Your War, My War (6)

The sun remained hidden behind thick clouds, refusing to show its face. It only leaked thin rays of light through the cracks in the parted sky.

“...Should we really hold the line like this?”

The front had reached a stalemate. Only hours earlier the battlefield had been drenched in the blood of both monsters and men. Now a colossal fissure split the field cleanly in two—the aftermath of a grand-scale spell. At the boundary where the mages had collapsed the earth itself, the knights were granted a fleeting moment of rest.

In that miraculously quiet lull, the Margrave leaned against her sword, eyes closed. Last night had been unbearably long.

Theodora approached and sat beside her. Paola remained at the very front, eyes sharp with killing intent as she stared down the horde.

“No,” Paola said firmly. “Even if it feels reckless, we must hold this position.”

“...I see.”

“Behemoth has not yet entered the fray.” Paola gestured toward the distant forest. “As you know, once we engage that creature, we will have no choice but to allow its advance. There is currently no method available to us to restrain its steps—unless reinforcements ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠arrive.”

The Margrave gave a small nod.

“So we must stop it as far forward as possible.”

“We cannot allow it to set foot inside the city. The moment it does, the filthy swarm accompanying Behemoth will scatter across the entire kingdom.”

The Margrave’s hand tightened around her sword hilt until the leather creaked.

“Then we endure a little longer. Theodora, are you still all right?”

“I’m fine. I can still fight.”

Theodora’s armor was already in tatters after swinging her blade through the night. Beneath the shadow of her raised visor, her eyes glowed with a pale light. Her breathing remained steady. Her expression held neither confidence that she could stop the monsters nor despair that she could not.

“When can the mages cast another grand spell?”

“At least another hour,” Paola answered, glancing at the shattered ground. “I only hope they don’t resume their assault before then…”

The moment she tried to continue, the clouds parted. Sunlight struck the treetops like a blade. At the same time, the now-familiar, terrifying vibration rolled across the earth.

“It’s coming again.”

Paola gripped her sword tighter so it would not slip. It was close. Closer than ever before.

The battlefield erupted into noise. No bell rang, yet soldiers scrambled into formation, weapons raised. Some had only just woken; others, like Theodora and Paola, had spent the entire night skewering monsters on their spears.

“Fuck, it’s close.”

“It’s here—that bastard is here!”

Boom.

This time there was no roar. Without ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠warning, Behemoth simply stood before them, filling the knights’ entire field of vision.

Breath froze in every throat. Aura ignited along Theodora’s blade. It did not merely coat the steel. Like drifting mist, the energy spilled outward from her body and began wrapping her armor as well.

A sickening crunch echoed, as though hundreds of bones had snapped at once. Or perhaps the sound of boulders splitting apart. The section of Behemoth that resembled a jaw slowly parted in two.

Theodora realized it was opening its mouth.

“O…ra…”

The voice was solemn, low, and utterly chilling. Soldiers’ shoulders jerked. Faces drained of color. Some dropped their weapons entirely; others simply collapsed where they stood. The clatter of falling steel rang out all across the line.

It was speech, it was pressure, and the sound itself became a kind of magic. The air grew thick and heavy. Like a god delivering judgment from above, Behemoth spoke.

“Knight… loathsome… creature…”

No one stirred. Every knight and soldier on the front was completely overwhelmed.

“Knowing you cannot stop me… why do you struggle so desperately to the end…?”

Each word made armor rattle. Theodora poured even more power into her aura. A storm whirled around her. The platinum gale carried a ferocious edge as it spread.

Aura also coiled around the Margrave’s sword, then Paola’s, then the blades of every knight behind them. Dozens of sharpened auras rose like fangs. Yet the sight resembled less a threat against an equal foe than the final, frantic resistance of prey against a predator.

“The mages?” the Margrave asked a nearby knight.

He shook his head. “Not yet.”

So this was what it had been waiting for. The Margrave bit her lip until it bled.

Behemoth had appeared at the exact moment the humans were most exhausted, their guard at its weakest.

She raised her voice.

“Hold the line! Fight as if there is no land beyond this point!”

The mana-infused shout snapped the soldiers back to their senses. They lifted shields and spears as one.

Even facing a colossal monster and thousands of its minions, the canyon fell into an eerie silence. The tension tightening every chest reached its peak—then the Margrave’s next command tore through the air.

“All troops! Reform—”

Boom.

What just happened?

Ah.

Theodora realized her feet were no longer touching the ground. Time seemed to have stopped. Or perhaps it was simply moving very, very slowly.

She saw soldiers and knights floating beside her. Massive shards of rock rose among them. That dark fragment—that was a human arm, she realized with strange detachment.

Time accelerated again. Consciousness slammed back into reality.

They had failed to block it. What kind of attack had that been? Nothing more than a simple stomp, most likely. Yet that single strike had shattered the earth and sent men flying into the sky.

The fall began.

Theodora strengthened her aura storm. The formation had collapsed from one blow. Only Paola, the Margrave, and Theodora herself still stood on solid ground.

She staggered, planting her feet.

“…Hah.”

It was a slaughter. Soldiers lay twitching on the ground, barely breathing. Not a few had died instantly from that first strike.

Through the thick cloud of dust, the howls of monsters echoed.

The line. I must hold the line.

Theodora clenched her teeth. The moment she renewed her resolve to protect, the platinum aura blazed even brighter, raging wildly.

The monsters charged.

She pressed her blade between her brows and focused. She needed to accelerate further. She needed to stop them with a single strike.

Her aura finally began spinning into a spiral, accelerating to its utmost limit.

The monsters drew near. So did Behemoth.

Theodora detonated the mana in her heart and swung her sword downward.

Open.

From high above, a platinum meteor plummeted toward the horde.

The torrent erupted with a deafening roar, erasing the leading werewolf from existence. The light did not stop. It devoured the monsters behind it one after another. Each time a creature melted into the radiance, the aura burned hotter, as though fresh oil had been poured on a blaze.

The beam carved through the swarm until it finally collided with Behemoth.

Clang!

The giant staggered, its massive frame shaking for the first time.

Crunch.

Yet the aura—squeezed out solely to maintain the line—failed to inflict any meaningful damage.

“How… dare…”

Theodora gripped her sword even tighter.

Knights began gathering at her sides. The monsters that had faltered at her strike now surged forward again. The knights raised their blades high.

“For the kingdom!”

“For His Majesty!”

“For revenge—for the revenge of No Man’s Land!”

With their various battle cries still on their lips, the monsters reached them.

Behemoth lifted its foreleg once more.

“No…”

“We have to stop it…?”

The knights’ horror transformed into a different kind of shock.

“Theodora—!”

The Margrave’s scream rang out.

A single streak of light raced across the raised paw of Behemoth. A long, glittering tail followed in its wake. The light carved through the monster swarm, slicing everything in its path, and arrived directly before the titan.

The rising paw froze.

Behemoth lowered its head from its towering height.

“Insolent… thing…”

Theodora twisted her wrist. This time she gathered mana with the clear intent to inflict real damage.

If she failed to block this attack, there would be no way to stop the incoming tide.

Her target was Behemoth. She had to buy time until the mages could unleash another grand spell.

It was insolent. The tiny creatures’ swords radiating light of resistance irritated Behemoth—especially that platinum aura rushing toward it. The titan despised that light.

Monsters leapt at Theodora. Like moths to flame, they were shredded into bloody chunks the instant they entered her range.

She closed her eyes.

What rose in her mind was a conversation with Maxim. The majority of her memories concerning the sword were inextricably tied to him.

Maxim. Just a little longer… is it all right to think of you more?

Theodora silently asked for forgiveness.

Drag him down.

She repeated the words in her mind.

Behemoth caught the look in her eyes and roared in fury. There was no fear in that gaze.

Boom.

A thunderous impact rang out—nothing like the sound of a blade cutting flesh. Theodora’s first strike carved across Behemoth’s chest. Fragments of its hide flew like shrapnel.

Behemoth’s reaction was pure astonishment.

It began to be whittled away, little by little, beneath the storm of Theodora’s sword dance. Fast. Elegant. Overwhelmingly powerful.

“That’s…”

“The continent’s greatest prodigy…”

The knights forgot their terror of Behemoth as they watched Theodora’s overwhelming display of skill. Every time the monster twisted, she danced along the edge of death. One mistake against those attacks would mean instant death, yet Theodora walked the line as if it were nothing.

It looked as though a platinum galaxy was swirling around the colossal beast.

Theodora sprinted along Behemoth’s foreleg. Fragments of the monster’s hide scattered like wings, brushing against the afterimages of her aura before vanishing. She swung her sword. She carved away at Behemoth, diminishing it. Risking her life, she forced the creature to risk its own.

“Paola.”

“Yes.”

“Assist Theodora. Thirty minutes—until the mages are ready.”

The Margrave gave the order. Paola adjusted her grip on both sword and spear. Sharp aura extended from both blades. Wrapped in fighting spirit, she leapt forward without hesitation.

Theodora continued her assault without acknowledging Paola’s presence. Paola cleverly found gaps, weaving her own strikes between Theodora’s so they would not interfere. Sword and spear together halted Behemoth’s advance.

“Captain.”

Theodora did not turn her head.

“Thirty minutes.”

She gave the faintest nod. Her aura surged even more fiercely.

Paola watched in admiration as Theodora continued radiating brilliant platinum light. Time lost all meaning. Theodora simply kept swinging her sword, relying only on habits and instincts carved into her body. The sole thought filling her was to drag both herself and Behemoth down to the same level.

The gap in their existence did not crumble. Precisely because of that, she pushed even harder. She shattered her own shell and drew forth more mana. Her blade peeled away the monster’s hide. Slowly, Theodora began to feel that she was truly carving away at its life.

The brighter her platinum aura burned with every swing, the more radiant it became. When her blade drew a long, vivid line across Behemoth’s shoulder, the titan unleashed a roar of pure rage.

Both Theodora and Paola were blasted backward by the shockwave.

The monsters surged forward like a tidal wave. A knight threw himself in front of the falling Theodora. A Fenrir’s claw descended on his armor, severing his arm. Theodora regained her balance and swung her sword. The monsters attacked with greater ferocity than ever, ignoring her strikes—

Dawn would bring reinforcements. Those words felt impossibly distant.

Without hope or certainty, Theodora continued swinging her blade. Corpses and monster carcasses piled higher and higher. The path between the mountains and the forest was littered with the dead.

Slice.

Theodora swung mechanically. Another corpse was added to the pile. No aura coated her blade now—she had to save it for the next clash with Behemoth.

More than two days without sleep. For two full days she had done nothing but swing her sword. Whenever she felt her limit, she forced her body past it. Even as soldiers beside her fell and were dragged away by claws and fangs, Theodora held the line.

“It looks like we’ve taken down this wave,” Paola said, flicking blood from her blade. Droplets spattered along the edge.

Theodora nodded, too exhausted to spare words. She could not relax. The main horde was drawing far too close.

Behemoth had inflicted unspeakable damage during its brief appearance before pausing its advance. The fact that they had been able to fall back to the original trench line rather than the forward position was entirely thanks to Theodora.

“…Are you all right?”

Theodora looked visibly drained. She had single-handedly stalled Behemoth’s charge for over thirty minutes. During that time, her sword had grown another step stronger. The subsequent grand spell from the mages combined with her aura had finally halted the titan’s advance.

“I can hold.”

Theodora forced the words through gritted teeth.

While Theodora kept Behemoth occupied, many soldiers had fallen to the lesser monsters. With the line in shambles, Murat’s forces retreated to the original defensive line.

“…Once they arrive, it will be over.”

She could sense the limit approaching. Barely more than half the soldiers remained. More than half the knights had already been lost.

They were coming. The monsters they had only been holding back did not seem to have diminished much in number. As if sensing the end was near, their advance slowed noticeably. They were matching Behemoth’s pace.

“Damn them…”

The king would enter first. It seemed some rule had been decided among them. The monsters poured through the canyon like a black tide.

“We killed so many… yet this many still remain.”

Paola planted his spear. Faint aura rose from its tip. His one-handed sword had shattered long ago during the clash with Behemoth.

Low and resonant, Behemoth let out a cry that sounded almost like a celebration of its own entry. The monsters answered with excited howls. Their grotesque chorus filled the mountains and forest with horrifying noise.

The monsters stared at the crumbling defensive line from mere yards away. To them, the broken humans looked like easy prey. Their shrieks rose to a deafening pitch, assaulting the ears.

Theodora released her aura. A more refined, intense radiance wrapped her blade, pushing back the darkness. The soldiers had accepted death. The knights gripped their swords, squeezing out every last drop of mana.

Hummmm.

Then another vibration joined it.

Soldiers whipped their heads around. The low sound came from behind them—close.

Suddenly the sky brightened from deep blue to dawn’s first light.

Hummmm.

The sound piercing the morning mist was a war horn.

Thud. Thud.

A rhythmic vibration—different from the monsters’ chaotic tremors—rose through their feet.

Theodora turned.

The soldiers parted. What met her eyes was a familiar banner.

“Lady Theodora.”

The lead knight spoke. He was the commander of her family’s knight order.

“You held well.”

Theodora unconsciously tightened her grip on her sword.

“Leave the rest to us.”

At his words, banners from noble houses across the kingdom began to flutter across the sky. The war horns urging continued battle lifted the exhausted soldiers’ weapons once more.

“All troops, prepare for battle—!”

Magic circles etched themselves into the sky. Ballistae were loaded. Aura flared along the knights’ blades.

The monsters roared in defiance. Behemoth bellowed with rage.

“Leave not a single one alive!”

The heavens opened. Flames rained down.

And riding upon those flames, the knights began their final charge.