“It hit!”

Iliya clenched her fist tightly in triumph.

It was because anyone could see that the blow was essentially a checkmate to this battle.

“...”

However, instead of cheering with her, I silently prepared for the ‘next’ phase.

-!

Nearby, the Arrays of Forbidden Sorcery writhed.

Valkasus’ body also remained standing upright without staggering.

“...!”

Soon after…

From the Arrays, an eerie light emerged, showing no signs of weakening even when compared to before. Yuria stepped back with wide eyes of surprise.

Both Iliya and Lucia also looked in that direction, stunned.

“It’s not…”

A faint voice echoed in the chaotic uppermost level of the Clock Tower.

“...Enough yet. It's still far from enough.”

I had to agree with him.

The constraints placed on him obviously wouldn’t be so easily removed, just stabbing his heart wouldn’t cut it.

In the first place, the constraint on him was that he needed to ‘die in one-on-one combat’.

Basically, even if three people tried to beat him to death, he still wouldn’t die.

And…

Even if he could, he’d probably reject it.

After all, if his life was extinguished without fulfilling the constraint, the Forbidden Sorcery would be forever bound to his flesh.

“I can’t. Go. Alone. My kingdom… Is still—!”

That was why, even with a fatal wound that pierced his heart…

He desperately held on.

The surrounding Arrays exploded with light. Yuria let out a short scream as she was thrown back by the impact.

“...He’s not dying even after this? What kind of existence is he—?!”

“Hey.”

I interrupted Iliya’s sentence with a sigh.

“Go down the Clock Tower. Take the Saintess with you. If you don’t go down now, you’ll get swept away.”

“...What?”

“From now on, I’ll handle him by myself.”

Iliya and even Lucia widened their eyes in surprise.

Clearly, Valkasus was in a worse condition than before. Honestly, it could be said that he was in a berserk state.

So I understood their reaction. If someone were to tell me that they would face him alone, even I would react the same way.

“Please stop saying such crazy things…! How can Teach even think of facing that alone…!”

“It isn’t crazy.”

I mean…

You guys had done everything you could.

In the first place, cornering him to this extent and dealing a blow to his heart was a huge contribution.

I could never have done it alone.

“...”

Nevertheless…

From this point on, I had to do it alone.

System Message

[ ‘Skill: Evil Ruler’ activated. ]

[ Using command rights on targets ‘Iliya’ and ‘Lucia’! ]

[ The targets are absolutely obedient to your commands! ]

“Go. It’s better if I do this alone. Saintess, take Yuria with you.”

“...”

“...”

Without using this, these two probably would not listen to me even if they were to die.

Lucia seems to have taken it somewhat well, as she hesitated for a while before nodding.

However, Iliya…

She was staring at me as if I had struck the back of her head with a hammer.

Her pupils were trembling, as if she had taken a severe shock.

System Message

[ Target ‘Iliya’ has received a great shock because of your statement! ]

[ Her confidence has sharply decreased! ]

[ Marked by Negative Tendency! ]

System Message

[ Negative Tendency Triple Stack! ]

[ Significant changes in personality! ]

[ Changes in behavioral patterns! ]

[ Increased dominance over the target! ]

[ Rewards Available! ]

[ Skill: Evil Ruler has been activated. Obtained 1 command right over the target! ]

“...”

I seriously couldn’t understand why my command right kept replenishing itself every time I used it on her.

No, more importantly…

The message that appeared was somewhat unsettling.

Confidence dropped sharply?

Increased dominance?

What the fuck?

“Teach.”

“Go.”

As she tried to speak to me with a tearful voice, I told her to go.

I could think about that later. For now, I needed to focus on Valkasus.

Lucia, Yuria, and the still hesitating Iliya went down the stairs leading below the Clock Tower.

“...Well then.”

I gazed at Valkasus, whose heart was pouring out darkness.

I took out the Evil Essence and brought it towards Soul Linker.

From the perspective of Caliban who was within, he would probably be freaking out. After all, he served as a Guardian, the highest-ranked title a Holy Knight could ever achieve.

[...Heh.]

Inside the amulet, I could only hear the sounds of him snorting in laughter.

[What are you scheming again?]

“I like how you’re acting as if you’ve seen me scheme before. You do realize that all you do is sleep all day, right?”

[Even though it looks like I’m sleeping all the time, I see everything I need to see, kid. That’s why I know that there’s a reason behind everything that you do.]

Yep. Then you saw it accurately.

System Notification

[ Would you like to fuse ‘Evil Essence’ with the item ‘Soul Linker’? ]

[ Y/N ]

I touched Y immediately.

[ Soul Linker ]

Type: Exclusive Equipment

Enchantment: Epic

Fusions: [ ‘Hero Shard’ Fusion ] [ ‘Evil Essence’ Fusion ]

#1

Spirit: Caliban - Guardian, Knight of Dawn

Currently Charged Magic Power Rate: 0%

Current Synchronization Rate: 12%

< Additional Features >

■ Skill: Image World

As such messages continued to appear…

System Message

[ By fusing ‘Evil Essence’, new features are added! ]

[ Special slot for Evil Spirits is unlocked on Soul Linker! ]

[ Only souls with an evil disposition can be added to the slot! ]

I nodded my head while looking at the window.

This was it.

The only way to turn the tables on Valkasus in ‘combat.’

“Get ready to receive a neighbor, Caliban.”

[...This bastard is seriously insane.]

Caliban spoke while letting out forced laughter.

[You… Are you planning to bind ‘that thing’s’ soul?]

The sentence that even a Guardian spat out with dread was, of course, referring to Valkasus who was right before my eyes.

A sinister aura was still pouring out from the gaping hole in his chest.

Although millions of Forbidden Sorceries were embedded throughout his body, ultimately, the heart, the main medium of the Forbidden Sorceries, was the one that controlled all of them.

And what Yuria had done was clearing the path for me to reach that very place.

“...Nope.”

I wasn’t going to bind him.

“I’m going to save him.”

If it wasn’t for that one goal, I wouldn’t have gone this far.

I checked the time.

Two minutes left.

“Caliban.”

[Hmm?]

“Since you were a highly regarded asset in the Empire, I somehow feel you might know the answer to this question.”

[What question?]

“How do you endure pain?”

He replied with a wry smile.

[I just do.]

“...I’m never seeking advice from you again.”

With those words…

System Notification

[ All stat bonuses will convert to ‘Endurance’ and ‘Divine Power’. ]

[ ‘Skill: Stigmata’ activated. ]

I hurled myself towards Valkasus.

-!

-!!!!

An innumerable amount of vile Sorceries simultaneously bombarded me.

Prior to this, four people shared the load, but now, I was the only one taking on full brunt of the damage.

Even though all my stat bonuses from the EX-Grade Desperation were converted to endurance and divine power through a skill, and even with a protective barrier influenced by such stats…

My whole body decayed. My skin was rotting. My veins ruptured. My muscle fibers dissolved and were torn apart.

“...Shit…Motherfucker—!”

The pain coursed through my entire body, almost as if I was seeing stars. Even so, I ignored it and trudged forward. I had, at most, two minutes left. There was no time to waste.

Even amidst the excruciating pain akin to my body getting ripped apart, I continued to move.

It felt like my body was being burned by flames and my internal organs were burning.

Still, I took a step ahead.

I felt as if I was manually squeezing my halted lungs to simulate the process of exhaling. My mouth was open, but I could not breathe. I could not inhale the air around me.

Another step forward.

I felt an intense pressure on my chest. The muscles in my limbs refused to obey me.

And another one.

“...”

Beyond the pain that threatened to cut off my consciousness multiple times…

Finally…

My hand touched his chest.

Soul Linker, the item that could ‘house’ a soul…

Had finally made contact with the place where the soul resided; the heart.

If Yuria hadn’t pierced it through, I would have never been able to stuff my hand inside.

“...”

At this point, the boss battle was as good as finished.

It was my victory, as long as I managed to forcibly ‘bind’ Valkasus to the Soul Linker fused with Evil Essence.

If I reckon, this was an epic item. So, even if he was a boss, it was possible to bind him once I made contact with the core of his soul. I could forcibly break his consciousness and confine him within the item.

However, I didn’t want to do that.

Not to someone who didn’t deserve such a fate, at least in my opinion.

That was why I went out of my way to say that I was ‘saving’ him when responding to Caliban.

"...”

And so…

I prepared my next move.

Considering all the constraints attached to the conditions of his ‘death’, it was clear that Valkasus wasn’t originally designed to be defeated in combat in the first place.

If I looked back at the battle I had fought thus far, I didn’t even come close to matching his ‘full power’.

However, there was one trick that only I, the first person to ever clear the combat route for Valkasus, knew.

As far as I knew, the one who placed the ‘curse’ on him was the most powerful ‘Cursed Speech User’ in the game.

But, despite that…

Cursed Speech, in its core, had limitations.

For example…

As long as the ‘combination’ was complete, it was possible to somehow mix and match the sentences of the Cursed Speech.

If the curse condition was that he could only die in fair one-on-one combat…

“This is a fair one-on-one duel, Boy King.”

It could be fulfilled this way.

This was the one and only way I could think of, the sole method to ‘save’ Valkasus, a feat that was impossible to accomplish in the game.

“I am as injured as you are. I feel the same pain you do. The conditions are fair.”

A completely hoarse and exhausted voice flowed out from me.

By aligning his and my ‘injuries’, I made the conditions balanced and equal.

That alone broke through the first prohibition of the Cursed Speech.

“In this situation…”

The second prohibition.

“If I ‘bind’ your soul to myself, it is my victory. If I fail to do so, I’ll lose. The cost of defeat will be my own life.”

It was a legitimate one-on-one battle.

It was just…

The ‘method’ and ‘location’ of such a battle were determined by me.

Valkasus’ heart emitted a black light.

This meant that the Cursed Speech User’s prohibitions had ‘validated’ my words.

In reality, a duel, as a concept, wasn’t something complicated.

To start a duel, you’d only need to specify the ‘victory and defeat’ condition in one way or another.

The Forbidden Sorceries that were even melting Valkasus’s outline began to penetrate into my body through my hand that was touching his heart.

“And so, I declare the start of our duel.”

My vision went dark.

I walked through the space enveloped in darkness.

A familiar feeling. This was the exact same sensation I experienced when I entered a certain space with that clumsy Virtue.

That meant, this was Valkasus’ subconsciousness.

And what I was about to see wasn't my own memory.

“...”

His first kill seemed to be his most deeply ingrained memory. After all, it was the most vivid one out of them all.

The person he killed was the strongest fighter in his vicinity, rumored to be unbeatable. At the same time, he was also the definition of human trash, beating up anyone that would so much as make eye contact with him.

And after hearing that rumor…

Valkasus intentionally picked a fight with him so he could die in a ‘duel’. The man who boldly challenged him couldn't even withstand three Forbidden Sorceries before dying a dog’s death.

However, there was something that the rumors failed to include…

The fact that the man was raising a three year old daughter and a newborn son on his own. Those children were unable to comprehend the death of their father.

On that day, Valkasus vomited for the first time in his life.

It was because, through this first kill, he intuitively knew the path he had to take from now on.

“...”

The memories continued.

The calamity invoked by the Cursed Speech User drove him to continue his endless journey; a journey to liberate his subjects who were engraved onto his very own body because of the Forbidden Sorcery.

He sought out more powerful people. He passed through more battlefields. He piled up more corpses.

Countless memories of his murders endlessly continued in this space.

He gradually wore down. His humanity was chipped away, eroded with time.

“...”

Still, the boy walked on.

Eons passed by. His longing was endless and so was his loss. Even if all he had left were mere ash and dust, he still stood up and trudged forward.

Even in the heartless and ruthless flow of time, he never gave up.

In the hazy journey where even his own existence faded away, he was like an extinguished flame searching for embers. Once, he looked back at the ashes that were once his mind and conscience… He found himself doubting whether he even existed anymore.

The sense of defeat sprouting within a broken body could shatter even the most resolute will.

I moved forward, feeling all the emotions he had accumulated over thousands of years and all the thoughts that had ever touched his mind.

And beyond the memories that seemed to continue endlessly…

At last..

I faced a boy sitting quietly in the dark space.

“Valkasus.”

“...”

“Valkasus.”

“You’re truly out of your mind.”

‘Yeah, I heard that particular phase a lot.’

As I let out a bitter laugh, the boy in front of me swept his hair before speaking.

“...The subconscious is considered one of the most complex and dangerous among all the spaces accessible through special powers. Yet, you voluntarily entered such a place. You would’ve been better off experiencing a proper life and death in the Material Realm instead.”

“Is that so?”

“If you were unlucky, you might have ended up drifting in my memories forever. Did you know what you were getting into?”

I was aware of such a setting.

Even so…

“...I did it because not too long ago, I realized it would have a good chance of success.”

This plan was created after I entered my subconscious with the Virtue and was able to get a rough ‘feel’ for it.

While I didn’t do much inside, I could understand how it worked by taking a glance.

As such, I had confidence that I wouldn’t be swept away, even if I were to go inside Valkasus’ subconscious.

“I understand you, after all.”

This thought came to me ever since the first time I met him in the scenario.

Valkasus and I…Were quite similar.

“...What?”

“Even if it is for people that are important to you, getting forced into a fucked up journey doesn’t feel that great. I also know how that feels, you know?”

“...”

“Of course, when considering how long the journey lasted, you’ve been at it for much longer than me.”

Valkasus looked at me with a stunned expression, but instead of explaining further, I let out a bitter laugh.

I just hoped he would understand that I had been through some tough times too.

“Also…”

Above all else…

“You must have been lonely.”

He had to be alone.

Everyone dear to him had left. He was stranded in a world full of pain and sorrow.

I knew what that felt like. Out of everyone, I would understand him the best.

After all, there was no one I could shed tears for, nor was there someone who would shed tears for me.

I remembered the evenings when I had stared vacantly at the torn wallpaper of that empty house.

The days when I had looked up at the sky for hours, trying to escape from reality and to find a destination I wanted to fly to.

Just like how this person always watched the sunset, as if wanting to escape from the pain.

Just like how this person reminisced about the last moment surrounded by his loved ones.

“And so, there was something I wanted to do for you.”

It could be said that it was second-hand satisfaction on my part.

Since I couldn’t do it myself, I wanted to give it to him instead.

“...I want to give you your revenge.”

Something that the past me had given up on.

Valkasus, too, had put it off to a distant day, for the sake of liberating his kingdom's people who were bound to his body.

When I existed as a player outside of the game, it was just a thought, but…

Now, this place was my reality. If it involved real individuals, it was not impossible to put my thoughts into truth.

“Give me my revenge, you say…”

“I’m sure that you have something unfairly taken from you.”

Mother. Father. Family. Brothers. Acquaintances. Friends. Subjects.

His entire kingdom.

Everything precious to him. Everything he had sworn to protect.

“The Cursed Speech User who sealed your kingdom within your body is still alive.”

“...”

I also understood the pain of having something taken away.

So, at the very least, I could give back the thing that he deserved.

His right to take revenge on the bastards who acted as they pleased. I could give him that opportunity.

The Cursed Speech User who had cursed him would appear as a boss in the later stages of the scenario.

At that time…

I would crush that fucker’s head together with him.

“I will grant you the right to take revenge on that bastard. I swear it.”

“And you’re saying that the price is to bind my soul to you, yes?”

“Isn’t it a fair deal? I mean, you promised to become my subordinate in the first place.”

A smile gradually crept over Valkasus’s face.

“...What fair deal?”

As he said that, he got up from his seat.

As he placed his hand onto his heart, he kneeled down.

Even I, who was ignorant of rituals, knew what this meant.

“Just by accepting this, the Forbidden Sorcery bound to my body will be released, and my subjects will return to the cycle of reincarnation. After all, you have broken through all the prohibitions.”

“...”

“Dowd Campbell. I swear on the blood of Armada.”

This was the greatest pledge that this Boy King could offer.

“My heart, my pride, my soul. All of it is yours.”

“...”

In response to the straightforward declaration, I awkwardly scratched my cheek.

“...I’m just a country bumpkin noble, so I’m not really sure how to proceed in this situation.”

“Is there even a need to know? You’re now in a position where you can command me with a single gesture.”

“...”

Huh, was this person like Caliban…?

He adapted way too easily to the fact that he had become someone else’s subordinate.

“...More importantly, can I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

Valkasus swept his hair back silently.

After a period of silence, he finally opened his mouth again.

“It feels like you know a lot. It is almost to the point where it feels like there’s nothing you don’t know.”

“Huh?”

“Since that’s the case, let me ask you a question. Did you say you would bring me to that being while knowing what kind of hardships await you?”

“...”

The Cursed Speech User was a bastard I had to meet anyway, so I was just setting up an insurance policy.

After all, Valkasus would be a very useful ally.

It was obvious that I’d be able to utilize various things by binding his soul to Soul Linker.

As I had mentioned before, this person was one of the strongest bosses in the entire game. Just having his soul bound to me would be a tremendous help in clearing the scenario.

“...Well, as an opportunist, a petit bourgeois, and an egoist, it’s a decision that came out after calculating that it was in my favor.”

“No.”

Valkasus chuckled.

“The choice to ignore and move past it was always an option for you.”

His incomprehensibly meaningful voice continued.

“If you knew as much as you do, you could’ve chosen to ignore it, despite what would happen to others, and just survive by yourself. The fact that you gave that opportunity up and ran the difficult path was your choice. It is clear, even when only considering what you have done for me.”

“...”

“Dowd Campbell. You’re just someone who can’t bear to see someone suffering in front of you. You’re not an opportunist, a petit bourgeois, or an egoist.”

‘You’re a good-natured person. So good that no ordinary person could truly grasp your intentions.’

Such words resonated throughout the dark space.

“...You’re not getting anything no matter how much you compliment me. Are you trying to suck up to me now that I am your master?”

“Oh, was I caught?”

“...”

I couldn’t help but feel it again.

This person was just like Caliban.

They both adapted to the situation way too fast.