No Compromise

Luri entered the inner castle and saw a dimly lit room.

Even a complete idiot could tell after moving a little farther that this space had been created by magic.

Her silver cat’s-eye pupils faced straight ahead.

Luri briefly planted her feet on the floor and rested her axe on her shoulder.

It did not seem as though she would reach the end by continuing in one direction.

If she had merely been walking on the ground, she would certainly have said so.

“Tormenta.”

-Yes.

The high-ranking wind spirit, capable of speaking human language, obediently answered her.

It was a rare sight no spirit tamer could witness.

It was wrapped around her body in case her connection to the spirit was severed.

“It seems this space has been distorted.”

-Yes. It appears to be an area created by death.

“Can you find its source?”

A spirit was a mysterious creature made of magic.

It could sense things that even humans and dragons found difficult to perceive.

-I will gladly be your eyes.

Upon hearing that, Luri floated back into the air.

“Do not dawdle.”

The Silverwing Mobile Brigade.

It was the strongest, but also the fastest.

At that moment, Luri became a silver comet, a wind that sliced through everything in sight.

She did not cut through everything indiscriminately.

Her reaction speed and dynamic vision were sharp enough to distinguish the allied forces from the demons.

Countless kingdom soldiers and stragglers could only stare down at the monsters and demons that had become corpses, unaware that they had been saved.

‘That…….’

Even so, one group caught Luri’s attention.

Two women were calmly walking through the space.

One wore a tattered robe, while the other had narrow eyes that made it impossible to tell whether they were open or closed.

‘Were there people like that here?’

She had seen many people while standing guard beside Ferda,

but more than anything, they gave her a powerful impression.

Were they enemies or allies?

After thinking for a moment, Luri ultimately decided to pass them by.

The silver comet moved without pause.

She was fast enough to travel from the Far East to the Empire in five minutes.

Maintaining that speed, she rounded countless corners and finally arrived at the source.

It took her three hours to find it.

Mages operating the Red Circles had gathered in one place and were drawing out mana.

All of them had their gazes fixed on a single point.

Seeing their reaction, Luri reflexively closed her eyes.

The trauma was here.

As a seasoned warrior, she could see the surrounding landscape as clearly with her eyes closed as if they were open.

She recalled the place where their gazes converged and swung her axe toward it with a great sweep.

Squelch!

It was the sound of a juice-filled fruit bursting.

Luri landed on the floor while avoiding the shower of bodily fluids.

A reaction immediately followed.

“Aaaaaah!!”

“My king!”

“It hurts! It hurrrrrts!!”

Their joy collapsed into screams of agony.

Their screams sounded as if they had fallen into the depths of Hell.

Luri could sense it.

The mana that had been blazing within the Circles was gradually fading and breaking apart.

Those who had been screaming and howling collapsed while coughing up blood.

Some, unwilling to die like dogs, set their own bodies aflame and charged at Luri.

“May there be emptiness for the king!!”

Their red eyes blazed as they turned their bodies into bombs.

Of course, to Luri, it was nothing more than a meaningless gesture, and she dealt with them in an instant.

A short while later, she felt the space collapsing.

Luri opened her eyes.

Within the red space, a gruesome scene came into view.

Her heart felt heavy.

But it was something that had to be done.

‘Lord Ferda.’

She had to find Ferda.

Luri had made a promise to Valdrova.

She had promised to return him home in one piece.

As Valdrova’s servant, she could not disappoint her.

Even though she thought that, she was not being driven solely by a sense of duty.

Luri was genuinely worried about Ferda.

She did not want to lose him.

‘Let’s move.’

Luri steeled herself and moved.

But as always, an obstacle stood in her way.

“As expected of someone from Silverwind. I can’t believe you intend to break through that barehanded.”

It was Gokma.

He tore through space and stood before Luri.

At that moment, her body moved reflexively.

It was an action that came before she could even understand what was happening.

She had resolved to kill Gokma the moment she saw him, because she had no intention of speaking with him and wanted to leave him no room to maneuver.

That single-minded resolve made her move incredibly fast, but she failed to cut Gokma.

She had cut him perfectly, but his body had been replaced with another human’s.

Gokma was also a member of Legion and had become immortal.

“I understand perfectly that you have no desire to talk. It is not a matter that requires conversation anyway.”

The space around Luri twisted.

The shock waves caused by the area tightening and loosening tried to blow away parts of Luri’s body.

But she possessed the dynamic vision and judgment to perceive them, along with the speed to evade them.

Even so, she could not display the same aggression she had shown during their first encounter.

‘Trauma.’

The anxiety that the eye might burst out from anywhere at any time was etched into her mind.

She had vowed to escape even if she encountered it, but actually facing it would be no different from placing her neck on an executioner’s block.

She had to avoid it somehow.

Even so, Gokma was steadily being cut apart by Luri’s axe.

Whenever that happened, he reappeared, and Luri repeated the process of cutting him down again and again.

The battle was overwhelmingly in Gokma’s favor.

Gokma already knew the weakness that could bring Luri down.

He was also adept at devising schemes to draw her into the fight.

Just as Luri grew sick of the human form she had cut countless times and became accustomed to it,

just as she thought that the one she was cutting this time was merely another of countless sacrifices, Gokma exploited her weakness.

“Urgh!”

Where a head should have been, there was a huge eye.

It pierced into Luri’s mind and plunged her into her memories of regret in an instant.

‘Damn it, again……!’

Luri staggered.

But unlike the first time, she tried to resist.

Since she had something precious to her right now, she tried to abandon the past.

But the past was something she could not escape.

The past seemed to whisper that.

Soon, countless eyes surrounded Luri, hemming her in so she could not escape.

Boom!

A deafening explosion rang out.

All the illusions Luri had seen vanished, leaving behind only liquid and fragments.

Beside her was something resembling two rod-shaped barrels bound together.

A magitech shotgun.

The shotgun also had a golden hue, unlike the ones used by the knights.

Only one person could use a golden shotgun.

Alberto, the moving fortress.

“So it was you, Alberto. I almost failed to recognize you without that armor.”

“……”

He was wearing heavy cavalry armor unlike his usual armor, but the enormous club in his hands was like an extension of himself.

“I have dropped countless humans and creatures into my space. Nine times out of ten—no, ninety-nine times out of a hundred—they feel helpless and give up.”

“……”

“And yet, no matter how many times I drop you, you never seem able to shake it off. How ironic.”

“……”

“Why are you so obsessed with me?”

He did not answer.

Instead, he raised the shotgun he was holding.

Boom!

A human body, its form shattered by bright-red blood and chunks of flesh.

Gokma appeared from a distant spot.

“Since you’ve come this far, I suppose you deserve a reward too.”

Gokma’s gaze changed.

The aura that had been scattered by his carefree demeanor was sucked into the center of his body, as though a vacuum had formed.

His red pupils emitted a strange light, and the air turned cold.

Luri’s mind raced through the possibilities.

At first, she had considered leaving Gokma to Alberto while she went to find Ferda.

But after seeing that gaze, she had no choice but to change her mind.

‘I have to keep this man pinned down somehow.’

With that in mind, she readjusted her grip on her axe and released Dragon Fear at him.

Gokma was no longer smiling.

“I’ll entertain you all for a while.”

* * *

Ureas had been revived.

Within Gamigin’s domain, he had regained his form through the power of a necromancer.

After death, his body had become unrestrained.

His form could no longer be called human.

Where his legs should have been, tentacles writhed and stretched freely, toying with his opponent.

“Gaaaaah!”

The green flames possessed fearsome power.

Even when they merely brushed against skin or armor, the green flames grew uncontrollably and devoured everything.

The battle, which had been overwhelmingly in Count Rooster’s favor, turned in an instant.

Even when Count Rooster’s silver sword cut him apart again and again, Ureas could not be killed after becoming ash and losing his physical body.

One knight risked his life and charged in, driving a holy relic into Ureas’s heart once more.

“In Alte’s name, I shall purify you, you filthy monster……ah?”

Ureas’s body seemed to scatter into ash, but unlike before, it did not collapse and instead regained its form.

-Kehahahaha!! What a pathetic parlor trick!!

Ureas burst into laughter as though mocking the knight.

Then, as if to show off, he grabbed the holy relic and drove it back into the man’s heart.

“The holy relic……!?”

“What kind of monster is he……!?”

Even Count Rooster’s once-relaxed eyes were no longer the same.

Now they had to risk their lives to face the monster.

Now was his chance.

Ferda tried to use the opening to escape.

“Don’t let the Regent escape!”

Even in the midst of the battle, Count Rooster did not let Ferda go.

The sect’s holy relics were not limited to those driven into the chest.

He took out the items he had prepared for another plan one by one.

It was oil—holy oil blessed by Alte.

When the torch coated with holy oil caught fire, golden flames sprang up.

Ferda’s shadow completely lost its power.

‘Damn it.’

That was the problem with Barbatos’s shadow arts.

They displayed tremendous power when used covertly, but were far too weak in a direct fight.

But if one prepared a way to counter them and forced them into a direct fight, they became utterly powerless.

But Ferda was a mage.

Mages were the sort who could escape as long as they could move their fingers and mouths.

Besides, Ferda had survived to the end despite enduring every kind of malice thrown at him.

Ferda concentrated the magic aura surrounding his body in front of himself and shaped it into a shield.

Then he shaped the mana gathered in his staff into the form of a huge bomb.

Then he slammed it hard toward himself.

Boom!

As a result, Ferda’s body was pushed backward, allowing him to shake off the soldiers pursuing him.

Using one’s own attack magic as propulsion was a foolish act.

A mage’s body was not as sturdy as a knight’s, and rolling only three times would cost him at least one bone.

But Ferda had no need to do that.

No sooner had he escaped the flames of the holy oil than Ferda’s body melted into the shadows.

“Regent Ferda used black magic!!”

“Regent Valdrova is a devil worshiper! Show no mercy!”

Everyone was watching, but there was nothing he could do now.

With the holy oil’s flames having nullified his shadow, the only path left was to evade them.

Ferda had to keep moving while avoiding their pursuit.

‘At times like this, what I need is…….’

Luri came to mind reflexively.

What was she doing?

He remembered the way she had steeled herself for battle with those young eyes.

She was reassuring, but he could not help worrying that she might be crushed under the weight.

‘Zed and Arwen…….’

The two of them possessed decent swordsmanship and abilities.

Zed, in particular, had the distinctive eyes of the Red-Eyed Tribe and would be the most effective at breaking through this situation.

He wished he had even those two with him.

‘I’ve grown weak too.’

It was hard to believe that Ferda, who had once believed nothing in the world could be trusted, had come to think this way.

Ferda steeled himself.

Only he could overcome this situation, and he had to believe that.

Relying on luck would lead to death.

Ferda moved.

‘Where should I go once I get out of here?’

Should he kill the sacrifices to weaken King Heinkel?

Or should he charge straight into the audience chamber and attack?

‘The latter would be suicide.’

At the very least, a breakthrough would only be possible with Luri, Zed, and Arwen there.

His priority was to weaken King Heinkel’s power as much as possible.

Just as he was thinking this and about to leave,

“R-Regent Ferda……?”

Someone recognized Ferda and called out to him.

When he turned his head, he saw a knight leaning against the wall, barely clinging to life.

“Who are you?”

“A kingdom knight from the allied army……”

“Your comrades?”

“They’re all dead…… and soon I’ll…… join them…….”

“I see.”

As Ferda tried to leave again, the knight grabbed his wrist.

He called out in a desperate voice.

“King Heinkel is dead…… We were able to seize victory using all the holy relics. But…… but the problem is……! It didn’t end with his death!”

“What do you mean?”

“Save the king…… in the audience chamber…… they…… If you’re late……”

The knight died before he could finish speaking.

Ferda put the sect’s symbol, which the corpse carried, into its mouth so that the corpse could not be revived.

‘King Heinkel is dead?’

Was he really dead?

Ferda could not imagine that the man who had turned everyone in his domain into batteries would die so easily.

‘But he said something was happening after his death…….’

Could King Heinkel be bait?

Like Ureas, Gamigin’s black magic grew stronger and more vicious after death.

‘I can’t be complacent.’

He had to take the risk.

Ferda moved toward the audience chamber.

The monsters and demons moved to block Ferda, but they were no match for him.

At last, he arrived at the audience chamber and opened the door.

As the knight had said, traces of a fierce battle were scattered throughout the audience chamber.

Those who had once been called elite soldiers had been slammed into the walls, torn apart, and left sprawled across the floor as their bodies grew cold.

All of them had likely come running to protect the king and his ideals.

Did they know?

That their deaths were fading away in vain upon the faded carpet.

“Die!”

“The book is mine!”

“You think I’ll hand it over to trash like you!”

The kings who had survived to the very end were stabbing daggers into one another.

There was no swordsmanship or combat technique meant to exploit an opponent’s openings.

They merely rolled their eyes back and repeatedly plunged daggers into each other’s bodies.

There were four kingpins.

They were one space apart.

There was no compromise.