Emperor of Steel

Wheeeing-!

A gust of wind blew through the woods.

The scary dust which had gathered because of the arrow of light shot from Scarlet began to reside showing what had happened.

Some of the wild trees were broken, and several of the Gigants which were used for surrounding them were pushed back.

And if things were like that for the Gigants, then it was only right to mention the soldiers and knights.

“Uahhh!”

“Hold anything close!”

Luke’s soldiers bounced over even with their shields in the hands, they either rolled on the ground or hit some tree.

The knights on the back of the horses were the same, no one was in their position.

However, all these things hadn’t entered Philip’s vision.

His gaze was only looking for Luke.

He who was running over to look check on Luke, stopped at what he had witnessed.

‘Lo, Lord…!’

With his face distorted with a demonic expression, Luke stood tall.

The muscles had exposed themselves from the tightly worn armor, and his skin was as black as iron.

Philip wouldn’t have been so surprised with Luke stopping that attack, but the problem was with his appearance.

A horn-like bulge protruding between his disorganized face, snake-like scales on his arm, and a sword-like rake on the back of his hand.

‘Don’t tell me, did he end up using the dark magic?’

Philip, who knew that Luke had learned dark magic, felt slumped.

He wouldn’t have been worried if no one was around, but there were too many witnesses around.

“Kuak, what happened?”

“I think that arrow of light flew straight towards Lord…”

“Aht! Look over there!”

A few soldiers had got up from the ground to look for Luke before Philip could fix his broken heart.

Purple light shinning around him, Luke had returned back to his original state, but the number of soldiers who was Luke’s monster appearance wasn’t so few.

“Did I end up seeing something wrong?”

“No! it can’t be! Surely the appearance of Lord was weird!”

“These people! Can’t you be quiet?!”

Philip had shouted back to the soldiers to calm the situation, but that wasn’t something that could be subsided so easily.

There were witnesses from the Rakan Knights, nor just the regular soldiers or knights.

The only people who were aware of Luke learning the dark magic were the old men of the Volga Republic and Philip.

If such rumors went out, it wouldn’t end with problems rising in just the Holy Empire but even in the Marquis Rakan too.

“Did you all just see the power that arrow of Light had? If lord hadn’t stopped it, we would have all been dead!”

“Ha, but Lord’s appearance…”

“Well, to put it into words… surely like a demon.”

Those were the words from a Rakan Knight.

Philip closing his eyes, soon went to grab the collar of the knight.

“This kid! Then are you trying to say that Lord is a demon?! Don’t you know whose blood Lord shares?!”

“That, that is true, but…”

Luke sighed at the sight of Philip shouting at the younger knight.

‘I didn’t know that I would have to face Aether arrows in here.’

Nevertheless, the power of the Aether arrow was strong.

Thinking that he wouldn’t lose here as he hadn’t lost to the Sword Sage, he figured something out.

Patting his chest, Luke looked around and shouted.

“What are you all doing? Right away, attack the rebels who attacked us!”

“But, but Lord…”

“What but? Won’t you attack those men right away?!”

Luke kept on ordering, but the knights didn’t move that easily. In addition, the soldiers with big round eyes looked for sympathy.

“There is one thing I want to ask before following the orders of Lord.”

A knight whom Philip had just recently grabbed by the collar stepped forward and asked.

Philip, who clenched his hands, tried to draw out his sword, but Luke signaled him not to.

‘If I don’t solve the questions and doubts they have, the suspicion will be amplified.’

“Go on, ask.”

At the permission from Luke, the knight opened his mouth.

“When the arrow of light came to a while back, Lord did stop it. During that time, the appearance of Lord changed.”

“Ah, that? The thing which looked different?” Asked Luke.

“Yes, your body seemed bigger than usual and your skin was black…”

“Lord had a horn between his head, and looked very similar to a demon.”

Luke smiled at the words of the knights who kept on describing his appearance.

Smiling wide, Luke asked.

“Are you dumb?”

“Huh?”

“If I really was a demon, how could I have appeared in front of the Holy Pope or her subordinates? Among her close circle of men, there were paladins and high ranking priests too?”

“That, that…”

Luke’s question had made the knights step back a little.

The man was an ordinary knight with good swordsmanship. Far from the relationship between Magi, Mana, and Aether, they were only aware of demons and gods.

The only things such men knew were that the identity of a demon gets revealed in the face of God.

“Then, what was it that had happened just a moment before?” Asked back the knight.

“That? That was a Southern martial skill taught by Sir Hwang Bo-sung. And the name is ‘Golden dragon martial’ was it?”

At those words, Luke turned his sight towards Hwang Bo-sung.

His words were normal, but Luke was feeling nervous.

‘He needs to go along with me…’

What Luke had said was a plain lie.

He had never learned any martial arts form from Hwang Bo-sung, and it wasn’t even known if the skill called ‘Golden Dragon martial arts’ even existed.

To block the Aether arrow shot from Scarlet, Luke ended up using demon abilities and not dark magic. What he used was a third phase of ‘Build-up’, which Luke had recently developed.

In the third stage, the defense was greatly increased, but the problem was that the appearance was very similar to a demon.

Which was why he wasn’t sure of using it, but when the situation came, there was no other option for Luke but to use it.

If Luke would have dodged it, the men behind him would have gotten killed.

“It wasn’t the Golden Dragon martial arts.”

At the honest answer from Hwang Bo-sung, Luke’s complexion distorted.

‘Was, am I going to get caught?’

Hwang Bo-sung’s mouth curled up when he saw Luke sweating.

‘Fun only till here.’ Thought Hwang Bo-sung.

Smiling, he opened his mouth again.

“It is Golden Heavenly Fire martial. Master, remember what I taught you.”

“Ah man, right! Since they are words of the southern continent they sure are hard…”

Luke was trembling with relief. While looking, Hwang Bo-sung decided to sneak.

Hwang Bo-sung decided to add credibility to Luke’s lies.

“When one uses a Golden Heavenly Fire martial arts, the ki will… no, the mana comes out to the surface. Which was why the skin turned black and the horns began to appear.”

“That, that is right. Something like an illusion.”

The knights scratched their heads and began to agree.

Knowing nothing about the southern martial arts, they had no choice but to believe the words of Hwang Bo-sung.

With a coy expression, they asked.

“Can we learn that too?”

“We will do the very best, just give out the map…”

“Well, with your current level of skills, it can’t be possible. Only men who are as strong as Lord can learn it.”

“Tch, such a waste.”

Hwang Bo-sung looked at Luke with frowned expression. He too had noticed that Luke was similar to an apostasy.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t because of the grace Luke had showed by erasing the curse from him.

Even though he was learning the demon skills, Luke seemed like a person who could use it well and properly.

‘It wasn’t a sword to hurt the people, but the heart to help the people. The arrows might have gone right through us otherwise.’

When Hwang Bo-sung closed his eyes and thought about the arrows, Philip came out.

As the situation had improved, he regained his original composure.

“Kay, has everyone’s concerns been answered? Quickly clear off the rebels!”

With that, the knights and the soldiers began to move ahead.

Concerned that it might be their final outbreak, the rebel remnants subdued slowly.

The power difference was huge, and the rebel leader Scarlet fell unconscious the moment he fired the arrow.

“Surrender! I will surrender!”

“Please don’t attack!”

Luke entered the rukus and looking at Scarlet, he asked.

“Dead?”

“No, she is still alive.”

Luke nodded after seeing her condition.

He had a lot to ask her about Aether.

‘In a moment I exposed everything. She needs to accept the prize she gets.’

Luke, who wasn’t showing his emotions outside, shot a sharp look at Scarlet and moved ahead.