I Pulled Out Excalibur Chapter 146

The Star That Blows the Horn (1)

On their way to subdue the fallen star, Najin wondered what a ‘constellation’ really was. He had heard the word many tis but still didn’t fully understand its aning.

‘What is a constellation? What’s the difference between soone with a star like myself and a constellation?’

Thankfully, there was soone beside him who could answer that question—none other than the self-proclaid ‘Great Constellation,’ rlin, a constellation of constellations possessing eleven stars.

- There’s not a huge difference between soone who possesses a star and a constellation. At most, it’s the number of stars. Simply possessing a star is one thing, but connecting stars to form a ‘Starplace’ is when one truly becos a constellation.

Connecting stars to form a Starplace? When Najin asked if there was a minimum number of stars required, rlin shook her head.

- There’s no set rule. Technically, you can create a Starplace with just three stars, but I’ve only ever seen one person do that, and they were an exception. Generally, you need to gather four or five stars to beco a constellation.

She continued.

Arthur and I beca constellations around that point as well.

Flicking her fingers, stars sparkled at her fingertips and connected, forming a Starplace.

- There are also the concepts of Ascension and Authority, but we can save those for later. What you really want to know concerns Fallen Stars and Forgotten Stars, right?”

Najin nodded, and rlin traced her finger downward. The sparkling stars plumted.

- Even constellations are not eternal. There are tis when stars are lost. Each ti a star is lost, it causes significant ntal shock. What do you think happens if that keeps happening?

- They go mad. No one in their right mind could endure that.

Her tone suggested she spoke from experience. rlin shook her head as if dismissing a mory she did not want to relive.

- The more stars a constellation has and the higher their rank, the greater the shock. If they continue to endure such shocks and lose all their stars, they can no longer maintain themselves.

‘What do you an by, ‘no longer maintain themselves?’’

- It ans they beco a Forgotten One.

A constellation that fell and forgot itself… a Fallen or Forgotten Star. rlin described them as dead stars.

- Constellations transcend human flesh. When such beings beco Forgotten Ones, well… they’re no longer sothing that fits within the category of ‘human’ as you know it.

Najin and the Helt Knight ventured deep into the Outland. The farther they went, the more frequent Helt Knight's warnings beca: “Do not cross that line. Beyond it lies the realm of the constellations.”

It was a place filled with nurous Starfields, where the domains of constellations truly began.

As they continued deeper, Helt Knight descended a sloped path. They scaled sheer cliffs, going lower and lower, until, after several days of travel, Najin arrived at a vast wasteland.

Forests, grasslands, snowy mountains, plains… the Outland was a patchwork of diverse terrains. However, where he found himself showed no such mixture. Instead, only a single landscape stretched endlessly beyond the horizon.

The massive wasteland before them looked desolate and devoid of life.

All that existed in that barren land were countless weapons lodged chaotically into the ground and enormous stones. They were no ordinary stones, either—starlight seeped from them, trailing up into the sky.

The stones trailing light from the sky truly evoked the image of fallen stars.

Najin, overwheld by the scenery, fell silent for a mont.

Helt Knight, staring at the expanse, broke the silence with a sneer. “Outlanders call this place the Battlefield of Stars.” He had more to say. “The stars who live here have another na for it.”

Gesturing to the vast wasteland and the fallen stars, he continued, “It’s the ‘Graveyard of Stars’.”

“…”

“This is where stars fall. Once heroes, once shining stars, they all fell here in the end.” Helt Knight shrugged and gave Najin a knowing look. “Do you know any heroes? Ones who are said to have ‘died honorably’ on the continent?”

“There are quite a few.”

“Na so… From roughly 300–400 years ago.”

“Arta Trigadian, Protector of the Sacred Tree.” She was a war hero and the creator of the swordsmanship used by the Duke of Arbenia’s knights.

Hearing the na, the Helt Knight paused before replying, “The Protector of Thorns? They fell 170 years ago and beca a Forgotten Star. Kirchhoff put them down.”

“…What?”

“Didn’t hear about that on the continent? Figures. Got another na?”

“Kimburga Alzen.”

“Guardian Kimburga. Fell 200 years ago. Eaten by demons. Probably still in their stomachs.”

“…Saphia.”

“Saphia of the Hundred Blossoms. The Carnival King caused her fall. Relatively recent, about 100 years ago.”

“Rekdyr.”

“Conqueror Rekdyr? Also fell to the Carnival King. He’s now their jester. Both arms and legs are severed, displayed in the Carnival King’s palace.”

Every ti Najin called a na, Helt Knight responded with a similar story. It wasn’t until Najin nad over ten, then twenty nas, that he finally heard, “Ah, that one did die honorably. On the continent, at least. Well, that’s how it is. The continent would’ve wrapped it up nicely: they died honorably, they were martyred. Outland deaths? They’re anything but honorable.”

Helt Knight gestured to the wasteland. “All buried here, in the Graveyard of Stars. Or they’ve beco Forgotten Stars, still wandering around. Maybe they’re jesters of the Carnival King, or perhaps they’ve been eaten by demons or beasts that covet stars.”

He continued, “Call it the Land of Heroes, the Battlefield of Stars, the Birthplace of New Stars… No matter how grand it sounds, strip away the facade, and you won’t find a more dreadful place. This is the afterlife prepared for the stars who transcended humanity and fled from death.”

There was a mont’s pause. “Well then, shall we hunt the Forgotten Ones roaming this hell?” Helt Knight took the lead, and Najin followed.

After a while of silence, Najin hesitantly spoke. “The Silent Knight, Crunbelle… That’s his na, right?”

“Yes. That’s the na of the one we’re hunting.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Figures.” Helt Knight calmly said, “He was struck by the Fog of Forgetting. Nothing in this land is worse than the Authority of Forgetting. Whether others forget you or you forget yourself, either way, you’re worn away rapidly.”

“Isn’t that the constellation who erased Londinel?”

“Yes. That constellation.” The ntion of that constellation clearly irritated Helt Knight.

Najin changed the subject. There was sothing he needed to confirm. “The Silent Knight, Crunbelle, had six stars, right?”

“Yeah, six. Why, getting nervous?”

Denying it would have been a lie

Six stars… On the continent, Najin had encountered both Sword Saint Karan and Executioner Yuel Razian, who each wielded six stars. Reflecting on their abilities, he couldn’t imagine himself being able to match them.

“I think I know what you’re worried about, but he’s not that strong anymore. Losing a star weakens you. It strips away Transcendence, too.”

“Stars and Transcendence aren’t directly related, are they? While many Transcendents do have multiple stars, they’re not necessarily linked…”

“They’re not directly tied, true, but what’s the foundation of being a Transcendent? It’s confidence in oneself. Losing a star is like losing that self-confidence. Without that, Transcendence is taken from you.” Helt Knight pointed to himself. “That’s why Crunbelle is probably about as strong as now.”

“Well, then it seems doable,” Najin said.

Helt Knight stiffened, his pride clearly bruised. He stopped walking and turned to face Najin.

“You don’t seriously think I went all out when we fought, do you?”

“I didn’t use my full strength either.”

“Listen, I’m not even a lance specialist. My main weapon is the sword, and you still lost to when I wasn’t using my preferred weapon…”

“I wasn’t using my main weapon either.”

“What, got so secret weapon hidden sowhere? A knight shouldn’t rely on their tools, you know.” Their strange tension-filled exchange was broken when Helt Knight clicked his tongue. “You wouldn’t be talking like that if you saw wield a sword.”

“Then why don’t you use it?” Najin gestured at the sword strapped to Helt Knight’s waist. It was bound with thick chains.

“Because I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“There’s a reason. Using it ans… never mind. I just can’t.”

Their conversation stretched on as they walked, until finally, Helt Knight stopped and held out a hand to halt Najin.

“Stop.” He pointed ahead, motioning with his chin.

Najin followed his gaze and saw nurous spikes stuck in the ground. Or were they spears? They looked more like crude stakes—branches roughly hewn to serve as weapons. So were blunt poles, their purpose seemingly just to impale sothing.

Each was unique, yet they all had one thing in common: at the end of every spear was a body.

A flagless lance held a corpse as its banner; a bladeless pike replaced its tip with a human hand; a hamr without a head had a human skull to complete it.

There were dozens, no, hundreds of such grotesque creations in a field of bodies impaled on weapons.

They had entered the domain of the constellation they were about to face.

Najin couldn’t see the owner of the domain anywhere. There were only corpses. “So, where’s the Silent Knight?” he asked.

“Right there.” Helt Knight pointed.

Najin blinked. He couldn’t see anything but a corpse standing among the spears. ‘It‘s odd’, he thought, ‘for a corpse to be standing, but it’s still just a corpse. There’s no head or anything above the neck.’

As he stared at the headless body, it moved.

Clatter.

He almost took a step back out of instinct. Was he imagining things? Did he see it wrong?

Clatter.

He hadn’t… The headless body was moving. Each step caused its armor to rattle and groan. It turned to face them.

He couldn’t explain it, but he felt its gaze. A headless body shouldn’t have been able to look at him, yet he felt it. It was an unshakable certainty—his instincts, usually correct, scread it was true.

Rrrrrumble.

The Silent Knight’s body trembled.

Najin focused on the armor the knight wore. While it had no head to wear a helt, its shoulders and chest were draped with helts—dozens of them, as if the knight were wearing the helts instead of just carrying them.

The tremors suddenly stopped.

With a sharp click, all the helts opened simultaneously, like jaws unhinging. Black sludge dripped from their openings like drool. The helts quivered, their vibrations causing the hornpipes scattered among them to tremble as well.

Bwooooom.

The sound of a horn echoed across the wasteland. Deprived of its own head, the knight used the heads of others to blow its horn. The haunting note reverberated, filling the wasteland.

“Well, isn’t that lovely,” Helt Knight muttered. He grabbed Najin by the collar without warning and flung him into the air. At the sa ti, the horn’s sound abruptly ceased, replaced by sothing far worse.

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!” The wail of the Forgotten Ones surged over the field.

The monstrous, unearthly cry sent sharp pain through Najin’s ears. Blood trickled down as the sound pierced his mind. Floating midair, he watched as the Silent Knight trembled. Dark light erupted from its body, coalescing where its head should have been.

The light, pitch black as the void of space, shimred like a dark star.

- It’s a Forgotten Star, a star turned that black after forgetting itself.

It was the mark of a constellation that had beco a Forgotten One.

Najin quickly realized why Helt Knight had thrown him. The Silent Knight grabbed one of the spears embedded in the ground, pulling it free. It then hurled the spear toward Helt Knight with incredible force.

Whoosh!

The spear tore through the air, leaving a massive furrow in its wake.

Helt Knight deflected it, but the impact sent him flying. The ground cracked, and the corpse impaled on the spear shattered from the force.

“Just my luck,” Helt Knight groaned, waving at Najin with his dangling arm. “I’ll need a mont. Took that spear wrong—wrist’s broken, I think.”

“What?”

“See you later. There’s a nice rock back there I can hide behind.”

“Wait, what—?”

“Good luck.” With perfect form, Helt Knight sprinted away, just as he had when raiding the giants' food storeroom.

“You’ve got to be kidding ,” Najin cursed, landing and taking off after him. Behind them, the Silent Knight howled, throwing spear after spear. Fortunately, it didn’t leave its domain, though it made for a fierce farewell.

‘Knights don’t retreat,’ Najin thought.

It wasn’t a retreat—it was a strategic withdrawal.

“I thought you said he was weaker than you? How is that anything weaker?” Najin asked.

“Well, I am strong,” Helt Knight replied smugly.

“You ran away!”

“That was a strategic withdrawal.” Helt Knight cracked his dislocated wrist back into place with a wince. “Seems like he’s in a foul mood today. Back in the day, at least, he would’ve acknowledged a greeting.”

“A greeting? That thing?”

“He used to.”

Najin found that difficult to imagine. He was still trying to process what he’d seen. “A headless body… and it still moves?”

“And fights better than most living knights,” Helt Knight added. “It’s his old habit of going overboard, I suppose.”

Najin furrowed his brow. “What do you an?”

“Didn’t I ntion it?” Helt Knight flashed a sly grin. “He was my subordinate.”

“What?”

“Vice-Captain of the Golden Horn Knights. The strongest after .”

The Silent Knight, Crunbelle, was the forr vice-captain of the Golden Horn Knights.

Helt Knight continued, “Rember that technique I used before? I told you there was soone who used it better. I was talking about him.”

Najin glanced at the Silent Knight, wandering the wasteland, its lance gleaming ominously.

“He mastered the lance to the highest degree, and…” Helt Knight gestured to the star-shaped lance on his back. “The weapon? It’s his.”

Najin’s eyes narrowed. “You stole it, didn’t you?”

“Hey! He entrusted it to when he beca a Forgotten One.”

“You definitely stole it.”

“I didn’t!” Helt Knight avoided Najin’s gaze, but his shifty deanor betrayed him.

Najin sighed. Helt Knight had clearly stolen it.