, her silvery blade shining as it moved in an arc through the air. Droplets of the girl’s own blood stretched and transformed into razor-like shapes that carved through even more of the horrid monsters.

“Incredible…,” Regina muttered in amazement.

“Regina, I’ll handle these ones!” Riselia cried.

“Yes, Lady Selia!” Regina got to her feet and sprinted forward, following the Carbuncle. “Exchange—Drag Howl!”

She blasted her way through the control room’s doors and dove inside.

“So this is the control room!”

It was a rather confined chamber. Floating at its center was a shimmering, blue mana crystal. That gemlike object was what supplied magical energy to the Artificial Elementals controlling the Hyperion. Regina held up the Carbuncle and knelt before the crystal like a practiced Princess Priestess. The Carbuncle’s form disappeared into the mana crystal.

Regina’s mind linked with the Hyperion.

The storm only seemed to be getting worse. The monster that had appeared matched Leonis’s skull dragon in size. Eight black blades clad in a miasma writhed like a spider’s legs. A single, shining crimson eye sat in the center of its swollen abdomen, gazing directly at Leonis.

This repulsive behemoth had come to be by using the dark elf’s body. As Leonis looked the horrid thing up and down, however, he cocked an eyebrow.

“…What a surprise. I never imagined I’d see this blade again.” The words left his lips as if greeting an old friend.

Yes, those eight pitch-colored blades were a familiar sight to Leonis. Even in the sorry state they were in, he could never mistake them.

“The Evil-Rending Sword, Zolgstar Mezekis.”

The weapon was an old friend of his. It was one of the Arc Seven, given to him by the gods… A hero named Leonis Shealto had once held this Dark Lord–smiting sword.

In total, the hero had wielded four Dark Lord–slaying weapons. The eight-bladed Holy Sword, Zolgstar Mezekis, was the second he’d been given and had been lost in a battle with Veira, the Dragon Lord, that had ended in a draw.

The presence of such an object raised many questions. How had it found its way here? What had transformed it into such a monster?

“I don’t suppose you’ve returned to serve your old master, have you?” Leonis asked in self-derision as he beheld the twisted weapon’s current form.

A thick vapor spewed from the monster. The thing was repulsive enough to even draw pause from the Undead King himself. Something about it gave Leonis the same feeling he’d had when battling Arakael Degradios, the Archsage of the Six Heroes, below the Seventh Assault Garden.

This was a Void Lord—a being that led the Voids born from nothingness.

To think even a legendary weapon could be consumed by the Voids… Leonis glared into the massive eyeball located on its spiderlike stomach. The dark elf woman had only been a puppet of sorts. This Holy Sword, corrupted by the Voids, was the true master here.

Does that mean this Void planned the whole thing?

Unsure if that was even possible, Leonis rejected the very notion. Arakael had somehow retained a portion of his intelligence, but this Void Lord had a Holy Sword as its core. Surely, it was incapable of proper thought.

Someone must have given Zolgstar Mezekis to that woman…

Whoever that had been was likely the one pulling the strings behind the hijacking.

That woman definitely said “goddess,” Leonis recalled. That could very well have been a reference to the one for whom he was searching. With the dark elf dead, however, Leonis’s only clue was the putrid, writhing monster standing before him.

No matter what, I must reclaim that weapon.

Gripping his Staff of Sealed Sins, a faint smile etched its way across Leonis’s face. As if in answer, Zolgstar Mezekis widened its singular eye and jumped into the air. By that time, Leonis’s spell was already complete, however.

“Al Gu Belzelga!” Leonis unleashed his spell at the Void Lord that had leaped into the dark night sky. It was an eighth-order spell and the strongest tactical-class fire element spell, Grand Annihilation Fireball. Crimson flames danced through the darkness.

Ka-vooom!

A rumbling explosion shook the air. Leonis’s spell had called upon the fires of the Realm of Muspelheim, creating a heat so intense, it was able to reduce a firedrake to ashes. The monster’s eight blades let out a pale glow, however, and the moment the flames made contact with it, they were snuffed, as if being absorbed by the weapon.

I see it hasn’t lost the Holy Sword’s innate ability to diffuse magic.

Magic resistance was one of the more common abilities granted to the Arc Seven. When Leonis had wielded Zolgstar Mezekis in the past, it had easily slashed through a dragon’s breath. The blades of the Holy Sword cut a rising arc, crushing the skull dragon’s massive frame. Countless bones were pounded to dust. Leonis jumped away from his dragon construct, already chanting his next spell.

“Cadavers that slumber in the battlefield, may death give you no peace…Zoa Raisilor!”

The scattered bones floated up and began rebuilding themselves with startling speed. Gathering together, they formed a massive earth dragon that loosed a hollow sort of roar. It parted its large jaws and crunched down on Zolgstar Mezekis. It then whipped its head down, smashing the spiderlike abomination into the deck of the ship.

Crrrrrrrrraaaaassshhh!

The Hyperion’s hull rumbled as a massive hole was punched into the floor. Leonis held up his staff and unleashed another tactical-class spell.

“Voira Zo!”

It was an eighth-order spell that trapped its target under a large sphere of gravitational force. Even with magic resistance, the sheer strength of such a spell should have been enough to crush the fleshy creature.

Though it struggled, the Void Lord remained trapped against the deck, unable to move under the tremendous power weighing down on it.

“Now then, for the finishing blow,” Leonis said, and he snapped his fingers.

The massive earth dragon made of bone turned its head again. At that exact moment, however, a tear in space appeared, and the Void Lord disappeared.

What?!

Sensing something behind him, Leonis wheeled around and held up the Staff of Sealed Sins, using its handle to deflect the incoming blow.

…It teleported?!

Zolgstar Mezekis had no such innate ability. This must have been a power it had gained upon becoming a Void. Arakael never used such a power, so Leonis hadn’t been expecting it. The Void Lord swung its eight blades, which had once been used to slay countless monsters and dragons.

Leonis jumped back in retreat, and the skeletal earth dragon leaped forward to defend its master. It was swallowed up in a whirlwind of slashes that crushed it to bits in a single swipe.

Those bones were rare! Leonis didn’t have time to bemoan that loss, however. The Holy Sword’s blades were closing in on him.

“Farga! Farga! Farga!”

He unleashed the fourth-order spells in rapid succession. The Holy Sword’s magic resistance rendered them powerless, but the flashes and shock waves they produced provided enough of an opening for Leonis to distance himself a bit.

The crimson eye of the Void Lord shone through the dark night as it fixed its glare squarely on Leonis. Perhaps the monster was spurred by its nature as one of the Arc Seven to slay Dark Lords.

This is more troublesome than I thought it’d be. Leonis clicked his tongue as he moved away.

This wasn’t as grand and menacing an enemy as the Archsage Arakael had been, but Zolgstar Mezekis was a weapon made to destroy beings like Leonis. Given that he wasn’t presently capable of melee combat, this was the worst possible match for him.

If I use a tenth-order spell like Arzam, it might be able to do some damage.

Leonis’s opponent seemed unlikely to grant him the time to chant such a powerful spell, however. It was for this reason he couldn’t draw Dáinsleif, the Demon Sword granted to him by the goddess. Drawing it would deplete all his mana, anyway.

If only Blackas were here. He would crush this thing handily. Leonis clenched his teeth.

Shary specialized in assassination and wouldn’t be able to keep Zolgstar Mezekis pinned down. Admittedly, Leonis did have one more combat-capable being sealed in his shadow, but…

That one will take any chance it can get to kill me.

Leonis couldn’t afford another opponent when the situation was already this difficult to control. Deciding on a different tactic, Leonis opened a shadow gate and summoned his Death Knights. These were a group of twelve skeletal knights armed with magical weapons and riding on bone horses.

Once, they had been Necrozoa’s imperial guard, revived from the remains of the Rognas Kingdom’s greatest heroes. Each was a one-man army. Even against a legendary Holy Sword, they wouldn’t fall easily. To ensure their victory, Leonis cast a sixth-order spell called Calamity Moon.

A crimson moon appeared in the heavens, piercing the clouds of the storm. It augmented the undead by granting them the powers of a Dark Lord. The Death Knights, acting in the Undead King’s service, raised a silent battle cry as they charged toward the Void Lord.

“Raaaaaaaah!”

The Void Lord’s blades seemed to sing out in response. Suddenly, a pillar of light erupted from the depths of the raging ocean. It hadn’t come from the sea itself but from the Void reef within it. Countless Voids had responded to the call of the Void Lord as it prepared to swallow the Hyperion.

Crack… Crack… Crack…

The air around Leonis began to splinter and fissure as a swarm of sea devils slithered out of the fractures in reality. It occurred to Leonis the Demon Sword had likely been responsible for the harbor attack as well. A polluted miasma began filling the air.

“…This isn’t good.” Leonis looked behind him, his eyes falling on one of the large aircraft that had been damaged by his skull dragon. Sitting inside it was Regina’s little sister, Princess Altiria. Leonis swung his staff and formed a death barrier around the plane.

Turning his back meant giving the enemy an opening to exploit. Leonis had promised to save the princess, however, and he refused to go back on his word. A Dark Lord’s honor simply wouldn’t allow such a thing.

Zolgstar Mezekis roared, prompting the countless Voids that had appeared out of thin air to rush at Leonis.

I have to make it! Leonis spun back around and held up his staff in a desperate attempt to shield himself.

At the same time, a missile launcher set on the Hyperion’s broadside opened up, unleashing a flurry of small projectiles to rain down on the swarm of Voids before they could reach their prey.

Ba-boom, boom, boom!

Consecutive explosions shook the deck. Flames surged through the air, blotting out the dark sky. All around, a shrill alarm was blaring.

“So you made it,” Leonis whispered, a satisfied smile on his lips.

Evidently, Regina had gained control of the Hyperion at last.

“Grooooooooooooooooooooh!” The Void Lord howled, twirling and twisting its eight blades. Just then, the airplane-launching catapult set into the floor opened.

“—Leo!”

A single shadow emerged from the aperture, spreading its wings to soar into the night. The pair of mana wings left a red trail in their wake, illuminating a bolt of billowing silver hair. Clutched in the flying person’s hands was a Holy Sword that cleaved through the cloud of Voids.

It was the Dark Lord’s minion, the Vampire Queen.

“That was quite the entrance, Miss Selia,” Leonis observed.

“I—I mean, Regina said it was the fastest and coolest way…,” Riselia stammered and then turned around, her argent hair whirling with the motion.

“Miss Selia, I’ll lend you my knights. I need you to buy me some time.”

“Your knights?” Riselia furrowed her brow.

The Death Knights Leonis had summoned stepped forward, as if rising to serve their queen.

“They’re all unrivaled heroes in their own rights. Command them in my stead.”

“A-all right!” Riselia nodded curtly, still somewhat confused.

She swung her Bloody Sword like a conductor, and the trickle of blood flowing from her wrist twisted into a crimson blade that protected her from oncoming attacks.

“Follow me, everyone!” Riselia cried, and she brought her weapon to bear.

At her order, the Death Knights began to charge. The Calamity Moon shone down from the heavens, affording Riselia, undead herself, a vast supply of mana.

The sound of clashing weapons rode the raging winds. Under Riselia’s command, the Death Knights cut down the Voids in rapid succession. Leonis held on to the resonating Staff of Sealed Sins, removed its handle, and grabbed the grip of the Demon Sword sealed within.

Thou Art the Sword to Save the World, Gifted by the Heavens.

Thou Art the Sword to Ruin the World, Made to Rebel Against the Heavens.

A Holy Sword, Sanctified by the Gods.

A Demon Sword, Blessed by the Goddess.

Let Your Name, Submerged in Darkness, Ring Forth—

“The Demon Sword, Dáinsleif!”

The Demon Sword that had been granted a curse from the Goddess of Rebellion shone the deepest shade of ebon. The swarm of Voids faltered, and Zolgstar Mezekis, having cut its way through the Death Knights, charged at Leonis as if overtaken by madness.

“Fool. Can you not tell that you are the inferior weapon?” Leonis whispered, and he leaped up from the ground.

With Dáinsleif drawn, Leonis once again regained his sealed powers as the greatest swordsman. Zolgstar Mezekis’s eight blades barreled down, but Leonis read and intercepted each of the attacks with ease.

Leonis utilized the Rognas Kingdom school of swordsmanship; its motions were like a fluid, elegant dance. Dáinsleif stabbed into the Void Lord’s massive eyeball.

“Gwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”

The Void Lord’s dying scream shook the dark seas.

“Secret Blade Art of the Rognas Kingdom School—Ragna Lost!”

A surging dark light flooded into the Void Lord, eradicating it and bisecting the Void reef.