How A Mythical Holy Knight Lives As A Villain (Novel) - Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Thud! Thud! Thud!
Go Johan’s heart was pounding.
If asked if it was because of Kartul, it wouldn’t be entirely wrong to say so.
Thud! Thud!
This heartbeat had started again when the Black Gate opened.
From the moment he cut down the orcs and knew Kartul would appear.
Smirk.
His heart was beating like crazy.
And each time.
Whoosh.
It felt like something that had been constricting him was disappearing.
“Ah, now you seem like the one I knew.”
Kartul’s voice.
A question arose.
“Have I changed?”
He knew he had changed.
His meeting with Kartul was when Michael declared himself the Knight of the Goddess.
Since then, he had gone through many things, overcome trials, and waged war against demons.
And now, more than 20 years since he was reborn as Go Johan.
“Too much.”
Kartul spoke as if stating a fact.
“You.”
Smirk.
The smiling figure moved his twin greatswords.
“Were closer to an orc than any other human.”
Crash!
Go Johan’s arms blocked the twin greatswords.
And then.
Whoosh!
Kartul’s face suddenly came close, his eyes flickering with madness.
“Free! Strong! More than anyone!”
Crack!
“Mad!”
Crash!
“Much must have happened since then.”
Kartul approached Go Johan, who had been pushed back, and increased his speed.
That insane orc chieftain was not only powerful in a single strike but also incomparably fast.
“The demons called you the Slayer of the Demon God!”
Crash!
The power in each strike grew stronger, but Go Johan didn’t retreat much.
[Fanaticism is activated.]
[Faith stats are converted into strength, agility…]
By dividing sin and curse, he could use his faith in the goddess.
Though he could no longer call himself the Knight of the Goddess…
“Have you abandoned your god? Your beliefs? Your pride?”
Flicker.
“Your…”
Crash!
Nothing was visible around them.
It was as if only Kartul and Go Johan stood on the battlefield.
“Have you abandoned your madness?”
At that moment.
Thud!
His heart pounded again.
“What made you afraid? What changed you? What? What?”
Crash!
“What!”
Memories—Go Johan felt as if he was being sucked into the phantom of the past.
The image of himself facing Kartul on the land called the Black Land.
“Can’t even hold a sword?”
He had declared himself a Monk Master, believing he now met the basic qualifications of a paladin.
So he took up the sword, so he swung the sword.
Ten million orcs.
“To you, our kin were nothing but dummies to hone your swordsmanship!”
They were nothing but a testing ground for Go Johan to learn how to wield a sword.
-You vile creatures!
He slashed, slashed, slashed, and slashed again.
“Do not disappoint me, Phantom Knight. The only reason I returned as his servant was to face you, my rival, once more.”
Crash!
Go Johan’s shoulder was torn off.
Even that arm dangled as if it would be torn off at any moment.
If Go Johan had grown stronger through the power of faith, so had Kartul.
[The Avatar of Ogurak reveals its true form.]
A being imbued with the power of a being called an evil god.
“You’ve grown so weak.”
Kartul’s voice.
Clang!
In his chest, it felt as if the chains had finally broken.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Smirk.
Go Johan smiled even as he felt pain that threatened to drive him mad.
Twitch.
Muscles reconnected of their own will, and skin regrew.
It happened in an instant.
“Yes, that’s it! You were more like an orc than anyone else.”
Kartul finally seemed satisfied as he adjusted his stance and spoke.
“More like a demon than anyone else.”
Sunken eyes.
Crash!
Kartul’s energy literally exploded.
‘Goddess.’
Since when had he stopped praying?
‘Goddess.’
He had pushed everything away, declaring that he would become a demon, a villain.
The first thing he pushed away was the ‘Goddess,’ who was his everything.
He thought it was wrong to call out her name on the path he had to walk.
He thought the path he had to walk was not the one the Goddess desired.
“Goddess…”
No.
“Goddess.”
Go Johan said with a smile.
Why had he thought that?
“I am the Knight of the Goddess.”
“Yes, you are that Phantom Knight.”
“I…”
He had been wrong.
[Faith stats have greatly increased.]
[Fanaticism effect has greatly increased.]
“I am the Knight of the Goddess.”
“Yes! You are that Phantom Knight!”
It was only him.
“In Trabania, the only one chasing that mad phantom was you!”
Then…
“The Goddess supports all my choices.”
The voice of the Goddess, called the system voice, was proof of that.
“The path I walk is the one the Goddess desires.”
Crash!
It was different now.
Kartul’s greatsword was deflected by Go Johan’s gesture.
And then.
[Class: Black Knight has been changed.]
[Class…]
At that moment, he felt an unbearable jealousy for his past self, the purity he had lost.
[Changed to the Knight of Jealousy.]
Without fear, wielding a sword to cut down orcs.
And proudly calling out the name of the Goddess.
“Ah, Goddess.”
Go Johan placed his hand on the mark of sin.
Click.
The collar broke, and the mark of sin fell into his hand.
Go Johan’s appearance also began to change.
[Authority: Wraith is activated.]
Throughout Go Johan and Michael’s lives, they had never been jealous of anything.
They had looked down on the kings of nations, and even the emperors of empires were not envied.
Nothing.
But now, for the first time, jealousy arose.
Twitch.
It was a wraith.
The purity of his past self when he fought Kartul.
[Wraith of Purity]
Silver-white hair, sky-blue eyes—nothing had changed.
But his eyes were filled with confidence and faith, and a smile flashed across his lips.
The armor was mithril, given by a knight who had offered it, and in his hand.
“Damn creature of evil.”
A dagger in the shape of a cross was held.
That was the only difference from the past.
A dagger that seemed to be made of light, its form indistinct—it was almost laughable to face that greatsword with it.
Sizzle!
Kartul felt chills run down his spine.
In the grip of the evil god, his soul had been taken as collateral, and he had been reborn as a demon.
Though he had not fought anything since then, he was certain just from the power he felt in his body.
‘I am strong.’
Kartul knew he had become a being incomparably stronger than before.
Though he only had six horns, if he honed himself further, he might one day face the evil god Ogurak, who had eight horns.
But now.
“…You’re insane.”
The chills from the past returned.
Back then, and now, the same thought.
“I’ll trample that filthy pig face of yours.”
That is a true monster.
His whole body felt light.
A joyful feeling wouldn’t fade.
“Hah.”
Laughter burst out.
Though the battlefield was filled with corpses and slaughter, Michael at that time laughed.
“Why had I forgotten?”
And then.
Whoosh.
He lightly swung the cross-shaped dagger in his hand.
At that moment.
Swoosh!
A blade of light was swung toward Kartul.
Kartul hastily crossed his twin greatswords to block.
Crash!
He was sent flying with a loud explosion.
“Impossible mana…!”
As Kartul shouted and tried to regain his stance.
“It’s not mana!”
Go Johan appeared above Kartul and shouted.
“It’s divinity!”
It was just a small dagger.
Like a child’s toy, but.
Crash!
When it stabbed into him, Kartul felt as if his whole body was being crushed.
“Do not compare the greatness of the Goddess to such a thing.”
“Madman…”
“What does a filthy creature of evil have to say?”
Slash.
With a light swing of the blade, one of Kartul’s arms was severed.
“……”
Disappointment flashed across Go Johan’s face.
“Even without the Goddess’s touch, you’re truly pitiful.”
The twin greatswords surged forward.
Go Johan.
Tap.
Stood on top of them.
“Ugh.”
Memories began to overlay Go Johan.
If only the moment before had been when he met Kartul.
“What are you?”
The current Go Johan had become a bit more solemn and heavier.
The dagger had grown slightly.
“You are clearly…”
And then.
Crash!
The dagger left a large scar on Kartul’s chest.
He became more solemn, heavier, and more cruel.
“Kartul?”
“Have you gone mad?”
“……”
“Now I can clearly see the power you possess!”
Crash!
Kartul poured out all his strength and stood up.
“You! You!”
The power pouring out of Go Johan now, projecting his past and summoning the past—its source was not the divinity Go Johan spoke of.
Since earlier, his god, Ogurak, had been screaming as if in agony.
“You-!”
Go Johan tilted his head, as if he didn’t understand the situation.
Seeing that, Ogurak screamed.
[???, Demon Michael manifests.]
At that moment.
The slightly grown dagger.
Now truly a dagger, it moved.
“……?”
That was all Kartul remembered.
Light.
And annihilation.
Kartul, and all the orcs behind him, turned to ash in an instant.
At that moment, Go Johan heard the Goddess’s voice.
[Wraith of Regret]
What stood there was a mass of malice, its form indistinct.
The world was dyed in darkness, and the malice seemed to cover the dimension.
The last time, when Go Johan—no, Michael—defeated the Demon God Balrog.
That was the time.
Whoosh!
With a surge of light, the mass split open, revealing its insides.
“I had forgotten everything.”
Go Johan.
As he returned to his original form and put the mark of sin back around his neck.
[The Black Land is destroyed.]
[You have gained a large amount of Karma Points.]
[Knight of Jealousy, Authority: Wraith has been unlocked.]
[The Mark of Sin has unlocked the form of the Great Sin.]
His heart was pounding, but his mind was calmer than ever.
On the land that seemed to have been torn apart.
“Captain!”
The apostles revealed themselves.