BBYW Vol. 3 Chapter 58 (WN)
Chapter 58 – The Evil Gods’ Curse
”I was born one thousand years ago here in Atlantis, where the people who fled from the evil gods lived in hiding. I was raised without learning anything of the outside world: for me, this seafloor city was everything.”
I was deep in thought, going over all I was learning, but Drake continued talking.
“We lived in peace, all things considered, until the day the evil gods found Atlantis.”
“……”
“The power of the evil gods’ curses took the lives of most inhabitants. Some turned to ashes, others were transformed into bugs or vermin, others were left to rot alive. Me and my little sister managed to escape the city, with a few others, and decided to take revenge against the evil gods.”
“And then…”
I finally opened my mouth.
“Were you able to?”
“What do you think? Does this world look like there are evil gods prancing around?”
“I see…there was no need to even ask.”
I nodded and let out a long sigh.
If I were to believe Drake’s words, he and his companions had basically saved the world.
He would normally deserve to be treated with respect and admiration, yet I had to draw my sword against him: it all felt senseless.
“The price we paid for saving the world from the evil god ‘Angra Mainyu’, though, was to be cursed with immortality, condemned to the hell called eternal life.”
“So that’s how you became immortal…but using this sword, ‘Siegfried’, would have allowed you to die, right? Wasn’t it yours to begin with?”
I caressed the sword at my waist. Drake slowly shook his head and grimaced.
“It’s not that easy, boy. Angra Mainyu laid two curses on me: one is agelessness and immortality, the other is the inability to take my own life.”
“Which means…you can’t kill yourself?”
Drake nodded, spitefully.
He looked up and glared at the painting on the ceiling — specifically, the part that depicted the demons.
“A sword capable of slaying gods can kill even immortal beings. The other curse, however, prevents me from killing myself. For one thousand years I looked for someone else capable of wielding Siegfried, with no success.”
“……..”
“I had already given up on dying…and thought I might as well destroy the whole world, instead. I was starting to put things in motion…when you appeared.”
Drake shifted his gaze down from the ceiling, looking straight into my eyes, and smiled.
His fanged teeth were bared, an expression I often saw on Grace…and myself too.
“Who’d ever imagine that Grace’s own son would be able to wield Siegfried! What a twist of fate! Whim of the gods! A chance that will never come again were I to live another ten thousand years! I simply cannot let it pass!!”
“Really now. It’s high time we put an end to this, then.”
I drew my sword and pointed the tip at Drake.
The blade with the power to slay the gods, capable of severing all kinds of magic, now faced the millennial monster.
Drake’s words did make me reflect over various things. If only we had met in different circumstances — even such naive thoughts flashed in my mind.
Drake and I, however, were both swordsmen.
Any further dialogue was to be left to our blades.
“I cannot die of my own volition…but cornered in a place like this, I have nowhere to escape to anymore. Nor will I attempt to flee. I will struggle with all my strength, so you better give it your all if you want to kill me!!”
“You don’t need to tell me twice…here I go!!”
The bracelet on my arm flashed with a silver light, which enveloped my body like armor, filling me with strength.
“Come at me, my precious reaper!!”
Drake readied his sword. I charged at him, faster than the limits my body could allow.
In the solemn atmosphere of the cathedral, our blades clashed in an explosion of sparks.