The Northern Duke's Demise
A cold silence hung before the castle gates.
I advanced slowly.
The sentence had been passed. Only the execution remained.
After a brief silence, one knight moved first.
I stepped forward with him. A clear line to cut appeared in my vision. I swung my sword along it.
“Guh—!”
Blood gushed from the knight’s neck. His sword fell, and his body collapsed.
With my bloodstained blade lowered at an angle, I stepped over the fallen corpse and advanced another pace. Only then did the remaining knights raise their swords in panic. But they were already too late.
The moment the second man charged, I severed his elbow. His hand and sword flew through the air.
As the third tried to close in, I thrust my blade straight through his breastplate. A scream erupted late, and blood sprayed across the ground.
I flicked the blood from my sword tip. Some knights instinctively backed away, while others turned pale and fled toward the gates. The three knights who had held the front line died meaninglessly. Having witnessed that scene, they had clearly abandoned any thought of fighting outside the walls.
The massive gates groaned as they began to close. Iron chains screamed, and soldiers rushed inside in desperation. I watched the sight in silence. Slowly, I lowered my sword and raised my empty hand. A deep-blue light gathered in my palm.
I drew up both aura and magic at once, forcing the clashing, twisting forces into a single point.
The air grew heavy. Dust stirred at my feet, and the soldiers’ eyes before the gates gradually filled with terror.
The blue light in my palm shrank smaller, yet the power compressed within it raged wildly.
To the eye, it was only a small sphere of light. Yet those who saw it instinctively understood: nothing would remain intact once it touched them.
I slowly pointed my fingertips toward the gates and flicked them lightly.
BOOOOOOM—!
A thunderous roar tore through the dawn sky. The condensed blue flash shot straight forward. The closing gates exploded outward.
Thick timber, iron plates, locking mechanisms, and protective spells were shredded in an instant. Soldiers were hurled backward with screams. Shrapnel rained down, wooden and metal fragments slicing through the air as the shockwave swept through the inner ranks.
Even the soldiers on the walls instinctively ducked. Some dropped their swords; others sank to the ground where they stood. I slowly lowered my hand. The lingering blue glow at my fingertips faded away. The castle interior, moments ago sealed shut, now lay wide open.
I walked inside through the scent of blood and dust.
Servants pressed themselves against the walls and bowed their heads along every corridor. Administrators froze, clutching their documents. Soldiers still wore their swords, yet none could meet my eyes.
Of course, some still tried to resist to the end. As I reached the central hall, the elite knights and battle mages blocked the stairs leading to the main building.
“You shall go no farther, Marshal.”
I gave no reply. Instead, I scanned their formation. Three in front, two on the left, three on the right, two in the rear. Ten in total.
“Attack!”
At the knight’s shout, the mage in front raised his hand. Faint light rippled in the air. In that instant, I kicked off the ground. The distance between us was roughly six meters—enough for a single step.
“Stop him!”
Too late. I seized the mage’s face and slammed him into the floor.
Crack—
With the sound of a shattering skull, his body went limp. The man beside him cursed and began casting. A magic circle formed in an instant, but I cut his throat before the spell could activate. The circle collapsed uselessly.
The knight who failed to protect the mage tried to retreat, but I grabbed him by the collar before he could and hurled him aside. He crashed into two others on the right.
“You madman—!”
Flames came flying from the left with the panicked cry. I twisted my torso to dodge. The fire scorched the floor beside my shoulder. I immediately changed direction and drove into the left side, seizing the mage’s wrist and twisting it before he could finish his second chant.
“Aaaagh!”
I drove my knee into his solar plexus. His body folded. The other mage backed away with a terrified face.
A shout rang out from behind.
“Spread out!”
“Don’t get close!”
Beams of light shot toward me from every direction. I snatched up a fallen corpse and used it as a shield. Red light pierced through the body and burst. The stench of burning flesh spread. I ran again through the opening.
Still holding the corpse, I charged straight at the entangled knights on the right and threw it. One knight took the full impact and rolled across the floor again.
The remaining two tried to retreat in horror, but it was too late. I stepped on one man’s neck. Then I spun and kicked the other in the abdomen. With the sound of crumpling plate armor, his body slammed into the wall.
“Guhk!”
A groan as if his spine had snapped. Whether he lived or died was irrelevant.
“Now!”
“Bind him!”
Three blue beams flew at once. I twisted reflexively and swung my sword. Two missed. I cut through the third.
“Damn it, this lunatic.”
I closed in on the nearest enemy.
“Eek—!”
Before he could even scream, I seized his throat and hurled him onto a nearby magic circle. Another mage still chanting became entangled with him. The glowing circle twisted and consumed its own caster. Blue flames erupted in reverse, and the hem of his robe caught fire.
I stepped forward and beheaded one of them. The other flailed to remove his burning robe. I grabbed his hair and drove my knee into his face.
“…!”
The mage went limp at once. I drew a short breath. How many remained? Two left. They shouted desperately.
“We must join the Archduke!”
A sound decision. Too late, however. I picked up a fallen stone fragment and threw it.
Whoosh— Thud!
It struck squarely in the center of his head. The fleeing man collapsed. The last man’s face turned deathly pale.
How laughable that they thought they could stop me with this level of skill.
The final knight’s legs gave out from fear. I walked toward him slowly. He crawled backward on the floor.
“D-don’t come…!”
“Why?”
My voice was perfectly calm.
“If you joined the rebellion, you should have been prepared for this.”
I seized him by the collar and pulled him up. His jaw trembled violently.
“P-please… spare me…”
Crack
I snapped his neck. His body went slack.
The ducal castle fell silent once more. Only corpses and blood remained on the cold stone floor.
“……”
I climbed the stairs. The great doors of the main building came into view. I pushed them open slowly.
At the far end of the wide hall, atop the high stairs, stood the Northern Duke. His left sleeve hung empty. Faint bloodstains seeped through the bandages wrapped around the severed arm. Though his face was pale, he forced his mouth into a rigid line, refusing to collapse.
Two knights stood beside him, swords in hand. Yet when my gaze fell upon them, they instinctively swallowed. I stopped in the center of the hall.
“You didn’t run.”
The Northern Duke gave a low laugh.
“If I had run, would you have let me go, Marshal?”
“No.”
I answered plainly. A short silence followed. The Northern Duke’s eyes dropped to my sword, then rose again. He stared at me for a long moment. A twisted smile crossed his pale face.
“How is the Crown Prince? And Perlin?”
I looked up at him in silence.
“Are they well?”
Another brief silence. Even now, his final words concerned that woman. A chuckle escaped me. The Northern Duke’s eyebrows twitched slightly. Still standing at the foot of the stairs, I curled my lips into an open sneer.
“You’ve reduced the North to this state with your rebellion, and that’s what you ask at the end?”
“……”
“How truly pathetic.”
Edrian did not change his expression even after hearing my mockery. Instead, he continued quietly, as if resigned.
“If you see her again…”
His remaining hand slowly gripped the railing.
“…tell her my news.”
I let out a hollow laugh.
“What news?”
“That the North is still cold.”
“……”
“She would understand.”
Madman. I took one step up the stairs.
“You remain unsightly to the very end.”
“You wouldn’t understand, Marshal.”
A faint smile appeared on the Northern Duke’s lips. Against his bloodless face, the smile looked grotesque.
“What it feels like to live unable to let go of love.”
Instead of replying, I gave a short laugh.
“No. I do understand. That’s why it’s even more pathetic.”
Edrian’s expression stiffened slightly. I looked up at him and continued coldly.
“Don’t delude yourself. That isn’t love.”
“Then what is it?”
“Obsession. Pure selfishness.”
Edrian’s eyes wavered, yet he did not fall silent.
“Perhaps you’re right.”
His remaining hand slowly tightened on the railing.
“But Marshal, even if I am selfish, I refuse to live like you.”
“……”
“You will keep gripping your sword and walking forward until the end. Believing you alone can bear all the blood and finish everything yourself.”
The Northern Duke gazed intently at the blood dripping from my sword.
“If you keep cutting your way upward like that, nothing will remain. The North, the capital, the Empire—everything will end up stained with blood by your hand.”
I gave a short laugh.
“A rather dull final speech.”
I took another step toward him and spoke.
“At least I know exactly who I’m cutting down. You never did.”
Edrian’s eyes shook violently for the first time.
“All because you couldn’t let go of one person. Because of that single obsession, you threw the entire North into chaos and even gambled the lives of your soldiers.”
A short silence.
“That is what you did, Northern Duke.”
The two knights guarding the stairs stepped forward.
“Fall back, Your Grace!”
They leapt down together. I deflected the first knight’s sword and immediately cut his throat. Blood sprayed in a long arc through the air. His body tumbled down the stairs. The second knight, face twisted with rage, aimed for my side. I twisted away, seized his wrist, and snapped it.
Crack—
His sword clattered to the floor. I drove my blade up under his chin. The knight’s body stiffened, eyes widening before he collapsed limply.
“……”
I looked at the Northern Duke. Only he remained now. I slowly lowered my sword tip and stopped before him. He gazed down at me. His remaining hand slipped from the railing, yet he still forced his mouth into that rigid line, refusing to break.
“You too, Marshal…”
He gave a low laugh.
“…will end up alone in the end.”
I offered no reply. I simply raised my sword. The Northern Duke saw it but did not move. He could not have.
“To Perlin—”
I did not let him finish.
Slash—
A short, clean sensation. Blood burst from the Northern Duke’s neck. His head tilted to one side, and his body swayed. A beat later, his head rolled down the stairs.
Thud—
Thud—
Thud—
Everyone in the hall held their breath. I slowly lowered my bloodstained sword. Looking down at the head that had come to rest at the bottom of the stairs, I spoke in a calm voice.
“Edrian Winterfell.”
My low voice echoed through the hall.
“Executed for the crime of treason.”