Chapter 50: The Last Cry of Teordo

“Teordo.”

A clear and graceful voice.

A familiar call.

Lifting his head, Teordo sees the much younger face of Sylvia.

“I want to see the garden.”

Sylvia’s large eyes express her wish.

Teordo shakes his head.

“I heard Prince Belloke is out for a walk.”

It was for Sylvia’s sake.

If she were to run into Belloke, who knew what trouble she might face again.

“Ah… I see.”

Sylvia bows her head.

“Yeah… there’s no helping it.”

The little girl turns away weakly.

Disappointment, frustration, and helplessness radiate from her small shoulders.

Teordo raises his hand but cannot bring himself to reach out.

He’s a rigid knight without the skill to offer comfort or hopeful words.

There’s nothing to be done.

It’s an unavoidable situation.

‘How many times had he used those words to get by?’

‘How much did it pain him not to grant that small request?’

‘How much regret still aches deep in his chest even now?’

Now he understands.

It was never the situation that was unavoidable.

It was merely an irresponsible excuse to justify his own weakness.

Now he knows.

The one who feared going out to the garden was Teordo himself.

The one who lacked the confidence to stand firm was none other than himself.

So…

“What, what?! He’s still alive! That guy’s still breathing!”

Then, knight—

Raise your sword.

Open your eyes wide and lift your sword with all your might.

“What are you doing? He’s dying! Finish it quickly!”

Do not fear.

You know now.

What hurts more than these wounds.

What stings more than a sword buried deep in the flesh.

So move more.

Swing your sword without rest.

“M-mo-monster—”

“Demon! A demon!”

Roll on the ground.

Spit the blood at your enemy’s eyes.

Drive your sword into your foe’s neck.

“Arrgh!”

Endure disgracefully.

Endure even if you become the ugliest knight in the world.

Do not forget.

‘Why did you raise your sword?’

‘Why did you seek strength?’

‘Was it not to protect?’

‘Was it not for this moment?’

So do not stop.

Even if your arm is severed, even if your ankle is deeply sliced, do not stop.

Raise your aura.

Burn your life force to emit a deeper aura.

Higher. Higher still.

So high that everyone on the battlefield can see it.

So high that it might touch the sky.

Ignite your final flame.

…Knight.

***

Like a Yaksha incarnate, Dozens of knights stand hesitating, surrounding only Teordo.

They are overwhelmed by his presence.

His left arm is severed below the elbow, his armor has lost all function, and the number of severe wounds visible—how many are there?

If it were anyone else, they would have died many times over.

Yet the blue aura burns fiercer and fiercer, and his presence only grows larger.

It’s as if he’s burning his own life to kindle his aura.

The knights around Teordo swallow dryly.

Though overwhelmed, their judgment remains clear.

“This is his last… desperate struggle. Keep your distance and don’t charge in.”

His wounds are severe.

The amount of blood spilled has passed the limit.

If left alone, his life will soon flicker out.

Despite this, the noble blue aura never wavers.

The knight, with his arm severed and ankle half sliced, is instead smiling.

Blood drips from his face’s open wounds as he shouts with all his might.

“Hio~! Pavlenko!”

‘How could his voice be so loud?’

‘Is this really the knight who is on the brink of death?’

“Remember our oath! Don’t forget our promise!”

His shout, coughed up with blood, “I will do! What I can do!”

Echoes throughout the battlefield.

By the side of trembling soldiers, Over the head of Yohn Torno, swinging his sword in desperation,

Passing by Hio biting his lip, reaching the carriage where Sylvia sleeps.

One person’s shout dominates the battlefield.

The once blunt, indifferent knight’s cry.

His last scream.

“But!”

The First Prince’s knights facing him move urgently.

They can no longer just stand by.

That desperate cry, that knight’s roar, unnerves their own side and boosts the enemy’s morale.

“Keep your promise! Hio Pavlenko!”

If they left it any longer, the morale of the entire army might falter.

It was as if the whole battlefield would be overwhelmed by a single man.

The knights surrounding Teordo ready their swords again.

“Kill him! All at once, charge!”

“He’s on the brink of death! Don’t be afraid!”

“A demon of a man!”

The knights rush at Teordo simultaneously.

A dozen swords collide against him.

Teordo’s last act is perfectly in character.

The blue aura, straight and pure like the knight himself, descends from above.

The two charging enemies are split in half along with their armor.

But at the same moment, a sword pierces Teordo’s heart.

Another impales his neck.

His chest, his side, his shoulder, his thigh.

Swords thrust into him.

Surprisingly little blood spurts out.

His head slowly droops.

The steadfast knight’s knee finally buckles.

His body, which had been as unyielding as a rock his entire life, begins to lean.

Teordo Ricart, the Imperial Princess’s Guardian Knight.

The stubborn knight who repeatedly refused the Sword Saint’s offer to join the Royal Knights and stayed by the princess’s side till the end.

He single-handedly held back a hundred soldiers.

Nearly twenty knights fell by his hand.

He was truly a knight among knights.

***

[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance 999 / 1000)]

Hio takes in every scene without missing a single moment.

The knight’s desperate cry that stopped him from stepping forward.

To keep that promise, the knight did what a knight must.

The mage did what a mage must.

Without blinking, he absorbs it all into his eyes.

His wide-open eyes bloodshot red.

[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance 1000 / 1000)]

Only after the large body of the knight collapses.

“Congratulations! You have reached the goal of the Hidden Trait ‘Violence Is Not Allowed!’ A hidden reward for the Hidden Trait will be granted.”

Hio closes his eyes.

“Skill – ‘Vampiric Touch’ has been selected.”

“Skill linked to the trait – Vampiric Touch’s effect will be dis…”

He pushes the message aside and drops his head deeply.

When he raises it again, what is revealed is—

“Skill – ‘Thunder Emperor’ is activated.”

His eyes burning white.

Lightning radiance encircling his body.

A thundercloud of wrath covering the battlefield.

The battlefield darkened in an instant by the gathering storm clouds.

Yet no one pays it any mind.

***

‘In a place where extreme excitement and terror rage, what harm is a little storm cloud?’

But.

KWAANG—!

A thunderclap pierces ears as if tearing them apart.

‘What if lightning strikes down?’

What if someone walks toward you with that lightning behind them?

“Step aside.”

The man appears with the sudden storm of lightning.

All eyes of the knights focus on him.

“What are you…!”

A knight who tries to speak is instantly blown to ashes.

“Skill user!”

“Everyone, draw your swords!”

The knights quickly grasp the situation and move in unison.

KWAANG—!

KWAANG~! KWAANG~! KWAANG~! KWAANG~!

But it is all to no avail.

The surroundings grow deathly silent.

Those barely out of the lightning’s range cover their mouths and sit down, forgetting even to breathe.

They remain frozen in place.

The man who brought the lightning walks slowly to lift a corpse.

A body brutally mutilated.

‘What so torments this man?’

Still unable to close its eyes, he carries the knight’s corpse.

Heading slowly to where his master sleeps.

He carefully lays the corpse down beside the carriage.

An arm severed, an ankle dangling, and more than a dozen broken sword fragments piercing the body.

He stands silently, examining each wound.

How it was sliced, how it was stabbed, how much it must have hurt.

He closes his eyes after a moment’s reflection.

[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance 89 / 1000)]

Endurance begins to grow again.

“So what.”

He casts it aside to a corner and opens his eyes once more.

His white eyes filled with lightning gaze toward the distant battlefield.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

***

When the information leaked?

‘When he handed the Grimoire of Evolution to Sylvia?’

‘When the three of them headed toward Yohn Torno’s Castle?’

Or was it the moment of their first meeting when such a ridiculous promise was made?

If only he had known it would be such a painful promise, he would never have made it.

If only he had ignored them until the end, treating them like people who were already dead.

Really… where did it all go wrong?

“…Hm? Answer me. What was the problem?”

His brilliant white eyes flash.

Creepy ashes scatter around.

Thunder rumbles low in the cloud-filled sky.

“D-d-do you know where this is…?!”

The hand gripping the sword trembles pitifully, but the knight guarding the First Prince desperately points his sword.

The man appeared like lightning.

Several bolts struck, and then the man appeared suddenly right before their eyes.

The First Prince’s escort knights quickly swung their swords, but—

This is the result.

The thunderbolts flashing down.

The acrid smell of burning.

Ashes swirling in the air.

Silence falls.

The only reason the knight survived was that he reacted the slowest.

The magical stone in his hand crumbles dryly as Hio walks past the knight before him.

The barracks vanish in the aftermath of the lightning.

The First Prince and the legion commanders who had been hiding like rats are fully exposed.

One of the braver among them leaps up from the collapsed heap and shouts at Hio.

“How dare you—! Do you know where this is?!”

And then—

KWAANG—!

That was his last word.

Without time to react, a bolt of lightning strikes down.

The brave man’s end leaves not even a corpse behind.

The white eyes, hard to believe human, sweep the area.

“Where is the source of the information?”

One noble meets that gaze but quickly looks away, barely able to speak.

“What do you mean…”

KWAANG!

More ashes fall.

The terrible burnt smell fills the air.

Hio’s eyes shift to the side.

“Who informed you?”

This time the one who meets his gaze is sharper-witted.

“I really don’t understand what you mean! Please make your questions more specific—”

The noble answers, bowing low.

KWAANG!

Lightning strikes again without fail.

‘A poor soul?’

‘Is there such a thing?’

Thousands, tens of thousands have died.

If they had won, the other side would have been killed just as thoroughly.

Surely they would not have come to the battlefield without that level of resolve.

“P-please spare m-me…”

KWAANG!

“Answer the question.”

No one answers.

No one dares to meet his eyes, instead burying their heads in the ground, trembling.

“I see.”

He had not expected anything else.

‘Would such a capable person handle things sloppily?’

So Hio motionlessly waves his hand.

Thunder roars in response, ears splitting.

A blinding white lightning shower.

A hellish instant passes.

Only three remain.

Hio, the First Prince, and an unknown knight.

The reason the First Prince was not killed was simple.

They needed proof that he was dead.

They had to bring back his worthless head to announce their defeat.

So Hio looks at the remaining knight.

“What’s your name?”

The knight’s face pales as much as his armor’s whiteness.

“P-P-Pablo… i-is my name…”

“Yes. Pablo.”

Hio nods slightly and points to the First Prince.

“Cut down the prince’s neck.”

Hearing that, the First Prince, Allenbert, loosens his hands from his head and shouts in desperation.

“How dare you! Do you even know who I am? I am the Crown Prince! The Empire’s Crown Prince!”

Veins bulging, spitting words in rage, Pablo steps toward Allenbert as if entranced.

“W-what are you doing?! I am the Empire’s noble… Crown Prince, Crown Prince!”

‘What use is all of that?’

Before overwhelming violence that crushes any will to resist, there is no reaction.

Before a terror that turns all it touches to ash, the Crown Prince is utterly insignificant.

So Pablo raises his sword high.

“I… I will become the Emperor of the Empire…!”

From his severed neck spurts blood.

Dripping red onto the knight’s white armor.

Not noble blood, just plain red blood.

Allenbert’s head rolls on the ground, trembling violently.

Hio laughs a meaningless laugh watching it.

A knight who cuts down his lord.

“Hahaha…

Isn’t he very different from the knights you know?”

The First Prince Allenbert’s head rolling on the ground.

“Get a grip.”

Only then does Furnel’s voice reach him.

“Shouldn’t we check on the princess first? Are you going to throw away all your endurance for nothing?”

A very fair point.

Why did Teordo risk his life?

“…Right.”

Hio digs into his pocket space and pulls out a mana stone, holding it in his hand.

With it comes the power of lightning, natural to wield.

When casting Thunder Emperor, mana leaks like from a sieve.

But it’s a top-tier skill worth that cost.

KWAANG—!

Becoming lightning itself, he strikes down beside the carriage.

He cancels Thunder Emperor and opens the skill window, which should have completed its evolution.

The power of the Hidden Trait to actually manifest the effect of Vampiric Touch.

Skill: Death God Summon

“Summons the god who governs death.”

“The Death God can control the life force of all living beings within a certain radius.”

“Summoning and maintaining the summon consumes no separate mana.”

“While the Death God is summoned, no skills can be used. The skill use restriction lifts 12 hours after the summon is dismissed.”

“Warning: The Death God’s scythe shows no mercy, not even to the summoner.”

“He has a rough understanding of what it is, a powerful skill accompanied by a balancing penalty that restricts skill use.”

“…I’ll check it later.”

The important point now is the third line.

It means he can control the life force of all living things within range.

He can finally draw out the deathly energy consuming Sylvia’s body.

“Death God.”

The Death God summon activates.

The view darkens further, centering on Hio.

The clouded sky grows even darker.

The air grows heavy.

And red eyes of the Death God suddenly appear.

They focus on Hio.