Chapter 10
Chapter 10
The End of a Knight
Clang!
Holding the shield that Radices had once raised for someone else, I now stood before him.
Radices—who had forgotten who he once wanted to protect, rooted in this land and unable to move—let out a broken scream as he swung his sword.
“Graaahhh!!! …Grrrghh!!!”
Clang! Thud!
I pierced his unstable blade, deflected it, and struck back.
Swish. Clang—!
I blocked, cut, and parried in return.
We crossed blades and shield countless times.
The earlier overwhelming force that had shattered even my greatshield was gone.
Whether he had exhausted himself… or whether the sight of his own forgotten shield had awakened something buried within him… Radices’ greatsword had lost its edge.
Every time his blade struck my shield, the vibration carried something like grief.
“Grrr—ahhh!!!”
His sword came again with writhing roots.
But this time, it was too easy.
It slid harmlessly off my shield.
This was a technique I had already seen inside his memories.
The attack of a knight who once carried a core—something like a nail driven into his chest—when he still protected his Saintess.
Warm. Steady.
Now… hollow. Lonely.
His eyes were still somewhere else.
His blade wavered and stabbed into empty ground.
Drip.
Blood gathered on the blade and fell along the thorns, staining the earth.
His gaze drifted away from me, sinking with his sword.
In that instant—
I struck.
His right arm came off in one clean motion.
Crunch… slice.
Bone, armor, and twisted wood all separated.
Thud.
His arm dropped to the ground, still clutching the hilt of his sword.
Even then, the fingers refused to let go.
“…Now what are you going to do?”
I raised my shield cautiously as Radices slowly approached on his broken frame.
Then—
Thud.
He rammed his head into my shield.
“…What are you doing…”
Thud. Thud.
Again and again.
Pathetic.
Broken.
It didn’t resemble the man who had once pierced Gideon’s defense in an instant.
Just a meaningless repetition of motion.
A common stray lost in the dark.
Something inside Radices was collapsing.
Thud.
“…I’m sorry…”
Thud.
“…I couldn’t protect you…”
Stop.
Just stop, Radices.
Your memories kept tearing through my mind.
If this continued, I might forget who I was.
Before that could happen, I sheathed my blade.
Then I picked up Radices’ greatsword from the ground.
A shield in one hand, his sword in the other.
And Radices himself—still smashing his head into my shield.
From afar, no one would be able to tell who was who.
I pointed his sword at him.
He looked at me with empty eyes.
Then he stepped back and exposed the hollow where his “core” had once been.
I drove the blade in.
Thorned edges pierced his flesh.
Thick blood seeped out.
I saw his memory again.
A fallen Saintess resting on his lap.
A knight crying as the light faded.
The darkness speaking to him.
What did he want?
What did he wish for?
Radices had wanted to protect.
Even if it meant killing everything else.
And because I saw that—
I saw myself in him.
One day… Adela and I might end up the same.
Lost in the dark.
That kind of ending.
I didn’t want it.
I pulled the sword free.
Radices collapsed.
The roots covering the ruin dissolved into black dust.
Silence.
“Ruvel Luvel has defeated the Named entity, ‘Radices the Rooted’—!! Combat concluded—!!”
From afar, Lete’s voice rang out.
Soon the construction would begin.
The headache I had been ignoring returned all at once.
Too many memories that weren’t mine.
Everything blurred.
“Are you alright!!”
“Move them quickly!!”
The engineers rushed in, treating Gideon and Siena.
They were still alive. Barely.
On the ground where Radices had once been rooted, a body remained.
A Saintess, wrapped in vines.
The one from his memories.
So he never let go.
So he stayed.
Footsteps approached.
Adela ran toward me.
I didn’t let you get hurt this time.
You understand that, right?
My vision tilted.
“…Ruvel!! Hey!! Stay with me!!”
Warm.
Adela’s arms.
Every fight ended like this.
Was this even real memory anymore?
Or something I would always come back to?
I didn’t want to leave this warmth.
I woke up hours later.
No threats during sleep.
Radices had apparently killed anything that approached even after death.
The Fourth Frontline Outpost was already being established.
Soon we would return.
Gideon and Siena were still unconscious.
We would be the only ones returning.
“Ruvel.”
Adela’s voice.
“Yeah?”
“Let’s walk a bit before we go back.”
“…Huh?”
Inside the grand archive hall, sunlight passed through the lattice windows.
Dustless bookshelves gleamed under sacred light.
A chandelier bearing the statue of a Saintess illuminated the ceiling.
At a desk overflowing with documents, someone sat.
Knock knock.
“Chief Archivist. Second Recorder Laverin reporting.”
“…Come in.”
An old voice granted permission.
“I report on the Fourth Frontline Outpost expedition results.”
“Skip the details. Only the important parts.”
“Yes. Five engineers confirmed dead…”
“Stop. That part is important too, but continue.”
Laverin lowered her head and continued.
“The Named entity, Radices the Rooted, has been eliminated.”
“Oh? Who did it?”
“Second Knight Ruvel Luvel.”
The old man leaned back.
“…Interesting.”
He took the report.
“Send this directly.”
He paused.
“…No. Keep it here.”
The candlelight flickered as he sealed the document.
Addressed to the Central Conclave.
The highest governing body of the Holy Capital.