I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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Episode 167, Chapter 45: The Tower of Causality (7)

Crack! Crackle!

Dran's eyebrow twitched as he watched his sword slowly crumble along the lines etched into it. He couldn't comprehend how a blade wrapped in multiple layers of mana could be damaged so easily in a single clash.

Despite his confusion, Dran swiftly pulled back his sword and created distance between himself and Zion.

But with a whoosh, Zion closed the gap even faster than Dran could retreat, clearly not intending to give him room to swing his blade.

Without further exchange, Zion's fist, wrapped in a dark blue chain, shot straight towards Dran's heart. The Giant Destroyer spun fiercely, adding to the force of the strike.

At such close range, there was no space for Dran to deflect the blow with his sword. Instead, he twisted his body 90 degrees to the left, narrowly avoiding Zion's attack. Using the momentum, Dran widened the distance and swung the blue sword in his left hand horizontally.

Crackle!

The air froze along the sword's path. This was the power of "Freeze," one of Dran's two legendary-grade weapons.

Zion observed the approaching blade but didn't retreat. Instead, he dove even closer.

In a sword-versus-fist battle, creating distance would only put him at a disadvantage.

Swish!

Zion ducked low, as if sinking into the ground. Dran's sword passed overhead, slicing off a few strands of Zion's hair.

Boom!

Having narrowly slipped inside Dran's guard, Zion planted his left foot firmly and threw a punch with all his might.

Perhaps realizing it was too late to dodge, Dran quickly pulled his right-hand sword, "Igni," in front of his chest in a reverse grip.

Their attacks collided.

Crash!

An ear-shattering explosion erupted, the shockwave tearing through the air. The ground beneath them shattered from the impact.

"What the..."

A puzzled mutter escaped Dran's lips. The surface of Igni, which had met Zion's fist, now bore even more prominent cracks than before.

'How can a legendary weapon be damaged like this after just two clashes?'

He couldn't fathom what trick was at play. Was there something special about the dark chain wrapped around that fist?

But Dran had no time to ponder further. Zion's other fist, now cloaked in an alien darkness that sent chills down the spine, was already hurtling towards his head.

With speed that seemed to defy space itself, Zion's fist closed in. Dran's eyes wavered as he jerked his head back so hard it almost cracked.

Swish!

Zion's fist barely grazed Dran's cheek before striking the air behind him, tearing through space itself.

Feeling a chill run down his spine at the terrifying power, Dran forcibly regained his posture and leaped backward to create distance.

Simultaneously, swish swish!

Without a moment's delay, Dran swung both his swords. A barrage of ice and fire erupted from the twin blades, engulfing the surroundings and targeting Zion's important points.

Unlike before, Zion neither closed the distance nor dodged Dran's attack. Instead, he slightly twisted his right fist.

Clank!

The Giant Destroyer, which had been wrapped around his hand, uncoiled and transformed into a chain sickle. It clashed simultaneously with Dran's incoming twin swords.

Boom!

A thunderous noise erupted as the chain sickle and twin swords rebounded in opposite directions.

Before Dran could shake off the numbing sensation in his hands from the collision, clank!

The Giant Destroyer, which had been flung away, changed direction in mid-air as if alive and lunged at Dran's entire body.

"What the...!"

Perhaps it was a testament to his experience as the leader of the Murder Legion, having survived countless deadly situations. Despite expressing a startled exclamation at the sudden change in weapon and pattern, Dran managed to deflect all the incoming attacks with his recovered twin swords.

Clang clang clang!

Countless sparks erupted in the air from the rapid exchanges.

"Whoa..."

The onlookers, both the Murder Legion members and others, watched the battle with their mouths agape. None dared to intervene.

All they could perceive were faint afterimages and the endless sounds of impacts erupting in the air.

Time.

Time is not equal for all, and this difference becomes most apparent in matters of combat.

In the blink of an eye, which a third-rate knight might not even register, a first-class knight can see an attack, process it mentally, and react.

The density of lived time itself differs.

And now...

'What in the world...!'

Dran, too, was beginning to feel this difference in time as he faced Zion.

His opponent's movements kept accelerating as if there was no limit, while Dran's own hands and feet grew increasingly uncoordinated.

Moreover, his attacks were being intercepted before they could even be launched, while his opponent's strikes grew sharper by the moment.

'Where did someone like this suddenly appear from?'

He couldn't begin to guess Zion's true identity.

How many people in the world could so easily match the leader of the Murder Legion, one of the top-ranked among the Twelve Seas?

Dran knew all such individuals, and none of them possessed characteristics similar to the man before him.

In fact, he had never even heard of someone with comparable strength.

'It's as if he suddenly fell from the sky...'

A variable.

And a massive one at that, capable of single-handedly flipping the entire game board.

Grind!

"Who are you?" Dran growled, glaring at Zion as their weapons clashed.

"I told you earlier. The one who's going to kill you."

As Zion grinned back at Dran, boom!

The Giant Destroyer vibrated furiously, simultaneously burrowing into Dran's twin swords.

The reason Zion could so easily damage Dran's swords was simple.

The blades of Yin-Yang Swords were composed not of metal, but of fire and ice spirits. This made them particularly vulnerable to the Black Star Force, which negated mysteries.

Finally, crack!

"Freeze," one of Dran's twin swords, shattered completely, and Zion's Giant Destroyer took its place.

"Damn it!"

Dran cursed as he leaped backward to avoid Zion's attack, urgency evident in his eyes.

'If this continues, I'll lose.'

As much as he hated to admit it, the black-haired man before him held the upper hand in this battle.

If the tide turned any further, it would become irreversible.

He needed to make a decisive move before that happened.

'In that case...'

His eyes flashed as if he had made a decision. Dran spread his arms wide and began to concentrate.

Throb!

Veins bulged on his forehead and his eyes became bloodshot.

The surrounding air began to churn violently.

Finally, when the vibrations reached their peak, boom!

A completely different kind of heat and cold erupted from his twin swords, filling the surrounding space.

No, it wasn't just filling the space.

It was corrupting space itself, altering the world within it.

'The Path of Fire and Ice.'

This was Dran's strongest technique, one he had yet to perfect.

What was the difference between the 'Seven Heavens' and the 'Twelve Seas'?

It wasn't just a matter of raw power.

Domain.

It was the ability to completely corrupt the surrounding space and make it one's own domain.

'The Path of Fire and Ice' was a technique that allowed one to deploy this 'spatial corruption', albeit imperfectly.

It was Dran's unique skill, created by pouring his entire being into it, ever since he began to glimpse the path towards 'Heaven' not long ago.

"I'll crush you in one go."

A world changing according to his will.

Grinning at the sense of omnipotence this brought, Dran's form shot straight towards Zion.

The time he could maintain 'The Path of Fire and Ice' was extremely short, so there was no time to waste.

Fwoosh!

As Dran moved, the space filled with heat and cold shifted to the form most advantageous to him.

Empowered by this, Dran reached right in front of Zion in less than an instant.

Just as he was about to bring down Igni, infused with the power of his domain, vertically...

"Perfect timing."

Zion, who had been standing still until now, grinned at Dran.

"I have something similar too."

As the five black stars swirling in Zion's eyes emitted a pitch-black light, Black Star Force, 5 stars.

Dark Domain.

Thud!

Dran's movement stopped as if he had hit an invisible wall, and the brightness of the surroundings rapidly decreased.

It was as if black paint had been poured over the entire world.

"Ah..."

Dran's eyes glazed over.

Not because his body wouldn't move an inch no matter how much strength he applied.

But because of the darkness that was spreading, devouring the space he had corrupted.

This darkness was creating a perfect domain, incomparable to his own incomplete one.

"You have already..."

And there was only one thing this could mean.

"...reached Heaven."

A voice like a sigh escaped Dran's lips.

And at that moment, crunch!

Zion's hand, slowly extended and imbued with the power of the Dark Domain, crushed Dran's heart.

* * *

"That man is..."

A dazed voice flowed from the silver-haired woman's lips as she watched Zion slaughter the remaining members of the Murder Legion after taking Dran Sidorea's life.

The woman, who had arrived here chasing the aura of the Murder Legion and the Heaven Destroyer, had witnessed the latter half of the battle between Zion and Dran.

Her eyes trembled.

Dran Sidorea's feat of deploying spatial corruption despite not having reached 'Heaven' was astounding, but the darkness of this man, who had in turn corrupted Dran's domain, was beyond astonishment.

'Perhaps on par with the Seven Heavens...'

If this man truly was the 'Heaven Destroyer' who had appeared above Lezero, this level of power would be natural. But the woman had thought he was just someone else with a connection to that being.

After all, an existence that had already somewhat broken free from the cycle of reincarnation and formed a realm shouldn't participate in a trial like this.

'Who on earth is he?'

Her eyes filled with questions.

Someone with that level of power should undoubtedly be known to the world.

But no matter how much she racked her memories, no such person had existed before her regression.

'Could he be the one who took first place in the lower trials, surpassing me...?'

Just then,

"Should we stop him?" Turzan, standing beside her, asked, his gaze fixed on Zion.

Was he tense?

His fists were clenched tighter than usual.

"No, there's no need. It's better for the Murder Legion to be eliminated anyway," the woman replied, shaking her head.

"Let's wait for now. I have something to ask him."

Meanwhile,

'So this is my first time seeing her in person.'

Zion glanced briefly at the woman as he continued taking the lives of the the Murder Legion members.

Hero Frosimar.

The protagonist of the Chronicles of Frosimar and the hero destined for failure.

He had been aware of her presence since his battle with Dran, but Zion deliberately didn't approach her.

It wasn't time for contact yet, and he had more pressing matters at hand.

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

The number of the Murder Legion members rapidly dwindled.

Perhaps because their leader Dran had already fallen?

The members were being eliminated helplessly, unable to even put up proper resistance.

And finally,

"G-Get away! You monster... Urk!"

As the life of the last remaining member vanished, pop!

The number of Life Jades displayed above Zion hit exactly 100.

'Right on the mark.'

Zion smiled slightly as he saw that number.

"You have fulfilled the second condition for accessing the secret trial."

"You have fulfilled the final condition for accessing the secret trial."

The Trial Helper's voice began to ring in his ears in succession.

It seemed the conditions were being cleared all at once, probably because he already possessed the 'Fragment of the Frost Queen's Authority', which was the final condition.

And then,

"Would you like to move to the secret trial 'History of Destruction'?"

A final question rang out.

Since this was what he had aimed for from the start when entering the Eternal Tower, there was no reason to refuse.

"Yes."

As soon as Zion nodded, whoosh!

A bright light, completely different from the darkness until now, began to envelop Zion's entire body.

"That's...!"

The hero's eyes widened as she watched this scene.

That light.

It was undoubtedly the phenomenon that appeared just before moving to the 'secret trial'.

'Could the person who took the Fragment of the Frost Queen's Authority be...!'

With that thought, just as the woman was about to urgently approach Zion, flash!

Zion's form completely vanished from that spot along with the light that had reached its peak.

---

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