The Great Sword is not the Main Body!

I placed my hand on the shoulder of the staggering girl.

“That’s enough for now.”

“No... I have to kill... Carpen... L-Lux... I... I need to... kill...”

She mumbled, half out of her mind.

What a vicious bastard.

“I’ll take care of the rest. So... stay close to the priestess. How bored must she be, all alone?”

With that, I tossed her backward.

She fell flat on her bottom and flew toward the priestess.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.

That’s what you get for kicking me earlier.

I ignored the one staring at me vacantly.

Silently.

I collected myself.

I emptied my mind.

I cleared away the vengeance filling me.

Past memories.

Current resolutions.

Future hopes.

And filled myself with them.

The headache disappeared.

The trembling of my body stopped.

Fear, despair, and darkness.

Vanished.

My mind cleared.

The range of my Giga Sense expanded.

I observed Carpen’s body.

I could feel his movements.

I could sense his breath.

His heartbeat, his blood pulse, his anger.

I could feel everything.

I took a step.

It was light.

So light.

A laugh escaped me.

It was even lighter than when I reached platinum.

“I... Heh... It was this simple.”

[GRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA-!]

A roar, even fiercer than before, rang in my ears.

But I wasn’t scared at all.

I looked at the sword in my hand.

It was an old sword.

Its blade was bent everywhere.

The teeth were gone.

It was rusted.

An old sword.

Anyone else would probably laugh at it.

So what?

As long as I had a sword, I could kill.

With the will, I could act.

So...

I swung it.

With one strike, I tore out five claws.

I swung again.

His blood scattered everywhere.

I swung again.

My wrist was cut.

I swung again.

Bones were severed.

The blood surged stronger.

Bones regenerated.

Blood vessels.

Skin.

Nails.

Everything was restored.

I moved forward without hesitation.

Like the boy who walked through the harsh winter in the past.

The boy who, without fear, went out into the world to protect his younger sister.

Just like the me from the past.

I moved forward and swung the sword.

Not with my unique ability.

Just with a simple sword strike.

The swordplay I first learned.

A simple adventurer’s swordplay.

I remembered and recreated my essence.

The strength to protect everything.

I remembered it, and I recreated it.

The sword, swung without a sound, severed Carpen’s wrist in one strike.

Sticky blood soaked the ground.

The raging blood enveloped my body.

Flesh was torn.

Muscles exploded.

Bones shattered.

But it didn’t hurt.

In fact, it was refreshing, it woke me up.

The surging magical energy enveloped me.

It wasn’t the sharp magic.

It wasn’t the magic burning with vengeance.

It was a magic glowing brightly.

Warm magic, reminiscent of Lux.

Magic born from burning my remaining life.

Everything.

It made me move.

I swung the sword again.

The wrist I’d cut earlier was restored.

I stabbed, I swung.

My right arm was severed.

If Heinzl were watching, he'd be pleased.

I swung my arm lightly.

I cut off the sticky blood.

“It was this simple.”

I burst the blood everywhere.

Toward Heinzl and the girl.

It was no longer funny.

I swung the old sword and cut off the blood.

It was light.

I kept moving forward.

Cutting, stabbing, swinging.

Sometimes reaching with my fists, knocking with my body.

Toward Carpen.

Through the freezing winter.

Into the endless nightmare.

Into my past.

I moved forward.

I severed Carpen’s legs.

Restored.

I severed his arms.

Restored.

I split his belly, scattering his guts.

Restored.

I burst his remaining left eye.

But.

It was restored.

The blood scattered in the air gathered.

It gathered and gathered.

The blood that had reached its limit.

Swung.

Shot.

Exploded.

It was the fiercest attack I’d seen so far.

But if I stopped now, the fools behind me would be in danger.

So I walked into the swirling death.

And once again.

I swung the sword.

His arm fell off.

I didn’t need it.

It was a one-handed sword anyway.

I swung it.

His legs were crushed into pieces.

I didn’t need to move.

I could kill as long as I saw him.

I swung it.

His stomach split open, and his entrails spilled out.

Noah endured even with his belly pierced.

I could do it too.

I no longer needed to eat, so it was the idiot who needed to buy food.

I swung the sword.

The blood scattered.

I cut through all of Carpen’s blood.

But.

The blood scattered in the air gathered again, taking shape and absorbing into Carpen’s body.

No matter how much I cut, there was no end.

I couldn’t cut him.

I still couldn’t reach him.

Of course.

It’s only natural that I couldn’t reach him.

Because what I truly wanted to cut wasn’t him.

What I truly wanted to cut.

Was the world.

It was only natural that I couldn’t reach it.

A frail human.

A mere mortal.

A tiny existence.

Who tried to cut the world.

How foolish and out of place was that?

Daring to stand on two legs.

Daring to look up at the sky with two eyes.

That’s why I lost my legs.

That’s why I lost my eyes.

But still.

I had to do it.

I had one hand left.

I had one leg left.

Even if weak, the spark of life was still burning.

I had.

Something I wanted to protect.

I raised the sword.

I cut.

I thought of the suppressed freedom.

The fleeting taste of freedom was so sweet, I chased after it.

So, I didn’t break.

I cut.

I thought of the bitter cold.

That bone-chilling cold woke my sleeping mind.

It kept my body moving relentlessly.

So, I moved forward.

I cut.

I thought of the pain of hunger.

But it didn’t hurt.

I had never tasted it.

I didn’t know what it was to be full.

That’s why I could feed my sister.

I could endure.

I cut.

I thought of despair.

I tasted despair that made me want to vomit.

The depths of the abyss.

I went through that abyss.

My one and only sister didn’t want to know that despair.

She only wanted to chase hope.

She wanted to hold on to hope.

So,

I could smile.

I could be happy.

I could dream.

I raised my arm.

I lightly swung it.

Carpen’s body.

The blood.

The scenery.

The sky.

The earth.

The mark of the sword was carved.

A fierce wind surged from the sword’s mark.

A blizzard swirled around my body.

The cold winter spilled out.

The flowers withered.

The trees shed everything in loneliness.

The snow falling to the ground veiled the world.

The death of life.

The end of everything approached.

The lonely, cold winter.

The icy season.

Trampled everything as it walked.

But.

Even so.

Flowers bloomed.

White, white flowers.

Wildflowers bloomed brightly.

Riding the wind.

Treading on the snow.

They bloomed.

They rooted on the rough land.

Strong and steadfast, they endured.

They scattered seeds endlessly.

They promised the future.

They awaited the next season.

And.

They heralded a new beginning.

Not chasing the past.

Not bound.

Not obsessed.

Moving forward.

Toward the future.

Toward the next day.

Toward spring.

Thus.

Winter passed.

Spring bloomed.

Summer approached.

Autumn came.

Winter would swirl again.

But behind that.

Spring would surely bloom.

I stood up with my broken legs.

I steadied my wobbly body.

I raised my trembling arm.

And.

I made spring bloom.

Warm spring.

The spring that met Havlon.

The spring that held hope.

The spring that became an adventurer.

The spring I received my sword.

The spring where Lux’s laughter bloomed.

A happy spring.

“I reached it. Finally reached it.”

Like cherry blossoms scattering.

Centered around the lowered sword.

A line was drawn in the world.

A thin line.

Soon, it pushed everything away.

The blinding sun.

The sun that ushers in all.

The symbol of the goddess, Lilith.

And.

This world itself.

For a moment.

I cut it.

“L-Lux...?”

I heard Rubia’s lost sigh.

She dragged her broken body and crawled toward Lux.

“L-Lux... Lux... Sir!”

She crawled toward Lux, endlessly.

She reached him.

At the cut-off leg’s end.

She reached him.

“Aah... It’s you. Did you... see it?”

Lux’s lips curled upward.

“Why... why did you...”

“I killed Carpen. I cut winter. I cut my past. I cut everything. After all that... does my sword still look shabby?”

One arm gone.

Both legs gone.

No intestines.

Bones shattered.

And yet.

What’s all the bragging about?

Enough.

Stop talking.

Please.

“I... killed the big one... Can’t you call it a victory?”

I nodded.

I knew he couldn’t see, but I had no choice but to nod.

“And... here, take this... shoot it to the sky.”

With my remaining arm, I searched through my clothes and pulled out a handful of small sticks.

“They’re broken, but they’ll work. Hurry up, or your arm will fall off.”

I raised my trembling hand and took the ‘firework’ I’d mentioned.

Lux motioned for me.

Hurry up and shoot it, he urged.

I could feel his pulse.@@novelbin@@

I could feel his life.

His weak, fragile pulse.

His faint life.

I could feel it.

“Why... why did you protect me...”

“I didn’t protect you specifically. I’m getting sleepy... Hurry up, shoot it, before it’s too late... I want to see... the scene you talked about...”

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

I turned my body, pointed the firework toward the sky, and activated it.

The tip of the stick caught fire.

The weak flame grew stronger.

It made strange sounds.

And shot toward the sky.

The flame reached its peak.

And exploded with the sound of a bomb.

It bloomed.

The colors couldn’t be seen.

The bright light couldn’t be seen.

But.

It was more dazzling than ever.

And beautiful.

“And. I’ll give this to you... too... so cherish it. It’s all I have.”

Then, Lux handed me his sword.

The old sword.

The shabby sword.

And.

With the brightest voice I’d ever heard.

With a joyful voice.

With a bright voice.

And.

With an endlessly weak voice.

He smiled and said:

“The sword my sister gave me, the one that cut Carpen and the world. It’s a sword that once touched this world... It must be worth something. You... you...”

With the sound of the firework exploding.

His last words scattered.

I couldn’t hear Lux’s pulse anymore.

His breathing was gone.

Nothing.

Not a thing.

I let go of the greatsword.

I took Lux’s sword.

I took the petals he left behind.

And.

I shot it toward the sky.

To the sky he touched.

To this world.

I shot the firework.

I hoped.

That he could see it.

I just.

Hoped it was beautiful.

Endlessly.