I’m the Madman of This Family

Chapter 374. A Future Without Me (2)

Keter is undoubtedly versatile. However, no matter how skilled he is, he doesn’t know how to perform a ‘resurrection.’

Instead, what Keter believed in was his lineage. Even though he had been abandoned, his mother was a god, and his father wasn’t just any ordinary being. Additionally, his body had absorbed the heart of a dragon.

‘Even if I die, if my injuries are relatively clean, I might come back to life, right?’

It wasn’t a certainty but a hypothesis. Yet, Keter staked his fate on that hypothesis.

Just before being attacked by Jenny, Keter had already used the ‘Drone’ of the Celestial Infinity Technique.

The Drone was an arrow imbued with Keter’s will, and the arrow manifested through Ain, which contained divine power, could be said to be alive.

‘Protect me until I resurrect.’

When he died, energy would naturally be released from his body, so theoretically, there would be no shortage of arrows.

This meant that Marhan wasn’t fighting a living Keter. He was fighting against the ‘posthumous command’ Keter had set just before his death.

And as Keter had predicted, his body resurrected. Naturally, just 10 minutes after his death.

“I guess I’m finally starting to feel the benefits of my lineage.”

“What are you talking about, Keter!”

Marhan shouted in response to Keter’s muttering. Keter, startled, replied.

“What? Why are you still here?”

“Have you lost your mind? No, you were always a madman.”

Marhan made a gesture as if he was about to attack immediately, but Keter knew. A scared dog barks louder.

Keter calmly took out a spare set of clothes from his pocket and put them on.

“Marhan. Considering our past connection, I’ll give you two special choices. Do you want to die now, or later?”

“…What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Choose whether you want to die by my hand now or by the Grand Duke’s hand later.”

Keter didn’t even bother to ask if Marhan had come under the Grand Duke’s orders. It was obvious.

Marhan’s silence confirmed Keter’s speculation. Though he seemed to just glare at Keter, Keter knew. That was Marhan’s way of saying, ‘I’m currently deep in thought.’

As Marhan’s silence dragged on, Keter created an arrow and held it in his hand.

“It’s exhausting to spare a loser. Let’s just end this.”

“Why do you keep talking as if I’m destined to lose? I still have plenty of eyes left.”

“Even if you had hundreds more eyes… No, hundreds might be an exaggeration, but even if you had dozens more, you still couldn’t beat me. Do you know why? You only mimic techniques. You use abilities you don’t even understand. That’s why no matter how great the technique, it can’t reach its full potential.”

Even if Marhan wanted to argue, the reality was exactly as Keter said.

He had used six spells equivalent to 7th or 8th circle magic. Even though he had used his authority to affect Keter’s mind, Keter was not only unharmed but seemed to have retained his stamina.

Honestly, the reason Marhan hadn’t attacked immediately was that the word ‘victory’ didn’t even come to mind.

But he couldn’t back down either, not because of pride but because he was bound by a contract with Grand Duke Alkione.

Marhan spoke with a bitter expression.

“Fights with uncertain outcomes aren’t my style. But this time, I can’t back down either. To gain freedom from the Grand Duke, I must kill you.”

“Did the Grand Duke order you to kill me?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me more. How exactly did the Grand Duke phrase it?”

Marhan found it hard to understand why Keter was asking this, but he hesitated slightly.

‘Time is on my side.’

The eyes he had used were closed and unusable for now, but they weren’t permanently disabled. They would recover, so if he could buy time through conversation, it was to his advantage.

“He told me to wait on Underground Level 1. If anything enters the underground, destroy it completely, leaving no trace.”

“Did he say it exactly like that? Without omitting anything?”

“…Yes.”

“He didn’t set a deadline, did he? Then let’s do it later.”

“What…?”

“He didn’t say to destroy it ‘immediately.’ So we can just say we’ll do it later and move on.”

“What… The contract with the Grand Duke isn’t a verbal agreement. It’s an oath bound by the soul. There’s no way to escape that.”

“It’s precisely because it’s a soul-bound oath that you can escape. If you truly didn’t hear the word ‘immediately,’ you’ll admit it yourself. That you didn’t break the contract. In this regard, the Grand Duke is quite foolish.”

It wasn’t the Grand Duke who was foolish. He simply never imagined Keter would resolve the issue through ‘dialogue.’

After all, Transcendent Beings take pride in their power. Without pride, it’s impossible to become a Transcendent Being in the first place.

But for someone who takes pride in their power to negotiate with an enemy instead of fighting? That’s completely outside the ‘common sense’ of all Transcendent Beings, not just the Grand Duke.

However, Keter is more than willing to make a deal if possible. And if there’s a loophole, he won’t hesitate to exploit it.

Marhan felt there was some truth to Keter’s words, but he also felt uneasy.

“Even if I didn’t break the contract, the Grand Duke might… Ah.”

“That’s why I said it. Do you want to die by my hand now, or by the Grand Duke’s hand later? Though there’s a chance you might not die by the Grand Duke’s hand, if you fight me, you’ll die 100%.”

“Your confidence is through the roof.”

“If you don’t have parents, you need confidence to survive in Ruquer.”

“…….”

Marhan bit his lower lip. Honestly, he had come to accept that defeating Keter outright was ‘impossible.’

At best, it would be mutual destruction. And such a reckless fight wasn’t Marhan’s style.

“You always manage to slip away, Keter.”

The eyes all over his body closed. Marhan had accepted Keter’s negotiation.

Marhan spoke as if he was showing mercy to Keter.

“And you even gave me a good hint. It’s true, as you said, I never thought to understand the techniques I stole. But it seems soulless attacks don’t work on someone as strong as you.”

Swish.

Marhan, who had stylishly put on his outer garment, turned his back and waved his hand.

“I haven’t given up. I will definitely take your eyes. This isn’t the Grand Duke’s order, but my own will.”

With those solemn words, Marhan tried to leave.

But Keter roughly grabbed Marhan’s shoulder. Marhan broke into a cold sweat. Only when his shoulder was grabbed did he realize he had been caught.

If Keter had intended to kill him, he would have been dead instantly.

“I spared your life, and you’re leaving as if you’re doing me a favor? That’s not polite.”

“…Then what?”

“Hand it over.”

“What…?”

“Something worth the trouble of sparing your life.”

Marhan gulped, pondering what he could give Keter to satisfy him, and eventually spoke.

The only entrance connecting Ruquer and the underground opened. Out came Marhan.

His steps were sluggish, his shoulders slumped. His expression seemed to reflect the futility of life.

“So it was you inside, Marhan.”

Jenny, sitting on a beam, called out to him. Marhan wiped his face and responded.

“If you’re going to kill Keter, you should chop him into pieces. If the Grand Duke finds out, he won’t let you off.”

“Heh. You don’t seem much different.”

“At least I fought Keter.”

“So did I.”

“You don’t look injured.”

“I’m strong.”

“Ha! Seems Keter went easy on you because you’re a woman.”

“Did Keter flick your forehead? He’s not the type to go easy on anyone.”

“So you’re saying you’re stronger than me?”

Marhan’s pride had already hit rock bottom. He had even used his authority to try and kill Keter, but couldn’t even leave a scratch.

Of course, he hadn’t been directly hit by Keter, but he had suffered internal injuries from the recoil of his techniques. Already frustrated, Jenny’s provocation made him explode.

Jenny rattled her chains and replied.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“It’s not!”

Having been told by Keter that he was ‘weak,’ Marhan, now being treated as weak by Jenny, immediately shot lightning from his hand.

Jenny, as if expecting it, leaped over the lightning and said.

“Weak and petty.”

“Shut up!”

There was no hesitation like when he fought Keter. Marhan chose to fight rather than talk. That was the way of Ruquer, the way of Transcendent Beings.

Boom!

The area, already a mess from Jenny and Keter’s fight, was completely obliterated as the two went wild. The traces of it being a church vanished entirely.

Marhan’s attacks were unavoidable, wide-range assaults. He knew Jenny was an assassin.

But Jenny, unlike an assassin, tore through his attacks head-on. Her scythe could cut through anything, whether it had form or not.

That was her authority, ‘Severance.’

As simple as the name, her scythe could ‘cut through anything.’ To be precise, it could only cut what she ‘believed’ she could cut, but that was her secret.

‘Damn it. I’m not weak.’

Marhan had lost to Keter, but he firmly believed his abilities were among the top ten in the world.

He thought he had lost to Keter simply due to bad compatibility, and he looked down on Jenny with her chain scythe, thinking she was beneath him. But the fight dragged on, and it irritated him.

What made it even more frustrating was that Jenny didn’t seem to have any intention of harming him.

“Are you scared? Fight properly!”

“If I kill you, Keter will be upset. He went through the trouble of sparing you.”

“You btch!”

Marhan hadn’t intended to use his authority, but those words struck a nerve, and he immediately tried to summon the eyes of a Transcendent Being.

But at that moment—

His body suddenly froze, and Jenny, who had been flying around in the sky, landed on the ground and crouched.

Drip.

Sweat simultaneously formed on Marhan and Jenny’s foreheads and dripped down.

They didn’t even dare to breathe or move their eyes. They were certain that even the slightest movement would lead to ‘death.’

And it wasn’t a misconception.

“The Grand Duke said there was no need to go… but as expected.”

A voice echoed from far away. Yet, it pierced their ears and stabbed at their hearts.

A voice as dry as desert sand, accompanied by footsteps that sent chills down their spines.

There was only one person in this world who could make such a sound.

“Walt….”

The Sword Demon of Ruquer, Walt.

As Marhan muttered the name, a shadow loomed over him. Walt, who had been far away, was now right in front of Marhan.

Even worse, a sword was already at Marhan’s throat, as if it had always been there.

Walt roughly grabbed Marhan’s hair and whispered in his ear.

“You’re short on words.”

“W-Walt, sir.”

“I didn’t expect you to defeat Keter. But I thought you’d at least buy some time… yet here you are, unharmed.”

Thud!

Walt slammed Marhan’s face into the ground and pressed his foot against the back of Marhan’s head.

“I thought you were a wolf, but you’re just a mutt. My mistake for misjudging you. And—”

Walt stretched out his right hand into the air. Suddenly, Jenny’s neck was grabbed out of nowhere.

Jenny, as if expecting it, swung her scythe with all her might, but—

Slice.

With a single cutting sound, her chain scythe was shattered into pieces.

Walt didn’t even swing his sword. With just the ‘intent’ to cut, he effortlessly severed the scythe of another Transcendent Being.

“Jenny. I clearly warned you. Not to help Keter.”

If Walt applied even a little more force, her slender neck would snap. Yet, she boldly replied.

“You told me not to, so I wanted to do it even more.”

Bang!

Walt slammed Jenny into the ground as well. Then, with the Blood Sword Dracula in his left hand, he made a short swing.

Swoosh.

Blood erupted from Dracula, transforming into small swords that pierced Jenny and Marhan’s stomachs, pinning them to the ground.

Neither of them let out a groan, but they couldn’t hide their expressions of defeat.

‘I can’t move my body.’

This wasn’t the Blood Sword from when Keter first discovered it. Like the Demon Sword Apophis, Dracula in its ‘released’ state wielded the authority of blood. A power that could bind even Transcendent Beings.

“Wait here. It won’t take long.”

Walt, having recalled the Blood Sword, headed towards the underground entrance, leaving them with a despairing announcement.

“I’ll bring the Keter you so desperately believe in and kill him right before your eyes.”

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