Chapter 189 : Sacrifice (5)
Sacrifice (5)
A leisurely afternoon at Sunshine Castle.
Ian, Yuria, Sophia, and Veronica were gathered in the garden, sharing refreshments.
"Lady Veronica!"
The head butler appeared, unusually flustered.
"Butler chief. What's going on?"
"There's an urgent message from the main gate post. A bloodied man has come seeking an audience with you, my lady. He claims to be Vance, a knight of the Empire."
"...... Vance?"
Veronica's eyes trembled.
Vance was the closest confidant and guard knight of the Empire's third imperial princess, Aurelia.
Why would he leave the Empire and come here...?
If he were to come, it would be with the third princess, not alone.
And to arrive covered in blood?
A sense of wrongness and foreboding swept over her at once.
"Bring him in immediately."
Veronica set down her tea and hurried out of the garden.
Ian, Yuria, and Sophia sensed the tension and followed in Veronica's wake.
Soon—inside a guest chamber just beyond the castle gate.
"Ugh, uuugh......."
There, sir Vance was undergoing emergency treatment, looking absolutely dreadful.
His armor was shattered, his body stained with fresh blood.
As soon as he spotted Veronica, he pushed away the healers and cried out in desperation.
"My lady! Ah, urk......! My lady......! Please, the third imperial princess! Please, save the princess...! Uuugh!"
"V-Vance!"
Veronica rushed to Vance's side.
"Sir Vance! What on earth happened! Where is Aurelia? You're always together!"
"Uuugh... I apologize, my lady...! I was too weak—I failed to protect Her Highness...!"
"Where is Aurelia!"
"Her Highness... She stayed behind, fighting to open a path for civilians and our fleeing soldiers... She became isolated, surrounded by enemy forces......."
"Wh-what!?"
"A disaster has befallen the Empire's southeast... my lady..."
"Explain...! I don't understand any of this—tell me properly, please!"
"It's... uuugh!"
As Vance's muddled explanation trailed off, Veronica's eyes shook as if rocked by an earthquake.
"The Empire's southeast... has been devastated?"
The unyielding domain guarded by the stubborn Marquis Deloa?
How did this happen?
"Why are you telling me only now! You should have reported much earlier—before it became like this!"
"I have no excuse...! It was Her Highness's will."
Vance bowed his head in remorse.
"She was adamant, since Lady Veronica's injuries hadn't yet fully healed, that you must not be involved in this matter under any circumstances. All information was strictly controlled, because she knew you would risk yourself to come help again..."
"Haa!?"
Veronica scowled and pressed her hand against her forehead.
"She's always the one who does reckless things alone... How foolish! And? Reinforcements! If you alone couldn't manage, you should have asked for reinforcements from somewhere else!"
"I did...! From the Mirnoi family..."
"Haa!?"
Veronica's expression twisted even more.
"Of all things...!"
"And all were annihilated."
"......!"
Vance's whole body trembled with convulsions.
"Even the Dragonblood Family Lord fell. On the battlefield, not a finger of resistance could be raised...! I saw with my own eyes his corpse impaled on an inverted cross, hoisted up like an insect instead of a banner..."
"... Insane."
Kalian Mirnoi, head of the Dragonblood Family, was one of the top five superhumans on the continent.
Arrogant as he was, there was no one who could match his martial power.
He died? On the battlefield? Who in the world were the enemies?
"An unknown force is now advancing north at an unstoppable speed...! I disobeyed Her Highness's order...! I came here on my own! Ah, ahhh! Please, lady Veronica! Please, save Her Highness!"
"Sir Vance..."
Veronica bit down hard on her lower lip.
So hard that blood began to seep out.
The third imperial princess had always been the one to rush to Veronica's aid whenever she was in danger.
And yet, now that she herself faced death, she'd blocked even a word from reaching Veronica for fear she'd get hurt.
"I will make preparations to leave immediately."
"Big Sis!?"
Yuria, who had been listening, grabbed onto Veronica in alarm.
"Are you out of your mind!? Your body isn't even half recovered! If you head to the battlefield now and use your aura, you might never be able to wield a sword again!"
"I know."
Veronica shook Yuria's hand off.
"But this is something I have to do."
Veronica looked as if she had already made up her mind.
She turned to Ian.
"Sir Ian. You've helped me a lot. I hope to see you again."
A short farewell.
She was just about to leave the guest room.
"Wait."
Ian stopped Veronica.
"Sir Ian? I'm sorry, but even you right now—"
"No, it's necessary."
Ian held Veronica back and approached Vance.
"Sir Vance. You say the enemy is unknown, but were there any defining features? Their appearance... or maybe special magic power?"
The Dragonblood Family Lord is a powerhouse among the continent's strongest.
The only ones who could overpower such a person on the battlefield would be the Heavenly Sword Lord or the Holy Kingdom's Holy Emperor at best.
Unless, of course, the Grand Duke of the demon realm had been summoned.
So Ian needed to confirm.
"Ah, auugh! Yes, there was! Very clearly!"
Vance trembled as he spoke, eyes shut tight.
"Golden skin clad in snowy white armor... Just as big as barbarians, but their movements were stiff, like statues, and they were eerily unnatural..."
"......!"
A deep furrow formed between Ian's brows.
He felt as if his heart was turning to ice.
Golden skin. Pure white armor. The marching order of gigantic, statue-like figures.
'The Legion of Pride.'
It was a perfect match with that nightmarish sight he'd seen in his previous life.
And if that legion had stepped onto this soil, it could mean only one thing.
'The Grand Duke of Pride... Lucifer has been summoned.'
Ian clenched his jaw.
In his previous life, the appearance of the Grand Duke happened much later than now.
What trick had the Demon Cult pulled to advance the Grand Duke's emergence so far?
'Was it because I disrupted the cult too much?'
Perhaps, with the cult leaders steadily hunted down, the remaining ones' impatience had driven them to the ultimate sacrifice.
'No... That's not important now.'
No point in finding who was to blame at this stage.
All that mattered was that calamity had returned to the continent.
"I will go with you."
"What!?"
"Nee?!?"
Yuria and Sophia both erupted in protest simultaneously.
"Why are you going there! Ian!!"
Yuria grabbed Ian, desperately.
"Didn't you hear? Even the Mirnoi Family Lord fell! The Imperial Army has been smashed, and the third princess can't do anything—why are you going!?"
"M-Master! Lady Yuria is right! Please, don't go!"
Sophia, with tearful eyes, clung tightly to Ian's arm.
Looking troubled, Ian let out a groan.
"The southeast of the Roderun Empire... is just a valley away from my own territory. Yuria, Sophia. If we don't block that army, Greysel territory will soon suffer as well. As the head of the Greysel family, I can't just stand by and watch my land trampled."
He wasn't wrong.
If the enemies kept advancing north, Greysel territory would inevitably be in their path.
"S-So...!"
Yuria's face crumpled in distress.
"Then! If you must go, I'll go too! I absolutely can't let you go alone again this time!"
"That's right! I'm going too, master! I can pull my own weight now!"
Sophia shouted, not backing down.
But—
"No."
Ian flatly refused their company.
His gentle demeanor was gone; his voice was now as resolute as steel.
Faced with his determination, Yuria and Sophia fell silent.
"I-Ian...."
"Master..."
"Instead, I have a very important task I'd like the two of you to handle."
Ian patted their shoulders with both hands, looking at them gravely.
"W-What is it...?"
When Yuria asked, voice trembling, Ian responded somberly.
"Please request aid from the Heavenly Sword Lord."
"......!"
"Let him know as soon as possible, and rally his army. That's the only mission only you, Yuria, can handle. And Sophia—please look after Yuria on the way. Protect her."
"Tell Dad to come... Well, that would be the most reliable way."
"Y-Yes! Leave it to me! We'll join you as soon as we can!"
Ian flashed them a reassuring smile, but cold sweat trickled down his back.
'The demon realm's Grand Duke...'
A catastrophe that, in his past life, massacred every hero of humanity, himself included.
Even if he was now a peak-stage Grandmaster and possessed various authorities and divine relics—
'Even so...'
This time he might really die.
It was time to be prepared for death.
* * *
Southeastern front, roderun Empire.
Once-bustling cities were now tragic ruins, swallowed by crimson flames and black smoke.
"Hurry! Load the wounded onto the wagons! Before the retreat is cut off!"
The third imperial princess, Aurelia, cried out desperately, her face smeared with dirt and blood.
She had personally remained at the front to evacuate the Empire's remaining troops and citizens.
But this was a battlefield dominated only by slaughter and death.
Despair poured down from the very sky.
― KWAAAAANG!
"Kyaaa!"
"Your Highness! Dodge—guh!"
Clefting the heavens, descending from the sky—gigantic, golden giants in pure white armor and massive wings: the legion of arrogance.
The shockwave just from their landing swept away the remaining guard knights like autumn leaves.
"Kugh...! They're already here!"
Aurelia hastily readied her magic staff, but there was no time to re-form the lines; in an instant, she was completely surrounded by monsters.
'Ahh...'
Aurelia's eyes began to lose their focus—her will wavering.
'Is this truly the end...?'
She had forced herself to keep fighting, but in the end she had achieved nothing.
She hadn't stopped the enemy, saved no one.
'How powerless. Aurelia... What kind of royalty am I, truly...?'
Soon, the giants, eyes devoid of emotion, hefted their massive weapons and began to approach.
"Ugh...!"
Aurelia squeezed her eyes shut in terror.
At that moment—
"Sword Spirit Release. Vladiark."
― KURURURURURURURURU!!!
A bone-chilling roar, like that of a beast from the deepest sea, rang out, threatening to split every eardrum.
Aurelia's eyes snapped wide in shock, just as a tidal wave of jet-black tentacles swept in from all directions, filling her vision.
― SHURURURURURU!
― PRCH! PURGK!
― KWAGAGAGAK!
"...!?"
The golden giants who had threatened her moments before shrieked as black tentacles devoured them mercilessly.
Soon, through the settling dust and receding black tentacles, a huge man appeared, lowering a massive sword.
Still trembling on the ground, Aurelia asked in a quavering voice:
"W-who are you...? What in the world...?"
The man slowly turned his head.
Ash-gray hair, midnight-black eyes.
"Ian Greysel. Vassal of Hisperion's west, and knight of the youngest lady, Yuria."
So said the knight, a matter-of-fact self-introduction.
― KUUUUNG......! KUGUGUGUGU!
The earth trembled as if about to flip upside-down.
"W-What is—h-huuuh!"
Aurelia stared in astonishment past the man's back.
Beyond the walls and swirling smoke—what appeared was... ancient Luminari golems, monumental as mountain ranges.
Dozens of Luminari golems, copied by Ian's Authority of Projection, were now marching toward the legion of arrogance.
― KUGUGUGUGUGU!!
With the overwhelming might of the golems at his back, Ian looked down at Aurelia and said softly,
"Hisperion has come to reinforce you, Your Highness."
Rough winds billowed through the air.