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A special unit had been created to persuade the First Prince, composed of only four members. Following Icarus’s suggestion, three good men and one good woman were chosen for this mission.
“With me, Cazes, and Sir Cain over here, we’re going to have no problem until we get to the outskirts of the palace…” Ranger glanced over his shoulder. “…Lady Charles, are you sure you are going to be alright…?”
“Sir Ranger, what are the goals of our current plan?” Charles suddenly asked.
“…Pardon?”
“Weren’t they infiltrating the Kiser Palace and persuading His Highness the First Prince?” Charles continued, raising one of her brows as if she thought Ranger was underestimating her ability.
“Ranger,” Cazes quickly interrupted, “I know you’re worried, but this plan doesn’t work at all without Lady Charles.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to kidnap His Highness?”
“…What?” Cazes gaped at him. He had definitely not expected Ranger to make such a suggestion.
“Think about it. Do you really think that you and I will be able to do something when at least three of the superior battalion captains show up? Well, I can take four of the lower-ranking ones at maximum…”
“Fighting isn’t the answer right now. Considering the final goal of this mission, we have to avoid fighting, especially against the Imperial Knights.”
“I’m just talking about the worst-case scenario,” Ranger grumbled.
“I’m saying that your scenario is wrong. If we’re talking about the captains, it would take five of them to fight us equally, and six to defeat us for sure,” Cazes said.
Ranger’s jaw dropped to the ground. “Are you serious?”
“You said you can deal with up to two of them, didn’t you?”
“You mean…?”
“I can also deal with up to three captains.”
Ranger was beginning to wonder if his colleague had gone mad since he and Cazes were very familiar with Imperial Knights’ abilities. Nevertheless, Cazes was saying such things…
“Cazes, I get that you became a Class A knight, but you really don’t think you’re at the level of our captain—no, His Highness Joshua?” Ranger asked.
Cazes shook his head. “Of course not.”
“Then how can you say that you can take on three captains?!”
“I’m sorry, but I reached that conclusion after considering everything.”
“You’re crazy…!” slipped unwittingly from Ranger’s mouth. After a moment, Ranger forced himself to say, “Then what are you going to do about him?”
“Him?” Cazes repeated.
“The leader of one thousand Imperial Knights. The shield of the Avalon Empire, Knight-Commander Rod!” Ranger shouted.
Cazes was on the same page as Ranger this time, so he instantly became quiet.
“See? This is why I worry—”
“This is why we have a reliable backup.”
“Wh-what…?”
“One of the great Twelve Superhumans of this continent. The first knight of the great Hero King. The Black Lion Cain is with us, and I think he can take on the Knight-Commander…”
The sudden praise made Cain gradually hold his head higher. The squabbling they had been doing until a moment ago, made Cain even more proud.
“Ahem, it’s a bit embarrassing to keep listening to you. I had no idea that you think that highly of me, Sir Cazes,” Cain said, forcing himself to not smile.
“It’s the truth,” Cazes easily replied. “If you weren’t good, I wouldn’t have felt any sense of competition against you in the first place.”
“Competition… Yup, I understand. An expert recognizes another expert, right?”
“I’m the one who is embarrassed now.” Cazes waved his hands. “ I did talk all tough in front of the other people, but I can’t call myself a master in front of you, Sir Cain.”
“Hahaha! I’m serious. You’re my master’s first Imperial Knight, Sir Cazes.”
“Why don’t we talk casually now?” Cazes offered. “I heard that our ages are similar.”
“Shall we? Go ahead. I heard you’re a few years older than me, Sir Cazes.”
“No, how can I? Once I get fired from the Imperial Knights, I’ll join the great Golden Spirit Knights.”
“You’ll have to become the co-commander once you join us.” Cain chuckled.
“Then shall we start talking casually at the same time?”
“Sure.”
The two men’s smiles deepened as they looked at each other.
Charles shook her head in disbelief. “I really can’t understand men. Just a moment ago, they were at each other’s throat…”
“…I agree, Lady Charles.”
“And Sir Ranger?”
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“Yes, Lady Charles?”
“Don’t worry any further. Even if your worst-case scenario comes true, he won’t kill the woman he loves, will he?” Charles lightly remarked.
After pondering for a moment, Ranger nodded. “Mmm… you’re right, but you’ve gotten quite used to using the word ‘love’, Lady Charles.”
Charles’s face reddened.“I-I-It’s the truth. B-b-besides, I haven’t been staying idle.”
Charles pulled out an adorable, cane-like little branch from her inner pocket.
“That’s…?”
“The origin of all existence, one of the four elements of nature, entrusted with the power of heat,” Charles muttered quietly.
Ranger’s eyes widened. A fist-sized fireball had appeared.
“Ma-magic?”
“Lady Charles, how can you use magic…?”
Cain and Cazes stared at Charles in surprise.
“You know, I’m a Class 2 mage,” Charles said.
“Oh my god…”
“I know I’m not as good as Iceline, but aren’t I quite reliable now?” Charles asked. She extinguished the fireball with a smile. “Once we pass the outskirts, at least half of our plan has succeeded. As you already know, most of the guards in the palace have been dispatched to the outskirts and the main palace, so I’m hoping you can get us past there. When we get to Kiser’s palace, I’ll take care of everything else,” Charles said.
She took off, leaving the three men to gape blankly at her back like horses behind the cart.
“The head of a duchy, the owner of a famous merchant group, and a mage…”
“…I’m certain that my master was a hero that saved the continent in his past life.” Cain shook his head and followed Charles.
The operation had commenced.
* * *
Within the Avalon Empire, no one was more supreme than the Emperor, even if they were from another country. Unless an emperor of another empire visited the Avalon Empire, no one dared to meet the Emperor’s eyes.
Before he had died, the man had been at his peak, and he still wanted to stay that way even after his death. Marcus ben Britten, the emperor of Avalon, was perishing at the hands of none other than Joshua Sanders, the hero of the very same empire.
“…Hehehe.” Marcus laughed self-deprecatingly as he stopped writhing. “A tiger’s cub is still a tiger, huh? Joshua Sanders… Indeed, I too was not capable enough to fight you.”
“Why did you do that? Your forbidden seal must have been undone already.”
Just like Joshua had said, Marcus’s soul was free from all restrictions—they had been obliterated by a stronger force. The problem was, that had made Marcus become a mortal again.
“I’m certain that you aren’t the type of man who would sell your soul without realizing,” Joshua said.
“I’m truly touched to know that you thought so highly of me.”
Joshua only turned his head to look at Marcus.
Marcus noticed and chuckled. “…I think I told you that my reason was to get revenge.”
“Was that why you did it?” Joshua asked.
“What?”
“I could feel your hesitation in your last attack, so if I may dare assume, you must have concluded that I’d be enough to defeat your enemy,” Joshua said, looking at Marcus with sparkling eyes. Marcus didn’t reply, but Joshua continued, “In addition, you thought that it wouldn’t be bad to borrow power from a demon if you can shape the defeat of a father by his own son—am I wrong?”
“…Hehehehe.” Marcus finally broke his silence by chuckling again.“Well, Joshua, will you be able to understand me?”
“Understand you?”
“Even when my father was the emperor—no, my entire life—I’ve devoted myself to surpassing one man in the area where he was the most confident. My father may have manipulated Aden’s mother into his hands, but I wanted to surpass Aden with my own talent. I was ashamed when I found out the truth. He was nothing…”
“…Emperor.”
“But I barely reached his level in the end. I even sold my soul, but I got defeated by his son, not him.”
Marcus’s voice was the only noise in the chamber as the storm of demonic power circled around Joshua and Marcus.
“Perhaps… you’ll never be able to understand me. Since you were born the best… Joshua.” His voice gradually faded. “Without a goal… life is really boring, and that is where the loneliness of the powerful comes… from.”
Marcus collapsed into dust and disappeared. After making a contract with a demon, the only end that he could reach was annihilation.
The council chamber suddenly fell silent. Maybe that was the signal because even before Joshua could sort out his feelings, Jabel yelled, “Kill him!”
All of Heimdall’s apostles followed Jabel except Marco.
“You monster!”
“Go to hell, Joshua Sanders!”
“Let’s die together!”
The apostles flew at Joshua wielding a menagerie of weapons, risking their lives to take his. Nevertheless, Joshua didn’t budge.
After his battle with Marcus, the chamber’s thick ceiling was gone, and the demonic power that destroyed all creation had turned everything inside the chamber into nothing. The only thing that existed in this place was the moonlight shining down through the opened ceiling and Joshua, standing in its center.
“…Emperor, you led a truly tragic life, but…”
Joshua quietly picked up his spear, his eyes never leaving Marcus’s resting place.
Over forty apostles came pouring in to attack Joshua. At the center of the onslaught, Joshua’s spear began its dance, leaving red afterimages one after another; it resembled the red moonlight that could only be seen in the Demon Realm.
Magic Spear Arts Level 6, Meteor Spear. The shooting stars crushed every living being. Joshua’s marvelous dance came to an end after about ten seconds. When his artistic dance finally stopped…
“What…? That doesn’t… make… sense…!”
No other living beings existed inside the council chamber anymore. All of the apostles went still after their foreheads were pierced. One by one, the corpses collapsed to the floor.
Joshua turned his back to them. “…I understand how you feel,” he quietly said.
The Emperor’s rival was talented.
‘It is understandable since the Emperor himself was also already a Master at the time…’ Joshua thought.
“Jabel,” someone new said.
“…Ah! I’m sorry…” Jabel trailed off.
“What is holding you back?”
Jabel flinched and then slowly turned around. The first thing he saw was a snow-white mask that didn’t reveal any part of the wearer’s face.
“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”
“N-no, sir.” Jabel shook his head.
“Don’t forget that I was the one who pulled you out of the pit.”
Jabel’s eyes widened in surprise but he quickly regained his composure. No matter what he thought might happen in the future, it didn’t change the fact that the person in front of him was his savior.
After being framed for raping the lady of the house where he had been working, Jabel had become a fugitive. It was Heimdall who had taken Jabel under his wing. Therefore, so much as thinking about betraying Heimdall…
“…Hup!” Jabel's thoughts were cut off when two extraordinary energies numbed all his senses.
Heimdal stepped forward first. “Open it.”
“Ye-yes, sir!” Jabel immediately opened the gate.
“Oh, shit…!” he swore. The door he opened was like a gate to hell—the shockwave of power struck Jabel and sent him rolling quite far across the floor until he finally crashed into the wall at the other end of the long hallway.
“…Ack!”
Jabel managed to pry his eyes open. He peered through the rising clouds of dust, past the scattered apostles’ bodies, beyond Heimdall, the only figure still standing, and looked inside the wide spaces of the Imperial council chamber.
“Imposs… ible…!”
Through his eyes, ears, and other body parts, he could see reality.
A person dropped down on the floor just now. The one looking absently in Jabel’s direction…
“Joshua Sanders…!” Jabel muttered.
…was the first human to defeat someone who had made a contract with the Demon Spirit.