Chapter 502

Riana was incapacitating the Death Knights one by one with lightning strikes as if sniping them from a distance, as if to say she would take care of them. I had warned her not to interfere, but she must have thought I was in danger. "Kwang! Flash!" They would all think it was their fault. They would all think it was their own fault. "Kwak!" "Kueeeeeeeek!" Olivia, who was no match for my strength, screamed like a beast as she bounced off my sword. The Death Knights rushing towards me were being blocked by Riana. Death Knights are the highest level of undead. But Riana had slaughtered countless monsters in Fort Mocna and had never failed in the defense of Fort Mocna. So even the Death Knights were hit by Riana's rough lightning strikes dozens of times, with their flesh torn apart and only bones left behind, which turned bright red and burned to ashes. They were undead, but they were corpses that had not been dead for long. Some of them still had faces. As the head of the Holy Order, Olivia had sent the priesthood here and had not had many opportunities to meet them in person. But Riana had commanded them for a long time, gone on missions with them, and spent a long time with them. Riana would know best who she was killing twice now. Because of her own sins, she was paying the price of summoning dozens of lightning strikes on her comrades' bodies, turning the bodies of her comrades who could not die properly into ashes. Olivia was possessed by a demon, and the paladins sent on a purification mission were resurrected as Death Knights, unable to die properly. They had to fight not with monsters from the Gate, but with their own allies. Riana had done wrong. She had committed an unforgivable sin. Then what about me? It's a sad wind to try to evaluate intentions. Even if the intention was good, even if I tried to save everyone. In the end, everything happened because of me. Is it really absurd that a collection of spirits who hate me and want to condemn me, using Olivia's body, who is precious to me, to do so? Like I was justified in my own way. Isn't the anger of those ghosts who consider the Demon King to be the cause of everything, and therefore deserving of hatred, not so unfair and absurd? While the Death Knights were being incapacitated one by one in a chain of lightning strikes, Olivia did not stop. Olivia, who had suppressed her reason, did not seem to be handling the swordsmanship. "Kueeeeeeeek..." She just swung the demonic Tiamat at me like a club, growling like a beast. "Kang! Kang! Kakang!" It was not difficult to block the powerful swing, but the problem was not the rough swing, but Olivia's corrupt power. Even if I took Tiamat away from Olivia's grasp, nothing changed. Since Olivia could use holy power even without Tiamat, her control of the fight was actually more dangerous for me. Even if I took away Tiamat, Olivia continued to use the power of corruption and depravity. I could only defend against Olivia's attacks, and as a result, my body was gradually exposed to the power of corruption and depravity. My skin began to decay and my entire body started to die. My nerves died, and my senses gradually dulled, and even my vision became blurry. I couldn't use Tiamat's power to heal myself. If the battle continued, I wouldn't die from the sword, but I would become a withered plant, turned into a mirage by the power of corruption. In the end, I had to make a move. I had to take action against the ghosts that controlled Olivia. "Krrrrrrrrrr!" Olivia swung her sword at me like a beast. Dodging or deflecting it only made my body gradually corrode. I made my move. -Kaaang! I caught the blade of Tiamat, a demonic sword tainted with corruption, with my bare hands. -Chiiiiik! Like a solution of acid, white smoke rose from my hand as it grasped the sword, and my hand began to die. I didn't just catch the sword. -Kwak... I grabbed Olivia's neck with my other empty hand. Neither I nor Olivia could escape now. -Kang! Clang! Clang! Olivia writhed and struggled to escape my grasp, but my physical strength was absolute. Olivia could hurt me with the power of corruption, but she couldn't hurt me physically. Tiamat belonged to both Olivia and me. Olivia held the hilt of Tiamat, and I held the blade. Since we both held each other's possessions, we couldn't take them away from each other. But my body was gradually dying. "Tiamat..." I spoke to Tiamat, which Olivia had turned into a demonic sword according to the will of the ghosts and evil spirits. "Become a holy sword." I gave the opposite command to when I killed Leberia Lanche. -Flash! Tiamat, which had been pouring out the common power of corruption, soon regained its original form, emitting a golden light. "Kyaaaaaah!" As if feeling tremendous pain from the light itself, Olivia, who was clinging to me, began to scream. Holding the blade, not the hilt, I twisted Olivia's neck, which was trying to escape from the range of Tiamat's divine power, and didn't let go. Olivia was also holding onto Tiamat in pain. Translation:

Will to restore Tiamat as a holy sword.

Clash between my will and the wills of countless anger and resentment.

-Kururung!

Tiamat, emitting both white and black energy, was raising a rough storm on the field.

It's a fight against an unbeatable will.

Can't a single will overcome so much resentment?

Nevertheless, I don't think I'll lose.

I'll turn it around.

I won't let go of anything I hold, as much as the great wind I dream of.

I'm ready to let go of myself, but I'm not ready to abandon someone who loves me.

Anyone who loves me.

Anyone I love.

If peace can only be achieved by abandoning someone.

I don't need that kind of peace.

I'll have everything.

I'll crush all the damn evils and rise up.

The black energy flowing from Tiamat was gradually receding.

Clearly, it was being pushed back.

"Kueeeek... Aaaaaah!"

I don't let go of Olivia's neck, who screams in pain, dominated by ghosts.

My right hand, already dead, turned black up to the wrist, but the dead hand doesn't let go of Olivia.

Hand?

It's nothing.

I can lose it.

If I can turn it back.

If there's even a slight possibility of recovering it.

I can give up more than that.

"Get out of here...."

To Tiamat held in my left hand.

To the ghosts that have invaded Olivia's body.

"Get out of here.... You damn demons!"

I shouted with will, not desire.

-Flash!

The world was covered in red light, and I could finally see the ghosts pouring out of Olivia's body, unable to withstand the pressure of divine power.

* * *

-Geueueueu!

The ghosts were eventually defeated in the battle for control with me and fled to avoid exposure to Tiamat's divine power.

The expelled ghosts were huddled in the air, like a huge cloud.

It was as if they had received a great shock, and they were shriveled up, floating in the sky in a huge form.

Olivia lost consciousness and collapsed, and I hugged her.

Was that huge thing dominating Olivia's body?

The mass of spirits floating in the air was even larger than the super-sized stadium seen in the temple.

No matter how much it's a soul, can something that big enter a human body?

I couldn't help but wonder what Olivia was enduring.

How many ghosts are gathered there?

-Kueeeeeeeek!

It was even getting bigger.

As if the ghosts were pulling each other. "I couldn't see the ghosts, but due to my heightened senses, I could feel that they were absorbing wandering spirits and growing larger and larger, like a black hole. The collection of spirits from Rianna's massacre is just the beginning. Even if I manage to expel them from Olivia's body, what if they try to possess someone else like Rianna, Harriet, Charlotte, or Iri? I would have to fight them again, and their size would only increase. If they try to kill me again, will others look at me with the same expression as Olivia just did? Why are they doing this? If their anger is justified, they can attack me directly. Why involve those who love me? It's a foolish and meaningless action. I don't know what to do in this situation. But then, I heard an answer. The massive collection of spirits sent a message, a cacophony of voices echoing with despair and resentment. 'You, only you. Can you just die for us? Why do you only give us one thing and take everything else away? Our sons, husbands, wives, brothers, daughters, mothers, fathers, lords, loves, friends, hometowns, everything. Why do you only give us one thing?'" "That must not be just one will. Is it the collective heart of the entity? Like a group consciousness. Those wandering spirits have become a pitiful and wicked existence, resonating with each other and becoming one with a miserable sense of unity named hatred, anger, and despair. A collective named resentment. It looks down on me from the air. I felt the giant wandering spirits, no different from clouds, staring at me with my skin. I felt the gaze full of resentment of those wandering spirits that are difficult to count in numbers. 'Because you took everything from us.' 'We will take everything from you.' 'That's... right.' 'We will kill you, take everything you have, and destroy it.' 'You destroyed us.' 'We also have the right to destroy you.' 'All of your things.' 'We have the right to take them.' I heard it from Antirianus. What Sarkagar said to Ellerys in words just before the Gate Incident occurred. Sarkagar said that since humanity destroyed Darkland, Darkland also has the right to destroy humanity. The Gate Incident happened. In the end, those words became a boomerang. Those who were destroyed, those who were taken away, those who were killed. It speaks of the rights of the broken. Those who are crucially involved in this matter are only a tiny minority. The wandering spirits in front of me were outsiders to almost everything happening in the world. They did not decide anything or express their opinions. They were just sacrificed. They were even those who were killed by Rihanna's decision. They have the right to destroy me. Yes. They will definitely have it. Who else has the right to destroy me, hate me, and break me? It is getting bigger and bigger. If left alone like this, it will become a size that no one can bear. It will make me fight with those I love. If the purpose of that is to give me pain and suffering, I will do it. 'I'm scary, aren't I?' I say to the gaze of that resentment towards me. 'You don't have the ability to directly control me. You don't have the intention to attack me directly. You don't have the confidence to kill me, so you can only choose the despicable way of making me kill my own people.' There was no answer, but I felt the wriggling of that giant grudge. 'How many of you are there? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Or millions?' 'If the conclusion of your anger and revenge towards me is just that. If it's just that kind of thing.' 'Hatred.' 'Anger.' 'Revenge.' 'Isn't it insufficient?' 'Too similar, aren't they?' I provoke. 'Weak beings.' 'Because they were weak even when they were alive.' 'They are weak even when they die.' Their resentment will be based on their injustice, but fundamentally it will be based on their weakness, which led to their death. If they were strong, they would not have died. If they were as strong as the hero, Ellen Artorius. If they had power. They wouldn't have had to run away, they wouldn't have had to be killed. I speak to those weak souls, those entities." "I have no one to attack me, so this method of only causing me pain is ultimately the way of the weak, and even as a collective entity, aren't you still weak?" The spirits did not respond, only writhing and threatening. They are filled with anger and have no hope of winning. However, I cannot leave these spirits to grow larger. I cannot let them possess other beings. I do not want to fight those I love. I cannot control others anymore. "Is your resentment strong enough? Is my mind strong enough? Let's test it." If they hate me, then I must endure it. I cannot burden others with what I must bear. I may not think I can handle it, but if it is something I must endure, regardless of whether it is reasonable or not, if it is hatred, anger, and revenge towards me, then "come at me." I provoke the spirits with my words. "Why? Are you afraid?" I do not need to say anything more. The trembling of the despairing entity begins. "Currrling! Cursed demon. Yes. We will curse you. Destroy everything you love with your own hands." A massive darkness begins to condense like a cloud. The spirits have changed their minds. They want to make me kill those I love with my own hands. I spread my arms. "Come, weaklings." I give the pitiful beings who have no choice but to be sacrificed a chance to destroy me.