Chapter 100 - Another Apostle had appeared
Zone 8 was in chaos.
It was because the broadcast of the rotation had suddenly been cut off.
At first, the viewers assumed it was due to the typical bloodbath that erupted every few decades—
A brutal spectacle they could understand.
But as time dragged on without an update, their patience wore thin, and unseen horns of frustration sprouted atop their heads.
At the very least, they deserved to be informed.
This was no way to handle things.
The Anarion family.
Did they not bear any responsibility for their viewership?
If one were to calculate the value of the waiting time by multiplying the number of viewers, entire calendar pages would be flipping by each passing second…!
Just how many years of losses were they expected to endure?
Did they think people had time to waste like this?
And why were the ones who had gone to watch in person so damn quiet?
Ah, so they were hoarding the good stuff for themselves?
Is that why Cecile was disqualified?
What the hell happened?
Give us something, anything—just spill the information already!
Just as their impatience reached a boiling point, voices rising in frustration—
"Wait a second."
Someone raised a finger and pointed at something.
"…What the hell is that?"
At the edge of the sky where they pointed, a massive tree loomed.
It was completely drenched in crimson, as if an entire bucket of blood had been poured over it.
True to Primus Zone's dedication to preserving the old ways, Zone 8 was relatively free of towering skyscrapers blocking the view.
It didn't take long for everyone to notice the blood-red tree.
Among them, of course, was the Anarion family.
A monstrosity had dared to take root in their land.
"Dared" was indeed the right word.
The ominous energy carried by the wind was enough to ignite a noble fury.
And to make matters worse, both the present and future of the family were currently at that very location.
The family's elites unsheathed their swords.
Not because they distrusted the Sword Saint—
His blade had already reached the heavens.
But as the protectors of this land, it was their duty to act.
Even a few of the elders, usually too comfortable in their seats of power, had joined the sortie.
Despite the rushed preparations, the mere presence of their forces sent tremors through the city.
Their arrival would take only ten minutes.
***
Inside the slowly rising transport aircraft, the swordsmen silently rested their hands on their hilts.
None of them knew.
That while the blooming tree had swallowed the city's attention, elsewhere, their comrades were bleeding and collapsing to the ground.
Cecile Florence.
The only granddaughter of Navia Florence, the head of the family.
Unlike her peers, who had shown early brilliance as successors, she was deemed lacking in talent.
To the extent that she had spent her entire childhood solely on opening dimensional gates between the spirit realm and the physical world.
Of course, this was a relative comparison—
Considering that dimensional magic was so complex that some could spend a lifetime without grasping its essence, Cecile's abilities far exceeded those of ordinary people.
Had she been just another member of the family, her abilities might have been reevaluated as true talent.
But she was a successor.
A being who had to prove herself over and over again before reaching the summit.
So Cecile worked tirelessly.
Her slow strides, she hoped, would one day catch up to the boundless talent of the geniuses.
For years, she labored.
And finally, when she succeeded in forming a proper contract with a spirit—
She met Kendrick.
A prodigy who also worked hard.
"Cecile, was it? Nice to meet you. I am…"
Kendrick, whose arrogant face had suited him even as a child, unexpectedly greeted her with a bright smile upon their first meeting.
She would only realize later that it was the kind of smile he gave when he deemed someone no threat.
A man who became kinder to those beneath him.
Setting aside the wound to her pride, Cecile first observed her surroundings.
And then she saw the two people Kendrick was always eager to defeat.
Ryucard Anarion.
Carlos Gerstein.
Monsters who had already secured their positions as the next heads of their families at a young age.
Especially Ryucard—
A man said to possess talent even greater than that of the Sword Saint.
A once-in-a-century unparalleled genius.
Embarrassingly enough,
Cecile had no grasp of just how powerful Ryucard was.
That was how vast the gap was.
Even though she had so much time left to live, the disparity was already this immense.
Ah, so that's why.
That day, she finally understood why Kendrick became so childish whenever he stood before Ryucard.
And at the same time, she realized—
That she would never have a place among them.
Her spirit was crushed.
Yet, Cecile remained true to her path.
From the faint glow of dawn to the deep crimson of dusk, until the sky finally lost its light.
She worked, and worked, and worked some more.
Because an ordinary person who worked hard still had to work harder.
And then Thea appeared.
A collateral relative, one year older than her.
A wanderer.
She was a child whom her grandmother—the head of the family—had stumbled upon during one of her lone journeys.
Cecile still remembered how even the most temperamental spirits clung to Thea, only to be brushed away with an indifferent wave of her hand.
Yes, it must have been from that day.
The day everything began to change.
Thea attended a gathering of the successors.
Kendrick exploded in rage.
His excuse was that he found her gloomy face unbearable, but surprisingly, Thea fought him on the spot, exchanging blows for quite some time.
The three whom Cecile had never been able to truly connect with—Thea belonged among them.
The strongest Esquire.
A being beloved by the spirits.
Before she knew it, Thea had become Thea Florence.
For the family to grant a surname to a collateral branch was exceedingly rare, yet no one opposed the decision.
Because behind Thea, as always, the high-ranking fire spirit, Agni, breathed flames.
Clap, clap, clap.
Thunderous applause erupted from the family.
Deep inside, Cecile felt something collapse.
What shattered wasn't just her pride.
It was her entire life.
Why?
Why did this hollow sense of loss feel as though it had been growing alongside her all this time?
Ah.
That moment, Cecile quietly accepted the truth she had been avoiding.
Thunk.
And when her broken heart finally hit rock bottom, rolling further out of reach—
Amidst the deafening cheers, she turned and left without a word.
No one looked for her.
Huff, huff—
Her ragged breath tore through the silence.
Cuts and bruises covered her body, her disheveled hair hung wildly, and her eyes were bloodshot.
She looked utterly deranged.
And then she spoke.
"You… don't… know…"
Kendrick frowned.
"I don't know what the hell you're rambling about, but for now, suppress your mana. At this rate, you'll actually die."
It wasn't an empty threat.
Cecile was already squeezing out her mana at the cost of her own life, so there was no need to wait to know how it would end.
Taking advantage of the brief lull, Ryucard also raised his voice.
"Sister, it's not too late yet. Please, withdraw your mana. If you stop now, you can still be forgiven."
Cecile's face twisted visibly in response.
Then, for the first time, everyone saw her truly demonic expression.
With a suppressed voice, she spat out her words, grinding them through clenched teeth.
"…Forgiveness? Forgiveness?"
Her blood-red eyes, devoid of any whites, stared at the four men before her.
"Who forgives who?"
"Sister…"
But Cecile's mind was already clouded.
Ryucard's words scattered, unheard, past her ears.
It was too late to seek forgiveness.
The moment she conspired with the dark mage to poison Thea, she had no other choice.
That unspoken truth never made it past her throat.
Instead, what burst forth was a deafening roar.
"Āeron—!"
She screamed the summon's true name.
Her summoned answered.
Ooooh!
The helmeted creature tilted its head back and let out a thunderous roar, its deep blue eyes blazing.
Its two hands, gripping the sword hilt, naturally fell to its sides.
And in that moment, different weapons appeared in each hand.
In the right, a longsword with its blade pointing upward.
In the left, a dagger with its blade facing downward.
Then—
Swish!
As the summoned beast swept the ground with its foot, adjusting its stance, Ryucard and Carlos raised their own beloved weapons in response.
"Be careful."
"I've fought it once before—I know."
With those final brief words—
Boom!
The three clashed like a raging storm.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Ching!!
As sparks flew from the colliding blades, Jin was sure of it.
"We've won!"
"…What are you suddenly talking about?"
Kendrick, who had been about to join the fight, hesitated.
Then, a solemn voice echoed near his ear.
"Dual blades always lead to defeat. One who splits their sword is doomed to die."
Jin, reciting an old saying (that wasn't actually one), cracked his knuckles with a snap.
"One hit wasn't enough, huh? Then I'll keep hitting until she's wake up."
Just as he clenched his fists to finish off the completely deranged summoner—
[Hold for a moment.]
A voice suddenly pierced his ears.
Jin, who had been about to launch forward, screeched to a halt.
Kendrick, following right behind, also froze awkwardly and turned to look at him.
"What now?!"
"Wait! Shh!"
Jin pressed a finger to his lips, frowning as he craned his neck forward.
Then, the voice continued.
[There's something you need to do.]
It was the Sword Saint's voice.
He had imbued his voice with mana and transmitted it across the distance.
In a turbulent battlefield like this, to send such a clear message meant an extraordinary level of mana control—
As if threading a needle with a strand of mana itself.
Of course, Jin, uninterested in such nuances, simply thought, "Is this like a cyberpunk version of telepathy?" and marveled at it.
"What the hell are you talking—"
"Hush! Shh! Wait a sec! What is it that I need to do?"
Jin motioned for Kendrick to be quiet, responding aloud to the message.
Naturally, his voice wouldn't reach the Sword Saint.
This was a one-way conversation.
[Go to the cathedral.]
"All of a sudden?"
[If you're Lokan's disciple, I can trust you.]
"…Wait. Hold on a second."
[I'll be there soon. Just hold out a little longer.]
"Can I at least take this guy—Hey! Hey, are you still there?"
But the Sword Saint's voice was gone.
Jin furrowed his brows.
"Wow. He really just says his piece and leaves."
Kendrick, frustrated beyond measure, slapped his forehead.
Meanwhile, tentacle-like roots flew at them from all directions.
Dodging and smashing through them, Kendrick shouted,
"Explain! What's going on?!"
"The Sword Saint sent a telepathic message! Told me to go to the cathedral!"
"The Sword Saint?!"
"Yeah!"
With that simple affirmation, a tentacle ensnared Jin, yanking him skyward.
He tore through the crushing pressure with sheer strength, then used Blink to teleport next to Kendrick—
Kicking away a root that had been aiming for Kendrick's side.
Seeing this, Kendrick swung his Thunderbird's Claw, slashing the roots before him into shreds.
"Why the cathedral?!"
"How the hell should I know, man?!"
Jin thought for a moment.
What now?
He had just been suddenly assigned a special mission by the Sword Saint.
Of course, he had no obligation to follow it.
If the only reason the Sword Saint trusted him was due to a misunderstanding about Lokan, then even more so.
But looking at it from another angle, there was no reason not to go.
A man of the Sword Saint's caliber wouldn't spout nonsense.
There must be a way to resolve this chaos at the cathedral.
Besides, Jin wasn't exactly fond of dark mages.
He still remembered the moment his precious 2 million credits had gone up in flames after being kidnapped to that abandoned factory.
And that wasn't all—he hadn't forgotten how they captured that mercenary and extracted White Flame from him through horrific means.
Wait a second.
Now that he thought about it, both Polar Radiance and White Flame had been obtained from incidents involving dark mages.
No wonder the rewards had been so ridiculous.
Now he had a better idea of where those 30,000 experience points had come from.
Jin lowered his head.
Swish!
A tentacle root scraped just past his crown.
Straightening up, he sliced through it with a lightning-infused chop and shouted,
"Let's go! To the cathedral!"
Good things lead to more good things.
He didn't overthink it—this was practically a reflexive decision.
Of course, Kendrick wasn't so quick to agree.
"What in the world…"
As someone who carried the weight of his family name, Kendrick naturally had an idea of what that enormous tree truly was.
An Apostle.
A festering evil that had parasitized the Empire since the Age of Light and Roses.
And among them, the term referred to the twelve strongest of their kind.
If it weren't of that level, it wouldn't have dared to appear before the Sword Saint.
In other words, this was the most critical battlefield.
But now they were supposed to head to the cathedral instead?
What if that wild colt of a man had simply misheard the Sword Saint?
The Young Thunder King's train of thought was cut short.
At some point, his vision had suddenly lifted into the air.
The landscape below shrank, while the blood-red tree loomed even larger.
Then, he realized—
A hand had grabbed his collar.
"You little—!"
Before he could even explode in anger, his view shifted drastically once more—
And in an instant, they had traveled several dozen meters forward.
"Shut up! You'll bite your tongue!"
Jin shouted abruptly, focusing his mind.
A rapid succession of Blinks without consent.
His precise yet reckless choice of coordinates narrowly threaded through the crimson falling petals.
Kendrick, caught up in the madness, let his body go limp.
Swallowing down the words that had risen to his throat—This lunatic—!
And just like that, the two of them shot up into the sky above the arena in an instant.
Only for their bodies to suddenly lose balance.
The shockwaves from a sword strike that had been launched from the ground had reached even this high.
Caught up in the Sword Saint's technique—something no human should be capable of—the two men spun wildly in midair before—
Flash!
With acrobatic precision, they wrenched themselves free from the domain of an absolute force.
But where had they ended up?
As soon as they realized, they began plummeting freely once again.
Even in that dire moment, Jin's eyes widened.
If I keep accelerating like this, I'm screwed.
Blink only changed his position—it didn't eliminate kinetic energy.
So, without thinking too much about it, he simply Blinked over and over wherever his vision reached.
Finally, he managed to hit the ground with a chaotic crash, tumbling across the floor.
With a synchronized landing, Kendrick crash-landed right beside him—
And finally unleashed the curse he had been holding back.
"You son of a—!!"
But by then, Jin was already kicking off the ground, sprinting forward.
"You little—!"
Following the lingering blur of his spinning figure, Kendrick sped up.
When it came to speed, the Zahad family was among the fastest of the seven great houses.
With both of them running at full tilt, it didn't take long to reach the cathedral.
Swish!
Jin skidded to a halt, kicking up a cloud of dust.
His sweeping gaze took in the long trail of blood staining the floor.
At the end of that trail lay a corpse.
One of Anarion's swordsmen who had been guarding the cathedral.
Something had come here while the arena held everyone's attention.
Before his thoughts could fully form, Jin had already kicked off the ground, dashing across the grand hall.
Even as he zigzagged through the corridors, he never hesitated.
There was no need.
All he had to do was follow the trail of blood and fallen bodies, marking the path like a grotesque set of signposts.
Before long—
A separate chamber, located at the very heart of the cathedral, came into view.
The Reliquary.
Said to house sacred artifacts blessed by divine grace.
Inside, as expected, lay two more bodies.
Beyond the open door, a stranger stood.
As if sensing their gaze, the figure silently turned toward them.
And in that instant—
It was as if a thousand blades had descended upon them.
Jin instinctively leaped backward, increasing the distance between them.
Kendrick, standing beside him, was no exception.
Gulp.
Neither of them could tell who swallowed first.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Jin noticed the status window silently manifesting before him.
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[House Convergence - Looming Shadow]
Prevent the Apostle from stealing the sacred relic.
Reward: XP 30,000, ????
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Another Apostle had appeared.