The Swordmaster Who Returned After 1,000 Years

Chapter 245

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 245

Chijijijik—

The seventeen-layered magic circle was pierced clean through by the sword that could cut through the Moon.

As the blood-red magic circle scattered, the fragmented Celestial Demon God standing at its center—

Was swept away along with Moon Slayer.

[Th—...!]

The Celestial Demon God vanished before he could even finish his words.

His face and wings of light were also completely erased by Moon Slayer this time.

Unlike before, this time not even a trace of him remained.

Yet Kaylen did not let his guard down.

‘…It can’t end just like this.’

All objective signs pointed to the Celestial Demon God’s collapse.

As the magic circle disintegrated, the black mana scattered in all directions.

And with the disappearance of the Celestial Demon God—of whom only the face and wings of light had remained—the radiant mana too lost its focal point and dispersed outward.

Both manas, now lacking a powerful core, scattered in disarray.

From the surface, it looked as if the Celestial Demon God had truly vanished.

‘But… the sensation in my hand wasn’t clean.’

Kaylen trusted his own intuition.

The Celestial Demon God had not disappeared.

Then the question was: where had he gone?

Kaylen carefully observed the crumbling castle.

The black mana scattered in all directions. The mana without a center wandered in what appeared to be a natural flow.

‘No use relying on sight. First, I’ll absorb all this scattered mana.’

Besides, he needed to replenish the mana he had consumed heavily using Moon Slayer.

Fragments of the Water God's power were still anchoring his six swords, providing stability.

Now was the time to absorb the dispersed radiant mana and dark mana.

Six Sword Path

Third Sword – Bottomless Abyss

Before Kaylen, a vortex of darkness opened.

It began absorbing indiscriminately—both light and dark mana alike.

Unlike the radiant mana sourced from the sun’s power,

The dark mana of the Moon—so foreign from Earth’s own—was not easily absorbed by Kaylen.

‘Then I’ll contain it within myself using the eclipse.’

Kaylen steadily replenished his mana.

While doing so, he kept a sharp watch on the castle for any irregular movements.

‘Nothing visible with the eye…’

Kaylen gave up trying to locate the enemy through sight and instead expanded the range of the Bottomless Abyss.

Until now, he had used it to absorb mana alone—

But now, he intended to suck in everything in sight.

‘I'll lose out on mana efficiency this way, but…’

Compared to the selective and refined absorption of just mana,

This method was inefficient for mana refinement.

And it might end up creating a major obstacle in returning from the Moon to Earth.

That’s how crucial mana was to Kaylen right now.

However—

‘It’s better than being left with this nagging feeling.’

The Celestial Demon God may have truly vanished, erased completely by the transcendent Moon Slayer—

But…

Just in case there was the slightest possibility, Kaylen absorbed everything in the fortress into the Abyssal Pit.

The collapsing Dark Castle's stones were all sucked into the black vortex.

Rumble—

The entire fortress was now completely caught up in Kaylen's Abyssal Pit and began to fully disintegrate.

Had the Celestial Demon God still been present, the fortress wouldn’t have been swallowed up so completely.

But with its master gone, the fortress couldn't resist Kaylen’s Abyssal Pit at all.

‘…Nothing.’

Even after completely erasing the fortress, Kaylen still didn’t find anything significant.

The Celestial Demon God.

Had he truly been completely annihilated by the Moon Slayer?

‘This leaves a bitter aftertaste.’

No matter how much the Moon Slayer was a sword meant specifically to face the Celestial Demon God—

To think he’d vanish without any notable resistance.

Kaylen felt even a sense of emptiness, slowly moving his steps forward.

‘I’ll look around a bit more, and if nothing turns up, I’ll start preparing to return to Earth…’

To do that, he’d need to return to the near side of the moon.

While absorbing sunstones, he’d have to gather enough mana.

As Kaylen was thinking this and walking—

Thunk.

Something very lightly brushed against his foot.

It was a pebble, about the size of a big toe.

A black stone like that could’ve easily been found among the ruins of the Dark Castle.

But the moment Kaylen saw it, his face stiffened.

‘There shouldn’t be any stones left.’

Three Sword Abyssal Pit.

He had absorbed everything of the Dark Castle with that.

Not just the exposed parts half-buried in the ground—

But even the rest that was embedded deep within the lunar crust.

He had pulled it all in.

The Abyssal Pit absorbed the mana and crushed all the stone and debris.

There was no reason for a stone like this to exist.

‘Right. The surface should be spotless.’

Thanks to how thoroughly Kaylen absorbed everything—

The ground beneath his feet was pristine, not even a speck of dust remained.

Except for this one small pebble by his foot.

Swish.

Kaylen picked up the pebble.

‘At a glance, it’s just a stone.’

Press.

He pressed the stone firmly between two fingers.

With the strength of someone who had surpassed human limits—

A stone like this should have been crushed instantly.

‘It’s hard.’

If he couldn’t crush it with his fingers, he’d try with his sword.

Kaylen reached behind his back, lightly grabbed his golden sword, and swung down.

Clang!

Far from being split by the sword strike, the stone actually deflected the blade.

‘This is it.’

When even his sword was bounced off by the pebble—

Kaylen’s eyes lit up.

All six of his swords gathered as one.

And mana surged from every part of Kaylen’s body.

Six Sword Path

Six Swords

Eclipse

He didn’t have enough mana to use the Transcendental Realm right now.

So Kaylen unleashed the strongest sword technique he could use—Six Sword Eclipse.

An eclipse that devours all the moon’s mana.

The six golden swords merged into one and turned into a shining light, slicing straight through the pebble.

Screeech…!

Then, the pebble, which had seemed so solid, split in two.

And from within, not just mana of light and darkness but also mana of various attributes burst out.

The quantity was comparable to what Kaylen had absorbed from the Dark Castle.

It was enough to make his eyes widen.

‘To think this tiny pebble was hiding such mana…’

Whoosh—

And the mana that spilled out quickly formed a portal.

At first, a chaotic blend of various colors—

Eventually converged into a brilliantly radiant rainbow-hued portal.

It was just barely big enough for Kaylen to squeeze through, and it was shrinking fast.

If he wanted to go inside that portal—

He had to make a decision now.

‘…I’m going in.’

A rainbow-colored portal emitting immense mana.

It could very well be a trap, but Kaylen decided to enter it.

‘Inside, the Celestial Demon God’s long-devised scheme must be waiting.’

The Celestial Demon God’s plan to save the Theia race—his own kind—

Was surely hidden within.

Kaylen looked at the shrinking portal and felt certain.

‘Let’s end this.’

Whoosh—

Beyond the portal—

It was a space completely detached from this world, a place of utter alienness.

The ground beneath his feet was composed of massive interlocked gears endlessly rotating.

And in the sky, hundreds—thousands—of gigantic clocks were all moving their minute and second hands in unison.

‘And in the air, numbers are flying around.’

Numbers floated and vanished around Kaylen as well.

From 0 to 9, countless digits appeared and disappeared.

Step. Step.

As Kaylen stepped deeper into this strange space—

“…You.”

The Celestial Demon God, whose face was stitched together in fragments, stood there, glaring at Kaylen with gritted teeth.

“To think you followed me all the way here… What kind of grudge drives you to chase me this far?”

“Enemies like you must be dealt with properly. Otherwise, there’ll be consequences later.”

“Consequences?! I’ve already given up on ruling the moon. My power no longer holds sway over Earth. The only thing I desire now… is to revive the Theia race, lost during the planetary collision!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! The Dark Star has collapsed, and even the sunstones—you destroyed them completely! I can no longer affect Earth at all! So I beg you—just leave now… Let me finish what I started—for the sake of the Theians.”

The Celestial Demon God's face, pieced together like a mosaic of fragments, shifted, each shard forming a pleading expression toward Kaylen.

As a celestial god—

And further still, as the Celestial Demon God who once ruled both the heavenly and demonic realms, and even after being exiled from Earth, reigned as the sovereign of the great satellite known as the Moon—

He now stood here, pathetically appealing to Kaylen with desperation.

“If you use all your strength here, you won’t be able to return to Earth either. Wouldn’t it be better to retreat?”

“Hmm…”

“Please… I beg you…!”

Tears welled up in the eyes embedded in the Celestial Demon God's fragmented face.

A pathetic sight, unbecoming of a being known as the Celestial Demon.

A god who had once ruled with absolute power was now groveling in such a pitiful manner—his wretchedness all the more apparent.

It was enough to shake Kaylen’s resolve.

But—

“No. It won’t work.”

“…Why? I swear in the name of the gods—I’ll never set foot in ‘the current Earth’ again!”

“That’s exactly why.”

The current Earth.

At a glance, it didn’t seem like a strange phrase—

But Kaylen felt something off about it.

That strange feeling had begun when he first encountered the Celestial Demon God back at the Dark Star.

—"I will no longer interfere in the current Earth. If the moonlight that reaches Earth troubles you, I can withdraw even that. So, O Sword, return. I am no longer your enemy.”

“The current Earth. The present Earth.” The Earth the Celestial Demon God claimed to avoid—

Always came with the qualifier, “present.”

“There must be a reason he keeps emphasizing the present.”

“Come to think of it… this world, too. It’s full of numbers and clocks.”

At that remark, the tears vanished from the Celestial Demon God’s eyes.

At his lips, a faint, bitter smile curled, as if he found it all ridiculous.

“Keuk… Kekeuk. So you rejected my proposal just because of that one word?”

“Yeah. You’re not the type to say something meaningless.”

“Huhu… No. I’m not some all-knowing, all-powerful being. I make mistakes too. Yes… that was meaningless.”

Rrrrrumble…

The giant gears spinning beneath their feet sped up even more.

At the same time, behind the Celestial Demon God, mana gathered—

And radiant wings of light burst open with blinding force.

“In the joy of everything going according to plan, I let slip my true intentions…”

Shuuuu…!

Toward Kaylen—

Beams of divine light from the Celestial Demon God shot forth all at once.

His final hidden power—

Now bared its killing intent at Kaylen.

“Now, I’ll stake everything I have… and defeat you, O Sword.”

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]