Chapter 66

- Kill.

My brother is……

- Slash him.

...

I looked down at my right hand gripping the sword.

My hand does not tremble.

It is calm.

Yet, I felt an uncontrollable tremor. My mind had regained its sanity, but my body could not shake off the instincts of the sword demon.

If this continues, it won't be long before I merge with the sword again.

‘...It's been too long since I held a sword. I can't control it as well as before.’

Sword demon.

Not the one who wields the sword, but the one who is controlled by it.

- Kill.

If a sword demon remains in a state of fusion with the sword for too long, they fall into a 'complete fusion' state.

They lose their human sanity and degenerate into a cruel beast of the sword, slashing at everything they see.

A sword demon who falls into complete fusion cannot return to being human.

They are designated as a hunting target, driven and killed. There is no other outcome.

‘Can I not completely suppress the instincts of the sword demon through the unity of mind and body, even if I have realized ‘myself’?’

- Slash him.

A loud ringing envelops my mind. The instincts of the sword demon are once again overwhelming my sanity...

Bang!

At that moment, a black sword energy, the same as mine, grazed my cheek and flew toward the waterfall.

Rumble... The rock behind the waterfall crumbled instantly.

"Hey, girl. Snap out of it."

The man, or rather, Andert, pointed his sword with a deeply troubled expression.

"I'll help you get out of there. You need to hold on to your sanity, or you'll become a complete fusion, which would be very troublesome. You're not a sword demon crazy enough to massacre Westwintree, right?"

- Kill.

I need more pain.

I slowly inserted my fingers into the wound in my shoulder and replied.

"That's right."

It was around this time that a group of new presences approached.

Three knights who had just arrived stood above the waterfall, looking down at us.

"Sir Garosh!"

Andert glanced at the knights, who seemed ready to fly down, and clicked his tongue.

"Don't come down. Get lost. If you don't want to get involved and die, get lost."

"But!"

"But this and but that, get lost. If you don't want to get involved and die, get lost."

The knights obediently retreated at his cold command.

"Huh. Now you've done it... Damn, this is annoying. How do you pull a sword demon out of complete fusion?"

"First, you need to make them talk to stop the fusion process."

Andert glared at me coldly, despite his kind answer.

"You lucky, crazy sword demon. So, you want me to make you talk? I'll make you talk as much as you want. Did you just call me Andert? That's not my name. You're mistaking me for someone else."

- Slash him.

"Mistake?"

"Yeah, a mistake. Sometimes people mistake me for 'that guy.' The hero Andert Pajer. I'm not cross-eyed or anything. Do you mistake me for a dead guy?"

- Kill.

Look at him. He's angry because I mistook him for Andert.

Huh.

"Ha ha...! Ah, ouch."

A sharp pain shot up my spine, and my mouth clamped shut.

Ah, I want to laugh, but my body won't let me. The life of a sword demon who has been stabbed in the shoulder is so miserable.

"Ah, ah."

I pulled my fingers out of my shoulder and stomped my feet.

Andert looked at me as if I were a madwoman with a flower in her hair.

The pain was so intense that my head became clearer.

The life of a sword demon who must stay sane through pain is so arduous.

"Huh. Mistake? That's not it. The name Garosh is your mistake. The people who know you as Garosh are the ones who are mistaken. You're not Garosh. Did you think I wouldn't know?"

I faced not Andert but 'Garosh.'

Garosh Bucklegraydon.

The most promising heir of the Bucklegraydon family. A young man with talent that surpasses even the renowned Jen Bucklegraydon, the genius swordsman.

And perhaps, the one who stole Dian Ket's diary at the command of the Sword Saint.

I looked at not Garosh but 'Andert' again.

Andert Pajer.

A young boy who joined the imperial army to protect his hometown, Queen's Island, before he turned twenty. He died in battle after a year, but his body was never found because the island burned down.

And my only family.

The family I couldn't protect.

'But he didn't die, he was alive.'

But he doesn't remember me.

So what if he doesn't remember?

If my dead brother came back to life, would memory matter?

Memory comes back when you beat it out of someone. That's just how younger brothers are.

"You."

Andert's green eyes glared at me as if to kill.

I'm not scared at all, you ungrateful brat who doesn't remember your family.

"You know me."

"Of course. I know you very well. Your real name isn't Garosh. It's probably a name given by the Sword Saint. How terrible. It's a name that suits a herdsman. The Sword Saint's taste is usually poor."

"..."

"How well do I know you? Let me start with what comes to mind. Let's see. Our Garosh has a mole above his collarbone? He has a sun allergy, which is quite unusual? Or that he suffers from stomachaches for a while after drinking milk? I think I know you pretty well. Now, you must be curious about how I know all this, right?"

Andert's expression soured. That face hasn't changed from back then.

"Curious?"

You pretend to be cold, but I know you're curious to the point of being desperate.

"If you're curious."

A damp chill passed between us.

I could feel Andert's ears opening wide.

He was completely focused on every word I said.

'I want to torment you.'

Seeing that smug face pretending not to be curious, I really want to torment you. The familial love as a sister that had disappeared is stirring!

"60 seconds before I reveal it."

"...What?"

As soon as I finished speaking, something surged up from my throat.

"Ugh."

It was blood.

The blood gushed out like a fountain, soaking my chest and staining the rocks red.

My brain and heart tightened. My center of gravity collapsed, and the strength in my limbs drained away.

- Kill.

Oh.

'I thought I had escaped complete fusion because the conversation was going well.'

It was a mistake.

'Have I lived as a sword demon for too long?'

Too long to stop fusion with just a conversation. Heat started to rise in my head.

Ringing and noise enveloped the world.

- Kill and slash.

There's nothing I can do.

Wiping the blood from my mouth, I held my sword and warned the tense Andert.

"Cancel what I just said. I'll say it again. If you're curious, curious... when I fall, catch my head... first."

"Hey."

Andert's response was inaudible.

Before I could hear it, my sword pierced my remaining right shoulder.

Dizzy. Blood was seeping out through the holes, naturally.

My body, weakened by the bleeding, began to tilt.

Excessive bleeding was the last resort to prevent complete fusion. In reality, it increased the likelihood of death, but...

I couldn't let myself become a sword demon and kill Andert.

"The next part is the most important. Bring the blue-haired man who is wandering around this area."

"..."

"Andert."

The always calm Andert's eyes showed a faint confusion.

"You."

Stay by my side, don't leave.

My vision closed. I lost consciousness without uttering the last word.

* * *

As he rushed out, Garosh was enveloped by a brief doubt.

Why were his legs moving on their own?

In fact, Garosh had no intention of following the sword demon's incessant, insane demands.

But the mind is one thing, and the body is another.

When he regained his senses, he was already supporting the fallen sword demon's head.

It's cold.

'Almost like a corpse.'

His condition is very poor.

Aside from the holes in both shoulders, he had lost an excessive amount of blood from coughing it up.

'Suicide?'

There are such sword demons. Those who choose death just before complete fusion.

Garosh had seen one once.

That sword demon, a member of the Bucklegraydon Knights, had deep, irreparable trauma from war.

During a live combat training, he fell into a complete fusion state and took his own life before losing his sanity completely.

But this case was different.

This sword demon is strangely skilled with the sword. The fact that he stabbed his shoulders, not his neck or heart, means he didn't intend to die.

"Bring the blue-haired man who is wandering around this area."

Not only that, but he even entrusted the cleanup to me.

A bitter smile appeared on his dry cheeks.

"Even if you think I'm a fool, there's a limit to it."