Chapter 205
Chapter 205
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 204. Fragments of Memory (1)
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The Emperor looked down at me with curious eyes.
Leon and Rozanna did the same.
The mother and son duo both swallowed hard in unison at the sight of my face staring blankly up at the VIP seats.
“Call the captain now.”
My unfocused black eyes met the Crown Prince's.
Following the winner's request, every gaze in the Lustium Arena turned to Leon.
“There are no more Black Knights left to come at me, are there?”
The former captains who had commanded the Black Knights' respect.
Even they hadn't lasted long before collapsing.
Past heroes knelt and huddled on the shredded arena floor.
At that gruesome sight, the juniors in black uniforms bowed their heads deeply.
“...”
Leon looked down pitifully at his demoralized subordinates.
Then, with a short sigh, he spoke.
“The captain has just returned from a mission and isn't in good condition. So, let him rest a bit and...”
“Very well.”
I dared to cut him off.
Yet, despite my rudeness, no one objected.
They simply gazed down at me with eyes full of awe.
“I'll wait a little. However, I ask that all the Black Knights present here do not leave the arena.”
“Sir Veil. Are you daring to give orders to my subordinates right now?”
The Crown Prince's face twisted in flustered displeasure.
His golden eyebrows furrowed.
“The Black Knights are currently under suspicion of using forbidden techniques in this match.”
His fierce gaze, reminiscent of the Conqueror King.
But I responded to him with a sly, fox-like smirk.
“This is just to prevent any evidence tampering. I hope you understand.”
“Are you doubting my knights' skills right now? How arrogant...!!”
Leon’s fist trembled on the armrest of his chair.
Then, his father, the Emperor, sitting beside him, intervened.
“No, I agree with Sir Veil.”
“Father...?”
The Emperor sided not with his own blood, but with me, who shared the same aura.
At that sight, turmoil churned in Leon's blue pupils.
“If you want to clear the suspicion, you should cooperate with the investigation openly. Is there some urgent reason you need to leave the arena?”
Perhaps intent on properly putting the Crown Prince in his place, the Emperor's expression grew menacing.
Like a god delivering divine punishment.
“Th-there's no such thing...!! I am innocent before all beneath the heavens.”
“Then just bring Captain Lin and be done with it, no?”
At the Emperor's mischievous question, Leon let out a short sigh.
He glanced at his mother, Rozanna, seated beside him.
Her brilliant golden hair framed sparkling blue eyes.
The First Imperial Consort nodded calmly.
“Understood...”
The next three hours.
The Crown Prince promised to summon the Black Knight Captain to the arena within that time.
Thanks to that, the matches in the interim were filled by other knights.
――――――.
Leon rose from the VIP seats to call the captain.
Afterward, he descended the stairs alone and walked down a dim corridor.
“Did you hear? Apparently, some incredible talent came out of the Security Bureau this time...?”
“They say he took out the Black Knights' vice-captain and all the former captains...!! And now he's even calling for the captain!!”
News of his subordinates falling one after another reached the ears of the Empire's citizens.
It tormented his ears even from afar.
“But do you know what that knight said after winning...?”
“That all the Black Knights used forbidden black mana?”
“Yeah-!! How do you get completely wrecked even after using forbidden techniques?”
The boisterous voices of young men.
In an instant, the fearsome image of the Black Knights he had built crumbled.
And the sight of his father calmly demanding Captain Lin's presence...
“Does that mean he trusts that damned fox more than me now?”
It was a fresh shock he'd never felt before.
“Fine... If you suspect me that much, I'll have to prove it myself.”
Blue energy swirled in Leon's eyes.
With a fierce expression, he left the corridor and headed to the garden near the arena.
To the meeting place arranged via carrier pigeon with the Black Knight Captain.
――――――.
The Crown Prince walked through the garden corridor.
The moment he stepped onto the grass.
“...”
He realized the captain had arrived first.
Just moments ago, the grass and branches had been fresh and vibrant.
But now, they began to wither as if confronted by some vicious aura.
“Lin.”
At the Crown Prince's call, the sound of cold military boots approached from afar.
Soon.
“You called for me.”
A man in dark uniform appeared.
A man with black hair and black eyes, just like the defensive knight who had shamed him.
He was even around the same age as Veil.
“Yes... Sorry for summoning you right after your mission.”
The Crown Prince clasped his hands behind his back and stared intently at his top asset.
An unpleasant, vicious halo seemed to emanate from the captain facing him.
“No, I had a delightful time myself.”
Yet Leon gazed at him fondly, as if admiring a work of art.
Like a masterpiece he had created.
“How many did you kill on this southern front deployment?”
The Crown Prince asked with a proud look.
Lin replied in an indifferent voice with his kill record.
“A total of 450.”
“Of course, there were generals among them, right?”
Reporting the taking of lives as mere achievements.
Perhaps because of that eerie sight, the garden grass around them began to discolor beyond withering.
“There were a few called centurions. But they all fell with a single stroke all the same.”
A longsword hung at the Black Knight's waist.
The same design as Irina's treasured sword, with black energy creeping up from it.
Just as the princess had given Veil her sword, Leon had bestowed his own upon Lin.
“There were no opponents who truly excited me.”
The black mist flowing from his sword looked grotesque, as if trapping the souls of victims.
“But why summon me so suddenly...”
Lin tilted his head back.
He stared up at the towering circular arena.
“Have you found an opponent worthy enough that you need to use me...?”
Sensing a strong foe instinctively, Lin drew a deep breath.
He took in the fresh air and wore an ecstatic expression.
“If that's not the case, I'll be a bit disappointed.”
The captain boldly voiced his feelings before the Crown Prince.
That was how immense his influence was, even among Leon's faction.
“Yes. There's an opponent worthy of you out there.”
Leon responded by curling his lips into a grin.
“He'll probably be the most enjoyable one you've faced yet.”
“...”
Lin lifted his head at his lord's words.
His pale skin stretched into a wide smile.
“Is that true?”
“Yes. But there's a condition before the fight.”
The Crown Prince raised a finger in warning.
As if disciplining a beast.
“You must conceal the black mana as blue during the fight. That's the tournament rule.”
“Don't worry about that.”
Lin nodded lightly at the Crown Prince's question.
“I've never openly used black mana on the front lines either.”
The promise of an opponent worthy of him.
The madman, growing increasingly excited, suppressed an uncontrollable smile.
Then, he leisurely headed toward the Lustium Arena.
“...”
The Crown Prince watched the man's retreating back with worry.
The reason he had never publicly revealed Lin until now.
It was because of the captain's 'madness.'
Due to the nature of black mana, which killed foes and absorbed their power.
Lin, who had slain more than any Black Knight in history, had amassed immense strength.
The stronger he grew, the more madness consumed him.
That sight had made Leon uneasy.
He had even expressed concerns about him to his mother, but Rozanna had only described Lin's darkening presence as beautiful.
So outwardly, he smiled fondly like this...
But inwardly, he was beginning to feel anxious.
About unleashing a 'ferocious beast' before the Emperor.
“Father...”
Leon soon followed after the captain ahead.
Muttering to himself alone.
“This is what you brought upon yourself.”
「――――――」
Meanwhile, while the Crown Prince went to fetch the Black Knight Captain.
I remained alone in the waiting room, sitting cross-legged.
“Whew...”
Perhaps because it had been so long since I fought in earnest.
The aura in my chest boiled madly.
Of course, I didn't hate the feeling.
It felt like I had finally unleashed the pent-up frustration of my power.
However, the more I used my strength, the more nightmares from the past surfaced.
The time after sending Irina away, when I was left alone in the imperial palace.
I had faced numerous knight captains alongside my collapsing subordinates.
“...”
Back when I first regressed, I had tried to forget those memories.
The more I recalled them, the more agonizing and horrific they were.
But now that I had taken up the sword again.
I needed to recall every one of those memories.
To remember every technique and sensation, preparing for the next fight.
As I sank into meditation alone.
――――――.
The waiting room door opened.
Soon.
The moment sharp heel clicks echoed.
My fiercely burning aura, deep in meditation, came to a halt.
“...”
It wasn't just the white flames enveloping my body that stopped.
The clock hands on the wall.
Even the faint voices of the audience outside the window—all froze.
As if 'time' itself had stopped.
――――――.
Yet the sharp heel clicks continued.
Followed by the friction of something being placed on the desk.
“You won't be able to move.”
An hourglass.
Golden sand began flowing from top to bottom in the full timer.
“Not until this sand runs out.”
A woman with a sensuous figure like the hourglass she brought.
Hands behind her back, she slowly approached the frozen man.
“What a shame. To have to just watch without touching.”
An artifact hourglass that stopped time but broke the spell upon impact.
Rozanna, holder of 'Echina's Hourglass,' smiled with her eyes.
“Consider it an honor. I've used my treasure on you.”
Rozanna bent at the waist, hands still behind her.
Her abundant, beautiful skin shifted downward with gravity.
The stripes on her platinum dress stretched into long curves.
“Up close like this, you look like such a cute little fox...”
Rozanna recalled the brutal scene she had witnessed moments ago.
The sight of me overwhelming her confidants, Gilbert and Liam.
“You're the one at fault, Mikhail. For showing me such a beautiful sight.”
Crushing her masterpieces so effortlessly.
A scene like a great male god from myth, placing all beneath his feet.
Rozanna, thrilled by it, swallowed deeply.
“What kind of experience makes someone... so strong?”
She had spent her life training talents to defeat her lifelong enemy, Leonhardt.
Thus, she came to admire the young grand master before her.
“Won't you tell me?”
Rozanna gently lifted my chin.
With her seductive eyes and moist lips, she asked.
The Empire's First Imperial Consort, radiating powerful magic.
To peek into my meditation, she closed her eyes like me.
Soon.
She arrived at the ruins of Irina's imperial palace.
And the sight she witnessed.
Was breathtakingly beautiful, like a myth painted in a cathedral.
“Don't fall back!!”
The collapsed entrance to Irina's imperial palace.
A single man standing atop the debris.
All the Empire's imperial knights surrounded the entrance, facing off against him.
“He's just one man. And he's exhausted—he can't resist much longer!”
“The one who first takes the head of the Second Imperial Princess's Escort Captain, 'Veil,' shall receive great reward!!”
Despite the bounty, the imperial knights hesitated.
They bickered without daring to step forward first.
「No one passes beyond this point...」
Veil raised his sword atop the corpses of countless knights.
Blood streamed from his forehead as he spoke.
Among those strewn at his feet were familiar faces.
Her own confidants, Gilbert, Liam, and more...
Countless Empire heroes had fallen to Veil and his escorts, losing their lives.
「If anyone wants to die, come at me!」
The man's cracking voice echoed.
Rozanna, peeking in, covered her lips with her hand at that resolute tone.
“Ahh...”
And watched that painting-like scene with ecstatic eyes.