57
Chapter 57
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump—the sound of drums echoes. This is the sound within my heart.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—the earth shakes. This is the sound of reality.
Stepping out the door with confidence, I saw monsters, all puffing out their chests, swarming from every direction. The ground shook violently, as if an earthquake were hitting.
"Wow, what a spectacle. Absolutely magnificent."
Fortunately, no Five Kings-level monsters were in sight. If even one of those had been lured in, I would have had to run for my life, but I suppose a Black Wyvern is nothing more than a fly to monsters of that caliber.
Screech-!
They weren't on the same side. If anything, they were rivals. Much like the demons who swarmed a century ago to claim Wolf King Aru.
Naturally, whenever they bumped into each other while charging, they ended up in endless brawls. Because of that, the area around Beatrice's house was nothing short of a disaster zone.
Monsters, intoxicated by the scent of Black Wyvern blood, were fighting indiscriminately. And not just a few, but a massive number, nearly hundreds of them.
I usually love a chaotic brawl like that, but the protagonists of this stage are Beatrice and me. Those creatures are merely disposable extras. I pulled out the White Mask, put it on, and approached the fray.
Step-.
A moment later, I looked back to see Beatrice standing by the door, gripping her Greatsword. Holding the hilt with both hands and planting the blade firmly into the ground—the posture of a Holy Knight.
"Did you call those things here?"
"I figured we needed to prepare the stage."
"I doubt you can kill all of them alone."
"Of course not! Killing them is your job, Sir Knight!"
"Nonsense. I do not fight."
"Hehe, then why did you come out? Why not just stay inside?"
Flinch-.
"I... I only came out to watch."
"You're holding such a ferocious Greatsword, yet you claim you won't fight?"
"...It is a habit, a habit. I have no intention of fighting."
Beatrice spoke, biting her lower lip. Behind her, her tightly tied brown hair trembled slightly.
"Haha, fine. But I'm going to fight. You just stay back and enjoy the show!"
Leaving those words behind, I leaped toward the battlefield. A cool breeze fluttered against my collar.
I could hear Beatrice's heartbeat clearly. Her iron-walled heart was slowly crumbling. I smirked behind my mask and dove straight into the middle of the monsters.
******
Thump, thump-.
Beatrice bit her lip, feeling an unknown surge of excitement.
She felt uneasy. Her body felt restless.
It was a feeling she had experienced since playing chess with Oscar. Specifically, from the moment she was overturned and defeated.
The image of the Queen diving alone into the enemy camp, flashing across the field from east to west, sweeping the battlefield.
Overwhelmed by that majestic presence, Beatrice felt her heart beat rapidly.
For a moment, she even felt that a mere chess piece was "cool." That was how captivated she was by the Queen's grandeur.
Four years ago, after that day of profound tragedy, she had entered the Demon Beast Forest to cast aside all distractions and live in silence.
Yet, because of a mysterious demon who introduced himself as a magician, all that suppression of desire was breaking.
'Did I... actually want to be a knight? Was my father's love merely a byproduct? Was I enamored with battle itself?'
Listening to Oscar's cunning words after her defeat in chess.
Beatrice looked back on her life. And slowly, she realized.
That Oscar's words were true. That all this time, she had been floundering within a delusion of her own making.
But what did it matter?
Regardless of the truth, regardless of her inner feelings.
She was a Holy Knight who had succumbed to a devil's temptation, a child who had pierced her father's heart.
She had committed an unforgivable sin. How could someone like her pick up a sword again for the sake of a mere desire?
-Even as she thought this.
When Oscar stepped outside, Beatrice followed. Her hand gripping the Greatsword.
Her mind was in turmoil. Beatrice swallowed a groan.
A vulgar desire to throw herself into the battlefield unfolding before her and carve through the flesh and blood of monsters, and a shabby inner longing to receive the nostalgic gaze of fear that would follow, crept up from a corner of her heart.
However, a Holy Knight is one who suppresses their nature with reason. Beatrice steeled her heart and painfully drove her sword into the ground. Even so, the hand gripping the sword kept twitching, but Beatrice's patience was not easily exhausted.
And so, as Beatrice stood there, unable to move one way or another.
Oscar had already dove into the fray, his white cloak fluttering behind him. Straight into the chaos where massive monsters were clashing and brawling.
'Spade Ace.'
The first opponent Oscar faced was a troll several times his size, a massive wooden club resting on its shoulder.
As Oscar kicked off the ground, he leaped right before the troll's eyes before it could even react. While suspended in mid-air, he stepped lightly on the void and thrust the Spade Ace forward as if it were a razor-sharp spear.
Pshhk-!
The power of the palm-sized card was immense. Purple demonic energy erupted from the Spade Ace, forming a spear that pierced right through the troll's skull. Shredded fluids sprayed in every direction.
However, trolls were infamous monsters capable of endless combat thanks to their regeneration. The shattered head quickly began to squirm, attempting to return to its original shape.
Seeing this, Oscar produced another card. He did so with effortless grace, without a hint of hesitation or panic.
'Heart 8. Flames of Passionate Love.'
The heart card in Oscar's hand was engulfed in crimson flames. The fire then leaped to the spear embedded where the troll's head should have been.
Fwoosh-!
The flames spread instantly as if they had legs of their own. The burnt skin refused to regenerate, and the troll let out a wheezing shriek of agony. Since it had no mouth, the sound came purely from its throat.
Using the giant troll's body as kindling, the fire soared high into the sky. The spectacle of the towering blaze drew the attention of every monster in the area.
Boom-.
With its regeneration blocked, the troll collapsed helplessly onto the ground. Atop the corpse stood a white demon, unmistakable in his white magician's hat, suit, and cloak.
Growl-.
Roar-!
He was small, but his presence was impossible to ignore. The monsters, who had disregarded him moments ago, now found themselves in a sudden lull, sensing that this tiny being was not to be trifled with.
They had rushed in blindly, lured by the blood of the Black Wyvern, but the troll's death served as a grim awakening. They realized they could actually die in this fight.
Moreover, they realized the battle was no longer just about the blood. Whoever survived until the end would claim all the demonic energy present.
The lull didn't mean the tension had vanished. Hundreds of monsters kept a wary eye on each other, gauging who was the predator and who was the prey.
"Hey now! I went through all the trouble of making a mess, so why are you all calming down!"
The small demon was the one to break the brief peace. Leaping into the air, he lunged at a nearby Owlbear.
The Owlbear, with its owl's face and bear's body, was relatively small among monsters at nearly three meters, but possessing ferocious strength honed in the Demon Beast Forest. Still, Oscar didn't hesitate for a second.
The Owlbear instinctively swung a fist at the demon who had suddenly appeared before it. Oscar performed a mid-air flip to narrowly dodge the blow, then thrust his magic wand straight into the creature's eye.
Then, he shouted.
"Lightning!"
Zap-!
A powerful electric shock surged from the wand, piercing through the eyeball and reaching the brain.
A blinding shock overwhelmed the Owlbear's mind. Soon after, its brain scorched black, the creature collapsed just like the troll before it.
Screech-!
Shriek-!
In that moment, the monsters instinctively realized that the smallest demon present was the most dangerous competitor.
He had neutralized two formidable beasts in the blink of an eye. If the brawl continued, they would all end up the same way, one by one.
"Oh, did you all decide to team up? How wise!"
As if by unspoken agreement, the monsters united and charged at the small demon simultaneously. Some attempted sneak attacks on others, but the collective realization of his danger forced an implicit alliance.
Thump thump thump thump thump-!
The small demon wasn't intimidated in the slightest. On the contrary, he began launching indiscriminate attacks on all of them. Using his small frame to bounce here and there, he toyed with the monsters before slaughtering them.
Sparks flew everywhere. The flames spat by the monsters clashed with Oscar's fire, triggering violent explosions.
Every time Oscar's wand flashed, lightning struck. Any monster hit on the crown of its head was almost certainly charred from the inside out.
Oscar never stayed in one place. Utilizing his small size, he darted between the monsters' legs, tricking the creatures into attacking each other. This only made them more furious, fueling their desperate focus on him.
A single, small figure dominating a whole swarm of monsters.
Watching this from a distance, someone was feeling a strange sense of excitement.
Beatrice Constantino, the former Holy Knight. The woman who had vowed never to slaughter again now felt her hand tremble as she gripped her Greatsword.
It was beautiful.
The sight of him weaving through hundreds of monsters, his white cloak fluttering, as he conducted the battle.
Hundreds struggling against a single man. It was a rare sight, yet somehow, it felt familiar to Beatrice.
The face of her dead father kept flickering before her eyes. A face that served to restrain her sword.
The noose of guilt tightened around her neck. Her breathing became ragged.
'No, do not waver... Was my spirit truly this fragile...! Endure it!'
Bam-!
"Gah!"
A boulder flying from among the monsters struck Oscar. For the first time, having taken a direct hit, Oscar went tumbling across the ground.
Watching this, Beatrice flinched violently.
'To be hit by such a simple attack! If it were me, if it were me!'
If it were her, she would have split that rock in half and unleashed an aura stretching dozens of meters toward the monsters—.
With a single strike, she would have pushed countless monsters to the brink of death, slaughtering their flesh and blood in an instant—.
Then, realizing they faced an insurmountable opponent, the monsters would have shuddered in fear and fled—.
If the one standing there had been her—.
"Stop holding back!"
"...!"
Screech-!
Using his knee as a support to push himself up, Oscar shouted.
"Do what you truly want! Are you going to let that Greatsword, the one you cared for so deeply, rot away forever!?"
Beatrice's brown eyes wavered.
"A warrior is one who fights! One who brings bloody ruin upon enemies who dare swarm without knowing their place! One who seizes a glorious victory in a great battle! That is what a warrior is!"
"...!"
"There are those with the blood of warriors! Those who lead wars to victory and bring prosperous peace to their allies! Yet, those who are infinitely cold to their enemies! Heroes of war revered by all! Natural battle-maniacs blessed by the God of War!"
Another attack from the monsters flew toward Oscar, and he quickly rolled his body to evade them.
One might have expected his voice to drop, but Oscar continued in a loud, booming tone.
"But knights are different! A knight is one of restraint! One who serves a lord, protects the Seven Virtues, and draws a sword for the sake of upright justice! That is the calling of a knight!"
"...!"
"A knight fights for their lord! A knight wins for their lord! But Beatrice! Your lord is already dead! Is a knight who has lost their lord still a knight? Hmm?"
"That... is...."
"Beatrice Constantino! Answer me!"
Very loudly.
"Are you a knight, or a warrior?"
Beatrice's gaze was fixed on the ground. As if harboring thoughts she couldn't justify, she bit her lower lip hard. Her tightly clenched fists trembled.
"...I am."
At that moment.
A ghoul, which had been stealthily waiting for an opportunity, leaped toward Beatrice.
Weaker than the monsters clashing in the center of the forest, this ghoul had noticed the scent of wyvern blood coming from the house and had approached the exterior walls from behind.
However, a human woman stood before the door, blocking the way with a greatsword, and the ghoul had stayed hidden, wary of her.
Then, it felt the woman's alertness fade as the demon's shouting continued, and it seized that gap to launch a surprise attack.
Naturally, it intended to silently dispatch the human woman, who seemed the weakest, then slip into the house to take the spoils and vanish.
"Louder! Say it louder! It's right there in the Holy Knight's Code you love so much! Anytime, anywhere! Speak with confidence and boldness!"
"I AM—!!"
But, the moment the human woman let out a voice louder than she ever had before.
The ghoul instinctively felt it.
That something had gone terribly wrong.
But what could it do?
It had already thrown its body forward to pounce on the woman.
"I WANT TO FIGHT—!"
Swoosh-!
The blade that had been planted in the ground until a moment ago flashed like a golden bolt beneath the sky.
The ghoul's body was split in two. A ferocious sword wind followed, and the ghoul's body, caught in the gale, was torn into pieces and sent soaring.
K-boom-!
It was a short, concise strike. However, the aftermath of that blow did not simply vanish. The air currents generated by the sword wind shook the surrounding nature. A violent vortex of air disintegrated the ghoul until not a single trace remained.
""..........""
A void of silence fell over the battlefield. A void different in nature from the brief lull created by the small demon earlier.
The eyes of the monsters, shocked by the overwhelming sword technique, darted around rapidly. It was only one hit, but that alone was enough to make them realize the gap between themselves and the human woman. A few monsters, losing strength in their legs, collapsed while trying to step back.
Whoosh-!
Beatrice's form vanished. A moment later, she reappeared in the center of the monsters. Gripping her Greatsword tightly with both hands, she pulled it back deep and swung with all her might.
"I want to soak my blade in crimson blood-!"
Slash-slash-slash-slash-slash-!
Pure white radiance and deep darkness erupted simultaneously. The circular sword strike pulverized dozens of monsters into dust.
"The gaze of the enemy-! I want that look of broken will and lurking despair-!"
Every word Beatrice spoke resonated like a thunderclap. The eardrums of the monsters who had survived the sword wave were torn.
"I want to deal defeat to the enemy-! And seize a great victory-! Through that, I want to enjoy the sweet authority and honor that follows-!"
The Greatsword, its blade split between black and white, tore through space as she thrust it forward. Ten streaks of aura followed, cleaving a hundred monsters in half.
"I want a status where the world fears and admires me-! A position that no one dares approach-!"
Beatrice was an unstoppable juggernaut. Every time her sword was raised high, the heads of monsters rolled across the ground.
Every tree was uprooted, and the earth was completely overturned, leaving the area scorched. Faced with Beatrice's overwhelming prowess, the monsters trembled, unable to even think of fleeing.
Amidst that surreal landscape, Beatrice raised her greatsword high and bellowed.
"Yes-! I am a warrior-! How can I call myself a knight when I have lost the lord I was meant to serve-!"
Whoosh-.
Beatrice pulled her sword back once more. Sensing the coming storm of blades, the monsters instinctively recoiled.
"But...! Even if I was born with the nature of a ferocious warrior...! Can I not at least wish for it!"
"What is it that you wish for! Say it! How am I supposed to know if you don't tell me!"
"A knight-! I want to be a knight-! I crave battle, but I want a fight with etiquette and honor-! As a knight, I want to serve a lord of my own-! And pledge my loyalty as my lord's blade-!"
K-boom-!
Dark black aura and bright radiance crashed down upon the earth. Beatrice swung her sword from top to bottom. In a single strike, dozens of lives faded away.
The monsters, who had long since lost their will to fight, dared not oppose her. A thrilling euphoria surged in Beatrice's heart, but she was not happy.
This was a vain emotion; a barbaric pleasure that only a warrior could feel, knowing she could never be a knight.
"Then I'll make you a knight! Beatrice!"
"Nonsense! I am the knight who killed her lord!! How can someone who lost their qualification be a knight again!! You know nothing of who I am-!!"
Beatrice roared. Oscar's persuasion was certainly sweet, but the noose of conscience still tightened around her neck.
"I do not wish for such a tragedy-! I don't want to see my lord die again, or be the ignorant fool who beheads her own lord-! Who would dare to be my lord after all I've done-!"
"You want a lord? Then I'll be yours! Follow me!"
"Stop this nonsense-!"
She wished that back then, her father had simply cut her down.
Even in death, would she have been able to proudly introduce herself as a knight in the afterlife?
"I dreamed of being a knight, so I wanted to serve a lord, but in the end, I struck my lord down-!"
Raising the sword above her head, Beatrice swung it in a wide arc. The combined demonic power and holy power ruthlessly bisected the massive monsters.
"I dreamed of being a knight, so I wanted to follow the Lord and angels, but in the end, I followed a devil-!"
Beatrice drove her sword into the ground. A moment later, the earth shook violently, and hundreds of streaks of black aura erupted, killing the monsters instantly. Every monster gathered in the area had just been extinguished.
"I dreamed of being a knight, so I hoped to go to heaven! But in the end, my destination was the Demon Beast Forest-!!"
As soon as the Greatsword absorbed the blood of hundreds, it began to return slowly to its scabbard.
Then, the tip pointed toward the one small demon who had survived until the end on this battlefield of slaughter.
"Could someone like you... really be my lord...?"
The sword seemed to weep sorrowfully.
It was quite surreal to see the one who had just created a sea of blood shedding tears herself.
Having her self-esteem as a knight hit rock bottom, Beatrice could not stop her tears.
What fool would take her as a knight knowing she had slain her lord? She believed she could never be a knight again, even if she died and was reborn.
However, defying all expectations, the small demon draped in pristine white from head to toe.
Looking directly at the shadow of the sword's tip pointed at him, he spread his arms wide.
To the despondent warrior, wearing a shadowless mask, he shouted brightly.
"I will!"
"...."
"I will embrace you!"
"...!"
"Beatrice Constantino! You, the knight who killed her lord! I, Oscar, will embrace you!"