Chapter 635. The Lion (3)

If those with magical talent aspired to the Magic Tower, then those with martial prowess set their sights on becoming knights.
Especially for those born into insignificant families, becoming a knight was the only path to success.
Harkon was no different.

Harkon Kingsguard.

He had willingly abandoned his family name and vowed to live as a sword for the emperor.
For Harkon, neither his family nor his bloodline held any significant meaning.

Perhaps because of that—perhaps in spite of that—
Harkon had never once retreated from the battlefield for the sake of the Empire.
At least, not until the Great Cataclysm, when the demons appeared.

-“Your Majesty, what should I do…?”

To Harkon, life before the Lionheart Knights was meaningless.

So when he was updated into the adventurers’ world—
That is, the real world—the shock he must have felt didn’t even need to be put into words.

-“Commander Harkon, perhaps you should rest for a while…”
-“Rest? The Empire is suffering under the demons at this very moment, Jessica Bright. A knight of the Four Limbs cannot afford the luxury of catching their breath. We die on the battlefield.”
-“…I will follow your orders.”

…Come to think of it, I never even got to apologize to Jessica.

“What foolish hope are you clinging to, lowly knight?”

Dragged back to reality from his memories, Harkon faced forward.
Before him stood the God of War, possessing the body of an adventurer.
His true form was now laid bare.

His presence was fundamentally different from demons that possessed human bodies.

Harkon felt the karma wrapping around him waver.
More precisely—
He clenched his fist to hold onto the karma that threatened to scatter.

‘As expected, karma is not a power meant to be held by mere humans.’

The blessing granted by Hiel was as thin as a veil.
If it were to be stripped away,
Then both its beneficial effects and the karma itself would vanish.

‘And if that happens…’

Harkon looked down at the Celestial Sword, Excalibur, gripped tightly in his hand.

‘Then this sword will fall into his hands as well.’

At that moment—

“!”

The God of War disappeared from his sight once again.
His movements were so fast that the old lion’s eyes couldn’t even track him.
But Harkon did not overlook the lesson from his shattered plate armor.

‘One strike nearly took my life.’

In other words,
He couldn’t afford to take even a single hit from now on.
Faced with that reality, Harkon slowly closed his eyes.

Swoosh.

He assumed the stance of the lion, the ultimate form attained by knights of the Lionheart Order.
Lowering his raised weapon until it hovered at his waist,
His posture looked as if he were a lion sprawled lazily across the grasslands, relaxed beyond measure.

For a being who had mastered all tactics and strategies—the God of War—

Harkon’s stance?
It was full of openings.
Arrogant.
Did he surrender to despair?
His posture raised more than a few questions.

‘I won’t be fooled.’

But the God of War did not hesitate.

‘There won’t be a second miracle.’

His initial ambush had confirmed the overwhelming difference in power between them.
Without hesitation, he lunged toward Harkon’s blind spot—
A direct charge meant to pierce through his body.

Hesitation.

‘Wait.’

But as the God of War,
As one who had mastered all tactics and strategies,
His body instinctively halted.

‘…What was that magic just now?’

The halo of light that had shone behind Harkon.
The moment it illuminated him,
His wounds had rapidly healed.

He had noticed it but brushed it off as trivial.
Why?

Because to a god, wound recovery was hardly surprising.
And more importantly,
Even if Harkon healed, it didn’t change the fact that he had no chance of winning.

But—

‘What if that wasn’t all there was to it?’

Something about Harkon’s stance set off a strange unease.

This wasn’t blind bravado.
This wasn’t resignation.
As mentioned before, this was the relaxed posture of a lion awaiting its prey.

And to prove that point, Harkon spoke.

“If you won’t come to me, then I’ll come to you.”

Step.

“?!”

In that instant, the God of War—
His body felt as if it had been bound by steel chains.
The reason was immediately clear.

The status window of the adventurer’s body he possessed flickered before his eyes.

[The Celestial Sword, ‘Excalibur’, has commanded your items to obey.]

This damned sword…!!

He had already analyzed Excalibur’s ability to dominate all weapons and armor.
But he had overlooked one thing—
That he was currently inhabiting an adventurer’s body.

Grit.

The God of War clenched his teeth and forced himself to move.
Now that Excalibur’s ability had activated,
He could no longer move at the speed of light as he had before.

Clang.

His best option now was to block Harkon’s sword head-on.
A miscalculation it may have been—
But the God of War calmly reassessed his odds.

‘Even with Excalibur’s power in play…’

The gap between him and this lowly knight was still more than enough to secure victory.

With his calculations complete,
The God of War forcefully repelled Excalibur and closed the distance.

Slice.

‘He still hasn’t mastered it.’

Excalibur wasn’t speaking to Harkon.
It refused to reveal its true power to a mere borrowed karma.

Indeed, I was not mistaken.

“……!!”

Squelch.

Once again, it was Harkon who suffered the injury.
In the brief moment their swords clashed,
Harkon’s strike missed—
While the God of War’s sword pierced his forearm.

No mercy.
No hesitation.
No restraint.

How had he slaughtered the Pantheon?
Because he left no loose ends.
He never wasted an opportunity to secure victory.

Slash.

As Harkon stumbled, the God of War unleashed a relentless barrage.
The magical circles flickered several times, but he ignored them.

‘At most, they just help him endure a bit longer.’

But the God of War did not realize—

That the one who had set those magic circles was Hoyeol.
And the reason he didn’t even suspect it, despite taking its effects head-on,
Was simple—

Because the Hoyeol he had fought before…

Was never alone.

He was with Grandfell.

The God of War let out a sigh of relief.

‘Hoyeol… I am grateful you are not in this world.’

Even in this new realm,
Even with all his newfound abilities,
He had no confidence he could defeat Hoyeol in a direct fight.

But—

“This is the end, lowly knight.”

If he could seize Excalibur, then the story would change.

For he was the God of War.
One who ruled all weapons.
And with Excalibur in his grasp…

‘I will never lose to you in a war.’

Thud.

At that moment, Harkon collapsed to his knees.
The old lion had been brave, but that was all.
For a brief moment, a halo of light had shone upon him, but that was all.

The God of War muttered.

“Even after borrowing the power of Excalibur, you still fought me with a body that couldn’t even stand properly. I, the God of War, commend you. Among all the knights I have faced, you were the greatest and the bravest.”

Before the gates of the Pantheon had closed—

The God of War had appeared in countless battles.
Perhaps it was the joy of finally holding Excalibur, the Celestial Sword, in his grasp.
Under normal circumstances, he would have beheaded Harkon immediately,
Yet, in an act of mercy, he chose to spare him.

“Did you know, old knight?”

“In every war your empire called a ‘miracle,’ I was always there. Not because I sought to help anyone, nor because I answered the prayers of those who worshiped me. It was merely… entertainment.”

A smirk crept onto his lips.

“What you humans call ‘miracles’ were nothing more than my amusements.”

Harkon did not respond.
He simply gasped for breath, struggling to steady himself.

‘So this is the gap between a god and a human?’

The outcome of wars had always been decided by his whims.
Had he not faced him in battle, Harkon would have never believed it.
But now, with his body battered and broken—

He had no room to argue.

‘…I have no excuse, my Lord.’

It was all because a toothless lion had been blinded by ambition.
Because he had refused to acknowledge his limits.
Because he had begged the World Tree for blessings.
Because even that hadn’t been enough, and so he had reached for Excalibur.

And beyond all of that—

‘To think I dared to question his very nature.’

Light and darkness.

Harkon had witnessed the light cast by the magic circle, prepared just for him.
The one who had created it—
It had to be Hiel, who had spoken of “the Light”—
The one she had called Lord Hoyeol.

His clenched fist trembled.

‘He was not wrong.’

Harkon didn’t want to admit it.
But he had no choice.

‘It wasn’t him who failed—it was me.’

Harkon was certain.

Hoyeol had anticipated everything—
His reckless actions,
His decision to seize Excalibur,
Even the God of War’s arrival before him.

Hoyeol had prepared the magic circles in the Yusra Kingdom specifically for him.

And because of that, Harkon could only blame himself.

“…I finally see the depths of my inadequacy.”

Harkon’s words made the God of War tilt his head.

“I offered you my praise, yet you wallow in arrogant self-pity?”

His interest waned.

The God of War no longer saw Harkon as a lion.
To his eyes, he was nothing more than a weak human awaiting death.
And the God of War was not merciful enough to waste words on such a being.

“Very well. That would be fitting.”

No, he went even further.

“I shall take your life with the very Excalibur you wielded.”

As if to mock Harkon—

“This is the true authority of Excalibur.”

He aimed Excalibur at Harkon’s neck.
At that moment, a true Karma began to coil around Excalibur.
Even the God of War was taken aback by its resonance.

‘Celestial Sword, had you been waiting for this moment as well?’

Thump, thump, thump!

The heartbeat of Excalibur pulsed violently.
Just as a smile began to form on the God of War’s face—
A chilling force crawled up his spine.

“……?”

It didn’t take long for him to realize what it was.
The old lion, who had been on the brink of death,
Harkon, finally spoke.

“……Even so, I knew it would be like this, my Lord.”
“What nonsense are you babbling?”
“As expected, my Lord is always my Lord.”

Who is who?

“Where the hell did you even learn to talk like that—?!”

The God of War never finished his sentence.
Because he already knew exactly who had taught him.
The marks engraved upon his own body revealed the answer.

Shudder.

‘……Am I trembling?’

Once again, Harkon spoke, as if to prove it.

“The Light is my Lord, and The Darkness is also my Lord. If my thoughts are correct, then just as the Light has done, the Infinitely Deep Darkness would have also prepared something for me. Isn’t that right, my Lord?”

And as if in response—

Fwoooosh.

Magic circles, inscribed with the rightful mana, floated into the air.
At the same time, a telepathic voice echoed in Harkon’s mind.

—Harkon Kingsguard.

“The old lion hears your words, Supreme Commander.”

—I, Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo, command you.
—Until your final breath.
—Follow a Ray of Light.

“……!”

—Even if it appears as if it will consume everything.

It was the command left to him by the infinitely deep darkness himself.

—For in the end, the Light shall reach its conclusion.

Just as my Lord had always done.
There was no lie in those words.
On the contrary, it was akin to a confession—
A confession that the World Tree had been right all along.

But Harkon did not care for such trivial truths.

Instead, his lips curled into a smirk.

“God, Harkon has awaited your command.”

To [be loyal], [be brave], and [be willing to sacrifice]—
That was all Harkon was.
A mere human who knew his own limits.

“God. World Tree. My condolences.”
“……?”
“This old, foolish lion does not understand grand causes.”

And at that moment—
The preparations left behind by the infinitely deep darkness finally arrived.

Fwooooosh.

As the darkness receded, something was revealed.

“T-That sword…?”

A demonic sword, terrifying even in appearance.

Clang.

Harkon drew the blade and pointed it at the God of War.

“However—”
“……!”
“For the sake of the master I serve—I will tear my enemies apart even with just my gums!”

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Wait a minute.

I, Lee Hoyeol, stared blankly at the notification before me.
It was only then that I realized—
Because I had overslept—

[Blessed Northern Star Warrior: Lv. 2,400]

‘No wonder my waist feels light…’

I had left Gwicheol (Ego Sword) back in the Yusra Kingdom’s office…?!