Read Novel Full Chapter 321: Ideal Clash
Chapter 321: Ideal Clash
Grady clapped.
“How passionate!”
Vale shivered as her dreadful glare drifted to him.
Rivania said:
“And… the vile existence itself. I have a question for you.”
It took effort, but Vale managed to give back a faint nod.
Rivania growled:
“Are you the one who killed him? Apostle Miach? A valiant man who wore a white robe and wielded a tall wooden staff?”
Grady’s eyes blinked wildly as he looked at Vale, a terrible smile growing on his wrinkled face.
Despite the crushing weight of Rivania’s Aether, Vale bit his tongue, then squawked out.
“And what if I did?”
Her glare tightened as the irritation in her voice flattened out into something much crueler.
“Nothing… I merely wished to know if there was another reason to add to the already too long list of reasons as to why your kind is better off left in history. But, that look in your eyes tells me it was indeed your doing, as I’ve already surmised.”
Grady patted Vale on the shoulder.
“Wow! I can’t believe you’ve been hiding such a feat from me! Killing one of those idiots is a true accomplishment! Had you mentioned that, you wouldn’t have had to prove yourself at all!”
Thankfully, Grady’s words drew Rivania’s gaze back to him.
“Iron General… I know we are enemies, but before today I thought you a man of valor. Now I see you for what you truly are: the husk of a knight. An example of what years of bloodstained hands do to a nobleman. Oh, how far you have fallen.”
Grady scowled.
“Quite the opposite, dear Holy Maiden. I have not mindlessly cast off my knightly honor, but merely witnessed the fault of those values. When one’s hands are stained red to the core, they see the error of honor. What use is honor if it gets you and your soldiers killed? What use is honor to a dead man? None. If you wish to fight honorably, then have fun dying honorably.”
Rivania clenched her gauntleted fist.
“Winning a tainted victory is no victory at all. If my honor leads me to the grave, so be it.”
Grady shook his head.
“Is that what you believe, or the will of your goddess? Because, in my eyes, what goddess would will her people to die pitifully? Would a god not want what’s best for their people, even if that meant tormenting others?”
“Nobody knows what Goddess Celestia believes. We are merely interpreters of her vast will. Our goddess’s grace envelops a code of order you heathens would never dare begin to understand. But let me translate for you, mutt: We’d all rather die as humans than live as monsters.”
Grady scoffed.
“Then die you shall. We ‘monsters’ will be the couriers carrying you all to your goddess’s waiting arms. I’m sure she’ll love finally getting to see her followers.”
Rivania’s death stare all of a sudden dropped.
“I’m a fool… Talking to you was a personal matter. I should have shelved it for the battlefield… I trust your sword will speak truer words than that foul mouth.”
“Naturally… my sword only knows one language.”
“As does mine.”
Rivania turned, her cape fluttering in the wind as she marched away.
‘…’
Vale let off a few breaths.
‘What the hell?!’
He knew the entire intent was to piss Celestia off…
‘But that much?! Seriously?! I’m loathed that much for existing?!’
And she could have at least referred to him as ‘Lust’ and not ‘that.’
‘Well… we did kill an Apostle.’
Couldn’t exactly blame her for that level of hatred…
However, it seemed like she would have acted that hatefully regardless!
Grady effervescently smiled and looked at Vale.
“That went well.”
‘Well…?’
For him maybe!
Vale thought he was going to die from that pressure. The absolute fear invading his body.
Salome, shivering herself back into reality, looked over at Grady and muttered:
“You remind me of a man I met once… A king…”
“What a valiant king he must have been to be like me!”
“He was known as the King of Fools — a Hollow Crowned King. Even as he lay bleeding out, he found it within him to make a joke in the face of death.”
Grady raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? So I see your comparison was not baseless at all!” Grady stared at Rivania’s fading back. “I too have now screamed jokes in the face of death.”
‘Huh?’
Vale didn’t like the sound of that…
‘I know she’s a monster…’
But why was Grady speaking as if he was destined for death!
‘You’re supposed to be my protector!’
Vale sighed, then muttered:
“We should probably get off this thing, right?”
Grady nodded.
“Yes, but no need to rush. That woman would never do something so low and petty as dispel it before we return… But don’t expect that same mercy when she’s wielding a blade.”
Vale, not exactly trusting of those words, wasted no time in turning and beginning his trek back.
That entire experience was one Vale wished he could forget. Yet, at the same time, it was one he let burn into his mind without reserve.
Grady. Rivania.
Those two were strong. They were a goal of what Vale aspired to be…
No… they were representative of a stepping stone on his path.
Vale needed to rise higher than either of them.
It wasn’t too long a walk. As Grady said, Rivania let the platform exist until they stepped back onto solid ground.
Gazing back, the blue platform crumbled and dissipated into the wind.
Grady chuckled at the sight, then said:
“Don’t worry, you didn’t come all this way just for that…” His eyes drifted to the walls of the fort they’d constructed. “Come. Eric here will show you around. And…”
Grady stepped forward, then turned. Staring openly at Salome and Vale, he howled:
“Where the hell have you been hiding someone this impressive! Ha! Truly, demoness, your mental fortitude is frightening!”
Vale smiled lightly.
‘Yeah, she is impressive.’
Then he looked past Grady and at the fort once again.
‘So, when you inevitably turn on us, be prepared to face her.’