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At that moment, everyone in the room gasped and swallowed a gulp.
Anya stared at the black ring on Juan’s hand for a while and then looked at Juan with a suspicious look on her face.
“There’s something written on the ring. What does it say?” Anya asked.
“To a true knight,” Juan answered.
The black ring was the ring that Iolin had handed over to Juan earlier. The ring symbolized the lake and it contained the power of Umbra inside it. Due to this, the ring was filled with not only Ras and Nigrato’s powers, but also Iolin’s power.
“I’m giving this to you due to your courage. This ring will replace your mana heart. Go on and take it.”
Anya hesitated for a second, but soon held out her hand to accept the ring while blushing.
When she held out her hand toward Juan but didn’t take the ring from him, Juan looked at her, wondering what she was trying to do.
When he finally realized that she was asking him to put it on her finger with his own hands, Juan brought the ring close to her finger.
The moment Juan tried to put the ring into her index finger, Anya quickly folded her index finger and pushed her ring finger toward the ring.
“I guess I have no choice now that I even got a ring,” Anya said triumphantly.
Upon looking at people around him in shock, Juan belatedly realized that his intentions had been mistaken.
Juan placed his hand on his forehead and then opened his mouth.
“There’s no time for jokes, Anya. I’m serious. Now do me a favor and…”
“Head to the South. Got it.”
Anya willingly agreed. Then she added with a smile on her face.
“I’ll make sure to bring a nice wedding gift on my way back.”
“I didn’t give you that ring with such an intention. I don’t need a gift either. Just come back safely, will you?”
Juan clarified his intentions, but Anya didn’t seem to care at all.
“I’ll kill as many as I can to send them as gifts to Dilmond and Duke Henna. Then I can bring all of them back to life to give them to Your Majesty as a gift. I’m frugal, you know.”
“Yes. That should be a good enough gift.”
***
“To be honest with you, I don’t know how to kill a god,” Anya murmured with a devastated look on her face.
Learo had already been turned into a mess by the time she arrived. The Cainheryar that had appeared in Learo was the one belonging to Morguld—also known as the god of war. He was the god of all warriors, as well as the ruler of all weapons.
Morguld had conquered Learo in a chariot that smelled like gunpowder while wielding an oiled whip. Meanwhile, the ironclad knights summoned by Morguld quickly began to turn Learo into a fortress—that was until Anya arrived.
“So I have no choice but to cut him into small pieces like this for now. I’m only asking because I’m not entirely sure yet, but can you be said to be dead right now, by any chance?
Anya cut Morguld into tiny pieces in less than an hour after her arrival at Learo. His fragments were scattered here and there all over the city, and Anya was running around chasing after his face after arranging the other body fragments in order.
“...Captain Anya? What are you doing? Why are you talking to yourself over there?” One of the knights from the Order of Huginn who was watching the scene asked with a fed-up look on his face.
“Oh, this is Morguld’s ear. I was in the middle of asking his opinion.”
Anya answered the knight and then ran toward Morguld’s dismembered chin. After putting her ear close to Morguld’s chin, Anya shook her head with a disappointed look on her face.
“I’ve asked several times, but he’s not giving me any answer. Hmm, I thought that he would still have some strength left to give an answer, since I had heard that gods don’t really die easily. Oh, Perhaps he lacks the intelligence to give an answer?”
“Or he could already be dead. I mean, you cut him into so many small pieces like this…”
“There’s no way that he’s already dead. He holds the mighty title of the god of war, after all. Come to think of it, he’s not worthy of that title at all. His Majesty is actually much more suitable for the title of god of war and god of death.”
Anya calmly made remarks that Juan would have been irritated by if he heard them in person. Then she raised her hand with a smile, looking at the ring that Juan had given her.
“It is quite unfortunate for the citizens of Learo, but I’m glad to have a lot of gifts to bring back to His Majesty. In fact, I think the Army of the Undead might be a better gift for him than living citizens.”
Anya climbed up on the back of the bone crow as she vigorously bent her shoulders.
“But let’s speed up and deal with everything as soon as possible, since His Majesty seems to prefer living citizens unlike me! Our mission is to sweep through the Cainheryars before anyone else and be the first to return to His Majesty before he burns them all!”
***
Haild, who was listening to the conversation quietly, opened his mouth. His face was full of frustrations and concerns.
“Wait, Your Majesty. Then what are we going to do about Dismas? Please don’t tell me that you’re going to go alone. That’s just…”
“There’s no way that’s happening. Dad, Dismas is much more dangerous than we had thought. And there is no guarantee that the Cainheryars we have detected so far are all that he has. I know how powerful you are, but you cannot face more than two gods at the same time on your own. Besides, we haven’t even figured out the identity of the strong beam of light that caused Entalucia to fall down on the Loen Basin,” Nienna interrupted Haild to Nag at Juan.
“I understand. But don’t worry. I’m not going alone—Sina and Pavan will be coming with me.”
Pavan bowed his head in silence upon hearing Juan’s words.
Ever since Hela’s death, Pavan hadn’t been very vocal and often showed strong murderous intent. Juan couldn’t tell what Pavan was thinking, but his murderous intent was exactly what was needed at the moment.
“I’ll join you, Your Majesty.”
At that moment, someone else opened the door and walked in.
It was Captain Lenly Loen of the Imperial Guards. The Saintess Ivy Isildin also followed him with hesitation.
Seeing them, Juan pointed toward the two and spoke, “See? Even the Captain of the Imperial Guards will join me to protect me.”
“I’ve never seen the Captain of the Imperial Guards properly play his role before. The previous Captain failed to protect Your Majesty and led to your death, and the current Captain allowed the enemies to take away Your Majesty’s body. Am I wrong? Besides, he still looks blind.”
Lenly’s face stiffened upon hearing Nienna’s cold voice.
Then Juan stopped Nienna. “Nienna, don’t be rude. They tried their best and I won’t blame them for the inevitable events. Lenly’s wounds have recovered considerably. He did become somewhat color blind, but he can still fight just fine.”
“...Fine. I apologize, Captain of the Imperial Guards. But is the Saintess who is standing behind him seriously joining you as well? She doesn’t look like she’ll be of much help. Do you even know how to ride a horse?”
Ivy blushed out of embarrassment when Nienna pointed her out. However, she took a step forward and opened her mouth, determined.
“The Pope is obsessed with me, and Dismas won’t disregard someone that the Pope is obsessing over. I have my worth as bait. Wouldn’t that be enough of a reason for me to go as well?”
“Hah.”
Nienna laughed out loud. She hadn’t expected Ivy to stand up for herself.
It was known from many reports that the Pope was obsessed with Ivy, and Nienna nodded, since she figured that Ivy would serve as a good means to expose the enemy’s weakness if she was to join them as they headed to the West.
“...This lady is more determined than I had thought. Hey, Captain of the Imperial Guards. Did you approve of this?” Nienna asked.
“...I objected, but I will respect the Saintess’ decision,” Lenly answered in a worried voice.
For some reason, all the people in the room thought that Lenly was only participating in the expedition to the West because he was afraid that the Saintess would die.
Then, Haild opened his mouth as if he could not understand something.
“But we can’t use a vulnerable woman as bait to…”
“Haild, do not look down on her courage. She is willing to fight as hard as she can,” Nienna cut off Haild’s words.
Haild closed his mouth, while Ivy nodded with her trembling, yet determined eyes.
“The Pope has already killed me once,” Ivy said.
Lenly opened his eyes wide and looked at Ivy. No one had ever heard of such a story before.
“Then he brought me back to life right after. I saw my own brain fluids, blood, as well as pieces of my broken skull. I am aware that revenge is not a good thing, but I want him to experience what I went through as well.”
“You want him to see what color his own brain is?” Nienna chuckled.
Ivy smiled awkwardly upon hearing Nienna’s unexpected joke and nodded.
“That would be nice. I actually think that’s what I want.”
“I like this lady. It would have been nice if I had a chance to get close with her.”
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Juan stood up from his seat as he figured that they had come to a conclusion.
“It’s an unexpected combination, but it’s the best we’ve got. We are lacking in everything right now, so we can’t move as leisurely as we did when we attacked Torra. Above all, what we lack the most right now is my mercy.”
Juan continued to speak in a calm manner.
“Our tactic for the war against the West is simple. Burn everything before it burns us first. That’s the end of our plan.”
***
A sudden vibration began to shake the spire of the Arkul gate.
Dismas briefly came to a stop on his way to head down the stairs, then he climbed up the spire once again.
At the same time, Imil looked toward the East with a puzzled expression—a cloud of dust could be seen rising from the East.
Imil gritted his teeth and shouted.
“It’s the Capital Army!”
The Capital’s Imperial Army was fiercely running toward the Arkul gate with the intention of splitting it in half—it looked as if they were going to resolve their resentment. Imil figured that they must be the knights of the Order of the Capital, as well as the elite among the elites of the Cavalry, considering their speed.
“They are moving much faster than we had expected. They got so close in just one day… but that is…?”
Imil couldn’t help but be perplexed as he watched the scene. Although the Imperial Cavalry was strong, they wouldn’t stand a chance in a confrontation against such a fortress—unless the horses could climb over the wall.
Imil looked back at Dismas in a hurry.
“What are they planning to do? Does the Cavalry have enough strength to split the wall in half just like the knight orders led by Templars? Wait… it can’t be that the Bishops of the Capital have granted them a Grace, can it?”
“No, that’s not possible. Granting a Grace is controlled by the Pope now. Bishops are only capable of giving Blessings. Blessings are limited to reinforcing someone’s physical abilities, and that alone would not allow them to gain enough strength to break through the wall… Wait… Break through the wall?”
Dismas turned his eyes to the top of the wall. Giant slaves were rushing to prepare for defending upon finding the Cavalry.
At that moment, Dismas found a bright spark in a hill near the Arkul Gate. It was something that he had mistaken for a fire beacon.
Dismas suddenly felt a chill running down his spine.
“Everyone!”
Dismas’ loud roar rang throughout the entire Arkul Gate.
Imil plugged his ears and staggered before collapsing to the ground.
“Get off the wall!”
Dismas’ extremely loud voice reached not only the entire wall, but also the eardrums of the Capital Army’s Cavalry. Of course, it also reached Pavan’s ear, since he was charging at the very forefront of the cavalry.
Pavan grinned as he revealed his teeth.
“It’s already too late, you son of a bitch.”
A sudden whip of flame split the walls of the Arkul gate in half.
***
Juan took a deep breath and raised his arm. His arm that was holding Sutra felt a pleasant amount of muscular pain.
The place Juan was standing at was the top of a small mountain overlooking the Arkul gate. Juan had climbed up the mountain much earlier and arrived way before the Capital Army’s Cavalry. After waiting for the Cavalry to arrive, Juan swung Sutra at just the right time.
In just a single blow, the Arkul gate lost its function as a fortress. Meanwhile, dozens of Giant slaves rapidly turned into ashes and fell off the wall.
The wall collapsed as it was cut diagonally, but Juan had no intention of stopping after only one blow.
“All right… One more time.”
Juan lifted Sutra high into the sky. Sutra, which was glowing red due to the heat, began to burn even more fiercely and violently as it absorbed Juan’s mana as much as it could. The red flames around it soon turned blue and then began to burn and melt everything around it.
When Juan thought that enough force had been condensed within the Sutra, he swung the burning sword once again. Another disastrous wave of fire split the Arkul gate. This time, the gate completely collapsed and was fully exposed.
The Giants and soldiers that were still alive hurriedly descended from the wall to prepare for the battle inside the gate, but now they had to face the Order of the Capital’s spears and swords.
In the meantime, there was one tall spire that did not collapse even amidst all this.
Juan kept his eyes on this spire. An invisible and intangible energy was pushing Juan’s power away from around the spire, almost as if it was a belatedly used defensive magic.
But all this didn’t matter to Juan, since he had no intention of wielding Sutra anymore.
Juan let out a long breath.
Sutra was an unsuitable weapon for a large-scale battle like this. Although it wasn’t very efficient, it helped Juan to achieve the desired effect. Swinging Sutra one more time could completely destroy the Arkul gate for good, but Juan decided to save his strength.
After all, he was yet to face his true enemy.
“Dismas.”