Retreat (3)
When the retreat began, the sun was already high overhead. The soldiers who had stood guard over No Man's Land looked back at the city that had been their home, their cradle. Their eyes reddened as they gazed upon the desolate streets. "We couldn't protect it."
It must have been a bitter feeling. Paola spoke while watching the soldiers and knights. The only baggage the retreating force carried were the wounded left behind in the city and the medics who had tended to them. Equipment and supplies had all been abandoned. Before the full retreat commenced, the Margrave stood before her troops with a hardened expression, preparing to explain the operation. A heavy shadow hung over her face. She had always worn a grim look, but the losses from this battle were too great. Even as she forced herself to appear composed before her subordinates, the darkness refused to lift.
The Margrave's voice was hoarse. "The retreat will proceed as swiftly as possible. We must reach the secondary line at Murat without rest for several days, so everyone should be prepared..."
She paused. "Once the withdrawal is complete, I will reactivate the barrier. After trapping the monsters inside, I will trigger the explosive magic... It should wipe out every monster that enters the city."
When someone asked if the magic could also destroy Behemoth, the Margrave shook her head. "Don't count on it. Don't think we can defeat it by some stroke of luck."
"Even after the incident fifteen years ago, when dozens of the kingdom's finest mages constructed the magic circle?"
The Margrave countered in a low, cold voice. "Behemoth slaughtered dozens of the kingdom's greatest knights. Do you really believe it would fall to a circle made by a few dozen mages?"
She continued, however. "It won't kill it... but it will certainly deal meaningful damage. Even Behemoth isn't strong enough to completely ignore that magic..."
The Margrave's expression turned resolute. "And this will likely be our final chance."
Our final chance. The words were not ones the Margrave uttered lightly. "The explosion should buy us enough time to reach the secondary line. Once we arrive at Murat, we can face Behemoth together with the forces stationed there."
Her voice turned bitter. "We have failed our mission." It was a heavy admission. "...So let our goal be to survive until the very end and rejoin the secondary line."
The Margrave looked up at the sky. "I don't want to lose any more of you."
Retreat. At the Margrave's command, the withdrawal began. The barrier slowly lifted, starting from the city's exit. Once a gap large enough for a single person appeared, the column of wounded began to file out. Then the soldiers who had spent their lives defending No Man's Land abandoned it and followed.
"The Raven Knight Order will depart as well."
Theodora's voice rang out. At her lead, the noticeably diminished members of the Raven Knight Order followed. Maxim glanced at Theodora's face. The hollow, empty eyes that had once apologized to him were gone. Her expression now held a kind of certainty. Maxim realized she was deliberately avoiding his gaze.
"Commander, your voice sounds different today," Paola muttered. Roberto rolled his eyes toward her. "Different?"
"Why, before she looked like she had the eyes of a rotten pollack, but today her face looks a little better. Don't you think so, Maxim?"
Maxim could not answer.
"Maxim?" Paola turned toward him. "...Are you all right?"
Maxim sat atop his horse, one hand pressed to his chest, exhaling rough, labored breaths. Thump. He felt his heart pounding violently within his ribs, as though a horse nearing its end was galloping madly down a hill. The blood vessels stirred by each beat throbbed in unison. His memories... he could not recall them clearly. He did not even know how many or which ones had vanished.
"Maxim." "Senior?"
Paola's and Christine's voices reached him. Maxim raised a hand to signal he was fine. Yet even that raised hand trembled. He drew a slow breath and exhaled until his voice steadied. "I'm all right."
"Are you really? You look like someone forced a corpse to stand up."
Maxim shook his head. "It seems an old wound has flared up."
"A wound?" Paola stared at him in confusion. Roberto regarded him with a subtle gaze, while Christine's eyes were filled only with worry.
"I was injured while holding off the monsters during the retreat." Maxim twisted his neck this way and that in an exaggerated motion. Paola looked at him with clear suspicion. "I was right beside you the whole time. How could I have missed you getting hurt, Maxim?"
Maxim kept shaking his head. At his stubborn gesture, Paola wore an exasperated expression. "...I'm fine."
"You..." Paola sighed and spurred her horse ahead. Roberto stared at Maxim without a word. "...Why?"
"No reason. Just because." Roberto chuckled at Maxim's curt reply and followed Paola. That guy never changes. Maxim muttered inwardly. Once the two had pulled away, Christine loosened her reins and drew closer. Her eyes stood out sharply. Those verdant irises were the only green to be found in No Man's Land.
"...Senior." Maxim removed the hand that had been pressing against his scar. It hurt. He tried not to let his expression twist as he looked at Christine. "You used mana, didn't you?"
Maxim could not bring himself to lie. He turned his head away from Christine and nodded. "I did... If I say I had no choice, will you get angry?"
"No. Why would I be angry?" Christine shook her head. "Don't give up."
At her words, Maxim gave a faint smile. "What shouldn't I give up?"
"I just... I hope you don't give up on yourself."
Maxim understood what Christine meant. Yet he neither affirmed nor denied her words. She probably had not expected an answer anyway. That was what Maxim thought.
"I'll stay by your side." Christine did not try to change his ambiguous attitude. She had simply spoken aloud to reaffirm her resolve to protect him. "...What an embarrassing thing to say."
Maxim let out a deflated sound and shrugged. Christine caught him as he tried to brush off her resolve with a joke. "...Senior."
Maxim did not think much of that resolve. He did not want anyone else to sacrifice themselves because of him. He did not want anyone to be hurt or hindered on his account. "Christine, don't push yourself because of me."
"Then Senior just needs to make sure I don't have to."
In the end, they were parallel lines. Their resolves and their feelings for each other could never meet or intersect. Christine's gaze touched him, sharp and aching. "Why do you go this far?"
Christine tilted her head at Maxim's question. "Because..."
"Don't say it's because you like me." Maxim casually raised his left hand. Though hidden by armor now, an engagement ring would be on that ring finger. Christine's face flushed crimson and she scolded him for the first time in a long while, her golden hair whipping about as she fumed. It was rather cute, he thought.
"No! Senior always says the most random things!"
Maxim lowered his head and chuckled. Christine's fists, still gripping the reins, trembled while her face remained bright red. "You've always liked teasing people out of nowhere, Senior."
...Things from the past. Maxim could not recall much. The foundation and outer walls of the building called memory remained, but the inside felt as though it were being emptied, piece by piece, like furniture being moved out.
"...Senior?" Christine called to Maxim, whose laughter had suddenly stopped. When he turned to her, his golden eyes were dead. Even the slight upward curve of his lips carried an atmosphere too bitter to be called a smile. There were far too many possible reasons. Christine had many questions she wanted to ask those eyes. Yet even if she asked, Maxim would never answer. "It's nothing."
So when Maxim shook his head and claimed it was nothing, Christine simply stayed by his side.
The barrier that had enveloped the city was completely lifted. The monsters, which had been madly clawing and ramming their bodies against the impenetrable wall until their claws and teeth were bloodied, surged into the city the moment the barrier vanished, intent on reducing it to ruins. The sole command their leader had implanted in their minds was to find and kill humans. They searched the city. Human scent and traces lingered everywhere. The monsters' eyes glowed red. Buildings were destroyed. Even though their eyes showed no humans, the mindless monsters trusted the lingering smells and traces as proof and tore through the entire city. They dug up the ground and collapsed the hospital ward where the human scent was strongest. In the process, some monsters were crushed beneath the falling structures.
Behemoth arrived late. Its mountain-like body shook the earth as it approached. The humans seemed to have left the city long ago. Behemoth walked among the monsters that were destroying the city with neither reason nor intellect. Its footsteps crushed them like insects. They had already fled in fear of it. Behemoth began to demolish the city as though determined to erase every last trace of humanity. With each small movement, another building collapsed. The city was crumbling beyond recognition. The grievous wounds it had suffered fifteen years ago had been a humiliation. Therefore, this time, Behemoth resolved to thoroughly trample humanity.
The city was saturated with tens of thousands of monsters. Behemoth decided to continue its advance, its frustration spent. Just as Behemoth took a step forward, a massive barrier descended over the city. The violet magical barrier enveloped the city at a speed entirely different from when it had been dismantled. Monsters trying to escape were crushed against the barrier and reduced to bloody pulp. When Behemoth halted at the exact center of the city in response to the anomaly, the entire city was engulfed in intense light. The light formed the shape of a hexagram, connecting into a single line like a constellation. Behemoth recognized the light's identity and let out a roar. The barrier covering the city trembled at Behemoth's howl. The light shone brighter than the sun at its zenith. It took form, becoming a ravenous beast that devoured mana, swelling to enormous size to repay Behemoth's declaration of war. The mana flow, accelerated to its limit, began to emit a sharp metallic resonance. Then the light emitted by the magic circle condensed and was sucked inward, and the world exploded.