Chapter 114

Boom! Thud! Claaaaang!!

"Attack! Attack!! Forget everything else, just attack!!"

"For Carpe!!"

"Kill every one of those sloppy bastards holding a skewer!!"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhh!!"

Claaang! Crash!!

"Ugh...!"

Allen, blown away by the imperial spearman, found himself embedded into one of the castle pillars, struggling to get up.

'He's strong.'

His opponent was a spear-bearing knight who looked like one of the captains, but then man was stronger and more skilled than expected.

"Eh!! Bruns!?"

As he was about to extract himself from the pile of fallen corpses, Allen came face to face with Bruns, who was among the bodies strewn around the pillar.

To think he'd already lost his life in the midst of this cruel war!!

Creak! Allen tightened his grip on his sword.

"Vengeance shall be mine."

But just as he gripped his sword tight -

Somebody whispered.

"I'm not dead."

It was Bruns, stealthily opening one eye just a slit.

"!!"

The speaking 'corpse' startled Allen so much that he almost forgot the enemy.

"You're alive?"

"Yep. No talk, please."

"What the..."

At first he was happy and relieved, but then Allen got a little angry.

Come to think of it, Bruns' face was splattered with blood, but there were no visible wounds anywhere.

The man was up to his cheap usual tricks, it seemed.

"Where're you looking?!"

Clang!

Allen barely dodged the spear's tip, then stepped inside the enemy's range, thrusting his sword forward.

Blood left the enemy's face in a rush.

It was too late for escape.

But then a small light burst out from the spear's blade, exuding divine power.

"My eye...!"

The bright light obscured Allen's vision, and while he was blinded, he felt the enemy's spear cutting through the wind and approaching him.

"Die, cripple!!"

Allen, who felt like he had no choice but to cry, closed his eyes, and his composure returned.

Was he to die here?

'I can't.'

He'd already lost one of his eyes.

Now the other side was also blinded, but there was no need to be so shaken.

'Don't panic. Don't get ruffled! Remember how you almost died that time, Allen!!'

When he'd lost his eye in the North.

Many colleagues had rushed in to save him, and as a result had departed from this world, never to return.

Just to protect him.

Allen, who'd struggled with the pain of losing an eye, and had to watch with his remaining eye as his colleagues died.

That day had never left his mind's eye.

Calm down!

Telling himself that, Allen tried to feel his approaching death.

'Is that it?'

His death? No, it was the wind.

The wind caressed his cheeks, his hands.

It played along the complete contour of body.

Allen twisted his body hard to the left, as if someone had been leading him by hand.

Whoooosh-!!

A cut opened along his ribs.

His face twisted in pain, but he'd managed to avoid it.

"H-, how!"

Allen didn't miss his moment.

He clutched the spear passing by his side, and pulled it in with an iron grip.

"You -!!"

But his enemy wasn't standing still either. Exerting his own power to resist, he raised a leg to kick Allen off.

"Raaah! Die!!"

"What...!"

Bruns, who'd been pretending to be a corpse, had jumped up without anybody noticing and put a dagger into the spearman's side.

Snikt!!

"Ow! Damn it!"

Allen, who felt the opponent's movement from the vibrations of the spear, swung his sword.

Slaaaaash!

"Ugh! M-, my arm!!"

Allen thrust his sword once more.

Snikt!

The sensation of slicing flesh and breaking bone travelled to his fingertips.

"Ugh... kh."

Thud.

As the knight crumpled, Bruns rushed in once more and gave him a few more stabs, leaving no possibility of survival, and then sighed in relief.

"Huff, huff..."

"You alright there, Allen? Don't worry, this guy's dead as a doornail!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I would've been the one to die here if not for you, Bruns. Thanks."

Allen wiped the tears from his working eye and opened it.

His vision gradually returned.

He saw Bruns' outstretched hand and grabbed it.

This was no time to sit and laze around.

"Where's Boss at?"

Bruns asked as he pulled him up to his feet, but Allen could only shake his head.

"I don't know either. He said he was looking for the queen, so he probably went to the audience room."

"Then there's nothing to worry about..."

That was then.

All the troops inside the castle, who were in the midst of battle, stopped moving for an instant.

Before the frozen Allen could do anything, Bruns dragged him to the side.

And immediately -

- Grrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.

Craaaaaaaackkkkkk!!

A four-legged monster roared as it smashed through the gates.

"Th-, that's the Bright Lunatic! The Bright Lunatic is here! Aaaaaah!"

It jumped on all fours, haphazardly swinging its sword around like some animal, and tore apart everything that fell in its sight.

Everyone was terrified, so it quickly made its way to the top of the castle, cutting down anything that bothered it.

Crack! Craaaash! Booom!

The Bright Lunatic of Carpe disappeared in an instant.

Leaving hundreds of corpses on both sides in his wake.

"That's no human..."

"What the heck was that? Running on all fours, and even looked like it had a tail..."

"Who knows..."

However, the place it'd run to was nowhere else but the royal audience chamber.

Where Callius was.

"I don't know if Master Callius will be all right."

"We can't worry about him right now. We have to take care of ourselves first."

The war wasn't over yet.

Besides -

"Boss is strong, you know?"

Whiiiish, creak.

The Ghost Spear retracted his weapon and sighed. Annoyance was replacing anticipation on his face.

"Hey, Victor. Fight me properly, will you? Your queen's as good as dead already."

"That'll never happen."

The Ghost Spear scratched the back of his head.

It was an expression of frustration.

"We'll kill the queen and turn her corpse into a spear as a symbol. Of course, the same goes for the prince. The destruction of Carpe, the queen, and the Bright Lunatic - it's all inevitable."

"..."

"You know that too, don't you?"

"I am the Guardian Sword of this kingdom. I can never stray from my path."

"What path? I'm telling you to fight me properly. You boring bastard."

The Ghost Spear rested his weapon on his shoulder and glanced to the side.

Towards the queen in the distance.

"The archbishop's almost done."

"Carpe is not weak."

Wasn't that Jervain's maniac?

Victor felt relieved as a swordsman suddenly broke in.

His purpose was to protect the queen.

It'd be enough if he just blocked the imperial Master in front of him.

However, the beasts of the empire were thorough in their work.

"Yeah, but a handsome son of your Carpe is coming to kill you all."

"...!"

"Didn't the archbishop give that sword to the prince in the first place? He'd already rampaged once, committing a massacre, from what I've heard. If you take your time like this, you'll all die miserably."

So -

Fight properly.

Craaaaaaackkkk-!!

"!!"

It was an enormous blow.

Part of the sanctuary was cruelly torn apart.

Even the Guardian Sword, Victor, frowned at the destructive power behind that slash.

"Woohoo~ He attacks like a madman. Is that Carpe's famous Light Dragon Sword? That knight protecting the queen is dead meat."

The Ghost Spear's mouth twitched at the corners as he theatrically placed a hand on his own forehead.

However, his brows soon frowned.

"What? He avoided it?"

The knight guarding the queen was still alive.

He'd clearly been caught off guard by the sudden attack, but his aura was still clear and his limbs still intact.

Even though that last, bestial, slash should've been difficult to avoid for even a Master.

He'd avoided that?

'That's annoying. The archbishop ended up dead instead.'

He couldn't taunt Victor this way.

The Ghost Spear was wondering if he should go help the Light Dragon.

"A flag?"

The queen's knight suddenly pulled out a tall flag from somewhere.

It boasted an extraordinary density of divine power.

The flag, bearing the symbol of Valtherus, was then affixed to the floor.

Crunch!

At the same time -

"This power...!"

"Sanctuary...!"

Suddenly, the energy of a sanctuary spread.

Whoooooooosh-!!

With the queen's knight at the centre, sand and dust spread out like a storm.

And when they could see again -

Thooom-!

"Kgh!"

"Hmm!"

Such pressure bore down on the area that it was impossible to move one's body freely.

When the Mad Prince broke in, Callius acted quickly.

"Ugh...!"

He immediately thrust the sword into the kneeling archbishop's neck, who had no strength to resist.

『Kingdom Quest』

[Imperial Spies]

◆ Save the kingdom from ruin by killing the spies of the empire.

◆ Number of spies killed: 18/18

<Reward>「Monarch's Flag」

[You have obtained the Monarch's Flag.]

As the quest was completed, a flagpole materialized in his empty hand.

Clutching it tight, Callius infused it with divine power, and affixed it to the floor.

Crunch!

The situation was now truly, extremely urgent.

The prince was a beast bereft of all rationality.

It was no different from getting attacked by an actual dragon.

"Shit."

Was it because he'd avoided the initial strike?

The Bright Lunatic was completely focused on Callius as the enemy. He was swinging his sword like he didn't plan to stop until Callius was six feet under.

The black sword he held in one hand was narrower than a handspan, but it was quite long.

Shaped like a claymore, there were shapes resembling a dragon's scales on the blade, and the sword seemed to burn with an invisible fire.

A long time ago -

The Light Dragon, Balamuth, had attacked Carpe.

This sword was made from its carcass.

The Light Dragon Sword - Balamuth.

"Brother!!"

The queen was about to come closer.

Callius stretched out his hand to stop her.

"This is my brother! If it's me, I can stop him. Even if he's like this, if he hears my voice...!"

"That won't work now."

The one who killed the Light Dragon -

Would become the Light Dragon.

The prince who'd forgotten such precedents, became the Light Dragon in his greed for power.

However, he didn't forget his sister's voice, and his lust for blood receded when he heard her.

'But not like this.'

The madness of the Light Dragon was now overflowing with true demonic energy.

He was in some kind of a runaway state.

The queen's voice wouldn't reach him.

Even if the archbishop died, the queen was also destined to die at the hand of her brother.

So Callius had no choice.

"His Highness Chloe is being eroded by demonic energy. His draconic madness is in a rampaging state."

"Then...!"

"Maybe the Guardian Sword or another Master will come."

There was currently no way out.

The Guardian Sword was busy dealing with the Ghost Spear, and the rest of the kingdom's Masters should all be busy with their own battles against the Spears of the Empire.

"Huff...."

The Light Dragon was equal to a Master in power.

It wasn't at a level that Callius dared deal with.

The imperial invasion had originally been scheduled for a few years later, but unfortunately the world was moving far too quickly.

In the original game, the sword pilgrim route had a higher-than-average difficulty.

For a simple reason.

Because the sword was the most popular weapon.

Somebody from the empire or the principality, instead of Carpe, wouldn't have faced this much hardship. But what was there to be done about it?

The past couldn't be changed, now could it?

Crunch.

With the Monarch's Flag on the ground, Callius immediately drew his sword.

The Tyrant Sword - Karaktu.

It was a pity, but to deal with the Light Dragon, he had to pay this price.

Thud-!

Quickly, the sword began to pulsate like it was a thing alive.

Sand and dust quickly rose with him at the centre, like a wave of ripples, along with each beat.

Whoooooosh-!!

A storm raged.

Callius' eyes were dyed silver, and his hairs felt like they were rising up one by one.

"Kneel down, in my sanctuary."

Thooooooooooooom-!!

Craaaaaaaaaaaackkkk!!

In an instant, it was as if light had dimmed, and a powerful gravitational field began to press down on the entire area.

"Kgh!"

It wasn't merely shocking.

A sanctuary unfolded using the Monarch's Flag.

Along with the power of the Tyrant Sword - Karaktu.

A sanctuary of gravity, that truly suited the sword - for its name could also mean 'Downfall'.

Callius walked slowly while holding the Downfall Sword.

With an infinitely light gait.

However, that only applied to him.

Within the sanctuary he'd unfolded -

All shall kneel.

Even if one was close to being a Master, it wouldn't make much difference.

'There isn't much time left, is there?'

The scabbard had already cracked.

Through the Monarch's Flag, he was forcibly raising the rank of the spirit sword.

The sword being destroyed was inevitable.

So, before that happened -

'I have to end it.'

Callius took the sacred stones and the reverse scale out of his arms.

Two sacred stones.

And one reverse scale.

And along with that, he also took out the demon core in his possession.

Crumpt!

As he applied pressure, the sacred stones and the demon core shattered, mixing together with the hard material of the reverse scale, and finally all that was left was a little ball.

Swallowing it without hesitation, Callius raised his sword.

"Be crushed."

Thooooooom!

Boom!!

The Light Dragon was driven to its knees.