The 9th Class Swordmaster: Blade of Truth-Chapter 374: The Final Battle (5)

Shnk—!!!

The Freezing Talon pierced the marble floor.

“Aaah!! Nooo...!!” Rael let out a blood-curdling scream, writhing on the ground. In her desperate attempt to block his sword, she had lost her fingers.

“Where’s that composure you had back in the lair? I have to say, this is sort of disappointing.”

“I don’t believe it...! How did you escape the Divine Prison? And in such a short time?!”

Her voice quavered with terror and disbelief. She scrambled to flee from her executioner, flailing in panic.

Karyl, on the other hand, simply stretched his neck and shoulders.

You think Exordiar is some Divine Prison? I didn’t expect you to wield Exordiar, but now I understand. You don’t fully grasp Yula’s power, which means the power you wield isn’t truly Yula’s.

Karyl kicked her severed fingers aside and walked toward her, his steps slow and deliberate.

“I see that you’re using Exordiar without fully understanding it... How foolish.”

“...What?” Rael’s face twisted in confusion and frustration, wondering why this man spoke as if he knew more about her own power than she did.

“Go ask for yourself. They say priests of the Church return to Yula’s embrace upon death, don’t they?”

“T-That’s...!”

Karyl was more familiar with Exordiar than anyone else.

It wasn’t a prison or a barrier—it was a trial, meant to select the Ten of the Oracle after the prophecy had been delivered. Only those who survived it were granted the right to fulfill the Oracle. He had passed it once himself, though it was a harrowing ordeal he would never endure again.

Of course, after enduring eons in Pharel, something like Exordiar felt almost trivial now.

“Stay away!!”

Rael scrambled back, reaching for her fallen staff, only to flail helplessly—she couldn’t grip it properly without her fingers.

“How pathetic.”

Karyl gave a bitter smirk as he watched her struggle.

“Now I understand why the Platinum Dragon placed you in the Church. He wanted to see the limits of Divine Power wielded by a human.”

It was now clear that Rael served Narh Di Maug. Yet in his previous life, she hadn’t been part of the Church but had led a fanatical cult.

And ultimately, both the Church and her cult worshiped the same deity. Rael’s Blue Roar hadn’t been around when the empire had unified the continent, meaning Narh Di Maug might have been testing Divine Power through both the Church and her cult in separate ways.

Perhaps there was a different option. If Narh Di Maug established the Blue Roar, then he might have had another replacement for the cult if she didn’t serve. If I leave him alive, the cult could rise again at the same point the Oracle is prophesied. Well, there goes another reason to kill him.

Karyl narrowed his eyes, fixing his sharp gaze on Rael. But first, I need to understand what Narh Di Maug intends to do with Divine Power.

“Get back!!” Rael shouted, awkwardly grasping her staff with both hands and bringing it close to her chest.

“What are you all waiting for?! Stop him!!”

Battle priests scrambled to block Karyl’s path, spurred by her desperate command.

But Karyl kept walking.

Shnk—

Their heads rolled before they could even raise their weapons.

Seeing the priests fail to halt Karyl even for a second—despite being blessed by the divine barrier—the others in the Sun Hall fell into a terrified silence, their will to fight utterly crushed.

Karyl scanned his surroundings.

“Is that all you have left? What a pitiful display of Divine Power.”

“Yula’s liberators...!!” Rael growled through her teeth.

Is she pretending? Or was she that calm back in the lair because she felt safe without a physical body?

Karyl felt rather uneasy as he observed her.

Compared to her behavior in the dragon’s lair, this Rael seems far more... human.

It was precisely that humanity that unsettled him. Her agonized screams and flashes of anger made her seem too human—so much so that Karyl felt it was unnatural.

“Salvation!!!”

The priests around her suddenly clutched their heads, screaming in agony.

“Aaaah...!!”

“Nooo...!!”

Their heads began to swell as though they were balloons ready to burst, their skin bubbling and blistering. Black smoke rose from them as their bodies darkened.

It looked as if a horrifying curse had been placed on them.

“Tarak...?!”

Allen narrowed his eyes in distaste. The Assembly of Seven Elders had once dabbled in corruptive spells under the Platinum Dragon, so Allen was well-acquainted with this dark art.

Squelch—

An unbelievable sight unfolded before them.

“...”

“You foolish woman,” a cold sneer pierced through the chaos.

Pinned beneath the dragon’s massive claw, Rael had burst like a balloon. All that remained was a gruesome splatter of blood and gore on the floor.

Everyone in the Sun Hall froze. They slowly looked up, dumbfounded.

“The Platinum Dragon...”

The priests trembled at his sudden appearance, retreating in horror.

“The bishop has been slain.”

“No way...! This is such a horrific act...! The dragon killed the bishop!”

“Let there be divine judgment upon him!! May God’s punishment befall him!!”

Staring at Rael’s shattered remains, the priests erupted into cries of outrage. But the Platinum Dragon only cast them a disdainful glance. With a single beat of his wings, the heads of the priests trying to conjure a barrier behind him were severed in an instant.

Splat—!!

The pillars of the Sun Hall were spattered with crimson.

“Aaagh!!”

“Noooo!!”

The surviving priests screamed in horror as the blood of their comrades stained their faces.

“Platinum Dragon, the Church has lent the empire its power. If you treat them this way, things will get messy,” Olivurn sighed as he watched the priests try to flee.

“You, meddling once again... You’ve revealed things better left hidden.”

Ignoring Olivurn, the Platinum Dragon’s gaze remained locked on Karyl, his eyes seething with rage.

“Yeah, and what did you do? If I’m not mistaken, you’ve touched something that ought to be left untouched.”

Karyl met the dragon’s glare head-on. His eyes were cold and piercing as he glanced at the half-transformed corpses around him. Necromancy had always been around, but Rael’s incantation hadn’t been typical dark magic.

Even Nain Darhon of the Immortal Council experimented with Tarak, but his methods were limited to manipulating corpses. He couldn’t instantly turn the living into Tarak.

“You... What are you doing to humans?” Karyl ground his teeth as he glared at the Platinum Dragon.

“So your grand plan to strike the empire from behind was just a one-man ambush? How pathetic.”

The dragon ignored Karyl’s question, seemingly trying to change the topic.

“Pathetic, you say? Yet here you are, trying to stop me,” Karyl shot back, pointing his sword at the fallen Kadin Luer, Belin Vallention, and finally at Rael—or what was left of her.

“Could any of them stop me?” he went on. “My plan is already a success. As long as you’re out of the picture, the Free Army will never lose to the empire’s forces, no matter how many hundreds of thousands they send.”

“So you’ve made yourself the bait?”

“No. I’m planning to wipe out every one of you bastards myself.”

“How delusional. You really think you can defeat me? Have you already forgotten our last battle?” Narh Di Maug sneered. “Everything will go against your plan. You shall fall here in the capital, and your Free Army shall fall at Tatur.”

“Well, we’ll see who stands tall in the end.”

“Foolish human.”

Narh Di Maug slowly raised his foot, letting Rael’s remains fall from his claw with a nauseating sound.

Any lingering doubts about him had just vanished. This act alone proved beyond the shadow of a doubt how little he thought of humans. Even those like Rael, who had stood by his side, were nothing more than disposable tools to him. frёewebηovel.cѳm

“I’ll make you regret your arrogance!!”

With that, the Platinum Dragon opened his massive jaws and let out a deafening roar. The Dragon Fear he unleashed now was even more overwhelming than when Karyl had first encountered him. It felt as if the fear was sweeping across the entire capital.

“Gah...!”

“Cough!!”

The priests remaining in the Sun Hall, along with citizens who hadn’t evacuated, crumpled under the weight of the oppressive energy.

“...”

Karyl scowled, irritated by the noise, and rubbed his ears as he turned to look through one of the broken windows. Dawn was gently creeping over the horizon.

“It’s morning already.”

As the seemingly endless day finally drew to a close, Karyl felt it was time to bring this long, arduous conflict to its conclusion once and for all.

“Only one of us will see the full light of dawn. Prepare to weep in your grave, you pitiful human.”

“You really love to hear yourself talk, huh? Anyway, you’ve got it all wrong. This isn’t just about the two of us. Today, you all die.”

Even in the face of a dragon, Karyl didn’t hesitate to proclaim his intent to kill the emperor.

“Narh Di Maug, whatever schemes you’ve been plotting, I’ll drag them out of you soon enough—and I’ll make sure you feel every scale as it tears.”

“You insolent worm...!!”

The Platinum Dragon spread his colossal wings, the silvery scales on his body glinting under the fractured sunlight streaming into the Sun Hall. The wounds Karyl had inflicted earlier were already healed, his pristine scales now gleaming brilliantly.

“Do you really believe a mere human can defeat me?!”

And then just as Narh Di Maug and Karyl were about to clash, a shadow fell upon the Sun Hall, swallowing the light of dawn.

Both turned their heads upward.

Rumbling echoed from above. A smirk formed on Karyl’s face as he recognized the sounds of engines.

Through the shattered ceiling, he could see a massive airship hovering above, its exhaust emitting a pure, bright light rather than its usual rainbow glow. The ship was descending at a rapid pace, a massive crate attached below it.

And on the deck, a man casually waved at them.

“Yo.”

Gordon Fabian gave Karyl a faint smile, pointing to the large crate suspended below the airship.

“I’m here for a special delivery.”