Ambush in the Dry Gorge
From the 7th Legion's standpoint, predicting where the 'Third Brother' would march was no great challenge.
The Third Brother's objective wasn't the war itself but the pressure it placed on Bilkenos. Striking the capital to drag the Grand Duke back north—that was their entire scheme.
Which meant that with the bulk of the North's forces deployed in the Frost Field, the enemy would ignore every possibility of ambush and make a beeline for Bilkenos by the shortest possible route.
But.
[Kheheheh! Move swiftly, everyone!]
The enemy had no idea that a massive army still lurked within Simon's subspace.
All Pier had to do was pick the most ambush-friendly point along the Third Brother's line of march. The spot he chose was a gorge.
Formed by a long-dried riverbed, this terrain was the most efficient passage for crossing the northern mountains quickly without climbing over them entirely.
Though nothing showed along the road itself, the 7th Legion's undead swarmed across the gorge's cliffs and slopes, hiding beneath every tree.
[Let me make something clear before the battle, Pier!]
Prince declared, punching the empty air with a pow-pow of his fists.
[The Third Brother is MY opponent! Don't you dare interfere!]
[Kheheheh! Suit yourself.]
[Pier.]
At that moment, Erzebet alighted soundlessly from the sky upon her spiderweb.
[The Third Brother's forces have drawn near, my Lord.]
[So it is! We make ready.]
[Hm? What? What is it?]
Herseba floated up into the air, glancing around.
[They're practically on top of us, and where are the brat and Akemus? They're awfully late, no?]
Erzebet bit her lip lightly.
[This maiden shares that worry. I've sent my spiders out to search, but…….]
[Akemus went along with him, so there's no need to fret overmuch!]
Pier hoisted the Greatsword of Ruin and rested it against his shoulder with a thud.
[All of you, back to your positions! Battle is upon us!]
They did not wait long. The Third Brother's undead army came marching into the gorge where Pier lay in wait.
The undead troops advanced along the gorge's floor, their formation stretching naturally into a long line. Seen from above, it looked like a swarm of ants marching in procession.
And there, in the very path of the advancing army—
[Hahahaha!]
stood a small boy, single-handedly blocking the way with total abandon.
He wore the pretty aristocratic attire typical of young masters from prestigious houses, and atop his head sat a faded crown.
But gray skin, odd wounds scattered across his body, and jet-black energy spouting here and there—there was nothing remotely human about the aura he carried.
—Gehhhhek!
—Greuk!
A few undead growled threats at him, but the boy standing alone didn't so much as blink.
[What are you little things gawking at?!]
Prince snapped his arms together and crossed them with a ha!
[EYES FRONT!]
Kiiiiiiiiiing!
Brilliant light blazed from the faded crown upon his head as Prince's eyes flared wide. At once, the zombies' eyes rolled back and shifted to the very same color as Prince's own irises.
Clunk.
Thud.
Most of the undead controlled by the Northern God were zombies or skeletons—with zombies being by far the most numerous. The power of Prince's crown, which commanded all zombies, made itself known, and the zombies froze in place. The army's advance ground to a halt.
[Hmph!]
Having single-handedly arrested a massive army, Prince swept his gaze across the surroundings.
[Forget you chump scraps—where's the properly rotten ones at?]
But the undead stayed silent.
Some of it was the zombies locking up in stillness, but the quiet was strange. Too quiet.
Uneasy, Prince's head swiveled left and right—then stopped mid-turn.
Kuguguung—!
Across the gorge.
Dirt and dust erupted skyward, strands of human hair bursting through. Moments later, the Third Brother—one of the Three Brothers—emerged, baring his teeth in a grin.
He was hiding underground?
That thing, humanlike to a deeply unsettling degree, scrambled forward nimbly on all fours.
Palms pressed to the ground.
It twisted its head around at an impossible angle and stared fixedly at Prince. Feeling a chill of murderous intent crawl over his skin, Prince drew back his arm.
[Ugly little—!]
He thrust out his fist, sending a shockwave rippling through the air.
[!]
But the Third Brother vanished as if he'd teleported. Prince's eyes snapped upward.
Leaping high into the air in a single bound, the Third Brother hung there with his whole body grotesquely twisted like a rag, staring down at Prince with eyes that crawled with horror.
A heartbeat later, he drove his heel straight down at Prince, who crossed both arms over his head to guard.
KWAAAAAAANG!
With a roar that threatened to bring the whole gorge collapsing down, Prince let out a pained groan.
[NOW!]
Chwaaak!
At the top of the towering gorge, Pier, who had been lying in wait, leveled his greatsword forward.
[ADVANCE!]
Kieeeeeeeeek!
Keyaaaaaaah!
Like a black tide of ants boiling out of the rocks, countless undead of the 7th Legion came screaming down from every corner of the gorge. Below, the Northern God's undead hunched low and shrieked back.
The distance between the two formations closed in an instant, and at last—
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAM!
Charging downhill with the momentum of the slope added to their weight, the 7th Legion's undead slammed into the Northern God's lines with crushing force.
The battlefield dissolved into chaos in the blink of an eye.
Kiiiiiiiiing!
The Third Brother braced the ground with his hands and feet and opened his maw. A blast of destruction poured from his mouth, sweeping through the undead pouring down from the gorge's heights, incinerating everything in its path.
[I'm still perfectly fine, you know!]
THWANG!
Prince shot up from beneath the collapsed ground and smashed his fist into the Third Brother's jaw. The blast of light cut off; the creature's head snapped back.
Yet as if the blow had never landed, the Third Brother's head rotated smoothly back around, and he looked at Prince with that horrid grin.
[Ugh, quit smiling like that, it's creep—!]
BAM!
The Third Brother's arm, coiling like a whip, slammed Prince into the canyon wall once more.
Prince coughed up black blood. He tried to pull free, but the Third Brother immediately leapt after him, driving both spear-like toe-tips down at him.
From the point where that kick landed, the entire gorge came crashing down in one heaving collapse.
—Kkiring!
Screeching in satisfaction, the Third Brother fished Prince's battered, rag-doll body out of the falling debris.
Just as he stretched his mouth wide sideways, intending to ornament his own head with Prince—
Fssssssss!
Prince's body crumbled away like ash, leaving behind nothing but one of the countless ordinary zombies. Furious, the Third Brother flung the hollowed shell away with a whoosh.
[Pier! Prince has fallen, my Lord!]
Erzebet shouted from her web suspended in the air.
[This maiden shall—!]
[Hold to your role, Erzebet!]
Pier swept the Greatsword of Ruin in a wide arc, cleaving through zombies climbing up the gorge.
[If you leave, a gap opens in the tactics we planned from the start!]
[So we're just going to leave that big thing on the rampage?]
The Third Brother, elbows tucked to his hips, was flitting recklessly around the battlefield, stomping the Legion's undead to death and devouring others whole. Abnormally powerful—befitting a member of the Three Brothers who had terrorized the North for over a hundred years.
—Kkeriring!
Then, all at once, the Third Brother stopped moving and crouched down.
Jet-black energy spilled from his mouth as he gazed up at the sky, arranging itself into letters in the air.
The squirming shapes evoked musical notes on a staff, but it was unmistakably runic script. A dark spell was being cast.
Erzebet, watching, felt her expression crumple.
Don't tell me.
[Hear me, O dead ones.]
A low, calm voice rolled out from the magic circle.
It was not the Third Brother's voice, pitched unnaturally high as it was. Even the color of the creature's eyes had changed.
[The dead are beings perfected—ones who have overcome the limits of life and death itself. Why, then, do you remain bound to the pacts of the living?]
The Third Brother raised both arms toward the heavens. The pose made him look like a marionette hoisted aloft by a puppeteer's strings.
[Only the dead can understand the dead. We shall cast down the age of the living and build a world of the dead. To me—!]
The words never finished.
With a thunderclap that rattled the skull, a pitch-black comet fell from the sky trailing a long tail of darkness.
KWAAAAAAANG!
It was Akemus.
Descending at high speed from on high, he brought his knee crashing down into the Third Brother, slamming him flat—and the mysterious voice fell silent.
[Whether one is living or dead matters little.]
Akemus rose back into the air as he spoke.
[What matters is undying loyalty to one's master! I could not be more overjoyed by the fate that allows me to serve faithfully even after my body has perished.]
Thump.
Akemus touched down where Pier and Erzebet waited. The black feathers receded, and from within, Simon emerged, gasping for breath.
[Boy!]
"Sorry I'm late."
[My Lord Commander! We were worried sick about you!]
Erzebet closed the distance in a single stride and pulled Simon into an embrace—then, touching his forehead, she recoiled in shock.
[Your forehead burns like a ball of fire!]
"……Yeah. It seems I've been hit by a curse."
The true nature of the dark spell the Third Brother had cast at the outset was, of course, a curse.
Akemus, who had taken the curse alongside him, was immune to curses and possessed regeneration besides—but Simon was an ordinary human. He turned his head, still panting.
"I can't dispel it on my own. Even holy power won't break it."
[Kheheheh! Then worry not, Boy!]
Shaaaaaah!
Pier's body fanned out into countless streams and wrapped themselves snugly around Simon's frame, layer upon layer. Last of all, the arm bearing the greatsword connected itself to Simon's arm.
[A curse is lifted the moment its caster falls—so fall he shall!]
"Right."
Vmmm! Vmmm!
Prince's long ring on Simon's left hand trembled and shook.
As if demanding—hurry up and call me, already.
Simon chuckled, fished a zombie out of his subspace, and pressed the ring to it. Black lightning immediately split the air, and Prince appeared.
[GWAAAAH!]
The moment he materialized, he stormed off in a furious rampage.
[That bastard! I'm not letting this go!]
"Hold on! Prince!"
Simon tried to restrain him, but Prince was beyond control. He kicked off across the gorge in a flash and drew back his fist.
[HIDDEN CARD PUUUUNCH!]
TUKWAAAAANG!
A ferocious shockwave flew from Prince's fist straight at the Third Brother—but the creature dodged with a single light hop.
—Kkeriring!
The Third Brother, seemingly delighted by Prince's reappearance, came bounding after him in hops and skips. Then, in the same instant, both of them hurled their fists at each other.
A thunderbolt of sound detonated across the gorge, and the stormwind radiating out from the two powerhouses sent zombies tumbling skyward.
[Oof!]
Prince grimaced under the strain of the fist clash—and out of nowhere, the Third Brother's toes sprouted from behind his back.
[What the hell is that body even made of—khek!]
The leg coiled around him like a serpent, binding Prince in a heartbeat. The Third Brother, who had in the meantime driven his legs deep into the ground, grinned down at him.
CRREEEEEEAK!
After a hideous, crushing constriction, Prince's body split clean in two.
The moment Prince vanished, Simon summoned him back to the battlefield.
[AARGH, that thing! That's such a cheap trick!]
The instant he revived, Prince came bounding and charging out again.
"Prince! Don't push yourself just because you've got lives to spare!"
[Kheheheh! Let him be, Boy! Either way, Prince is keeping the Third Brother thoroughly pinned down all on his own!]
Cursed as he was, Simon was fighting the battle as much as possible from a command position. Bombarding the enemy lines from the rear—having Herseba hurl zombies in to trigger Corpse Explosions—was more than enough fire support.
Erzebet strung her webs thick and dense across the terrain, and the skies were left to Akemus and the Skullwings.
And yet.
He's strong!
Sweat beaded on Simon's brow. In the clash between Prince and the Third Brother alone, Prince wasn't winning.
Simon remembered what the Grand Duke had said at the tactical council in the North days before.
—Consider yourselves warned. The Three Brothers are more powerful than you can imagine.
The 'Northern God' was an absolute being for whom even the category of Ancient Undead was meaningless—yet its core body was said to possess no combat capability whatsoever.
In exchange, it could command countless undead and pour its power into three of them—and those three were precisely the 'Three Brothers'.
This is getting dangerous.
CRAK!
Prince was destroyed by the Third Brother yet again—and it was just as he arrived on his next life that it happened.
[Hey, Simon!]
"Yeah?"
Prince huffed and puffed, unable to hold back his frustration.
Then he turned his head and looked Simon dead in the eye.
[Try it—that Corpse Explosion thing or whatever it's called!]