348. Blood Red (2)
348. Blood Red (2)
- 1 -
Kung — !!
The massive steel greatsword crashed to the ground.
The heavy impact reverberated across the battlefield.
Kalart followed it down, collapsing to his knees.
"Cough...!"
He was a wretched sight.
His beloved steed was nowhere to be seen, and his severed arm lay discarded in the dust.
His armor was torn to rags, and the flesh visible through the gaps was hard-pressed to find an uninjured patch.
The majestic bearing he had carried into the battle was utterly gone.
'I can't win...'
Even as he retched bowlfuls of dead blood from his mouth, Kalart still drew breath.
A tenacious life force, befitting the commander of the Black Howl Knight Order, one of the representative knight orders of Arilit.
In his eyes flickered a mixture of rage at his refusal to accept defeat and the brutal despair of being unable to overcome his opponent.
- That was a truly magnificent battle.
Axe stood before Kalart.
Red blood dripped from the blade of his massive axe.
It belonged to the knights who had charged at him in the moments before Kalart fell.
- If you have any last words, speak them.
The black skull face hidden beneath the thick helmet bore no expression, but his gestures and voice carried a measure of respect for a worthy adversary.
He planted his axe reverse-side down in the earth and stood still, falling silent for a moment as though granting his opponent time for final thoughts.
"Damn it..."
Kalart looked up at the blood-stained sky, heedless of the pain as shards of broken teeth scraped the inside of his mouth.
The battlefield spreading before his eyes had already tilted into utter hopelessness for Arilit.
The screams of allies and the battle cries of enemies mingled together, painting a hellscape.
In the distance, he could see his Archduke locked in combat with someone.
A small... girl in a red dress.
The state of that battle did not look promising either.
"Kill me."
That was Kalart's final will.
A lamentation of his own powerlessness, and of Arilit's fast-approaching destruction.
Hearing Kalart's last words, Axe gave a brief nod.
There was no hesitation in his axe blade.
To delay any further would only dishonor the fallen warrior.
Peok!
The sharp blade bit deep into the thick neck, and with a dull thud, Kalart's head separated from his body and tumbled to the ground.
It was the moment the renowned knight commander of Arilit fell.
- If possible, I hope you can stand at our Master's side.
Having offered a condolence that was not quite a condolence, Axe slung his axe over his shoulder.
It was a posture that seemed utterly off-guard, yet only the cowards who dared not challenge him dared to linger nearby.
He turned his head to watch another fierce battle unfolding far away.
Kwareureureung — !!
A blood-red power was surging upward as though to pierce the sky itself.
At its center stood the small girl in the red dress, and Grimbart, the Archduke of Arilit, desperately resisting.
Serica's battle. No...
- Tch.
It was a 'plaything'.
Clicking his tongue, he turned his body and moved toward the knights still rampaging on other fronts.
The knight commander of Arilit was dead, but countless renowned knights still remained.
- 2 -
"You really..."
Serica's violet eyes, tinged with deep crimson, curved gently like a crescent moon.
"I think you'll make a beautiful flower."
A girl's elegant form, utterly out of place on the battlefield.
Grimbart felt an indescribable unease.
'What chilling power...'
Faced with the overwhelming presence emanating from beyond the blood-red dress and pale face, an involuntary groan escaped the Archduke's lips.
Swaaak — !
Above the parasol she held in one hand, a deep crimson flow of blood writhed and bloomed as though it were alive.
The red power that had coated its surface like a viscous liquid soon scattered explosively into hundreds of resplendent rose petals.
At their center, a jet-black curved blade shimmering with the faint light of a dark moon revealed itself.
At a glance, an elegant and beautiful sight.
But the power and will contained within burned with a cruel light.
"Rita told me not to be too cruel. So I'll let you off once."
She raised her other hand and spread her fingers.
Toward the knights of Arilit charging forward to protect Grimbart.
There was no trace of any presence at her fingertips.
But in the next heartbeat, dark red shadows coiled around the knights' necks.
"Gggeuuk!!"
"Keheok!"
The knights, their necks seized by an invisible, faint darkness, struggled helplessly as they were hoisted into the air before being hurled away.
The knights slammed into the ground and no longer moved, though on closer inspection, they were all still breathing.
"Come on, come at me."
Serica whispered mockingly.
Kadeudeuk!
At the tips of the fingers not gripping her blade, red light billowed and coalesced, and soon her nails elongated into claws.
A predator's weapons, ill-suited to a beautiful woman's face.
But at the same time, the wicked smile she wore as she waggled her fingers suited them all too perfectly.
"Aren't you far stronger than those knights? Are you going to wait until they're all dead?"
Her eyes became stained an even bloodier shade of red.
"Who knows. If you manage to satisfy me, I might just spare your son."
Words that pierced precisely through the heart of his worry.
Grimbart's face hardened.
"Don't regret this...!"
Keudeudeuk...!
Enraged by Serica's provocation, he concentrated every drop of mana in his body into his two-handed sword.
He was in his late fifties. But Grimbart had never ceased training, maintaining skills that remained close to their prime.
His entire body's mana gathered at a single point, and the sword blade swelled with blue mana, taking the shape of a colossal greatsword.
It was a desperate sight, pouring his full power in right from the outset.
"Die...! Witch — !!"
Grimbart roared and swung his greatsword.
Buuung — !
"Calling me a witch..."
Before the incoming blade, Serica laughed softly and answered in a clear voice.
"Hehe. How rude."
The moment Grimbart thought his greatsword had cleanly bisected Serica, her body collapsed like pooling blood and vanished.
"Where are you looking?"
Serica's voice whispered beside Grimbart's ear.
A slender saber darted out from the bewildered Grimbart's flank.
An unsettling power.
"Keuheuk!"
Kwajik!
Grimbart twisted his body on instinct, but the sharp blade had already dug in deep.
"You're pretty good. I could play with you a few more times."
"Protect His Highness!!"
"Kill the witch!!"
As Grimbart faltered for a moment, mages and knights from nearby rushed forward to aid him.
Serica extended her hand toward them and waggled her elongated nails as if conducting an orchestra.
Peo-peo-peo-peok!!
Countless blood-red rose stems erupted from the ground, and in an instant, they coiled around and plucked the heads of all who tried to intervene.
Blood spurted like fountains.
"Gguk...!"
"S... save...!"
One after another, like that, dozens of superhumans were felled by the blood-red thorns.
"I said I'd let you off only once. I'm playing with your master. Such rude subordinates. Don't you agree?"
Blinded by rage and despair, Grimbart screamed.
"Don't you dare look away — !!"
He gathered the full power of his body once more and launched a ferocious strike at Serica.
A blow infused with even stronger mana than before.
Faced with that tremendous speed, Serica's expression shifted slightly as she raised her blade.
Kwakwang — !!
The air tore apart, and the sound of sword clashing against blade exploded outward.
'It worked!'
A grin spread across Grimbart's face.
There was no conceivable way this little girl's saber could block his greatsword.
However, his certainty...
Kagak — !
Was spectacularly shattered.
The immense power carried by the tiny saber lightly deflected his greatsword as though it were nothing more than a twig.
Grimbart's massive frame and his two-handed sword were both hurled backward together.
"This... can't be...!"
His eyes flew wide in shock.
The strike that had carried all of his power had been so effortlessly blocked and deflected by a young girl's hand.
Serica covered her mouth and laughed quietly.
"Ah, it was faster than I expected, so I ended up using more force. Strong women aren't exactly charming..."
Smoothing a stray strand of her hair with her long nails, she continued speaking.
On her face lingered the smile of a smitten girl.
"Of course, Rita will like it regardless."
A mockery, and at the same time, a declaration of the utter futility of his resistance.
His desperate fighting spirit crumbled before her lively cruelty.
- 3 -
The scene of absolute chaos and carnage was not confined to the front lines.
At the appearance of an enemy no one had imagined could cross the mountain range, the rearguard fell into complete disarray.
"How can the Haisen army appear from behind?!"
Heinrich clutched his head, his gaze brimming with disbelief.
Before his eyes, the Haisen-Kiza army led by Evangeline was relentlessly running roughshod over the rearguard.
"Lord Archduke! The White Wing Order is returning now, but the enemy's numbers are far too great!"
Hearing his adjutant's report, Heinrich's face grew even paler.
He was in a situation where he had to hold out with his 2nd Army as best he could until Gregor's White Wing Order arrived.
But both the quantity and quality of the enemy were overwhelming.
"Pull the line back!"
"But then our supply lines...!"
"Is this really the time to worry about supplies! If we don't advance forward and join the vanguard, we'll be annihilated...!"
Before Heinrich could even finish his words, a dazzling golden flash struck down into the heart of the battlefield.
Kung — !!
The golden flash hammered down with a thunderous roar.
A greatsword of condensed golden mana.
No, it was already a pillar of judgmental light piercing the heavens, so impossibly massive it was embarrassing to even call it a sword.
The battlefield split apart.
The golden flash parted the earth like 'the miracle of Moses', and Heinrich's direct guard knights were swept into the air like fallen autumn leaves.
"My god..."
The dust of the battlefield cleared, and the devastated ground was laid bare.
Upon it stood a woman.
A hero astride a white horse, her blue cloak billowing.
"Evangeline en Gener...!"
Heinrich swallowed hard.
The undefeated general. One of the representative blades of the Grakheisen Union.
She, who was supposed to be fighting in the north, had appeared right here.
That alone was enough to shatter the army's morale.
"Surrender."
In her heroic bearing, Evangeline leveled her longsword at Heinrich's throat.
"We can reduce needless casualties."
Heinrich looked down at the sword in his hand.
Countless thoughts raced through his mind.
"If I surrender... m-my life will be...?"
"That is not for me to decide."
At Evangeline's calm reply, Heinrich felt his own heart sink into icy depths.
For a moment, he loosened his grip on his sword as if to cast it aside, but the instant the longsword withdrew from his throat, he clutched it tight once more.
Even if he survived by surrendering like this, the path to becoming Archduke would recede into the distance.
He had to defend his final shred of self-respect and honor.
Shwik — !
A desperate surprise attack, launched without even a battle cry.
A faint smile brushed Evangeline's lips.
"Good thinking. That's the best way."
Peok —
The blue blade traced a fine golden arc.
In Heinrich's vision, Evangeline's movements were barely perceptible.
He felt only the result with his body.
Kung!
"Lord Archduke!!"
When he came to his senses, his sword had been pathetically knocked away, and he himself had been thrown from his horse.
Only then did a sharp pain erupt through his temple.
"To be taken down so easily...!"
He muttered in despair.
He had achieved much even at a young age.
It was not simply because he was the archducal heir that he had been made captain of the Guard Knight Order.
But the female knight before him, who looked even younger than himself, was a master he could never hope to rival.
"Secure this area. Treat those who surrendered as humanely as possible."
Whatever the fallen man muttered to himself, Evangeline had already turned her head away.
The place she turned her horse to face was the frontline where Grimbart's Arilit army could be seen battling the Orbis host.
"The remaining troops, follow me. We reinforce the vanguard."
Evangeline raised her sword anew.
Heinrich could only watch helplessly as the White Wing Order of Arilit came charging in, only to be completely crushed.
- 4 -
"It's over."
By the time Evangeline struck the enemy's rear and in one breath routed the army into surrender, I had finally swallowed the last of my cooled tea.
On the model battlefield spread across the table, black horse knights surrounded blue horse knights from the front and the back.
Grimbart's main force was isolated, and Heinrich's rearguard was already suppressed.
"Evangeline unnie is as amazing as always. She decided the battle in an instant."
Yurena said, her voice brimming with admiration.
A look of relief at confirmed victory had risen on her face.
I gave a slight nod.
"It's also partly because they left only the 2nd Army guarding the rear and let their guard down."
"They had no choice but to let their guard down. There were no visible army movements, after all."
Yurena caught on to my point.
Moving an army across the Eisenlight Mountains was a maneuver no one had anticipated.
"That's right."
I let out a long sigh.
"It's all thanks to the two queens."
The major public credit for this battle would clearly go to Evangeline and Serica.
Especially Evangeline's ambush from the rear was a masterstroke that decisively tipped the war.
However, the contributions of those who silently fulfilled their roles in the unseen corners should not be forgotten, either.
The monsters of Alraune Queen Nirvana used plant magic to carve paths through the mountain range, and Harpy Queen Kamaya transported the army through the skies and conducted reconnaissance missions.
I would have to bestow proper rewards on them as well.
Tak!
Just then, on the table where the 'Battlefield Chess' was arrayed, the horse piece representing Serica struck Grimbart's horse piece across the head with her saber.
Struck by the flat of the blade, Grimbart's piece did not rise from its spot.
Archduke Grimbart's unit was on the verge of collapsing entirely.
Axe was accepting the surrender of the remnants.
'All that remains is mopping up.'
Orbis, as the victorious nation, would proceed with negotiations against Arilit.
They would extract compensation for lost manpower, and Echidna's maneuvers would begin to shine.
And then...
'Hilsa.'
My gaze shifted to another part of the war map.
The Hilsa border.
After Arilit's defeat, Norn would withdraw its army as if nothing had happened.
Emperor Maximilian's neck would stiffen with frustration, but he would be able to do nothing at all.
Which means the true focus of my attention lay to the east.
'The Holy Kingdom.'
And beyond that, to the touch of Astaroth maneuvering secretly within that Holy Kingdom.
What awaited them was one of two outcomes.
Purification, or destruction.
And with that...
'My Empire.'
The empire wearing the mask of a union would at last reveal itself to the world.