Chapter 359
The world called Zactor the Martial Emperor.
He had always been confident. However, his confidence had no special reason. It was just that he had never been defeated by anyone in his entire life. The veteran knights, the high-ranking mages that people called “human weapons” during wars… Everyone had ended up kneeling down on the ground after Zactor had thrown his punch.
His confidence had reached the zenith after he had defeated Chrysler jean Sebastian, his biggest rival and one of the Nine Stars.
“I have the Empire under my control, so it should be the continent next,” Zactor had said.
After Zactor had taken the helm of the Empire, the Hubalt Empire’s next move was decided: unifying the continent. As the “Holy” Empire, Hubalt had been crying out for peace, but it had suddenly turned into a warmongering country. Of course, Zactor had met some obstacles before starting the war because the Pope, his savior and the person whom the people called His Holiness, had opposed the idea until the end.
* * *
“Give up now,” Zactor said.
“Zactor, you bastard…!” The Pope scowled at him.
“I defeated Sebastian, so I have sole authority on this matter. Wait.” Zactor tilted his head. “You aren’t seriously hoping that our Hubalt Empire meets the same end as the Avalon Empire, are you?”
“We’re priests who serve God, but you’re going to start a bloodbath all over the continent?!” the Pope shouted, his voice full of spite.
Zactor shook his head. “I didn’t believe in god to begin with.”
“Are you kidding me…!” the Pope growled.
“We call our country the Holy Empire and all, but it’s still an empire in the end. Wouldn’t it be a good thing if we mark the other country with our flag and spread God's word?” Zactor shrugged.
“Are you seriously hearing yourself? It’s all my fault. I’ve taught you wrong!” The Pope covered his face with his hands.
“His Holiness—no, Father.” Zactor smiled faintly.
“Shut up! I’m not changing my mind. If you and the Emperor are still determined to start a war, I’ll do everything in my power to stop you both,” the Pope declared.
“…So that is your final decision.” Zactor nodded. “Then I guess I could consider myself a bastard now.”
“What…?” The Pope frowned.
“I’m planning to lock you up in a prison cell myself, Father,” Zactor said with a smile.
“You bastard!”
That day, Zactor locked the Pope, his father, in the dungeon.
“Kekehahahaha!” Zactor laughed again and again as if he had gone mad.
* * *
The priests that talked all big as they sat in the corner of their rooms? Zactor killed them all. The paladins that were crying out for god? Zactor executed them himself and hung their heads near the castle gate. He made Hubalt the empire of warriors, not the Holy Empire.
On the other hand, he was having fun, although he only got rid of his father. He should have gotten rid of him sooner. Although he had become a Star, his damned peaceful life had been quite boring. Why did he care about the fact that the Pope was his father? It felt like everything in the world was going his way. Zactor thought no one could stop him now, but…
‘It doesn’t make any sense,’ he thought, biting his lip.
Zactor threw a punch as he returned his focus to the present. No, he thought he threw a punch at Joshua Sanders as the spearman was charging toward him like a lightning bolt at surreal speeds. His fist seemed to crawl to a halt mid-punch.
‘Why am I not moving?’ Zactor wondered. Had he become paralyzed? No, Zactor was able to follow Joshua’s movement, but Zactor couldn’t move as fast as Joshua.
At this rate, he was going to be skewered by the veritable ray of light that Joshua’s spear had become. Now was the time for Zactor to use his ace in the hole. He had no other choice—he was going to definitely lose otherwise. Zactor immediately drew upon his true mana. The air shook like never before, and Zactor could continue his punch straight toward Joshua.
Zactor wasn’t going to lose the initiative he regained and was promptly rewarded with a ground-shaking impact.
“You!”
The shockwave from the collision between Joshua’s spear and Zactor’s fist was so strong that Zactor’s right fist went numb. Despite everything, he closed further in on Joshua; Zactor knew he had to take some damage in order to win this battle.
Zacto whipped his foot through a neat spinning kick that smacked against Joshua’s upheld arm with a bang like a drum exploding. However, Zactor relentlessly continued his attack. Joshua’s temple, philtrum, Adam’s apple, tendons… Zactor turned his lethally weaponized body against Joshua’s vital points again and again.
While Zactor’s endless storm of attacks proceeded, Joshua’s eyes turned cold even as he blocked every attack.
‘Is he using his true mana?’ Joshua mused.
He tightened his grip on his spear. Zactor was putting his everything into this fight, even his life. Although Zactor had a terrible ethos, Joshua still had to pay his respect to an enemy who staked everything on a fight.
Joshua came to a decision and immediately shoved Zactor away with his spear and sprang forward.
“Idiot!” Zactor exclaimed with a sneer. He couldn’t believe Joshua was voluntarily entering his attack range. He had to be crazy to approach Zactor, a close-quarters fighter. Besides, Zactor was using his fists, not a sword, so he was certain that he could throw ten punches in the time it took Joshua thrust his long spear once. Even if Joshua abandoned the spear and fought hand-to-hand against him, Zactor wasn’t going to lose. He’d awakened his true mana and he could move incredibly fast!
…But in contrast to Zactor’s analysis, the fight did not go his way. Zactor’s initial plan was to deflect Joshua’s incoming spear attack and step back a little to throw a counterpunch—however, Joshua wasn’t slower than Zactor in spite of the fact that he was using a spear. In addition, the spear wasn’t his only weapon.
“…Keugh!” Zactor groaned in pain after he took a straight punch to his right breast.
At some point, Joshua’s spear had disappeared and Joshua had turned to his fists. Yet, whenever Zactor tried to respond to Joshua’s punches, Joshua was using that damned spear again. Joshua’s fighting techniques made it impossible for Zactor to pull himself together. Joshua was truly worthy of the name of Martial God.
“Ah, fuck!” Zactor cursed. He brought his arms close up against his chest, focusing all his mana into his fists. Helplessly letting his opponent strike him wasn’t his style, so he was going to use the ultimate technique that had made him the Martial Emperor: it was Infinite Rainshower, the fist technique that was about striking all the human vital points in a flash with countless punches.
A totally different kind of explosion split the air. Just like the technique’s name, Zactor poured out his aura, seemingly without limits. A bundle of beautiful aura rays was fired off in a focused blast.
Joshua silently tracked the movement of all the aura rays that were flying toward him, and slowly held up his spear.
Just like before, Joshua lightly swung his spear. It may have looked like he only moved once, but Zactor could sense that Joshua had performed hundreds of movements in a single second, leaving behind a flurry of afterimages of his spear in the air.
Joshua used Magic Spear Arts, Level 8: High-Speed Spear, thrusting his spear like a storm. He brought down every single aura ray flying toward him, even though there were at least hundreds of them.
That wasn’t all. Using the momentum, Joshua pushed Zactor back over ten meters.
“Keugh!” Zactor was hit in the lower abdomen, where his mana hall was, and went flying.
The gigantic man collapsed in the center of the colosseum.
“…Agh!” Zactor trembled for a moment and then coughed up blood, but the blood was black, indicating that his internal injuries were quite serious. However, he didn’t give up. He forced himself to stand up in spite of his wobbling legs. “Huff… Huff…”
He collapsed again.
After collapsing and standing dozens of times…
“ Wh… y…” Zactor choked out.
Then he fainted.
“Oh my god…”
The citizens of the Hubalt Empire watching the fight were rendered speechless. They were utterly shocked by the sight.
Although they clearly outnumbered Joshua, the citizens lost their will to fight completely—there was no way they could defeat such a monster. They had seen the fight with their own eyes, but they still couldn’t believe it. The Martial Emperor Zactor had been their idol forever and the greatest Absolute in the Hubalt Empire—no, in the continent, but…
“You all are the same,” Joshua said.
The Hubalt knights flinched, realizing that the monster was looking at them.
Joshua was the man who had gone up against a million soldiers and now defeated the knights’ idol. He was the Hero King—no, the Martial God, Joshua Sanders.
“Aren’t you all ashamed of yourselves?” Joshua chided. “There are so many of you, but you immediately tuck your tails between your legs after your master loses.”
Some knights clenched their fists from the stinging wound to their pride, but they still couldn’t bring themselves to attack Joshua. They knew that they had no chance of winning against Joshua Sanders, but they still felt bad deep in their hearts.
“You all knew that it was wrong,” Joshua accused them. “You should have stopped your master using any means necessary, even if it cost you your lives. A knight that feels scared of their master when they should have trusted and relied on their master? Isn’t that too pitiful?”
They were well aware of their fear. Their master had backstabbed his father without hesitation, so the knights didn’t need to wonder what their master was going to do with his subordinates. Who would be able to trust and rely on such a master?
“The Martial Emperor… really lost?” a Hubalt knight mumbled.
Everyone was brought back to reality as the silence was broken.
The word “lost” left a deep impression on them.
The knight dropped his sword. Today, the Second Sky of the continent had been utterly defeated before all the Hubalt knights.
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