# Chapter 132
—
The moment the meteor loomed right before his eyes, Arthur thought,
*‘If this goes wrong, I might actually die.’*
It was no illusion.
No matter that he bore both troll and vampire bloodlines—struck by a boulder like that, he would vanish without a trace.
*‘I can’t die here… there has to be some way.’*
There were too many things left to do.
Too many promises he had to keep.
So Arthur pondered, and before long, he arrived at an answer with little difficulty.
*‘The Vampire Lord… what if I use that bloodline’s power?’*
Yenika had used her bloodline’s power to transform her body into blood.
The Vampire Lord was superior to Yenika’s bloodline. It shouldn’t be difficult to accomplish the same.
*‘If I can turn into blood to evade that falling meteor… maybe I can survive.’*
Arthur’s eyes gleamed.
For now, this seemed like the best option.
Once resolved, the dormant Vampire Lord’s bloodline within him stirred awake.
In that instant, Arthur’s body dissolved into blood.
……KWAANG—!
The meteor crashed down at the same time, swallowing everything whole.
Amidst the savage dawn that felt like the end of the world itself, Arthur felt his consciousness being swept away.
*‘Ah… I can’t black out now…’*
But he had no choice.
Once broken, the thread of consciousness was not so easily restored.
And so he fainted—only to awaken now.
Arthur blinked.
“Oh?”
Letting out a gasp, Arthur opened his mouth wide in astonishment.
“What is this…?”
Instead of the underground city lined with gray buildings as before, he saw only a vast, pure-white expanse.
*‘Did the world change while I was unconscious?’*
Just then, a bizarre laugh echoed.
\[Kkirruk!]
Turning his head, Arthur saw Whitebeard—transformed into a demon.
But something about him was strange.
\[Kkirruk!]
Tongue lolling, Whitebeard was making grotesque faces as he laughed unnervingly.
Arthur blinked and muttered.
“…What? Mr. Whitebeard, did you go mad in that short span of time?”
He had always been eccentric, but from the look of him now, it wouldn’t be wrong to say his mind was gone.
Arthur hesitated briefly, but soon shrugged his shoulders.
“Well… whatever this is, it’s not too bad.”
The body that had turned to blood to evade the meteor was back to moving normally.
And right in front of him stood Whitebeard, the man he had to kill.
*‘For me right now, this is enough.’*
Arthur finished the thought and drew the demonic sword from his waist.
The crimson blade left a scar upon the pristine white space.
Curling his lips into a grin, Arthur spoke.
“Mr. Whitebeard. Let’s settle this once and for all.”
—
—
Whitebeard burst into laughter.
\[Kkirruk! Kkirruk! Kkirruk! Kkirruk!]
His crazed laughter rang as his mouth opened wide.
Drool dribbled from his lips, soaking into his beard.
Watching him, Arthur sighed.
“Good grief… has old age weakened your jaw?”
But then, the drool suddenly shot forward.
“…!”
Startled, Arthur raised his demon sword to deflect it.
He managed to parry the spit—but could not prevent the blade from corroding.
\[……!]
The sword quivered as though writhing in agony.
Arthur muttered with his mouth agape.
“…Unbelievable. His saliva is acidic?”
\[Kkirururuk!]
Whitebeard lunged.
His whites rolled upward, making him look completely deranged.
Arthur clicked his tongue and leapt lightly.
Whitebeard barely missed him and let out a shriek.
\[Kreeeeek—!]
The scream turned into an infrasound that ruptured Arthur’s eardrums.
“Ugh!”
Groaning, Arthur plummeted back down.
Whitebeard seized the opening without hesitation.
\[Kkirruk!]
With a chilling laugh, Whitebeard mounted him, tongue outstretched.
Shuddering, Arthur hurriedly leveled the Beast at him.
BANG—!
The shot rang out, snapping Whitebeard’s head back.
Rolling aside, Arthur clicked his tongue.
“…That was a direct hit with the Beast’s bullet, yet not a single wound?”
The reason became clear at once.
The black fur covering his entire body now spread even across his face.
Arthur recalled an image.
*‘He looks just like the demon depicted in the murals I saw before coming here.’*
A demon.
An angel fallen into a monster.
Arthur briefly weighed his options and raised his sword.
*‘Dragging this out won’t do me any good.’*
His sword aura surged as he reloaded the Beast with fresh rounds.
He awakened both Julie’s bloodline and the Vampire Lord’s, feeding their power into the demonic sword.
\[……!]
The blade trembled eagerly, as if it had been waiting.
With the vibration, the corroded edge regrew anew.
Nodding, Arthur addressed Whitebeard.
“Mr. Whitebeard. Shall we go again?”
Whitebeard, staring fixedly at him, chuckled.
\[Kkirruk.]
And with that laugh, the two clashed once more.
KAKAKANG—!
Whitebeard’s magic collided with Arthur’s sword aura.
Sparks burst forth, dyeing the white expanse in their light.
Tilting his head, Whitebeard blinked as though curious about Arthur’s changed aura.
But before long, he broke into roaring laughter and unleashed a torrent of spells.
KWA-BOOM—!
The magic poured down from the void, nameless and incomprehensible.
But Arthur knew instinctively.
*‘Even a graze means death.’*
With near-superhuman reflexes, he dodged each one, his eyes sharp.
His body soared, closing the distance to Whitebeard.
BANG—!
The Beast’s black bullet struck squarely on Whitebeard’s nose.
\[Kkiieeeeeeek—!]
Howling, Whitebeard swung his arms wildly.
But Arthur was no fool to be caught by such blind flailing.
Sidestepping with ease, he severed Whitebeard’s lower body with his blade.
Ssshhk.
The sensation of cutting was unmistakable at his fingertips.
*‘Did I get him?’*
Turning his head with a flicker of hope, he saw Whitebeard—smiling.
From the severed cross-section, new thighs and legs sprouted.
“……”
Arthur scratched his head.
“You really are a monster, Mr. Whitebeard.”
Whitebeard laughed again.
\[Kkirruk.]
—
—
Steel and sorcery clashed.
KANG—!
In the midst of it, Arthur thought,
*‘Was my future self stronger than I am now?’*
He shook his head.
Decades later, when he had gone mad under the influence of the Bayern bloodline…
Even then, he hadn’t been stronger than he was now.
*‘The present me is stronger than the future me.’*
Yet even at such a height, he could not overwhelm Whitebeard.
\[Kkirruk!]
The grotesque laughter was that of a demon incarnate.
“…Kh!”
That crimson maw’s laughter shook his brain beyond his ears, and his spells struck without warning.
SLAASH—!
Arthur’s body had already been torn apart four times.
Without troll and vampire bloodlines, those wounds would have killed him long ago.
Yet despite his injuries, he hadn’t inflicted a single decisive wound on Whitebeard.
*‘If only he fought with magic alone, I’d at least have a chance…’*
But even his tail and body could withstand his sword aura—reinforced with Julie’s and the Vampire Lord’s bloodlines.
*‘How is that even possible?’*
Sword aura was called the ultimate art of swordsmen because it could cut through anything.
And yet Whitebeard’s body withstood it.
*‘Is it because he’s no longer of this world, but a demon?’*
That was the only explanation.
Unless he was no longer of this world, this situation made no sense.
Then a deafening roar shook everything.
KWA-KWA-BOOM—!
From Whitebeard’s hands surged a flood of magic, snuffing out the light of Arthur’s sword aura.
Arthur’s jaw dropped.
*‘Even Ian, once he became a monster, wasn’t like this…’*
Growing desperate, Arthur raised the Beast to change the flow.
But another spell from Whitebeard severed his left hand.
The Beast fell, clattering to the ground, as Whitebeard bellowed.
\[Kkirruk-!]
With a triumphant roar, the monster charged again.
Arthur tried to escape, but in aerial combat, Whitebeard had the upper hand.
Arthur’s throat was seized, his body slammed into the ground.
“……!”
His spine shattered, pain searing into his brain.
Coughing up blood, Arthur rolled away just in time.
BOOM—!
Whitebeard’s tail smashed into the spot he had lain.
Its spear-like thrust made Arthur’s throat bob.
*‘At this rate, I’ll fall to him again. Isn’t there some way?’*
He needed a breakthrough.
Some power to pierce Whitebeard’s magic, his impenetrable flesh.
But nothing came to mind.
His left hand was gone, the Beast lost.
His sword aura was fading, and even his bloodlines were faltering before such power.
*‘So this is what a black mage who’s lived a thousand years truly is…?’*
As he bit his lip, a mysterious voice pierced his mind.
\[Arthur, this place isn’t reality.]
‘……!’
Arthur looked around, startled.
But in the white space, there was nothing.
*‘Then whose voice was that?’*
Again, the mysterious voice rang.
\[This is your inner world. Here, anything you imagine can become real.]
Arthur’s open mouth slowly closed.
The voice offered counsel once more.
\[Think carefully. What is it you need most right now?]
At that moment, Whitebeard charged again.
\[Kkirruk!]
In his hand gleamed a strange, menacing spear.
Arthur snapped out of it, eyes flashing.
*‘This is my inner world?’*
And he could manifest what he wished?
Arthur’s lips curled.
If that were true, the answer was clear.
*‘The speed to chase that demon…’*
And the weapon to kill him.
*‘That’s all I need.’*
Then, a miracle unfolded.
From Arthur’s body, a fierce radiance burst forth.
\[……!]
Whitebeard recoiled, stunned, as something sprouted from Arthur’s back.
“…Oh?”
White wings.
Pure-white wings that evoked the image of an angel.
—
—
The wings upon his back spread wide.
Watching the white feathers fall, Arthur murmured.
*‘…Unbelievable. My imagination really did become reality.’*
He had thought of speed to chase a demon—and wings were born.
CRACKLE—!
And not only that. His sword now radiated a strange light.
Arthur instinctively knew: this light was the weapon that could kill Whitebeard.
He tilted his head.
*‘…But what was that voice just now?’*
It was one thing to hear it—but how had it known this was his inner world, where imagination took shape?
While Arthur pondered, Whitebeard shrieked.
\[Kkiiiiiiieeeek—!!!]
Arthur turned.
Whitebeard’s expression had hardened.
For the first time here, he seemed unsettled.
Arthur’s lips curled into a smile.
*‘I don’t know what’s going on… but one thing is certain.’*
He now possessed the wings and weapon to kill the demon.
Arthur nodded and raised his sword.
“Angel versus demon. Quite the spectacle, isn’t it, Mr. Whitebeard?”
At his words, Whitebeard bellowed.
\[Kkiieeeek-!]
With a screech bordering on noise itself, Whitebeard lunged.
Arthur, too, charged forward without retreat.
KAANG—!
The light-imbued sword and the darkness-wreathed tail clashed, sparks scattering.
Spinning mid-air, Arthur aimed for Whitebeard’s throat.
*‘In close combat, I have the upper hand.’*
But then beams shot from Whitebeard’s eyes.
Startled, Arthur diverted his blade’s path.
BOOM—!
Struck by the beam, his sword’s light flickered, dimming.
Arthur bit his lip.
*‘I have to finish him before the light fades.’*
Kicking off Whitebeard’s chest, he soared again, wings flaring.
Watching him, Whitebeard didn’t remain idle.
\[Kkieeeek-!]
Howling, he cloaked his hands in that indescribable magic.
Arthur briefly hesitated, then dove straight into it.
KWA-BOOM—!
The magic shredded his wings.
Pain like his shoulders being torn apart wracked him, but his sword did not falter.
KRAK—!
At last, the blade pierced Whitebeard’s chest.
And in that instant, the light exploded.
\[Kkiieeeek-!]
Whitebeard screamed.
His armor-like skin began to melt.
But it wasn’t enough.
Arthur twisted the ring within his chest.
“Hiyap—!”
Unleashing sword aura, Arthur finally pierced through Whitebeard’s chest completely.
\[Kkirruk…!]
Whitebeard coughed blood, eyes flashing.
Even then, his tail whipped toward Arthur’s neck.
Arthur’s eyes widened—he hadn’t expected him to have strength left.
Meanwhile, Whitebeard’s lips curled in triumph.
\[Kkirruk!]
Then Arthur murmured.
“You know, Mr. Whitebeard?”
\[…?]
“Your disciple—Frakil’s ability.”
Arthur’s lips, too, curved into a smile.
“I haven’t used it once yet.”
With those words, Arthur’s skin hardened into reptilian scales.
Whitebeard’s tail shot forward, piercing his neck.
CRUNCH—!
Blood spurted.
But only blood. No fatal wound.
Thanks to Frakil’s bloodline, the perfectly calculated strike faltered at the last moment.
Whitebeard’s eyes widened.
And in that instant, Arthur’s sword moved.
SSSHHK—!
With the sound of something being severed, a heartbeat ceased.
The heart of a mage that had beat for a thousand years without pause.
\[…]
Whitebeard collapsed to the ground.
Arthur looked down at him and muttered.
“Got your senses back now, Mr. Whitebeard?”
At his words, Whitebeard turned his head.
“……”
There was a hole in his chest.
He could feel his heart no longer beating.
Whitebeard’s jaw trembled as he whispered.
“I… died?”
Arthur replied.
“Of course you did.”
At that, tears welled in Whitebeard’s eyes.
“Everyone dies, Mr. Whitebeard. Even a black mage who lived a thousand years.”
—
