Chapter 194: Only One Left
Sunlight broke through the dense forest canopy.
"No, please, don't! Don't kill me, please!" a frantic scream echoed between the trees.
The person was completely drenched in his own blood. Both of his hands had been crudely severed, and his feet were mangled—no toes remained. He frantically tried to crawl backward, pushing off with his bleeding stumps and leaving a crimson trail on the grass.
A heavy blade whistled through the air, ending his life in an instant. The head rolled across the soft grass, and the headless body slumped heavily to the side.
The man holding the sword didn't even change his expression. He wiped the blade on a clean scrap of cloth and said quietly into the void:
"Three hundred and twelve out of five hundred and sixty-eight A-ranks are dead. But those are just the registered ones. And there are still the unregistered ones..."
Right in front of him, the air trembled, and a translucent hologram unfurled with a faint hum. A male figure, woven from shimmering lines of light, bowed his head respectfully.
"My lord... Could we meet? We would all like to discuss something."
He waved his hand, instantly extinguishing the projection, and vanished in the same second.
The man materialized in the middle of a massive castle. Grim desolation reigned all around: the massive stone walls were covered in deep cracks, and the ground beneath his feet felt black and dead. He walked unhurriedly through the dimly lit, cold corridors and pushed open the doors of the main hall.
Three figures were already waiting for him at a long table.
The newly arrived man walked silently to the head of the table, sank into a chair, and propped his legs up on the polished wood.
"What did you want, Valdes, Edriac, Olgerd?" he asked coldly, not looking at them.
Olgerd coughed slightly, gathering his thoughts, and leaned forward:
"It's my turn to act. But... could you tell me if I even need to go there at all? He already rejected Valdes and Edriac. Maybe we should just take the place by force?"
"No," the man cut him off sharply.
Edriac immediately chimed in, clear notes of anxiety flashing in his voice:
"But that would be the best solution! Besides, the village itself is developing at an incredible speed. I'm afraid that if we drag this out and strike later, our combined forces simply might not be enough."
The man slowly lowered his legs from the table and smirked:
"That is exactly what I am aiming for. I want to understand what Iron Everfall is truly capable of."
He stood up from his seat, making it clear the conversation was over.
"You may leave."
The man turned around and headed for the exit. The oppressive atmosphere made cold sweat bead on Valdes's forehead, but at the very last moment, just as the man was at the doors, he still dared to shout after him:
"And what if he rejects Olgerd too?! What then?!"
The man froze at the threshold but didn't turn around.
"Then take the place by force," he said evenly. "But keep our condition in mind."
As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, the people remaining in the hall loudly exhaled in unison.
"So damn annoying..." Valdes hissed irritably, standing up abruptly from his chair.
"Agreed," Olgerd responded gloomily, while Edriac simply remained silent, mulling over the Man's words.
They all took out a small crystal that shimmered with blue light from within, and smashed it right against the edge of the table. The erupting blue energy instantly enveloped their bodies, and in the next moment, they vanished from the castle without a trace.
The man entered a small room deep within the residential wing. The windows here were empty—just rectangular openings in the stone wall with no glass, letting the cold air draft inside. He stopped by one of them, gazing out at the gray landscape.
Pulling a small portable device from his pocket, he pressed the side panel. The gadget clicked quietly, and voices muffled by static echoed in the empty room. It was a hidden recording of the conversation between Valdes and Edriac, made during their trip to Dornheim.
The man listened silently to their arguments, reports, and mutual reproaches. His face remained completely expressionless. Listening up to the point where they discussed the failure of their missions, he nodded slightly to his own thoughts and said hollowly:
"Only one left..."
Then he skipped the track forward and opened another fragment—Edriac's personal notes, which he had dictated later. When Iron's reasoning about the strange logic behind Edriac's actions came through the speaker, the man froze for a second. He listened closely to his subordinate's conclusions, then stated:
"So, he's already figured it out? Well, no surprise there."
The recording kept playing, nearing its end.
When the device finally went silent, the man turned it off and put it away. He looked back out the empty window opening, saying mentally:
Elyria... and Noah...
The man stared motionlessly into the empty window frame for a few more seconds, then silently turned and left the room.
Meanwhile, back in Dornheim, life went on as usual.
Iron was sitting on a cot in the infirmary, swinging his legs and watching Albert. The doctor was finishing up with his ointments and tools.
"Listen, Albert," Iron broke the silence, nodding at the supports leaning against the wall. "I'm already feeling alright on these stilts. Maybe it's time to switch to a single cane? Or is it too early?"
Albert tore himself away from his work and looked at him skeptically.
"Are you sure?" he asked, wiping his hands on a towel. "It might seem like switching from crutches to a cane is no big deal, but it's actually really tricky. The weight distribution will become uneven. One awkward movement, and we'll get a setback in your recovery. I think you should wait another couple of days before transitioning to a cane."
Iron sighed, conceding his point.
"Fair enough."
Saying his goodbyes, Iron stood up and made his way outside on his "stilts". The path to the workshop took him past a pile of construction debris left over from building the Tower.
He stopped near the junk pile and inspected the scrap with distaste.
Yeah, he thought to himself. You couldn't even put together a primitive piezoelectric trigger out of this junk now. Absolutely useless dead stock.
I really didn't want to leave this garbage lying right in the middle of the settlement. Since the metal had lost its properties and was unfit for precision instruments, there was only one way out.
"I need to build a resonant converter," Iron muttered under his breath.
With that thought, he turned around and hobbled back to the workshop.