The Seed of Eternal Force

The bracelet's blue gem flared with light.

Above it appeared a golden lion no larger than a palm.

The voice was heavy with a weight that did not belong to so small a body. Seraphina clapped a hand over her mouth in shock.

It worked!

The Guardian Spirit of the imperial house, Orden. He was exactly as Kang Taeyoon had read him in the original.

Orden extended a forepaw. A small light gathered before Kang Taeyoon's chest, then sank into his body.

"Ngh!"

Heat bloomed deep in his chest. From the seed that had settled there, an unfamiliar power began to flow, and without meaning to he turned his awareness upon it. At once the force spread through his arms and legs.

So this is how you use it.

No one had to explain. The way of handling the power inside him rose as naturally as the knowledge of how to move his own hands and feet.

Orden's form blurred and vanished back into the bracelet. The power seated in Taeyoon's body remained.

Eternal Force. A power wholly apart from the Aura knights used. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠In the original, Leonhardt had layered the two together, and by that he had been able to bring down knights who had trained far longer than he had.

I don't even know the basics of Aura, but... Eternal Force by itself ought to be more than enough.

Kang Taeyoon tucked the bracelet into his pocket and took up the candlestick again. The lump of metal that had hung heavy in his hand only moments ago was light.

"Did it work?"

"Yes. I've gained the power."

Relief softened Seraphina's face. Taeyoon, too, found he could breathe a little easier, now that a way to survive had opened before him. Nothing about his appearance had changed, and yet strength surged through his body.

Don't get careless. I have the power, but that doesn't mean I can swing a sword like a knight. Six months at a kendo hall was the whole of his training, and none of it had been a fight with his life on the line. At best I waved a wooden sword around. Commander Kessler had come unarmed besides, so there was no weapon to take off him. The candlestick in his hand would have to do.

"I'll go and rescue Princess Ariane and Chancellor Veronica as well."

"Those two, too?"

"Yes. The three of you, at least, I will protect. No matter what."

Inwardly, he added the rest. Because otherwise, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠die.

Seraphina studied him for a moment, then nodded.

"I'll come with you."

A check of the map showed both markers gathered in the same room. When they reached it, two soldiers stood guard outside the door. Kang Taeyoon stopped at the corner of the corridor.

Those bastards first. Let them shout and the rest would come running. He wasn't fleeing alone, either. Being hunted through the palace with three people in tow was a mess he had to avoid.

"Wait here a moment."

At his low voice, Seraphina nodded and quietly drew back. He shifted his grip on the candlestick.

I can do this. It's different from before. He drew up the Eternal Force. His body grew light, and the soldiers' movements came into sharp focus—yet his hand kept tightening around the candlestick all the same.

Focus. I have to live! The longer he hesitated, the more the fear piled up. Kang Taeyoon clenched his teeth and charged.

"...!"

Thud! The candlestick met a skull, and the soldier dropped where he stood. The one beside him opened his mouth. Taeyoon was on him at once, clamping a hand over it.

"Mmph!"

The captured man thrashed. Terrified of letting go, Taeyoon poured strength into the hand gripping his face and twisted his neck.

Crack.

A horrible sensation traveled up through his hand. The soldier's resistance ceased. Kang Taeyoon froze, still holding the body gone limp in his arms.

A person's neck... this easily? He could hardly believe what he had just done. It hadn't even taken effort to hold the man. And with that same strength, he had wrung a human neck.

He set the soldier down and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠looked at his hands. They were perfectly fine, and they felt like they belonged to someone else.

I killed again. His stomach turned. With Commander Kessler, it had happened while he was only trying to knock the man out. This time he had twisted the neck himself, so the soldier couldn't scream.

No. If I don't, I die. And I can't save them, either. This was not the world he had lived in. He was standing in the middle of an army that had taken the imperial palace. He remembered the soldiers who had set a spear to his throat when he was caught, and he remembered Commander Kessler closing in on Seraphina.

This isn't a place to weigh right and wrong. If he wanted to live, he had to move. His head knew that. Damn it. Thinking it didn't make the feeling left in his hands go away.

"Um... are you all right?"

Seraphina had come closer, worry plain on her face. Kang Taeyoon forced a nod.

"Yes. I'll get the door open first."

A key hung at the soldier's waist. He took it and unlocked the door.

A long creak split the quiet. At the sound of the door, the two women inside turned toward it, and Kang Taeyoon saw their faces. Their beauty was staggering enough to make him forget, for a moment, the shock of what he had just done.

Ariane and Veronica. Both of them are unreal in person.

The silver-haired woman caught his eye first. Hair falling to her waist looked as straight and soft as poured silver, and between that pale gleam a small face showed. Soft violet irises and long lashes set off the gentle line of her eyes; beneath a straight nose, pale-pink lips were slightly parted. If Seraphina's beauty was overwhelming, this woman carried a purer, more fragile grace—and tear tracks still marked her white cheeks. Ariane von Arken, Leonhardt's half-sister, the imperial princess. Even the hands she held neatly gathered, every gesture and the air about her, spoke of a quiet, innocent beauty.

The woman beside her was another matter entirely. Her hair was a gold far paler than Seraphina's, drawn back behind her head; dragged here with no chance to tidy herself, the tie had loosened, and a few strands had slipped down along her cheek. The slight upward tilt of her eyes carried a proud edge, and her vivid lips were pressed firmly shut. A dress cut to her figure revealed straight shoulders and a narrow waist. Veronica Erden—the capable chancellor who, in the original, had pulled the empire back from crisis more than once.

"Your Majesty!"

Catching sight of Seraphina behind Kang Taeyoon, Ariane rose. As she came closer, her gaze stopped on Seraphina's cheek.

"Your cheek... who did this to you?"

"I'm all right now. This man saved me."

Seraphina turned toward Kang Taeyoon, and Ariane's violet eyes followed.

"Thank you. Truly, thank you."

"Save the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠greetings until we're out. There are still plenty of soldiers."

Veronica looked past the open door at the fallen guards. After a brief scan of the corridor, she spoke in a low voice.

"We must move the soldiers into the room at once. Before anyone sees them."

Kang Taeyoon glanced back at the two men collapsed before the door and nodded.

"Ah. You're right. I forgot."

He dragged them in one by one and laid them inside. They were grown men, and moving them cost him no effort at all. Veronica checked the corridor, then picked up a spear one of them had dropped.

"Will you at least take a spear?"

"Yes. Please."

Kang Taeyoon cast the candlestick aside and closed his hand around the spear. A sword would've been easier to carry. The length would be awkward to haul around, but there was no helping it. Better to be holding a weapon. Spear in hand, he stepped to the doorway, leaned out, and checked both ends of the corridor. No soldiers were coming.

"Come out."

He went first. Seraphina took Ariane's hand and followed, and Veronica slipped from the room as well. Last to emerge, she carefully shut the door.

"We must go to the rear garden. There's a secret passage there that leads outside."

So there was an emergency way out after all.

"Show me the way. I'll take the lead."

Veronica pointed down the left-hand corridor. Kang Taeyoon headed that way with the spear, Veronica calling the route from behind while Seraphina and Ariane followed.

"Hahaha—you see that bitch earlier?"

"All that talk about being a noble, and she was sobbing and groveling in no time. Heh. What's even left to say?"

Laughter drifted from the direction of the main corridor. Whenever footsteps drew near, Kang Taeyoon stopped and waited, and Veronica led them through narrow passages, skirting every place where soldiers had gathered. Fortunately, the rear garden was empty.

"Follow me."

Veronica made for a pavilion at one side of the garden. Kang Taeyoon scanned their surroundings as he followed. Inside, she felt along a pattern carved into the floor, and when she pressed the center of the design a section of the stone lifted slightly.

So this is where it was.

As she moved to slip her hand into the gap, Kang Taeyoon stepped in.

"I'll do it."

He set the spear down for a moment and hauled the stone slab up. It came with a heavy thud, and beneath it a stairway descending underground lay revealed.

"This is the passage."

Veronica took out a lantern kept just inside the entrance. She struck the flint stored with it, and the dark stairs took shape in the light.

"Go straight through to the exit."

"Understood. I'll lead. The lantern, if you would."

Kang Taeyoon took it in his left hand and picked the spear back up with his right. He angled the long shaft so it wouldn't catch on the entrance, then went down the stairs first. Seraphina and Ariane followed. Veronica watched the garden until the last moment before stepping into the passage, and from the top of the stairs she pulled a ring on the underside of the slab. The entrance closed. Stone rumbled, and with it even the noise from outside was cut away.

Kang Taeyoon held the lantern out before him. The narrow passage ran on past the reach of the light.

They probably haven't found this place. Even so, we'd better hurry.

Once he was sure all three had come down, he started forward.