Chapter 1056
Creeeeak!
The gate of hell, engraved with the image of a demon being imprisoned inside a black coffin, swung open, and the whole world was dyed red.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The 10th Apostle opened his eyes in a grotesque space where crimson blood had risen all the way to his knees.
“This is…”
He swallowed dryly as he watched the white drops of blood flowing from the wound on his shoulder turn red.
“My Sword Field Creation.”
Martha’s clear voice rang out from behind the 10th Apostle.
“Sword Field Creation?”
The 10th Apostle turned around with a frown.
“The name of this Sword Field Creation is Demon Prison.”
Martha drew a faint smile that did not suit the hell of blood.
“It is a prison that confines demons that should never exist in this world, like you and the White Blood Lord.”
“You do not carry Zieghart’s blood, so how…”
The 10th Apostle furrowed his brow deeply as if he could not understand it.
“I made a covenant with my soul and my mental world. I prayed that if I could kill you and that damned bitch with this Sword Field Creation, I would never need to swing a sword again.”
Martha curled her red lips as she said it was a Sword Field Creation born from thoughts of nothing but revenge.
“Of course, it would’ve been impossible without that idiot master’s help. I needed training in attribute power.”
Even after reaching Grand Master and making a covenant of the soul, it would still have been impossible to create a Sword Field Creation immediately.
It was only because Rimmer had trained her in a way to create Sword Field Creation through attribute power that she had been able to complete the Demon Prison she now stood in.
“Even so, that should still be impossible…”
“Demon Prison is a Sword Field Creation made for no one but you and the White Blood Lord. I can’t use it on anyone else, not even Blood Demons.”
The two she hated most deeply were the 10th Apostle, who had taken her mother, and the White Blood Lord, who had seized her mother’s body.
This Sword Field Creation was no different from the hatred she had built up toward those two since childhood taking shape on its own.
“I didn’t expect you to go so far as to create a Sword Field Creation. Still…”
Even after being trapped inside the Sword Field Creation, the 10th Apostle steadied his breathing with a cold gaze, as if searching for a way out.
“A half-finished Sword Field Creation like this means nothing.”
He leveled his spear at her, seemingly convinced this Sword Field Creation was incomplete.
“If I kill you, this Sword Field Creation will collapse as well.”
As if declaring that he would use his full power from this point on, the 10th Apostle stamped the ground and thrust out a spear strike wrapped in spiraling Blood Energy.
Whoooosh.
But the fierce Blood Energy clinging to his spear turned into red dust and vanished before it could even reach Martha.
“Wh-what is this…”
The 10th Apostle’s eyes widened, looking even more shaken than when he had first entered the Sword Field Creation.
“You’re getting impatient.”
Martha waved a hand toward the 10th Apostle, whose lips were trembling.
“Demon Prison is a prison that turns all blood red. Even the white blood flowing through your body has turned red like an ordinary human’s, so you can’t use Blood Energy anymore.”
This Demon Prison transformed all blood into red. In other words, to the Blood Demons of the White Blood Cult, who gained strength through white blood, it was a living hell.
“That’s absurd! Such a thing is impossible!”
The 10th Apostle shouted that it was a power that overturned the balance of the world.
“No, it’s possible. As I said, the only ones I can use this Sword Field Creation on are you and the White Blood Lord.”
She had abandoned the possibility of opening a Sword Field Creation through attribute power alone like Rimmer and instead chose to create a Sword Field Creation meant only for Blood Demons, and specifically for the 10th Apostle and the White Blood Lord.
On top of that, she had even made a covenant of the soul that if she could kill those two with this Sword Field Creation, she would never need to hold a sword again.
Because it was a restriction that discarded the future and chose the present, obtaining this power had not been impossible.
‘Maybe it won’t work on the White Blood Lord, but it has no choice but to work on the 10th Apostle.’
The White Blood Lord existed on a completely different plane from her, so she couldn’t be certain about her. But the 10th Apostle would never escape this prison.
“Ugh…”
The 10th Apostle bit his lip and raised the shaft of his spear. Even without Blood Energy, it seemed he intended to fight to the very end.
“Good. It wouldn’t be satisfying to take revenge if you didn’t resist!”
As Martha raised her sword, the crimson blood flowing over the ground surged up like a tidal wave and crashed down over the 10th Apostle’s head.
It was a colossal torrent that looked as if it might drown not only the 10th Apostle, but the entire space of this Demon Prison itself.
“Haaaah!”
The 10th Apostle shouted and spun his spear shaft, but the strength of his flesh alone, without Blood Energy, could not withstand that overwhelming wave.
Kuwaaaaaang!
The 10th Apostle was swept away by the terrifying tide, his arms and legs utterly crushed before he was slammed into the crimson blood.
“It’s not over yet.”
When Martha drove her sword into the ground, the blood transformed into thousands of spikes and tore through the 10th Apostle’s entire body.
“Kyaaaaaaagh!”
Even the 10th Apostle could not endure the torture of Demon Prison, and with his eyes rolling back, he let out a scream.
“Do you regret it?”
Martha raised her chin as she looked down at the 10th Apostle, whose whole body trembled from the pain.
“Regret stepping onto this path. Regret becoming a Blood Demon, killing innocent people, and abducting them!”
“Haaah…”
The 10th Apostle lifted his head, letting out a breath that reeked of blood.
“I… do not like fighting all that much. I rarely drank human blood either.”
He continued speaking with trembling eyes.
“But I do not regret becoming a Blood Demon. My life was for her, and thanks to your mother’s body, she became even stronger.”
The 10th Apostle shook his head as if offering his loyalty to the White Blood Lord to the very end.
“Really? Thanks. Because of you, I don’t think I’ll regret creating this Sword Field Creation either.”
When Martha clenched her fist, the crimson blood became prison bars and coiled around the 10th Apostle.
Crack-crack-crack!
The 10th Apostle was trapped inside the bars of blood that tightened around him like snakes, and every bone in his body was crushed. Red blood poured from the five openings of his face.
“E-even so…”
The 10th Apostle looked up at Martha while coughing up dead blood.
“There is one thing I want to say to you… I’m sorry.”
“To me? That’s not it! You should beg forgiveness from every person you killed and offered up as sacrifices!”
Martha slapped the half-dead 10th Apostle across the cheek, telling him not to spew such bullshit.
“No. To you. Only you…”
The 10th Apostle lifted his eyes as if he were sorry to no one but her, and then his breath stopped.
“What do you mean…”
As Martha narrowed her eyes, the 10th Apostle’s corpse drifted away with the blood and became fixed to the left side of the gate of hell.
The empty gate on the right was meant for the White Blood Lord.
“No matter what happened, I won’t accept an apology from you.”
Martha bit her lip as she looked at the corpse of the 10th Apostle, dead with his eyes still open.
“Only the strong can forgive.”
She stared at the 10th Apostle, who had died with bitter eyes despite claiming he had no regrets, then seized the handle of Demon Prison’s gate.
Creeeeak!
The door, drenched in the 10th Apostle’s blood, opened with a wailing sound like the cry of a ghost, as if cursing her.
===
Waaaaaaaah!
The moment Martha stepped out of her Sword Field Creation, she widened her eyes at the cheers ringing out around her.
“As expected of our Division Leader!”
“So you finally achieved Sword Field Creation!”
“I knew you’d do it!”
The swordsmen of the Light Wind Palace waved at her, shouting that they were overwhelmed.
“Martha!”
Burren raised his fist toward her.
“You being the first among us to use Sword Field Creation… I still can’t believe it!”
He let out a hollow laugh in disbelief. But there was no envy or jealousy in the words first among us, only admiration and pride.
“You did well! You really did well!”
Runaan lifted the corners of her lips just a little. For her, that voice and smile were no different from bursting into loud laughter.
“All my nieces and nephews are incredible!”
After shoving back the 1st Apostle with sheer strength, Aris gave Martha a thumbs-up.
“The 10th Apostle…”
“D-don’t tell me he died to that little bitch?”
“N-no way! He was the 10th Apostle!”
“I can understand Raon Zieghart, but how did someone like that brat…”
On the other hand, the Blood Demons realized the 10th Apostle was dead and trembled with horrified eyes.
“Martha.”
Denier approached from behind and placed a hand on Martha’s shoulder.
“How in the world did you open a Sword Field Creation?”
His eyes were wide with astonishment.
“My lazy bum of a master taught me about a Sword Field Creation that uses attribute power. It’s a method that works even without Zieghart blood, though it only shares the same name. In truth, it’s a different kind of martial art.”
Martha smiled faintly as she thought of Rimmer. Now that she had used it herself, it had indeed felt a little different from Zieghart’s Sword Field Creation.
“And it also helped a lot that I’d often seen Raon wield Sword Field Creation.”
In truth, the vow to use it only on the 10th Apostle and the White Blood Lord had played a big part too, but she kept quiet about that, thinking Denier might be saddened by it.
“I see.”
Denier nodded as if it finally made sense.
“The 10th Apostle is truly dead?”
“Yes. He’s definitely dead.”
Martha clenched her fist and said she had even sealed the corpse inside her Sword Field Creation so that not a trace of it would remain.
“Then… did he leave behind any last words?”
Denier’s eyes suddenly narrowed, as if asking whether the 10th Apostle had spoken any last words.
“Well, he suddenly said he was sorry only to me. He said something strange, and then… ngh!”
Martha let out a groan and dropped to one knee in the middle of her explanation.
“Martha!”
Denier rushed over and caught her.
“I-I’m fine. I’m just a little tired…”
Martha grabbed Denier’s shoulder and forced herself back up.
‘So this is it.’
What it means to offer up your life force…
Rimmer had said he couldn’t recommend his own Sword Field Creation because it consumed not just attribute power, but life force as well.
Just as he had warned, after using Sword Field Creation, pain stabbed through her entire body as if she had been pierced by blades, and the exhaustion was so overwhelming she felt like collapsing right then and there.
‘He endured this?’
Realizing what kind of pain Rimmer had borne while fighting made the tip of her tongue ache bitterly.
“Are you truly alright?”
Denier frowned, as if he had noticed her condition.
“I’m fine. No, even if I’m not, it doesn’t matter.”
Martha planted both feet on the ground, using her sword as a cane.
“No matter what happens, we have to end this war today.”
If they let this chance slip away, they might never be able to catch the White Blood Lord again. Today, they had to sever that demon’s neck and pierce her heart.
“Yes. That’s true.”
Denier nodded as if he understood.
“Then recover your stamina behind me. From here on, the Black Tortoise Palace will open the way.”
Telling her to follow behind him, he leaped over the wall.
“Thank you, Father.”
Martha smiled faintly and followed behind Denier into the White Blood Cult’s headquarters proper.
“There aren’t any Blood Demons here?”
Perhaps they had all gone to the fortress walls, because there were barely any Blood Demons inside the headquarters proper.
“It isn’t that there are none.”
Denier raised a finger and pointed to the avenue streaked with white blood. All along the wide road lay more Blood Demons than one could count, along with archbishops and even the corpses of men who looked to be Apostles.
“The Light Wind Palace Lord cut through all of them.”
He let out a hollow laugh as he looked at the sword marks Raon had left behind, every one of them having cut off a Blood Demon’s life without the slightest error. He seemed genuinely astonished by Raon’s power.
“Judging by how he bulldozed his way through like an idiot, it’s definitely him.”
Martha nodded as she looked at the corpse of an Apostle that still carried traces of Raon’s handiwork.
‘I feel a little stronger.’
Just thinking that Raon was fighting for her made it feel as though some of the fatigue and pain pressing down on her body and mind had eased.
“It looks like he went north. We should pick up the pace now.”
“Yes.”
Just as she was running forward with Denier and the swordsmen of the Black Tortoise Palace—
Kuwaaaaaaaaaang!
The white cathedral at the northern end collapsed, and a massive pillar of Blood Energy shot skyward. It looked like Blanger Falls, said to be the largest waterfall in the world, had risen upside down.
“The White Blood Lord!”
Martha ground her teeth as she looked at the black-haired, black-eyed woman emerging through the pillar of Blood Energy. The White Blood Lord. Wrapped in white blood like a dress, she was glaring up at the sky.
Kuwaaaaaang!
As Martha tightened her grip on her sword and was about to charge toward the White Blood Lord, a blond swordsman floating before her got blasted back by Blood Energy and slammed into the building beside her.
“She’s disgustingly strong even without awakening.”
It was Raon. Shoving aside the rubble of the collapsed building, he got back to his feet with a hollow laugh.
“Raon!”
“So you made it here. Looks like you pulled it off.”
Raon smiled faintly, as if he had always believed in her.
“What happened here?”
“That queen mosquito was throwing her subordinates around as meat shields while trying to awaken. I stopped her at the last moment.”
He brushed blood and dust from his hand, saying he had prevented the White Blood Lord’s awakening by the narrowest of margins.
“I was only a hair away. Just one breath away, and yet you…!”
As if Raon had been telling the truth, the White Blood Lord clutched at her black hair and screamed.
“I will kill you! Not only you, but every human connected to you, I’ll chew them all to pieces!”
The White Blood Lord clasped both hands together and chanted a spell. A white dimension bloomed from within the White Blood Cult’s headquarters, and countless Blood Demons came pouring out.
As if she had summoned every Blood Demon on the continent, the inside of the headquarters was filled with them in an instant.
But that was not all the White Blood Lord’s spell did. She scattered a rain made of white blood over the headquarters, weakening the swordsmen of Zieghart while strengthening the Blood Demons.
The tide of battle began to reverse, and the swordsmen were driven back.
“I’ll kill you with my own—”
Just as the White Blood Lord was about to extend her hand, saying she would kill him herself—
Slaaaash!
The space where the White Blood Lord stood split apart, and a blue sword strike burst through her chest.
“You seem rather excited.”
From within the mirror-like space, Owen’s king, King Lecross, known by the title Black Sword King, stepped out.
Kuwaaaaaang!
He poured aura into the sword that had pierced the White Blood Lord’s chest and blew apart her flesh and bones.
“Kuh-huk!”
As the White Blood Lord coughed blood and doubled over, dozens of cards dropped from the air and unleashed high-level lightning magic upon her.
“Kyaaaaaaagh!”
Overwhelming aura and magic exploded at once, and the White Blood Lord was slammed into the ground with a scream.
“Well done.”
Larian, with cards flashing in different colors between her fingers, blinked at Raon.
“I was watching with my heart in my throat. You really did well.”
King Lecross nodded at both Raon and Martha, saying they had done splendidly as well.
“Now we will join in too!”
When he raised his hand, Chamber’s blue dimensional gate opened, and Owen’s knights came charging out.
Uoooooooooh!
The cavalry swept through the Blood Demons with razor-sharp lances tucked at their waists, while the knight order led by the Third Prince cleaved through both the Blood Demons and the dimensions they were pouring out of at once, opening a path.
“Benefactor! Sorry to have kept you waiting!”
The Third Prince saluted with a sword still dripping Blood Demon blood, looking as though it had taken all his restraint not to rush in sooner.
“It’s been a while. Now I can’t even dream of catching up to you.”
Borini Kitten, now the Vice Commander of the Silver Knights, drew an archbishop’s throat open and smiled faintly.
“Y-you bastards…”
“It’s not over yet.”
While the White Blood Lord still couldn’t steady herself from the shock inflicted by Lecross and Larian, Raon stepped forward with the Supreme Harmony Steps and smashed his fist into her face.
Boooom!
The White Blood Lord had not yet fully recovered from the shock, so she failed to block Raon’s attack and went rolling across the ground before collapsing at the feet of Larian and Lecross.
Chiiiiing!
King Lecross leveled a blue-glowing sword at the White Blood Lord, Larian raised her cards and drew up a massive surge of mana, and Raon, holding Heavenly Drive and the Soul Requiem Sword, opened his Sword Field Creation and summoned the divine sword and the demonic sword.
“You look much better crumpled on the ground.”
Raon twisted his lips as he looked at the White Blood Lord’s cheek, bruised a deep blue.
“Mosquitoes really are best swatted with the palm.”
Thanks for the translation you’re the best