Chapter 189
Chapter 189
The Brazen Robber (2)
The knights gathered at the Dalton mansion stood by while checking their weapons. As many as seventy knights had assembled.
Of course, a report had been delivered to the Emperor, and a meeting had even been held with the ministers, but….
The sun of the Empire remained silent.
‘Silence is permission.’
If the Emperor had truly intended to stop this, he would not have remained silent. That alone had already emboldened the young knights gathered here.
“It was a ruined house anyway, and now he’s just a commoner. There’s no way His Majesty the Emperor, the sun of the Empire, would tolerate such insolence.”
As they exchanged such words, they waited for the bastard called Kairus or Kadabra or whatever.
Now, not much time remained until the appointed hour.
“There’s still no sign of him?”
Yet no information had come in that Kairus had boarded a train or used an automobile.
“Did that bastard just run away?”
That question settled into the minds of the assembled knights. Of course, however it turned out was fine.
If the last survivor of House Featherwing, who had strutted around spreading all sorts of rumors, failed to show up out of fear of the knights gathered here, that alone would be enough of a story.
Rather, it would mean achieving their objective without even breaking a sweat.
“Hmm?”
Then, at last, the propulsion sound that had been echoing from far off in the sky reached the ears of the knights standing on the ground.
With a deafening roar, Kairus fell from the sky. The scream of the shattered Wall of Sound spread like a shockwave.
The mansion’s windows burst apart all at once in the thunderous blast. The landing that followed carved a massive crater into the ground.
Standing at the center of the crater he had created, Kairus looked at the knights standing opposite him and smiled.
“What, did a war break out?”
Everyone in Kairus’s sight was armed. He had expected it, but seeing it in person was almost absurd.
“….”
No one spoke. Though the output had been reduced and the noise had somewhat subsided, the invisible turbine sound resonating through the Veil of Plumed Mist pressed heavily and steadily against their bodies.
In time with the turbine’s hum, wind flowed from Kairus’s body.
“Who’s Gemini Dalton?”
In this situation, Gemini Dalton wondered whether it was truly right for him to step forward. It was a fleeting, instinctive concern.
With just that brief display, everyone present had shrunk back.
Until seeing him with their own eyes, they had been confident of victory, but now that they stood face-to-face with a walking natural disaster, the optimistic outlook that had continued until moments ago melted away like a mirage.
“…I am Gemini Dalton, Kairus.”
Having finished his brief hesitation, Gemini Dalton stepped forward and spoke. He had mobilized not only the knights of his own order but even knights from other orders as well.
There was no turning back now. Kairus, who had been quietly staring at him, smiled and said,
“Thank you for keeping my family’s tail feather all this time. I conveyed my gratitude through a letter, but let me express my thanks once more here.”
Kairus bowed. It was, purely, a gesture of gratitude toward the one who had safeguarded one of his family’s relics of misfortune until now.
“On what grounds do you claim that the tail feather is yours?”
Kairus straightened his back and looked at Gemini.
“Is that a question the Dalton family is asking of Featherwing?”
“It is a question I am asking you, commoner. So answer.”
You are a commoner. Gemini Dalton declared it. Words held a peculiar power. With that single declaration, every knight present seemed to realign their thoughts.
All authority flowed from the Emperor, and the Emperor had not reversed the annihilation of Featherwing.
‘He is a commoner. He does not stand at our level.’
Kairus, who had been listening quietly, clicked his tongue.
“If I turned the clock back six years, you wouldn’t even have been able to lift your head in front of me.”
There were only a few families who could raise their heads and speak before Featherwing. Dalton was not among that small number.
“You are nothing, commoner. Know your place and mind your manners. I will not tolerate any further insolence.”
Kairus smiled at Gemini Dalton and took a step forward.
“And what if you don’t tolerate it?”
No sooner had Kairus finished speaking than Gemini Dalton drew his sword and answered,
“Insolence shall be duly punished.”
As if in agreement with Gemini’s words, everyone present gripped their weapons and fixed their eyes on Kairus.
The momentum was fierce. This was by no means a gathering of rabble.
“I only came to retrieve the tail feather. It’s fine if you don’t treat me like a noble.”
After all, the privileges had been granted by Philip IV. Being treated as a noble in this Empire meant nothing to Kairus.
“You’re nothing but a ruined wretch without even a proper trace left…!”
Emboldened by their numbers, by the sense of belonging, and by the exhilaration of having drawn their weapons, one of them shouted at Kairus.
The turbine hum that had subsided suddenly swelled, and Kairus’s figure vanished. When he reappeared, he stood directly before the man who had just shouted at him.
“Such a foul mouth. You should learn to watch what you say.”
Kairus shoved his hand into the man’s mouth and firmly seized one of his molars. A crunching sound rang out.
The hand that had entered the mouth withdrew. Between his thumb and forefinger, he held a blood-soaked white molar.
“Ghk… Aaaaarghhhhh!”
The man who had his molar ripped out on the spot let out a scream mixed with blood. Drip, drip, saliva mixed with blood flowed down and soaked the ground.
“You crazy bastard! Are you saying you’re going to make enemies of the Empire’s knights right now?!”
The people around him tried to react belatedly, but Kairus had already returned to the spot where he had originally been standing.
“I’m not a parrot, but I’ll say this just once more. The tail feather. Hand it over. Don’t tell me you sent invitations and told me to come here without even bringing it?”
At Kairus’s words, the crowd’s gazes shifted to Gemini for a brief moment.
“It is an item the Dalton family acquired through a rightful price. We have no obligation to comply with the demands of a mere commoner.”
Haah. Kairus let out a deep sigh, glanced up at the sky for a moment, then spoke.
“I’ll take that to mean you didn’t bring it.”
Hostility was slowly rising. The gazes pouring toward Kairus no longer carried cold restraint but open animosity.
“There is no Featherwing in the Empire, and a commoner cannot make demands of a noble. That is the law of the Empire.”
Kairus laughed. Law, my ass. If I didn’t follow it, would the Security Corps come and drag me away?
Me?
“Then our conversation is over.”
The turbine hum shifted into a blasting roar, and Kairus’s body shot straight up into the sky. Just moments ago, he had been standing at the center of the crater he created.
Without pause, he gained altitude, soaring up to 2 kilometers in mere seconds.
“Go on. Try something. See if you can reach me up here.”
No matter how much they flailed on the ground, they could not touch the sky. From above, Kairus always held the initiative.
And whenever he wished, he could simply ascend and rest.
“Arrows?”
Even if an arrow ignored gravity and flew 2 kilometers up, how much force would it still have? Borrow the power of battle gear?
To hit Kairus flying through the open sky, the attack would need a guidance function and a speed exceeding five times the speed of sound.
‘It would be even more spectacular if I mixed in Swift Blade or Cloud Seizing Art here.’
In truth, Kairus did not possess the skill to maintain flight in that state.
Instead.
Flipping his body over, Kairus began a diving flight. With a roaring crash, a destructive shockwave trailed behind him like the tail of a comet.
Gradually, his altitude lowered.
“Brace! Prepare for impact!”
The knights on the ground raised the output of their battle gear and prepared to respond.
Ultra-low-altitude flight. Maintaining an altitude of less than a meter above the surface, Kairus skimmed past between the knights.
And the shockwave followed.
“Aaaaargh!”
As the spreading shockwave struck them, the knights were flung in all directions.
Like bowling pins hit by a bowling ball. After skimming over their heads, Kairus climbed back into the sky once more.
Drawing a massive arc that connected sky and earth, Kairus dove toward the ground once more.
“Fuck, block him! I’ll take the lead!”
Having been hit once already, the knights who had somehow regained their footing now gathered in one place and formed a defensive formation.
‘They’re not just brats, is that it.’
If they scattered, the damage would lessen, but they would never be able to stop that charge that moved between sky and ground.
To win, they had to gather and form a wall rather than disperse, and somehow block Kairus’s flight.
“There are over seventy of us!”
If they all pooled their output and endured, they could become a wall capable of stopping Kairus’s flight. And the moment his movement halted, they would all rush in and crush him.
“Idiots.”
The problem was that this hastily devised countermeasure only worked if Kairus chose to slam into it.
As he neared the ground, Kairus landed as if crashing directly in front of the knights who were bracing for impact in their formation.
“You… you son of a bitch!”
Earlier, the bowling ball had been Kairus. But not this time.
With a thunderous roar, the raging air from the spreading shockwave came under Kairus’s control through the output of Veil of Plumed Mist.
“Fly.”
The wind, boasting monstrous force, struck the knights forming the defensive wall like a battering ram smashing into a city gate.
“Hold! Everyone, hold!”
In this storm, the formation must not collapse. Everyone standing there knew what would follow if it did.
Kairus charged once more toward the faltering formation. If it broke, the same situation as before would repeat.
‘If they endure!’
As he watched them, swinging his sword to manipulate the wind, Kairus felt somewhat displeased.
‘What if I could do it simultaneously.’
He could have shaken their formation with Swift Blade while crashing into them at the same time. Then a situation like this would never arise.
But Kairus had no confidence whatsoever in flying within this raging gale. He would inevitably lose control and crash, rolling across the ground.
There was no way they would miss that opening. What would follow would be Kairus’s corpse, his entire body mangled by dozens of weapons.
“More… hold a little longer!”
Gradually, the bodies of those standing at the very front began to collapse. The formation, pushed back little by little by the unrelenting wind, crumbled like a dam breaking under floodwaters.
Once it broke, it would not stop.
“Here I come again, friends.”
Though the wind subsided, before the knights could hurriedly reform their formation, Kairus’s flight skimmed past them once more.
“Fuck! You think you’re the only one with battle gear?!”
Shouting that, Gemini drove the sword he was holding into the ground and raised his output. Unity had mattered moments ago, but not now.
They had to endure somehow.
The earth trembled, and dozens of stone pillars surged upward, blocking Kairus’s path.
“Sorry.”
Something like this wouldn’t stop him. Kairus did not slow down at all—if anything, he accelerated.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosive crashes rang out as Kairus smashed through the stone pillars and flew onward. Once again, the knights’ bodies were swept into the air by the shockwave.
They were said to be flying, but the only one truly flying through the sky was Kairus.
“I’ll keep this up until you beg for your lives.”
Rising back into the sky, Kairus declared as he looked down at the ground below.