The Archangel of Death - Chapter 242
242: The Duke of death 242: The Duke of death Chapter 242 Universal rule, anything evil was vulnerable against anything pure.
Cr*p, all of it.
Death and life were equal in terms of power, always.
Not one was less than the other.
Neither had any advantage over the other.
So if I have the power of, let us assume darkness, then to counter it, the power of light would be useful.
However, if they were both equal in terms of power, then neither would be affected by the other.
However, if light was stronger by one shade, then darkness would suffer but the vice versa was also true.
That was why, just having the element of life or any of its branches wasn’t enough.
One also needed to see if they were stronger in terms of power than the other.
From the beginning, the duke had nothing to worry about from Eric.
Eric’s divine energy wasn’t so strong that it could corrupt his necromantic power.
Still, for some reason, the duke made sure Eric went away.
And that begged the simplest question, why?
Come to think of it, the duke facing me right now must have been the same in the novel as well, right?
Then how did a barely C rank like Eric manage to assassinate him?
It should have been impossible to deal with this guy.
What was it that made Eric so special?
Was it my sword?
I doubt that.
Even I couldn’t recognize it which meant it was that much broken down.
Eric wouldn’t have been able to use its full power even if he wanted to unless he had the fragments to make it whole again.
So how did a weakling like Eric manage to get past the defenses of this monster and assassinate him?
Not kill him in a head-on fight, but assassinate him from the shadows, a being who was very close to shadows thanks to his chosen power being in the same branch.
“Why are so afraid of the boy?” I couldn’t help but ask as I dodged a sword slash easily by moving aside and letting his heavy momentum take its course.
He smiled as he answered, “Well, you see.
He told me to.” “Who?” I asked.
“Defeat me and I will tell you.
Though I doubt you can.” He said with a smug smirk.
Since I didn’t have my answers yet, I wasn’t very keen on ending this as well.
I executed a sword technique that specifically targeted his joints.
The disadvantage of armor.
Always needed a space for the muscles to breathe or in this case, move.
However, I underestimated his defense as even a straight shot at his knee joints did nothing to lower his momentum.
He was a literal monster.
But I wasn’t worried.
From the beginning, I wasn’t.
“I saw what you did to those girls,” I said.
“Beautiful, wasn’t it?” He asked.
“Inhumane,” was my reply.
“Well, technically, I am dead, am I not?” He brought in technicalities that actually made sense.
He wasn’t alive.
He was dead.
And in doing so, he could never get tired or anything else.
His movements were perfect and he was calculative to the point of no error.
A calculation only possible once had left all fear in the world.
Just like him.
He had left the greatest fear behind in the world.
The fear of death.
“You’re keeping them alive, why?
I couldn’t help but ask.
I saw the girls, back in his basement, skinned and cut open.
Their organs were harvested but still connected to their bodies, and somehow, they were alive.
They were being kept alive.
But that was what I couldn’t understand.
Why go through this much trouble to keep someone alive when killing them would harvest him more power?
“Because he said so.” Came his simple reply.
It was the second time he had mentioned the certain ‘he’ and both of the times it wasn’t a good feeling.
Not only that, but the way he mentioned him, contained reverence.
Almost religious.
And I was sure it wasn’t directed to a supreme or their god.
It was something else.
He was something else.
“You wanna know something I hate very much?” I asked as I delivered another strike while he made no effort to dodge that one.
“Sure.” He nonchalantly replied while throwing another one of his slash which I easily dodged but the power traveled for a distance until it cut a few unfortunate soldiers.
“I hate the existence of something that cannot be disclosed.
Like, why would you address him as ‘he’ when you could just as easily say his name.” The usual tactic from the villain side, say ‘he’ instead of a name and invoke curiosity to the point the story expands for a few more chapters.
He just looked at me, for a while and then, he unleashed a charming smile and said, “He didn’t tell me what his name was.
Nor did he tell me who he was.” “And you just believed him?” I asked.
“I am young and healthy, am I not?
I was on the verge of death, an illness no physician, no divine healer could diagnose.
I was just an old man, grasping at any straws and he showed me the way.
Even if I was skeptical, there was no harm in believing him.” The duke explained.
I stopped.
It finally clicked in my head.
Why he was keeping them alive?
The energy of life.
“Magic,” I said just one word.
He smiled at that word and said, “A magic I had never ever seen.
Something that even the dark magic couldn’t solve.” “So that’s what those girls are.
Batteries.
Constantly producing life energy for you.” I said in response.
I then looked at him and said, “Your first victim, your wife, no, younger.” I sighed as realization dawned on me, “That painting wasn’t of your wife.
It was your daughter.” “My lovely Aeyla.
Willingly gave her life so that her father could live for a few more months.” He said with a nostalgic expression.
Each of his words, his sight, began to make me sick.
If there was one thing I hated along with those who played with human life, then it would be the failure of a father.
“You don’t deserve to live,” I said as the energy of life that was circulating through me began to spread to my hands.
I stored the sword back in my inventory and equipped another one.
One that wasn’t harmed by the energy of life.
The sword of destruction was too weak and it would be destroyed when life energy flowed through it.
[The sword of infinite flame has been equipped] Fire was not averted to life.
So it was safe.
Besides, I had had enough of this guy.
There was no reason to keep it going anymore.
Almost all of my questions were answered and the one that wasn’t answered was also somewhat answered.
He didn’t tell me the name of the one who guided him but I could just as easily find out when I get to this guy.
After all, a guy who was willing to kill his own daughter would surely be killing more out there to this day to stay alive.
“I will find you,” I said as the power of life began to emit from me.
He flinched.
Suddenly, his face changed.
His expression shifted to the one that every human had.
Every human was afraid of death.
The expression of uneasiness and slight fear.
[AyaAkusa] I raised my hand and the sword in my hand above my head and infused the power of life in it as well as the power of the soul.
The power of life was needed to kill this guy but why would I need the power of soul?
Well, the academy wasn’t going to be happy about losing another artifact.
That makes it three, doesn’t it?
Well, too bad.
“AyaAkusa: Slash.” And then I simply brought my sword down, cutting everything in my path.
The duke tried to escape, of course, he tried.
He wasn’t just going to sit back and die but too bad.
I was never going to let him live even though it was inside of a memory.
Not to mention.
A memory was still a part of the living, wasn’t it?
************************* “Kugh!” A young man opened his eyes as pain coursed through his body.
It had been a long time since he felt pain but it hadn’t been an unusual sensation to him.
He had felt it before, just not on this scale.
If before it was a sting, now it felt like a million stings.
As he stood up, an ominous feeling welled from his heart but he wasn’t lost in it for long.
After all, his heart wasn’t beating like a human.
It was beating like a human, just not like a human who was in pain.
But like a human who knew no emotions.
But that was wrong.
He felt emotions.
They just felt foreign to him after such a long time.
And while he was still in his bed, the door to his giant room opened and a number of people draped in white robes entered the room.
“My liege, it is time.” The man at the front said.
The young man nodded and said, “What of the empire?” “They have not made any moves as of yet.” The man replied before he said, “But you need not worry, my liege.
Your subjects will take care of that.” “I’m not worried.” The young man said.
“My apologies, my liege.” The man hurriedly said, afraid the young man would take offense to the man’s words.
As for the young man, his ears picked up a faint sound, coming from the outside.
The sound of the crowd outside calling his title.
He sighed as he heard his title, “Long live the Pope.” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Bad_Wolf_7811 Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Your gift is the motivation for my creation.
Give me more motivation!