Demon Sword Master of the Holy Sword Academy - Volume 5 - Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

THE DEMON SWORD RAGES

Upon returning to camp, Leonis and Riselia immediately recognized something was amiss.

“Regina!”

“Ah, Lady Selia…and the kid.” Regina turned around to face them, standing in front of the cottage. “Where were you, Lady Selia? Your hair is wet.”

“Huh?! Oh, erm…” Riselia awkwardly looked away and changed the subject. “Don’t worry about it. What happened?”

Good grief, you’re one terrible liar, Leonis thought, exasperated. At this rate, no matter how hard his minion attempted to hide her vampiric nature, the others would find out.

Thankfully, Elfiné jogged over and moved the conversation along.

“We lost contact with the fifth platoon. And Regil’s group’s gone silent, too.”

“What?” Riselia’s ice-blue eyes went wide with disbelief.

“The Eye of the Witch orb I sent with them got destroyed all of a sudden. I’m not getting any reactions from it,” Elfiné explained.

“Did they run into Voids?”

Elfiné nodded. “That’s very likely. But would two platoons run into enemies at the exact same time?”

“Hmm, isn’t it possible the Hive’s Voids all started hatching at once?” Regina asked.

“If Voids started appearing in such great numbers, I’d have noticed by now,” Elfiné replied.

Leonis felt the ground start quaking under his feet.

What?

Brrrr, brrrr, brrrr… Brrr, brrr, brrr…!

The tremors gradually grew stronger. The forest’s trees shifted as the shaking uprooted them.

“An earthquake?!” Riselia exclaimed in surprise.

“No, I don’t think so,” Leonis replied immediately.

He’d built Necrozoa over an area where such things were unlikely to happen. No one would construct an underground kingdom that spanned thirteen strata in an area prone to earthquakes. One thousand years had passed, but Leonis doubted the crust had changed that much.

Yet there was no debating that the ground was rumbling continuously.

“What’s that?!”

“There’s something shining in the sky!”

Familiar voices were shouting from the other side of the cottage.

The members of Silesia’s platoon pointed up at an object visible through the forest canopy. Leonis followed their gazes.

“…Wh-what’s that…?!” Regina stammered.

Far in the distance, a gigantic structure surfaced in the center of the forest: a great, black pyramid. It stood eighty kilometers tall, and a green mana glow streaked across its walls, forming geometric patterns.

“Is that an ancient…ruin?” Riselia gasped.

Leonis, who stood next to her, reacted differently.

It can’t be! What’s it doing above the earth?!

Leonis knew what that structure was. It was the heart of Necrozoa—the Goddess of Rebellion’s shrine, the place where Roselia Ishtaris would make her divine oracle.

Did someone activate the Goddess Temple…?!

Leonis was in a state of utter confusion. What he saw simply couldn’t be true. The only one who could activate the Goddess Temple was the Undead King. Not even Necrozoa’s most high-ranking officers could do it.

The Dark Priestess Iris, the Underworld Knight Schteizer, the Black Wolf Emperor Blackas, the Dark Staff Officer Zemein, the Ebony Minister Melgia, and the Evil Bone General Derlich.

Of all of them, Iris and Melgia, being the priestess and minister respectively, were the exception and had the authority to activate the temple. Still, without Leonis’s permission, they weren’t allowed to set foot inside.

That shrine was a sacred space, reserved for Roselia and Leonis alone.

Who did this? Leonis grit his teeth in anger. A burning rage, the likes of which he’d long forgotten, filled his mind and body.

I may be a forgiving Dark Lord, but there are two things I never pardon.

The first was someone harming his minions. And the other was…

Anyone who would dare besmirch her holy name…!

Someone had impudently, sacrilegiously traipsed upon the sacred precincts of the Goddess Temple. Leonis would punish the offender most severely.

“…Wh-what’s going on?” Silesia asked Elfiné.

“I don’t know. Either way, we have to regroup with Liat’s platoon.”

“R-right…”

“There’s a chance the two platoons we lost contact with are fighting the Voids. We have to hurry over and help them before it’s too late.”

Riselia looked around at the gathered Excalibur Academy students. “We should split up and go out to help one platoon each. Does anyone have any objections to that?”

The members of the eighteenth and twenty-sixth platoons all exchanged glances and shook their heads.

“Then it’s decided. We should divide each group such that each has members suited to battle and support.”

Riselia broke up the platoon members based on their Holy Swords’ abilities, quickly forming impromptu teams.

Leonis thought the older students of the twenty-sixth platoon might have objected to letting a younger student like Riselia take command of them, but they were surprisingly cooperative. Part of this could be attributed to the emergency, but some older students had seen Riselia in the training matches and acknowledged her leadership prowess.

As befits my minion, Leonis thought proudly.

“Miss Finé, Leo, Miss Silesia, and I will go looking for Liat’s platoon. Regina, Sakuya, Miss Meltis, and Miss Milea, you four go help Regil’s platoon. Shia, Miss Shad, you two wait in the camp and use the relay point to contact the main force.”

“Understood.”

“Got it.”

Silesia and the two other older students nodded. However…

“Miss Selia, I think I’d be better off on my own,” Sakuya said, leaning against a tree in the back.

Riselia cocked her head to one side. “Why?”

“My Raikirimaru lets me accelerate and move faster. I can hurry ahead swifter than anyone here, and I’d be that much quicker on my own.”

“But alone, you’ll—,” Silesia started to object, only for Sakuya to cut her off brusquely.

“You’ll just be holding me back.”

“Excuse me…?!”

The older students frowned, outraged at Sakuya’s statement.

“Sh-she doesn’t mean anything bad by it, really,” Elfiné apologized hurriedly.

After thinking it over for a moment, Riselia said, “Fine. We need as much time as we can at the moment. Sakuya, you go on ahead. But don’t do anything reckless.”

“Understood, Miss Selia.”

Wasting no time, the survivor from the Sakura Orchid took off into the woods, Raikirimaru in hand. Riselia looked around at the remaining members.

“We don’t have a second to lose. Let’s hurry.”

“Hoh-hoh-hoh, what a beautiful sight…”

Sitting at the foot of the Goddess Temple was the Dark Staff Officer Zemein. He looked up to the sky, an ecstatic smile on his lips. He had intruded upon a sacred precinct only the Undead King had the right to activate.

“Ah, but Her Holiness Roselia could trigger it, too…,” Zemein remarked, toying with a black, triangular object between his fingers. The broken fragment of the goddess was similar in shape to the pyramid. He held the shard aloft.

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

The surface of the wall began to shift, as if resonating with the fragment. A green mana glow ran freely across the pyramid’s surface, forming a single streak that shot up to the heavens. The Goddess Temple was a magical device that served as a relay to Roselia, allowing her to transmit her prophecies of the future.

The voice of the Goddess of Rebellion would resonate, directly affecting those chosen by a Demon Sword.

“Awaken, Demon Swordsmen. Become sacrifices to fuel the Undead King’s revival…!”

The mad old man’s high-pitched laughter echoed through the night.

Swhish, swhish, swhish…!

Numerous blades of blood, gleaming with mana, streaked through the forest. This was the power of Riselia’s Holy Sword, the Bloody Sword. Since she’d tasted Leonis’s blood so recently, she had an ample supply of magical energy.

“Selia, keep going,” Elfiné told her, holding an Eye of the Witch orb in her hand. It was linked with her other spheres, which were spread out around the area, looking for signs of Liat’s platoon.

“Understood!”

Leonis followed the two girls, glaring up at the Goddess Temple all the while.

Someone activated this temple while a group of humans happened to be nearby.

And they lost contact with Liat and Regil’s platoons… This couldn’t be a coincidence.

Is someone using my Necrozoa for some kind of ridiculous scheme?

Was it perhaps another plot concocted by the Devil of the Underworld’s lackey, Nefakess Reizaad? Or was another force at work here? Whoever was responsible, Leonis would make sure they came to regret their actions. Undoubtedly, they didn’t imagine a Dark Lord was hiding among the prey they intended to hunt.

But it is a bit concerning. I can’t get in touch with Shary…

Leonis had been calling for her using telepathy sorcery for some time now, but she hadn’t responded. Shary had probably gone down to the eighth stratum, which had a barrier that shut off mana around it.

She never did have any sense of direction, despite being an assassin.

“Wait…I’m detecting someone! Just ahead of us!” Elfiné shouted.

“Haaaaah!” Riselia swung her Holy Sword up and slashed through the branches in the way.

The Eye of the Witch illuminated the path ahead.

“Aaaaaaah!” a young man lunged at them, a fist-sized stone in his hand.

Immediately, Leonis chanted a spell, “Raspa!”

“Ugh!” A lump of condensed air knocked the assailant back. “Ngh… Aaah…!”

“Is this an enemy?” Leonis asked.

“Wait. He’s from the fifth platoon—”

Elfiné’s Eye of the Witch cast light on the attacker, revealing he was wearing an Excalibur Academy uniform. It was the deputy commander for Liat’s platoon, Delcea. He lay still on the ground.

“You went too far, Leo,” Riselia chided him.

“I-in my defense, I did make sure to hold back,” Leonis replied with a shrug, and he lowered his staff.

Delcea was injured, but it clearly wasn’t because of Leonis’s attack. His body was covered in burns.

“I’ll heal him,” Silesia said. She held her healing Holy Sword, a shining sphere, over the wounded young man’s body.

Elfiné kneeled down before Delcea. “What happened?”

“…? You… Get out of here, quick…”

“What’s wrong?”

“The captain… Liat, he’s… He attacked us…all of a sudden.”

“Liat? No…”

“It’s true. The captain’s Holy Sword went out of control, and…”

“Out of control…,” Elfiné’s repeated with evident grim realization.

“He started looking…all scary and sinister… Like a Void…,” Delcea continued, his voice shivering with terror.

“What happened to the rest of your platoon?” Riselia questioned as she vigilantly scanned her surroundings.

“…Gazetta and Irma were burned by the flames of his Holy Sword. I don’t know about…Bressla… I think she managed to get away like I did…” Unable to say any more, Delcea passed out, apparently having exhausted the last of his strength.

“H-hey, is he all right?!” Riselia exclaimed.

“Yes, he’s just unconscious,” Silesia assured.

“Please, keep it up.” Elfiné thanked Silesia and stood. Her face pale, she muttered, “A Demon Sword…”

“You mean like Muselle Rhodes?” Riselia asked.

“Yes, a Holy Sword going out of control… I’m sure that’s the only explanation,” Elfiné responded, her voice trembling.

“No… Why would Liat do that?”

“As part of the executive committee, he was involved in experiments related to Demon Swords. Perhaps that’s how he started hearing the voice of the goddess…”

“Voice of the goddess?” Leonis repeated, latching on to that phrase at once.

Thankfully, Elfiné didn’t seem to find anything suspicious about his reaction.

“There are a few people who had their Holy Sword run wild and were placed in a medical facility. And they each claimed that a goddess gave them the power of a Demon Sword…”

“…A goddess granted them Demon Swords…?” Leonis whispered, and then he turned around and peered at the ebony pyramid. It was a magical device meant to transmit Roselia Ishtaris’s voice…

Was it because he heard the Goddess of Rebellion’s oracle…?

No, that couldn’t be. Roselia had been defeated one thousand years ago, and her soul should have been reincarnated.

Is someone acting under the goddess’s name?!

Leonis lifted the Staff of Sealed Sins and began chanting.

“Leo, what’s wrong?”

“I’m going to check out the shrine… I mean, that pyramid. You stay here, please.”

“Huh? Leo, wait!”

Riselia tried to stop him, but Leonis used his gravity control sorcery to float up into the sky and speed away.

A bolt of pale lightning streaked through the dark forest. It was the glow of countless slashes. The air whistled as trees were felled, and the scent of scorched air filled the surroundings.

This was Thunderclap, a unique ability of Sakuya’s Holy Sword, which allowed her to accelerate to unbelievable speeds. Sakuya was heading to where Regil’s platoon was last detected. Tracking someone in dense woods wasn’t a difficult task for a Sakura Orchid swordswoman. What’s more…

I can smell them.

It wasn’t a living creature she detected, but rather, Voids.

Sakuya slowed to a halt, Raikirimaru at the ready. She carefully looked around. And then…

“…Holy Sword…power…”

“Oooh… Power… Give me, power…!”

Two figures stepped into view. Sakuya grimaced and shook her head at the sight of them.

I was too late.

These were Holy Swordsmen from the twenty-first platoon. They approached Sakuya, their eyes vacant and clearly mad. Their Holy Swords had mutated into sinister, vile forms, dripping with Void miasma.

“Demon Swords…,” Sakuya whispered, stepping back. “I didn’t imagine I’d find what I was looking for here, but…”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”

One of the platoon members howled and swung their claw-shaped Demon Sword at her. Sakuya raised her voice in a battle cry as she brought her weapon down to meet the attack. The massive claw shattered, as if it had been struck by lightning.

A scream shook the trees, and the Holy Swordsman fell to the ground.

“It doesn’t look like you can speak.”

Sakuya quickly changed position, wary of the other Demon Sword wielder. No, there was more than one remaining. Sakuya keenly felt the presence of another behind her. It was the twenty-first platoon’s captain, Regil Deusca. He trudged toward Sakuya mindlessly, dragging a whip-shaped Demon Sword after him.

“Did you consume a Holy Sword…?” Sakuya asked. Naturally, she received no response.

The other Demon Sword user shambled forward, perhaps hoping to surround the young woman. Left with no choice, Sakuya raised Raikirimaru.

“I’ll finish this before Miss Regina and the rest arrive.”

Her blade turned black and the miasma began seeping from Sakuya’s arm. Earlier, she had stated that others would hold her back, but that hadn’t been the truth. Sakuya couldn’t let anyone see her like this.

“Demon Sword, Yamichidori…”

The Demon Swords wielders seemed confused at the sudden change in their prey. They could tell, instinctively, that what they were facing was far greater than just a Demon Sword.

“I will defeat you before the rest of the group arrives.”

Sakuya’s promise echoed gently.

Levitating in the air, Leonis glared down at the Goddess Temple.

“Leonis Death Magnus, the ruler of Necrozoa, orders you, Temple. Open your gates before me!” Leonis loudly proclaimed as he brandished an arm.

“…”

However, the obsidian-colored pyramid didn’t react.

Kh, it didn’t work…!

Admittedly, Leonis had anticipated as much.

No one could command the Goddess Temple except for the Undead King. Leonis himself had built it that way. Clearly the structure no longer recognized him as the Undead King now that he was in the body of a ten-year-old.

Grr, such an inflexible device!

Angered by its disobedience, Leonis pointed the Staff of Sealed Sins at the shrine.

“Open your gates! Eighth-order spell—Al Gu Belzelga!”

Boooooooooom!

Leonis launched a fireball that burst over the temple with an intense explosion. Tongues of crimson flame lapped around the building. The air trembled, and embers showered over the forest. This magic would have incinerated even flame-resistant red dragons. It was the strongest fire spell.

“…It did nothing…”

There wasn’t so much as a scratch on the pyramid’s walls. The Goddess Temple was the greatest structure Leonis had ever constructed. Even when the human armies ransacked Necrozoa, they failed to destroy this temple.

“…It’ll take time to do this, but I don’t have a choice.”

Leonis sighed and began intoning another spell. He loosed three fireballs, all eighth-order incantations, at once. No sooner had he done so than the peak of the pyramid began to glow with mana.

“…What?!”

A blinding flash erupted, and a shaft of light lanced toward the heavens, piercing the dark clouds. The light split in midair, and then the separate rays all flew down, converging on Leonis!

Vwoooooooooooooon!

“Rua Meires!”

Leonis quickly deployed a defensive spell.

It’s the temple’s autonomous defense system…!

This, too, was something Leonis had constructed, but he’d never been on the receiving end before. He’d completely forgotten about it.

Vwooon! Vwooon! Vwooon!

The beams bore down on him.

A power spot barrier won’t be enough to block this!

The rays were made of mana the Undead King had poured into crystals one thousand years ago. Now that he was in a child’s body, and his power was greatly limited, he wouldn’t be able to overcome the beams.

Overwhelmed by the storm of mana, Leonis was sent tumbling to the ground.

“How about this? Vira Zuo!”

Leonis hurled an eighth-order gravity spell at his feet. The ground below him contorted, forming a gigantic crater.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The earth crumbled at once, and Leonis plummeted into the ruins of Necrozoa. More streaks of light crashed into the surface above, creating massive explosions.

The Goddess Temple’s defense mechanisms wouldn’t attack Necrozoa itself.

It seems I’ve escaped, for now.

A system Leonis had devised had nearly been his undoing. The Dark Lord used a gravity control spell to slow his fall. Landing on the ground, Leonis lit up the tip of the Staff of Sealed Sins and looked around.

“What…?!”

Massive crystals had blocked off large chambers. And inside them were countless monsters.

“This is the core of the Void Hive…”

Hundreds upon thousands of Voids lay dormant. If they were to hatch all at once, it would spell doom for the Seventh Assault Garden.

“The impudent fools decided to infest my city…,” Leonis muttered unpleasantly.

He’d have liked nothing more than to exterminate these pests at once, but finding whoever activated the temple took priority.

“Hoh…I was wondering what all that racket was. It seems a human brat managed to sneak in.”

“…?!”

The amused voice of an old man echoed from somewhere deep in the darkness.

“…What was that light?!” Elfiné raised her head in surprise.

A shaft of radiance had shot up from the pyramid’s zenith, dispersing into countless rays that poured down from the sky.

“Leo…,” Riselia said, looking at the flashes anxiously. She couldn’t leave to find him, however. They had to stay until Silesia finished healing Delcea.

I’m the only one who can defend this place right now.

Leonis presumably left her here because he trusted his minion. Riselia thought back to Muselle, who’d had his psyche eaten away by the Demon Sword. His mediocre Holy Sword became a Demon Sword that could manipulate whole crowds. So if an ace like Liat the Blazing Lion’s Holy Sword were to be corrupted, there was no telling how dangerous it would be.

“Why would someone like Liat do this…?” Riselia wondered.

“I think I can understand why he sought that power out,” Elfiné answered. “He blamed himself the most for what happened. His guilt over not protecting his comrades left him feeling responsible, so he threw himself into battle. But the power he wanted, the strength to protect everything, just wasn’t there…”

Elfiné trailed off.

Whoooooooosh!

Flames consumed the trees ahead of the group. And as they burned away, Riselia and the others could see the figure of a man approaching. In his hands was a sword enveloped in swirling fire.

“…Uuuooooo… Graaaaah…!”

“Liat!” Elfiné shouted and rose to her feet. “Selia, let me help you.”

“Okay. Miss Silesia, take Delcea somewhere safe.”

“…Understood!”

Riselia held up the Bloody Sword as she confirmed her upperclassman’s reply.

“Graoooooooo!” Howling like an animal, Liat swung his Demon Sword down.

“Oh, it’s just some child. Did you get lost?”

Eyeing the boy shivering in the darkness, the aged undead man smiled mirthfully. Slowly, he approached, like a predator toying with his prey.

“Wh-what is this place… Who are you?” Leonis took a step back, his legs shaking with fear.

“This was a great structure ruled by a Dark Lord. But now, it’s been reduced to a den for the creatures of nothingness.”

“A Void Hive… The whole place is a Hive?!”

“Indeed it is. And soon, the king to reign over all these Voids shall awaken.”

“A king of the Voids… You mean a Void Lord?!” Leonis tried to move farther away, but realized his back was pressing against a wall.

“Yes. All your Holy Swords shall become Demon Swords, and you will serve as sacrifices for the king’s revival!”

Snap… Snap, snap, snap…!

Zemein’s back contorted grotesquely. After swelling, six arms burst forth.

Whooosh!

One limb shot forward, grabbing Leonis by his slender throat.

“…Ugh!”

“The Undead King, Leonis Death Magnus, shall be reborn in this world and rule over the Voids!”

“Undead…King…?!” Leonis choked out, struggling vainly to break free. “What are you…trying…to do…?!”

“Such knowledge would be wasted on a dead child.”

Claws began digging into Leonis’s neck.

“…Ugh… Ah… Aaaah… Nng…”

Leonis thrashed in a desperate bid for freedom, but the spiderlike appendages refused to so much as budge.

“Yes, keep squirming. Entertain me for a while longer. I love nothing more than hearing the screams humans make when on the verge of death, you see. Especially when they come from pure, innocent youths…”

The monstrous old man’s face contorted in rapture, and he laughed in shrill bursts. His claws sunk deeper.

“Oh. Pure and innocent, you say?” The boy suddenly let out a dark chuckle.

“…Wh-what?!” Zemein’s eyes widened in surprise.

“…Heh, heh-heh-heh-heh. Ah-ha-ha-ha…,” Leonis continued ominously, despite still being strangled. “You really are in love with the sound of your voice, aren’t you? It’s been getting hard to hold back my laughter.”

“Wh-who are you?!” Zemein barked at him.

“Silence. And get your filthy hands off me…”

Slash!

The shadow under Leonis’s feet lashed out like a whip, severing the spiderlike arm grasping him.

“Aaagh! What did you do?!” The Dark Staff Officer fell to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain.

Leonis looked down upon the man’s pathetic squirming.

“Pardon. I did want to draw this out a bit longer…” Leonis’s lips curled into a cold grin. “But the farce ends here. What are you doing, Zemein?”