Monarch of Death

Whoooosh! Bang!

It was a signal for the King’s Order to return after the completion of the cursed sword capture operation.

Meanwhile, Karnak was binding the cursed sword with chains of mana. As he infused mana into it, he called out to Jiken.

“If you’re done, give me a hand over here.”

“Got it.”

After dispelling the crystal prison magic, Jiken headed toward the cursed sword and added his mana to Karnak’s chains.

For now, they temporarily suppressed the power of the cursed sword, waiting for Meili and Millia. Once the two clerics arrived, they would seal the sword for good with holy spells.

While the two mages were managing the cursed sword, Trib and Harris approached Serati.

She had laid the ash-gray-haired girl they had rescued on the ground and was carefully examining her.

“What should we do with her?”

Serati asked, and Trib responded calmly.

“We’ll leave her to priestess Meili when she arrives.”

He looked down at the girl with pity.

“Tsk, tsk. She’s so young, and to have gone through something like this…”

Harris, too, looked at the girl with sympathy.

“Will she wake up safely? Her body must be badly damaged.”

Suddenly, Harris tilted his head in puzzlement.

“Something’s strange.”

“What is it?”

“I assumed her body would be in bad shape, but…”

Trib soon understood Harris’s point.

“You’re right. This is odd.”

For aura users, it’s relatively easy to assess someone’s physical condition at a glance.

To their surprise, the ash-gray-haired girl didn’t seem injured at all. She was filthy, with dirt on her body, but physically, she appeared perfectly healthy.

“Could the cursed sword’s influence have had some unexpected beneficial effect on her?”

“It’s not like it’s some kind of miracle medicine.”

While the three of them were pondering this strange situation, a faint aura began to emanate from the girl’s body. Serati, startled, bristled.

“What is this?”

It was an intense aura, something no ordinary girl could possess.

Alarmed, Trib glanced at the cursed sword Mareda.

“Could it be that the connection wasn’t severed?”

No, there was still no discernible link between the cursed sword and the girl.

So, what was this power?

‘It doesn’t even seem like necromancy…’

Suddenly, the girl’s eyes snapped open.

At the same moment, the three aura users leapt into the air like startled cats.

“Gah!”

“Ahh!”

“Eeek!”

It wasn’t because they sensed any killing intent.

The overwhelming sensation that washed over them caused their bodies to react instinctively.

But for aura users of their caliber, even Trib, who was at the Blue rank, to be startled like this?

‘What the heck is going on?’

As they watched in astonishment, the ash-gray-haired girl slowly rose to her feet.

She appeared normal. It was just a simple act of standing up.

Yet, an inexplicable sense of pressure weighed down on their shoulders.

The reason became clear soon enough.

Behind the small girl’s back, a purple haze began to rise.

A terrifying power of destruction spread outward, manifesting as a purple mist.

Trib and Harris’s eyes widened in shock.

“…An aura user?”

“And a Purple Knight at that?”

***

The girl was barely twelve or thirteen years old. Even if she had started martial training as a toddler, at best she would have only mastered the basics by now.

Of course, there are rare geniuses in the world.

Some are blessed with such talent that they awaken their aura at an incredibly young age.

After all, even Serati, standing here now, was a genius who had awakened her aura in her early twenties.

Especially in this era, where the strongest warriors, the Four Great Martial Kings, had all awakened their aura in their mid-teens.

But awakening at that age is one thing; being at the Purple-level at such a young age is unheard of.

So, this phenomenon had to be related to the cursed sword Mareda…

But there was no connection!

They still couldn’t sense any link between the girl and the sword!

As Trib and Harris stood there, baffled, the girl muttered softly.

“Humans…”

With a faint voice, she took a step forward.

“I have to save humans…”

At the same time, her figure blurred. In an instant, she appeared on Harris’s left side.

Startled, Harris twisted his body, but the girl was already gone. She had slipped into his blind spot and moved to his right!

‘F-Fast!’

She flowed with the momentum and darted forward, her delicate fingers curling softly into a cute fist.

Then, with a single blow to the solar plexus—

“Ugh…”

A purple wave engulfed Harris’s entire body.

With just one strike, his mind blurred, and his knees buckled.

“S-Sir Harris!”

Startled, Trib drew his sword, igniting his battle aura.

The situation made no sense. How could she be stronger now than when she held the cursed sword?

“Take this!”

With a loud cry, Trib swung his sword with all his might.

But the girl was already gone.

“I must… save them…”

She left only a faint whisper as she slipped into his range.

Under the blood-soaked ash-gray hair, her blue eyes gleamed. In a flash, she jumped and delivered a high kick.

Wham!

The kick struck Trib precisely on the neck like a whip.

There was no pain. It was simply astonishing how quickly his consciousness faded.

‘W-What’s happening…?’

Serati stood in stunned silence as she watched the two fall.

“My god…”

They were both taken down before they could even react. Her movements were just that overwhelming.

The girl turned her gaze toward Serati.

“Subject…”

Serati was confused. Why did she call her something different?

No, it wasn’t just the title that was different.

“I’m going to kill you!”

Suddenly, a fierce killing intent surged from the girl’s entire body.

Her reaction to Serati was entirely different than when she fought Trib and Harris.

A barrage of punches and kicks rained down like a storm.

Serati barely dodged, gritting her teeth.

‘Hey! Why am I the only one getting this treatment?’

It felt unfair! She was the one who saved the girl first!

But ironically, because the killing intent was so intense, she could at least sense and avoid it.

Trib and Harris had no warning and couldn’t defend themselves, but when facing Serati, the killing intent was so obvious that she could react.

This was a mistake that a true Purple-class aura user would never make.

Of course, even with that, Serati could only hold out for ‘a little longer.’

“A-Aahhh!”

Just before Serati collapsed, a stream of scorching flames shot toward the girl from behind.

The girl quickly retreated, and an explosion occurred where she had stood.

Boom!

Jiken had fired a spell in haste, saving her.

“Are you unharmed, Dame Serati?”

The girl stopped her assault and glared at Jiken.

“Humans…”

She muttered another incomprehensible phrase.

“I must save humans…”

The killing intent vanished, and her attacks resumed, now elegant and swift.

The problem was that her graceful strikes were so fast and gave no warning.

Before Jiken could even react, the girl closed the distance between them.

“Wha—?”

Jiken’s chin was sent spinning with a sudden elbow strike. His brain rattled, and his legs gave out as he collapsed like a puppet.

Thud!

“Sir Jiken!”

Karnak, who arrived a moment too late, stared at the girl in shock.

“What’s going on, Serati?”

The girl now set her sights on Karnak, and again, her expression changed.

With intense fury, she shouted.

“…Karnak!”

‘Huh? How does she know my name?’

Then it occurred to him—they had been calling each other by name quite a bit, so maybe she had overheard.

But why was she so angry?

The next title, however, was beyond comprehension.

“Cursed Death King!”

Karnak’s eyes went wide.

“…What?”

***

Growling like a beast, the girl glared at Karnak.

Her dirt-streaked face was revealed beneath the matted ash-gray hair. It was the face of the child he had seen many times before.

‘Who is she? How does she know my past?’

He had no idea.

Karnak had never cared much for others. He didn’t bother remembering the appearances of people he encountered unless absolutely necessary.

‘But for some reason, she feels… familiar…’

Once again, a purple aura flared up around the girl’s shoulders.

“Arrrghhh!”

With a scream, she launched herself forward.

Though her hand merely came down in a light chop, it carried an overwhelming force.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The purple aura blade surged toward Karnak as if it would slice him apart. Serati urgently stepped in front of him.

“Lord Karnak!”

She tried to deflect the attack with her sword coated in battle aura, but the difference in power was overwhelming. She was blasted backward in an instant.

“Ugh!”

Even as she was flung back, she couldn’t believe it.

‘What… How can there be such a difference in power…?’

She was using all her strength, coating her blade in aura, and swinging with all her might, while the girl had only casually released the aura with her bare hands—and yet it crushed her so easily? How vast was the gap between them?

With Serati out of the way, the girl aimed a hand blade strike at Karnak’s head. Desperate, Karnak resorted to necromancy.

“Shadows, protect me!”

There was no time to use chaos magic.

Only necromancy, a skill so ingrained in him that he could cast it even in his sleep, could be activated in time.

The purple aura collided with the necromantic barrier, producing a deafening explosion.

Boom!

The barrier shattered in a single strike, and Karnak was hurled backward.

“Argh!”

At this rate, he was about to be beheaded in an instant. As his face turned pale, something happened.

From afar, about a dozen arrows flew through the air.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The girl, who had been chasing Karnak, stopped and turned her head.

Aura flared from her entire body, and she shattered the incoming arrows mid-air with ease.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Karnak, barely alive, saw a group of soldiers charging toward them from across the valley.

“Young master!”

“Lord Karnak!”

“Captain!”

It was the 1st and 7th Battalions of the King’s Order, led by Baros. They had finally returned after receiving Jiken’s signal.

Seeing the fallen Karnak, Millia shouted in warning.

“Be careful! The enemy is using necromancy!”

From her distant vantage point, she had mistakenly assumed that the barrier Karnak had summoned was the girl’s attack.

Karnak was relieved. He had almost been caught.

The King’s Order soldiers surrounded the girl, looking around cautiously.

“Captain Jiken?”

“And Sir Trib…”

Baros surveyed the scene, taking in the fallen comrades and assessing the situation.

“The mission was a failure. What about the cursed sword Mareda…?”

Then he realized—he didn’t fully understand the situation yet.

The girl’s hands were empty.

“Wait a minute… Where’s the cursed sword?”

In the distance, the massive two-handed sword was lying on the ground, tightly bound in mana chains.

The soldiers muttered in confusion.

“The cursed sword is over there?”

“Then why… What’s going on with this girl?”

No one could grasp what was happening. Had the mission succeeded, or had it failed?

Meanwhile, the girl calmly observed the King’s Order soldiers surrounding her.

She no longer pursued Karnak and Serati. Instead, she seemed to be prioritizing the soldiers.

“Humans…”

Her ominous voice came out once again.

“I must save humans…”