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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 223
The capital of the Starn Empire — Alzass.
Having returned from the Heavenly Realm, Kaylen glanced at the Solar Stone he had received from the Celestial Demon God.
‘It doesn’t look like it did when it was with Arashiel.’
To the eye, it was merely a beautiful gem of pure white.
Kaylen took out the Holy Sword Astella and placed it beside it.
“As expected, the mana wavelength is similar. Was it made from the Solar Stone?”
At Kaylen’s murmur, Astella flashed and responded.
[Master. I admit that pebble and I feel somewhat similar. But to say that I was made from that…
Just hearing it is repulsive and gives me chills.]
“Is that so?”
[Yes. That thing… does not share my origin.]
“Hmm. I thought the Celestial God created it through the Solar Stone…”
At the sword’s firm denial, Kaylen recalled the divine relics of the Celestial God.
The crown, the staff, the holy grail.
Though the three relics had lost their power when the Sanctuary collapsed
Kaylen had made sure to secure them before leaving the Sanctuary.
“They should be around here…”
Rummaging through the relics of the demonfolk, Kaylen soon pulled out the powerless divine artifacts.
Astella spoke in a voice laced with disdain.
[Those things would be more comparable to that Solar Stone.]
“Didn’t expect you to have a grudge against the relics too.”
[Of course. I was treated as being on the same level as those lowly objects.]
Though the three relics were inferior to Astella
Was that really something to detest so strongly?
“Hmm.”
Kaylen tried infusing the Solar Stone with mana and examined it in various ways,
But he couldn’t uncover anything further.
‘At this rate, it’ll take too long.’
Kaylen moved his feet.
He knew someone who could help.
“This should be the place?”
Theresia, who had been handling official duties in Kaylen’s stead,
Entered the palace garden with a faint flush after receiving Kaylen’s summons.
‘How long has it been since I last saw him?’
After the Sanctuary fell
When Kaylen stopped her from ending her own life and brought her down to the Starn Empire with him
Theresia had held a small, vague hope in her heart.
She was no longer a Saintess now.
‘There’s no need to keep admiring him from afar anymore, is there?’
Depending on how things went, maybe she could build a closer relationship with him…
But instead
‘All I’ve done is work.’
In reality, she’d been tied up in administration, managing the Empire alongside Baldrix,
The undead second son of Ernstine.
Kaylen was never in the palace, always off somewhere
And even when he was around, she only ever heard he was busy with important matters in the garden bearing the emblem of the Six Sword Path.
‘…Will he notice I’ve changed?’
With a quiet hope in her heart, Theresia approached Kaylen.
Now free from the constraints of her former Saintess role.
Her body, once that of a young girl, had grown noticeably in just a few days.
Even the clothes she had fitted just a week ago no longer suited her.
Whenever she saw her rapidly developing body, she sometimes regretted the eternal youth she had maintained for a thousand years.
‘Still… doesn’t this body fit Lord Kaylen’s taste better?’
It was known that Ernstine preferred mature women.
Then surely, Kaylen must be the same, right?
Theresia, who had never even considered that his true nature was a sword,
Approached Kaylen while harboring that subtle sense of anticipation.
“Lord Kaylen. You called for me?”
“Ah, Theresia…”
Kaylen looked her up and down briefly
Then, without further comment, got straight to the point.
“Could you take a look at this?”
‘He didn’t notice…’
Though she had grown,
It must not have been that noticeable.
While feeling a bit disappointed that he hadn’t realized,
Theresia still followed his words and looked at what was placed in front of her.
“This is…”
The Solar Stone, along with the Celestial God’s relics.
Theresia’s eyes widened as she stared at the Solar Stone in surprise.
But perhaps due to its small size, she didn’t show any signs of being captivated like Kaylen had been yesterday.
“It’s called the Solar Stone. I received it from the Celestial Demon God. I wanted to analyze it.”
“The Solar Stone… is it?”
Theresia flinched slightly at the mention of the Celestial Demon God
But soon, upon seeing the light mana radiating from the stone, she looked at it with fascination.
“A jewel worthy of its name. The light mana bursts forth strongly.”
“I almost got mesmerized by it.”
“You were… captivated by this gem?”
“Yeah.”
As Kaylen told her what had happened not long ago,
Theresia, who until now had only found the Solar Stone curious, changed her expression entirely into one of wary alertness.
“To think even you almost got mesmerized, Lord Kaylen. It really is a dangerous little rock.”
In an instant, the Solar Stone was downgraded from a jewel to a mere rock.
Theresia glared at it and spoke.
“May I touch it once?”
“Sure. Feel free.”
Flash.
As Theresia’s hand made contact
Light burst from the Solar Stone, and pure white mana of light emerged from her own body.
“…To think this mana would come out.”
She silently watched as her body became enveloped in light,
Then her face turned serious.
“This mana…?”
“The light mana I held when I believed in the Celestial Demon God.
It’s divine power infused with that faith.
After I abandoned my belief in him, my divine power began transforming into pure light mana.”
“Hmm. So that’s why your body grew?”
“Ah… You noticed?”
“Huh? You’ve grown that much. Of course I noticed.”
Kaylen spoke as if it were obvious,
And Theresia, not having expected him to recognize it, lit up with joy.
“That’s right. When my divine power disappeared, the restrictions of being a Saintess were lifted, and my body began to grow rapidly. But when I touched that Solar Stone, the mana that had changed into pure light mana started reverting back to divine power.”
“So that’s why Astella felt repulsion toward the Solar Stone?”
But still, that Holy Sword must have been created by the Celestial Demon God as well.
Kaylen recalled the time he had been trapped by the Celestial Demon God’s barrier in the Sanctuary.
Back then, the Holy Sword Astella couldn’t manifest her power against the authority of the Celestial Demon God.
“Hmm… Now that I look closely, I get it. Unlike the other sacred relics or that Solar Stone, the Holy Sword barely emits any divine power. I can only sense pure light mana.”
“How can you tell the difference between the two?”
Though Kaylen was well-versed in mana,
He couldn’t distinguish between the two types, so he asked Theresia.
“Lord Kaylen, even in the past, your faith wasn’t that deep, was it?”
“Well, no, it wasn’t.”
“Divine power appears identical to light mana on the surface. But its effect changes based on one’s faith in the god. The difference is so subtle that… even I could only tell because I lived as a Saintess and experienced both types of mana after abandoning my faith.”
So unless it was someone like Theresia, a special case, it was difficult to distinguish divine power from light mana.
However, Kaylen felt he had found a clue from what she said about faith.
“I should continue the research for now. Do you have time?”
“Of course.”
And so, Kaylen and Theresia studied the Solar Stone late into the night.
As they began to gradually grasp a few clues about this mana,
Kaylen looked at Theresia, who was unknowingly stifling a yawn.
“It’s gotten late. Let’s call it a night.”
“I’m fine, though…”
“You’re still growing. You need to sleep early.”
“Lord Kaylen, I’m not a child… Don’t forget I’m over a thousand years older than you.”
“Then you’re old, so you should sleep early. Is that what you want to hear?”
“…No. The first one’s better.”
Having mentioned her age for no reason and gained nothing from it, Theresia left to sleep.
Kaylen, still holding the Solar Stone, quietly closed his eyes.
‘Divine power… I think I’m starting to grasp it.’
Light mana that subtly changes when faith acts as a medium.
Kaylen could now vaguely understand the difference between the two.
However
Even if he had realized that the mana emitted from the Solar Stone was divine power,
It still didn’t tell him much about the Celestial Demon God.
‘Why did he give this to me?’
Kaylen stared silently at the Solar Stone, thinking.
‘Hmm…’
Then, his eyes changed slightly.
The divine power being emitted from the stone was growing stronger.
‘Divine power is being infused from outside.’
Light mana was flowing secretly into the Solar Stone.
Kaylen quickly noticed where it originated from.
‘Moonlight.’
It was moonlight that was supplying divine power to the Solar Stone.
The sun and the moon
They felt like opposites in theory.
‘…But moonlight, in the end, comes from the sun.’
Since moonlight was merely reflected sunlight,
It too contained light mana.
Even in the middle of the day, it wasn’t the usual light mana—what he felt now was a transformed version of it: divine power.
Whirr. Whirr.
And that divine power gradually grew stronger, slowly reaching toward the sigil of the Six Sword at Kaylen’s feet.
The Solar Stone’s light was moving toward the Light Sword among the Six Swords.
Kaylen finally understood why the Celestial Demon God had given him the Solar Stone.
‘Was he trying to imbue the sigil of the Six Sword with divine power?’
No one knew better than the Celestial Demon God how Kaylen had poured countless mana stones into nurturing the Six Sword sigil.
Had he given the Solar Stone in order to assess it—and secretly infuse divine power into it?
‘If I hadn’t learned to distinguish divine power through Theresia… I wouldn’t have noticed this attempt at all.’
The difference between divine power and light mana was as thin as a sheet of paper—even Kaylen hadn’t been able to tell them apart.
If he’d just fiddled with the Solar Stone and let it be absorbed into the Six Sword, the Light Sword would have been filled with a significant amount of divine power.
‘Should I block it?’
Kaylen stared at the Solar Stone, which now emitted divine power under the moonlight.
Now that he had grasped the Celestial Demon God’s intentions,
he could prevent the divine power from being infused into the Light Sword.
If divine power entered the sword, who knew what could happen—so to stay safe, the right thing would be to block it.
However…
‘No. I’ll accept it.’
Kaylen could feel it.
The time for the final battle was drawing near.
The standoff between the Dragon God and the Celestial Demon God wouldn’t last forever. Eventually, the two would face each other to settle everything.
And now was the best opportunity to destroy the Celestial Demon God.
‘Within the limited time we have… To complete a sword capable of slaying the Celestial Demon God, I have to take the risk.’
Placing the Solar Stone atop the Light Sword, Kaylen made his decision.
And three days later
Once the Solar Stone was fully absorbed into the Light Sword—
[Kaylen.]
The Celestial Demon God called out to him with a voice more gentle than ever before.
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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