Side Story Chapter 314  

Joshua quietly looked around the garden. Over one hundred of his people were scattered all over its grounds; around half of them had already breathed their last. Most of the dead and wounded were the Knights, but two people caught Joshua’s eyes.

“…Viper.”

Joshua didn’t get an answer back, which told him that Viper was near his end. Ever since Joshua had first set foot in the palace, Viper had been with Joshua as commander of the Auxiliary Battalion. He was a dear old friend to Joshua, but Joshua didn’t even get to say goodbye to him.

“Guh!”

Joshua turned to look at someone who still had some energy left.

“Carmen von Agnus.” frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

“Joshua… Sanders…”

It was obvious that she was reaching her last day in this world. She desperately tried to stand up despite the blood dripping out of her mouth.

-Why are you refusing to use my power! Why?! You wouldn’t have ended up in this mess if you used my power!

Meric, the Permeation Demon, screamed from within her, but Carmen paid the demon no mind. She looked at Joshua. He could tell from her eyes that the spite and grudges she had harbored against him had faded significantly.

“I never… thought… it would end… like this…”

“…Are you angry that you didn’t get to get revenge?” Joshua asked.

“…Even if… I get to go back to the past… I will…”

Before Carmen could finish speaking, her head drooped as death came to greet her. Joshua looked away from her after a moment. He assumed that her last words were that she would make the same choice. Aden von Agnus was her only sibling, so, just as Joshua had after being betrayed, she wouldn’t be able to think straight after losing her only brother.

Regardless, Carmen should have given up on revenge long ago. The tragedy of the Agnus family wouldn’t have occurred in the first place if Aden von Agnus hadn’t been blinded by his own desire for revenge. It was safe to say that the Agnuses had brought their downfall upon themselves.

“…Revenge is surprisingly meaningless,” Joshua muttered to himself.

He had thought that he would at least feel free, but his regrets only grew over time. With the second chance he had in life, he could have focused on something other than revenge. Many things in his life might have been better.

Bel slowly walked toward Joshua.

“Finally… Finally…” he mumbled.

Joshua extended his hand. In response, Longin quickly found its place in Joshua’s hand. Joshua thrust the spear toward Bel, leaving a long red streak in the air.

“Lightning Flash, huh?” Bel parried the attack with ease using his spear made from the dragon lord’s bones.

Of course, that didn’t discourage Joshua one bit. He simply swung his spear with extra force the next time.

Inside the storm that Joshua created, he and Bel crossed spears, adding fountains of aura sparks to the tempest. Bel’s lips stretched into a smile. “It’s Thunderstorm now?”

As if he was flaunting his skills, Bel used the same technique as Joshua to nullify his attacks. Despite the remarkable moves he had shown, Bel’s smile disappeared into a frown. He spun his spear this way and that for a moment before he just threw it on the ground.

“I don’t like it.”

Bel’s spear loudly clanged against the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“Using a spear isn’t bad, but I still prefer this way.” Bel smiled and held up his fists. “Maybe it’s because I lived my entire life like this.”

“You’re awfully arrogant.”

“What can I say? I’m your Fragment—but I also want to prove that I’m my own man.” Bel cracked his knuckles. He bent his legs, a fresh smile growing on his lips. “…Here I go!”

Bel vanished.

The men’s figures disappeared behind a cloud of sparks. In the blink of an eye, over one thousand attacks were exchanged, showing that Bel had a good reason for his confidence. Not many people would be able to fight Joshua in close combat.

The problem was that their battle was affecting their surroundings. The ground shook and lightning bolts roared down from the sky; each blow accelerated the Human Realm’s destruction. It was like looking at the end of the world.

And that wasn’t the only problem. Red dimensional rifts were forming in the sky, like claw marks through the fabric of reality.

“Hehehe. The dimensional rifts are widening now,” Bel rejoiced as he casually parried Joshua’s thrust. “Yggdrasil’s remaining branches can’t hold on any longer. The world can’t handle our power anymore.”

Joshua ignored Bel and calmed his breathing. It was clear to him that he shouldn’t drag out this fight. After a moment, Joshua lowered his spear, distancing himself from Bel.

“You realized that the Magic Spear Arts won’t work on me, didn’t you?”

Bel grinned confidently. He knew every last detail of the Magic Spear Arts’ techniques. Because he was aware of the mana circulation and utilization methods in each technique, Bel knew the most effective ways to nullify them. On top of that, their physical abilities were on par. Naturally, they were at an impasse.

“…Then I should create a technique that even you don’t know.”

“What?” Bel gave him a look of disbelief. An improvised martial arts technique would never work on someone like Bel. “That’s ridiculous.”

Joshua didn’t care what Bel said. He was going to do what he said he would. A true god of martial arts would be able to create high-level techniques as the situation demanded.

When he looked around the area, Joshua could see that Kireua was watching him with worried eyes. Joshua smiled faintly. Yes, he liked his life because he had his people; despite his selfishness, his knights always trusted him. Even though he was a pathetic husband and father, his wives and children devoted themselves to him. He was grateful to them and loved them so much that he would give them his life without a second thought.

“Let me show you.” Joshua raised his spear again.

Now it was his turn to repay everything by using his ultimate technique.

It was named…

“Magic Spear Arts Level 10, Origin: Sacrificial Spear.”

Bel flinched for the first time as the air grew turbulent.

“Magic Spear Arts Level 10…?” Alarms ringing in his head, Bel charged forward, his fist flying at Joshua.

However, Joshua was quicker.

‘Eternal Regression.’

Time worked like a circle, and people’s lives repeated in the circle forever. That would mean he would have a next life, but even that life might put him through trial and tribulation that would make him into a grudgeful monster who was obsessed with revenge. Nevertheless, he would go through it again if that was what it took to meet his loved ones—but he was never going to repeat the life of neglecting them and forcing them to sacrifice themselves.

‘If I have another chance, I’ll live a life of sacrifice for my people.’

At that moment, Joshua became the spear itself. He used his body and soul to use the Magic Spear Arts to its full potential.

“What…?” Bel’s eyes widened.

Before him stood another red dimensional rift—space itself had been severed by Joshua’s swing.

Apocalyptically powerful bolts of lightning rained down around them. The dimensional rift tried to swallow the entire world, especially Bel.

“What the fuck? Are you going to destroy the world just so you can kill me?!” Bel desperately drew up more mana so that he wouldn’t be sucked into the red hole, but it was meaningless. He clung to the edge, screaming. “Arghhhhhhh!”

Joshua himself wasn’t in a good condition. His attack had exhausted his stamina, putting him through the side effects that he had been worried about.

‘…You were so happy when I broke out from the ice boulder earlier than I planned.’

The Demon Spirit’s power hummed happily as if the Demon Spirit himself was eagerly watching the fight. Although the Demon Spirit’s personality had been annihilated, his power still remained within Joshua. However, Joshua had no intention of letting the Demon Spirit’s power enjoy itself.

‘Angel Spirit’s Fragment,’ Joshua called.

-Call me Arash.

‘I’m going to become a new Spirit by embracing everything that is left of the Demon Spirit and Angel Spirit in this world.’

-…Becoming a new Spirit to replace the destroyed balance of light and darkness is theoretically possible, but if you do that…

‘I will no longer be able to stay in this realm.’

After the Angel and Demon Realms’ destruction, the gods had descended to the Human Realm, destroying the realm’s balance. He had to restore the balance to stop the Human Realm’s collapse.

-Gods and humans belong in different places. There is no way that a complete Spirit can stay in the Human Realm.

‘It would be better than letting the world fall.’

Joshua strode forward. It was his turn to sacrifice himself to protect his loved ones.