Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 548

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 547
Fire. Imperial Guards versus the Atan Clan
“Fang Rupture.”
Form materialized within the endless flowing wind.
Powerful wolves raised their heads and released desolate howls, then began to run in sync with Efdiram’s gestures.
Where they passed, grass lay flattened in their wake, and across the endless plains, the trail stretched on without end.
“Berik! Listen to me! I didn’t hate you that much!”
Efdiram drew her blade and ran alongside the wolves. Her golden eyes blazed with indescribable emotion.
“But why on earth! What is Bariel that—!”
Whoooosh!
As Efdiram leaped upward, her robe fluttered dramatically. The wind wolves’ jaws opened wide with all their might, moving in concert with her blade and claws.
Killing intent was palpable.
A transparent intention to strike the vital points in one blow.
Clang!
Berik parried her blade and stepped back, then severed the wolves’ heads in rapid succession.
The wolves shattered and crumbled under the blade storm, tearing at Berik’s skin. Yet he grinned wickedly, protecting only his face.
“Hey! Damn it, that’s what I should say! Bariel has so much delicious food—why would you want to eat that garbage!”
“Living as one is born is the natural order—how could you not know this!”
“You’re spouting nonsense! Then reach some agreement! When Ian entrusted you with managing the north, you should have done it reasonably!”
Clang! Clang! Whoooosh!
A vicious exchange of blades continued. The slightest loss of strength or lapse in focus would allow the opponent’s blade to graze one’s throat.
Both gritted their teeth and glared at each other.
“The arrogance of acting as though the Empire is the center of the world disgusted me, so I refused. What gives them the right to draw lines across Gaia’s earth?”
Screeeech!
The blades locked together with a chilling sound. Berik felt Efdiram’s strength gradually waning and pressed forward with overwhelming force.
“You could think that way. But—!”
Clang!
Boom!
As Efdiram detonated a mana sphere, Berik retreated and shook his head. In that moment, grass and soil covered him.
“Isn’t it natural for the strong to create order? If you’re upset, win against me.”
“Yes, Berik, your head will bring new history to the Atan Clan, so it must be so. Therefore, I shall bury Ian Hielo’s head alongside yours.”
At Efdiram’s provocation, Berik’s expression turned cold. She had crossed the line.
“Efdiram. I didn’t like you much.”
“Really? That’s unfortunate!”
“Especially saying things you don’t even mean like that!”
Clang! Clang!
The two rushed at each other again, swinging their blades. In the blink of an eye, three or four exchanges struck like lightning. But this time was different.
Zing!
Zing!
Berik’s black blade responded to mana and grew increasingly hot. And finally, as the blades clashed, a tremendous explosion erupted.
Crash!
“…!”
Efdiram’s blade shattered, and she instinctively conjured a protective barrier. The destructive heat was nearly lethal—a force that seemed capable of melting everything in its path.
Her fears proved justified. As one side of Efdiram’s barrier cracked, a sharp flame pierced through her abdomen. She couldn’t help but recoil.
“How’s that? Did your mind get a little more heated?”
“…I’ll kill you, you bastard.”
Everything around Efdiram burned, save for the ground beneath her feet. Through the acrid smoke, Berik approached with his hair tied back tightly.
“Sorry, but I’m in a hurry.”
….
Blood poured from between Efdiram’s fingers in waves. She looked up at Berik, then broke into a bloodstained smile.
At that sudden shift in emotion, Berik’s brow twitched.
“You don’t know. The joy of living as you were born to be.”
“Stop spouting nonsense.”
“Watch closely. Understand?”
Efdiram reached out and dragged a nearby demon corpse toward herself. Without hesitation, she drank its blood and tore into its flesh with her teeth.
She was like a beast wearing human skin. Berik watched to see what she was scheming, and Efdiram wiped her blood-stained mouth clean.
“This is what happens when you follow your nature, you fool.”
The bleeding from her abdomen visibly slowed. Efdiram’s complexion and breathing stabilized, and the fatigue from battle seemed to wash away completely.
Berik, at a loss for words, slung his sword over his shoulder.
“Do you understand what I mean?”
“Yeah. I’ll have to kill you before you can recover. My regards. Farewell.”
The demons pouring forth behind him were the very lifeblood of the Atan Clan.
This was something permitted to Berik as well.
“…You wanted to become stronger, didn’t you?”
….
“To fight, to kill, and moreover to become a complete predator! I know what defines your identity! Because I was the same!”
Berik lowered his sword for a moment and thought.
She was right. Like Efdiram said, I wanted to become stronger. I enlisted as a child soldier under Bratz because, before anything else, I wanted to become stronger. Within that, I found my breath in violent clashes disguised as survival—
But was that truly because of the Atan Clan’s nature?
“I like eating. But—”
The beginning of the desire to become stronger.
That came not from the instinct to survive, but rather….
“Because I wanted to save them.”
“What?”
From my father’s violence, my family—
From the brigands’ assault, my family once more—
Ian, who said he needed me—
And myself, who wanted to live—
This is where that desire began.
“Because I wanted to save them. That’s why I couldn’t choose the Atan Clan, and why I couldn’t leave Bariel.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I just realized that living for others is a stronger path than living for myself.”
Whoosh.
Berik muttered those words as he raised his sword high.
“Thanks for teaching me something valuable before I go.”
“Ha. Where am I going?”
Zing!
Zing!
“If you’re not on Ian’s level, I don’t think you’ll land a hit on me.”
“Beno!”
“Huh?”
Efdiram cried out as she unfurled her magic circle. Beno—her right arm.
When Berik turned to look back, he locked eyes with a man who had drawn dangerously close. Cold, composed eyes, yet unlike Efdiram’s, they brimmed with contempt.
Berik instinctively blocked the attack.
Boom! Boom!
Crash!
Unlike the mage Efdiram, Beno was a Mage Knight. In other words, he was skilled in swordsmanship and specialized in offensive combat.
Particularly, Beno’s blade wasn’t so much a manifestation of magical power as it was the free manipulation of magical energy itself. The evidence lay in how it took an unconventional form, targeting Berik’s neck.
“Wow, what—?”
“How dare a race traitor like you.”
“Speak properly, damn it! When were we ever on the same side?”
「Fang Rend」.
Screech!
Efdiram joined in and summoned the wind wolf once more.
If they were ordinary people, it would be different, but facing two opponents alone was difficult for Berik. Beno could draw magical power from Efdiram, and the magical beasts scattered across the land were essentially stamina potions.
“Damn it, I have Ian too!”
“Shut up! Berik! This is truly the last time!”
“Die.”
Slash!
Beno’s blade cleanly cut across Berik’s right arm. The tendons seemed to snap. The black sword shattered and flew away, and Berik staggered, losing his balance.
Screech!
Then, Beno’s blade pierced cleanly through Berik’s abdomen.
“…!”
Boom!
As the magical blade dissipated, only a hole large enough to fit an arm remained in Berik’s abdomen. Beno looked down at him and pressed his head down firmly with his foot.
“You will die.”
“Damn it, you bastard, you really—”
“Unless you lick the blood of a magical beast, you’ll die.”
Mockery dripped from Beno’s tone.
Resist endlessly, deny it all you wish.
Consider us no different from beasts.
Yet that changes nothing—you remain Atan Clan. The more you deny us, the more you deny yourself.
“Beno. That’s enough.”
“Yes, understood. Are you injured?”
“Mm. What about the others?”
“There, they’re coming now.”
Rumble—
Berik rolled only his eyes to gaze at the hillside.
The Atan Clan members came charging down through the throng of demons, their bodies drenched in blood as though they’d been celebrating, each wielding a black sword that drew the demons toward them.
“Over here!”
Efdiram waved cheerfully, and the Atan Clan responded with enthusiastic cheers.
Berik flinched and turned his gaze forward again while still lying down. The halved demon corpse lay within arm’s reach.
‘Should I eat it?’
Consume it to heal my wounds, then slaughter every last one of them?
No, no. I couldn’t die here, yet I didn’t want to eat that either. It was just… if I consumed it, I felt I could never return to being Bariel.
“Ah.”
The pain grew sharper as my organs began to convulse, as if demanding action. Berik’s fingertips twitched. Without thinking, my hand reached toward the demon corpse.
In that instant—
Rumble—
Flash!
Lightning blazed across the cloudless sky and struck down before them. Efdiram hastily conjured a barrier, and Beno shielded her.
Dazzling. Berik squinted briefly at the glare, then instantly recognized what it was and muttered.
“…Damn, that was fast.”
Boom!
Thunder roared across a world without a single cloud.
Only one person could make this possible.
“Old man!”
Crash!
It was instantaneous. The blink of an eye.
Efdiram couldn’t believe it—Jairot stood before her, lightning gripped in his hand.
When did he arrive? More importantly, what was that in his hand? It was a mage sword like Beno’s, yet his presence radiated an overwhelming aura as if a god had descended.
“Efdiram!”
“Damn it!”
Crackle!
Flash! Jairot silently brought lightning crashing down to shatter the barrier. Blood trickled from Efdiram’s lips as she and Beno tumbled backward.
Whoosh!
Jairot glanced at Berik while holding his blade.
…Stupid mutt.
“I never taught you to take a beating like that.”
“Damn it, don’t you know there’s no winning against a mob?”
“Rise. For the honor of the Imperial Guards.”
“Ah, yes. Honor, good.”
Jairot pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to Berik. It was Akorelra’s mana amplifier. I had brought one just in case, never expecting to use it the moment we arrived.
Boom! Thud!
Followed by the Imperial Guards colleagues landing with stability. The members lined up in formation and faced the pouring tide of demons head-on.
Jairot turned his back to them and shouted.
“All together!”
“All together!”
Clang!
“From this moment, we reclaim the northern territories. Exterminate the Atan Clan and the demons so that not a single life passes beyond you.”
Zing! Zing!
The guards placed their hands over their chests in the imperial salute. The heartbeat felt beneath their palms was strong and steady.
“By the Emperor’s command. Those who obstruct Bariel’s path shall be decisively eliminated. Remember this. We are Bariel’s heart.”
“We accept the command!”
“We accept the command!”
Tap tap tap!
The Imperial Guards simultaneously conjured mana blades and charged toward the demon horde. They would hold back the flood of demons and slaughter every last Atan tribesman!
Barsabe among the ranks charged forward at full speed with a powerful cry.
“Haaaah!”
“Hold the line! Everyone! With your last breath!”
“Cut down the Atan first!”
“The palace bastards! Kill them! Hehehehe!”
“If we kill them, this world becomes ours!”
Behind us, fierce combat erupted, and here collisions raged. Berik drank the potion in one gulp, then tore his clothes to bind his abdomen.
“Second round, let’s go, you bastards!”
“Berik, your sword?”
“Sword? Don’t know, damn it!”
The black blade lay cold and shattered. Was he going to charge in bare-handed? Even the stupidest mutt wouldn’t—
Zing! Zing!
“…!”
From Berik’s hand rose a massive crimson greatsword as large as his body. Not the black blade, but Berik’s mana blade appearing for the first time in the world.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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