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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 225
A few days ago—
Kaylen was communicating with the Six Swords embedded within the Dragon God.
［I still can’t believe that the Celestial Demon God is connected to the Moon. Could the Earth God have been lying?］
Kaylen laid out the information he had come to know—
But the Water God, who had long fought against the Celestial Demon God, couldn’t easily accept it.
“Why do you think that?”
［If he truly is a god born from the Moon, then he should have possessed dark mana from the beginning… But the Celestial God has only ever used the power of light. He wasn’t able to use dark mana until he seized control of the Demon Realm.］
“Hmm, could it be to hide the fact that he came from the Moon? If people found out where he originated, his base could be attacked.”
There was a big difference between defending against an unknown alien god—
And launching a counterattack after learning his origin.
In the former case, one could only take hits passively,
But in the latter, a counteroffensive was possible.
［……That may be so. The reason I attempted to transform into the Dragon God was also because—
Even when it seemed we had suppressed the Celestial God, he would always recover.］
“He kept recovering?”
Wasn’t such continuous recovery the Dragon God’s exclusive trait?
Kaylen paid close attention to this new information.
［Yes. When he first invaded—he wasn’t that threatening……］
As the God of Light, no matter how much the Water God tried to extinguish his light—
The Celestial God would regain his strength the next morning when the sun rose.
［Watching him grow stronger with the light, I never once thought to associate him with the Moon.
Had I known, perhaps our approach would’ve been different.］
“I see.”
［But… this is just one possibility.
Unless we have direct proof that the Celestial Demon God is connected to the Moon, we can’t plan accordingly.］
“Understood.”
They had spent countless years resisting the Celestial God of Light.
It was too much to expect them to change their entire strategy based on a single remark from Kaylen.
“I’ll investigate further from the inside.”
［Please do.］
Not long after that conversation ended—
The Celestial Demon God summoned Kaylen.
[Kaylen.]
Even though it was only his voice—
The trace amounts of divine power within Kaylen’s body began to swell gradually.
[Come to me.]
As the Celestial Demon God's words followed—
Kaylen felt a surge of confidence rising within him.
After all, he was the one who had completed Starfall at the transcendent level.
He believed that even if he heard the Celestial Demon God’s proposal, nothing would go wrong.
If not for the Six Sword pattern etched on the ground, Kaylen wouldn’t have been able to objectively assess his condition.
‘Is this also the influence of divine power?’
A divine force meant to stir confidence—
To make him accept the Celestial Demon God’s proposal.
Kaylen sensed that he stood at a crossroads.
Whether to accept the proposal or not—
‘If I accept… this body may not withstand it.’
The Celestial Demon God was one who acted with caution.
He had invited Kaylen with such confidence—surely because everything was already in place.
Kaylen’s body had been trained to its limits, but whether it could withstand a trap laid by a god with full intent was uncertain.
‘Still… if I don’t accept this offer, I’ll lose the chance to learn more about the Celestial Demon God.’
The Celestial Demon God and the Dragon God—
For now, they were only probing each other, but their true battle would soon begin.
Before that, he had to gather as much information about the Celestial Demon God as possible.
In the end, Kaylen made his choice.
‘…I’ll give up this body.’
He chose to abandon his human body.
Even though he was fully aware that his true identity was the Six Swords—
It was still not an easy decision to part with his human form.
‘I’ll leave most of the information in this body…’
But since he had already resolved himself—
Kaylen wasted no time in organizing the data stored in his physical form.
‘I’ll separate everything related to the Dragon God. And to use Starfall at the transcendent level, I’ll alter the memories so they return to the Six Sword pattern.’
The Celestial Demon God might brainwash Kaylen’s body, but he wouldn’t destroy it.
Because he needed Kaylen’s sword to fight the Dragon God.
Then—
With the possibility of being brainwashed in mind, he prepared the body to return to the Six Sword pattern.
That way—
‘I’ll be able to retake control of the brainwashed Kaylen’s body…!’
And—
Everything went exactly as Kaylen had intended.
After transforming into one of the Moon’s kin, Kaylen eventually returned to the Six Swords.
［So this is the Moon’s kin.］
His body was once again subordinated to the Six Swords.
From the mouth of the now blue-skinned Kaylen, a faint groan slipped out.
Shrrrr—
And from behind him, the Six Swords rose.
The Six Swords, which had once been completely transformed into three light swords and three dark swords, were now gradually returning to their original form with the four elemental colors.
To the eye, it looked as if he was obeying the Celestial Demon God’s commands—
But in truth, Kaylen, who now resided in the Six Swords, had reclaimed control and was extracting information about the Moon’s kin.
［What an extreme body, these Moon’s kin.］
The Earth God had once referred to the Demon King as one of the Moon’s kin.
And just as he had said, this body truly possessed only extreme amounts of dark mana.
‘I always wondered why the Light Swords weren’t disappearing…’
As Kaylen analyzed the Six Swords of this Moon’s kin version of himself, he discovered the reason.
‘There are sunstones embedded in the altered body.’
In both shoulders and at the crown of the head—
Without even realizing it, sunstones had been embedded there.
These were what allowed the Demon King’s body to store light mana.
‘If all the Moon’s kin are structured like this… I could easily forge swords designed to tear them apart…’
Of course, the Celestial Demon God and the Moon’s kin wouldn’t have exactly the same bodies—
But the fundamentals should be similar.
Kaylen continued to pretend to absorb the Six Swords—
While gradually grasping the changes in his body.
Meanwhile, Arashiel, the fallen angel who had received the Celestial Demon God’s command, flapped her wings with a displeased expression.
［Watch over Kaylen.］
Of course, her displeasure wasn’t because of the god’s command.
‘I've lost face before the Celestial Demon God. I said I was confident… but I couldn’t gain his trust.’
It was because of her own shortcomings.
［He changed far too easily compared to what he had prepared. There’s still a chance he might revert, so stay close and observe him carefully.］ Even that divine order—
Felt, to Arashiel, like a rebuke for failing to carry out such an easy transformation.
‘That arrogant bastard… I need to vent my anger on him.’
If he was going to change this easily, he should have just obediently become a slave in the first place.
What did that make of her pride?
Soon, Arashiel landed next to Kaylen and crossed her arms.
“Hmph. After all that resistance… you’ve finally become one of us.”
“Arashiel…”
Kaylen replied in a somewhat dazed tone.
Arashiel’s eyebrows shot up.
“Arashiel? Did you just speak informally to a senior of your own kin?”
“You little— You should’ve obediently become my slave. Instead, you put up a fight and made our god go through all that trouble!”
Zzzt—
A black whip suddenly formed in Arashiel’s hand—
And she mercilessly lashed it across Kaylen’s back as he was recovering the Six Swords.
“Hehe. No, maybe this turned out better. If you’d become a slave, I would’ve used you for this battle and discarded you right after. But now that you’re one of us, I can torment you for a long, long time…”
Whack! Whack!
The whip landed squarely on Kaylen’s back—
And Arashiel smiled sadistically.
“From now on, I’ll make you suffer even more miserably than a slave. You can count on that.”
Even after showing him the sunstone core, she had failed to turn Kaylen into a slave, which had left Arashiel in a prolonged gloom.
She had decided to take out all the humiliation she’d suffered on Kaylen, now one of the Moon’s kin.
“You said you were some kind of king here, didn’t you? Then I’ll strip you naked and whip you in front of your people. I’ll crush your followers myself, too. Now that you’re one of the Moon’s kin, you don’t need them anyway, do you?”
Kaylen quietly listened to Arashiel’s words—
Then concluded that she had crossed a line.
‘I can’t let this slide.’
It didn’t matter whether this “Moon’s kin Kaylen” was really him or not… either way, it didn’t sit right.
At this rate, Arashiel might cause havoc all the way to the capital, Alzass.
‘There’s no reason to keep playing weak.’
They were the ones in a hurry, after all.
Kaylen abruptly stood up.
“Senior? You’re way too full of yourself.”
“W-what? You—you're definitely one of us now…”
“Absorbing the Six Swords clears the mind a bit.”
Shhhh—!
All six of Kaylen’s swords flew out at once—
And tore through Arashiel’s whip and wings in an instant.
“Gyaaah—!”
The face that had been so full of pride was now quickly twisted in pain.
Kaylen rose to his feet—
Retrieving the Six Swords, as if regaining full awareness.
“Celestial Demon God… You dared to try and control me…?!”
Kaylen’s duplicate feigned rage.
“Th-this can’t be…”
“I’ll start by killing you.”
Kaylen extended the Six Swords with furious eyes—
And Arashiel, her wings already torn, was shredded to pieces in an instant.
“Ah… Ah…” She couldn’t even let out a full moan—
Her entire body was pulverized into dust and disappeared.
At the center of where she vanished, only a single sunstone floated in the air.
“This worthless thing…!”
Just as Kaylen tried to destroy even that, the solemn voice of the Celestial Demon God echoed from the sky.
［Do not act rashly.］
At that moment—
Divine power surged through his entire body, and the Six Swords floating behind Kaylen instantly transformed into swords of light and darkness.
“Guh…”
As Kaylen, fully transformed again into one of the Moon’s kin, dropped to his knees, the Celestial Demon God spoke.
［You have become a great kin of the Moon. Why should mere humans matter?］
“O-oh great deity… In order to reach the Transcendent Realm of Life and Death… I must accept the Six Swords…”
Kaylen spoke haltingly.
“But when I absorb the Six Swords… the oath to protect humanity resurfaces.”
［…Is that so.］
The Celestial Demon God responded, somewhat displeased.
However, from what he could perceive—
Kaylen’s body was undeniably that of the Moon’s kin.
“If I don’t absorb the Six Swords… I’ll be fine…”
［No. For now, leave the humans be. You shall absorb the Six Swords.］
“Th-thank you…!”
Right now, the most important thing was the battle with the Dragon God.
A few insignificant humans were far less urgent than Kaylen reaching the Transcendent Realm of Life and Death.
［The day of the final battle is tomorrow. Prepare yourself.］
………
Tomorrow.
Kaylen’s eyes gleamed faintly beneath his deeply lowered head.
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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