Those Who Record History
Those Who Record History
Daniel had wanted to spare Johannes so he could extract inside information if possible, but it was a meaningless gesture.
Johannes, who did not know Lucy's identity, could not fathom Daniel's true feelings either.
"You still do not know me. If I had intended to surrender, I would not have drawn my sword."
Steeling his resolve not to retreat, Johannes breathed in the mana from the air—a technique of respiration and accumulation.
Taking a deep breath, he circulated the mana stored within his body and settled into his stance.
Left foot forward, upper body lowered, sword hand tilted at an angle.
As soon as Lucy confirmed that Johannes would attack, she drew the dagger she wore at her hip.
Kwang!
Kicking off the floor, Johannes closed the distance in an instant.
'The target is Daniel Steiner...!'
He meant to cut him down in a single stroke before the man could use that petty trick of neural acceleration.
To Johannes, with his vast experience, beheading an opponent from this range was a simple matter.
What was more, he was confident that even a neural acceleration user could not possibly react in time.
'Your carelessness before me was your undoing.'
Johannes gripped the hilt tightly and was about to swing his sword.
A blurry silhouette draped itself before Daniel Steiner.
He realized something was wrong, but it was far too late to pull back the sword.
Kang!
The sword struck not Daniel's neck but a dagger, scattering sparks.
Only then could Johannes see properly.
It was Lucy Emilia who had blocked his path, her crimson eyes flashing.
"......!"
Johannes was confounded, but his body moved faster than his shock.
Calculating the angle of the locked blades, he instinctively twisted his sword and thrust forward.
Hwoong─
Yet the tip of his thrusting sword merely grazed a few strands of Lucy's hair before passing on.
Daniel had also stepped back the moment Lucy blocked the attack, so the sword cut through nothing but empty air.
Johannes tried to pull back his sword at once, but Lucy's dagger swung faster.
Sensing danger, Johannes jerked his head back just as a silver arc was drawn before his eyes.
In that brief span, his pupils quaked and his fingertips spasmed.
Johannes, seized by a terror as though he had met a wild beast, frantically leaped backward.
Tak! Landing on the floor, Johannes broke out in a cold sweat and felt his neck.
'It's still attached....'
Had the strike been only slightly deeper, his neck would have flown off.
That fact sent a chill running down his spine.
Swallowing dry spit, Johannes stared in bewilderment at Lucy, who stood gazing at him with her dagger still raised.
"......You have the eyes of a slayer. You've just crossed the edge of death, and yet you show no sign of agitation. How many people have you killed so far?"
Lucy did not answer.
As if she felt it was not even worth the trouble.
"Unbelievable. This does not strike me as skill attainable at such a young age. What is even more baffling is...."
Johannes's gaze turned toward Daniel.
"Colonel Daniel Steiner. You remain utterly composed, as though you already knew that woman's ability. This is no ordinary relationship. Why in the world would you conceal such a monster—"
Kung! Sensing the air instantly grow heavy, Johannes shut his mouth.
This was no mere illusion.
He could vividly feel the very air suppressing his body.
'......A gravity field?'
Did that mean she had formed an energy field inside the Heavenly Gate Hall in that brief time?
'And a lone individual at that?'
This preposterous phenomenon was baffling, but he could not afford to simply stand there stunned.
Lucy had kicked off the floor and was charging at him.
Sensing by instinct that this exchange would decide the fight, Johannes explosively rotated the mana within his body.
Freed from the gravity weighing down his body, Johannes settled into his stance and sought his opening.
'Surely that woman thinks her opponent's movements have slowed because of the gravity field she created.'
If he could exploit that gap in misunderstanding and land a blow, he could seize the upper hand.
Steeling his heart, Johannes pretended to struggle against the heavy gravity, unable to control his body.
He could see Lucy steadily dashing toward him.
'Not yet.'
He put strength into the hand gripping his sword and watched for his moment.
At last, the instant Lucy closed to point-blank range, Johannes swung his sword with explosive force.
The sword, swung by a body enhanced to its utmost, whipped up a gust as it tore through Lucy's body.
He could clearly see blood erupting from Lucy's form as the slash cut diagonally across her.
But he could not feel the unique sensation that comes from cutting human flesh.
'Ah.'
It was the moment Johannes sensed his defeat.
Chwaak─
Along with a searing pain, the arm Johannes used to hold his sword flew off.
As his arm soared, scattering blood and tumbling across the floor, Lucy's afterimage vanished like a heat haze.
When he turned his gaze, Lucy was standing not in front of him, but directly beside him.
She held a bloodstained dagger.
Only then could Johannes grasp everything.
'An illusion...!'
The moment his eyes had met Lucy's, he had fallen under an illusion and had slashed at empty air.
Clenching his teeth and enduring the agony, Johannes managed to open his mouth with great difficulty.
"What... are you?"
In the eyes of Johannes, who had reached his present level through decades of training, the woman called Lucy Emilia was a monster who far transcended the human category itself.
"A monster... hrrk! wearing human skin...!"
Johannes's eyes became bloodshot and red.
Gnashing his teeth and glaring at Lucy, Johannes turned his head at the sound of clicking military boots.
Daniel Steiner was approaching, a revolver drawn from his coat.
Breathing raggedly, Johannes found himself backpedaling before he knew it and shouted.
"Colonel Daniel Steiner! Tell me what this woman's true identity is! You must know! Why were you hiding such a monster!"
It was a literally blood-spitting plea, but Daniel felt no need to answer.
He merely moved slowly, letting the click of his boots fill the silence.
As though Daniel's approach felt like the advance of death itself, Johannes let out ragged breaths and staggered backward.
Then, before he knew it, his feet tangled and he collapsed to the floor.
Daniel stopped before Johannes and raised his revolver.
The muzzle was aimed at Johannes's head.
"Did I not tell you? If you value your life, lay down your weapon and surrender."
"Daniel... Steiner...."
"It was none other than you, Johannes, who threw your life away for nothing. It is the result of your choice, so blame no one."
Even as his consciousness grew hazy with pain, Johannes summoned up fury.
"Do not think everything will end just because you kill me. History will judge you!"
He was not wrong.
"Yes. This affair will be recorded as one of the significant events in the Empire's history. However, you know one thing and not the other. History is originally written by the victors."
Johannes's eyes widened.
"You, Johannes, will be recorded in history as an incompetent captain of the imperial guard who betrayed the Emperor. Even a thousand years hence, all the Empire's people will denounce you, the guard captain, alongside Belvar, the head of the collaborators, as the worst of traitors."
Daniel Steiner knew.
This was what those obsessed with honor feared most of all.
"Farewell. Traitor Johannes Kunz."
Johannes's mouth had parted vacantly before he let out a furious shout, but it did not last long.
Tang─
The bullet that escaped the muzzle precisely pierced the center of Johannes's forehead.
Johannes collapsed to the floor with his enraged expression still frozen on his face, bleeding out wretchedly.
At the same moment, the entrance doors of the Heavenly Gate Hall burst open, and the grenadiers rushed in.
It was because the sound of the gunshot had penetrated the thick doors.
"Division Commander! Are you alrigh...."
The grenadiers, who had been worried about Daniel Steiner, could do nothing but shut their mouths in astonishment.
They had discovered Johannes, who lay collapsed and bleeding before Daniel Steiner.
"The Division Commander took down the Imperial Guard Captain...."
"We heard he was highly skilled, but...."
"Good heavens."
Naturally assuming that Daniel, not Lucy, had fought the Imperial Guard Captain, the soldiers murmured their impressions among themselves.
However, whether fortunately or unfortunately, given the distance, Daniel could not hear them.
"Adjutant."
When Daniel called, Lucy lightly bowed her head.
"Yes, Division Commander."
"I will go up alone, so in my stead, command the soldiers and arrest all the remaining collaborators in the imperial palace."
"It shall be done as ordered."
Having heard Lucy's answer, Daniel gave a slight nod and headed for the exit of the Heavenly Gate Hall.
The door that Imperial Guard Captain Johannes Kunz had staked his life to defend swung open lightly at a gesture from Daniel.
*
The highest floor of the imperial palace.
Tang─
The soldiers standing guard in the corridor flinched at the sound of a gunshot ringing up from the floor below.
The guards knew that Johannes customarily carried a sword rather than a pistol.
Thus, hearing a gunshot meant the Imperial Guard Captain had been done in.
While the guards, who had no idea how events were unfolding, maintained their silence, Daniel came up the stairs and revealed himself in the hallway.
"......."
"......."
"......."
The Golden Medal of National Order and the Golden Cross Medal affixed to his bloodstained coat conveyed an overwhelming aura of pressure.
After surveying the guards gathered in the corridor, Daniel moved on without a single word.
Under normal circumstances, the guards should have stopped Daniel, but they could not bring themselves to do so.
As though he were their direct superior officer, they merely stood aside, bowed their heads, and cleared the path for him.
Cutting through the guards who parted to the left and right, Daniel finally reached the door of the Golden Rest, where Selvia was confined.
Two senior officers stood before the door, but neither of them could meet Daniel's gaze.
Looking coldly upon the officers, Daniel slowly opened his mouth.
"Open the door."
Turning his gaze away, Daniel spoke, his mind on Selvia, who was confined somewhere beyond that door.
"I will confirm with my own eyes whether His Majesty the Emperor is unharmed."