Seizing the White Night and Black Star
No weapons were permitted inside the banquet hall. It was an unwritten law of the Theodor Holy Empire, enforced without exception regardless of status or rank. The thick scent of heavy makeup mingled with fluttering skirt hems and the laughter of ladies. In the past, assassinations and acts of sabotage had frequently occurred at such balls. Even the most cautious nobles found their vigilance slipping amid a crowd of noblewomen and young ladies. Entering armed was an insult and a rudeness. Every noble obeyed this rule without a single exception. The Steel Lorelei and her lovers were no different.
The White Night Sword Albrus. The Black Star Sword Morion. The heir to the Sword Duke and the young master of the Red Tower had handed their family treasures—the enchanted blades—to their subordinates before entering the hall alongside the beautiful Lorelei. The Kreuz family knights and Red Tower mages had stored them in a treasury nearby for safekeeping.
"Kuh!"
"That gunshot just now... An attack?!"
"Maybe an ambush targeting Young Master Zikfried and Master Kasian!"
How long had the banquet been underway? A sharp cannon blast rocked the space. The gothic knight chandelier shattered spectacularly. The artworks and ceramics adorning the area around the treasury met the same fate. The Kreuz family guards and Red Tower mages reacted in their own ways, realizing a real crisis had erupted.
"You there... some third-rate noble scum? Speak! What the hell just happened?!"
As chaos from the bombardment spread, an armed young man approached the treasury. Black hair and golden eyes. Worn leather armor proclaiming his lowly status. And two longswords strapped to his waist like beast fangs.
Kailun von Valtenstein. The disposable tool of Lady Levanfalt. The mongrel the Steel Lorelei had picked up. He must have been sent as a messenger by Young Master Zikfried and Master Kasian. The knights and mages stationed at the treasury demanded a clear explanation in arrogant tones. Used to him handling every sudden mishap like a fixer, they approached without suspicion.
"Kahak!"
A cold metallic ring. A razor-sharp blade infused with mana revealed itself. At the same instant, the knight closing in on Kailun clutched his nape and spewed bloody foam.
Splurt—!
The others fared no better. Kailun, gripping his twin longswords, charged and slashed them down.
"This bastard...! Has he lost his mind?!"
"A mere disposable from third-rate noble trash!"
Napes. Inner elbows. Groins. The mana-wreathed blade tips pierced their weak points with precision. Elegant and exact. The seasoned sharpness of countless brutal combats scattered glints of light. Kailun's thrusts rendered the Kreuz family knights combat-ineffective in an instant.
"Pierce the air with lightning..."
"Unseen barrier of wind..."
The corridor, adorned with opulent artworks, was stained with acrid blood. The Red Tower mages, witnessing the slaughter firsthand, extended trembling hands and began chanting spells. But a longsword flew like an arrow piercing the air. Straight for the heart. Kailun hurled not just his own blades but the knights' dropped weapons, silencing the chanting mages.
"You mad dog...! To strike at the Sword Duke's house and the Red Tower—you'll be torn apart by the Duke and the Tower Lord, along with your inferior kin! You'll chew on the worst agonies until you realize death is merciful mercy!"
Cough—!
A knight guarding the treasury crumpled, spewing vitriol. One of Zikfried's close aides. Heir to an earldom loyal to the Sword Duke.
"I've always thought this, but you lot talk way too much."
Kailun gripped his sword hilts with both hands and swung wide. The young man's head, mid-curse, tumbled to the floor, gushing blood.
As expected from the pampered aides handling protection and errands... all greenhorns without real combat experience. Noble heirs fawning over the Sword Duke's successor, and bookish mages glued to their desks doing magic research.
Ornamental dress swords lacking edge. Greenhouse flowers raised like precious jewels. That was the true nature of the Steel Lorelei's beloved protagonists.
Exploited one-sidedly for the past three months... so I'll take my retirement bonus multiplied a hundredfold.
With blood dripping from both hands, he casually opened the firmly sealed treasury. The alert and sealing spells had vanished with the death of every stationed mage.
Black and white radiance poured out. Befitting weapons representing the Holy Empire, immense mana overflowed. The White Night Sword, wielder of overwhelming destructive power. The Black Star Sword, sealer and reverser of magic. A lavish severance indeed.
The supreme enchanted blades—proof of the Sword Duke heir and Red Tower young master's status—stood displayed on either side of the vault interior, welcoming their plunderer. Kailun, turned ruthless thief, seized their hilts and ascended to sworn enemy of House Kreuz and the Red Tower.
The Luxor family's ostentatious earthly paradise had turned in moments into a wasteland of rubble and dust. Noble corpses strewn like street filth proved death's impartiality. Shattered tables. Delicacies reduced to garbage, wine spilling in rivers. The invited performers lay buried in debris.
Screams of agony and despair echoed.
Only a scant few nobles survived the bombardment storm.
"Are you hurt, Linde?"
"I'm fine. But what the hell is going on? We need to find the marquis right away!"
Hair tinged bluish with mana ignition. In a split second, she'd deployed defensive magic. The Red Tower's young master—Kasian von Eternar—extended a hand, scooping up the Steel Lorelei. He prioritized her safety. Most unprotected nobles thus met mass death. The lethal shockwaves intensified. He'd redirected the blasts aimed at Zigrinde.
Nobles who might have survived perished due to Kasian's selfishness.
"We must evacuate. The castle may collapse."
"Kailun...! Summon Lord Valtenstein at once. Put him in command! Surely Lord Valtenstein can resolve this swiftly!"
"That's what I thought too, so I've been sending telepathic messages nonstop, but for some reason, there's no reply from Lord Valtenstein. Mana isn't blocked, so the spells are working fine... Looks like trouble outside as well."
"Kuh!"
Kailun—. Kailun will fix it! He'd always solved the tough problems before. Zigrinde straightened her dust-caked dress and called for Kailun. Conditioned to rely on him in crises, she fixated obsessively on that one man.
"Zig, what's the situation outside?"
"Fucking disaster. The silver lining is the colonial empire and pirate alliance ships behind the barrage aren't attempting landings... but the knight orders on the outskirts can't reach the Luxor castle."
The Luxor family had built a resort on the city's edge to monopolize the emerald sea, isolating themselves. True to that, the only access to their seaside castle was a paved boulevard linking to the port city. That road was completely jammed. Noble carriages from the banquet blocked it like food stuck in a throat. Meticulous and precise. Brutal as an artificial trap.
Perfectly isolated, they faced the worst: bombardment.
Even if Kailun got caught in the bombing... no word from the agents tailing him either. Special Forces operatives wouldn't die to something like that. Unexplainable incidents chaining one after another.
Why bombard the Luxor resort, offering zero military value? And how did they predict their movements to muster hundreds of ships? Unanswered questions birthed dark suspicions. Sturts ignored even the voice of his adored fiancée, embracing the suspicions. The peerless genius pieced it together like solving a puzzle, sinking to the swamp's bottom to glimpse the shadowy mastermind.
"Valtenstein...! That bastard sold us out."
Kailun von Valtenstein. The third-rate noble of lowly birth had brought in the colonial empire and pirate alliance. Navy-blue eyes gleamed murderously behind the monocle.