Chapter 176
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: From a Faded Memory
One night, a violet sun suddenly appeared in the sky.
It obliterated half the resistance army's garrison, nestled in a basin deep within the Verbeia Mountains. It was perhaps a small mercy that the princes had not lost their lives in that first, powerful attack. But was it truly a mercy?
"Kuh."
Caught in the sudden explosion and immense shockwave, Bernhard was sent tumbling across the ground.
When he finally managed to regain his senses, he looked back to see a devastating scene at the resistance headquarters.
"This... this is...!"
A massive crater.
It had been blasted into the center of the resistance garrison.
This was no volcano, yet a crater had formed. The bodies of men, torn apart by the powerful blast, lay scattered around Bernhard.
Bernhard had thought he'd overcome the deaths of many, that he was growing into a strong monarch unshaken by such things, but seeing the bodies of his comrades right before him made his mind go blank.
Bernhard gritted his teeth and looked up at the sky.
Towards the source of the violet sun he had first witnessed rising in the night sky.
A man with horns on his head floated in the air.
He revealed the muscles of his bare torso, looking like a typical high-ranking, combat-oriented demon.
*Gooooooh.*
Thanks to the Saintess's barrier covering the central continent, the encroachment of demonic energy had not yet reached this far in full force.
Yet, here was a being cloaked in demonic energy so thick it was visible to the naked eye, even in the central continent.
Seeing that deep, dark, and simultaneously powerful force, he was clearly no ordinary demon.
- So the little rats were hiding here.
He revealed his teeth in a stark white grin.
Bernhard, the prince of the fallen Alpharion Kingdom, knew instinctively.
This being was a formidable enemy that the resistance, in its current state, could not possibly handle.
"Your Highness! Are you alright!"
"Lord Roeid!"
The graying head of House Roeid, who had rushed over, breathed a sigh of relief upon confirming Bernhard's safety. However, this was no time for relief.
"That is...!"
"The Eastern Corps Commander of the Demon Army. ...The one who destroyed the Alpharion Kingdom."
The lord gritted his teeth.
"You must flee at once! The resistance cannot handle this being! I will hold him off until Your Highness can escape!"
*Clang!*
Though advanced in years, the head of House Roeid was a swordsman who had neared the rank of Master. The resolve to save Prince Bernhard was palpable in his clenched jaw.
Bernhard's eyes widened.
"Are you telling me to run away again? Me, who fled my burning kingdom, abandoned my dying people, and have been hiding like this?"
"Your Highness...!"
"I am no longer the child I was then. This isn't just about the Alpharion Kingdom. For the sake of humanity, even a child smaller than I is fighting for her life."
*Schwing.*
Bernhard drew his sword as well.
Having learned the sword from an excellent teacher, he too could cut down demons. Before being a prince who had to rebuild his fallen kingdom, Bernhard was a swordsman fighting for humanity.
The lord no longer tried to stop Bernhard. The corps commander was surely not the only one who had invaded. No matter how desperate the situation, to not fight was to die.
"Bernhard!"
"Leoner! You're alive!"
Leoner, the prince of Betarion, joined him.
Leoner's swordsmanship was inferior to Bernhard's, who had been taught intensively by Melissa. However, the royalty of the Betarion Kingdom, with its close ties to the Holy Nation, were mostly lay priests of the Supreme God's faith, including Leoner. While not a formal priest of the church, Leoner could also wield divine power.
*Vwoom!*
Feeling the power coursing through his body from the divine energy Leoner shared, Bernhard gripped his sword tightly.
*Kwakwakwang!*
Including the head of House Roeid, the resistance's star-studded lineup of swordsmen all charged the Eastern Corps Commander.
With no time to spare for the terrifying battle unfolding in the center of the massive crater created by the commander's violet sun, Bernhard and Leoner had to face an endless flood of monsters.
*Chwaak!*
*Kieeeek!*
"There's no end to them!"
*Cha-cha-chang!*
The surviving soldiers of the resistance, including them, fought desperately everywhere, but the princes' strength was barely enough just to hold back the monsters.
Still, if it was just the monsters and the corps commander, they could somehow manage. No matter how powerful he was, even a corps commander couldn't use a technique terrifying enough to blow away a mountain multiple times without preparation. With the lord and the other knights keeping him in check, they didn't have to worry about that for the time being.
The princes, struggling to hold on, also had something to believe in.
"Master Melissa will come!"
We can hold out until then.
That hope was shattered by the appearance of new enemies.
*Kwakwakwang!*
"Kuaaack!"
"Aaargh!"
Struck by a sudden, sinister demonic energy, soldiers and knights began to fall like leaves.
*Kwang!*
*Kyaaaaat-!!*
A resistance soldier was crushed beyond recognition by a massive sword. A strangely sweet-scented, dense aura infiltrated the soldiers' minds, and one who had been pointing his sword at a monster plunged it into his comrade's back. At a bizarre scream that seemed to come from the netherworld, soldiers collapsed, bleeding from their ears.
And then, the figures responsible for all these phenomena appeared.
A winged, female demon; a knight in dark armor wielding a massive greatsword; and a translucent banshee.
"Demon Generals...!"
The Eastern Corps Commander's direct subordinates.
The full might of the Eastern Demon Army had been mobilized to annihilate the remaining resistance forces.
*Flash!*
At the same time, a flash of light erupted from the center of the crater where the terrifying battle between the commander and the knights was taking place.
*Kwakwakwang!*
"Keo-heok!"
"Kuhuk!"
Overwhelmed by the commander's aura, even the head of House Roeid and the other knights were sent flying, beaten to a bloody pulp.
*Vwoooom!*
In the now-free commander's grasp, the violet sun began to blaze once more.
They could no longer hold on.
The princes' faces were stained with despair.
*Flash!*
*Kwakwakwa!*
Just when they thought nothing but despair remained, a flash of blue light struck the center of the crater. The force of it split the violet sun that had been growing above the commander's head.
- Master Melissa, you bitch...! Kuaaaack!
Along with the commander's enraged shriek, a colossal clash of power began in the center of the crater.
*Vwooom, kwajijijik!*
Blue and violet light flashed from that spot, erupting as if to widen the massive hole even further.
"It's Master Melissa...!"
"Master Melissa is here!"
At the princes' cries, a light of hope began to dawn on the faces of the surviving soldiers who had been steeped in despair.
But Melissa was busy holding back the corps commander. It seemed not all the knights, including the lord, were dead, but they were in no condition to fight.
Could the princes and the soldiers hold out against the demon generals until Melissa defeated or drove away the commander?
*Kwakwang!*
"Keohuk!"
"Bernhard...! *Cough!*"
Bernhard, who was fighting the Death Knight, was sent flying by a blow from the flat of its massive sword, and Leoner, who had been using his divine power to counter the abilities of the Succubus Queen and the Banshee, coughed up blood and fell to his knees.
Even the princes were now unable to fight. Melissa, the continent's strongest swordmaster, could easily face the corps commander alone, but she was still only one person.
As the last embers of humanity's resistance flickered out over the fallen princes.
*Boom!*
A golden flash of light slammed down among the demon generals.
"...Rain...!"
Lying on the ground, Bernhard barely managed to turn his head to look at the golden figure surrounded by the demon generals.
A small girl with silver hair fluttering within a halo of light.
The Hero, Rain.
"Melissa told me as she left alone that as long as I survived, everything would be alright. But I just couldn't do that."
She looked toward the princes and smiled faintly.
"You said you're going to be the king of humans, right?"
Then, she raised her sword towards the demon generals.
"So, you live too."
The princes, who lacked even the strength to lift a finger, could only watch the little girl's desperate struggle.
The streams of golden light erupting from the Holy Sword in her tiny hand shone with an unrivaled brilliance amidst the beings exuding demonic energy.
The demon generals, who at first seemed to be pushed back by the golden light from the Holy Sword, soon began to charge recklessly, ignoring their own safety. It was a charge of mutual destruction. They had realized that if they let this young Hero live, she would eventually grow into an existence they could not handle.
The golden light erupting from Rain's Holy Sword began to gradually weaken.
"No...!"
Bernhard lifted his blood-soaked head and cried out.
Rain was breathing heavily.
She was still just a small child.
No matter how great her power, her small body was physically struggling. If she had more time, if she grew just a little more, she would become strong enough that the demon generals would be no match for her, but not now.
Rain was pushing herself to the limit to save them.
The protective aura around her body weakened, and wounds began to appear on her small frame.
"Kaaaaack—! If we don't kill her here...!"
*Swiiish!*
And then, the claws of the Succubus Queen, whose body was tattered and torn.
They lunged forward as if to pierce through Rain's body.
At the same time.
*Flash!*
A golden radiance burst from the girl's body.
*Kwakwakwa!*
The golden storm that erupted in an instant tore the bodies of the demon generals to shreds.
***
After that, the memories of Bernhard, the author of this book, were somewhat jumbled.
In a gray world, he saw himself, screaming like a madman while holding the small, blood-soaked body. He saw Leoner, sobbing uncontrollably while pouring divine power into Rain's abdomen, from which blood was gushing. A moment later, Melissa appeared, her eyes bloodshot, snatching Rain's body into her arms and shaking the army chaplains by their collars with her other hand.
And then, the image of Rain, gasping for breath as if she would die at any moment, yet smiling in Melissa's arms.
Chris watched all of this, utterly stunned.