Seizing the Initiative
The initiative belonged to this side.
Who in their right mind would dare to strike again?
Yet the Imperial Guard knights felt their hearts freeze over.
That was how overwhelming Caric's presence was. That violence, that barbarity, that sheer irrationality — it left no room whatsoever for the will to fight. If a Sword Master had been standing there instead, they would have mustered their fighting spirit. Those were strongmen they could understand, strongmen whose strength had been acknowledged and earned. But Caric?
They couldn't even comprehend what had just happened.
Trained killers though they were, the knights knew. Something about this barbarian was fundamentally broken. He seemed to belong to a species genuinely different from mankind. Their instincts screamed at them to run.
And yet.
Shiiiing.
One by one, the knights drew their blades.
Because that was what the Imperial Guard was meant to do. It didn't matter how powerful the enemy was. They protected the imperial family and guarded His Majesty the Emperor. That was their pride, and their duty. The Imperial Guard knights steeled themselves for death.
And Caric, watching this scene unfold—
"Hm."
The adrenaline was slowly draining away, and the reason of a modern man was coming back online. It couldn't be helped.
"Your fighting spirit's admirable and all."
Were they seriously about to attack him? Quite a few of the knights were trembling in their boots, and their expressions were far too resolute. At this rate… this was like fighting fathers of families who absolutely could not afford to lose their jobs, wasn't it?
This isn't it.
This was not the kind of fight Caric wanted. Whether it was a well-justified skull-smashing, or a full-power proof of life like the one earlier — whatever it was, he wanted something with a bit more… a bit more heat to it.
"Beast-slaying formation."
In the meantime, the Imperial Guard knights had assembled into battle formation. Caric sighed. Then he came out with something that seemed to come from nowhere.
"The Emperor — he's doing okay, isn't he?"
At those words, the Imperial Guard knights flinched. Reading their reaction, Caric gained a little more confidence. His guess had hit the mark. Just as it had been in the original story, and just as Annette had told him before they came — the Emperor liked to verify everything with his own two eyes. He would never want to miss a moment where friction might break out. But he couldn't exactly come out to greet them in person, either.
"If I knock all these guys out, who's going to guide us? You? Remotely?"
Even as he spoke, Caric sharpened his senses. He swept his gaze over several spots where he felt a strange presence — and finally, he found it. A communication crystal orb that one of the Imperial Guard knights wore dangling from his breastplate like an ornament.
Caric looked the crystal dead in the eye.
"If you're just planning to keep watching, I have to say I'll be rather disappointed."
A brief silence followed. Then, from the crystal, a low voice flowed out.
"Sheathe your swords."
A single sentence. A calm tone without even the slightest rise or fall — and yet it alone possessed the power to seize the attention of everyone present. The Imperial Guard knights promptly obeyed the imperial command and returned their blades to their sheaths.
Even Caric couldn't deny that, for an instant, he'd felt a gravity that was anything but ordinary.
That sounded like a legendary Hollywood actor's line, polished over dozens of takes.
An Emperor really was an Emperor, huh.
"You've shown quite the spirited personality, from what I've heard."
The voice was relaxed — carrying a tone that suggested he'd taken more than just an interest in Caric, perhaps even a slight fondness. But Caric didn't let his guard down.
His teeth didn't sink in, so now he's quietly shifting his approach. Cunning old fox.
The Emperor's next words followed exactly that stance.
"Further friction would profit neither of us. Bring the Imperial Princess and her guest to the audience chamber."
"We shall obey His Majesty's command."
With a knight's reply, the crystal fell silent once more. Caric waited a moment to see if any further orders would come — then a man who appeared to rank just below the vice commander stepped toward him.
"We will escort you to the audience chamber."
But Caric shook his head.
"Mm-mm, no."
He jerked his chin toward the fallen vice commander.
"You're just going to abandon your comrade?"
Caric glanced at the crystal orb. The Emperor was quiet, as if he were no longer watching this place. But Caric would bet anything that the Emperor was still watching. And if so, there was a piece of bait he needed to drop in order to seize the initiative.
"Annette, if you would."
Caric's and Annette's eyes met. Annette nodded with considerable resolve.
"I'll return him to you good as new."
Radiance bloomed from her hands. The lost sacred power of the imperial bloodline — the divine authority said to have been granted directly to the founding Emperor by the gods. In Caric's terms, the romance-fantasy heroine-exclusive broken cheat ability had manifested.
FAAAAAH!
Brilliant light enveloped the vice commander. Crack. Crick-crick-crack! The sound of bones snapping back into place on their own rang out. Dislocated joints returned to their sockets, and a warped spine straightened itself out. The breathing coming from beyond his crushed armor steadied all at once. The face visible beneath the raised helm, which had looked half-dead moments ago, became clean and whole — and thanks to the purification as well, even the bloodstains vanished without a trace. It even erased the old scar on his face. The armor hid the rest, but the bruises, ruptures, and internal bleeding would all have healed too.
"Th-this is…"
Shock rippled through the ranks of the Imperial Guard. They had been educated in the history and traditions of the imperial house, and they recognized it at a glance. This was Radiance — the sacred authority wielded by the Emperors of the earliest age!
Annette fielded the knights' disbelieving stares with perfect composure. She spoke with a dignified smile.
"Would you guide us to my father now? You'll want a few minutes to look after your commander, I'm sure."
The vice commander's body had recovered, but whether from the shock, he had yet to regain consciousness.
"W-we shall obey the command."
The knight answered with great formality — an attitude altogether different from before, carrying a certain awe within it. The knights turned and led the way. And in the very instant their gazes dropped away—
Annette flashed Caric a tiny smile, angled so that only he could see it. It was the look of one saying, 'I'm getting pretty good at this, right?'
Caric gave a slow, solid nod. Annette lit up at the response — then gave him a thumbs-up, as if to say, 'And you held back well too, Caric.'
What is this? Feels like she's handling me like a big, overgrown puppy.
Caric got a strange feeling from it, but let it slide.
Following the Imperial Guard knights, they made their way through a fairly labyrinthine route. They passed through double doors sealed with magic, and traversed a couple of hidden passages as well — a layout befitting a direct imperial security zone.
Good thing I left the knights as our guides.
They traveled only along paths that drew no eyes. Thanks to that, astonishingly, they didn't cross paths with a single servant on the way. Their destination was an audience chamber tucked away in a remote corner of the palace — apparently used for private meetings.
The moment they stood before the doors, they swung open on their own. Following the knight's gesture, Caric and Annette stepped inside.
Oh-ho.
The audience chamber was surprising, if anything, in its plainness. There wasn't a single ostentatious ornament to be seen. The finest marble stretched across the floor, and enormous pillars rose in orderly rows, but that was all. All decoration meant for showing off had been stripped away. It was a space fitting an Emperor who was terrifying precisely because he was no ossified old fossil.
The Emperor sat upon a throne of white marble, waiting for the two of them. When Annette reached the foot of the throne, she paid her respects.
"We greet Your Majesty."
In that instant, a flicker of unusual interest crossed the Emperor's eyes. Sharply attuned, he had caught Annette's inner transformation from that one gesture alone.
So it wasn't just the power she gained.
This meeting might turn out to be more significant than expected.
"Congratulations on your safe return, my daughter. To survive the blizzard of the demon realm and make it back alive — you are truly my blood."
The Emperor turned his gaze on Caric.
"And this would be the man who nearly pulverized my Imperial Guard to powder?"
"This is Caric, the savior of my life."
Annette answered calmly. The Emperor nodded.
"I have received the reports. You killed Crowell — and felled Valerion besides." He tapped the armrest lightly. "A savage warrior even I find myself coveting. And yet." His voice shifted, subtle and low. "Carry on like this, and you are certain to meet an early grave, are you not?"
"I'm afraid I don't follow, Your Majesty."
"Even the mightiest of pieces, if it rampages carelessly through enemy lines, pays the price in the end. That is why the hand that moves the pieces is what matters."
"Caric is not a piece."
Annette said firmly. Even against the pressure the Emperor had begun to leak, she showed not the slightest sign of shrinking. On the contrary, as if stubbornness had seized her, her eyes grew only clearer.
"He came to me when I needed him most desperately, and gave me a chance. He is my savior. Caric helps me, and I help Caric. It is not a relationship of superior and subordinate."
"Is that so? What a beautiful — and dangerous — sentiment."
The Emperor swept aside Annette's momentum as smoothly as flowing water.
"Then I must put the question to you as well."
He looked Caric dead in the eye.
"Are you truly the Imperial Princess's savior? Or a beast that carries my daughter on its back and charges straight for the cliff?"
Caric snorted. The Emperor's scheme was laid perfectly bare. So he plans to coax me along like this and herd things toward whatever conclusion suits his taste. I can tell from how he hasn't even brought up Radiance or assassination yet. If I got swept along here, everything would unfold exactly like the original story's opening — cooperate with the Emperor, and become just one of the many pieces in his hand.
He had no reason to play along with that script.
Cooperate, sure. But the initiative stays with us.
"A savior, or a charging beast. If we're splitting hairs, I'd have to say the latter."
However—
"That is, if it turns out there's solid ground beyond the cliff, and I'm more than capable of reaching it."
"If such a path existed, why would anyone choose the cliff at all?"
"You're asking a question you already know the answer to. Because the shortcut is the only way to overtake him — that First Prince of yours, the one whose rotten insides are showing for all the world to see."
Caric knew that the First Prince's 'rotten insides' were literally a cultist. But he didn't say so. It would be strange for him to know information the Emperor himself had only suspicions about. Caric pressed on.
"You've been hoping someone would come along and overtake the First Prince, haven't you? A year or two is no small length of time."
It was a remark laced with a strange, pointed resonance. The Emperor barely managed to conceal his agitation — then opened his mouth, as if to change the subject. But Caric had no intention of surrendering an initiative he'd once seized. He spoke one step ahead of the Emperor.
"Eat whatever's lying around, and you'll get sick."
"I don't know what you mean."
"No use pretending you're fine. That stench coming from your sternum — the kind that comes off demon-realm beasts — it's practically vibrating."
The Emperor's face hardened like stone.
"You swallowed a fragment of the Evil God, didn't you? How sublime. So sublime that even Radiance can't fully purge it."
Caric had just spoken aloud a secret that wouldn't be revealed until the middle of the original story.
"You're on borrowed time."