Toward a New Dawn
“Belcard?”
A flicker of confusion crossed Karnoa’s face.
“Ah, thanks for the invitation this time. It’s thanks to you letting me know I’d be escaping today.”
She jerked her chin toward me.
“And I even got the chance to break this one.”
“…!”
“Matthew!!!! You worthless old bastard!”
Matthew glanced at May with a strangely indifferent look before turning his head away.
“Lee Han.”
“….”
“Why didn’t you listen to me?”
“What?”
Ha. After feeding them information, he was asking why I hadn’t listened?
“You treacherous traitor. How can I trust you now?”
“A shame. I must have eroded your trust quite a bit over the years. My mistake.”
Matthew spoke with a detached expression, as if he truly regretted it.
What the hell was he thinking?
Amid May’s endless stream of fuck, fuck, fuck, the devil’s voice that had been toying with us rang out again.
“Hello? Knock knock. Belcard? Can’t you hear me? Hmm… I didn’t think I’d drained that much life from you yet…”
“Karnoa.”
“Ah! So you can hear me. But Belcard, wasn’t that a little rude just now? Breaking the reagent I bestowed upon you. The you in your prime would have terrified anyone, but that’s not the case anymore, is it? Has your granddaughter recovered, I wonder?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, that’s… wait, what?”
“It’s all meaningless now.”
He took one step forward, stepping out of the shadows. In his arms was a small figure. He supported her neck with care, but her arm hung limply no matter what he did. Matthew gently set the person he had been carrying onto a small table.
He adjusted her posture here and there so she wouldn’t topple over, as if she were a doll.
Golden hair… small frame.
Snow-white skin.
Lilly?
“What is this…”
“Can you bring the dead back to life?”
“Who do you take me for? I am Karnoa, the Grave Digger of the Moon. The dead are my domain.”
“I’m not talking about your filthy pile of corpses, you old hag.”
Matthew clenched his fist tightly and continued with his back still turned.
“If it were possible, I would even kneel before you… but it’s impossible, isn’t it?”
“My servants are not to be spoken of in such—”
“Shut your mouth, you bitch!”
“Hah! So the toothless old tiger still thinks he amounts to something!”
Karnoa raised her hand.
“Move.”
The legion of corpses that had been standing blankly all turned their heads toward Matthew at once.
Clank. Clank.
“The divine power you offered me, Belcard, has been incredibly useful!”
Divine power…? From Matthew?
“Thanks to it, my lovely children…”
She stroked the knights standing on either side of her.
“Have made groundbreaking progress. Death Knights and Death Priests that inherit their abilities from life. At this rate, building an army that even the First and Second Apostles would envy is only a matter of time! However…”
Karnoa tilted her head at an odd angle.
“Thanks to me, didn’t your granddaughter also enjoy a long life under my blessing? You, whose divine power and life force are both completely drained, suddenly acting so ungrateful and putting on airs… should I tolerate that?”
The endless, undying legion began charging toward Matthew.
Matthew, you…!
What the hell happened?
Why does Lilly look like that, and why did you bring her?
What is all this talk about Belcard?
What are you planning?
Darkness filled the surroundings.
Unfortunately, the corpses needed no torches, nor did they have the ability to make them. Most of the torches had already gone out, barely clinging to life by catching onto fallen spear shafts and the like scattered across the floor.
Only around Karnoa did her corpse priests—her Death Priests—cast a faint glow like a halo.
Like the moon itself.
Using that faint light as illumination, Matthew closed his eyes and placed a hand over his chest.
And then.
"Ignite."
Whoosh—!
Eyes snapped open. There was no other way to describe it. A sun had bloomed.
The white flames erupting from Matthew’s chest lit up the dark cave so brightly it was blinding. The darkness vanished. Dawn broke. The flames writhed ferociously around the white fire, twisting into coils that followed the contours of Matthew’s body. The sounds of weapons clattering, clanging, and shattering filled the air.
“From this moment on, I shall carry out what I should have done long ago! I will fulfill the duty I once abandoned!”
The light itself cried out.
“I shall punish evil! I shall become the hound of light that hunts down and tears apart those who make the good weep!”
The legion of corpses that had been advancing fell to their knees before the brilliantly shining flames.
“I shall be the one to judge sin, and light does not forgive sin. Therefore, tremble in fear, you wicked ones! The darkest shadow of the sun—Belcard the Judge—has returned!”
Before the overwhelming light, the legion never moved again.
In silence. Just as they should have from the beginning. They rolled across the floor as corpses and turned to ash. Total annihilation.
The army that had tormented them for nearly ten hours vanished into cinders before Belcard’s light.
“How is this… this kind of divine power even possible…!”
Karnoa shot up from her seat.
All that remained were the two knights guarding her and the priest.
And Shylock, who had been cowering in the corner.
“Go! Go and kill him!”
Clank.
The two Death Knights, who had not moved an inch until now, finally stirred inside their holy knight armor.
“You go help them too!”
“H-hiiiik.”
The arrogant demeanor he had shown just hours ago was nowhere to be found.
Shylock, utterly broken, staggered forward.
“Shylock…”
“M-Matthew. Let’s talk this out.”
Matthew quietly reached a hand toward the floor and murmured.
"Chains of Binding."
Jet-black chains burst forth from every direction.
Their origin was shadow itself.
Bang—!
The chains that shot out from the shadows bound the arms and legs of the two knights and Shylock.
“W-what is this?!”
“Judgment.”
A massive set of scales materialized in the air above the enemies' heads.
One side bore the emblem of the sun, the other the reaper—symbolizing good and evil.
The scales tipped instantly toward the reaper's side and vanished.
From the shadows of those condemned, a colossal reaper appeared, raising its scythe to their necks.
“G-get away!”
The reaper’s scythe could neither be touched nor shaken off.
“How long I have waited for this day…”
“Matthew… no, Belcard. Please don’t do this…”
“It was a long, long time of patience.”
“Your granddaughter! I’ll fix Lilly somehow! There must be some problem right now. You know I’m an expert in theory, don’t you?!”
“….”
“Please… I’ll search the entire continent if I have to…!”
Matthew approached Shylock. In time with his steps, the reaper’s scythe around Shylock’s neck lost its form, turning into red mist that coiled around his body. It seeped into his forehead, branding a crimson sun mark. A mark of sin that anyone, anywhere, would recognize. The brand dripped flames like blood.
“D-don’t come near me. Stay back!”
“Shylock. Do you know what Lilly wished for in the end?”
“W-what is it?! Then I can grant it instead…!!”
“She told me to live according to my convictions. And the first of those is your execution.”
Matthew grabbed Shylock by the throat with a burning hand and lifted him up.
“I see your sins, Shylock! Your hidden original sin is writhing and burning so brightly!”
“U-ughaaaah! It’s hot! Aaaagh!”
“Suffer as deeply as the weight of your sins.”
A portion of the flames burning across Matthew’s body transferred to Shylock.
“Execution.”
Thud.
A massive stake erupted from the shadows and instantly pierced straight through the center of Shylock’s chest, impaling him.
The white flames burned ceaselessly, endlessly consuming both the stake and Shylock.
“K-kaaagh! Kaaaagh!”
As if refusing him an easy death, Shylock screamed endlessly while nailed to the stake.
It had all happened in an instant.
Amid that chorus of screams, Matthew turned toward us without a shred of hesitation.
Clank. Thud. Thump.
Karnoa, who had dismantled the jet-black chains, glared at Matthew with murderous eyes.
“Lee Haaaaan!”
Matthew, approaching us like a single blazing sun, roared.
“Y-yes, uh, yes sir.”
“Step back! And draw your blade! Protect your comrades!”
Matthew pulled a dagger from within his robes.
A jet-black dagger I had never seen before.
The blade seemed to devour all light. It greedily absorbed Matthew’s white flames and began burning with the same fire.
“I will take that bitch’s head.”
I staggered backward.
Then I broke into a run toward Jun and May.
“B-brother… what is all this…”
“I don’t know either. But everything’s going to be okay now. I’m sorry. So just rest.”
“I don’t trust Matthew… but that old man always shows up at the most important moments…”
“Yeah, and every time he does, he fixes everything. It’ll be the same this time. So just rest now.”
I didn’t know anything, but somehow it felt like I could believe in him right now.
The white flames reflected in May’s eyes like a living deity.
“Yeah… I think it’s okay to believe in him now.”
As if she had read my mind, she spoke those words, then her head drooped and she collapsed.
I wiped the blood from her face and laid her down comfortably.
Jun lay collapsed below, pale and covered in blood from the neck down. I tore strips from my clothes and quickly bandaged his wounds.
My own dagger had broken long ago.
I picked up the one May had dropped and the one from my pocket, gripping one in each hand.
A gift, and one I hadn’t used often because it drew too much attention.
The vivid red dagger given to me by that unknown woman.
Right now, these were all I had.
I stood guard over Jun and May.
From behind Matthew, I watched him quietly.
The feeling of someone protecting me.
It was an unfamiliar sensation, both as the vampire Lee Han and as the true ancestor.
It felt… reassuring.
Late-onset exhaustion clouded my mind.
When was the last time I had slept…?
Matthew’s flame-clad dagger sliced through the air in a dazzling arc.
The Death Knights were helplessly pushed back, step by step, by each strike.
They were clearly no easy opponents.
Just from their movements and the sharpness of their swordsmanship, I could tell.
Yet Matthew toyed with them, dodging every attack and driving his flaming dagger home.
In that desperate struggle, dark divine power began to surge around Karnoa.
“Kiss of Death!”
The dark, roiling divine power spread out and poured toward Matthew… only to dissipate.
“Do you truly believe the mere wish of a dead soul can overcome the light of creation?!”
“Y-you—!”
Muttering a spell, she slammed her hand against the floor.
“Swamp of the Dead.”
The ground directly beneath Matthew turned sticky like mud, and unknown hands reached up from within. At the same time, he kicked off the floor, circled behind a Death Knight, and shoved it into the swamp.
Splash!
Seeing the Death Knight flailing inside, Karnoa hurriedly canceled the spell.
Her once-confident undead legion had all crumbled beneath Matthew’s light. Even her prized creations now visibly shrank back.
And Karnoa herself, no matter how desperately she struggled, could not hinder Matthew in the slightest.
If things continued this way, the outcome was painfully obvious.
“It’s do or die.”
Karnoa bit her lip as she watched her creations fall helplessly, then her eyes flashed with vicious malice.
“Everyone protect me! Protect me!”
Her coercive command wrapped around her servants.
The knights abandoned all offense and switched entirely to defense.
Even so, Matthew would not be pushed back.
Clang—!
A black shield blocked his path.
The air around them grew noticeably darker in an instant.
“Cough!”
Blood sprayed from Karnoa’s mouth as her face aged at terrifying speed.
“Accept your end gracefully, you monster!”
Matthew’s dagger pierced her shoulder.
“Why should I?”
Blood pouring from her wound, her hair now completely white, Karnoa screamed.
“This body was quite to my liking, but a body is merely a shell. All who live must age and fall ill. I am not bound by such husks!”
Her body crumpled to the floor.
“What the…”
“Be careful, Lee Han! That woman is still alive. These things are still moving.”
And at that moment, Lilly—who Matthew had gently laid down—began to stagger to her feet.
“Grand… father?”
Matthew’s expression shattered.