Wings of Icarus (2)
Cheon Yuseong, Icarus, unfolded his stage.
The last ti he opened his stage was 712 years and 37 days ago. And on that day, not a single Constellation pulled into Icarus's stage survived.
They all sank into the deep sea.
More than seven hundred years passed after that. The world forgot Cheon Yuseong's true na, forgot the characters used to write that na, and even forgot the nation he founded.
Forgotten, then forgotten again.
In the end, the Constellation beca a forgotten star.
The star, forgotten even by itself, let out a scream. That scream was played through the mouths of whales. Tens, hundreds of thousands, millions of whales opened their mouths at once and sang their master's scream.
Bwoooooooooooooo...
The sky roared. The earth shook. Cheon Yuseong's stage swallowed the world. The sky beyond the horizon turned pitch black and surged like waves. The sky itself had beco a sea.
【You said one can only swim in the sea?】
【Friend, we need to break the fra of our thinking.】
The sky was a sea.
【You are not swimming in the sea.】
【Wherever you swim becos the sea!】
The empty air where the whales swam was also a sea.
【The blue sky, the withered earth, the desert, anything can beco the sea.】
And when they touched the ground, the rippling earth also beca a sea.
【So, let us travel.】
【So, let us sail.】
The whales swam. Everywhere they touched turned into sea and rippled. The pounding of whales swimming with the waves echoed out.
【Until we reach the star.】
Ocean of All Phenona.
A stage that turned everything in the world into sea.
Icarus created this stage to stay with his friend, who could only live in the sea. But this was not Icarus's stage alone. He shared it with his friends, with hundreds of thousands of whales.
The sea swallowed everything.
Dozens and hundreds of descending Constellations were swept away by the waves. Even Transcendents could not resist the current created by millions of whales. The stars that had descended to kill Excalibur's owner had to struggle just to survive Cheon Yuseong.
"..."
Najin stared ahead without a word.
He looked at the endless sea.
He saw countless whales charging at him, and Constellations forcing their way through those whales just to kill him.
"rlin."
"Yeah."
rlin snapped her fingers. The place where Najin stepped froze over. Even in the surging sea, Najin now had footing. Keeping his stance steady, Najin let out a long breath.
As long as Najin held Excalibur, he was a Transcendent.
What that ant was simple. Techniques of Transcendents that he had only copied until now, he could now reproduce.
First Horn.
Najin raised his sword. The seven stars engraved on Excalibur shone. The stars being buried by the sea, the stars rushing toward Najin, and the stars trying to stop him, all of them turned to Najin in that instant.
Then Najin brought the raised sword down.
Triumph.
Swaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!
A massive sword aura split the battlefield in two.
The sea split apart. The waves were cleaved. Whales were cut in half, and even the stars rushing at Najin were swept away. Constellations that had lived for ages endured, but the lesser ones did not.
More than ten Constellations fell in a single strike.
Demons that had lost their stars sank beneath the sea.
Silence fell over the battlefield for a mont. No one could believe this was the strike of a rookie who had just reached Transcendence. As shock, fear, and rage mixed in every gaze fixed on him, Najin tightened his grip again.
...Triumph consud a trendous amount of power.
Aldaran Vasaglia in his pri might have handled it, but it was not a technique a New Star who had just reached Transcendence should be able to bear. But that was only under normal circumstances.
Flash.
Excalibur imdiately began restoring the starlight Najin had spent. Watching Excalibur absorb the overflowing starlight around it and shine again, Najin laughed in disbelief.
"I heard it from rlin, but still."
What an absurd sword.
Not right now, but soon enough, he could use it again. Najin adjusted his grip and pointed the sword straight ahead.
As if announcing that even after using a technique like that, he was not tired. As if declaring they could co at him all they wanted.
If they would not co...
Tap. Najin kicked off the sea and ran. Everywhere his feet touched froze over.
"Then I will go."
What he had to do in this war.
Turning that over in his mind, Najin started running.
2.
Without subduing Cheon Yuseong, this war could not exist. That was the view of the Starblood Sect, and it was also the judgnt of the Empire's commanders.
The final destination was the Carnival King's domain.
To reach it, the Transcendents had to open a path, and the army had to hold that path. But as long as Cheon Yuseong existed, the very act of making a path beca aningless.
A being who was an army alone.
A calamity feared even by the Transcendents in the night sky.
While Cheon Yuseong rampaged, the knights were reduced from a marching army to helpless humans swept up in a natural disaster. To minimize allied losses, Najin had to open the path alone.
He would draw Cheon Yuseong away.
He would draw the stars that had descended to kill him.
It was extrely dangerous, but when had anything ever been safe? This was a war he had started, so Najin took the hardest role for himself.
Swaaaaaaaash!
Najin ran, cutting through the incoming current. Transcendents and whales began chasing the starlight Najin gave off.
Of course, it was not easy.
No matter how much he cut, the whales never ended. There were many allied Transcendents on Najin's side, but killing was always easier than protecting. Especially in a chaotic lee like this.
Kwang!
The spot where Najin was about to step exploded. Water shot high into the sky. Spinning and changing direction, Najin frowned.
Dozens of thorn clusters flashed in the sky.
The mont all those thorns fired at him, Najin looked down. Dozens of hands were gripping his ankles. The Constellations were pouring their Authorities into him without holding back.
Thorns, spears, magic, swords, blunt weapons...
The sky flashed over and over with transcendental strikes from all kinds of weapons. In the brief instant Najin stopped, countless attacks poured down. Najin tightened his grip and moved to cut them apart.
"If your feet are tied down in a place like this."
The sky flashed.
"Isn't your road still long, boy?"
A single line of blue sword aura cut through the magic raining toward Najin. Najin looked up and laughed. Blue petals were scattering across the battlefield.
Kirchhoff, Sword Master of the Fallen Kingdom.
Azure Hydrangea blood across the battlefield. The blue flowers rising everywhere gathered into one place every ti Kirchhoff swung his sword.
"I have a lot to say."
Kirchhoff landed beside Najin and shrugged.
"But this is not where we speak."
"Agreed."
"Then let us et again farther ahead."
Kirchhoff moved behind Najin, while Najin ran forward. Blue sword aura exploded behind him as Najin kept running. Without another word, Kirchhoff took charge of one side of the battlefield.
"I am Kirchhoff."
His voice rang out across the battlefield.
"Kirchhoff, the last knight of Londinel."
That voice was filled with joy. The stage of revenge he had longed for had finally opened, and the road toward the Carnival King had opened with it. He shouted in delight.
"You are far too shabby to block the road of the greatest knight. You are not fit for this story."
A blue star shone.
"You will not pass ."
Kirchhoff's star was not the only thing shining.
"Please go."
As Najin pressed forward, naless Transcendents brushed past him. None of them said much.
"I owe the Round Table my grace. If I pretend not to know that debt, how could I call myself a knight?"
A knight once saved by the Round Table.
Ages had passed, and he beca a Transcendent and ascended into the sky. Yet he willingly descended to this land for Najin, ready to vanish if that was what it took to repay the debt he owed the Round Table.
"rlin! It is good to see you again. Have you been well all this ti?"
A rcenary king who once stood with the Round Table passed by Najin. He smiled at rlin, then pushed Najin's back as if telling him to hurry on.
"If I can leave my mark on one page of legend, this much risk is worth it."
Heroes from centuries ago.
"Go."
Stars that had abandoned their ideals in Outland's brutal environnt and endured day by day just to survive.
"We'll open the road."
Yet stars that had once been heroes.
"Hahahaha! This is it. This is what a Battlefield of Stars should be!"
They took up their weapons again to beco heroes once more. Drawn by Excalibur's starlight, they threw themselves into the flas like moths.
"I've lost my honor and my pride, but before that sword, I still want to be a knight."
"What a nostalgic light."
"Ah..."
"Please go on."
"I'll hold this place. This much I can handle. Go, greatest knight."
They had reached Transcendence, but in the end they were still human. Inconsistent, foolish, pretending to be rational and then moving on impulse, that kind of clumsy human. And that was exactly why they shone.
Flash.
Burning every bit of starlight they had saved, they blocked the Transcendents targeting Najin. They opened the road Najin needed. So did it to repay debts, so out of gratitude for King Arthur's sacrifice, and so simply because they wanted to leave their mark on a page of legend.
Their reasons differed, but their objective was one.
Open the road for the greatest knight to run. To do that, offer everything. By the starlight they produced, the vast sea shone platinum.
"..."
Najin stayed silent. Only now could he truly feel it.
What it ant to draw Excalibur.
What it ant to beco a hero.
"It's heavy, right?"
"A little."
"So, does it burden you?"
At rlin's question, Najin smiled and shook his head.
"Not at all."
This was the sea he had expected. Feeling the weight on his shoulders, Najin accelerated.
His eyes fixed on the largest whale.
The mother of all whales, circling high above and glaring at Najin. The whale carrying Cheon Yuseong's palace on its back. The mont Najin took another step.
Bwooooooooo...
A whale suddenly burst up from below the ground. Its jaws opened and swallowed Najin. Najin swung his sword and split the whale, but it was not just one whale rising.
An even bigger whale surged up, swallowing even the bisected whale. Najin frowned at the oncoming waves. At this rate, there was no end. With his arms starting to ache, he set his stance to use Triumph again.
First Horn.
He raised the sword high, and just as he was about to bring it down.
Crack.
From sowhere ca the sound of a staff being swung. In that instant, the whale lunging at Najin bent with a crack like a crescent moon.
"Oarsman!"
Then ca a familiar voice.
Najin looked toward it. There stood a man wearing a captain's hat, one foot planted hard on the tip of a sailboat.
"Didn't you miss ?"
Romanticist, Anton Quixano.
At that familiar face, Najin laughed. He reached out, and Anton, rushing through the current at high speed, grabbed him.
Swaaaaaash, the sailboat carrying Najin slid over the waves and turned. No rowing could produce movent like that. It was closer to magic.
Lapis, the top navigator aboard the sailboat, flicked her hat with a finger and looked at Najin.
"It's been a while, Najin."
"Lapis."
"Yeah, it's . And that one is..."
Lapis looked at rlin floating beside Najin, and her eyes trembled for an instant. Cold sweat ran down her face as rlin gave her a bright smile.
"You're human now, right? I only beat up witches."
"..."
Lapis nodded stiffly, and Anton whistled.
"Good grief, it was you who drew Excalibur. Seriously now. I hired the greatest knight as an oarsman? That's a drinking story for years."
Anton laughed and draped an arm over Najin's shoulder.
"This ti, I'll row for you."
You rowed for .
You took to her.
"So this ti, as promised, I'll take you to your destination. Where are we headed, Captain?"
"There is only one place, isn't there?"
Standing at the bow, Najin pointed ahead.
"Cheon Yuseong's palace."
After confirming the destination, Anton whistled.
"Whew, now that's one hell of a voyage."
Then he tucked the staff at his waist.
"Lapis, let ask in advance."
"For what?"
"I'm using a sword from here on. I know you hate it, but just this once, let it slide."
"Oh co on, you're asking permission for that?"
Lapis laughed in disbelief and scratched her own forearm. The blood that flowed out hardened, then ford into a single sword. Handing the sword made from her own blood to Anton, Lapis whispered in his ear.
"Go. Madman Anton."
Anton's old nickna.
Calling him by the na from his avenger days, when he slaughtered witches, Lapis smiled.
"I've wanted to see it again. It might sound strange, but you were pretty much my type back then too."
Anton laughed, kicked off the bow, and leaped.
"As much as you want."
Anton Quixano gripped the sword.
Even after a gap of more than four hundred years, the instant he held a sword, Anton's presence changed.
He closed his eyes, then opened them.
"..."
His smile was gone. The cheerful romanticist Anton was no longer there.
The madman who had hunted witches alone opened his eyes.
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