Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 333

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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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A white sphere blazed brighter than the moon across the night sky of the Imperial Capital.
Sword Master Hana’s eyes were dazzled by that radiance. Yet she did not close them.

The light was so brilliant that tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, but she kept her gaze fixed solely on the blade within that sphere.

A white sword—from hilt to edge, entirely white.

‘Go now!’

Her brother Jack’s voice reached her faintly.

She watched the White Dragon’s wings beat beneath her feet.
Necromancer Mary, who commanded this dragon of white bone, soared upward without hesitation, her will carrying the White Dragon forward to guide Hana toward the white blade.

“Did you think I would let you take it?”

Tower Master Bernhard, wreathed in black mana, shot skyward. His gaze, which had been fixed on Saint Jack, now pursued only Hana.

“Protect the Sword Master!”

Clang!
As Hana ascended, she glimpsed knights descending past her.

“By order of the Guardian Knight! Protect the White Dragon!”

The corners of Hana’s mouth lifted.
Guardian Knight Clophe and his knights, mounted on wyverns, swung their blades toward Tower Master Bernhard.

Crash! Boom! Crash!

The sound of clashing blades echoed from below.

“Argh!”
“Ugh!”

The screams of the Holy Knights echoed across the battlefield.
The sound of wyvern bones shattering also reached my ears.
Yet Hana did not look back. She pressed forward, her gaze fixed solely on the white sphere.

I can see it now.
Crouched atop the White Dragon’s head, Hana slowly extended her hand toward the white sphere drawing ever closer.

“Bothersome obstacles!”

Hana’s gaze drifted downward for a moment.
Below, she could see Bernhard relentlessly pursuing them, undeterred despite the wyvern skeletons and Northern Region knights clinging to him with all their might.

“I’ll send you to your death alongside that god!”

Bernhard’s death mana transformed into arrows that streaked toward Hana and the White Dragon.

Crash!

But a silver shield intercepted them.
Below Bernhard, Hana could see Kale Heniatus and her brother Jack looking up at her from the ground. Kale wielded a compact silver shield, repeatedly blocking Bernhard’s path.

“Raon, relay the order to attack.”

Kale instructed Raon to signal their other ally in the sky.
A Lich who had lived for a thousand years—the most certain existence to defeat him.

-Got it! I’ll contact Grandpa right away!

Bang! Bang!
The silver shield and Bernhard collided repeatedly. Kale pulled bread from his pouch and chewed it absently, then dropped it from his hand.

-Grandpa’s not answering! Rosalind said he left somewhere for a bit!

What?
Why?
He’s on the airship, isn’t he? What’s going on?
Kale’s face twisted in frustration. Just when things seemed to be going smoothly!

“Damn it! Nothing ever goes according to plan!”

He spoke to Raon.

“Then tell Rosalind to do it instead!”
-Understood!

In that instant, with a deafening boom, Bernhard brought his silver shield crashing down against the black arrow.

“This cursed ancient power!”

Bernhard’s rough voice echoed, but Hana turned her gaze upward once more. The Tower Master seemed poised to pierce through the shield, yet it mattered not.

“Support me!”

As Hana swept past the airship, Rosalind’s voice reached her. She glanced sideways, catching the upturned corners of Rosalind’s mouth beneath her robes.

“Just trust in your strong sister.”

As Rosalind smiled and spoke to her, Hana let out a soft laugh and fixed her gaze forward once more.

They were clearing a path for me.
Hana felt the support of those who were making way for her, and she extended both hands forward.

It was within reach.
The white sphere had drawn close enough to touch. And as that distance closed, Hana released a laugh that resembled a cry.

“Ha, haha—”

Sizzle.
Her palm burned as it made contact with the white sphere.
Hana could only laugh.

“So this is light?”

The divine relic of the Sun God Cult, an instrument of divinity meant to annihilate darkness itself.
White light that rejected the darkness attribute.

“Because I am darkness, I cannot touch it?”

Though Hana’s hand had made contact with the white sphere, she could see the light attacking her palm, which was now covered in black veins as if rejecting her. Her lips curved upward.

Boom!

A hand infused with aura struck the white sphere. My palm burned. Yet there was only one emotion Hana felt.

‘So what?’

Whether this white sphere possessed light attribute or not.
Whether I possessed darkness attribute or not.
Whether my hand burned or not.
So what?

Boom! Crack!
Fissures spread across the white sphere as it collided with the aura. Hana continued striking the white sphere relentlessly.
No—she shattered it.

This was what my family gave me.
And those who paved my path are still fighting below.

I am a person of honor.

A hand wreathed in black-gold aura drove into the fissures of the white sphere.

Crash!

A hand covered in black veins tore through the white sphere without hesitation, plunging into its depths.
The burning, bleeding hand surged relentlessly toward the sphere’s core.

Sizzle—sizzle—

With the sound of burning, Sword Master Hana’s fingertips touched a blade.
A white sword from hilt to edge.

In that instant, Hana’s body tilted.
Black mana coiled around the White Dragon’s legs.

“I will destroy it!”

Bernhard seized the White Dragon with a black mana whip, evading the silver shield and magic. Hana kicked off the tilting White Dragon’s head and spread her palm wide.

“Aaahhh!”

Hana cried out as though wailing, her fingers clenching around whatever lay within her grasp.
In that instant, the sound of shattering glass echoed.

Crack—!

The white sphere shattered like glass.
Simultaneously, a blinding white light consumed the night. Shielding his eyes from that radiance, Kale heard a calm yet exhilarated voice.

“It’s done.”

Saint Jack spoke those words and flashed a smile at Kale, and in that moment, Kale clenched both fists. Then he lowered his silver shield.

Why?

Boom—!
Where the white light had vanished, people could now see a knight wielding a white blade, accompanied by a thunderous roar.

“The warrior has drawn her sword.”

Because the warrior needed to strike at the Tower Master.
For one so utterly unstoppable, a shield was no longer necessary.

Hana swung her blade.
A plain white sword devoid of any aura—yet her hands no longer burned.
Instead, something else burned.

Sizzle—

Flesh seared away.
Bernhard’s face contorted.

He wiped his cheek.
Where Hana’s blade had grazed him when the white sphere burst.

“Grrgh—that abomination!”

Bernhard’s cheeks melted away as he groaned in agony.
Yet he had no time to catch his breath amid the searing pain.

Crash! Crash!

Sword Master Hana’s blade continued its relentless assault on Bernhard, and each time his dark magic unfurled a defensive barrier.
But Hana laughed so hard her shoulders shook as she commanded the skeletal wyvern knights.

“Support me!”
“Yes!”

A low growl escaped him.
Bernhard fired a black arrow toward the approaching White Dragon, groaning with effort, but the skeletal wyverns intercepted it with their bodies.

“Damn it!”

Bernhard hastily erected a dark magic shield. But Hana was faster.

Slash!
The white blade descended from above before the shield could manifest, carving downward in a vicious arc.

“Ugh!”

Bernhard cried out in pain.
Shallow cuts appeared across his arms and legs.
Though the wounds were shallow, he could not suppress his anguished groans.

Sizzle.
Where the white blade had carved through, flesh burned and charred.
Human skin melted away.
And beneath that skin, black bone emerged.

Hana’s eyes gleamed with exultation as she spoke.

“Ah, so the outer shell is finally peeling away!”

A lich.
A being that wears the form of a skeleton, yet lives on without the constraints of mortality.

Bernhard, the Tower Master and Lich.
Each time the human skin he wore touched Hana’s blade, it melted away. And it did not regenerate.

“…Judgment of the Sun.”

Bernhard spoke through gritted teeth, his gaze fixed on the sword held in Hana’s hand.

Judgment of the Sun.
The mightiest weapon capable of annihilating darkness itself, and an existence that forces those of dark nature to reveal their true form.

With each touch of that white blade, Bernhard’s human disguise melted away, gradually exposing his true visage as a Lich.

Sizzle—
That thin line of a wound continued to burn, revealing Bernhard’s original form.

Beneath the skin lay no veins, no muscles, no organs as a human should possess—only black bone existed.

“…This cannot be. Sir Bernhard is truly a Lich—!”

Both the fleeing Imperial citizens and the Slums residents guiding them gasped in horror.
The cheek that Hana had slashed away melted, revealing nothing but a dark skull beneath.

Gradually, a face of pure black bone was laid bare.

“Everyone, this is no time to stand idle!”

Sir Rex roused those who stood dazed and ordered them to exit beyond the City Wall. His gaze, however, was fixed not on Bernhard as he transformed into a Tower Master and Lich, but on the Empire itself.

‘Most have escaped.’

The majority of the Imperial citizens had made their escape.
Lex extended his hand to a knight sitting on the ground, his face vacant as he stared at Bernhard.

“Stand up.”
“…Sir Lex.”

A knight who had been fighting Lex just moments before, controlled by Bernhard.
As the control released, he stood vacant-eyed before the Lich Bernhard. Lex helped him to his feet.

He spoke to the Knight staring at me.

“Flee this place. It is dangerous here.”
“My, my lord whom I served— a Lich—”

The Knight’s face was shock incarnate. Sir Rex gripped his shoulder firmly and spoke.

“If you stand there dazed, you’ll be swept away and killed. You want to live, don’t you?”

You want to live, don’t you?
At those words, focus returned to the Knight’s eyes as he looked at Sir Rex. Beyond Sir Rex’s shoulder, those who had been controlled by Bernhard were fleeing frantically beyond the City Wall with the aid of the Dark Elves.

Uuuuuuuung—
And in the distance, around Bernhard, who still wore armor but now had only bones remaining, black energy swirled like a tempest.

This was ominous.
People fled from that black energy. The Knight grasped Sir Rex’s hand resting on his shoulder and spoke.

“I’ll help with the evacuation as well.”

At that moment, the Knight could see Sir Rex smiling wickedly.

“That’s good then.”

With that brief reply, the Knight watched as Sir Rex headed in the opposite direction from the fleeing Imperial citizens, deeper into the Imperial Capital, before beginning to assist with the evacuation himself.

As Sir Rex searched every corner to ensure no one was left behind, Bernhard’s voice reached his ears.
It was a chilling laugh.

“Kekekeke! So it’s all exposed now. Hahahaha!”

Bernhard spread both his hands wide.
Now reduced to only a skeleton, where his eyes should have been burned only crimson light.

I gazed upon my own two hands.
From the moment I escaped death, all that remained to me were these gaunt, blackened bones.
Yet I had ultimately survived.

But there was no reason to let those beings who had reduced me to this state live.

“Aura of death, unleash!”

He let the tempestuous energies rage freely, swirling like a maelstrom.
Hana and the White Dragon shot toward him together.

“Let’s go!”

The White Sword was approaching.
Even amid the chaos, Bernhard laughed.

“I have lived for over a thousand years. Longer than dragons themselves. Do you truly believe my power is merely this?”

Uuuuuuung—
The air and earth trembled.
Everything shook in the black tempest. Quivering violently.

“I shall obliterate all! Sweep it clean! Even if a god wielded this power, if its user is human, they will ultimately be weaker than me!”

Grrgh!
Hana, who had been advancing, could not even approach the black tempest engulfing Bernhard and was forced to retreat.
The tempest was far too fierce.
The winds were overwhelming.

“Damn it!”

This White Sword held no aura within it. Thus, long-range attacks using aura were difficult.
I had to fight conventionally.
Hana bit her lip.

Saint Jack, observing this, spoke to Kale Heniatus.

“That black tempest may not harm Hana or us, but if the storm rages unchecked, the entire Capital will be destroyed!”

Most people had already fled beyond the City Wall.

“Our home will be shattered!”

Home. The place where one lives.
Jack, now understanding the meaning of those words, cast an urgent, pleading gaze toward Kale Heniatus. In that moment, Jack saw him smile.

“Saint, do you see Bernhard over there?”

Kale Heniatus’s finger pointed toward Bernhard.
As Saint Jack looked at Kale with confusion for indicating Bernhard standing at the center of the black tempest, Kale answered calmly.

“The moment we’ve been waiting for has arrived.”
“…The moment you’ve been waiting for?”

Kale Heniatus nodded. His gaze fixed on a single point.

We had waited.
Kale Heniatus and Necromancer Mary.

“Bones. We have been waiting for bones.”

Ah.
In that instant, Saint Jack gasped in awe.

The black tempest.
Black threads extending toward it.
Threads woven from dead mana began piercing through the violent storm relentlessly.

“…What is this!”

Bernhard saw the black threads fluttering as they approached him through the tempest. The thin, seemingly fragile strands trembled in the wind yet advanced toward their target without hesitation.

Black threads.

Bernhard was seized by an unfamiliar sensation.
It was something he hadn’t felt in a long time.
The back of his neck grew cold, a chill running down his spine.

Bernhard lowered his head.

A figure came into view.
A small presence standing upon the ground.
Necromancer Mary—her mouth opened.

“I have been waiting.”

What?

“May you become bone.”

Necromancers were weaker than dark mages.
That was what they said was the truth.

However, there was one thing Necromancer Mary could do better than anyone else.

“Manipulating bone. That is where I excel.”

Unlike Bernhard, Mary could not control living beings.
However, the Lich was a living being, yet simultaneously an entity that had fled from death and taken the form of a skeleton.

‘You’re going to try?’
‘Yes, my lord. While controlling the Lich may be impossible, I believe I can restrain him.’

The Lich’s body consisted of nothing but bone.
And a Necromancer handled bone better than anyone.
Mary did not know how a Necromancer could defeat a dark mage. However, she had discovered how a Necromancer could restrain a Lich.

“This… this trivial power!”

Bernhard saw hundreds, thousands of black threads reaching toward his finger bones and toe bones through the tempest.

“Grr! This pathetic—!”

Bernhard conjured a blade of mana and attempted to sever the black threads.
But there were far too many.

The black threads—so thin, so faint they had gone unnoticed.
Upon closer inspection, they numbered in the thousands.

Throughout the entire battle, Mary had patiently woven these delicate threads in secret, waiting.
Enduring.

And then she seized her moment.

“Kyaaahhh, ahhhhh!”

Bernhard let out a scream.
Black threads seized the Lich’s ankles.

That was the beginning.
Thousands of black threads pierced through the tempest, grasping at the skeletal dragon. They ensnared it like a spider’s web.

Necromancer and Lich.
Their contest of power had begun.
Bernhard, his eyes burning crimson, gasped as the constricting force tightened around his form.

“Kraaaaaaagh!”

The Lich Bernhard’s scream, his violent mana, shook the surroundings in an instant.
In that moment, Kale heard a voice in his mind.

-Kale Heniatus.

Kale, who had been watching Merry, froze.
Erhaben.
The voice of the ancient dragon reached him.

-I believe I’ve found the White Star.

…What?
Who are you?
Rarely did Kale’s expression turn so vacant. The suddenness of it was overwhelming.
That was when it happened.

Boom!

The largest explosion of the night erupted.
Kale turned his head.

The Imperial Palace of the Mogur Empire.
Though it was night, the emergency had kept it illuminated, and an explosion tore through it.
Kale saw light surging upward from that blast.

It was platinum-colored.
An ancient dragon wrapped in platinum light—Erhaben—was soaring into the sky. As Kale watched this, Erhaben’s voice reached him.

-Kale Heniatus, you’re a fake.

What? A fake?
What in the world are you talking about?
Kale’s face began to contort.

-I thought you had inherited the bloodline of the Dragon Slayer Family. But your blood isn’t that of a dragon slayer.

Like Erhafen, Kale saw another presence surging upward into the sky.
Erhafen spoke calmly.

-The White Star was the true Dragon Slayer bloodline.

The White Star is from the Dragon Slayer Family?
Kale saw a man descending onto the roof of the Imperial Palace in the distance.
A man with crimson hair wearing a half-mask came into view.
The man turned his head.

Their eyes met.
Despite the vast distance between them, despite being too far to see his face clearly, Kale sensed it.

An unfamiliar voice echoed in his mind.
It was a voice worn down by exhaustion.

-Who are you?

The White Star. He asked Kale.

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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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