The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

It has been mentioned before, but humans are profoundly honest creatures when faced with the prospect of pain, revealing their ugliest truths without reservation.

Galas said that he never suggested making a marionette puppet in the first place.

Betting my life as an assassin, I can assure he wasn’t lying.

Having killed countless humans, it’s something I can tell just by looking into their eyes.

The moment they sensed the shadow of death nearing, they spilled every truth they knew, without a trace of falsehood.

This means, in other words, that Boris had lied to me.

Isn’t it a common experience? Finding oneself in a difficult situation, only to stumble upon a solution unexpectedly, as if by chance.

Such unexpected moments lead to the scattered pieces of a puzzle finally coming together.

It wouldn’t be the first time Boris’s personality has switched.

Since the initial creation of the marionette puppet, or perhaps even before that, he might have frequently altered his personality to his liking.

So where is his real personality now?

Given that Kaeram asserted it definitely isn’t in this city, he has completely vanished, leaving behind only his shell and a different personality.

Why? For what reason?

Shouldn’t he hurry to inform that the existence they’ve been so desperately seeking, the Mist, is right in the Academy?

After a month has passed without a trace, it’s time to think differently.

He must be concealing himself for some reason, plotting a scheme against me from somewhere.

Meaning, what he needs most right now is a safe space and time to hide.

However, given Mist’s nature to track a target until their death once they are chosen, no ordinary human can find a safe haven on this continent.

What if one were to hide in a space solely for themselves, where no one could interfere?

Does such a space even exist?

Despite having different attributes, Boris is a unique human like myself, possessing a divine weapon.

This means that what he can do, I can do as well, and vice versa.

Only those who possess a divine weapon can create a space similar to the power of a god, a so-called divine subspace, where no unauthorized entity can enter, and one can easily reach other spaces of similar energy.

Following a familiar yet repulsive energy, I found myself outside.

The cold night breeze grazing my skin did nothing to cool my boiling rage.

Look at that back, too familiar to be merely welcomed.

Enveloped in a bright, formless light, holding a white scripture tightly in one hand.

Reacting to it, my right hand, holding Kaeram, trembled violently.

Though it might seem sudden, I found myself wishing for a mirror to see my current expression.

I was curious whether I was smiling in delight or if my face was lit with the flames of anger.

“You seem to have been waiting for me quite eagerly.”

The first words he uttered after shedding his mask, merged with his characteristic, loathsome laughter, reached my ears.

My lips curled into a broad smile on both sides.

“Let me ask, who are you?”

“Have you already forgotten me? That’s profoundly disappointing. You can’t imagine how long I’ve waited for this reunion.”

It was the same.

His smile and the chills it brought were identical to those I saw in Luwen and in my past life.

There couldn’t be a more definite proof; my body and mind were filled with conviction about him.

“Did you get along well with another ‘me’ while I was absent?”

“Do you change your personalities as easily as you change clothes?”

“Would I do such a thing? It’s merely a small privilege possessed by the bloodline of the dark.”

He stepped aside, revealing the glow emanating from the slightly raised ground beneath him, as if to show it off to me.

“After all is said and done, you are a human like me, possessing a divine weapon. You must understand the current situation. My personality has been within a light subspace that does not exist on this earth, along with the scripture.”

It was as I had anticipated.

That’s why Kaeram couldn’t find a trace no matter how much she searched.

“I’ve been enduring the agony, counting the days until I could face you again. But, this is somewhat unexpected. Even though it wasn’t the real me, that you haven’t cut down this body, I must applaud your tremendous patience.”

It’s a lie.

He knew I never intended to cut down that shell of a body filled with a deceitful personality from the beginning.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to give that insolent smile as if everything was going according to plan.

“Cyan Vert. Even though our relationship is like oil and water, incapable of mixing, you hold a special place for me. You are the first to have made me feel emotions I never knew existed.”

The feeling is mutual.

Through you and your master, I was introduced to the bitter pain of betrayal for the first time.

“Do you remember the moment we first met? I still haven’t forgotten the look in your eyes. It wasn’t the wariness towards a stranger, but contempt for a target of vengeance. Why is that? Why did you look at me with such eyes when we were mere strangers?”

“Do you think I’m going to answer that?”

“Of course not. I also do not wish to solve my current questions immediately. Wouldn’t it be better to resolve them when our relationship has fully matured? It would be more satisfying that way.”

“…….”

“So, unfortunately, I must turn my back once more…”

-Bang!

As I unleashed the suppressed power, a curtain of black mist enveloped both him and me.

“When has it fully matured? Good. That’s a very good thing. But you know what?”

His wide smile faded slightly under the weight of my murderous intent.

“Right now, the only thought in my mind is that I have to kill you.”

There’s no point in dragging this out.

Dealing with you now, entangled in questions and doubts about me, would bring me an unparalleled sense of exhilaration.

It would offer me an extreme sense of accomplishment, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.

For a greater moment yet to come.

“I am not one of those beings of salvation. I am an executioner, wondering how to make you beg to be saved from the pit of despair…”

It has always been so, and it will continue to be.

Did he anticipate my response?

He chuckled dismissively and nodded his head.

“Humans are truly foolish beings at times. They believe they know themselves best, yet they can be ignorant enough to miss even the most important truths.”

-Woosh

A massive amount of mana manifested from his hand.

“Thus, prove it here and now. Whether the path you wish to take is truly one of salvation, or merely execution.”

I’m not sure what nonsensical act he’s planning, but whatever it is, he won’t be able to leave this place.

I will spend a very long time here, savoring the icy pain of death that I’ve felt…

-Koogooong

Suddenly, a fierce vibration erupted from the ground.

Startled, I looked down to find a familiar energy distinctly felt from the bottom of the earth.

“Were you curious about what I’d do with that huge marionette?”

In Boris’s hand was already a black magic circle drawn for casting high-grade magic.

“Below this Axillium lies the sealed corpse of a Demon Dragon that was summoned during the ancient War of Demons and Gods.”

Demon Dragon?

What sort of nonsensical talk is that?

“Isn’t it something you somewhat anticipated? To use those puppets, which are about the size of a human, to merely control a few human corpses is nonsensical. It should at least move a notoriously huge magical beast to be worth it, don’t you think?”

Who wouldn’t know that? Regardless of what you were trying to control, why is the corpse of a Demon Dragon, a magical beast summoned during the War of Demons and Gods, buried here?

A story I’ve never heard or seen in my two lifetimes…

[Master, below!]

The moment Kaeram’s urgent cry echoed throughout my body, I immediately twisted and retreated.

-Bang!

Was it even a second? It was a hair-raisingly close call.

From the very spot I had been standing, something black that seemed to be a tail pierced through the ground and made its encounter with the world.

“The anger of a dragon that has been sealed for hundreds of years is now being revealed to the world.”

* * *

In the subspace of the cursed sword engulfed by pitch-black mist, devouring everything around it, two individuals, a man and a woman, were positioned at its center, maintaining a standoff with distinctly different expressions in their eyes.

Unlike the woman, who was biting her lip in discomfort, the man was looking at her with a leisurely smile, a stark contrast to their previous encounter.

[You’re not the one to talk. You really are a rare breed. This is why I hate dealing with writers.]

[What’s wrong with that? Just as you take care of your owner, I merely treated my owner in a special way.]

Hiskrea shrugged as if wondering what the issue was.

[Yeah. I thought your face looked familiar. But really, what’s with the irritating behavior? Don’t you think getting used to familiarity will eventually render you incapable of producing anything?]

[It’s something you, who frivolously changes masters, could never understand. The correct harmony for the bright truth.]

[That darn truth, really tiresome…]

Kaeram shook his head in disapproval, clicking his tongue.

[It’s regrettable that our reunion has to end here. You might have used tricks before, but this time it will be difficult for you. The ones above are quite determined. If you wish to leave the side of the master you’re currently with, I won’t stop you…]

[Shut your mouth. I’m barely holding back from ripping your jaw in half.]

Although Kaeram issued a warning with a murderous aura, Hiskrea maintained his leisurely smile, unaffected.

[Then, I’ll see you again. Kaeram. It seems like today will be the last day we have such a peaceful conversation…]

Kaeram responded to his bittersweet farewell with silence.

As Hiskrea disappeared from the space with a brief flash of light, Kaeram, left alone in the silent space, muttered,

“……”

A string of harsh curses too vulgar to voice filled the area.

* * *

Under the black night sky, a red heat draped over.

A tragic harmony of buildings collapsing with a thunderous noise and people’s screams intertwined, turning the once peaceful Axillium into utter chaos.

People who had never experienced such a strange tragedy wailed.

Knights, with their weapons in hand, were only trembling, unable to muster the will to fight.

Could there really be anyone in this world who could move in front of that gigantic beast?

Faced with its detestable appearance, unbelievable as a living creature, some people couldn’t even think to move.

“Kaak!”

Regardless, the entity of disaster, having lost all intelligence and reason, simply destroyed everything in sight without discrimination.

“Run, run away!”

The situation in the slums was not much different.

Despair filled everyone’s faces, and some were desperately calling someone’s name, seeking salvation.

“Boris! Boris! Where are you?”

The savior of the slums, no matter how much they were called, did not appear. Instead, a bright red fireball flew towards them from the sky.

A horrific tragedy, mere seconds away.

People knelt and sat down, and the woman who had been desperately calling the name of the savior, now looked at the fireball with a vacant face, as if she had let go of everything.

Just when the last light of hope seemed about to disappear entirely,

-Swish!

With the sound of splitting the air, the fireball heading towards them was cut in half and disappeared.

“Boris?”

People cheered, thinking the savior they had longed for had appeared, but ironically, the figure they saw was not their savior.

“…?”

A black-haired boy, emitting a cold aura, holding a violet dagger and exuding fierce killing intent.

A brutal executor who denies that all he does is for salvation, stating that he does not differentiate between means for his ends.

(To be continued)