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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 247
"What… are you doing?"
The Celestial Demon God, who had been acting composed, momentarily lost his words.
Kaylen’s body.
The sculpture-like human appearance disappeared, and it rapidly turned into metal.
"No matter how much you struggle, it’s useless, Kaylen."
The Celestial Demon God felt an ominous premonition but forcibly denied it and used his authority again.
"Return."
The absolute authority that could rewind time, possible only within this space.
Though he could not turn Kaylen’s time back, once the analysis was complete, it would be possible.
Until just a moment ago, he had been on the verge of succeeding.
However.
Ting...!
The mana of time bounced off the moment it touched Kaylen.
Unlike before, it could not even approach him.
All the fragments of the Celestial Demon God’s face twisted in frustration.
"You damn bastard! Just die already!"
"That’s my line."
Kaylen’s voice came from his still-human face.
Clatter.
Countless swords erupted from his entire body.
"Return..."
Rewind it.
Those swords.
Since they had left Kaylen’s body, he should be able to rewind time and reabsorb them.
That’s what the Celestial Demon God thought.
'Why! Why isn’t it working!'
The absolute power over time, Return, had no effect.
"Return. Return. Return!!"
The Celestial Demon God, with his composure gone, continued to shout.
Tick. Tick.
The second hands on the clocks that filled the sky all began to turn.
Rumble—
The gears beneath the ground rotated fiercely.
The mana within this magic circle was all gathered for the time before Theia collided with Earth.
It was gathered meticulously to return to the time before the gods of Theia became gods.
The gears forming the earth.
The countless clocks filling the sky were all necessary to reverse countless ages.
'But this bastard... must die here!'
The Celestial Demon God, now prioritizing his immediate enemy, poured all his strength into killing Kaylen.
He used up all the mana that should have been saved.
He turned the second hands backward and spun the gears to erase that cursed sword.
"But why...!" Even so.
The swords erupting from Kaylen’s body did not stop.
Thousands of steel swords flew toward the heavens and the earth.
Clang! Clang!
They pierced through the countless clocks hanging in the sky.
"Return!!"
He tried again and again to rewind time so the clocks would not break.
The flow of air cut by the swords would return, but those cursed steel swords alone remained unshaken.
As the swords stretched out in all directions, slicing through the clocks and gears, the Celestial Demon God widened his eyes.
'At this rate, the Grand Design will collapse. I must somehow...!'
At the center where thousands of swords were spreading,
he had to stop Kaylen no matter what.
Thinking so, the Celestial Demon God gathered all the mana he could still control, trying to suppress the area where Kaylen was.
"...Where did he go?"
Within the mass of swords, Kaylen’s figure was nowhere to be seen.
Not his human form, nor the metallic transformation.
He could not find him anywhere.
And as he stared at the continuously flying swords, the Celestial Demon God suddenly realized something.
'...No way.'
Those swords.
They were far too similar to the sharp mana Kaylen had emitted.
At this level, they were not swords created under Kaylen’s influence...
"Those swords themselves are you, Kaylen!"
[Correct.]
Kaylen was the swords themselves.
Thousands became tens of thousands.
From within them, Kaylen’s voice resonated.
[Even knowing that I am the Six Sword Path, there was still hesitation deep within my heart. Because of Ernstine’s memories, I wanted to maintain a human form.]
[But I realized it was my own lingering attachment.]
"You abandoned the human form entirely... and became a sword?"
[That’s right.]
Six Sword Path
Ten Thousand Swords
Sword Metamorphosis
[Let’s bring this to an end, Celestial Demon God.]
His flesh and blood, everything that formed his body, was dismantled.
Everything was transformed into swords.
The number of swords became, literally, ten thousand.
Each one broke free from the constraints of time.
They tore apart this space from every direction.
"Khrrr... You wretch...!"
The clocks were pierced, and the gears were severed.
The world forming the time-reversal magic circle collapsed under the roar of ten thousand swords.
"Y-You... Aaargh!"
From the Celestial Demon God’s mouth came a beast-like scream.
Why!
Why did such a monster emerge?
Why did he obstruct every step of his plans, and now, even the most critical time-reversal itself...
Why did that sword oppose him, even at the cost of dismantling its own body!
Clang!
As the swords rushed toward the Celestial Demon God, he punched with all his might.
One of Kaylen’s swords was knocked away.
One sword out of the ten thousand was not as powerful as the Six Sword Path that Kaylen usually wielded.
However.
It was not just one sword, but ten swords.
When it was no longer ten swords, but a hundred swords flying toward him, the story changed.
Thud. Thud!
Swords began to pierce the Celestial Demon God's body one by one.
"Re... turn..."
Even as he tried to turn back time, the swords already embedded in his body prevented his flesh from returning to its previous state.
Since the mana of time had not yet fully grasped Kaylen, even the Celestial Demon God could not extricate his body.
Simply because he had failed to perceive mere chunks of metal.
Ssssss.
Even if the wounds spreading inside his body regenerated, the fact that the swords were still stuck could not be undone.
Thud. Thud. Thud!
And as swords poured down like a rainstorm, embedding into his entire body, the Celestial Demon God's gaze grew dim.
'...I have lost.'
The divine body leaned backward and collapsed to the ground.
His eyes stared up at the sky, at the realm of the clock.
The clock was shattered into countless pieces.
Swords continued flying, smashing what remained of the clock.
The gears on the ground had already ceased their motion.
The mana that moved time had mostly slipped from the Celestial Demon God's grasp.
'This was not a battle I should have fought.'
He realized it clearly.
In combat, he could not defeat Kaylen.
That monster of swords, unable to even properly form his own body, was superior to anyone else in the world when it came to subduing an opponent.
'A being specialized purely for battle... a Sword God. It was a mistake to fight him at all.'
Yes.
The one who wielded the power of creation should not have tried to win through combat against a Sword God born solely for battle.
To subdue that Sword God, combat should not have been the chosen means.
'...There is still a clock that is moving.'
Even through his fading vision, the Celestial Demon God watched the clock’s movement.
That was proof that the mana of time was still operating.
If so...
Though he could not reach that ancient day when stars collided, he could at least return to the past.
'But I cannot take this body with me.'
The Celestial Demon God understood his condition.
A divine body impaled by more than a hundred, nearly a thousand swords.
If he brought this body into the past, he would merely be unleashing this monster there.
'Only the information must be transmitted.'
'Yes.'
'I must trust my past self...'
He must convey this to his past self.
To never take Kaylen, the Six Sword, lightly.
Anything related to Ernstine must be eliminated as the highest priority.
He would send that information, along with the knowledge of the Divine Word he had learned from the Earth God.
Then the Celestial Demon God of the past would surely find a way.
‘I’m not attached to the throne, but… I don’t know why I feel like this.’
Trying to calm his restless heart, Ernstine was slowly walking through the palace garden when he encountered Johannes, the palace wizard.
“Your... Your Majesty. Or, I suppose it’s just ‘situation’ now.”
“...Johannes? When did you arrive?”
“Yeah. My nephew is ascending the throne, I couldn’t not come, could I?”
Amidst the fierce competition under the surface for the next emperor’s seat,
Johannes, who had once declared he would not concern himself with the imperial struggle, had run off from the palace.
However, being Caius's maternal uncle, he must have secretly come to the coronation.
“You said you were going to discover a new continent. Did you find any clues?”
Ernstine asked him with a faint smile.
He knew the discovery of a new continent had been an excuse to leave the palace, so he asked lightly.
But Johannes’s eyes sparkled upon hearing the question.
“I’ve got something to say about that. It’s real, you know!”
“What? There really is a new continent?”
“Yeah. The place I found this time...”
At that moment.
“Wait.”
Ernstine pulled Johannes’s body toward him.
Six Swords Path
Behind Ernstine, the Six Swords appeared.
The Sword of Earth and the Sword of Wind merged to form a giant shield of swords.
But.
Shhiiiii—
The object falling from the sky tore through Ernstine’s sword barrier like paper.
Even the Demon King couldn’t tear through it so quickly; what kind of power is this?
“Hm...”
Ernstine drew up all his mana to try and perceive the object that had fallen from the sky.
Upon closer inspection, it was six swords glowing in gold.
Thud. Thud.
Then the swords simultaneously rose from the ground, their tips pointed in six different directions.
At first glance, aside from the color, the shape of the swords was identical to the Six Swords.
Both Ernstine and Johannes were surprised, staring silently at them.
[...Huh. I’m lucky.]
A tired voice echoed from the swords.
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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