Return of the Unrivaled Spear Knight

Side Story Chapter 258

Despite the incoming attack, Kireua couldn’t help but mull over the conversation he had with Grand Duke Lucifer. Swallow’s mysterious mastermind sounded a lot different from any of the numerous extraordinary people Kireua had dealt with before. It seemed this person had reached their position using their mind, just like the Heaven’s Mind of Avalon.

‘Iruca will love this,’ Kireua thought as he observed Lucifer. He was being sarcastic. He knew without a doubt it would drive his sister mad. Iruca always said that strategists like her were useless in the current generations. No matter how brilliant their tactics, there were too many Absolutes who made those tactics futile. While Avalon had Joshua Sanders the Martial God, Hubalt had Bel, the Battle God, and Lucifer, Swallow’s Absolute, was right in front of Kireua. All the empires and the stronger countries had Absolutes. On top of them, strategists had to consider a new variable: Authorities.

The air suddenly shifted, putting Kireua on high alert even though Lucifer wasn’t yet moving.

‘The barrier is moving!’

Lucifer’s Blood Tear barrier was trying to surround Kireua. Kireua knew from experience that the barrier was so concentrated with aura that he wouldn’t have been able to cut through it even with a sword.

Kireua vanished.

“It’s too late.” Lucifer smiled crookedly.

The barrier vaporized and went after Kireua, threatening to envelop him. It was the same fog that had massacred two hundred of Avalon’s knights, so Kireua knew that the moment the Blood Tear fog got a hold of him, he would be turn into a bloody pulp.

Kireua inhaled sharply and swung his invisible sword.

“You already know it’s meaningless,” Lucifer drawled.

Nevertheless, Kireua didn’t stop his barrage of aura strikes, and even hit the barrier with his mind sword directly. The impact threw him back, but he didn’t resist it.

“…Oh?” Lucifer’s eyes gleamed.

Kireua was using the impact from the collision of their mana to distance himself from the Blood Tear fog, which was getting closer with every strike.

“He’s quite clever,” Lucifer remarked with a chuckle.

Still, it was a temporary solution. Creating one mind sword consumed a great amount of mana, so Kireua wouldn’t be able to keep it up for very long.

All else aside, Lucifer was confident that he had more mana than anyone else because the absolute amount of mana one had was proportional to age. Kireua was a boy in his twenties, so his mana would be like a drop in the ocean compared to Lucifer’s. In other words, Lucifer’s advantage would grow over time.

“You can’t run away forever.” Lucifer crossed his arms and leisurely watched Kireua fight.

The moment the fog engulfed Kireua it was Lucifer’s victory. The fog would serve as a mobile prison cell and Lucifer would carry Kireua all the way to Swallow.

But then, Lucifer felt a chill run down his spine. “This is…?”

His chest was bulging where his heart was—close to where Kireua had stabbed him with his sword.

‘I didn’t even activate Wrath, so why is it…?’

Lucifer had only been using his own power to fight. Despite his painstaking measures to suppress it, his Evil Sin was waking up.

The source of his trouble came to light in short order.

-Yay! Today’s star has arrived!

The skin of Lucifer’s chest burst open grotesquely and something black popped out.

Lucifer could instinctively tell its identity.

“Greed…?”

“Swallow him up, Coju!”

* * *

It was quiet in the Swallow’s council chamber. A very scrawny person wearing a fox mask was stroking the empty throne. Swallow used to be called the empire of plains, and the average height of its people was around 180 centimeters. However, this person was barely over 160 centimeters, nowhere close to the average height.

Duke Voltaire, one of the most powerful men in Swallow, entered the council chamber.

“I heard that the Grand Duke went to Hubalt.”

“…Yes; is there a problem with that?” the masked person asked; their voice was bizarre, neither a man’s nor a woman’s. Unsurprisingly, they were using an artifact. That could be considered disrespectful to do in front of a duke, but Voltaire didn’t seem to care about it one bit, as if it was only natural.

“I received a report that the Second Prince of Avalon and Cain de Harry are also there.”

The fox nodded. “Your report is correct.”

“Will the Grand Duke be fine on his own?”

Considering Lucifer’s reputation, the fact that Voltaire was concerned about Lucifer being defeated was surprising—but that was the result of the masked person’s long work. The fox’s biggest concern was one Absolute having the entire empire under his heel.

“I understand why you’re concerned, but it’s okay, Your Grace.” The fox shook their head. “Even if Grand Duke Lucifer is defeated, our plans won’t be interrupted.”

“…Although I’m aware that you don’t trust him, I don’t understand why you say that. I thought you said that the Grand Duke still has some use.”

The fox shrugged. “I’m not sure you’ll believe me, but I do trust him. I actually think that he has a sixty percent chance of successfully capturing Kireua Sanders.”

Voltaire opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, the fox continued, “But if the Grand Duke loses, Kireua Sanders should go back to their country. It would be very problematic if he comes to Swallow to rescue his teacher.”

“…I heard that Bel finally conquered the fortress in north Avalon a few days ago. I’m sure that blood kin is more important than his teacher.”

“We should always assume the worst if we want to achieve our goals…” the fox trailed off and slowly made their way over to a table in a corner.

A large map of the Igrant Continent was spread across the table. The fox examined the map for a moment and then moved a chess piece, which represented Swallow, to the fortress in north Avalon.

“Here. Once Bel heads south and Kireua returns to Arcadia, everyone on the continent will be focused on Arcadia. That is the moment we’ll strike the fortress that Hubalt conquered.”

The fox never failed to surprise Voltaire with their brilliant strategies. Voltaire’s jaw had dropped to the ground when he had first heard the plan to betray the monstrous Battle God. The gutsiest people he’d ever met wouldn’t have even dreamed of that plan.

“…Let’s say that the Grand Duke successfully captures Kireua Sanders. What is your plan then?” Voltaire asked. He believed that it was about time that the fox finally gave him an answer to this question. Fortunately for him, the fox agreed..

“Even though the King of Thran is incarcerated in our dungeon, the Thran Kingdom still remains our biggest problem. In fact, all of Thran’s elite forces managed to escape thanks to Ulabis buying them time at the risk of his life,” the fox said.

“It doesn’t change the fact that they’re defeated. We can take them.”

“No, we can’t think lightly of them, defeated or not. Don’t forget that we’ve failed to break them for decades. If they start an uprising while we’re gone, we’ll have quite the headache.”

“Mmm…” Voltaire had to agree on that point. Thran’s knights and soldiers were currently waging a guerilla war against Swallow, making them a persistent nuisance to the empire.

“But it’ll be different once we get a hold of Kireua Sanders. He would give us the perfect opportunity to eradicate those pests in one fell swoop.” The fox clenched their fist.

“What do you mean?”

“Kireua Sanders is the King of Thran’s only student. Think about it. The student shows up in Swallow to save his teacher—what will Thran’s people do when they find out?”

Voltaire’s eyes slowly widened.

“The student and teacher aren’t even from the same country, but he still risks his life, family, and country to try to save his teacher. The story will light a fire in Thran’s hearts, and they’ll come running to Swallow to help him.” The fox moved a chess piece carved like a roaring monster to Swallow’s capital. “We just have set a trap and wait for the moment.”

Voltaire didn’t say anything aloud, but the fox’s plan, fully laid out, left him in awe. His arms were covered in goosebumps.

‘Not even the Heaven’s Mind of Avalon could match this person.’

Voltaire was looking forward to seeing how far the fox could take him.

“My personal feelings aside,” the fox said as they turned, “I genuinely hope that the Grand Duke’s mission is successful.”