The Legendary Spearman Returns

Side Story Chapter 196

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

A bull’s scream echoed over the plains. A deep gash ran down Moloch’s side. As if the pain from the wound wasn’t enough of a problem, ebon flames suddenly emerged from the wound and made Moloch writhe in pain. It didn’t take long for the fire to engulf the bull-demon.

-...The fire of the Demon Realm?

Moloch’s eyes gradually turned bloodshot from the hellish, incomprehensible heat of the ebon flames. For all his power, Moloch could feel that his life was hanging by a thread. Was he really going to be killed by a mere human in front of so many demons? That was a preposterous end for him. It was never going to happen! He hadn’t even used the abilities that had made him known as the Unleashing Demon!

Even as the ebon flames burned through his flesh, Moloch slammed his ax into the ground with all the force his unholy musculature could muster.

-Come! Rip the enemy to shreds. Black Shockwave!

The ground heaved and cracked, reaching Kireua so fast that he had no time to counterattack but stopping just short.

“I definitely hit him though...” Kireua blankly murmured. He could still vividly recall how it felt to cut through Moloch’s thick skin.

“Kireua! Dodge!” Selim yelled.

Kireua tensed up. Clusters of energy were flying toward him. He should have expected this from one of the one hundred strongest demons. How in the world had his father fought against monsters stronger than Moloch on his own?

Many thoughts went through Kireua’s head in that split second, but when Kireua blinked again, he discovered someone's broad back in front of him.

‘Your Majesty...?’

Although the person looked like Lilith Aphrodite, the Silver-Eyed Ghost Sword, Kireua could see the Emperor of Avalon within her.

“Get a hold of yourself,” Joshua said. He extended his hand and blocked the flying energy clusters.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“You shouldn’t lose your composure just because your opponent is stronger than you expected. There are a myriad of people in this world who are strong.”

Kireua’s eyes widened. Even at this moment, the Emperor of Avalon was teaching Kireua. He was right—Kireua had been bewildered because no one had ever been able to move after he’d struck them with his ebon flames.

“Never forget how you were in the beginning. It’s true that you’ve made remarkable progress, but your new-found confidence has nearly killed you several times already,” Joshua cautioned Kireua.

“I-I have no excuse.”

From the time that Aden von Agnus took over his body to now, Kireua was so embarrassed that he wanted to crawl under a rock.

“It’s okay. You’ve done a good job.”

Kireua trembled faintly.

Suddenly, the death knights threateningly radiating demonic power suddenly went down on their knees.

“What in the world...?” Kireua gasped.

“Their business here is done, so they should return to their places.”

“C-Can you control those death knights too?” Kireua asked, startled.

Joshua turned his head and smiled pompously. “This is nothing for your father. Train harder,” he added mischievously, and then slowly took a look around.

-It’s your turn, Lilith.

‘I-It’s too sudden.’ Lilith stammered.

-It’s not. I’m using your body, so everyone who is watching this, especially the delegates, will think that Lilith Aphrodite is the one who made all this possible.

‘A-Are you saying...?’

-Isn’t this your chance to vindicate yourself? The whole world is here to see it.

Lilith was touched by Joshua’s considerate gesture.

‘...Thank you. I mean it.’

-You can show me your gratitude later.

Lilith nodded in agreement. Yes, she hadn’t even begun to do what she needed to do.

“I am Lilith Aphrodite of the Hubalt Empire! As you can see, the undead are simply controlled by their master,” Lilith shouted using her mana.

The murmurings died out little by little. Some people even nervously swallowed because they remembered how Lilith had twisted many knights and soldiers with lust after the power of Lust had taken control of her. That was why Lilith wanted to also tell the citizens of Avalon that they could be more confident in using their power.

Lilith clenched her fists to pull herself together. ‘...I have to do it.’

After this battle, some call Lilith the most wicked witch of all time. Perhaps some other people would fear her for controlling ferocious death knights, but she still had to do it. She’d already made her decision.

There was no more god in this world, and the likes of “divine” power and “demonic” power were only tools without the ability to think. What mattered was the powers’ users. Were their intentions good or bad? Were they a good person or a bad person? The power’s wielder was of the utmost importance in this matter.

‘I need to be more confident. This path has already been pioneered,’ Lilith thought.

It wouldn’t have been possible for Lilith to even think of such things without Joshua. She had been born as a citizen of the Hubalt Empire and had spent her whole life worshiping the Empire’s god. How could she change her faith overnight without a powerful influence like Joshua?

Her conviction was immediately tested—there was always someone who wanted to nitpick, no matter what the reality was.

“Isn’t that the scariest thing about undead? How can you be sure that an evil person won’t get a hold of all these undead?” a nearby foreign knight yelled with the help of a mage’s mana. No doubt he remembered what Lilith had said before, but he didn’t want to remain a coward until the end.

“How is that different from what’s happening now?” Lilith asked.

“What?”

“Although I’m ashamed to bring it up, isn’t the Hubalt Empire doing the same thing? An evil man has put swords in the hands of the entire Empire so that he can conquer the continent.”

The knight fell into silence.

“Using their faith and their god’s name as justification, the Hubalt Empire is putting innocent people at risk to achieve their wrongful ambitions. They say that they use the power that their god granted to save the continent’s people, yet the Empire is using that very same divine power to instigate wars between other countries. In the end, the nature of power depends on who wields it. Swordsmen even have a saying: although there may be a bad swordsman, there are no bad sword techniques.”

Another knight raised his hand. “But aren’t most people who use demonic power evil?”

“The man who annihilated the Demon Spirit and saved the continent controls demonic power. All of you here know this hero very well, I'm sure.”

Lilith had prepared that answer beforehand. The question had been planned in advance as well—the knight was one of the Imperial Knights of Avalon. As a matter of fact, the citizens of Avalon were as desperate as Lilith to change the public image of demonic power and the undead. The link between the two had been proven through this war; Avalon’s people feared that their homeland would become known as the Demonic Empire at this rate. Of course, the possibility was very low right now since the other countries needed every bit of help that they could get for as long as the powerful common enemy named the Hubalt Empire remained.

“Still... It’s hard to change our opinions about them! We can’t trust those monsters to fight alongside us!” the foreign knight from earlier shouted, obviously eager to turn the crowd’s opinion. Unfortunately, it was working—most of the crowd was siding with the knight.

-Don’t lose spirit. It was inevitable for them to react this way.

“...I know.”

There was a high chance that the first country to embrace the change would have to fight on the front lines with Avalon. All of the foreigners were delegates who were representing their countries, so they had to be responsible for the decisions they made here. Who would want that?

And then an unexpected helper arrived.

“Argh!”

Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning struck the ground right in front of the knight.

“Wh-What in the world...?” The knight stammered.

“Listening to you, people will think that you’re only willing to fight for your ally if there aren’t any undead,” Selim said from the center of the battlefield.

“Wh-What?”

“Or is Avalon not your ally?” Selim sneered.

Moloch stopped running wild and had gone still as a sculpture for some reason, despite Kireua’s ebon flames still wrapped around his body, so Selim finally had enough leeway to turn his attention to Lilith’s efforts.

“Avalon doesn’t need pathetic, cowardly opportunists. Go back and tell your kings to try stopping Hubalt on your own. But... you’d better brace yourselves if you decide to point your swords at Avalon. Avalon will stop at nothing to tear you apart if you threaten us.”

A heavy silence fell over the battlefield. While Lilith offered a carrot, Selim was the stick. No country would want to make enemies out of both Hubalt and Avalon.

Lilith could feel a warm sense of contentment spreading inside her.

-Selim’s all grown up now, so it looks like I can leave your body now.

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