88 – The Empire Split
From Noble mtl dot com
An upheaval occurred in the Empire. It was due to the appearance of a hero. His name was ‘Cal’, and he supposedly mounted a Pegasus and embarked on an adventure as soon as he drew the legendary sword, Lightbane. Along with the warriors of the Lion Tribe and the Golden Saintess, the shockwave was massive.
The first to react was the theatre industry. While ‘Prince of the Night’ was still popular, remarks began to emerge from certain quarters: “Wherever you go it’s ‘Prince of the Night’. We’d like to see something new.” Trends change quickly.
The shrewd theater operators hurriedly sent for scriptwriters. And not long after, one theatre made a play titled ‘The Hero Who Rode the Pegasus’. It was a smash hit. One by one, all of the main performances became ‘The Hero Who Rode the Pegasus’, replacing the ‘Prince of the Night’.
The following article was published:
◆The light that illuminates the darkness, the hero finally defeats the Prince of the Night.
However, not everyone was happy about this.
“Humph, what’s so great about a hero? The Prince of the Night was much cooler. The public is just stupid.”
“Um, there. Seri. It might be fine to like the Prince of the Night, but shouldn’t we invite the hero who rode the Pegasus soon? Sales are falling…”
“Go ahead and invite him.”
“Really?”
“I won’t be there, though.”
Sarcastic.
Seri Rabione, the star of the Golden Theater, bought the Imperial Newspaper.
The theater owner sweated coldly.
‘Darling, watch me, I’m going to protect you to the end.’
Serena made a firm decision.
It wasn’t long after when she heard the news about the love story of Ascal and Lia Sinas.
The Crown Prince’s office.
“Yulia. You look drained. Is something wrong?”
It’s good that a hero has appeared.
But the Crown Prince, unlike ordinary citizens, couldn’t just cheer.
For the Empire, he had to thoroughly consider the gains and losses.
And to discuss that, he called his younger sister Yulia to his office.
Because Yulia was also there when the hero drew his sword.
“Woah.”
Cain playfully waved his hand in front of Yulia’s face.
“…Ah. Yes. Brother.”
Yulia was acting strange these days.
The Yulia that Cain knew was always calm and wise. Although sometimes a little frightening.
But now, she seemed like a girl in love.
Somehow, she seemed to care about her clothes, and there were more accessories than before.
Even while staring silently out the window, she would occasionally take a long sigh.
“Do you have any guess about the hero’s identity?”
“I’m not sure.”
“He seems like a character fallen from the sky. Besides the name ‘Sword’, nothing else about him has been disclosed.”
Obviously,
Because there was no such character named ‘Sword.’
“But there are people who have seen you close to this ‘Sword’ character.”
The prince’s eyes sharpened.
This was the reason he had called Yulia to his office.
Yulia had some sort of relationship with the hero named Sword.
But she didn’t know what exactly it was.
“Could he be your boyfriend?”
“Pfftt-!”
Struck on point, Yulia choked on her tea.
The prince wiped his face with a handkerchief.
“That, That can’t be.”
“Indeed. The hero left on a Pegasus with the saintess. It couldn’t be.”
Clink-
A crack appeared on the teacup that Yulia had been holding.
Yes,
Ascal had fled from the swarm of lights, taking the saintess with him instead of Yulia.
Of course, Ascal knew that being hit by the swarm of lights would turn him into a hero and the saintess, but regardless of the truth, Yulia felt.
-“Confinement, do you fancy it?”
An instinct of tyranny stirs within.
‘Askel. This wicked man.’
His name echoes.
Already involved with another woman, that so-called saint Irene, she is quite a looker. Perhaps he has a taste for blondes, but I am blonde too.
I must endure, for now.
Yulia managed to calm herself.
“Come to think of it, Askel is still absent. It’s strange. I heard he went for military training, but Askel wasn’t there.”
The rumor that Askel, the Minister of Evaluation, went for military training, was famous throughout the empire.
Mistakenly delivered conscription, but the anecdote that he participated in the military training directly to show the example.
“No way!”
“……Did you notice, brother?”
Karl = Askel.
Even the names are similar.
A truth that clever crown prince must quickly realize.
However.
“He escaped from the empire again. I’ll have to bring him back.”
“……”
There were only two people who officially admitted to escaping from the empire.
Askel and Bernstein.
They are constantly burdened with duties without a break, so when stress builds up, they escape. And the emperor’s hounds bring them back at the right timing.
It was a regular event now.
“Firstly, keep monitoring the hero who’s shot up to the sky, and Askel should be well-rested by now, he should be brought back.”
“Brother.”
“Hmm?”
“I’ll go with you. To catch Askel.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The Crown Prince seemed slightly taken aback.
Yulia’s eyes were cold, indifferent.
Thus, Yulia left with Arthur, the captain of the emperor’s hounds, to capture Ascal.
It was silent.
Left alone, the Crown Prince gazed quietly at the ceiling.
He confided his deepest thoughts.
“Pegasus, I want to take it away.”
The Crown Prince wanted to gallop across the meadows.
He had heard tales of a time when tigers smoked, but this was his first time hearing about a rabbit smoking.
Ascal was truly considering it.
Should he accept the smokeleaf offered by the rabbit tribe, or should he reject it?
“There’s no harm other than a slight feeling of laziness. The smokeleaf is healthier than you think.”
“Well, the pipe I usually smoke is much more harmful, indeed.”
As soon as Ascal accepted the smokeleaf, an enormous sound of footsteps was heard from behind.
It was the lion tribe warriors.
“Monsters are threatening the Mazar! Protect the Mazar!”
The moment they approached Ascal, flames ignited in Badeem’s eyes.
“Stop. Everyone, halt!”
A massacre seemed to be about to occur in an instant.
Ascal, holding the Lightbane, yelled.
“They haven’t inflicted any harm on me yet. Everyone, calm down.”
At Ascal’s discouragement, the warriors of the lion tribe all ceased their actions.
Luckily, they were good at listening.
“The giant rabbits walking on two… are they the rabbit tribe, known to be extinct?”
Aileen took a step forward.
The member of the rabbit tribe flicked its ears.
“It’s… It’s cute…”
Instinctively, Aileen reached out to stroke the Tojak.
The Tojak bit Aileen’s hand.
“Ouch!”
“Sister! They are indeed wicked monsters! We must save ourselves immediately!”
“No, it was rude of me.”
Then Aileen looked at Ascal.
“Really, do you think these guys have been tormenting the giant turtle? As far as I know, the Tojak are not such a bad tribe…”
“We’ll find out soon.”
Wary looks appeared in the eyes of the Tojaks.
Many humans, and the rude woman who tried to stroke them. The Tojaks, who had been smoking Yeonmoo grass, started moving on all fours.
They assumed battle positions.
The situation was tense, as if a fight could erupt at any minute.
“Just give the order, Mazar! A minute will be more than enough!”
“You’re being too hasty. We need to watch a little longer. Hold your swords!”
Badim and Aileen presented different opinions.
The decision ultimately lay with Ascal.
After contemplating for a moment, Ascal took out some Yeonmoo grass and lit it.
The Tojak tilted its head.
‘Oh, it tastes good.’
He thought it would be a big hit if he brought it back to the Empire.
As Ascal sucked on the Yeonmoo grass with this on his mind, he exhaled the smoke.
It was doughnut-shaped.
The Tojaks were murmuring among themselves.
Then, a representative from the Tojak tribe came forward.
The one who seemed slightly larger than the other clansmen was likely their leader. The clan leader sucked in the smoke of Yanmujoe, then exhaled it.
“Boat shape… pretty good.”
The opposition was not ordinary.
Ascal exhaled smoke again.
This time it was shaped like flowing waves.
The clansmen hopped around excitedly.
“True to my master. Thinking of this method. Smoking Yanmujoe is a traditional culture of the clan, and challenging it with it is unavoidable for the clan.”
It was like challenging a rap battle outright in a house full of almost only black people.
It is a matter of racial pride.
The clan leader contemplated for a while, then seemed to make a decision and exhaled smoke.
The shape of a spiral vortex.
– what a. Human.
It seemed to say so.
Ascal chuckled and exhaled smoke again.
From Noble mtl dot com
A pulsating heart shape made up of multiple layers.
Its name, Dragon Heart—
The clan leader dropped down on one knee.
He admitted defeat.
“……I’ve lived a long life, but this is the first trivial, no, unique battle I’ve seen.”
“cough, cough!”
Ascal sneered.
That’s why they’re muggles.
Unlike humans with low taste, the clansmen who understood art began to bounce madly in their places.
It expressed the utmost respect.
-The turtle said that? But we are innocent…… we just smoked Yanmujoe peacefully……
“So it says, Master.” Having received the recognition of the mole-people, Askal was able to converse with them easily. The translator was Lightvane. “Then, you have no clue?”
-…If it’s you, I can tell. The seriousness shone in the eyes of the mole-people’s chieftain and he thumped the ground with his forefoot.
-There’s a terrifying creature on this island other than us, a giant monster that eats our fellow moles!
“A giant monster?” The chieftain of the mole-people bent his long ears to the ground.
– If you listen to the ground, you can hear it even now. The rustling sound of that creature. Oong?
All of a sudden, the chieftain of the moles became serious.
-Why is the sound getting louder? It’s getting closer. D, danger!
Grrr!
“Dodge, away from the ground!”
Askal shouted.
From the ground, a giant worm sprang up.
And the worm immediately grabbed the chieftain of the moles in its mouth and swallowed him.
Gulp―
‘Damn it.’
Askal looked around at his surroundings.
Fortunately, the others had already evacuated.
“The monster that devours mountains! The mountain-eating demon! Also known as the Great Worm! So this was the true form of the creature tormenting the giant turtle!”
With such a massive entity burrowing beneath the shell, it was inevitable that the giant turtle was suffering.
“Be ready for the attack command at any moment, Mazar!”
The warriors prepared themselves.
Lightvein growled,
“Master! Now is the time for us to show our prowess! Draw me!”
Ascal drew Lightvein.
The blade of Lightvein gleamed.
“I have another ability! Depending on the achievements of my master, my strength increases! So, let’s see the achievements of my master so far!”
Then it started to glow a little in gold.
“Indeed, you are my master! I am ready to evolve to the next stage. I will evolve to stage 2.”
A pattern appeared on Lightvein’s handle.
“Amazing. To trigger such a transformation! I will evolve to stage 3! The same stage as the previous hero!”
Runes were engraved on the blade.
“Wait, hang on. How much is left? Why is the list so long? Ahhhhh, I’ll evolve to the final stage!”
A golden aura appeared on Lightvein’s blade.
The evolution didn’t stop.
“Stop, I can’t anymore. It’s too much. Stop! I’m becoming something else, something not me! Stop, stop!”
And then, Lightvein’s voice was no longer heard.
Suddenly, it began to evolve on its own, reaching a strange stage beyond the final one.
With no other option, Ascal tested the evolved Lightvein—a weirdly changed entity—by swinging it around.
And then,
A huge cluster of light burst from the sword and soared into the sky.
“Ah, what is happening, what’s going on!”
And then.
Kwarruung!
A huge shockwave swept over the Great Worm.
The Great Worm split cleanly in half.
“……”
Everyone was at a loss for words.
How to mind break a sword 101?