Chapter 47
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Conquest of Aurelinople (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
February, 1698 of the Origin Calendar.
The seventh year of the Red Summer, the Great Counteroffensive of the new year.
Having repelled the Abyss's offensive that had surged north of the Red Mountains, humanity launched a massive counterattack.
"You should all be aware that the battle that marked the beginning of this counteroffensive was the conquest of <Aurelinople>."
To both sides, the strategic value of the purple city south of the Red Mountains, <Aurelinople>, was beyond words.
"What was the reason for this? Graham Page, you answer."
"Because the Velisore Great River, which connects the southern part of the continent over a wide area, diverges from a watershed at <Aurelinople>."
"Precisely. Humanity wanted to use the Velisore Great River as a supply line and a forward base to target the southern continent. In contrast..."
The Simyeon (Abyss).
It sought to defend the city as an inland stronghold to control the territory of the old republic and as a forward base in preparation for a northward advance.
"The outline of the battle was a localized siege over a single city, but the scale of forces available to both sides was that of an all-out war that could change the tide of the conflict—a total war."
At this time, the "Old Nobles" were stationed in <Aurelinople>.
Beings who had wielded legendary fame in the ancient times before the Origin Calendar, "Roten's Eternal Annihilation Squad."
The royal guard of one of the [Forgotten Kings], the Lizard Lord Neigallas, numbered one hundred.
"Since all of them had received a share of the noble's power, facing the entire Eternal Annihilation Squad at once was the same as confronting an Old Noble."
They were beings who were always counted among the top three worst demon legions.
"It is said that all Reptilians, that is, Lizardmen, aspired to become members of the Eternal Annihilation Squad, so there is no need to further explain the extent of their prestige."
To subjugate this Eternal Annihilation Squad of Roten, Mirngadia of the Blue Star took the extreme measure of dispatching three FakeWarriors simultaneously.
The 1st Seat, Roveris Alter Scherpang.
The 2nd Seat, Gorgotia Alter Zierda.
The 3rd Seat, Kaisen Alter Aradamanthel.
It was self-evident that the outcome of humanity's counterattack would be decided by the performance of these three FakeWarriors.
"The history of this day, which would determine the direction of the counteroffensive, begins in the summer of February 1698, on the front lines of the southern front."
Total War (總力戰),
Conquest of Aurelinople (5)
The hollow sound of severing, like sand crumbling to dust.
The 29th member of "Roten's Eternal Annihilation Squad" scattered into sand on the blade of Aradamanthel.
As if the scattered sand were seeds of life, the 30th, 31st, and 32nd members of the squad rose from within it, granted life.
"What the hell are these guys! They just keep getting up!"
Was the sand itself their flesh?
The members of the Eternal Annihilation Squad, sand squirming within the bone armor of ancient reptiles, all used the "Scythe of Reaping."
It reaped the soul from its target, inflicting a fatal wound with a single hit.
"Your Excellency, this is Roveris! The Eternal Annihilation Squad keeps rising. Each one has the power of a standard demon!"
Their very existence.
The transcendent class of their souls.
It sought to sink the consciousness of any mortal who dared face them into a sandy illusion and drown them there...
「Be careful, FakeWarriors!」
The members of the Yongsa party were able to fight the squad without suffering any mental damage.
Because Setsunen was protecting their minds with Thunderous Fragrance Resonance.
The reptilian snake eyes, flickering like afterglows inside the skull helms, could not violate their consciousness.
[The Eternal Annihilation Squad of Roten totals one hundred. You must wear down their strength. When they reach their limit, they will merge into one.]
"Ha! I was wondering why a high-ranking noble was so flimsy, so that's what it was!"
"You idiot, is this really the time for bravado?"
If the squad were to merge into one, or rather, to make them merge into one...
He thought, steadying his breath.
Did that mean he had to cut down the 99th member? Before everyone was exhausted and collapsed.
"Your Excellency, I suppose I can use the Sword of Command then."
[That is correct. Their souls are currently split into 100, so you must not use the Sword of Command now.]
"Then I will create the path for that to happen. I request permission to release my Dragon Spirit."
The moment the approval, *I permit it*, was returned.
Ting...
The clear sound of the Divine Dragon's authority descending upon a mortal body sharply tore through the vortex of sand. And then.
A crash of thunder and lightning.
As if successive lightning strikes were crashing down in a downpour, countless patterns of lightning were etched onto the sandy ground.
First strike.
Second strike.
Third strike.
As the thunder roared, the noble's body scattered into sand beyond the bone armor that had been cleanly severed by the blade.
「...?」
And when another member of the squad rose from that sand, its body crumbled back into sand before it could even finish the motion of standing up.
「...!」
A red flash dashing across the battlefield.
A transcendent light that left countless traces of slashes in its wake, all in an instant.
Upon the traces of that light, the ancient Eternal Annihilation, powerlessly crumbling and scattering into sand.
"So fast, the squad doesn't even have time to get up...!"
The dragon's power, erupting from deep within his body, from his very soul, stretched his perception of time.
An unrealistic augmentation of physical abilities.
His optic nerves reached their limit, and the world reflected in his retinas slowly turned monochrome.
In other words, he reached transcendence.
Each time he kicked off the ground with his enhanced leg strength, the air was disturbed and the sandy field was deeply gouged.
「...!」
The vortex of despair, once scattered into 100, finally began to converge into a single form.
A sandstorm, and born from that swirling storm, the 100th member of the Eternal Annihilation Squad.
It was the leader of the squad, one who held the full power of an Old Noble bestowed by the [Forgotten Kings] in a single soul.
The 100 Scythes of Reaping merged into two, crossed in the squad leader's hands.
"Stand down, Kaisen. You've done enough. Gorgotia, Mern. We will tie that thing's feet. Secure a firing angle for the Sword of Command!"
"No, it's not time to equip the Sword of Command yet. We have to peel off its soul's shell first! It'll be tough without me."
"We're all running on fumes now. A long battle is to our disadvantage!"
Exhaling a desperately ragged breath, Kaisen checked his body's condition.
An intense pain wracked him, as if his body would shatter, but the Dragon Spirit was still active.
So, he had to swing his sword as much as he possibly could.
*‘That's right, isn't it?’*
The memory that suddenly came to mind was of Camilla's back, which he had seen once, holding Aradamanthel.
You, too.
He wondered if she had always made this kind of resolve in her days of fighting, chipping away at her own life.
"...Aradamanthel, you can still fight, right?"
As if in answer to his question, the crimson aura shimmering from Aradamanthel's blade burned even more fiercely.
"Alright, let's go."
The power pushing his body beyond mortal limits into the realm of transcendence had only a few seconds left.
Again, he kicked off the ground.
The power fiercely swirling within his body amplified his leg strength dozens of times, launching his body forward in an instant.
"...Kaisen, you!"
The Scythe of Reaping flew in, letting out a skin-crawling shriek as it tore through the air.
Upon the scythe's edge, reaped souls were tangled together, screaming in agony.
The left scythe was already in the path of his sword, solidifying its defense, while the right scythe was poised for the kill that would follow.
*‘If that's how you want to play it...!’*
The clash between Aradamanthel's blade and the Scythe of Reaping erupted in a deafening roar that tore at his eardrums.
Claaaaang...!
He bent both knees simultaneously. A sudden check of momentum, his body sliding across the sand, perfectly dodging the counterattack's trajectory.
──Swoooosh!
That was his calculation, but the searing sensation of death grazed just above his face... his lips trembled.
Not an easy opponent, after all.
However.
The time bought by his defense and evasion was but a fleeting moment, but in a battle of transcendent beings, an instant is like an eternity, so this time was immense.
His concentration accelerated further.
His physical abilities were amplified even more.
A peal of thunder, and the blade that squeezed through that fleeting gap severed the squad leader's left wrist.
Faster.
Even faster.
The super-fast regeneration activated immediately, swirling sand regenerating the creature's arm, but it didn't matter.
The goal wasn't subjugation, but a reprieve.
Amidst a festival of red light, within an instant that had yet to form into time, the sheathing and drawing of the blade repeated infinitely.
[Do not overdo it, Kaisen! Fall back. I will temporarily sever the connection to the Thunderous Fragrance Mind Resonance Formation and use the power of the lightning strike.]
A noble tremor was transmitted directly to his mind.
"I can still... do more!"
He was currently wielding the power of transcendence.
He could unleash a power that was incomparable to that wielded by any FakeWarrior in history.
Of course, he knew it was limited.
So, within that limit, he had to accomplish everything the other FakeWarriors would do in a day.
"Fall back, Kaisen! Lord Setsunen is going to blow it away. You know your lifespan is being consumed by years every time you push yourself like that!"
Roveris's anxious rebuke reached him.
It didn't matter. He never wished to live a long life in the first place, nor did he desire such comfort.
He was fine with dying early.
After cutting down everything he could, if that meant he could go back to his mother, at the southern end of the world...
*‘I would bow once before her grave and gladly die.’*
As if responding to that resolve, Aradamanthel roared fiercely.
A transcendent amount of divine power, the power of the Divine Dragon, was discharged in the form of chains, coiling around the blade.
He kicked off the ground.
He spun his body.
He wove rotational force, the mana chain, and inertia into a single slash. With all that power.
"────Slash!"
A silence in which all noise was cut off for an instant, as if the world itself had been severed.
At the end of that silence.
The holy sword's blade shattered the Scythe of Reaping, bisected the squad leader's body beyond it, and fully exposed the core of its soul.
"!"
"!"
Gorgotia and Mern did not miss that moment.
Divinity was nocked on the bowstring.
The Sword of Command was the Psalm of Command, which possessed the most powerful might among the Seven Psalms of Genesis, bound into the form of a sword.
The power of Command boasted an absolute force that bound beings who deviated from the providence of Genesis and banished them beyond creation, to the outer universe.
It was believed to have been lost with the death of the ancient priestess, Tureina, but Mirngadia of the Blue Star had somehow managed to restore its power.
And not just restored it; he had concentrated the power, which originally required the chanting of countless words to activate, making it impractical for combat, into the form of a sword.
He had created a total of 28 special weapons to combat the Old Nobles.
There were currently a total of 16 Swords of Command remaining on the human side, and for some reason, further production was impossible.
That very light of Genesis.
In the next moment, it pierced the squad leader's core from both sides in a cross.
All the light, all the light that had filled this world, was sucked into it in an instant.
Cracks of light began to spread across the core like a spiderweb.
The light gradually grew blindingly intense, deploying from all sides of the squad leader as chains, binding its body.
「──────!」
The squad leader began to move its body frantically, having lost all composure, but it was a meaningless resistance.
This power was the authority of the Creator God.
The power of the creators of providence, far surpassing even [The Ones Who Came], seized its soul and banished it beyond the outer universe.
「Everyone, hurry and get on my back. We must get out of here before the Old Noble's garden collapses.」
Rumble-rumble-rumble...
The inner fortress of the city, the sandy field that was the center of the desertification power and the abode of the Old Noble, began to collapse.
"Yes, Your Excellency. What about Kaisen?"
"No, there, he's collapsed over there!"
"You guys pushed yourselves way too hard, I'll get him!"
As Gorgotia brandished Zierda, the holy sword, which had been functioning as a bow with its split blades, folded back into the shape of a sword.
Sheathing the sword on her back, she helped her fallen junior FakeWarrior to his feet.
It was truly admirable how he still had fight left in him, one hand still firmly gripping Aradamanthel.
"It's all over. Sheathe that thing!"
"I, I'm..."
"Wow, you're really something else. I just saw for myself and now I get why they said you took down Mauna Loa."
"Gorgotia, hurry! There's no time!"
"Got it! I'll leap with my full leg strength, so you go on and fly up first, Your Excellency!"
Just before the rock formations crumbled and fell into the abyss below, Setsunen flapped her wings and soared into the sky.
The problem occurred then.
As Gorgotia kicked off the ground to leap up, the foothold she used happened to crack and crumble, killing the force of her jump.
"Oops...!"
On top of that, the combined weight of Kaisen and Aradamanthel further weakened the leap.
Below them, the ground that formed the inner fortress had completely collapsed, opening its maw to swallow them both.
In that very moment of crisis, the smoke from a pipe caught hold of their bodies.
"Alidona, nice!"
And immediately after.
The monstrous strength of Tval and Guren (a warrior from the Sure-Hit Corps Yongsa party) pulled the two of them onto Setsunen's back.
As if signaled by Roveris's sigh of relief, Setsunen put more power into her wing beats and soared into the sky.
"This is Roveris. We have just subjugated Roten's Eternal Annihilation Squad. You may begin the purification process."
[You have all done splendidly. Mirngadia of the Blue Star broadcasts to all units. The purification process will commence after the floating fortress has settled above the city. The wounded may be brought to the designated area.]
Gorgotia let out a whistle.
"Whoa, purification and wide-area healing at the same time? Everything he does is a work of art."
"Yeah, I could die and be reborn and still never reach that level."
"Well, he is a dragon, isn't he? Think how long he's lived."
To Tval's reply, Alidona gave a somewhat resigned smile.
"Perhaps, but they say the Blue Star had mastered all the world's knowledge before he was even ten. Having been taught directly by the Dragon Sage Rain Ludwig and the Water Dragon Yeriserica, I suppose that's only natural."
"Good grief. I can't even remember a single book."
"Enough of such headaches, let's just watch that. It's been a while since we've had battlefield fireworks."
The floating fortress that Setsunen had brushed past headed straight for the skies above <Aurelinople>.
At the precise coordinates, settled exactly above the collapsed inner fortress, a stream of blue light poured down from the bottom of the floating fortress.
That light brought life back to the land that was turning into a desert.
A miracle...
Yes, it was a miracle.
A miracle that made all who watched it feel reverent.
Within that light, the desert ended, and a brown field spread out once more.
The sound of flowing water could be heard in the distance, as if the water veins that had dried up and severed at the city's outskirts had been restored.
Starting with that, the waters of the Velisore Great River, which had completely dried up in the <Aurelinople> area, began to flow along the channels once again.
"I feel this every time I see it, but I really wish I could capture it in a picture. I just feel sorry for those Empire bastards who never get to see this."
Gorgotia said, looking at Roveris.
"Yes, I think so too. It would have been wonderful if I could have shown it to my younger siblings."
The relief of having survived this fierce battle, and the thrill of having led the first recapture operation to victory, crossed in their eyes.
"Roveris, by the way, this kid Kaisen is quite something, huh? You should lend him to us sometimes."
"No."
"What?"
"I doubt Lord Mirngadia would approve."
"Hehe, look at you. Is that really the only reason?"
"Of course it's──"
At that very moment, the hairs on her entire body stood on end, and Roveris's words caught in her throat.
Was this what it meant to doubt your own eyes? It felt as if a fantastical dream had suddenly twisted into a nightmare.
She couldn't believe it. It was so unbelievable that for a moment, all she could do was gasp.
Alidona muttered blankly.
"What, what is... that, that Abyss..."
It was truly just for a moment.
What shot up from within the collapsed underground of the inner fortress was... yes, it was the arm of a lizard.
But it was no ordinary arm.
"L-Lord Setsunen, th-that's...!"
Souls...
Wailing piteously and screaming in agony, souls...
Bizarrely twisted, tangled, and intertwined, forming the shape of an arm...
[Mir, get out of there right now. Mir!]
The moment her brain registered that overwhelming Abyss, primordial fear etched into her genes caused blood to pour from her nose, eyes, and ears.
[No, how can this be...?]
First, the world trembled and prostrated itself.
A malevolent change suffusing the heavens and earth.
An intense heat, far surpassing the boiling point of a human, began to blaze from all directions.
[A future like this, not even once──]
The three suns trembled in fear and hid themselves in darkness... a king is released from an eon of imprisonment...
An ancient king, forgotten in the oblivion of fear for a long history...
With that arm made of madness and frenzy, it seized the floating fortress and crushed it, causing it to collapse into countless fragments of stone.
[Lord Mirngadia, this is Black Rose! Reptilians, Lizardmen have suddenly appeared in the city district!]
The chaos of that moment.
The screams, the confusion, the madness—no history book could ever describe it as it truly was.
The ruler of terror that warps all providence and matter, the rightful master of the pre-Origin Calendar Reptilian kingdom.
[This is Iron Fortress, the madness... Lord Setsunen's Thunderous Fragrance Mind Resonance Formation can't withstand the madness levels! The soldiers' heads are suddenly exploding...]
[Your Excellency, this is Marshal Melvin. The First Front is taking heavy losses, a massive army of Reptilians...]
[Lord Mirngadia, half the members of the 1st Combat Air Wing have suddenly exploded into chunks of flesh and are crashing...]
[Second Front, a mountain suddenly, it turned into a volcano and exploded, lava is flowing down... Gaaahhh...!]
The tremors of death and fear, rushing in madly from across the vast battlefield, only vaguely hinted at the terror of that day.
A wailing doom...
The Lizard Lord, Neigallas...
When on earth had this absolute nightmare, who had received the power of a king from the master of the Abyss, awakened from its eternal slumber and descended into the depths beneath <Aurelinople>?
*‘No...’*
Should she have predicted it from the moment she knew that Roten's Eternal Annihilation Squad, the royal guard, was defending the city?
No, was this a joke?
Who in their right mind could have predicted this, this kind of nightmare... Roveris finally managed to speak.
"Lord Mirngadia is gone."
[What?]
"This is Iron Cross, broadcasting an emergency order from Lord Setsunen to all forces. Neigallas has appeared! The Lizard Lord Neigallas has appeared! Everyone, get out. Survival is the top priority! Evacuate the battlefield immediately!"