How to Live as a Knight After the Ending-Chapter 548

Strength drains from my legs. I wanted to collapse right then and there. When was the last time I suffered such an injury? Had I even been seriously hurt since coming to this city?

Certainly not.

Air was trying to escape from my lungs. I gritted my teeth and trapped the inhaled oxygen inside my body. The wound was deep, but not fatal. It was thanks to the armor's defense. Or perhaps Taiheo's attack wasn't at full power.

Whatever it was, I hadn't collapsed yet. Despite the blood loss, my vision became even more clear and lucid. I even felt like my body had become lighter.

Crack! The muscles around the wound locked together. It hurt as if they would tear, but thanks to that, the bleeding decreased.

Ptooey. I spat out the blood that had pooled in my mouth. 

As I put strength in my legs and straightened my staggering body I could see him watching me with interest.

"Have you finally decided to do this properly?" 

[That attack should have finished it. Most do. But you're different. You absolutely refuse to break.]

Osian only answered with a smile. If he didn't laugh, he felt like he'd go crazy from the pain. In his peripheral vision, he could see a massive severance had formed in the earth behind him.

Wondering what kind of trace that was, it matched the trajectory of the sword Taiheo had swung. So I was hit by that. No wonder it hurt like I was going to die.

[I have faced countless stellar beings until now. Just seeing me broke their will to fight and they bowed their heads. Even that was a minority. Most disappeared without even seeing me.] 

"So, you're telling me to consider it an honor?" 

[Some among that minority tried to oppose me. But it was useless. Most couldn't even withstand my gaze. A few made me draw my sword. But they couldn't last beyond one exchange.]

Taiheo had devoured countless stars. The fact that he was here meant he had defeated countless stellar beings.

[But you're different. You're stronger and more sublime than any of those I've faced. I didn't know that not only would I draw my sword, but I'd even use this authority. Even now you stand without falling.] 

"So, did you come to give me praise or something?" 

[Therefore, I hope that you might fill this deficient part of me.]

Osian frowned and he naturally realized that Taiheo wanted something. His gaze turned to the black hole embedded in his chest. It was still moving, swallowing light.

Information flashed through his mind. His armor, sword, and even his swordsmanship. He couldn't know before, but now he thought he understood.

"You were a knight too."

Taiheo didn't answer. But from his expression that didn't deny it, he could tell he was affirming it.

"You were also a stellar being. Judging by that skill, you must have been a very distinguished and great knight."

Stellar beings were always different. Some would have been mages, some psychics, some necromancers, some priests.

Naturally, there was no way there wouldn't be knights among the stellar beings. This universe was full of countless stars. Taiheo was one of them, a stellar being who was originally a knight.

Born on his own star, the one who should have protected that star was wandering the universe devouring stars - something had gone wrong.

"Is your star that black hole embedded in your chest?"

That was a star's corpse. When normal stars reach the end of their lifespan, they disappear. But occasionally, very special stars don't disappear due to their massive mass and energy.

Rather, they generate an enormous gravitational field and devour everything around them. Taiheo was the result of that.

"Just because your star disappeared, are you going around destroying stars to vent?" 

[Venting?]

Taiheo questioned, then nodded as if understanding.

[I see. That's how it looks to you.] 

"It's not?" 

[The emotion of venting doesn't exist in me. Neither joy nor sadness, neither anger nor regret. I possess only one thing.]

Taiheo placed his hand on his chest.

[Endless emptiness. A hunger that never ends no matter how much I fill it.] 

"……." 

[What I desire is the end of this hunger. But this, no matter how much I devour, it won't disappear. The only thing that lets me forget this hunger even a little is starlight. From that distant past whose memory has faded - when I still possessed it. In those moments, I feel fulfillment.]

Taiheo must have once been a very excellent stellar being. He would have been stronger than anyone in the world. He would have received excessive expectations, enough to protect the world alone.

But a world supported by a single pillar met its end together the moment that pillar collapsed. The most excellent star had now become the most dangerous calamity.

'This creature doesn't have any great cause.'

Osian realized that Taiheo led the Legion of the Void, but it wasn't by his own will. This creature had no intention of leading those who served him. No matter how much his followers praised him, he didn't listen to them.

The only thing Taiheo cared about was light. The brilliant light of life that stars emit.

Only that gave him brief respite from the pain of his endless emptiness. Therefore, Taiheo wandered the universe searching for light.

Light that would quench his hunger. Like a machine, emotionlessly, just performing a pilgrimage ritual of penance.

'It's an extremely personal and private reason.'

But just as a whale's swimming causes unprecedented currents for minnows. Taiheo was exactly that kind of existence.

'He only moves to find starlight that will eliminate his emptiness. Yet stars disappear, and a legion that follows him was created.'

Like a black hole that pulls everything around it with enormous gravitational force. Eventually, when things get close enough, it swallows them without leaving a trace.

The universal gravitation emitted by overwhelming mass had created the current situation.

"So, you're going to swallow this star?" 

[This star possesses more brilliant light than any star I've seen until now. I don't think this will completely erase my emptiness. But at least, the satisfaction will last longer than ever before.]

‘Crazy bastard.’ 

Osian wanted to curse.

Just to eliminate his emptiness, how many lives had this creature devoured? But no one could hold Taiheo accountable. Because he was strong. Because the measure of strength was justice itself.

The world changed, and as civilization developed, laws and regulations were created. Power was called barbaric, and intellect and wealth climbed to higher positions.

But that was just the thinking of a frog in a well.

'Power only changed its form, but ultimately always possessed the primordial measure. Like an eternal truth unchanged no matter the era.'

In a larger world, greater power becomes justice. Taiheo was proving that. What had he expected? That they could communicate, that they could persuade each other nicely with words?

Osian corrected his misconception. He put strength into the hand holding his sword.

[So you'll resist to the end.] 

"Why do you think I bothered talking to you?" 

[You bought time. Did doing so help you recover even a little stamina?] 

"Thanks to you, my body feels like it could fly."

It was actually a lie. His breathing had only returned a little; his physical condition was still not good. The wound he'd received from him was too severe. But when had a knight ever given up just because they were injured? Creak. Strength entered the hand gripping the hilt. As if responding to that will, Sun-Moon-Stars blazed intensely.

He would squeeze out every last bit of power.

The emblems on his back merged into one. The power he had manifested for just a moment when defeating Glamhator appeared again. 

Taiheo silently watched that scene.

That appearance looked like the arrogant leisure of a strong person saying "try it if you can." But now he knew.

'This creature doesn't have such emotions. What it possesses is only the desire to quench its thirst.'

The fact that Taiheo was silently watching this light meant that his light was attractive enough to want to devour it immediately.

The delay was probably because he didn't want to quickly devour the feast that had appeared after so long. What a damn bastard. Here I am fighting for my life with everything I had, and I looked like gourmet cuisine to further satisfy that creature's hunger.

Then let's have at it.

The emblems of sun, moon, and stars mixed together. Harmoniously woven, they soon transformed into a beautiful painting with a brilliant sun in the center. Around it, the moon rises with the clouds of the night sky. And wrapping that moon and clouds are the shapes of countless star clusters. Within a circle with perfect curvature rivaling the golden ratio, everything celestial was contained.

[Sun Moon Stars Great Sun Sutra Mandala]

The extreme light that exceeded the limit distorted the surrounding space. Taiheo watched that scene and let out an exclamation.

[Amazing. You are stronger than anyone I've seen until now.] 

"And I'll be stronger than you."

Osian extended his sword. It was slower and more refined than any domineering attack he had shown until now.

Taiheo raised his sword to defend against the extending blade. The moment Sun Moon Stars Sword was about to touch the gravity sword, light burst forth. It split into countless strands and spread as if dominating the entire space.

They were branches. It looked like a tree born from one root extending countless branches in all directions. Each of those branches was a possibility toward the future. The ends of those possibilities extended, aiming for Taiheo's end.

Taiheo didn't just take it lying down either. His gravity sword emitted a massive wave.

The black hole pulsed fiercely, intervening in spacetime. It twisted space, and beyond that, even shook the time axis.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

The countless branches of possibility that Osian had extended disappeared, obscured by the endless void of the black hole.

Tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of branches were severed faster than they could be generated. The more he extended possibilities, the larger the black wall that blocked the way ahead.

The advancing possibilities collided with the wall but ultimately couldn't break through.

[Truly, excellent.]

Taiheo spoke in a voice that said he didn't know he would reveal this much power. For the first time, something called emotion dwelled in that voice that had only been dry until now.

From a star that had only seemed like prey to fill his hunger, Taiheo faced an existence that might become equal to him.

A new sensation of waking from the dream of merely needing to eat and properly facing an existence. However, Taiheo didn't hesitate even with that. In the end, what took priority for him was the light that would fill his momentary hunger over an equal existence.

[So let's end it here. There will be no pain.]

Kwaaaaaa! The massive wall pushed forward, pressing against the possibilities. The countless extending lights were swallowed by darkness and extinguished and at the end of that extinction would be Osian, who could be called the beginning of light.

Even the final technique that had defeated the Star-CrushingGeneral in one strike ultimately couldn't surpass Taiheo.

Before he knew it, the darkness Taiheo emitted had approached right up close. 

At the moment it would swallow Osian starlight fell from the sky.

"Lord Successor!"

Osian looked at Asmer, who stood with his back to him. He was burning his twin star swords fiercely, confronting Taiheo's darkness.

"Asmer. You……."

Asmer wasn't the only one who appeared.

"Finally, I can repay the debt I owed you."

The man wearing the helmet of a close friend, Gaien, turned to Osian and spoke. Starlight was also blazing brilliantly from the sword he held.

"I came too!"

Lupona shouted while pushing back the darkness with the Life-Slaying Sword.

Those three were just the beginning.

A pure white streamlined body could be seen crossing the sky. The Sky Dragon Amenora spewed breath toward the darkness.

The breath that had been spewing radially gradually became thin and compressed.

Ziiiiing!

A breath close to a laser pierced through Taiheo's darkness.

Countless spells fell from the sky. Looking back, he could see Terence and Elise. Supporting those two was the Elf Mayor, Mowen Helianus. The mages and dark mages from the Magic Tower, Grand Cloister Academy, and Caligo Biblio were also together.

Beyond the vast horizon world Taiheo had created, the allied forces were approaching with battle cries.

Kwaaaaak!

Mayor Aspirex transformed into a giant earth dragon and spewed magma. The giants fired volleys all at once. The sky was split by countless bombardments and missiles.

The mutants poured out all their psychic powers, and the cyborgs and enhanced humans did what they could do.

Muooooo!!

A massive sea dragon appeared, cutting through the cloudless sky. It gathered and shot lightning with its one remaining intact horn. Other sea dragons were together around the sea dragon.

The ground split and rock dragons burst out from within, and even the orcs who weren't even treated as demi-humans came forward with weapons.

Osian wasn't the only one fighting. All the life forms of this star came forward to survive. They confronted the fearsome existence called endless void.

Someone supported his body as it staggered and was about to fall.

"What's with this weak appearance, so unlike you."

The one holding up his body was Balud. On the other side, Martinez supported him.

"So brother was human after all."

A healing song flew from somewhere and wrapped around his body's wounds.

"Sorry I'm late."

Rose immediately applied healing. The wound cut by the void rapidly closed. However, perhaps because of his power, it wasn't perfect recovery but this was enough.

"To think such a monster exists. At this rate, I feel embarrassed about the desperate fighting I did."

A giant black wyvern descended from the sky. On it were the Blood Brotherhood including Grace Seeker. Malina, who popped out from the shadows, found her place and stood.

"I told you! I said I'd bring reinforcements!"

Finally, he saw his companions, the members of Violet Fox. Even Ronan Roland was there. At his gaze asking why he was here, Ronan gave a bitter smile.

"Hehe. The world is ending, so how could I just sit still? I have to do something."

Osian looked at all of them. From those foolish appearances, a chuckle leaked out. At the end of the collapsing world, what he saw weren't people despairing and running away.

'I was the one who created this scene.'

He felt relieved that the path he had walked until now hadn't been in vain. He wiped away the blood flowing down his forehead with his hand as his heart felt much lighter. He gripped his sword. Light still existed. The starlight that life was proud of.

"Let's go."