Ethan battered his sword against Dilmondâs shield, once more.
The moment Dilmondâs shield tilted to the side, Ethan saw the opportunity to land a firm kick onto his stomach.
Though Dilmond was wearing thick and heavy armor, the power of the kick briefly lifted him into the air.
Blood spewed out of Dilmondâs mouth, but not enough to make him go down. It felt as if few abs were broken.
âDonât force yourself. Why donât you lie down and take a rest. You old crow.â
âKid, my toes are sharper than your sword.â
âWell, look around. It seems like I donât need to use my sword.â
Ethan dangled his sword in his hand and surveyed his surroundings. While the Paladins were fewer in numbers, they were outmatching the Hugin knights one sidedly.
Every Hugin knight was trained and selected rigorously, but most of their founding knights except Dilmond had died a long time ago.
The Hugin knights expression were full of tiredness and with each passing second, the number of knights lying on the ground was increasing. Meanwhile, the Paladins stayed the same.
Ethan looked for Dilmondâs throat and swung his sword. But his sword was met with a black giant sword.
A rusted and toothless giant sword. It was even stained in blood. The undead knights crowded around Ethan and drove him back. Ethan backed off before showing a disgruntled face.
An axe suddenly flew across at him. Ethan just managed to dodge it but it still hit the end of his helmet.
Ethan couldnât help but clutch at his ringing head before backing off. Instead of going at Ethan, the undead knights regrouped with Dilmond back into formation. Ethan couldnât help but feel annoyed.
âTheyâre knights more so than monsters. Weâre keeping them under control.â
They were worthy of the respect they got as âsunbaesâ. A lot of the credit was on Lars for keeping them under control so well.
The Hugin knights were only able to hold their ground because of their undead knights.
With their frightening strength, the undead knights could not only hurt the Paladins, but also slow down their healing speed by contaminating them with their corrupted power.
It wasnât enough to stop them from getting healed, but they could slow down their recovery process.
But still, it wasnât a favourable fight by all means. Two had already fallen to Ethanâs sword.
As long as Bishop Rietoâs blessing continued to rain down on them, victory was assured for the White crow knights. Once again, Ethan rejuvenated his knights.
âRaise your swords knights! The emperorâŚâŚâ
Then, an ear deafening sound swept through Hiveden.
*****
Ethan couldnât help but feel a bit of strength leave his legs at the sound that made everyoneâs intestines squirm.
Rather, Ethan was doing well in comparison to the other Paladins whoâd tumbled onto the ground.
Ethan received a shock that left his head blank.
Every Paladinâs eyes were shaking at hearing the voice.
âI say this under my name, Juan Kalberk Kenosis!â
Without question, the deep majesty voice that filled Hiveden belonged to their master.
For Ethan, it was difficult to even still hold on to his sword.
âEmperor?â
No one spoke out, but the thought had appeared in the minds of every Paladin.
The Hugin knights were also panicking. However, they werenât so agitated like the Paladins but were whispering to themselves.
Dilmond was staring towards the west, where the voice had come from. Even the undead knights had stopped moving.
There were Paladins that had started to pray after falling to their knees. Before Ethan realised, he was also citing a prayer of his own.
âMy emperor, give us your orders. We will follow whatever you command. Even to death.â
Ethan desperately waited for an answer. However, no voice followed.
It was the emperorâs voice. A voice that heâd never heard since his birth, nor expected or hoped to have heard till his death.
Ethan felt as if an oasis had magically disappeared no sooner than he was able to glimpse it.
The wait was making him crazy.
Then, he heard a scream. One of the Hugin knights had stabbed a Paladin that was citing a prayer through the neck.
The Paladin gagged out blood as he shook and fell.
Everyone looked at the incident that had broken the sudden silence with disgust, but Ethan had his mind thinking about something more important.
âThe regeneration blessingâŚâŚstopped?â
Ethan was left confused. The blessing theyâd been receiving had disappeared after the emperorâs voice had been heard.
Ethan didn;t know what this meant. There was one possibility that he didnât even want to imagine, but he tried to not think about it.
Ethan gritted his teeth.
âKnights!â
He shouted loudly as he raised his sword. He put some strength into his trembling legs.
The fighting had stopped due to the shock that everyone received, but he couldnât let it go on.
âLift your swords! The emperor has called out to us personally, giving us his blessing!â
The Paladins flustered and looked at Ethan with questioning eyes. The emperor had said nothing after voicing out initially.
There was no one that was immediately moving after Ethanâs shout. Ethan bit his lip.
Dilmond realised he was losing a good opportunity and hurriedly ordered the fight to again continue. The Paladins half heartedly defended themselves from their attacks.
Ethan bursted out in anger.
âGet your ass back up and raise your swords! Citing prayers in front of our enemies. This is not what we should be doing as Paladins! Pray through swords, give offerings through the enemyâs blood! We can still listen to the emperorâs voice while we fight!â
At Ethanâs howling, many Paladins started to actively clench their weapons again. However, compared to before, they were now one step behind.
Ethan was worried. The regeneration blessing had stopped and it was difficult to continue the fight with their morale dropping. Maybe something had happened to Bishop Rieto.
He needed something drastic to turn things around.
âLars Raude!â
Ethan growled as he ran at the nearest undead knight.
The undead knight tried lifting his sword to block the attack, but a flame arose on the tip of Ethanâs fingers. The fiery flame spread itself onto Ethanâs sword, before he released it down onto the undead knightâs sword.
The sword shattered like ice. Ethan drove his sword through, splitting the undead knight in half.
The undead knight roared in pain before breaking into pieces.
Ethan didnât stop. He attacked the next undead knight with his fiery sword.
The undead knights flustered before Ethanâs sword and went on the defensive but to no avail.
Ethan brought out his remaining strength and cleaved two more undead knights in half. The fire spread onto their remains and their bodies ignited and crumbled.
âFlame of the emperorâŚâŚâ
Dilmond muttered a moan. Flame of the emperor was especially effective against the undead like knights of death. However, it exhausted the user that much more and it was difficult to control.
Having slain three undead knights with the flame of the emperor, sweat dripped down Ethanâs forehead.
He had been saving it for Lars, but if this was what it took to make him join the fighting he was satisfied.
There was no one in the White crow knightâs history that had eliminated undead knights so swiftly.
But the price that he was paying was big.
Ethan noticed the burn on his hand and how the sword had molded onto it.
âGood. This way I wonât be dropping my sword anytime soon.â
Ethan viewed it in a positive light. He felt a great amount of strength cycling through his body.
The heat of the flame was painful but the excitement boiling in him subjugated any other feelings he had.
A Paladinâs equipment was powerful, but another use it had was that it helped keep them balanced.
Their swords became more accurate, and so did their shields. THe Paladins coined this term âthe emperorâs guidanceâ. As if someone was guiding their hands for them.
On top of that, Ethanâs equipment had been blessed with far grander âgraceâ than an average Paladinâs equipment.
âThe emperor is with me.â
He lifted his sword up high and shouted once more.
âLars Raude! Reveal yourself! Or else, Iâll kill every single last of your skeletons! I hope a commander of a knight order isnât going to cowardly stay hidden behind his skeleton knights!â
âYou dare!â
Realising Ethanâs intentions, Dilmond swung his hammer. Ethan lightly stepped back away from it, then proceeded to cut Dilmondâs shoulder and back.
Dilmond could only groan and fall back. He didnât break into pieces as he wasnât an undead, but heâd just received a fatal wound.
Ethanâs heart beated without stopping. He felt like a candle, using his lifeforce to burn more fiercely.
The heat of the flame made him faster, more stronger. But Ethan could feel his lifeforce slowly being eaten away.
âIf this would be the light that brightens the darkness in this world, then I would gladly give up my life. My emperor, you have given up on us so weâll gladly burn to death!â
Ethan shouted once more.
âLars, Raude! Hugin knightâs commander! Show yourself!â
With madness in his eyes, Ethan looked around. His attention focused on Anya, positioned far in the back.
Anya calmly drew her stiletto and summoned more undead.
Due to the vacuum of her knights, she couldnât summon any undead knights but a vast number of undead rose from the ground.
âAre you trying to insult me with these!â
With his fiery sword, Ethan sliced through like a hot knife through butter. THe emperorâs flame disintegrated the undead that had been summoned. They didnât even buy her a moment.
Ethanâs sword was flying towards Anyaâs throat. Anya didnât move. And the moment she gave in on hope.
Darkness rose from below.
Ethan was sent flying back from the immense power.
On top of the darkness, a white skull could be seen. Then, pieces of bone flew from here and there, forming a giant shape of a man.
Seeing a two metre giant skeleton forming, it felt hard to accept that it felt like a man. In its hand made from bones, a white sword was clenched tightly.
It was different from an undead knight or a Lich.
Ethan could tell from one look.
His previous commanders had thrown their lives, and died against this being. This being was the reason for the White crow orderâs establishment and the source of their shackles.
A delighted Ethan cried out.
âLars Raude!â
[That is the cause of your death.]
Larsâs sword swiftly swung through and cut out Ethanâs neck.
*****
The moment darkness swept over him, everyone thought they watched Ethanâs head being removed from his body.
However, Ethan had already fallen back, out of harmâs way.
Everyone was surprised to see Ethan move more quicker than the speed in how darkness enveloped him. Only Lars seemed unsurprised.
âThe emperorâs flameâŚâŚ.thatâs a problem.â
By now, the emperorâs flame was covering beyond Ethanâs hands. All the way up his arms.
The more parts of his body the flame enveloped, Ethanâs equipment would become more heated and more powerful.
It appeared Ethan was ready to fully embrace the flame to all parts of his body.
He didnât seem to mind that it was cutting away at his life.
âFool.â
Left alone, Ethan would eventually die, but the damage heâd do to the Hugin knights would be insurmountable. Lars had no choice but to intervene.
âSeems like you canât swing any faster than that.â
Ethan provoked Lars as he rushed towards him. Lars dodged the fiery sword. Being an undead, there was nothing good about going into contact with that flame.
âIf I use magic, this would be easyâŚâŚ.but.â
Right now, he was tightly balancing the amount of power he was using. Lars was using most of his mana on suppressing his inner self from imploding out of control.
But even so, Ethanâs skills were excellent.
Ignoring the fact that Larsâs main attribute was in being a skilled magician, Lars considered Ethanâs swordsmanship on par with himself, in his prime.
Ethanâs sword scraped through darkness, whizzing just past Lars.
Once coming into contact with the flame, the darkness turned into dust before scattering. But thatâs as close as he got.
By now, the flames enveloping over Ethan had spread and was now covering the right side of his face.
Ethanâs anger hit the sky as his long awaited duel with Lars was largely being avoided by him.
âYou bastard! At least use your sword!â
[Donât know why I should. Youâre going to die regardless of what I do.]
âAnd you call yourself a commander of a knight orderâŚâŚâŚ..â
Ethanâs words were ignored. His opponent was the Hugin knightâs commander. Famous for strangling opponents to death, helplessly.
If the opportunity was there and if the method would likely work, he didnât care about showing honor. For Ethan, it still wasnât too late for him to stop the emperorâs flame from killing him, but by doing so heâd be giving up on winning against Lars.
Lars of course didnât want a skilled knight like Ethan to die in this fashion. Even if he was an enemy.
However, he didnât want to make them worried. Dilmond and Anya who were sending concerned gazes, and Juan whoâd told him to stay put. He was going to do this the safest way possible.
Ethan realised he wouldnât be able to attack Lars through his defense. He didnât have long left. The result may have been different if he was in a perfect state before fighting Lars, but heâd used too much of his strength beforehand. Ethan muttered in despair.
âMy lord, forgive me.â
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