Chapter 419: Winner Takes All (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 419: Winner Takes All (5)
It was an era of great upheaval.
While the world outside changed by the day, the prisoners in Dmitry’s dungeon spent their time completely isolated from it all.
A space shrouded in absolute darkness.
Ares stared blankly into the empty air, his face haggard. His once-brilliant appearance was nowhere to be found. His silver hair was matted with dried blood, radiating a heavy, metallic stench. Looking down, he stared at the magical artifacts binding his wrists and ankles. They gnawed away at the mana flowing through his body, reducing Ares—an Aura Swordsman—to nothing more than an ordinary human.
Escape was impossible.
No, he had no intention of escaping in the first place.
From the moment he was first imprisoned until now, Ares had been consumed by a single, agonizing thought.
'Why did I lose?'
Defeat.
He couldn't accept it.
His opponent had been nothing more than a boy wandering the slums just a few years ago. There was clearly an overwhelming gap between them when he first met Kevin. He had never once considered defeat. Even while crossing swords with Kevin, Ares could not comprehend the reality of being pushed back.
Yet, in the end, he had lost.
With that final clash constantly replaying in his mind, his current reality didn't even matter.
'I have struggled all this time to carve out my own domain. I interpreted Lord Alexander's teachings in my own way, and people even called me a pioneer who would shape a new generation. But does all that effort mean absolutely nothing in front of Roman Dmitry? Just as I made rapid progress in a short time after meeting him, was the time I spent striving all this while so trivial that I couldn't even defeat Kevin?'
It was devastating.
Upon meeting Roman Dmitry, Ares had entered an entirely new realm of power. Yet, even with such rapid progress, he had been forced to his knees by Kevin—someone who had experienced Roman Dmitry's teachings before him. What a futile outcome. Forced to accept that the time he had desperately struggled for was meaningless, Ares clutched his hair and sank into the depths of despair.
He felt suffocated.
Where on earth did it all go wrong?
Perhaps from the moment he accepted Alexander, he had been marching toward a doomed future.
"...What a wretched life."
He stared up at the ceiling.
Looking at the pitch-black stone, a reflection of his own dark future where not a single ray of sunlight was permitted, Ares gradually lost track of time. Outside, the war had to be in full swing. Dmitry had thwarted Kronos's plans with a force far stronger than expected, but even so, he wasn't certain of their victory.
Alexander.
The man was a monster.
While he fully acknowledged Roman Dmitry's strength, Ares still believed in the absolute power of Alexander, whom he had watched all this time.
Not yet.
It wasn't over yet.
It was then.
Creak.
In the distance, the heavy sound of the underground passage door opening echoed through the dark.
* * *
Whoosh.
Torchlight flickered to life.
The moment he recognized Knight Commander Jonathan's face illuminated by the flames, Ares let out a hollow laugh in spite of himself.
"...Dmitry won, didn't they?"
"Yes."
It was the worst possible outcome.
Spending endless, repetitive days in this cell, he had still believed that Alexander's 9th Circle Magic would turn the tide. But the result had defied his expectations. From the calm gaze of Knight Commander Jonathan looking down at him, it was not difficult to deduce that the fierce war had ended in a total victory for Dmitry.
He closed his eyes tightly.
The reason he had hoped for Alexander's victory until the very end was not simply out of loyalty.
'I was wrong.'
Roman Dmitry.
Following him, Ares had felt truly alive.
The knowledge of that new world had allowed him to progress rapidly. As time passed, he couldn't help but think how much better it would have been if he had met Roman Dmitry before meeting Alexander. Every night, Ares couldn't sleep. His mind was plagued by sudden, conflicting thoughts, but his conclusion always ended with Alexander.
The 9th Circle.
It transcended human limits.
Knowing that Alexander was powerful enough to wipe out a capital city with a single spell, Ares could not betray him. It had been a complex dilemma. If only he had known that Roman Dmitry was strong enough to defeat Alexander... When he stood at the crossroads of choice, Ares might have envisioned a different future.
He raised his head.
Revealing his haggard face, he looked up at Knight Commander Jonathan.
"...Please, explain it to me. How did Roman Dmitry defeat Alexander? That is impossible. It should have been impossible. You know it well, too. Alexander is a monster who transcended human limits. He is a being who reached the divine realm with a mortal body, so how on earth could Roman Dmitry win?"
He didn't care about his own appearance.
It didn't matter if he looked pathetic right now. He just wanted to hear the truth. He wanted a convincing explanation of how Roman Dmitry had defeated a being he had deemed an absolute, irresistible force, even if he couldn't witness it himself. Ares had made a decision based on common sense. Even if he could turn back time, choosing Alexander over Roman Dmitry would still have seemed like the only logical choice.
At those words, Knight Commander Jonathan's expression turned ice-cold.
"There is nothing to explain to a sinner. My Lord simply won, as naturally as he always does."
Jonathan gave a signal.
The soldiers stepped forward, opened the heavy iron door, grabbed Ares by both arms, and dragged him out.
He was powerless.
The beast that had once ruled the continent couldn't even shake off the grip of ordinary soldiers. He cast a pleading look at Knight Commander Jonathan, desperate for an answer. But the response he received dashed his hopes once again.
"If you want an answer, ask my Lord yourself. Today is the day of my Lord's coronation ceremony, where he will ascend to the throne as Emperor. And..."
He was utterly cold.
From the day Ares betrayed them, Knight Commander Jonathan no longer showed his good-natured side to traitors.
"The execution of the prisoners, including you, will be carried out."
* * *
Dmitry.
A massive crowd had gathered in the capital.
Those who attended to celebrate the coronation ceremony were completely overwhelmed upon spotting a massive execution platform erected in the square.
It was highly unusual.
Normally, a coronation ceremony was a time to look only at good things and speak only of good things for the sake of a bright future. But Dmitry presented an execution platform to the masses before the ceremony even began. Atop it stood the prisoners. These men, with their familiar faces, looked utterly devastated and could not bring themselves to meet the thousands of gazes focused on them.
Before long, murmurs broke out.
The crowd grew noisy.
Then, everyone's attention was drawn to a single figure emerging through the parted masses.
"It's Roman Dmitry."
"...Is he planning to carry out the executions himself?"
Roman Dmitry's attire was highly unusual.
Since everyone knew he was ascending to the throne as Emperor today, they expected him to wear magnificent robes fitting for a coronation. However, his appearance was completely contrary to their expectations. He was fully armored, as if heading out to a battlefield, and the sword hanging at his waist sent a chilling shiver down the onlookers' spines.
Clank. Clank.
He calmly accepted their gazes.
Standing atop the execution platform, Roman Dmitry looked down at the vast crowd and raised his voice.
"We will now proceed with the executions."
Instantly, the crowd's eyes widened.
It was just as expected.
Roman Dmitry broke all conventions. The soldiers, who had been briefed beforehand, dragged a prisoner forward.
"The sinner's name is Karman. After the fall of the Odelia Kingdom, Karman took advantage of the confusion among the citizens of the ruined nation to instigate a rebellion. If their goal had been the reconstruction of Odelia, Dmitry would have actively supported it. However, Karman was in truth nothing more than a minion serving Alexander, and he intentionally incited the rebellion to coincide with the outbreak of the Continental War."
Shing.
He drew his sword.
As he pointed the cold blade at Karman's neck, the man trembled violently and begged for his life.
However...
"Therefore, I sentence you to death."
Flash!
Spurt!
Blood sprayed through the air.
With a single stroke, the head was severed. Karman's screaming head flew into the air as blood erupted from his neck like a fountain. The onlookers gasped in shock. What they had expected was an emperor's coronation filled with laughter and joy, but Roman Dmitry delivered a powerful message of death and blood right from the very start.
The soldiers dragged away the headless corpse.
A new prisoner was brought onto the platform, and before the blood splattered on the floor could even dry, the next execution proceeded.
"The sinner's name is Hoffman. As the president of the Golden Bank, Hoffman fully supported the Kronos Empire despite knowing the truth about Alexander. Therefore..."
"Please, please spare my life!"
"I sentence you to death."
Flash!
Hoffman.
The president of the Golden Bank, who had once held sway over the entire continent, had his head severed just like that, meeting a futile end.
Atop the execution platform, most of those being executed in front of the public were prominent figures. Every time their crimes were read aloud and the executions carried out, the onlookers felt their mouths go dry. They had heard plenty about Dmitry's laws. They knew exactly what kind of person Roman Dmitry was, but they never imagined he would begin his coronation ceremony in this brutal manner.
The executions continued.
Blood flowed endlessly.
The wooden floor was not just stained; thick crimson blood began to drip down from beneath the execution platform.
How many people had he killed?
With only the final prisoner remaining, the watching crowd suddenly erupted into a commotion.
"...It's Ares."
"Ares?"
"Is he really planning to execute Ares as well?"
Ares.
A face familiar to everyone finally stepped onto the execution platform.
* * *
Ares.
He was a truly complicated figure.
He was a traitor.
He had betrayed Dmitry at a critical moment, and his betrayal had brought them to the brink of a fatal crisis. In truth, his reason for execution was clearer than anyone else's on that platform. Yet, the reason the onlookers' gazes were so conflicted was because of Ares's past devotion to Dmitry.
During the prisoner-of-war incident, Ares had stood at the vanguard.
Wielding his aura against the Kronos Empire, he had played an active role in reclaiming the captives.
That wasn't all.
Ares had also been at the forefront when resolving the disaster on the Arcadia continent. And especially during the conflict with the Valhalla Empire, Ares had marched into the jaws of death alone just to carry out Roman Dmitry's orders. Everyone remembered those events. It was largely thanks to Ares's contributions that Dmitry had been able to achieve such an overwhelming victory in the war.
The crowd's minds were in turmoil.
Under their watchful eyes, Ares, dragged out by the rough hands of the soldiers, was forced to his knees upon the execution platform.
Thud.
It was a devastating sight.
The hero who had once brought glory to Dmitry now looked haggard, his lifeless eyes visible through his disheveled silver hair. The Ares the people remembered was always brimming with confidence. This was the first time he had appeared before them looking so utterly defeated, and some onlookers turned their heads away, overwhelmed by complex emotions.
It was then.
Before Roman Dmitry could state his crimes, Ares suddenly raised his voice.
"My Lord. Please, give me a chance to repent. I do not want to die like this."
It was pathetic.
Refusing to accept reality, he blindly grasped at a single straw of life.
"I know very well that I have made an irreversible mistake. I betrayed Dmitry. But before that, there were days when I devoted my entire being to Dmitry! The conflict with the Kronos Empire, the disaster on the Arcadia continent, and even this war with Valhalla—I have always risked my life for Dmitry!"
The crowd's attention was completely focused on him.
Seeing the people listening to his voice, Ares looked up at Roman Dmitry and appealed to his emotions.
"I agonized so much at the crossroads of choice. Betraying Dmitry was a difficult decision for me as well, and even now, I regret it countless times. My Lord, I am not trying to deny my wrongdoing. In the future, as Dmitry advances as an Empire, numerous problems will arise, and you cannot kill so many people every single time! Please, allow a precedent. Do not push people to the edge of a cliff. If you establish a precedent that there is a chance to make up for one's mistakes, the future of the Empire will surely be bright!"
It was a sensitive issue.
A precedent.
While a firm and resolute attitude established discipline, there were certainly people who felt anxious standing at that boundary.
Ares had aimed for that very point.
At this time of transition for Dmitry, the opportunity to be forgiven could only be granted in front of the watching masses.
"If you spare me, I will make myself useful to Dmitry, just as I have always been."
The crowd held their breath.
It made sense.
Whatever might be said of the other prisoners, Ares was undeniably a valuable asset to Dmitry.
Amidst the suffocating tension, Roman Dmitry spoke in a voice devoid of warmth.
"Ares. Even if Dmitry becomes an Empire, there is no reason for the path we have pursued to change."
He was completely unperturbed.
With unwavering eyes, he looked down at Ares.
"You clearly had an opportunity to turn things around. At the crossroads of choice, if you had not chosen Alexander, whatever intentions you held would not have mattered. In the past, and in the future, the path Dmitry pursues will not change. To engrave deep into people's bones the fact that their words and actions always carry a price, not a single precedent can be allowed."
Executing a trusted subordinate to uphold the law.
Their past relationship did not matter.
Although he had heavily relied on Ares and taught him many things, a leader had to maintain clear, absolute standards for every choice.
Roman Dmitry spoke.
"There are no exceptions. This is the law that the Dmitry Empire will follow from now on."
There was no dramatic twist.
Right before everyone's eyes, Roman Dmitry severed Ares's head.
Flash!
Thud.