I Pull Out Excalibur

15 – The Light that Should Not be Taken (1)

A star appeared in the underground city of Artman.

Artman, where no starlight could touch because of the ceiling that covered the sky. The star that appeared in such Artman was even more striking because of it.

A bright light that could not be hidden by thick fog or buried in the dim light of the ore lamps.

It was the platinum-colored starlight that the boy had longed for so much. The boy blinked his eyes blankly as he looked at the star in his hand.

“I got it. Really.”

What was in his hand was the sword of the star.

The Excalibur, the symbol of King Arthur, the shining sword. Najin’s eyes, looking at the glowing sword, were colored with platinum.

A gamble made as if saying “Let it be as it may.”

The only basis for the gamble was the voice ringing in his head and his own intuition. However, he really pulled out the sword. It was a situation that didn’t feel real, but the weight of the sword in his hand was telling Najin that this was reality.

“If that’s the case.”

If this is reality.

If he’s not dreaming.

“Apothecary Hakan.”

There was something he had to do.

The boy who was dreaming returned to reality. Feeling the cool touch of the sword handle through his fingers, Najin slowly raised the sword.

The direction the raised sword pointed was Hakan.

Najin smiled, facing the intruder who had invaded Ivan’s territory.

“Do you have anything to say?”

The boy who was completely transformed.

The only thing that had changed from a while ago was the sword in the boy’s hand. However, for the boy, who was a prosecutor to some extent, the fact that the sword had changed meant that everything had changed.

The situation has been overturned.

The balance has tilted.

The boy stood tall, while Hakan sat down. There were still many addicts left for her, but the star that the boy held in his hand was not something that could be concealed by such things. Hakan burst into laughter.

“Does this make any sense?”

Who could have imagined such a thing?

“The boy in this filthy underground city, filled only with abandoned things, believed he would pull out Excalibur. It was Hakan who had prepared for this day for a whopping 17 years.

Faced with the boy who had blocked his path, Hakan couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.

Najin struck the ground.

With a platinum-colored starlight sword in hand, the boy stepped toward Hakan. The addicts rushed toward the boy without their owner’s command, but with things already over, they couldn’t obstruct the boy’s path.

Shuaaak!

The addicts were swept away like a rushing current.

Hakan stared at that sight blankly. There, he had a dream he had left in the upper district. He had yearned for it so much, but he could never have it.

“A star.”

A brilliantly shining star.

Not everyone who fell into this city may have been like that, but at least those who could represent each district once dreamt of a star.

The Land Spider Horseto.

The Outer-Eyed Ivan.

The Junkie Hakan.

Everyone dreamt of having their own star. They longed to hang their star in the high night sky. They reached out their hands towards the night sky like that, and since they had fallen into this city, they never forgot the starlight.

“Ah…”

Hakan groaned in front of the approaching star.

Eventually, the star stopped right in front of Hakan. Hakan raised his head to look at the boy.

A body battered by the explosion. Clothes stained with soot and the blood of addicts. But his eyes didn’t lose a bit of light. Rather, they held an even clearer light than just a moment ago.

Hakan sensed her own end.

She sneered at her own destiny. And the miserable future that awaited the boy.

“Ae-song-a.”

Hakan smiled at the boy.

It was the same dream as the boy’s, but it was a loser’s laughter after crashing into this city.

“That’s a light that shouldn’t be with me in this city.”

You became too conspicuous.

You may have had the qualification to draw the sword, but…

“It’s a light that an unfinished person like you shouldn’t possess.”

You became too hasty. You held something so brilliant in your hands without being prepared.

“The esteemed ones in the upper district don’t bless those who have starlight. If an unprepared person possesses light, they will only crush it.”

She raised her right arm.”

The remaining right arm that was branded by fire. It was like the missing half of a heterochromatic eye and the fingers that Jorge had stolen.

“You, too, will be crushed.”

Having grasped a light even greater than ours.

You will lose something even more colossal.

“You will lose everything.”

It was a curse, a prophecy, and an advice.

Listening to Hakan’s story, Najin recalled a not-so-distant past. The curse Tricksi, who sensed death, threw at himself.

“Najin, you will rot in this city for the rest of your life!”

At that time, he couldn’t refute those words.

He always wanted to refute, but knowing it to be true, Najin merely let their words slide.

“But now.”

No longer.

Najin crossed the line and began to run. He reached out and grabbed what was beyond his reach. Now it was his turn to start running, looking up at higher places.

No one, no one can block that path.

“That’s your story.”

Najin said.

“You failed and fell in this city…”

Success and failure are only a hair’s breadth apart.

You can only know what your future will be like by experiencing it. Rather than resigning, giving up, and feeling bitter like in the past, it is better to choose the path of crashing and breaking.

The shackles that had bound his feet for a long time shattered. The boy’s pupils were no longer dimmed by the hazy twilight of the underground city, but were dyed platinum by the glimmering light of the stars.

“I have no intention of listening to the stories of failures.”

“…Ha!”

Failure. At that word, Hakan burst into laughter.

“Yeah, that’s not wrong.”

Hakan sneered, with the corner of his mouth turned up.

“Go on, then.”

Najin raised his sword.

“Even after experiencing it firsthand…”

Could he say those words?

How cruel and heartless the world above that you don’t know about can become. Hakan shouted, telling Najin to feel it with his own body.

And Nagine swung up the raised sword.

Hakan, the medicine peddler, leaned forward. Nagine, looking down at the blood flowing on the ground, let out a long breath. His whole body was sore. It wasn’t just because of his injuries.

A feeling of something escaping from his body.

Since he wielded Excalibur, the feeling had intensified. Nagine took a deep breath and stretched out the sword. He defeated Hakan and cut down all the addicts. It would be good if the matter ended like this, but…

“…”

Nagine silently raised his gaze.

There were the residents who fled in confusion, and there were the underground city residents hiding in the buildings, watching him. They were watching.

The sword he held in his hand.

The star that appeared in the underground city.

But not everyone was looking at the star. There were those who were looking at the boy who held a star that wasn’t a star. They were soldiers sent from the upper town and the guards who protected Excalibur.

The moment their gazes met, Nagine realized.

He had to chase after them and kill them. He had to silence their mouths. But Nagine didn’t have the strength to chase after them, disappearing into the crowd. Nagine hobbled away in the back alley.

This is not a dream, but reality.

Because it was reality, Nagine had to make a decision. To prevent Hakan’s manipulations. Nagine started to run towards a place out of the sight of the people.

2.

The sect of stars serving the star.

Star Blood, Star Body, Star Radiance.

In the distant past, they were one sect, but nowadays, they have split into three. Among them, Grand Priest Orang, the leader of the Star Radiance sect, frowned.

“What is happening from early morning? Berlo.”

Berlo, a knight of the sect, came to the office with two soldiers. He kneeled down with the two soldiers in front of Orang and bowed his head in greeting.

“There is news that you must listen to.”

“Is it about the sword that was drawn last night? If that’s it, I’ve heard enough already. I’ve received letters from every territory and I’m overwhelmed. I am very busy right now.”

Orang tapped the desk impatiently.

“Is it a story that is so important that you have to report it to me directly?”

“Yes, and even more so.”

If the silent knight Berlo was speaking to this extent, it must be important information. Orang let out a long breath and gestured to Berlo. As if saying, go ahead and tell me.

And then.

The story that came from Berlo’s mouth was enough to make Orang put down his pen and open his eyes wide.

“Berlo.”

“Yes, give your command.”

“If there is even a hint of falsehood in what you speak, you will lose your voice and be banished to the very place your lies originated from.”

“I swear by God, it is the truth.”

“Is this even possible…!”

Rolang slammed his fist on the desk.

“I warned you to be cautious of anyone who dares touch my sword! What kind of nonsense is it that someone has appeared who pulled out the holy sword from the city of sinners?”

His pupils trembled.

Grasping his forehead with his blood-stained hand, Rolang slowly exhaled. Just moments ago, the knight Baelro had spoken. A boy from the underground city had pulled out Excalibur last night.

It was the testimony of the soldiers who guarded the sword.

It was the witness accounts of the sinners in the city.

‘The righteous of the Sword Order, the assassin of the Blood Sanctum, the Sword Master of the Empire. I thought it was one of these three…’

The continent had been overturned with the drawing of the holy sword.

The only people speculated to have pulled the sword were those three. They were the closest to Arthur and believed they had the qualifications to pull the sword.

One of them pulled the sword and is hiding the fact. That’s how the world saw it. The High Priest of the Holy Wavelength, Rolang, thought the same.

‘However.’

The one who pulled the sword was not one of the three.

It was a boy who lived in the city of sinners, where people’s gaze did not reach and not even starlight touched. Rolang could not possibly believe this fact.

Though he couldn’t believe it.

He had to make a judgment since the event had occurred.

The position of a High Priest leading a denomination always required quick judgments. The old priest Rolang chose to judge rather than try to understand the situation.

“Are there any witnesses? How many people know about this incident?”

Rolang asked the question.

Baelro answered.

“There are countless in the city of sinners. However, there are only two individuals who have the ability to set foot in this city.”

He pointed to the two soldiers kneeling before Rolang. Rolang narrowed his eyes.

“Only these two?”

“Yes. They are the two soldiers who were on guard duty last night. They were negligent in their duties and failed to stop the sinner from approaching the holy sword.”

“Take care of them.”

Rolang snapped his fingers.

Before the two soldiers could plead for mercy, Baelro’s sword moved. The swinging blade grazed their necks and passed by.

Sliced.

Orlang looked at Belro without even glancing at the fallen soldiers, blood splattered in every direction.

“It’s fortunate that the assassin of the Sacred Blood Sect didn’t draw his sword, but this still poses a bigger problem.”

Orlang pointed to a spot where Belro stepped.

“This place is where the main church of the Holy Body Sect is located, and where the judgment seat of the sect is. It’s absurd to think that a sinner who has been judged in this sacred place is qualified to possess a sacred sword.”

The Holy Light, Holy Body, and Sacred Blood. Each sect had its own judgment seat, and the methods of judgment varied as well.

The Sacred Blood Sect judged sins committed through bloodshed.

They punish the sinners by making them spill blood and die in the place where the most stars gaze upon them.

The Holy Body Sect judges sins committed through the body.

They punish the sinners by tearing their bodies apart and scattering them to atone for their sins.

And the Holy Light Sect…

As a sect that judges sins committed through light, they deprive the sinners of the opportunity to see starlight and confine them underground. They atone for their sins by rotting away without ever receiving the grace of the stars.

“The fact that a sinner judged under the light of the stars has drawn a sword…”

Orlang asserted.

“It shakes the foundation of the Holy Light Sect’s judgment seat and taints the essence of the sect. It’s an event that was never supposed to happen.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“I believe you understand what I’m saying, Belro.”

Handle it. Orlang was speaking that way.

The powerful figures of the entire continent, even the extraordinary beings, let alone the stars in the night sky, are still unaware of who has drawn a sword. That’s why it’s just now.

Make it as if it never happened.

Quietly, and cleanly.

Of course, Orlang had other options.

He could have made an exception to the sect’s methods and forgiven the boy’s sins, allowing him to remain by his side, or he could admit that the sect had made a wrong judgment.

But Orlang didn’t do that.

He was the High Priest who led the sect, and his faith in his sect was stronger than anyone’s. He knew that there could be no flaws in the path the sect had walked. That’s why he chose to create and bury any flaws that appeared. There was no compromise in that decision.

Because Orlang had always lived that way.

Because he had always sorted things out that way.

The head of the main church of the Holy Light Sect, which existed above the underground city, passed judgment on the boy.

“Can I trust you?”

“I will live up to your expectations.”

Belro bowed his head and left the office. As the latecomers dragged away the corpses of the soldiers, Belro walked through the church corridor, lost in thought.

The City of Sinners, Artman.

It was his job to oversee the soldiers sent to that place by the church, so Berlo knew well who the ruler of the city was.

“Ivan, the Knight of Atanga.”

Once, he had looked up to him and stood on the same battlefield, but in the end, the fallen and defeated knight became the ruler of the city. A smile crept onto Berlo’s lips.

“I must see the face of my junior after a long time.”

Berlo, the former knight of Atanga.

Having lost both honor and pride at his own hands, the hounds of the church that could no longer utter the name of Atanga smiled.