The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 6

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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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Episode 6. Elai (2)
[You’ve heard about the Coming-of-age Ceremony party, I assume, Elai.]
“……Yes.”
Elai’s expression hardened as he listened to the voice emerging from the hazy face within the Crystal Communication Orb.
[It’s the mess you started in the first place. Someone has to clean it up.]
“I understand.”
[Understand. You say you understand…… Really? If you did, you wouldn’t be in this situation.]
“…….”
Even faced with that mocking tone, Elai found himself unable to respond easily.
He knew better than anyone that Muno’s name had spread throughout the surrounding territories because he’d won a sparring match against Elai before even undergoing his Awakening.
But then.
[His Grace is taking notice of the boy.]
At those words, Elai could no longer maintain his composure.
“What!?”
[What do you mean “what”!? A talent who underwent Awakening at merely sixteen — do you think His Grace would simply overlook him!? And now all of Trion knows that you were defeated by him when you were ten!]
He hadn’t been ten then — he’d been thirteen.
The meager excuse lodged in his throat, unspoken, when more shocking news reached him.
[Now the matter has grown far worse. His Grace has commanded that the Grand Duchess attend some trivial baron’s Coming-of-age Ceremony party!]
“What!? But that’s——!?”
[Because she is a talent who awakened before even holding her own Coming-of-age Ceremony! And the Baron of Drasen is a man His Grace holds in high regard. He controls the northernmost reaches of the territory……!]
Elai’s mind had gone white; the rest of the voice through the Crystal Communication Orb barely reached his ears.
The Grand Duchess. The first granddaughter of Count Trion and the object of longing for every young knight in Trion County.
Was he not dispatched — driven out like a fugitive — to this harsh barony of Drasen precisely because of that “mistake” when he delivered a “love letter” to the Grand Duchess?
Yet he still could not forget the girl from those days.
That girl whose beauty had already reached full bloom at fifteen.
‘It was only a year before she came of age, after all!’
Crunch.
Those who knew of that incident had regarded him with loathing, as some revolting pervert, but he felt only wronged.
After all, hadn’t that girl become the fantasy of every knight in the entire county?
— At least it was only a letter that saved your neck. I favored you for your talent…
— Disappear from my sight. You filthy thing.
— Go to Drasen territory. And never crawl back out.
— But if even a whisper of this matter spreads, you will…… You understand without further words, yes?
The words of his former liege, the Crown Prince.
Even now, past forty, Elai still bore the title “Crown Prince’s man” because of the vigorous count in his sixties — his liege, who would become the next Count of Trion, had reacted with extreme irritability to his mistake.
‘I had no intention of committing any crime.’
His body trembled as the cold gaze of his liege, future lord of Trion, returned to his mind.
He had always wished to return someday and prove the purity of his heart.
‘I simply recognized the Flower of Trion first, that’s all…….’
But now that very princess was coming to this godforsaken backwater, to some idiot Muno’s Coming-of-age Ceremony?
Understanding the implications, rage began to bubble up from deep within his chest.
And at the memory of that insolent wretch’s gleaming eyes bearing down on him not long ago, the anger was further fanned into flame.
“That bastard is just some fool who evolved into having a sharper mind…….”
[Quiet!]
“No, I——.”
[I asked you to create a scandal that would besmirch Laiyan Drasen’s name! You came back talking about some Adopted Son who couldn’t even do that properly!]
“……Yes.”
[You couldn’t manage even that, and now look at this mess!? Was it truly so difficult to ruin one foolish child — to create a scandal or spread rumors!? Are you even a 2nd Rank knight!?]
I was furious.
Why did I have to listen to this?
But I had no choice but to endure it.
After all, I had genuinely been defeated by that boy.
And more than that, right now.
“The Baron of Drasen shields him…….”
No matter what pretext I tried to manufacture, the boy wouldn’t give me an opening.
I was about to explain that inconvenient reality.
[Silence!! Don’t dress up your incompetence in excuses! Results are all that matter!]
The voice through the Crystal Communication Orb granted no opportunity for defense.
[His Grace intends to make a push toward the capital this time. When that happens, the Crown Prince will effectively inherit everything in the territory. And I must be the one standing at his right hand. Not some crude Baron of Drasen with nothing but brute strength!]
“……I’ll handle it. I’ll take care of it.”
How could he?
“I beg your pardon?”
How could he dispose of him?
As the interrogation pressed forward, cold sweat rolled down Elai’s back.
“I—I’ll provoke him into a duel by any means necessary. If I can sever an arm or two…….”
The moment the words tumbled out in his panic, he realized how flimsy they sounded.
But the response that came was unexpected.
Merely that?
‘Merely……?’
Elai’s thoughts spiraled further into confusion.
What does that mean?
You can’t think beyond that?! What a fool you are!!
Even under such humiliating interrogation, Elai’s words could only go so far.
“……Please, give me orders.”
He clenched his teeth and forced his head down.
Then came words he could never have imagined.
Bring him to me. I don’t care if he becomes a cripple—just keep him alive and bring him! By force if necessary.
“I—what?”
His eyes flew wide without his knowing.
Not a figure from an enemy nation or hostile territory—but the son of another lord under the same Trion County?
If that had been the intention all along, then everything he’d done until now was utterly pointless.
Even if he could somehow abduct Muno, the moment the man vanished, all suspicion would fall on him alone.
“Why, all of a sudden……?”
But his counterpart showed no inclination to answer his questions.
The situation has changed. Bring him to me by any means. As long as he breathes, any condition is acceptable. Do you understand?
Instead, only more absurd words poured forth.
In that moment, Elai’s mind snapped awake whether he willed it or not.
‘Madness! I’ll be buried in filth for this, and if it’s Laiyan Drasen—that monster will chase me to the ends of the continent.’
The mere image of that “Knight of Gluttony” pursuing him with wild eyes sent shivers racing down his spine.
“This is insane! I cannot accept this!”
A 2nd Rank knight cannot subdue someone who’s just Awakened, and by your own account has undergone an Evolution focused on intellect?
“That’s not the issue, is it?! Why are you asking this all of a sudden——!”
Hmph. You swore an oath to me. You remember that time, don’t you?
At those words, Elai recalled the day he was cast out from Trion—when that man had appeared and promised to save him, offering a pact.
He remembered that moment too, when he’d believed those words and sworn his loyalty.
“But…….”
This was too much to ask.
He tried desperately to refuse.
It is time to honor that oath, Elai Benon. Bring Muno Drasen to me.
The moment that voice rang out through the Crystal Communication Orb, carrying with it a strange resonance, Elai felt his mind grow blank and his vision sharpen unnaturally.
“What are you—what are you doing to me——.”
As the murky fog that clouded his mind threatened to overwhelm him, he tried to overcome it with the willpower of a knight who had reached 2nd Rank.
Would you simply watch as Muno gains the flower of Trion, Elai?
‘The Grand Duchess……. The Grand Duchess with Muno?’
The image of the beautiful girl he’d harbored in his heart surfaced, and the rage he’d forced down caught fire—his reason swiftly crumbling away.
In the end.
“……Muno Drasen…….”
I will bring him to you. As quickly as possible.
“……I will bring him.”
The moment the vacant-eyed Elai accepted the command, the figure on the other end of the orb wore a sinister smile.
I hadn’t planned to use you this way. Tsk, tsk……. Don’t blame me.
A crimson smoke-like energy rose from within the Communication Orb and seeped directly into Elai’s nostrils.
If you had simply told me from the start that he was an Experimental Subject brought back from the subjugation ten years ago, I would have disposed of him long since.
As those words continued, the red haze deepened, and cracks began to spider across the orb’s surface with a sickening crackle.
Your sin is withholding information that even Drasen’s maidservants know. Atone for it properly.
Had Elai still possessed his reason, he would have protested—how could he speak of things never asked of him—but his mind was gone.
He simply stood there, vacant crimson eyes wide, and nodded.
And as Elai turned to leave.
The fist-sized Communication Orb he had smuggled and hidden in Drasen crumbled to dust behind him.
* * *
Whoosh.
The writhing Black Chain in empty space moved almost in perfect sync with thought itself.
Clang!
The Greatsword he swung could barely keep pace with the chain’s movements.
Muno pressed forward, beads of sweat rolling down his temples as he fought to match his blade’s speed to the chain’s trajectory.
“A fine training benchmark,” Elai observed.
“Continue without cease until your sword moves with the same immediacy as the chain — responding to your will the instant you command it.”
The task his father had assigned in childhood seemed to grow more demanding with each Awakening.
Yet he did not despair.
The Black Chain moved faster now, more fluidly, its length more than doubled, but his body’s capacities had risen proportionally—it was only his mind that lagged behind his enhanced physique.
‘I simply haven’t yet grown accustomed to what this stronger body can do.’
So he pressed harder still.
Bang!
Whoosh.
As his left foot came down with full weight, the chain coiled around his ankle raked across the imaginary opponent’s lower body.
The Black Chain in his opposite hand seized that momentum, tearing in from the right to split the enemy’s torso.
Clang!
The training Greatsword—small as a woman’s height—sang through the air in answer.
Dancing in concert with the chains adorning his limbs, he began to tear through the phantom enemies surrounding him from every quarter.
Clang-clang-clang-clang.
Then, at some point, Muno transitioned—shifting the chains on his limbs back into guard plates and wielding only the Greatsword.
“In the past, you could not hide them,” Elai said. “But now you can, yes?”
“Against an opponent who knows nothing of you, it would be far more advantageous to conceal the chain, then unleash it as your trump card in the final moment.”
Even without the chain, his combat strength did not diminish appreciably.
Clang!
The guard plates—the chain transformed—still boasted a hardness that rivaled tempered steel, more than adequate to deflect an enemy’s assault.
From that point forward, Muno continued his practice: deflecting and absorbing blows through the protective plates on his limbs while wielding the Greatsword.
‘This is working well, I must say.’
Ordinary steel armor might stop an arrow, but against a massive monster or the crushing blow of a body-reinforced warrior’s cudgel, both bone and flesh could shatter together.
But these guards fitted snug against his forearms and shins were no ordinary armor—they were the Black Chain itself, reshaped by his will.
The very sensation of wearing them was soft and supple, unlike any conventional harness.
Metal, yet not quite metal to the touch.
Hum.
A ten-meter length of chain, extended in an instant at the impulse of his will.
With that much metal compressed into so small an area, most impacts would likely disperse across the surface in vibrations.
‘Certainly serviceable.’
Clang!
Tap.
Bang!
Testing this new weapon, he moved the Greatsword with such abandon that the stress seemed to drain away.
‘Yes. This. Exactly this.’
The weight of expectations that had been piling up—the Coming-of-age Ceremony gathering, the burden of selecting a betrothed from among the invited noble ladies—all of it began to blur and fade.
The commotion surrounding him had been so incessant that he’d been dragged from etiquette practice to party preparations until finally he’d resorted to training in the dead of night.
‘That’s right—a person needs to move their body.’
His mind grew clearer, and the alienation he’d felt between his past life and this one seemed to ease somewhat.
The terrible experiences of childhood in this lifetime, the frustration of memories not yet fully surfaced—all of it began to dissolve.
“Ha!”
Thud.
Clang!
As Muno’s concentration deepened, he shed even the last foolish thoughts, surrendering himself entirely to the blade’s rhythm.
Ten years now since he’d begun learning the Drasen Greatsword Technique.
Yet this was the first time he’d ever swung a sword in pure form—without the cumbersome chain shackled to his limbs.
“It’s exhilarating.”
A smile bloomed naturally across Muno’s face when—
—a brilliant flash of inspiration suddenly struck him like lightning.
And the translation from thought to action happened in a single instant.
Thud.
Crack-crack-crack.
His most powerful thrust yet—funneled through his entire body—sent fractures spiderwebbing across the Training Ground’s floor.
Whoosh.
His body temperature spiked as his skin flushed crimson, and the roiling energy coalesced into a single focal point.
Crack-crack-crack.
With both hands clasped behind his back, he gripped the greatsword tight as his waist bent like a drawn bow, his muscles and bones crying out in agonizing protest.
In that same instant, an enormous surge of heat drained away, and all of it poured forward in one devastating release.
Flash.
Screech.
The silver blade sang out with a crystalline note unlike any before, cutting through the air with the speed of lightning.
And then.
Boom!
The air itself exploded outward, and violent wind tore across the training ground in all directions.
Crash-crash-crash-crash.
Hummmmm.
“Haaaah…….”
As Muno stilled the trembling greatsword and his quivering muscles with a deep breath, a smile crossed his face of its own accord.
Heh.
‘I actually did it…….’
Wind Splitting—the secret technique of the Drasen Greatsword Technique.
One of the family’s hidden arts that, by the original teachings, could only be wielded after achieving a 2nd Rank Evolution through Gluttony Body Reinforcement—and it had just been released from his hands for the first time.
‘And I’m not even that hungry.’
– The secret techniques of the Drasen Greatsword burn through tremendous amounts of energy.
– If you don’t learn Gluttony Body Reinforcement and accumulate energy reserves, even one or two uses will leave your joints and muscles shattered or wasted away.
– It pains me, but you…….
– I’ll teach you, but once you can use it, never abuse it.
For the first time, Father’s warning had proven incomplete.
Or rather, the energy his body had consumed was far less than expected.
As though something other than heat had been depleted instead.
He thought he could sense what it was, roughly speaking.
‘I’ve got one more thing to report to Father.’
And it’s very good news.
It was satisfying, though even less strain than anticipated still took its toll on his body.
‘I should call it a day.’
The exhaustion from training hit him all at once.
‘I’m an adopted son who must eventually leave this place. My body is my only asset here, same as anywhere else. I have to pace my training carefully.’
But one thing was better in this world than in his past life: here, there was a path to success through physical strength alone.
He would grow strong, repay his parents’ kindness, and carve out his own life.
Just as he steeled his resolve anew, a chill ran down his spine.
‘Hm!?’
His body twisted by reflex, but——
Thrust.
A silver longsword had already pierced clean through his left flank.
“Gah……!”
His gaze turned, meeting the eyes of a masked assailant emerging from the darkness.
“Die!!”
This bastard—
Whirrrrr.
Before the wide-eyed attacker could move the blade again, Muno wrapped the Black Chain around the longsword, the man’s hand, and his throat in a single blur, yanking him upward.
Crack-crack-crack.
“Ack—agh!”
Watching his enemy choke and scream, Muno’s teeth ground together.
“You damned bastard……!”
Slip.
The moment he tore the blade from his ribs, blood sprayed forth.
“Irritating…….”
His body, evolved through devouring demons, automatically tensed its muscles to stanch the flow, but a wound this deep wouldn’t close from that alone.
“……It hurts. Hm?”
Faced with an injury he hadn’t anticipated, Muno’s rage shot through the roof.
“You’ve lost your mind. Have you.”
There was no need to ask who he was.
Crack.
“Grrrrk.”
The masked figure’s red eyes, thrashing about wildly, were far too familiar.
Muno bared his teeth as he watched the man’s pupils dilate in disbelief.
“I told you—no more mercy, Elai!”
As Muno’s dark eyes grew colder, brimming with a chilling killing intent.
Crack-crack-crack.
The power flowing through the Black Chain intensified with each passing moment.

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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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