I Became the Main Character’s Demon Sword

53

Reality was different. With Arpel’s intervention, the spy in the Demon Temple had died, and the same likely happened to the Celestial God’s side, so the Emperor probably couldn’t extract information from the temple.

If they thought Rohan had influenced the spy’s death, they likely held their breath and waited until he started moving outside the temple. There must have been watchers in the villages they passed through.

Suddenly, the image of Rohan’s robe coming off at the night market came to mind. If they were discovered, it would have been at that point.

Except for the coachman trembling with his horse behind them, everyone present was constantly on edge, wary of each other. Meanwhile, Rohan carefully took Arpel’s hand.

“W-What…?”

A brief flash hindered Leriana’s vision. When she opened her eyes after squeezing them shut, she was startled to find Arpel, who had been standing right in front of her, nowhere to be seen.

Where did he go? What was that light just now?

As if that light had shattered the building tension, the people opposite them suddenly charged. Arrows shot out from the nearby bushes. Casia swiftly cut down the arrows flying towards vital points with a sharp whooshing sound.

A brief burst of holy power erupted from Leriana’s hand. Simultaneously, a snow-white sword that seemed to drip holiness appeared in her grasp.

Although it could be considered a greatsword given its large size compared to her frame, Leriana easily blocked the incoming attacks while spinning the sword.

“Damn it! There was no mention of two of them!”

“Watch out for the other side… Argh!”

“Where did one of them go?!”

Despite working together for the first time, the three quickly found their roles as if they had been fighting together for years.

Rohan, who had somehow acquired a pitch-black sword, immediately cut into the left side of the group, slashing people down. His movements were so fluid it was hard to believe he hadn’t done this countless times before.

Leriana headed in the opposite direction. With each step she took, the holy power bursting from her feet slowed down her opponents. Her holy sword struck without fail, seizing the moments when they lost focus.

Casia, who had been guarding the rear, blocked several arrows aimed at the other two before kicking off towards the bushes where the arrows were coming from.

Her series of actions – grabbing the throats of those hiding, slamming them to the ground, and stabbing them with her sword – were so swift that the stunned attackers met their end at her hands.

“…Filthy.”

The sword Rohan swung shattered the opponent’s aura. As he cut down the man who seemed bewildered by his aura breaking so easily, blood splattered. Rohan’s expression hardened when he noticed a tiny bit of blood on the tip of his sword.

“I’m sorry, that must have been unpleasant…”

Ignoring the chaos around him, he took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the bloodstain from the sword’s tip. His careful touch, as if handling a fragile treasure, along with his sorrowful voice and melancholic expression, was like a painting. It would have been fine if the object of his attention wasn’t just a sword.

“Is he crazy?”

Due to the rapidly unfolding situation, Leriana had only registered that ‘Arpel had disappeared,’ and hadn’t immediately realized that the sword was actually Arpel. She couldn’t hide her dumbfounded expression. Voicing her thoughts out loud was an added bonus.

The same went for those facing Rohan. He was swinging his sword without caring about the blood splattering on his face, and manipulating strange shadows to swallow people whole.

To see such an opponent sorrowfully apologizing to his sword for getting blood on it was bizarre. When one of the frozen opponents died from a black thorn piercing their heart from the ground, it felt even more grotesque.

Of course, only Rohan could clearly hear Arpel’s voice.

Although this was the first time Rohan was working in tandem with Arpel since their contract, he handled the power with uncanny skill. Perhaps it was because he had constantly longed for the day Arpel would become his sword, memorizing Arpel’s movements countless times.

Those who thought the fighting force consisted only of Rohan and the unidentified man with him were helplessly overwhelmed by the coordinated attack of the now doubled party. While the difference in skill was a factor, the compatibility between aura, holy power, and magic couldn’t be ignored.

From the perspective of body enhancement, the three powers were similar, but in a fight between equally skilled individuals, magic or holy power had an overwhelming advantage. Aura was a power cultivated by humans, while magic and holy power were gifts from gods, so the balance of power was inherently skewed from the start.

“Tch!”

Leriana, who was struggling on the opposite side from Rohan, frowned at someone who had parried her fierce sword strike. The opposing aura didn’t waver either. Sensing that her opponent was a highly skilled fighter, she quickly distanced herself.

But that was a mistake. As soon as Leriana showed signs of retreating, the opponent closed the distance in the blink of an eye and thrust their sword into the opening. She belatedly twisted her body in response to the sword coming at her with wind-like speed.

“Lady Leriana!”

Casia, who had just finished dealing with the assassins hiding on the outskirts, leapt in without hesitation upon seeing this scene. The sword that was about to graze Leriana’s shoulder was deflected by Casia’s sword.

“Who are you? Who sent you?”

“……”

“It seems you have no intention of answering willingly.”

Casia pulled Leriana back to protect her. Her usually cold face became chillingly expressionless.

Their swords clashed. As Casia showed signs of engaging the opponent head-on, Leriana thrust her sword into the ground instead of raising it. Soon, regular pulses began to emanate from her sword.

The pulses were absorbed into Casia’s body as soon as they reached her. A faint light enveloped her body, and the sword she held sparkled.

Rohan had contracted with Arpel, who possessed the aggressive ability of ‘shadow’. This made him well-suited for hunting spirits and crossing swords with others. In comparison, Leriana had chosen to partner with a holy sword that had the power of ‘healing’.

As such, she was more adept at using her power to restrain opponents and enhance others rather than jumping into the fray herself. A faint golden breath burst from Casia, who had fully received Leriana’s power.

“Haah!”

Noticing the significant change in her aura, the person standing opposite didn’t move recklessly. Casia struck first.

Her quickly thrust sword barely grazed the man’s shoulder. Thanks to him leaning back as soon as he saw Casia’s movement, only his clothes were lightly cut.

From that point, a breathtaking exchange of attacks and defenses ensued. Despite the barrage of sword strikes, the man steadfastly parried them all. Unlike before, there was a slight tremor in the clashing swords, but the fact that he could manage this much even against empowered attacks meant he was one of the most skilled swordsmen around.

“Did you receive orders from the Emperor?”

Even this angry outburst didn’t faze him. She too knew about the conflict between the temple and the imperial court, so she thought the Emperor was the only one likely to order such an attack, but this man was eerily calm.

Rather, that calmness was unnaturally pronounced. He looked like a puppet thoroughly manipulated by someone else’s will.

The man retreated a few steps, but Casia couldn’t immediately follow. She was concerned about Leriana, who was still using her power behind her. If she distanced herself too much from Leriana, she might not be able to protect her from a sudden attack.

But the opponent noticed this moment of hesitation. He also realized that the person Casia was worried about was Leriana behind her.

Once again, as their swords clashed, the man deflected the force of the sword and quickly dove towards the open side.

Casia immediately swung her sword down, thinking it was part of an irregular attack, but only caught the edge of his torn robe. She clearly felt the sensation of cutting something lightly, but the man moved without regard for the pain of being cut.

“……!”

The man, having passed Casia, immediately rushed towards Leriana. Of course, Leriana couldn’t react to his movement. It was that fast, and even if she had noticed, she couldn’t have pulled out her sword stuck in the ground, not being fully accustomed to using her power.

In the end, the only choice left to her was to squeeze her eyes shut. But even that didn’t go as Leriana had thought.

“……Casia!”

Just before her eyes fully closed, droplets of blood spread across her vision. When she snapped her eyes open in surprise, what she saw was Casia’s back blocking her view.

The blood droplets she had just seen…? Her belated gaze fixed on the red droplets falling and staining the ground. Casia was injured. As soon as she realized this fact, Leriana’s face turned pale.

“Lady Leriana. Please step back.”

No. I can’t. I mustn’t.

If she retreated now, the power she was transmitting to Casia would be greatly disrupted. If that happened, Casia would… An unimaginable future unfolded in her mind.

All she could do was stay hidden behind Casia, pouring her power into her body. The golden energy quickly healed the wounds on Casia’s body.

Feeling the power transmitted from Leriana, Casia bit her lip. With her weakness exposed, there was only one option left. To unleash all her strength in a fierce attack, to keep his attention and buy time, preventing him from looking elsewhere.

Having made the judgment most advantageous to her, her sword began to move fiercely. The man couldn’t find an opportunity to target Leriana again due to the relentless attacks. After quite a few exchanges between the two…

“Ugh!”

The man, who had been fully focused on Casia, let out a groan. A black thorn had suddenly risen from behind and pierced his shoulder. The source of the thorn was the ground.

“Rohan!”

Leriana, who had been anxiously watching Casia, called out to Rohan with a brightened expression. Rohan, who had finished off the remaining enemies, immediately used his power to attack the man.

As soon as one shoulder was compromised, Casia’s eyes flashed. Her body, enhanced by holy power, leapt and struck down at the man like lightning. The man barely dodged Casia’s attack but couldn’t avoid Rohan’s sword coming from another direction.

The elegantly drawn sword slashed his other shoulder. Rohan didn’t slow the speed of his sword, intending to completely sever the shoulder, but he had to retreat when a sudden burst of white smoke erupted from the man.

“…A smoke screen.”

By the time the smoke cleared, the man’s presence had vanished. Rohan clicked his tongue softly as he frowned, looking beyond where the man had disappeared.

“Casia, are you alright?! Where are you hurt…!”

“Yes. I’m fine thanks to you, Lady Leriana.”

As soon as the smoke cleared somewhat, Leriana rushed to Casia. Perhaps because the image of blood dripping was so vivid, her hands busily searched for signs of wounds even though Casia said she was fine.

“……I’m sorry.”

“Lady Leriana.”

“Because of me, Casia…”

In the end, the part she had been deliberately hiding was exposed. The revealed skin was without a single wound, but the outer clothing clearly showed where it had been cut by a sword. Traces of blood that hadn’t been completely wiped away still remained.