Chapter 217 : The Usurper and the Invader (3)
Chapter 217: The Usurper and the Invader (3)
At the same time.
The desperate battle in Ains, the core city of Parsel in the northwestern region of the Empire, had finally come to an end.
“Haah... Haah....”
“Ugh, ughhh!”
“It’s collapsing! Over there! Fall back, quickly!”
Crunch, craaack!
KABOOOOM!
While the personnel throughout the area continued burning away the collapsed Erosion Pillars without leaving a single trace behind,
Maximilian barely supported his exhausted body as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The volunteer army had gathered in great numbers after Greenwhistle's revelations about Bernhardt.
However, the changes that followed had shaken even their firm convictions.
In particular, Edel Ribenia’s imperial declaration had been more than enough to convince everyone that the Dawn Society was far more than a simple reformist organization.
After the bloody battle in the underground district, Dale Wedmayer and Maximilian's withdrawal from the Dawn Society, and finally Chairwoman Charlotte Platina’s declaration of war, every volunteer present had officially renounced the Dawn Society.
Throughout that process, Maximilian, Greenwhistle's former leader, persuaded the volunteers to devote everything they had to destroying the Erosion Pillars.
Even the Defense Force, which had joined late, participated in the operation.
Thanks to the deployment of nearly ten thousand troops, they had succeeded in accomplishing their objective with relatively few casualties.
It was certainly an achievement worth celebrating.
But the situation remained far too grim for anyone to rejoice.
Even now, Master was risking his life against the Dawn Society’s elite.
No matter what, they had to hurry and reinforce the capital.
With that in mind, Maximilian briefly discussed their next course of action with the five commanders of the volunteer army and the commander of the Defense Force's 9th Battalion.
“The Resistance forces will soon be joining the capital. We failed to stop them because of the Erosion Pillars and the escort Beasts... Anyway, we're heading out now to intercept those reinforcements.”
“...Once all those Platinum Dawn Society forces have been subdued, can we consider this incident over? If that's the case, perhaps our battalion doesn't need to join you....”
“I hope the situation ends there as well... but it absolutely won't. If that were all, they would never have started this war in the first place. That's the kind of person Charlotte Platina is.”
“......”
“No... I suppose it’s difficult to even call her human anymore.”
“What do you mean by...?”
“Anyway, we're departing now. Please take good care of defending the region.”
After finishing the discussion,
Maximilian departed for the capital together with roughly four thousand volunteers who wished to continue fighting.
To every direction west of the Adens River, which divided the capital from the rest of the Empire, dark energies that had never existed before slowly began gathering.
Waaaaah—
WAAAAAAAH—
Five hours had passed since the arrival of the Erosion Pillars.
Nearly two hours had also passed since the clash with the Dawn Society executives.
The forces on both sides continued fighting desperately without yielding even a single step.
“Don't fall back! This is our last line of defense!”
“Break through! Tear apart those arrogant Imperial Household bastards and all their lackeys!”
With the direct forces of the Ice Guard Commander and more than thirty percent of the Special Task Force joining the battle,
the outcome had become completely impossible to predict.
The main force on the south side of the front gate was gradually being pushed back.
Meanwhile, the executives on the northern side were on the verge of breaking through the Imperial Palace's main gate.
Most notably,
because no one could stop Charlotte Platina at the center, the formation was beginning to collapse little by little.
Watching the unfolding battle anxiously from the highest floor of the official residence,
Rachel Ribenia bit her fingernails.
“You can't even crush one secret organization... What the hell are you all doing?!”
Immediately after Edel had sharply rebuked her earlier,
Rachel had summoned the noble factions under her influence and ordered them to assist in defending the capital.
But every response she received was either refusal or complete disregard.
She had been utterly humiliated.
— We want to reinforce you immediately as well, but every road has been completely blocked! We can't even get into the capital!
— We'll contact you again after destroying the Erosion Pillars in our jurisdiction, Your Highness.
— Please hold on just a little longer! We'll come for you soon!
Even the word humiliation couldn't fully describe how she felt.
But objectively speaking, this was reality.
Without the noble factions beneath her,
she was nothing more than a princess in name alone.
And in a battle this fierce,
actual combat strength mattered far more than status.
Even so,
she was still an imperial princess.
Since her combat ability was lacking, she was also an easy target.
For that reason,
Rachel ordered Rogermont to find a place where she could hide safely.
Thirty minutes had already passed since she gave that order.
He should have finished searching and returned by now,
yet the official residence remained deathly silent.
“Still haven't found one? Honestly, every single one of you is so slow....”
At that moment—
Creeeak—
“You're late! I clearly told you to search somewhere nea—”
Rogermont flung the door open.
Ignoring Rachel completely,
he immediately drew his wand.
“...What are you doing?”
“Mind Onslaught.”
Together with the incantation,
the mana erupting from Rogermont—
or rather,
Ephraim Robinson—
shot toward Rachel like an arrow.
Rachel instantly went limp,
collapsing helplessly where she stood.
Moments later,
numerous members of Ain Kabbalah entered the room.
Ephraim then left the body of Head Maid Rogermont, whom he had been controlling,
and let out a faint sigh.
“That was easy.”
Including Ivana,
all of the maids who had remained in the residence had already been tightly bound and thrown into the storage room and supply room.
After tying up Rogermont as well and tossing her into a corner,
the members dusted off their hands in satisfaction.
“As expected of our captain. He never misses.”
“Even the slightest mistake with Onslaught Magic causes more damage to the caster instead.”
After calming his two excited subordinates,
Ephraim mimed stabbing someone.
“Now I just approach Princess Edel while pretending to be Princess Rachel. The moment she lets her guard down... stab straight through her heart! Then I'll immediately kill myself as well. That'll completely shatter everyone else's morale. Our total victory, wouldn't you say?”
“As expected of our captain! No one in the Empire is more underhanded than you!”
“Let's do our utmost to contribute to the Empire's destruction, Captain!”
It was impossible to tell whether those were compliments or insults.
While his two fanatical followers enthusiastically showered him with praise,
the remaining five who had participated merely watched them with indifferent expressions.
The moment Ephraim noticed those faces,
he folded his arms and narrowed his eyes.
“The hell's with your expressions?”
“...What's wrong with my expression?”
“What?”
Sensing the atmosphere turning dangerous,
the senior-most member among the five stepped between them.
“To be honest, Captain... should we really be doing this?”
“What are you talking about now?”
“I mean, should we really be doing something like this?”
“The Chairwoman herself ordered it. Hide until the right moment, use Princess Rachel to kill Princess Edel. We've executed the operation perfectly, so what's your problem?”
“No... that's not it. I'm asking whether it's really right for us to stay on this side.”
“......What?”
“Even if we seize the Imperial Palace according to the plan and hold out against the regular army... everyone already knows how this ends for us.”
“...So that's what this is about.”
Ephraim shook his head while looking at his grim subordinate.
“You think we have another choice? The fact that we researched Dark Magic alone is enough to earn us life imprisonment. Betting everything on the Empire's collapse is our only way to survive.”
“You know it won't stop with the Empire collapsing. We'll all die too. That's part of the Chairwoman's plan.”
“Then what do you expect us to do? We can't even break the Code's restraints.”
“No, but you saw it with your own eyes! That little inspector from Karbenna freed three people from the Code!”
“Francia Brida has absolutely no reason to help us! Do you seriously think she'd use such a ridiculous ability on her enemies in the middle of all this chaos?!”
At Ephraim's shout,
the other subordinates timidly spoke up.
“Shouldn't we switch sides while we still can?”
“At this point, nobody will even notice whether we're carrying out our mission properly.”
“Exactly. Captain, you even have a connection with Eugene Carter! If we use that as an excuse...”
“To be honest, whether this side wins or loses, we're dead either way! The others might be idiots, but shouldn't we Dark Mages survive to uncover the truth of the world?”
“You bastards have all completely lost your spine—!”
Just as Ephraim was about to roar at them,
a strange voice suddenly came from behind them.
“You say Eugene Carter had dealings with all of you?”
One of the Empire's strongest warriors.
The Executor of Blood,
Karen Rosefield,
had somehow arrived at the scene.
“Eek!”
“K-Karen Rosefield...!”
“The Executor of Blood! We're all dead!”
“I told you! Listening to the captain has never worked out even once!”
“No, you little bastards!”
“......”
What had happened here.
Who had led it.
Even what these people currently intended to do.
Karen grasped everything in less than ten seconds.
She immediately stepped into the middle of the group.
“Ghk?!”
She seized Ephraim by the collar
and effortlessly lifted him into the air.
“From this moment onward, you will answer every question I ask with complete honesty.”
“......”
“If even the slightest trace of falsehood comes from your mouth—or from the mouths of your subordinates—I will snap your neck on the spot. Understood?”
“Y-You think I'd be intimidated by threats like tha—”
Craaack!
“Ghk?!”
“This is your final warning. Understood?”
“Y-Yes, yessir!”
.
.
.
Had his opponent not been one of the three Executors,
he might have tried resisting somehow.
But the compatibility was simply terrible.
Especially the Executor of Blood,
Karen Rosefield.
Her anti-magic resistance was without equal.
Dark Magic and the powers of Beasts shared more than seventy percent of the same nature.
Against someone who was an impregnable fortress in the Great Beast Battle,
attacking with Dark Magic was practically suicide.
Yet abandoning Dark Magic and resorting to hand-to-hand combat was no better.
Their combat ability was pitiful.
Neither Ephraim nor his subordinates had any choice but to answer Karen's questions honestly.
“...So that is what happened.”
Through six questions,
Karen learned everything.
That Eugene Carter had once contacted Ain Kabbalah.
Why he had done so.
And the despicable scheme they were currently planning by using Princess Rachel.
“W-We didn't do this because we wanted to! If the Code hadn't been threatening our lives...!”
“In that case, there is still a way for all of you to survive.”
Karen gently set Ephraim back on the ground
before pointing outside.
“Luke Honorlight has deployed a Protective Barrier. As long as you remain inside it, the Code's restraints cannot activate. From this moment onward, do not take even a single step outside the barrier. Once Charlotte Platina is eliminated, the Code that has bound all of you will disappear as well.”
One of the subordinates cautiously raised a hand.
“May I ask... where exactly is this Protective Barrier?”
“The entire Imperial Palace.”
“......Ah.”
Karen pointed her halberd at them
and declared firmly,
“The mere fact that you attempted to assassinate an imperial princess of the glorious Imperial Household makes you deserving of judgment. Even if I were to tear every one of you apart here and now, not a single person would object.”
“However...”
“I will still grant you a chance to survive.”
“Think carefully about why that is.”
She then gestured toward Rachel.
“I'll be taking Princess Rachel. Release the mind control.”
“......”
Seeing the members hesitate, the corner of Karen's lips curled upward with interest.
“Oh? Have you changed your minds? If so, say it now. I'll personally peel the skin from your bodies.”
“N-No! That's not it! Get out already, you idiots!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
After sending the seven members who had entered with him outside, Ephraim obediently cast the spell to dispel the control.
He forced himself to maintain a dignified expression as he glanced toward Karen.
“As one who has seen the future through the Eye of Kabbalah, let me give you one piece of advice, Executor of Blood.”
“Advice?”
“Abrel has chosen twenty-one Hands... You'll need to decide quickly which one will become the representative. If the wrong person is chosen... this world will surely be destroyed.”
Having said that he threw open the opposite window and immediately leaped out.