Chapter 395
The third form of magic, never before seen in this world, born from the fusion of Darkness and Holiness.
Void.
“That’s impossible…!”
Just looking at it made Sillage’s head throb.
The fusion of Darkness and Holiness, the ultimate opposing forces?! He’d sooner believe that a demon and an angel could mate.
Centuries of research and pursuit of truth were being utterly denied and shattered by a power that shouldn’t even exist.
His thoughts as a necromancer relentlessly tried to analyze it, but the more he did, the more an unbearable headache and a deep void consumed his mind.
A blade.
He needed a blade.
If he had even a knife in his hand, he would have pierced his own head immediately.
His forehead throbbed, his insides twisted, and drool streamed from his mouth. Just watching it was enough to drive one mad.
“This can’t be happening!!”
He had to get rid of that thing immediately.
In response to Sillage’s will, the reinforced blood zombies surged toward Simon like arrows.
[Boy!]
“I’m fine, Feer.”
Simon calmly held back Feer and brought the sphere-shaped Void closer to his chest.
Tssssss—
The Void enveloped Simon, transforming into a garment.
A cloak of deep blue, as though reflecting the universe, wrapped gently around Simon’s body, its ends fluttering.
Simon was now wearing the Void.
—Uwooooooo!
The blood zombies lunged, trying to bite into Simon’s neck.
Fssssh—
They weren’t even allowed to get close. Instantly, they turned to black ash and scattered.
Fssh!
Fshshshsh—!
One after another, all twenty zombies that had surrounded Simon turned to ash.
Only silence remained, as though nothing had been there to begin with.
“What the hell is that thing?!”
Sillage slammed his hands together with a loud bang, then thrust them forward.
Countless droplets of blood flew out, causing a series of large and small blood explosions.
Step— Step—
And through those red explosions, Simon—draped in Void—walked forward with an expressionless face. Not a single scratch was on him.
A force beyond logic and order, transcending the very laws of the world.
“!”
Sillage lowered his head. His feet were sliding toward Simon.
And it wasn’t just him. Blood droplets, fragments of shattered walls and corpses, everything was being pulled toward Simon.
‘Gravity?’
The hollow Void was pulling everything into itself, as though hungering for it all. But everything it absorbed was reduced to ash before ever touching Simon.
All things were being deleted by Simon.
“This is a problem.”
Simon murmured and touched the robe of Void he was wearing. Instantly, the gravity started selecting its targets. Wind, sand, light, pebbles—none were pulled in anymore.
Except for Sillage.
Sillage endured by concentrating Darkness into his legs.
“Grrraaaagh!!”
With bloodshot eyes, he raised both arms high.
The moment was near—the moment his centuries of achievements would shine.
The Apostle Resurrection Project had been perfect.
No one could have stopped it—not even Neftis, even if she were at Keyzen, near the border of the Holy Federation.
And yet!
‘By a brat like this!!’
Rumble-rumble-rumble—!
Sillage moved his fingers and activated his signature Bloodstone magic. Behind him, red gems began to form into a massive structure.
<Sillage Original – Longinus>
Fwoooosh!
The structure shattered, launching a refined spear of blood.
It was the same black magic that had sealed the dungeon master with a single strike. But—
Whoosh!
Even Longinus was swallowed into the Void and vanished as though it never existed.
“……!”
At that very moment, Sillage felt something powerful pass through him.
His creaking head turned right.
A quarter of his upper body had been torn off, exposing raw, red flesh. And behind him, the very Longinus he had fired was flying back in reverse.
“Guh!”
He stumbled and fell to his knees.
As the Darkness in his legs faded, he was dragged toward Simon once more by the gravity.
Simon continued walking, the distance between them shrinking rapidly.
“What the hell are you?!”
Sillage shouted in desperation.
“How can such a power exist?!”
Simon gave no reply. He didn’t feel it was worth answering.
‘Damn it!’
Having lived for so long and transcended boundaries, Sillage’s survival instinct and ambition became even more obsessive.
Bleeding profusely, he drew a magic circle with his own blood on his body and activated it.
Boom-boom-boom-boom—!
A self-inflicted blood explosion. Simon frowned and halted his steps.
Beyond the massive explosion, a drastically smaller Sillage was panting and crawling on all fours, escaping.
“I haven’t lost yet! Not yet!”
And before him, a crimson portal—just like the one that had summoned the followers earlier—appeared.
“The Apostle shall return!”
Shouting like a mad beast, Sillage threw himself into the portal. It closed behind him, and the cultists who had been fighting the undead now looked stunned.
“Th-The Archbishop ran away!”
“No way… did he abandon us?!”
Slam!
Prince smashed a cultist into the ground with his fist, face twisted in disgust.
[Of course! Why anyone would fall for those scam artists, I’ll never understand!]
Beside him, Erzebet was cupping her cheeks with her palms, eyes sparkling.
[……So dreamy!]
Behind her, cultists wrapped in spider webs were hanging like laundry.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
While the two ancient undead were chatting, a winged undead descended from the sky, kicking up a cloud of dust.
[Akemius!]
He was gripping the neck of the third bishop, Anvante, with terrifying strength.
“Gaaaah!”
At some point, Anvante’s prized tonfas had been shattered.
[I’ve damaged his Core. Extract information from him. Estimate Sillage’s escape route.]
Prince chuckled.
[Akemius, you're last! You’re the slowest! Watch and learn from this senior, will ya?]
[But everyone, look.]
Erzebet pointed at Simon.
[The Commander is doing something.]
Simon began gathering the Void—previously shaped like clothing—into his right hand.
Woooooooo!
The surrounding air vibrated, and the night’s sands surged. The desert trembled under the massive shockwave of power.
[C-Commander?]
Simon’s attack was not—
‘I’ll find you.’
—over yet.
He couldn’t let Sillage get away. Drawing on his absolute focus, Simon closed his eyes. Darkness filled his vision, and the world of stars, shadow, and void that he had once shared with “that being” appeared.
‘I will find you!’
Simon was now seeing into another dimension, transcending time and space. His vision spun madly, the surrounding universe expanding and contracting over and over.
The search didn’t take long.
Centering his perception on his own coordinates, brushing aside layer upon layer of dust and debris, he finally found it, a single presence.
A precarious, eerie red dot in the darkness.
It was unmistakably Sillage.
“Did you really think you could escape?”
Eyes still closed, Simon raised both hands.
The Void, once in the form of clothing, now shifted into the form of his main weapon—a greatsword.
Eyes shut.
Fully aware of Sillage’s presence—
Right now, in this very state.
‘Venda!’
* * *
Shahed Kingdom Territory.
Headquarters of the Blood Heaven Cult – Dark Alliance.
Very few knew that the heart of evil resided within the Shahed Kingdom.
To outsiders, it was merely a barren land unfit for farming. In truth, however, the entire headquarters was shrouded in a barrier created by the secret arts of the Blood Heaven Cult.
And this structure, tangled in an intricate network of tubes, was entirely a research facility of the cult. As proof of the horrific deeds committed within, the screams of test subjects and monsters echoed from all directions.
And right here—
Woooooooong!
A crimson portal burst open, and from within, a blood-soaked, naked man was thrown out.
“Guh—! Cough! Cough!”
No sooner had he exited the portal than he began vomiting clots of blood.
“Someone’s breached the defenses!”
The opening of a portal inside headquarters was immediately reported. Researchers in white coats rushed to the scene.
“W-Who is that vagrant?!”
“Archbishop Sillage!”
Murmur, murmur, murmur!
The researchers stared in horror. The man who had lived for centuries and built the very foundation of the cult looked pitiful and haggard beyond belief.
At that moment, a senior researcher hurried to the front.
“Why have you returned? The Blood Portal was supposed to activate only upon the Apostle’s resurrection—!”
“Where is the Elder?! Where is he?!”
Sillage shouted, as if nothing else mattered.
“Y-Yes? The Elder… he’s been at headquarters for over two years now…”
“Damn it!!”
Sillage rose, blood dripping from his mouth.
“We need to come up with countermeasures immediately!”
“Sir?”
“I saw it with my own eyes! Darkness and Holiness! Darkness and Holiness, I say!”
The Archbishop’s half-mad screams only deepened the confusion on the researchers’ faces.
“W-What about it, exactly…”
Grab!
Sillage grabbed the senior researcher by both shoulders and thrust his face close.
“They were fused!!”
Spittle and blood sprayed from his lips, splattering across the researcher’s face. The man flailed in panic.
“Ugh! W-What are you doing?!”
“I said they were fused! Those two things!!”
“P-Please let go!”
Wham!
Sillage threw the researcher aside and ran.
He kept running.
What had happened in that desert was hard to believe, but it was real.
And now that force had been made the enemy of the Blood Heaven Cult. A response had to be prepared—fast.
Bang!
Sillage burst out of the lab door, his face stiffening.
“Archbishop!”
Other researchers chased after him, panting.
“Ah!”
“The sky…!”
Crack…
Craaaack…
The sky was splitting. A deep blue radiance enveloped the entire area.
Sillage’s face turned pale. Research equipment and parts began floating up due to gravity.
‘That deep blue power was unmistakable…!’
[Did you really think you could escape?]
A thunderous voice pierced his mind. Sillage collapsed in a flailing heap.
“Ah. Aaaah! Aaaaaah!”
“Archbishop!”
The researchers quickly surrounded him.
“Hide me! I said, hide me!!”
Just as Sillage screamed in desperation—
At that very moment.
In the same timeline.
Clang!
Simon, still in the World of Sand, had shaped the Void into a greatsword and let it hang.
‘It doesn’t matter where he is, or where he runs.’
The air around him trembled, night’s sand swirling violently. The sheer shockwave of power sent the entire space into convulsions.
With full awareness of Sillage’s location, Simon drew the Void-sword behind him, ready to strike.
The space around him warped, centering on him.
[Across dimensions—]
His hips turned, his arms moved. He poured every ounce of his strength and spirit into the swing, feeling the heavy centrifugal force behind the sword.
[The sensation of cutting it down!!]
SHHHHRRRRRAAAAAAAANG!
The Greatsword of Void cleaved through the air, leaving behind a long streak like a galaxy in the sky.
And that strike, with perfect precision—
“!”
—cut through not one, but two dimensions.
Across the continent.
Through the Shahed Kingdom territory.
Until, finally, it reached the entirety of the Blood Heaven Cult’s headquarters—
SHHHHRRRRAAAAAAAANG!
—and slashed it apart.
“Ah…!”
Sillage’s eyes widened in disbelief—moments before his head was severed.
The last sight reflected in his eyes was the deep blue sword strike, as if it had cleaved the world itself.
Thunk!
Simon set the Void down, wiped his lips with his sleeve, and opened his eyes.
‘Told you. Doesn’t matter where you are.’
In the desert sky, a colossal scar in space—a dimensional gash—had appeared.
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