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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Fallen Hero
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An unsettling wind blew fiercely, and black miasma rose from all directions.
"I… I…!"
Mort, with black veins throbbing around his eyes, rushed towards me, swinging his sword countless times through the air.
—Whoosh!
Instantly, black thread-like lines appeared and began to rush towards me.
"Divine Sword Style, First Form: Soul Sever."
As I murmured and swung the Sword of Good and Evil, a pure white horizontal line appeared, filling my vision.
—Whoosh!
—Splatter.
The ominous black lines that had been flying towards me split apart on the horizontal line I had drawn, scattering black sludge onto the ground like rain.
—Boom!
When I blocked Mort's sword, which had somehow reached me, with the starlight-infused Sword of Good and Evil, demonic energy and starlight collided, creating a massive explosion.
"...!"
Was it because I wasn't yet accustomed to 'Mana Burn'?
Or was it because Mort was stronger than I had expected?
Although it was only a little, seeing my sword pushed back by Mort's, I was considerably shocked, and I bit down on my lip, drawing up even more mana.
—Bang! Bang! Bang!
As Mort's sword furiously hammered against mine,
"I was a hero...! I was a man with nothing to be ashamed of...!"
The detestable nonsense of the hypocrite muttered in my ear.
"Why are you spouting that nonsense to me? You pathetic idiot. Do you think what you've done will just disappear? Do you think people will acknowledge you?"
"K-Kuaaak!"
When I retorted, annoyed, Mort let out a bestial roar and charged at me even more fiercely, like a wild beast.
'Well, look at this?'
After ducking to dodge the sword and retreating slightly, I thought to myself.
'This guy, he's gotten much stronger than I expected.'
Honestly, I was a little flustered.
Even if I hadn't deceived the Scales,
even if I wasn't used to 'Mana Burn' yet,
I never imagined I'd be pushed back even a little, considering pure power alone.
And that wasn't all.
—Shimmer!
—Swish!
The black sludge that sloshed and surged at me wherever I moved, and the thorns and tentacles that constantly erupted from the ground, were incredibly annoying.
"Are you just going... just going to run away!"
Mort, who had once again closed the distance, swung his sword like a madman and roared.
'What should I do...?'
It would be better to fight efficiently by dodging his sword rather than expending energy clashing blades.
Having decided that, I pondered inwardly while dodging Mort's sword with strange movements.
Should I deceive the Scales now and engage in combat more easily,
or should I face this pathetic guy without deceiving the Scales, even if it meant a little hardship?
'Anyway, there's still a little time until Envy makes his move...'
Deciding to choose the latter rather than ending the battle hastily, I began to burn mana even more boldly than usual.
The mana that was burning in palm-sized amounts now burned in fist-sized amounts.
The burned mana transformed into steam, increasing in volume, and only a portion of that steam was paid to the Scales.
The unpaid steam became mana of greater volume and was reabsorbed by me.
The same process repeated, and the mana that was burning in fist-sized amounts swelled and swelled until it permeated my entire body.
The increased mana circulated ceaselessly through my body, generating magic or converting into starlight.
'This actually works?'
Was I truly a practical learner? Something that hadn't worked before suddenly did, making me feel flustered yet excited.
I raised my sword. Like when I deceived the Scales, I covered my body in countless acceleration and enhancement spells, and with hands as light as feathers, I swung my sword with lightning speed.
Had he noticed my change? Mort, his eyes wide, quickly changed his stance and met my swinging sword with his own.
—Crack!
Holding his sword horizontally, Mort's feet dug deep into the ground as he blocked my sword.
"Kugh...!"
Perhaps startled by the sudden change in power, Mort let out that sound and scowled deeply.
"Talking about running away, what a joke."
Disliking his hideous face, I withdrew my sword and spun my body.
—Thwack!
I unleashed a mana-infused kick that exploded on his face. Mort's head snapped back violently, and his body began to fly far away.
—Crash!
The sound of Mort's body, which had been flying for a while, crashing into a huge rock.
As fragments of the shattered rock scattered in the air and dust rose everywhere, I saw Mort, struggling to get up, clutching at his chest.
"You're really trying."
Seeing that, I scoffed at Mort and adjusted my stance.
Although I scoffed, for me, having encountered Mort countless times in the game, the fact that he was clutching his chest was not something to be overlooked.
—Crunch!
As Mort clenched his hand, a chilling sound echoed in my ears.
—Boom!
An explosive sound erupted from Mort's body, and dense demonic energy violently discharged from him.
"K-Krrrk..."
Mort, having lost focus in his eyes, drooling black saliva, raised his sword with a bestial appearance.
Having encountered Mort countless times in the game, I knew why he had transformed like that.
'Core Overload.'
Mort's unique technique that forcibly overloads his core to draw out extreme abilities.
Although it had the drawback of temporarily losing reason, it was also Mort's secret technique that allowed him, full of inferiority, to maintain his fame as a hero.
'It's quite chilling.'
My body trembled at Mort's ominous aura, which was clearly different from before.
And that wasn't all.
Seeing the black sludge boiling violently and rising like a tidal wave behind him, I involuntarily swallowed dry.
"Well..."
Even so, the outcome would be the same.
—Click.
—Shiiing.
Thinking that, I sheathed the Sword of Good and Evil that I held in my right hand, drew another sword with my left, gripped it in a reverse grip, and tilted it behind my waist.
I bent my knees and leaned my body.
My left leg was drawn back, while my right leg was straightened and braced, supporting my body.
Gripping the hilt of the Sword of Good and Evil, I spread countless starlight and mana throughout the sheath, the sword, and my entire body.
And then, I calmly murmured,
"Divine Sword Style, Fifth Form."
—Click.
"Spatial Draw."
I drew the sword. The starlight contained within the sheath and the starlight infused into the sword caused friction. The dazzling form of the Sword of Good and Evil sliced through a fleeting moment.
—Swish!
As a quiet sound echoed in my ears, I unleashed the mana concentrated in the soles of my feet, and my body shot towards the target like a bolt of lightning.
—Swish!
I fully swung the sword in my right hand, then rotated my body and continuously swung the sword I had tilted behind my waist.
Space was sliced and split. Pure white cracks began to appear all around Mort, who was approaching me with an ominous aura.
"K-Kuaaak!"
Perhaps because he was a hero in his own right, Mort, who seemed to sense something amiss, did not panic and swung his sword towards the suddenly appearing cracks, unleashing a torrent of black demonic energy.
—Sllurp.
"K-Krrrk?!"
However, the pure white cracks simply absorbed Mort's black demonic energy without a sound, maintaining their noble form.
Watching that, I curled my lips into a smirk and uttered a fact Mort didn't know.
"Idiot. You have to block all of those yourself."
"...!"
Mort, impudently, did not reply.
No, to be precise, it would be more accurate to say he couldn't.
Because Mort was already being engulfed by countless sword energies and black demonic energy pouring out from the pure white cracks that had appeared all around him.
"K-Kuaaak!"
Mort roared and swung his sword ceaselessly.
But the more he swung his sword, the more countless pure white lines were carved onto his body.
"Kuaaak!"
Though an incomplete sin, was a cardinal sin still a cardinal sin?
Mort screamed and unleashed all the demonic energy he held within.
—Boom!
A shockwave erupted, and as the pure white lines were swept away by it,
"Kuaaak!"
Mort, now looking less like a human, let out a bestial cry and rushed towards me.
"Krrrk?!"
Was it because he was truly a hero, after all?
Unlike Greed, whom I had dealt with last time, Mort quickly righted himself, then swung his sword towards the only remaining crack that hadn't vanished, drawing a black line on it.
But.
—Swish!
The transparent sword strike I had unleashed first cut through the black line with a quiet sound and headed towards Mort.
"Krrrk...?!"
Mort looked down at the pure white line carved into his body with disbelieving eyes.
—Splatter!
Black sludge gushed out along the line, and then his body, split in half, fell limply to the ground.
"K-Kua... Kuaaak!"
Like the other sins I had cut down, Mort cried out hideously in pain, and I slowly began to walk towards him.
"...?"
As I did, I suddenly felt a sense of incongruity and had to tilt my head.
It was understandable. I couldn't feel what should have been present in this guy.
'No core?'
No matter how much I searched with my All-Seeing Eye, I couldn't see any demonic energy crystal within Mort's body.
Did my expression seem amusing to him?
Mort, emitting black miasma and slowly fading away, twisted his lips into a grotesque smile and spoke.
"K-Kekekek! Why the dumbfounded look? Because you couldn't completely annihilate me? Are you curious why?"
"..."
"Didn't you yourself say it? That I was an incomplete sin."
Hearing those words, I finally understood why this guy didn't possess a demonic energy core.
'This bastard...'
The reason was just as he said: he was an incomplete sin.
An incomplete sin. A sin, yes, but one that hadn't received proper recognition from the evil god, thus having its soul bound by the evil god, a pitiful existence unable to truly exist as itself.
Until they became a complete sin and had their soul bestowed upon them by the evil god,
or until they were abandoned by the evil god.
Their life belonged entirely to the evil god, and their end could not come without the evil god's permission.
'If it wasn't for Master, I wouldn't have known this either.'
This was something I hadn't known during my gamer days. And no wonder, as the concept of an incomplete sin never appeared in the game.
I clutched my throbbing head and thought of Master for the first time in a while.
If Master hadn't drilled this knowledge into me, even resorting to hitting me, how flustered and lost would I be right now?
Just as I was feeling a sudden gratitude towards Master, Mort grinned at me and began to utter unsettling words.
"Or perhaps it's because you couldn't obtain my heart, the only key that can free my burdens? K-Kekekek!"