Chapter 123: Desperate Struggle
On the frozen beach of the North Pole, Charlotte stood in front of the Fog Wall covering the entire continent. This time, she has her lance with her, and not the cane.
Behind her was Sinclair, smiling and humming to herself. Walking up right beside Charlotte, half a head shorter than the Monarch.
"Now that we are here~ how about we do something for fun!!", the lightless one spoke cheerfully. Then she took out a deck of cards from the darkness between her breasts, "Let us make some prophecy~?"
Charlotte glanced to the side, "Sure, I'm bored anyway. What do you have?"
"Well, what do you want this prophecy to be about?", she asked while expertly shuffling the deck, then handing it out to Charlotte.
The Argent Monarch took the deck, shuffling it again, then she pulled the top card, still facing down.
"I want to see the aftermath of this battle."
Flipping the card over, revealing a wheel spinning, surrounded by doves carrying flame. It was the Wheel of Fortune, signifying great changes about to come.
"This, I already know.", she threw the deck up, letting the cards scatter freely in the sky. Then she walks toward the Fog Wall.
"Hey now, that deck is pretty expensive!!", Sinclair complained, following suit. But she didn't pick up the cards, following Charlotte from behind.
They both enter the Fog Wall, vanishing from the beach.
And out of all the cards left, only one was revealed. A crumbling spire surrounded by fire and lightning, facing disasters that threaten to destroy it.
The Tower.
=0=0=
After seeing the map, Lea navigated the ship to the general location of the Divine Domain. She stood on the deck, staring down at the dark water below.
Somewhere down there was the Divine Domain of Unconscious. The destination for her power-up.
She should feel excited and determined.
Instead, she just felt... restless.
Her hands trembled slightly, not from fear, but from something else. Anticipation mixed with exhaustion. The constant state of readiness that had become her default ever since leaving the hospital in Umbros.
I've killed so many people to get here... Lea thought, watching moonlight reflect off the waves... Does it even matter anymore? Will the Fifth Step make any of this worth it?
Knight floated beside her silently, offering no commentary.
Lea closed her eyes, reaching out with her connection as its demigod, trying to sense the Divine Domain below for a better location before using the Imaginary sigil. The water was deep, impossibly deep, and somewhere in that darkness—
Horns.
Her eyes snapped open.
The sound of ship horns, multiple, coming from the east.
"Knight, what—"
"[Blood Knight Order patrol]", Knight said calmly, "[Seventeen vessels. Approaching at maximum speed.]"
"Fuck.", Lea ran back to the bridge, her familiars already scrambling to their stations, "Can we outrun them?"
"[The engine haven't rest enough for another burst.]"
Of course.
Lea pulled up the security display. The ships were visible now, red and gold sails, the symbol of crossed swords emblazoned on each one. War vessels built for combat, moving in coordinated formation.
They'd spotted the Sargon. An unknown metal ship in their territorial waters. And as their duty, they will eliminate all that
"Combat mode.", Lea ordered, "Activate all weapons."
Hidden panels along the Sargon's hull slid open, revealing gun emplacements that looked like nothing from this world. But as the first Blood Knight ship came into range, Lea realized with sinking horror that the guns weren't firing.
"[The thermal nuclear weaponry of the ship cannot be used at this distance]", Knight reported, "[They will be permanently wiped off the map, but so will you.]"
"What does that even mean?!"
"[It means that this vessel has enough firepower to wipe out all life on this world, courtesy of Earth's penchant for destruction before thinking it through.]"
What the hell is wrong with that world?!
"Fuck!", Lea slammed her fist on the console, "Everyone, defensive positions! We're doing this the old-fashioned way!!"
Her twenty constructs assembled on deck, ready for combat.
The Blood Knight ships surrounded the Sargon in a perfect formation, cutting off all escape routes. Grappling hooks flew through the air, latching onto the metal hull. Boarding ramps slammed down.
And they came.
Knights in crimson armor poured onto the deck, dozens of them, moving with coordination one would not expect of religious folks. Their weapons glowed with mystical energy, their eyes burned with righteous fury.
"In the name of the Blood God!!", their leader roared. "Surrender this vessel!!"
Lea's response was to activate Dream Eater, black energy erupting across the deck.
The first wave of knights froze as the attack hit their minds—
But only for a second.
Then they pushed through, their mental fortitude reinforced by their faith, by years of training, by the Blood God's blessings.
Mental fortitude... she realized with growing horror... they're trained against mental attacks!!
Her Dream Eater barely slowed them down. Instead, it might've made them even angrier.
"Kill the heretic!!", the leader commanded, "Capture the ship intact!!"
The knights charged forward from all directions.
Lea's constructs met them head-on. Cursed bodies collided with blessed steel. Hexes flowed from every touch, weakening, slowing, cursing—
But there were too many.
For every knight a construct brought down, two more took their place. These weren't pirates or merchant guards. These were warriors of Carnage with Decimation as supplementary. Built for prolonged combat, built to endure the harshest battles.
They are the ones keeping check of Australia, after all.
One knight's blade carved through three constructs in a single strike, blessed steel overcoming cursed matter. Another grabbed a familiar's arm and simply tore it off, his enhanced strength overwhelming the construct's durability.
Lea drew Hastur from her shadow, parrying an incoming slash. She dove into the battle, her Malediction flaring. Her first strike caught a knight across the chest. His armor was cut as smoothly as cutting butter, tearing into his flesh and bones.
But he didn't fall. The Carnage Pathstrider fed on violence, growing stronger as battle continued. He swung back, and Lea barely dodged, his blade missing her throat by centimeters.
Another knight attacked from behind. Lea Shadow Sneaked, reappearing across the deck.
But they were everywhere. Her constructs were falling one by one, and the ghosts quickly returned to her body. Dwindling her overall force.
The knights' coordination was perfect, fighting as a unified force while Lea's familiars were individuals barely learning to cooperate.
"Surround her!!", the leader commanded from his ship once again, "Don't let her escape!!!"
Lea activated every curse she had. Be it the Hexes of Malediction, erratic Judgement Blades firing at any and all directions, or even trying to disorient them using the darkness.
She killed three knights in rapid succession, her blade finding gaps in armor with Fourth Step precision.
But for every one she killed, the others pressed closer.
A blade caught her shoulder. Pain exploded through her arm.
Another struck her leg. She stumbled.
Too many. There are too fucking many...
"Dream Eater!", Lea screamed, pouring everything into the attack.
Black energy flooded the deck, stronger than before, fueled by desperation and rage.
Half the knights froze, their minds overwhelmed—
The other half kept coming, their mental fortitude holding.
And those who'd frozen began to shake it off after mere seconds.
This was the weakness of her demigod powers. Dream Eater was devastating against normal people, against those unprepared for mental assault. But against trained warriors with reinforced minds? Against people who'd spent years building mental fortitude specifically to resist mysticism?
It was almost useless. A knight's sword stabbed toward her stomach. Lea twisted, but not fast enough—
The blade punched through her side.
Lea screamed, Cursed Constructs' armor cracking as steel pierced flesh.
"Got her!!", the knight yelled.
Lea's hand shot out, grabbing his face. Dream Eater at point-blank range.
His eyes went blank, and his body collapsed.
But the damage was done. Blood poured from the wound in her side, hot and sticky.
Have to retreat. Have to—
"Don't let her run away!!", the leader yelled as he also jumped onto the ship, "Light the deck!"
Knights activated Light sigils, flooding the Sargon with white light, banishing every shadow.
Lea's escape route vanished.
She tried anyway, forcing her Cloak to activate—
A blade came from nowhere, aimed at her neck. Lea dodged, but her injured side made her movements sluggish.
The blade caught her right arm instead. And severed her entire forearm.
Lea's arm tumbled across the deck, still wrapped in Cursed Construct armor, fingers twitching.
The pain was indescribable. White-hot agony that made her vision blur, making her legs buckle.
No no no not like this not after everything—
She stumbled backward, blood spraying from the stump where her arm used to be. Her remaining hand pressed against the wound in her side, trying to stop the bleeding.
Her mind was in a state of confusion, and she tried to reform her missing arm using Cursed Construct...
Knights surrounded her on all sides.
"Surrender!! You've lost!!"
Lea's golden eyes blazed behind her mask, rage and desperation mixing into something primal. Even the leader, now standing right in front of her, could feel her unfiltered wrath.
I didn't survive Dream's Grave to die here...
I didn't become Faceless Twilight to fall to some knights...
I didn't kill all those people for NOTHING!!
She looked at the water beyond the ship's railing. Three thousand meters down below was the Divine Domain. It was insane, suicidal even. She was injured, bleeding out, and missing an arm.
But staying meant capture. Meant torture. Meant dying without ever reaching Fifth Step.
"Fuck it.", Lea whispered.
She ran.
Her injured body screamed in protest. Her vision swam from blood loss. But she ran, Shadow Sneak activating despite the light, consuming her remaining strength to force passage through diminished shadows.
"Stop her!", the leader roared.
The knights tried to grab her, but Lea reached the railing and jumped off. For a moment, she was airborne, the knights' shocked faces all visible below.
Then gravity claimed her.
Lea hit the water like a stone.
The cold was shocking, driving the breath from her lungs. The ocean wrapped around her, pulling her down, down, down into darkness.
She heard muffled shouts from above. Saw lights from the ships searching the water.
But she was already sinking...
Her Cursed Constructs dissolved, unable to maintain form while she was bleeding and drowning. Her remaining arm flailed weakly, trying to swim despite knowing it was useless.
Three thousand meters... her fading consciousness whispered... Have to reach three thousand meters...
Blood clouded the water around her. Her lungs burned. Her vision darkened at the edges.
But Lea forced herself to keep sinking.
Forced her body to stop struggling.
So she sinks...
Using the sigils she had on her to resist the watee pressure and provide air... and the Imaginary sigil...
She activated it, letting numerous formulas form around her, incomprehensible maths and calculations began to act in accordance with her wishes.
The Labyrinth of the Mind...
Through the water, she can see it...
A shining dark blue beacon, as if welcoming her...
So she sinks...
And sinks...
Sinks...
=0=0=
While Lea was keeping herself barely conscious, the Blood Knights began to explore the ship.
Sir Alexar moved through the metal corridors of the AMS Sargon, his blessed sword held ready. Around him, his knights spread throughout the ship, investigating every strange surface and impossible mechanism.
"Sir!", one knight called from what appeared to be the bridge, "These... panels. They glow with light but bear no flame!"
Another shouted from below, "The engine room is like nothing I've ever seen! There's no coal, no furnace, just... humming metal!!"
Alexar ran his gauntleted hand along the smooth silver walls. Everything about this vessel defied understanding. No wood. No rope. Just seamless metal and glowing lines that pulsed like veins.
"What manner of heresy—"
A sphere materialized before him.
Alexar's sword came up instantly, blessed steel gleaming, "Show yourself, demon!"
"[The target had reached the intended location]", the sphere said in that heavy, gravelly voice, "[You are no longer needed.]"
"What—"
Click.
Hidden vents throughout the ship opened simultaneously. A hissing sound filled the air.
Alexar's eyes widened, "Gas! Everyone, get out—"
But the hatches had sealed. Every door, every exit, was locked with mechanisms the knights couldn't comprehend.
The gas was yellowish-green, spreading rapidly through every corridor, every chamber. Knights began choking, clawing at their throats.
"No—", Alexar tried to activate his blessings, tried to call for divine protection—
But the gas didn't care about faith. It dissolved flesh like acid, ate through lungs, melted skin from bone.
Screams echoed through the metal halls. Bodies collapsed. Knights who'd survived countless battles died gasping, their bodies liquefying from the inside out.
Alexar fell to his knees, his blessed armor useless. His vision blurred. His throat burned. The sphere floated before him, watching impassively.
"[I apologize.]", Knight said with perfect calm, "[This is Her Majesty's will.]"
Alexar tried to speak. Tried to curse. Tried to pray.
Yet only blood came out.
He collapsed, joining his knights in death.
Throughout the ship, silence fell. Seventeen ships' worth of warriors, gone just like that.
Knight floated through the corridors, observing the corpses with clinical detachment.
"[Protocol Auschwitz Fun House: Complete. Commencing cleanup sequence.]"
The vents reversed, drawing the poisonous gas back into containment. Disposal systems activated, preparing to jettison the bodies.
"[For Her Majesty Charlotte Silvi, the Argent Monarch of Humanity.]"
By dawn, the AMS Sargon would be pristine again.
As if nothing had happened...