Emperor of Steel

Luke thought that he would have to understand a written book by Nanda to know about the second half of the Gold Sword.

However, what Nanda said was strange.

“I haven’t found anything regarding the sword.”

“Hold on, didn’t you say that you knew about the Gold Sword?”

“Huhuhu. Of course, I did. However, not in a book form. As I said, I will be showing it to you.”

‘What the hell did he say…?’

When Luke was grunting, Nanda clasped his hands.

Clap!

At that moment, an unfamiliar landscape began to appear around Luke.

A rocky valley that was lined with rocks, moss, and weed.

Far from being a place with humans, the land was so desolate that even wild animals were hard to find. However, Luke instinctively knew that he was in a place in the Southern Continent.

‘Where am I? This is a place I have never seen.’

Memories and thoughts that were strange to himself.

The landscape, which was so desolate, suddenly turned into a messy field after being struck with black lightning.

Kwang! Kwang!

Grrrrr!

The mountains moved and the valley collapsed.

When Luke was still puzzled with the sudden changes in the scenery, the voice of Nanda floated to his ears.

-What you are watching isn’t your memory. It is the memory of the head demon you have taken in.

‘A head demon? Then this must be Kauren’s memory!’

Luke had defeated Kauren and absorbed his Magi and abilities.

But it wasn’t just those two he had taken.

He had taken the memory of Kauren, but Luke just had no idea of doing it.

It was because Luke didn’t reach the level of competency to examine and use Kauren’s memory and make it an asset.

Among them, Nanda, who had already enlightened himself with the physical pain through long durations of practice, showed Luke his memory through an ability of ‘Memory See Through’.

‘Kauren had been summoned here once before too? Huh? And who is that?’

Luke, well, from Kauren eyes, saw an old man with black and white hair and white beard come down from the sky.

The old man’s entire body and face were red, and his body was giving out energy that soon stretched out.

‘It is strong and not an ordinary skill!’

Luke was able to guess how strong the old man was because he could feel how Kauren had felt on that occasion.

When he was trying to measure the skills of the old man, a sharp voice popped out.

“This is the world where humans live! An evil demon like you has no place to stay here, so go away!”

The old man yelled and pulled out his sword that had a round hilt.

He began to wield his sword and attack Kauren.

Kauren went against the old man with his battle-ax or using his Thunder Blinger.

Watching the fierce battle, Luke shook his head.

‘He is one great elderly man. He is all alone fighting against the demon general Kauren!’

Luke had previously witnessed Emperor Rudolf fight with Kauren.

At that time, Rudolf fought on an equal level against Kauren with his unique Superhero class Gigant, Kaizer, which had an output of 6,000 fight.

However, the man Luke was looking at was using just one sword to attack Kauren, and he managed to deal damage on Kauren that was much stronger than that of a Gigant.

‘Such a strong man in the Southern Continent, the world is really unique!’

He was thinking that the old man there might be much stronger than the mighty Sword Emperor Rakan and that with such skill, he could surely defeat Arsene who had turned himself into a Lich.

Amazed at his skills, Luke watched the battle with fascination.

“With the light of the Sun, I will cut the unclean! Gold Light God Sword!”

‘No, that sword skills is…’

For a moment, the fencing of the old man changed.

The problem was that Luke knew about the sword.

Although the manner and the method were slightly modified, it was clear that it was the Gold Sword.

At first, he had used the first half of the sword, and then an unfamiliar movement appeared.

‘This is similar to what Rudolf did. Then, this is the second half!’

Luke was blindly looking at the sword of the old man.

The fight between the old man and Kauren continued over three days and nights.

But at some point, the old man started to get pushed.

Although strong, a human’s body is susceptible to being worn out… Well, there was a limit for how long the aura could be used, and the opponent was a high ranking demon from the Devildom, who would never get tired.

The old man, who continued to push, knew that there was nothing else he could do and gathered the aura once again.

Kwang!

The old man’s sword split Kauren’s battle-ax and his face.

Kauren, who was seriously injured by the old man and was scared of getting killed by the old man’s next strike, fled back to Devildom.

However, the old man’s condition was poor.

No, he was desperate.

The old man, who had exhausted all of his energy, collapsed.

However, the thought of not being able to save the world from a devil, the man died with a sad face.

That was the extent of Kauren’s memory.

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‘That was just half of the sword skill.’

After a brief moment of appreciating the old man, Luke opened his eyes and spoke to Saint Nanda, “I understand now. You meant to say that I need to learn the sword skill from the old man who was in Kauren’s memory.”

“I showed everything that I could show you. It is up to the man to decide on where to use and how to get there.”

At the words of Nanda, Luke nodded his head cause he understood.

‘It is enough. No, even if it isn’t enough, I will have to manage.’

The old man constantly used the Gold Sword several times while fighting Kauren.

The gold sword, which was called the Gold Light God Sword was much more complete than Gregory’s research, and it seemed much more detailed and powerful than the time Rudolf used it.

After analyzing it, that seemed to be enough to master the latter part of the Gold Sword.

However, just a few more questions remained.

“You seem to be curious about something,” asked Nanda.

“Exactly. What is the identity of the old man who was fighting Kauren? He seems to be like someone who is famous in the Southern Continent.”

“He is Yeon Ga-ram or the Sword King. He is from Yemaek. An absolute master who is known to have reached the highest point.”

“A Sword King… He looked like it. He should be a Sword King.”

Luke nodded.

He had heard about the legendary masters—Sword King, Spear King, or Martial King—of the Southern Continent from Hwang Bo-sung.

There were people of the same sort, and people of different ages, so it was unknown as to who was the strongest and the weakest.

However, from the story he heard from Hwang Bo-sung the Absolute Master meant a stage below the peak, and it was said to be more than the Sword Sage title of the Rhodesia Continent.

At first, he thought that maybe the terms were mixed, but when he looked at the old man, his hope was gone. Well, seeing the old man, the stage of Absolute seemed to be much stronger than the story Hwang Bo-sung had told him.

‘Isn’t there a Red Dragon King, Lee Yong-mu, who has reached the Absolute Master in the Southern Continent?’

Luke was thinking about meeting the man one day.

“But, I am concerned about how to learn the Gold Sword.”

In the past, Rogers said that the second half of the Gold Sword was still in the family until 400 years ago.

It was recorded in their books that the first half and the second half, the skills of the Gold Sword, were lost when their Lord back then was assassinated during a war.

Fortunately, the first half of the sword was left behind as the son of Rakan’s previous Lord was interested to learn it.

‘Considering how Rudolf had used the Gold Sword, the Baroque Imperial family must have been the ones to issue the assassination of Rakan’s previous Lord and stole it.’

Even then, Luke still couldn’t understand how the skill reached the Southern Continent.

That was when Nanda said the story.

“Hmm, it could be related.”

More than 200 years ago, merchants from the Rhodesia Continent began to visit the Southern Continent to trade.

At that time, the merchant that visited wanted to make a good impression on the Song Empire’s Emperor, so he wanted to give him a Gigant.

“That is something I know too. Worried that they had invaded the empire with such a weapon, the Zegal clan created the Puppet to fight it.”

“It seems like you are well aware. And in addition, the Emperor was curious about the extent of the northern military force, so he sent a lot of spies to investigate on the matter.”

And among the spies who were dispatched was someone called the ‘Shadowless God’.

He was known to be stealthy and quick. He wasn’t just someone who stole the money of the denominations, but he also became trouble for the Imperial Palace.

“After chasing him for 20 years, the man got caught, but even though he was a sinner, the Emperor had given him a chance to cleanse himself. That was to become a spy and go to the Northern Continent,” said Nanda.

The Shadowless God faithfully fulfilled the Emperor’s orders.

He came back with information about the Gigants, the military power of the north, and the excellent knights and the swordsman they had.

“The Emperor was delighted to know that such valuable information was brought in by the Shadowless God. However, on the other hand, he was concerned that the Shadowless God would tell the other nobles in his empire about that information.”

“He must have tried to get him killed,” said Luke.

The Shadowless God wasn’t dull enough to not notice that.

He fled immediately. However, his whereabouts were known to the public.

“And this time, it wasn’t just the Imperial family, but the Moorim clans also chased him. It was because the rumors spread about him secretly learning the sword skill of the Emperor of the North.”

‘No, the Gold Sword…?’

Wasn’t the sword skill used by the Emperor of the Northern Continent the Gold Sword that was secretly stolen by the Baroque Imperial family?

Just as Luke guessed, Nanda’s story continued,

“Later, it was known that the Shadowless God left the Song Empire and hid in the mountains of Yemaek. The people there had protected him.”

‘I guess so. Was it spread like that?’

Yeon Ga-ram, the Sword King, was a man of the mountains.

Apparently, to build up a relationship with the men and himself, the Shadowless God couldn’t give them the Gold Sword to gain their favor.

“Is your curiosity satisfied now?”

“To an extent. But I still have another question.”

Something which was more important than the flow of the Gold Sword.

Luke, looking at Nanda with admiration, asked the question, “How in the world are you able to show me the memories of the demons in my body? Are you a messenger of God or a real Saint?”

Nanda shook his head.

“Oh my! I am not that kind of person! I just gained a few talents by repeating the teachings of the world.”

“That small talent… Can I learn it too?”

“Of course, but you might not be able to.”

At the answer of Nanda, Luke was dumbfounded.

“What do you mean?”

“To learn about such things, you need to throw away your lustful thoughts. However, you are a person who emphasizes on relation rather than throwing away such thoughts and seeking enlightenment.”

“A relation…”

The moment Nanda said that, Luke recalled Reina.

If reincarnation existed like the Southern Continent was saying, then she surely was the reincarnation of Katarina.

“Your ties are clearly connected to the past. Roundabout life is how the world works, and there is no guarantee that similar things of the past will not repeat themselves in the current time.”

“S-similar things?”

Luke was shocked.

“A twist in fate by those who are blind with greed. Though different from the past, it is still dangerous.”

‘Surely… it is dangerous.’

Unlike Katarina of 500 years ago, Reina was in a topmost position in the Holy Arthenia Empire—the Pope.

No one could dare use her for political reasons.

However, she wasn’t in need of power, and there were forces against her.

There were oppositions in the Holy Empire such as Arch Bishop Constantine and Count Marcus.

They were known to have fallen after the Civil War, but they weren’t eliminated, and he was constantly looking for an opportunity to corner Reina.

As evidence, some priests even raised their voices, saying that the Pope had to be tested.

Hearing the rumors that were being spread by Nanas, the opposition was using them rather strongly.

‘Even then, she had Arch Duke Gregory… But, I can’t just keep on placing the burden on him. Those who want power will use any means possible.’

For example, the oppositions could be willing to attract foreign powers, or Arsene could secretly propose a cooperation with them.

‘The most troublesome opponent for the Lich Arsene will be the Holy Empire. So, the more the Empire was in chaos, the more advantage he will have.’

The thought itself made Luke angry, but it was possible for the greedy to fall into the trap of Arsene.

And by assassinating Reina, he would like to instill confusion into the Empire.

“How can I prevent that?”

“The answer is simple. You already know it.”

At the words of Nanda, Luke thought for a while and nodded.

“I need to get stronger.”

“Exactly. You already possess enough power, but you can’t put them to proper use. Which was why you couldn’t bring down Arsene.”

“To use my power in a proper manner…”

He thought of what he did during his fight with Arsene.

COMMENT

Dark and white magic, demon abilities, and the Gold Sword.

He had to unite all of his strengths and abilities into one category.

It was simple in words, but achieving it was close to impossible.

No one had done it.

‘But, I need to do it.’

To defeat Arsene and not meet the same fate he had in the past, Luke wanted to get much stronger.