Chapter 16 From the ashes(1)

Editor: BaeBae

Sina could believe what was unfolding before her eyes.

Her eyes couldn’t even keep up with Juan’s movements.

She barely saw Juan zoom past the giant cyclops, then launched himself into his chest and immediately blasted off into the open air.

And the moment she felt that he was in danger, she tossed her sword at him. Juan snatched it out of the air expertly and proceeded in splitting the cyclops skull in half.

Such overwhelming combat ability, one would not be surprised nor jealous but in awe at seeing flawlessness Instead of calling it a battle it was good enough to be called a public execution.

‘Amazing….’

If she used grace, would she have a chance against him? The possibility was there.

Juan had used the lightning fast movement ability three times. After that, he clearly looked out of breath.

If she managed to overcome his movement ability three times, the likelihood was there for Sina. However, in truth she wasn’t confident she could block his attack even once.

And that wasn’t all.

Juan was still young and small in build yet he moved as if these traits didn’t hamper him.

Using the bare minimum amount of strength required to strike down his enemies. Throwing himself into danger in order to achieve his objectives.

Sina was afraid of how much Juan could grow.

‘An epitome of Valte swordsmanship.’

Sina was surprised with her inadvertent thoughts. The founder of Valte swordsmanship was the emperor and the direct successor was general Vares Valte.

Saying he was the epitome of Valte swordsmanship was implying Juan was Vares Valte or the emperor himself.

At such profane thoughts, Sina quickly shook her head.

She remorsed that she had become lazy in her training, after she’d returned from the capital[1]. Compared to the seasoned veterans she met in the capital, the knights in the outer districts were incompetent.

Sina was someone that at the age of twenty, reached head knight within her order. Because of this, she had somewhat become complacent.

‘I need to start training again.’

Sina bit her lips while glaring at Juan.

*****

Juan let out a long sigh. He did go beyond his limits but it had all been worth it.

Juan looked down at Sina’s sword.

While it wasn’t a named sword, it had been well maintained. He recalled back to when he threw out the two handed sword from the smithy. He was regretting he’d done that.

But regardless, even if he had the sword, he wouldn’t have been able to lift it.

Juan crawled up the cyclop’s corpse. And wiggled through the crack on its skull that he’d made earlier.

Struggling to fit through he eventually managed to crawl deeper inside. Juan’s small body was almost drowning in the pool of blood and cerebrospinal fluid.

Juan found what he’d been looking for at the back of it’s eye.

A deep red substance squirmed in his palm. Taltere’s mana could clearly be felt in the blood clot.

Juan tossed the substance to the side. The red substance quickly flew off. And simultaneously, all the blood inside the Colosseum followed it.

‘He’s over there.’

“Juan!”

Sina had come over.

“Are you hurt anywhere? I thought you strained yourself by going beyond your normal capabilities…..”

“Thanks for lending your sword. Not a bad sword at all.”

Juan handed Sina her sword back.

Before Sina could mutter a reply, Juan picked up his old worn out sword and followed where red substance had flown off.

To the director’s quarters.

The room was shining red with all of the recent blood split inside the Colosseum flowing in.

The blood clotted and squirmed as it all converged towards the directors room.

Beside the rail, Daaron was crying as he looked closely at Juan.

“Oh.. Ohhh….”

Daaron’s hands trembled as he loomed closer to Juan.

As if he didn’t care in the slightest about the blood converging phenomenon.

“The Emperor!….The Emperor has come!.”

Till now, he had spoken those words for the sake of formality.But now, after seeing the real Juan inside the Colosseum, he couldn’t but speak those words genuinely.

Our majesty has come.

He had appeared in front of him.

Daaron was aged seventy six years old. He still remembered the times when gods had walked on this very ground.

While growing up, he of course experienced first hand the heroics and achievements of the emperor.

Daaron’s father was a slave. To go further, someone who was going to be sacrificed as an offering.

Then a young emperor appeared and killed Taltere, freeing the slaves in the process.

This story had captured the young Daaron.

And it was the reason for his obsession with the Colosseum.

A bitter strife between humans and monsters. He wanted to see a hero rise from the struggles.

And finally, with his own two eyes, he was seeing the emperor who once upon a time was revered as the hero of heroes.

“The Emperor has come. The Emperor has returned.”

Daaron repeatedly muttered and approached Juan, inching closer on his knees.

Again and again he kissed Juan’s feet that were covered in sand.

Juan smiled.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

Only yesterday, Daaron didn’t even give him a glance when Juan was found being dragged towards the Colosseum. And now, he was on his knees, kissing his feet.

“Maybe only a maniac could recognise the real me.”

Juan lifted his broken sword and slammed it down.

He accurately brought it down on the boundary of the stone plate.

Using the sword, he pushed away the broken stone plates. Below it, contained a small space enough to fit a fist.

Juan put his hand in and took something out.

“So this is where you were hiding. Still the same as ever, hiding like a rat.”

It was a small glass bottle and inside a dark red blood was whirling around, like a vortex.

The dark blood jolted around as if it was trying to escape from Juan’s grasp but its strength was meager.

“Juan! What……..is that?”

Sina who’d just arrived looked around the room with a surprised look on her face.

While shaking the bottle, Juan replied.

“Taltere’s blood.”

“Ta, Taltere’s blood?! How could it be here?”

“I’m not too sure. It could be the work of one of his devotees. It looks as if his blood was going to be used to revive him once they found a suitable physical body.”

With widened eyes, Sina glared at Daaron and raised her sword.

Heresy was considered the highest act of treason in the empire.

But furthermore, he’d planned to revive a god?

Juan continued to speak.

“Don’t kill him. He wasn’t involved. Just like you said, he was nothing but a maniac that was obsessed with creating stage entertainment. The one who hid this here was secretly using Daaron’s obsession to his advantage.”

Juan picked up the bottle and peered inside. The dark red blood was disturbingly swirling around, in the shape of humans and monsters.

Although evil aura was flowing out to all directions from the bottle, nothing had suggested Daaron had been behind this contamination. He didn’t need to delve further, as he could already feel this was true.

“Doesn’t matter! I can’t overlook this when such detailed evidence has been found! He was already under suspicion and now there’s proof. First interrogate him, then we’ll know what crimes he’s committed. He won’t be able to escape the death penalty!”

Juan breathed a sigh.

“Where’s the evidence?”

“What? The evidence is in your hand…..”

Juan lifted the bottle and opened the lid. Sina’s eyes widened in astonishment. And just like that, Juan poured the contents of the bottle into his mouth.

“What are y….!”

Taltere’s blood flowed down Juan’s neck. Sina swiftly rushed at him to snatch the bottle away, but it had already been emptied.

Sina checked Juan’s condition.

When the emperor slaughtered the gods, most of their remains were perished. But a few were secretly siphoned off or concealed. Among them, a few tried eating the corpse to gain their power.

But every single time it had finished in a disaster.

Stiff as a sheet, Juan didn’t move a muscle.

“Juan!”

Sina anxiously called out his name.

*****

‘You always get in the way, don’t you….’In his subconscious mind, Juan heard a familiar voice. The very first time he’d heard it, it was the sound of a mad laughter and when he’d heard it last, it was a scream from being slowly cut away.

Now it sounded tired and fragile.

“Taltere, if you wanted to avoid me, you shouldn’t have revived.”

‘Fool. Back then, I only underestimated you because I didn’t know you. A sacrificial lamb offered to humour me so I complied unwittingly….’

Juan grinned.

Like Taltere said, it had been reckless of Juan’s to choose Taltere as his first target.

Had he not challenged him first, Taltere would have been a difficult opponent because despite everything he was the god of madness, the battle enthusiast.

When Taltere first met Juan, he was a child that without any accolades. It made all the more sense that Taltere had underestimated him.

“And the consequences were severe. Was it not?”

‘I laughed when I’d heard that you’d died. But to think you’d revive with a childish appearance.’

“Don’t you remember? You were humiliated by a child, Taltere….Twice I might add. Also, you’d do well to consider your own appearance before judging others.”

Taltere let out a roar of anger.

‘Foolish child! Your insolence has gone far enough. To have consumed my blood….. Soon your body will be encroached by my madness. Hmm.. although you look weak, you did defeat my puppet cyclops… maybe it’s somewhat serviceable.’

Juan started laughing at Taltere’s words.

“I’m not sure who’s the insolent one here.”

Suddenly, Taltere felt a chill down his spine. Having no physical form, it was a sensation he shouldn’t, no couldn’t have felt. Nervous as he is, he quickly tried taking over Juan’s body.

But upon doing so, he couldn’t feel anything. Taltere mustered every bit of mana he had and attempted to take control of Juan’s body. And yet, it was not even close to being enough.

Seeing the vast empty space within Juan that hadn’t been filled by his mana, Taltere was left stunned.

He now understood why he’d felt the chill before. The difference was overwhelming..

As if he was looking into the endless empty space above. Taltere’s mana was only a dot in comparison.

Taltere was hit with reality and he even felt a sense of fear towards Juan’s mana space.

Juan whispered to Taltere.

“To me, you’re just a mana potion.”

*****

Sina, who had Juan in her embrace, suddenly felt his body burning which forced her to quickly drop him.

Jjuckk! With the sound of his body hitting the ground, a cut appeared on his skin.

From the widening cut, flames started to soar.

Any blood close by evaporated from the flames and shortley the fire had caught on to Juan’s clothing.

Juan’s whole body was up in blaze.

Cursing, Sina tried dousing the flames but in doing so, her cape caught on fire.

Backing away from the flaming heat, Sina desperately called out.

“Juan!”

Despite her screams, Juan’s body continued to helplessly burn. It was starting to get difficult to breath as the air in the room intensified.

Unable to cope with the burning heat Sina escaped, dragging Daaron along.

Soon, the whole room started to burn up in flames. It was hard to see how Juan could have survived inside.

Thinking Juan was dead, Sina was devastated.

“Juan….”

But not long after, from the blazing flames, someone stumbled out while clutching the cracked walls.

Sina looked on as if she couldn’t believe it.

The boy slowly trudged out and once he shook his body, the heap of ashes on him flew away disappearing into the wind.

Daaron as well couldn’t believe the situation unfolding before his eyes. Suddenly he remembered the enormous fire that had recently swept across the great plains.

They still hadn’t discovered the cause of the disaster.

And a few days later a boy covered in ashes was brought in, to be sold at the Colosseum.

“Tsss-Ahhhh… I feel like the aches I had in my body are all gone.”

Juan looked down at his butt naked body. It seemed like the mana had made him grow to around twelve years old.

“Taltere, you’re only worth three years?…..Bastard, you could have done a better job at growing your mana.”

Juan’s body reconfigured based on how much mana he had. So once he’d absorbed Taltere’s mana, he went through a rapid change.

If Taltere was at his prime, Juan would have made a huge progress. But, the bastard was so weak that it would’ve been a disgrace to even call him a god.

It did feel it wasn’t too long ago, Taltere had tucked himself away in the Colosseum.

At this rate, Juan was concerned how long it would take for him to reach his true level.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom.

A bit of muscle had formed on his skinny body. He was still a child but now, at least he looked normal.

‘It seems I’ll have to revert to absorption methods to restore the body…’

In the past Juan had sealed certain gods and their inheritance around the empire. If this was absorbed, it would dramatically speed up the process in which his body could be restored back to its original state.

[1] capital – While the literal translation from KR to ENG is ‘central’, as it could confuse users, previously I’ve been translating it as ‘center of the empire’. To me it sounded a little off so moving forwards I’ll use the term ‘capital’, to not have to write ‘center of the empire’ every time.