“Was that you, Cedric, you son of a bitch…?”
[That’s right. Exactly what you’re thinking.]
Yuri reacted with fury.
“Don’t touch Maryrose!”
[Hmm?]
Cedric replied in a surprised tone.
[Maryrose, you say?]
“If I’m talking about my woman, it can only be Maryrose, right?”
Yuri raised Guilty.
“If you so much as lay a hand on her, I won’t forgive you!”
And he tried to cut down the knight Cedric was controlling.
However, another Imperial soldier at the side stepped in, taking the blow instead.
[My, you almost fooled me.]
“Fooled you? With what?”
[No matter how important Yekaterina is to you, don’t you think playing with the Archmage’s feelings goes against the knight’s code, Yuri?]
“No… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Yuri had mentioned Maryrose to try to hide Yekaterina’s existence.
Though unlikely, if Cedric took the bait, it might shift his target.
Maryrose he could protect, since she was with him serving in the Anti-Imperial Alliance.
Of course, Cedric wasn’t so naïve.
[No need to hide it.]
“What… what do you mean?”
[Tsk, tsk… how disappointing, Yuri. If the Archmage knew, how disappointed do you think she’d be?]
“You talking about disappointment… that’s ridiculous.”
Yuri had no intention of continuing the conversation. He raised Guilty and swung immediately.
The knight possessed by Cedric backed away, provoking Yuri with words to rile him up.
But Yuri let them pass without reaction.
[Yuri, wasn’t what you just did now the act of trash?]
“Yeah, I’m trash.”
[You’ve grown bold. If the Archmage knew…]
“Then she shouldn’t have loved someone like me from the start.”
[My, my…]
“Of course, the real piece of trash is you, bastard.”
[No, I’m not trash, I’m a trash cleaner. The whole world is trash.]
“Everyone but you is trash?”
[I’ll exclude you, Yuri.]
“And who are you to decide that?”
As they spoke, Yuri was observing the knight Cedric was controlling.
That knight was connected to Cedric through black magic.
Through him, Yuri could deduce what kind of power Cedric had gained and how he was able to manipulate someone’s body from such a distance.
Yuri’s eyes, entering the mental domain, examined the opponent.
The knight was like a puppet, with an invisible tentacle that seemed to extend from high in the sky, connected to the crown of his head.
When he looked up, the dark sky showed nothing.
Only that invisible thread descended from above to control him.
This meant only one thing: Cedric’s power already extended across the land without anyone being aware of it.
Cedric had gained a power close to that of a god. Yuri fully understood it upon seeing that scene.
[Don’t like what you see?]
Cedric spoke mockingly, while the knight’s body moved like a paper doll.
There was no point in investigating further.
Yuri asked,
“Did you touch Yekaterina?”
[When did you two get so close? Winning the heart of the most beautiful woman on the continent—you really are my brother.]
“Shall we drop the word games?”
[Weren’t you the one who started it? What was that about Maryrose?]
Yuri fell silent. Cedric laughed again.
[I sent troops. Not just Yekaterina, all of Briol will burn. You could go back and save them… but you won’t, will you?]
Yuri considered.
He hadn’t received any reports of such a large Imperial military movement.
No matter how powerful Cedric was, he couldn’t split his forces and still successfully face the Anti-Imperial Alliance.
Or at least, that’s what he wanted to believe.
“Why do something like this?” Yuri asked.
“You said you’d remake the world—if I fall, Briol will also submit to you. So why destroy it? Not even for old times’ sake?”
[I’ll answer from your second question. Affection is a major source of human inefficiency. I don’t need it. And the reason I want to destroy Briol is…]
Cedric smiled.
[I simply want to destroy the people precious to you.]
“You talk about efficiency, and you think that twisted feeling is efficient?”
[For me, yes.]
“Always lenient with yourself.”
[That’s the difference between a monkey and a human. For a monkey, this kind of amusement is too much, but for a human, it’s necessary.]
“Die.”
Cold sword energy rose sharply over Guilty.
Yuri appeared calm, but inside, his concern for Yekaterina and Briol was agitating him.
That anger carried into his Cut of the soul and the heart, and the sword energy rushed toward Cedric like a hungry wolf.
[I wanted to talk a little longer.]
Cedric raised the knight’s hand and released black magic.
The foul energy, dense and viscous like polluted water, spread out and wrapped around Yuri’s sword energy like a spiderweb.
Yuri clenched his teeth and increased the power of his Cut of the soul and the heart.
Guilty vibrated, releasing a fierce sword energy. The black magic surrounding it began to crack.
“Disappear!”
With a roar, the chaos force from his core disintegrated the black magic.
The foul energy hardened as if frozen and shattered instantly, breaking into dust that scattered in the air.
Yuri lunged and pierced the knight’s body. He spewed blood from his eyes, nose, and mouth before collapsing.
His lips moved, as if Cedric wanted to say something.
“I can’t hear you.”
Yuri cut the air.
The invisible tentacle connecting the knight to Cedric was severed. Focus returned faintly to the opponent’s eyes.
But that was all.
Without stopping, Yuri also cut his neck. The head flew into the air before dropping to the ground.
He kicked the kneeling body, knocking it fully over, and drove his sword into the heart again.
The body controlled by Cedric died completely.
Yuri looked up.
The tentacle that had been connected to the knight, now cut at the tip, swayed in the air and then curled back toward the sky.
Up, up, endlessly ascending.
What he had to face was the existence crouching beyond that.
Thinking of that vast power was overwhelming, but Yuri shook his head. He mustn’t think too much.
Not about Yekaterina, not about Briol—not for now.
He had to kill Cedric.
With that single thought stored in his heart, he had to advance silently.
Otherwise, he would never make it.
“Was that Cedric?”
Laurent, covered in blood, approached. Yuri nodded.
“What did you talk about with him?”
Yuri opened his mouth, then closed it.
“Nothing important.”
“It must have been something serious.”
“I’m telling you, it was nothing.”
“If it really were nothing, you wouldn’t be holding back your words.”
“Stop asking so much.”
Yuri reached out and ruffled Laurent’s hair. But Laurent didn’t give in.
“If you’re trying to brush it off like that, it means you’re feeling uneasy, right?”
“No.”
“I know you’re trying to make me mad to change the subject.”
“I’m not.”
When Yuri messed up his hair completely, Laurent kicked him in the thigh.
“That hurts.”
“Is Briol in danger?”
“No…”
“Right now, that’s the only thing that could make you hesitate.”
Laurent fixed his hair and said,
“Yuri Briol. Don’t worry.”
“Laurent…”
Yuri looked at him, moved. Since Laurent had gone astray, he rarely said anything so warm.
Laurent continued,
“In any case, there’s nothing you can do. So don’t waste your energy and focus on the battle. Got it?”
“That’s what you mean?”
“Either way, if we lose this battle, we all die. So, are you going to go back to Briol now? No, right? Then stop worrying.”
“Alright…”
Yuri forced himself not to think about Yekaterina.
Although he had brought most of the troops with him, he hadn’t left the place completely defenseless. The royal guards, including Saned, and a few knights to maintain order, were still there.
It was time to trust them.
Yuri looked up and assessed the battlefield. The Anti-Imperial Alliance had the upper hand.
He wasn’t the only one who had thrown himself fully into this war. Moyongchan, Francesco, Jose, Inariel, and others from the Ten Greats, along with countless talents of similar level, were fighting, risking their lives.
Their army was not so weak as to lose against the troops Cedric had thrown out as bait.
In a sense, it was strange.
There had never been a time with so many experts. The Ten Greats had reached even higher levels than before, and the standard of knights had also risen dramatically.
“They say the era calls for heroes…”
Yuri smiled.
He had thought the world would be swallowed completely by darkness, but here and there, unexpected flashes of light appeared. Sometimes they were overshadowed by the darkness, but the light never disappeared.
All his allies, who fought alongside him, were that light. The courage Cedric had oppressed was now alive again inside him.
With Guilty in hand, Yuri swept through the frontlines. The Imperial army could not put up a proper defense.
With the resolve to lay them to rest, he mercilessly ended all lives in his path.
Thus ended the first battle in this Demon Land.
The corpses covered the ground.
The mages began to incinerate them all.
“Your Highness.”
While he was watching the scene, he suddenly heard Maryrose’s voice behind him.
Contrary to her usual habit of wearing luxurious dresses, she wore combat attire and a cloak.
Maryrose was taking this war seriously too.
Out of respect for her resolve, Yuri nodded with a serious and formal expression.
“What is it, Maryrose?”
“I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“I heard Your Highness called me your woman. Is that true?”
“What?!”
Yuri instinctively leaned back and averted his gaze.
“What are you talking about?”
“That’s what I’m asking. What is it about?”
“In any case, letting a rumor like that spread is my mistake. I apologize.”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
“No, the fact that I allowed such a rumor to spread at all is…”
“No, it was my mistake for falling in love with a trash man like Your Highness.”
Yuri swallowed hard and choked, coughing.
Maryrose, arms crossed, squinted at him.
“So it’s true?”
“Wh-who…?”
“One of the Imperial soldiers, as if possessed, relayed your conversation.”
“That damn Cedric…!”
“To treat someone’s feelings like a game, when they love you…”
Maryrose was no longer hiding her feelings. Yuri felt even more uncomfortable.
“No, Maryrose, I…”
“You misspoke, didn’t you?”
“Huh?”
“If you want me to forgive you, come with me to burn the corpses.”
Maryrose took Yuri’s arm. He tried to pull away, but her next words made it impossible to refuse.
“You never know when you’ll die. At least grant me this wish.”
Maryrose tilted her head and gave a faint smile.
Yuri sighed.
“Just for a moment.”
“Yes. Burning corpses doesn’t take that long.”
Holding Yuri’s arm with one hand, Maryrose hurled fireballs at the bodies with the other.
Although they were together, no one paid them much attention. Compared to what was coming, it was all trivial.
Yuri looked up at the sky.
“That’s the direction of Briol. Are you worried?”
“Yes.”
“Worry about us instead.”
“Of course…”
***
Briol border, Saidor.
Recently, orc attacks had begun increasing again, so the soldiers of Saidor kept watch over the distant horizon.
Suddenly, a cloud of dust rose.
“Orcs?”
One of the soldiers raised the spyglass.
Through the lens, what he saw were not orcs, but people.
An unknown army was approaching Briol.
From the walls of Saidor came the sound of a horn.
____
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