The Wind Changes on the Hill
The wind shifted atop the hill.
The moment Arteon appeared, the crushing pressure that had weighed on the Imperial soldiers' shoulders vanished. No—if anything, a strange, oppressive weight began to settle over the Kar warriors instead.
Snow and thickly rising dust. Even the lingering aftertaste of killing intent woven through aura—everything gathered into a single current, forging the tension of the battlefield.
"…It's been a while."
Kortzan muttered under his breath as he looked at Arteon. How could he ever forget that face? Three years ago, that was the bastard who had forced upon him a humiliation of defeat he could never wash away.
Kortzan hooked the axe he was holding over his shoulder as he spoke. But Arteon said nothing in response. He simply launched himself down the hillside.
Whoooooosh!
It was a height that would have made ordinary men's knees buckle just from standing there—yet Arteon descended lightly. Beside him, Kairon landed with a heavy thud and rose to his feet.
"…"
Quiet eyes. His expression looked almost indifferent, but everyone knew. This was the moment just before the storm broke in full fury.
Arteon approached where Tairen and his soldiers stood. Quite a few had been wounded, but the dead were mercifully few.
"Major Tairen, are you all right?" Arteon asked.
"…I have no excuse."
Tairen had no choice but to apologize. He knew all too well what had caused this situation. But Arteon shook his head.
"That can wait. Can you take the men and fall back?"
"Without fighting alongside you?"
"…The situation isn't good."
It wasn't simply a matter of winning or losing this fight. If both sides collided here in full force, Allied casualties would inevitably climb. More than half of the thousand-odd soldiers might die.
And that one over there—
…So he was alive after all.
He seemed even stronger than he had been three years ago. Kortzan, glaring at him from right in front of him—and Krelmuk behind him, radiating killing intent.
The memory of his former defeat at that man's hands made Arteon's temples throb.
"I can take that one," Kairon said.
"No. He's no easy opponent."
Even though Kairon had fully reached 5-Star, Kortzan had stood a full tier above him—and that had been three years ago. There was no telling how far the man had climbed since then.
Kairon, he's not someone you can handle alone.
Arteon's thoughts tangled. They could fight if they had to—but he judged that minimizing Allied losses mattered more.
He looked around and spoke.
"Gather the wounded and pull back. I'll buy you time."
At Arteon's words, the soldiers sucked in a sharp breath. Legs that had locked up before death seemed to find movement again.
But at the sight of Arteon like that—
"Heh heh heh. So you came all the way out here to protect those maggots?"
Kortzan's eyes went cold in an instant. His expression hardened, and thick killing intent erupted from his entire body like a war cry.
"I won't let a single one of them leave alive…!"
BOOM!
With an explosive stomp that seemed to crush the earth itself, his form shot toward Arteon.
CLANG!
Iglis revealed its true form, golden aura gathering along its length. Arteon's gaze locked onto him—
Woooooom!
Concentrating mana through his entire body, Arteon launched himself forward.
BOOM!
Spear and axe met in the center. The shockwave from that ferocious clash sent several soldiers staggering, dropping them to the ground.
Kairon shouted.
"Fall back with the men, now! We'll hold this bastard somehow!"
"…I'm counting on you."
Tairen bit down hard on his lip and turned. Soldiers supporting the wounded pulled back with him. Of course the Kar warriors weren't about to let them go.
"After them!"
"Don't let a single one escape!"
Kar warriors positioned around the field charged toward the retreating Tairen and his soldiers. Once those men entered the narrow defile, pursuit would become considerably harder. The plan was to wipe them out before they got there.
But—
"You sons of bitches… you ignoring me?"
Kairon blocked the path, raising his sword and drawing up his mana. Blue aura already sheathed the blade, radiating a chilling presence.
"Hup!"
CRAAAAASH!
Kairon swung his sword toward the ground ahead. A tremendous roar erupted as the shockwave blasted outward in every direction.
Ruuuumble…
Gravel fragments and billowing dust were swept away on the wind and scattered. But in that brief moment, the Kar warriors who had frozen in place stared at him with stunned faces.
"Au…ra?"
"No—how many of them can use aura…?"
Even from the Kar perspective, it was shocking. The commander leading the Imperial soldiers moments ago had wielded aura, and the one fighting Kortzan now seemed no ordinary opponent either. And now even this other one—someone they'd dismissed as nothing special—was using aura. Of course they were rattled. The realm of aura was something only the chosen few reached after training upon training.
"…"
Even amid all of that, Krelmuk simply watched the battlefield with a calm expression. The fact that Tairen and the Imperial forces were retreating was of no particular interest to him. He could kill the likes of them whenever he felt like it.
Just one man. He was burning every single movement of Arteon—locked in combat with Kortzan—into his mind, missing nothing.
"Shatter!"
An axe blade that tore through the air came crashing down toward Arteon's crown. It was the same strike that had felled Tairen earlier. No—stronger than that.
But before Kortzan's axe could fully descend onto Arteon's head—
CLAAANG!
Iglis's tip stabbed the exact center of the axe and knocked it aside. The rebound—greater than the force that had been packed into the blow—sent a shock racing up Kortzan's arm. This time it wasn't just his wrist. His entire arm tingled with pain.
"Kh…!"
For the first time, Kortzan's face twisted. It had been a very long time since anyone had knocked his axe aside like that.
But—
These past three years… I haven't been sitting idle…!
Following in the footsteps of Krelmuk, who had staked his life on growing stronger, Kortzan had staked his life as well. He had suffered injuries that nearly killed him more than once, but he had endured them somehow and grown stronger again and again.
And so, now—
"I won't lose this time…!"
The aura wrapping Kortzan's axe began to flicker like flame. Arteon's pupils wavered slightly at the sight.
This is…?
Was this bastard straddling the threshold between 5-Star and 6-Star? The form was different, but it carried power similar to that single decisive blow Arteon himself had landed on Krelmuk three years ago.
"I'll kill youuuuu!"
As if staking everything he had, Kortzan roared and charged at Arteon. And then—
"Hraaaaaaaah!"
With a scream that was almost a death cry, aura that writhed like crimson flame exploded outward and crashed down over Arteon.
I can't dodge this.
No—he must not dodge it. If he avoided this attack here, the shock would slam straight into the Allied forces still falling back.
And besides—
"A final blow, is it."
For an instant, the image of himself fighting Krelmuk three years ago seemed to overlap with the scene before him. If he could fully take this attack and neutralize it—
It would mean I've grown… since then.
These past three years. He had continued hellish training under Rionhart without pause. But he had never had a proper chance to confirm exactly where he stood now.
Arteon gripped Iglis tight. And he rapidly recalled everything he had learned from Rionhart over that time.
Training to reinforce the heart and mana circuits that moved aura through breath, enduring aura's explosive force. Training to flood the entire body with aura so the flesh could withstand the violent recoil. Training to transcend ordinary human flexibility and unleash one hundred percent of his power from any posture. And… and…
All those countless processes flashing past were things that allowed Arteon to wield even greater aura. Mana and aura. Flesh and aura. Not treating them as separate things, but binding them into one—making the aura become himself.
Then the amplified aura sparked like lightning, radiating a ferocious presence. Arteon's gaze fixed on the charging Kortzan.
There was no question the man's power was incomparably greater than before. Even that effort of his—
…felt almost noble.
But—
"I haven't exactly had it easy myself."
The instant Arteon's eyes gleamed like a beast's—
SHHHHHHNK!
Iglis in his hand punched through the flames and drove straight at Kortzan.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
RUUUUUUMBLE!
A massive shockwave spread as if the entire area would collapse. The mountainside shook, the ground trembled, and even the fierce northern wind seemed to turn its head before that tyrannical force.
"Aaaaaaagh!"
"G-get back—!"
The Kar warriors nearest to them were swept up in the shockwave and sent flying. Some had their bodies torn apart so fast they never even registered their own deaths. The collision between those who had transcended humanity created a spectacle beyond all reason.
And when the clash ended—
Thud.
Kortzan, left holding only a haft after his axe blade shattered to pieces, dropped to both knees on the ground.
Cough!
He had known the power he'd used was beyond him. His body hadn't held. The muscles throughout his frame had been shredded to ribbons. Yet unlike Kortzan, whose body shook violently from the impact—
"…"
Arteon looked down at him with a calm expression. A thin trail of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, but compared to Kortzan, he might as well have been unharmed.
"…"
Arteon gazed down at Kortzan in silence. Seeing before his eyes the very image of what he himself had once endured stirred complicated feelings. But more than that—
After three years…
From the realm of 5-Star, the man had knocked on the door leading into 6-Star. The countless scars carved into his body were perhaps the proof of that. But that was no reason to spare him. His effort and obsession had been remarkable—
"I, too, have endured this time with every intention of wiping every last one of you out."
And the moment Arteon raised his spear again—
SHHHHHHNK!
Arteon knocked aside an axe flying at him with a tremendous rush of air. In the brief instant Arteon stepped slightly back, Krelmuk swiftly took Kortzan and put distance between them.
Arteon's gaze turned to him. Krelmuk checked Kortzan's condition, then slung him over his shoulder.
"You know full well that your opponent is me."
"…Of course."
But contrary to his answer, Arteon regarded him with a calm expression. Then Krelmuk looked toward the ridge behind him. The vibrations through the ground, the countless presence carried on the wind—the Empire's main force was drawing near. Krelmuk looked at Arteon and spoke.
"Before long… we'll meet again soon enough."
Krelmuk's eyes went cold and still. He wanted to settle things with the man here and now, but the situation wouldn't allow it.
He spoke as if declaring it.
"When we meet on the next battlefield—"
"I will kill you for certain."
With those words, Krelmuk withdrew swiftly with the Kar warriors he had led. Arteon could have held him and fought it out to the end—
"…"
But Arteon felt it too. On the ridge directly opposite—
…So they've already moved.
Kar support forces had been there with them. Perhaps this war—
will progress faster than I expected.
A cold, oppressive weight brushed past his cheek like a blade.