Chapter 223
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 223
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 9: The Command. (1)
Emerald hair fluttered against the night sky.
Jamie eyed the Death Knight's sword tip right before his nose.
The blade fell just short.
To be precise, Jamie had calculated the distance, so it wasn't a near miss by luck.
Even so, the skill was considerable.
It might sound absurd to call it "considerable" with a Death Knight's sword that close, but excluding Sword Master level, it was top-class.
'On top of that, he's handling black mana with impressive proficiency.'
Unlike the primordial king Gav.
Gav had leaned too heavily on Diablo Volpir's power and never truly made it his own.
That was why Jamie could dismantle all his attacks with ease.
But this Death Knight, though far inferior in raw power, had fully internalized the black mana as his own.
More than that, he wielded it to unleash maximum destructive force with minimal effort.
'Turning another's power into your own is no easy feat.'
Jamie skidded the incoming sword aside while scrutinizing the Death Knight's movements.
He bolstered physically demanding maneuvers with black mana.
He swung relentlessly, his blade laced with black mana aura for amplified destructive power.
Above all, he wasn't fighting alone.
'Quite the nuisance.'
The unremarkable ghost soldiers clung endlessly.
They seized his limbs to block strikes or positioned themselves in his path to disrupt his flow.
No.
Just their persistent advance made battle a hassle.
Whenever the Death Knight poised to attack, they ghosted away like phantoms, creating perfect openings. It was maddening.
Ghosts lived up to their name.
'Not just brute strength.'
He mobilized every ability at his disposal to fell his foe.
Facing him sword-to-sword alone would prove difficult.
Jamie cleaved through a handful of soldier ghosts, then drew Beyond Avalon.
"For wretched souls like you, this is perfect."
Pyro's divinity welled from his left hand.
He funneled it into the staff and hoisted it high.
The most basic holy spell employed by priests.
Holy power detonated quite literally, blasting radiant light in every direction.
The Death Knight charged headlong, showing no intent to evade.
A mere "Holy Explosion" couldn't scratch a high-rank undead like him.
But the soldier ghosts around him were another story.
Jamie's reason for unleashing entry-level holy magic was straightforward.
"Ghosts like you are worthless low-tier undead, existing only to drag at heels. That won't harm me, Death Knight."
The onrushing Death Knight halted, scanning his surroundings with a panicked expression.
Every ghost within the light's reach evaporated at once.
Even beginner holy magic proved fatal against low-tier undead.
Inexperienced in such matters, the Death Knight faltered visibly.
"Must... eliminate... the enemy..."
He muttered that and readjusted his grip on his weapon.
"No experience facing holy power, huh?"
Jamie found it surprising.
Typically, powerful undead had endured for ages, amassing vast experience—including clashes with church forces.
He'd assumed this Death Knight was no different.
"Hm. I see. You became a Death Knight due to my black mana."
Not content with fully absorbing it, he now boasted this caliber of prowess.
"I want it even more."
Greed colored Jamie's eyes.
Chains of Defying Heaven burst from the air, hurtling to ensnare the Death Knight.
The Death Knight batted them aside with his sword and retreated.
Deprived of his ghost soldiers' constant interference, repeating his prior tactics was impossible.
A new strategy was needed.
Jamie smirked and launched off the ground.
The gap vanished in a blink.
"I get that you're decent, but..."
Jamie spun midair and slammed his back heel into the Death Knight's chest.
Boom!!
An explosion erupted.
The Death Knight rolled across the ground.
Jamie vaulted skyward, bolstering his body with myriad spells.
"You're still a green Death Knight fresh from the grave!"
He dropped heel-first atop the Death Knight's helm.
The Death Knight's eyes gleamed as he rolled aside.
The earth quaked faintly.
Amid the choking dust cloud, Jamie expanded his senses to their limit.
"Clumsy against battle mages, too."
Clang-!
A palm imprint crumpled the chestplate.
Black smoke spewed from the arms and neck joints.
The smoke coalesced into a blade that plummeted toward Jamie's throat.
"Good instincts, but..."
The black smoke blade rent empty air.
Jamie rematerialized, clamping the helm barehanded.
"Sloppy overall. You."
He couldn't destroy what he planned to claim.
Jamie's hair spiked upward as electric sparks danced.
"A freshly dubbed knight, weren't you?"
A azure bird unfurled its wings amid crackling lightning.
No high undead Death Knight could endure Jamie's incantation.
Moreover, as the pinnacle black sorcerer and necromancer, Jamie knew best how to agonize the undead.
The Death Knight thrashed in torment yet uttered no scream.
She merely staggered, repeating the same phrase.
"...Command."
"What command do you keep droning on about?"
"Eliminate... the enemy..."
The Death Knight arduously lifted her sword into a thrusting stance toward Jamie.
But cumulative damage buckled her; she staggered and dropped to one knee.
Crack-
A fissure spiderwebbed the helm.
Grip force plus Thunder Bird's fury had shattered it.
The crack rustled as shards tumbled, long blonde locks spilling free.
"A woman?"
Beyond the golden strands gleamed purple irises in jet-black sclera.
The Death Knight gnashed her teeth, surging upright to swing.
Yet Chains of Defying Heaven snared her blade and swaddled her form.
"Must... execute... the command..."
"Is that your entire vocabulary?"
"Command..."
"Fascinating. A Death Knight should possess full reason, yet she acts like... a newborn vengeful spirit."
He grasped she was a fledgling Death Knight, but they had defining traits regardless.
'Did my power warp her?'
Forced into Death Knight form by black mana, anomalies weren't impossible.
Still, unprecedented—no way to confirm.
"Doesn't matter. I'll train you myself. Cease haunting the living world and come to me."
Clang!!
Chains of Defying Heaven erupted en masse from Jamie's back, binding the Death Knight tight.
That instant.
"I..."
A stranger's memory flowed through the chains into Jamie.
The Death Knight snapped her head up and bellowed.
"I must fulfill the Captain's command!!"
Tat-tat-tat-
"There!"
"Don't let a single one escape! Slaughter them all!"
It was chaos.
The citadel ignited; corpses piled high, blood pools flooding corridors.
Ragged breaths and clanging steel resounded everywhere.
"Captain! Enemies swarming from that side!"
"Our numbers are too thin!"
"What of His Highness the Crown Heir...?"
Palace Knight Order swordsmen, battered and bloodied without exception, scrambled desperately.
At their core, a middle-aged man cradled a swaddled newborn.
"Captain Volbinos!"
The man dubbed Volbinos declared.
"Unknown. Our orders: evacuate His Highness the Crown Heir at any cost."
"Damn it... punch through!"
Hostiles emerged ahead.
Ones he hesitated to label enemies.
Mere days ago, they'd shared messes.
The foe captain extended a hand with an offer.
"Surrender His Highness the Crown Heir. We'll spare your lives."
"Riviter, you dog!"
"What madness from the Vice-Captain!"
"Enough."
Riviter reined in his men and fixed on Volbinos.
"Captain. Yield. The Crown Prince is slain. Word is the Fourth Prince's coup succeeded. It's done."
"Kill this babe? Vice-Captain."
"For the kingdom's peace."
"Peace be damned! You're just currying favor with that Fourth Prince cur for gain!"
"Mind your tongue!"
While subordinates sniped, Volbinos and Riviter locked glares wordlessly.
Volbinos sighed.
"The Fourth Prince's avarice birthed this nightmare."
He gazed at the infant slumbering serenely in his arms.
Could only a babe sleep so soundly amid crisis?
'This child must live.'
With the true Crown Prince dead, this newborn was the realm's sole legitimate blood.
So long as royal lineage endured, the Fourth Prince lacked throne-right.
Escape alone promised future reprisal.
"You plan to fight."
Riviter discerned it, eyes icing over.
Sword unsheathed now, no alternative.
Syltear Kingdom boasted two famed Sword Masters.
Palace Knight Order Vice-Captain Riviter Paol and Captain Volbinos Crayon.
Their duel would drag indefinitely.
Both knew it intimately.
Thus, Volbinos addressed his lithe adjutant nearby.
"Bianca."
"Yes, Captain."
The sole beauty here, crowned with lustrous blonde tresses.
Yet top-tier in the Order, defying her frame.
And fleetest of foot.
Volbinos gently passed the Crown Heir to her.
Bianca blinked in shock at the sudden bundle.
"Captain?"
"You must safeguard him, come what may."
"But...!"
"Volbinos. No foolery!"
Riviter lunged, blade for throat.
Volbinos' men stalled him briefly.
"Bianca! You're our hope!"
"We'll carve through these scum and follow—go!"
Knights barring Riviter urged her on.
Rear-guard comrades soothed.
"No fears, Bianca. We'll regroup."
"Not one falls."
"Got it?"
Volbinos grinned, tapping her back.
Then gravely.
"Save him no matter what. Reach my family—relay the palace horror."
"Captain... abandon you all, alone...?!"
"Bianca!! Seize her! No escape!"
"Stuff it, Vice-Captain cur!"
"Keep 'em off Bianca!"
Melee reignited.
Palace Knights slaughtering their own.
Volbinos hefted his massive greatsword, final words to her.
"Endure with His Highness the Crown Heir. Captain's order to subordinate. Obey."
"...You. All of you must survive!"
Bianca shattered a window and leaped.
Riviter, witnessing, roared veins bulging.
"Snare that wench now!"
"Not today, Riviter!"
Volbinos, kingdom's premier knight, barred pursuit.
A subordinate declared.
"Captain. Perish with these traitors here."
"Aye."
"Butcher the turncoats!"
"Drop dead, you lot!"
Volbinos glanced out amid civil war's din.
Bianca had vanished.
The Order's swiftest—expected.
'Live on, Bianca.'
"Voooolbinos!!"
"Riiiiviter!!"
Palace Knight Captain and Vice-Captain collided.
That day, Syltear Kingdom's Palace Knight Order dwindled to half strength.