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Knights poured into the street leading to the Reinhardt colosseum from all directions. It seemed they’d noticed that something was up. This was the situation Kingaitu had been worried about: the knights who had been guarding the border and the castle gates were coming here.
“Stop them! Hold them off with your lives!”
The clamor of clashing metal filled the air. Unlike the usual days, the street was empty—except for hundreds of Hubalt knights blocking the street.
“We’ll depart immediately!” Kingaitu shouted. “Seriously wounded to the back! Groups one and two in the front! This is our front yard! You shouldn’t feel nervous like you do on a foreign battlefield!”
“Now they’re just invaders!” a Hubalt knight yelled; it seemed he was the leader of the Hubalt knights.
“Slay everyone who stands in our way!” Kingaitu ordered.
“Kill everyone who dares to attack us!” the Hubalt knights’ leader roared.
Kingaitu turned and locked eyes with his opponent and his eyes turned cold.
“He’s…”
In contrast to Kingaitu, the Hubalt knights’ leader was standing at the rear of his troops. Kingaitu knew his name. He was Chase, a man with whom Kingaitu had a sickeningly long and bad history.
Kingaitu truly hated that kind of commander who only knew how to yell “March!”, instead of telling their subordinates to “Follow me!” They were trash that considered their subordinates dispensable tools and prioritized their own safety. How many of Kingaitu’s colleagues had suffered indescribably horrible humiliation because of Chase?
Kingaitu came to a decision.
“…Atoba.”
“Pardon?” Atoba asked.
“Take charge for a moment.”
“What are you—?”
Atoba couldn’t finish asking the question because Kingaitu darted straight toward the rearmost part of the enemy formation.
“Oh, no!”
“Arggghh! My arm!”
Kingaitu punched right through at least three hundred knights and didn’t even stop to breathe. Just like he had ordered the rest of the Wilhelm Knights, he killed every enemy in his way. Hearing the horrible sound of human flesh being shredded, Atoba clenched his fists. He knew sympathy wasn’t going to do any good now. On top of that, Kingaitu was slaying the people who had been enslaving the Willhelm Knights, so Atoba had no reason to hesitate.
“Let’s help our commander!” Atoba roared, mana amplifying his voice.
“Woaaahhhh!!!”
The Wilhelm Knights began to fight harder, ready to put an end to the fight.
* * *
After about thirty minutes, Kingaitu was panting hard.
“Huff, huff, huff…”
Chase was kneeling before Kingaitu with his chest cut wide open, deep enough to reveal his red muscle to the air.
“…Why did you do it?” Kingaitu quietly asked once he’d caught his breath.
“Cough! Hehehe…” Chase chuckled. “This is pathetic. I got humiliated by you classless pieces of trash.”
“Answer me.”
“What do you mean?” Chase asked.
“Since the man in charge has changed, I understand how you people from Hubalt started the war in spite of the fact that you were all crying out for peace. However, no country, no matter how heinous their war crimes, has ever mistreated civilians like this.”
He was talking about what had happened in the colosseum. Hubalt citizens had tossed the helpless elderly, children, and women into cages of beasts, purely for their own pleasure.
“I was wondering what the hell you were talking about. Hehehe…” Chase coughed up blood, but it didn’t stop him from chuckling slyly. “Did anyone make a law about that?”
“…What?” Kingaitu frowned.
“Did someone, somewhere make a law that says we shouldn’t harm civilians?” Chase repeated.
Kingaitu and the other Wilhelm Knights stared at him disbelievingly.
“What the fu…”
“Hey! That’s a given! That’s an unwritten law of war between countries! ”
“Your Pope repeatedly emphasized that! There are lines people should not cross!”
Chase shook his head. “Let’s stop talking about that dead old man.”
“…What?!”
What was he talking about? The Pope was dead?
“Are you shocked? Hehehe, my master… the Martial Emperor did it. Isn’t he cruel? The Pope… was his father. That is life, and this is reality. Another little example… a son asks his parents to die, so why is it wrong to take away what strangers have?” Chase asked, amused.
“You… are truly beyond redemption, scum.”
“So you can’t say anything… Even if you get backstabbed after crying out for peace, the one who got backstabbed is an idiot. Since you’ve all been through that yourselves… you know understand this, don’t you?” Chase smirked at the knights.
“You son of a bitch—!” A Willhelm Knight became so angry that he drew his sword.
“Stop,” Kingaitu ordered.
“But commander!” the Wilhelm Knight angrily shouted.
Chase brazenly pressed on, despite the death glares the Wilhelm Knights were giving him.
“If you feel like it’s unfair, then you should become stronger. The Neutral City… Cough. Reinhardt? You vermin… are proud of that title, but you’re all really pathetic. In reality, you just tiptoe around other countries and get dragged around by them because you are weak… but you all console yourselves, claiming that you’re the protectors of peace.”
“Shut up!”
“Hehehe… you and the Pope are ultimately the same. You go through the same process and reach the same end.”
Although he was a citizen of the Hubalt Empire, Chased showed zero respect for the Pope.
“Don’t get cocky. Joshua Sanders, your so-called king, will be crushed by the Martial Emperor soon enough—”
“It’s not going to happen.” Kingaitu finally interrupted. “He’s going to win, even if the rest of Nine Stars came to attack him together.”
“…Hehehe, you’re really arrogant, just like your commander.”
Chase’s voice weakened with each word. His chest wound was slowly sapping his life away.
“I’ll see how your absurd dream shatters from hell…”
“Farewell.” Kingaitu took hold of his sword without hesitation.
The unsettling sound of human flesh being cut echoed down the silent street. Chase trembled violently for a moment, and then his head fell.
“…We’ll leave a skeleton crew of knights here and head straight to the colosseum,” Kingaitu instructed.
“We’re…?” Atoba trailed off.
“We’ll aid His Majesty.” Kingaitu stood up, looking away from Chase’s corpse.
That was when Kingaitu noticed the piles of corpses in the street. Of course, most of the corpses belonged to Hubalt’s knights.
“Many of our men are quite injured too,” Atoba anxiously said. “It might be better to do first aid on the wounded before we depart…”
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
“Even as we speak, His Majesty is fighting for us. Are you just going to receive his help again?” Kingaitu interrupted.
Atoba shut his mouth immediately. It wasn’t just him—Kingaitu’s last remark had erased every bit of nervousness from the Wilhelm Knights.
Someone else suddenly joined their conversation.
“No need,” the new voice said, breaking the silence in the street. “he would have sorted out the situation by now.”
Kingaitu went on high alert.
“Who are you?” Kingaitu asked.
He and the other Wilhelm Knights turned to look. They hadn’t felt any other presence beside themselves since they’d annihilated their enemies. However, they couldn’t identify this new voice.
Kingaitu’s breath caught in his throat when he laid eyes on the shadow of a person standing in the far corner of the street.
‘This person is strong, more powerful than me at least …!’
Kingaitu’s eyes slowly widened as the figure slowly ambled forward.
“You’re…!”
He had met their new guest before.
* * *
Joshua stood in the center of the colosseum and silently looked down at the Martial Emperor, Zactor. The continent called Zactor the Second Sky, but now he was lying on the ground. The inside of the colosseum was so quiet that they could hear a pin drop.
The remaining Hubalt knights were utterly confused—they had no idea as to what they should do next. However, helping hands showed up: a woman and a man.
“Are you not sure what to do now?” Lilith, the woman, asked.
The knights’ heads snapped to the colosseum entrance, but Joshua remained quiet and calm as if he already knew Lilith was there.
“I’m genuinely surprised that you even defeated the Martial Emperor…” Lilith trailed off.
“You were in Reinhardt?” Joshua asked.
“I arrived here a lot earlier than you,” she replied.
“Why?”
“I had someone I had to meet.”
Joshua tilted his head, silently asking her who it was.
“Do you want to know?” Lilith smiled, revealing her white teeth. “It’s you. I knew you were going to come here—”
“Let’s save chitchatting for later,” Joshua coldly responded.
Lilith pouted.
“Even if you’re not curious, they’ll come here soon enough. Anyhow, you’re also wondering where you should go next?” Lilith’s lips stretched in a deep smile. “I’ll give you the answer: go back to Avalon, your country.
“You have unfinished business,” Lilith continued without waiting for Joshua’s answer. “Like succession to the throne, your family… Don’t worry. The Swallow Empire’s citizens will take care of their problems themselves. Since most of the soldiers were forced to follow Grand Duke Lucifer. Besides, we also have the right person to clean up the aftermath.
“And, of course, you have fewer reasons to worry about Hubalt since I’m here,” she confidently declared. “It might be possible now to end the war just like everyone—”
“Why do you think I want this war to end?” Joshua interrupted.
“…Pardon?” Lilith blankly asked.
“I defeated the two strongest men from the two empires that claimed to hold hegemony over the continent. Even the most unambitious man would start to have some dreams at this point,” Joshua said.
“Wh-what are you…” Lilith, the Silver-eyed Ghost Sword, couldn’t hide how shocked she was right now; she hadn’t expected Joshua’s response at all.
Joshua took a step forward, making Lilith flinch.
“Don’t even think about it, Joshua.” Christian, the man standing beside Lilith, quickly stood between Joshua and Lilith.
However, Joshua kept advancing.
“Yo-you…” Lilith stuttered nervously. She felt like she’d been hit in the back of her head with a hammer. Yes, Joshua had the ability and a justifiable cause, so why wouldn’t he have such a dream?
Joshua came to a halt five steps away from Lilith.
“Unifying the continent…” she blankly mumbled.
“Cut it out, now.”
Lilith and Christian’s eyes widened as a ball of flame streaked past their eyes out of nowhere.