Chapter 231: Conclusion
Chapter 231: Conclusion
‘It’s too far.’
Bayatur kept moving toward Caesar and Marcus, who were far away.
He slashed and slashed again.
Every time Bayatur’s curved sword swung, a path was made without fail.
It was a truly overwhelming power.
But his breakthrough was also coming to an end.
‘Is this it… my dream.’
His speed was slowing down.
Both his horse Tengri and his own stamina were running out.
At some point, the cheers of the warriors behind him became less and less.
One by one.
They fell from their horses and died.
He looked up at the flags of the North and East Emperors in the distance, then turned his head back.
“Kuh!”
“Aaah!”
The warriors who followed him were being slaughtered.
Caesar had deployed a tactic to lure Bayatur’s breakthrough and strike the main force of the Xiongnu behind him.
The spearmen and the auxiliary soldiers with nets had already prepared for this.
While Bayatur broke through and killed dozens of people at the front, the main force of the Xiongnu behind him fell from their horses or were pierced by spears, losing hundreds of lives.
“Kuaah!”
“This… this monstrous bastard!”
Still, he cut down the Roman soldiers who blocked his way and moved forward.
This road would end with the end of the grassland.
He had no choice but to run toward the predetermined doom.
Even though he knew he could only end up in death, he did not stop.
“I am the Heavenly Son of the Great Plains!”
Chwak
“Kuh!”
“This… this monster!”
“Throw all the nets! He’s the only one left!”
Countless nets and spears flew at him. Bayatur’s power finally reached its limit.
His horse Tengri was stabbed in the neck by a spear from a centurion and fell down.
Dozens of nets flew over Bayatur, who had fallen from his horse.
“It’s over.”
Caesar’s words marked the end of this war.
※※※
Rome did not usually execute captured enemy generals.
It was not because Rome was merciful, but because they needed to raise the dignity of the triumphal general by putting the enemy general on display at the triumphal ceremony.
It was also a principle not to execute the enemy general after the triumphal ceremony, but there were exceptions.
Those who were considered too dangerous were executed I'm mediately after the ceremony.
A representative example was Vercingetorix, who lost to Caesar in the original history.
It was probably because they feared that Vercingetorix’s survival would hinder the Romanization of Gaul.
This time was no different.
Marcus had no intention of keeping Bayatur alive.
He was too dangerous to be used as a trophy to glorify his honor.
Besides, if word got out that Bayatur had been captured and humiliated, there might be more movement from the Xiongnu side.
Even though they were already half-destroyed, he did not want to cause any more trouble.
He still wanted to have a conversation with him before the execution.
In a way, Bayatur was the biggest butterfly effect that Marcus’s existence had brought, manifested in flesh and blood.
Marcus arranged a meeting with Bayatur, with only Spartacus as an interpreter.
He was chained and bound so tightly that he could not move his arms and legs, but his eyes were still alive.
He could feel that he was an extraordinary person at a glance.
Bayatur was also engulfed by indescribable emotions.
The person who inspired him to have the ambition of unifying the grassland, and the one who crushed that ambition, was right in front of him.
“This is the first time we talk. You are the Heavenly Son of the Grassland, Bayatur, right?”
“Yes. I am Bayatur.”
He surprisingly opened his mouth easily, even though he had not uttered a word in front of the Roman soldiers.
A faint smile even appeared on Bayatur’s face.
“Your reaction is different from what I expected. I thought you would be more aggressive.”
“There’s no point in showing such a reaction now. It would only make me look pathetic. The loser should just accept the winner and leave.”
“Don’t you have any regrets? You can’t help but wonder if you could have won if you did this or that here.”
Bayatur sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.
He opened his eyes again and shook his head with a click of his tongue.
“All useless assumptions. If I have one regret, it would be that I couldn’t fight to the end with the one next to you… but even that is actually my defeat. I can’t make any excuses for not being able to decide the outcome against a warrior who has passed his prime.”
“I see. So you have no attachment to life anymore?”
Bayatur nodded slowly.
He had burned everything in his life and did his best in the war.
And he still lost, so what else could he hope for but death?
Marcus could not read any anxiety on Bayatur’s face.
He had to admit that he was an outstanding person, even in the face of his last moment of life.
But apart from that admiration, Bayatur’s fate was decided.
He could not spare Bayatur’s life, no matter what conditions he offered.
Of course, Marcus did not have any intention of saving him from the beginning.
“I have to execute you, but… I’m still debating. Whether to kill you here or take you to Rome and humiliate you before taking your life.”
“I don’t have any intention of living miserably. But I would prefer it if you executed me here. If you don’t humiliate me and execute me cleanly, I’ll also give you some information as a reward.”
“What information?”
Bayatur did not wait for Marcus’s answer and spilled out his words.
It was a clever move, knowing that Marcus was not the type to regret his words after hearing everything.
“···I see. It’s not something that will help dramatically right now, but it’s an interesting story. I’ll grant your wish. The execution will be tomorrow. In front of all my legions. You have no complaints, right?”
“No complaints. Oh, but let me ask you one last thing. Before you made the turn, who came up with the strategy of constantly raiding the rear?”
“What’s the problem?”
Bayatur sneered and shook his head.
“No. I just wanted to curse at that bastard one last time. It was the most disgusting strategy I’ve ever faced in my life.”
“Fine. It’s your last time, so I’ll listen. Go ahead.”
“Don’t live like that, you son of a bitch!”
“······.”
“······.”
A moment of silence descended.
Marcus chuckled and asked.
“Is that all you have to say?”
“That’s all.”
“Thank you. I’ll take it as a compliment.”
Marcus nodded satisfactorily and got up from his seat.
Spartacus followed him out with a look of pity.
The war was over with a perfect victory, but there was still a mountain of work to do.
Bayatur was executed in front of hundreds of thousands of soldiers as Marcus said.
Caesar did not object to executing Bayatur either.
Their victory was the largest in Roman history.
They did not need to take the enemy general as a prisoner for the triumphal ceremony, as they had plenty of trophies to show off.
So they agreed that it would be better to just cut off Bayatur’s neck here and declare their victory.
Bayatur climbed up to the scaffold in front of everyone as the Heavenly Son of the Grassland.
He did not lose his composure until his neck was cut off.
Even amid the angry cheers and jeers of the Roman soldiers, his eyes did not waver at all.
Marcus took on the role of venting the anger of all the Romans who had died so far.
He cut off Bayatur’s neck cleanly and raised his sword high in the sky.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers stomped their feet and shouted in unison.
“Wow! The war is over!”
“It’s our victory! Roma Invicta!”
As the soldiers’ ecstatic cheers subsided and the situation was settled, Caesar began the final work of the war.
Bayatur suffered a humiliation that did not match his fierce life.
His head, preserved to prevent decay, was sent to Rome.
It was practically a tribute.
Maybe he was lucky to avoid living as he pleased and facing hardships.
Spartacus seemed to show some compassion, but it was inevitable.
No matter how great a hero he was, he was an enemy that could not share the same sky with Rome from Rome’s perspective.
Rome needed to announce his demise and celebrate the victory of the war on a large scale.
And of course, the punishment of the traitors was included in the final work.
Marcus led his fleet across the Black Sea and crossed over to the Bosporus Kingdom.
There was no chance for them to resist once the Huns, who would have been their rear support, had fled.
Marcus offered them two choices.
“Die with the city or open the gates and become slaves. There are only two paths allowed for you.”
At first, none of the cities opened their gates.
But Marcus and the Roman army were serious about their anger.
A city chosen as an example was unable to resist properly against the Roman army’s attack and its gates were breached.
After that, the city of traitors was completely destroyed and not a single survivor was left.
When this rumor spread, other cities that could not hold out any longer sent their surrender.
Marcus kept his promise and sold them all as slaves.
Rome never showed mercy to its allies who betrayed them.
Marcus, who once again established this absolute principle, secured hundreds of thousands of slaves and set out on his way back.
If Bayatur’s death was a symbolic signal that announced the end of the war, the fall of Bosporus was evidence that showed that the war was completely over.
Marcus, who greeted the end of the long war, promised to reunite with Caesar and Rome and returned to his own territory.
The end of everything and the way back home.
He looked at the waves breaking on the bow of the ship and felt an indescribable emotion sprout in his heart.
He tried not to think about it during the war, but now he had to face the reality that was approaching him.
Two people who had acquired the greatest authority and power in the history of the Republic were born, so Rome’s political situation would inevitably face a great change.
The storm of blood would not stop even after the war ended.
The calm waves of the Black Sea in Marcus’ eyes felt like the calm before the storm.