The Uklas Mountain Range lined the southernmost border of the Kiehl Empire. This rugged, mountainous border had been guarded by the Black Lion Knights of the Lionheart clan for the past three hundred years.
Up until now, the Black Lion Knights had prevented all attempts made to cross the border by the barbarians from the Samar Rainforest. Even if they did receive some support from the Empire’s border defense army to do so, the Black Lions couldn’t help but be overwhelmingly busy as they had to juggle their duties with handling the Lionheart clan’s internal matters as well as keeping up the training of their knightly order.
However, starting from next month, they would have much more leeway with their time than they had ever had before. This was because the hundreds of tribes living within the gigantic Samar Rainforest would be integrating into a single Greater Tribe.
The Zoran Tribe.
It was a large tribe that had been competing for hegemony within the Samar Rainforest from the very beginning of the tribe’s history. The young, twenty-three-year-old Chief of the tribe, Ivatar Zahav, had succeeded the position of tribal chief just two years ago. Ivatar had then destroyed the Kochilla tribe, which had been spreading chaos throughout the forest at that time, and had erected the Zoran tribe’s flagpole on their former enemy’s territory.
This incredible feat wasn’t accomplished by Ivatar and the Zoran alone. The Zorans were able to win their war against the Kochillas because of the help they received from the Hero Eugene Lionheart, Saint Kristina Rogeris, and the Tower Masters of Aroth.
However, it was Ivatar who had personally gone to the Lionhearts to look for their help. The warriors of the rainforest had recognized the young Great Chief’s power and wisdom and had submitted themselves to him, voluntarily tattooing the Zoran tribe’s markings onto their bodies.
Two years after that, the Zoran tribe, led by their Great Chief Ivatar, managed to achieve something that no person or tribe in the entire history of the Rainforest had ever achieved, a grand unification of all the tribes in the forest. Ivatar also established new laws for the Rainforest and declared that his people would never attempt to invade the Kiehl Empire by crossing the Uklas Mountain Rage.
‘The Great Chief, Ivatar Jahav,’ a man frowned thoughtfully.
The declaration hadn’t just been empty words. Ivatar had publicly revealed his friendship with Eugene Lionheart and expressed his respect for the Lionheart clan and the Kiehl Empire. This had taken place at an exchange of ideas during the banquet in Shimuin a year ago.
‘He has a backbone that is almost unbelievable for someone of only twenty-three years of age. If he had been born at any other time, he could have aimed to become the protagonist of the era,’ the man admitted.
With such youthful spirit, ambition, and fate, Ivatar could have eventually climbed out of the forest and attempted to conquer the entire continent. However, Ivatar wouldn’t be able to reach such a heaven-defying fate.
Because the protagonist of today’s era wasn’t Ivatar.
Such were the thoughts of Klein Lionheart, the Head of the Council for the Lionheart clan. Klein Lionheart didn’t have the slightest doubt about the previous statement. Even someone other than Klein would have given the same response when asked, ‘Who was the current protagonist of the continent, no, of the entire era?’
It was the Hero, Eugene Lionheart.
Since Eugene was born into the world, the era had begun to change. The changes brought about by Eugene had left their mark on the most recent pages of history. If Eugene had not arrived in this world, the continent wouldn’t have been able to survive until this day.
‘The reason that the Zorans were able to conquer the entire Rainforest is also thanks to the help that Eugene gave them in their war against the Kochillas. So the Zoran are willing to make an alliance with the Lionhearts and Kiehl… is also because of Eugene,’ Klein mused.
In land area alone, the Rainforest could rival an empire, and it was impossible to estimate the exact number of the tribal natives who lived in the rainforest while rejecting more advanced forms of civilization. The native inhabitants of the rainforest were truly savages.
Or at least, that had been the case until now. Ivatar wanted peace with Kiehl. He had also expressed his intention to slowly adopt civilization while avoiding crossing the line that would force the tribes to resist his efforts.
Ivatar also hoped to have various exchanges with the Lionheart clan.
Klein had no reason to refuse him. The Lionheart clan was a martial clan with three hundred years of history. At the same time, it was the sole lineage left by the continent’s last Hero and was also the family to which the current hero, Eugene, belonged. When the time came for Eugene to battle against the Demon King of Incarceration, the Lionhearts would raise their swords for Eugene and stand at the frontline of the battle.
They were also in a situation where a war with Nahama was imminent. Even after devoting most of their time to training, it still felt like that wasn’t enough, but with the Zoran tribe uniting the Rainforest, that would free up the time usually spent guarding the border. In addition to that, the Great Chief Ivatar was making a personal visit to the Black Lion Castle while leading his most elite warriors to take part in some joint training with the Black Lion Knights.
As a warrior, Klein was pleased to see this take place, but he still let out a reluctant sigh, “If, at all possible, I had hoped that something like this would only happen after I was already dead….”
Klein had never once intended to become the Head of the Council. Klein had always seen himself living a leisurely and peaceful retirement in his later years, then either dying at an appropriate age or going into seclusion.
“Don’t spout such weak words, Klein,” Carmen, standing next to him with her arms crossed, shot him a glare.
Initially, she and the Third Division, which she led, were meant to be stationed at the main estate along with Gion and his Fifth Division, but they had arrived here today at the Black Lion Castle to serve as Ivatar's opponents.
Unlike Klein, who, despite his muscular appearance, was sporting gray in his hair and beard, Carmen maintained a perfectly youthful body and face. If anyone who didn’t know the actual situation were to look at Carmen and Klein, they would think that the two were grandfather and granddaughter.
However, the two were actually siblings. Moreover, Carmen was even Klein’s older sister. Currently, Carmen was the most senior elder of the Lionheart clan, and even including the collateral lines, there were very few people who were older than Carmen.
As such, by all rights, Carmen should have become the Head of the Council, but she had insisted that she would not be stepping down from her active duty as a Black Lion and had instead shoved the honor of becoming the Head of the Council onto her younger brother, Klein.
“Subjugating all of the Demon Kings was the will of our founding ancestor, the Great Vermouth, and the mission of our Lionheart Clan. To think that you wouldn’t feel grateful and honored to have lived to see the era in which our mission will finally be fulfilled, and are instead letting out such weak words. Can you even still call yourself the younger brother of the Silver Lion and the Head of the Council for the Lionheart clan?” Carmen scolded as her golden eyes flashed dangerously.
As befitting of a younger brother who had been tormented by Carmen ever since their childhood, Klein hunched his shoulders and said, “Sister, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just, if at all possible—”
Carmen silenced him, “Shut up, Klein.”
“...,” Klein meekly obeyed.
Carmen frowned, “Could it be that your heart really hasn’t been set pounding by the turbulence of this era? In my case, I am glad that I can help fulfill the Lionheart clan’s mission while I am still in my prime. I’m also excited to be able to see a Hero like our founding ancestor with my own eyes and even more excited to be able to fight the Demon Kings along with him.”
“...,” Klein stayed silent.
“Together with the Hero, I will be able to complete my path as a true knight. After we finish chastising Nahama, which has been led astray by the evil of black magic, we will eventually battle against the Demon King of Incarceration. My blood boils when I imagine raising the Lionheart flag high over the battlefield once everything is over,” Carmen said excitedly.
“...,” Klein didn’t respond.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Carmen demanded. “How dare you ignore me when I’m speaking.”
“But you’re the one who told me to shut up, big sis—.” Struck by Carmen’s piercing glare, Klein quickly changed the subject, “To think that my great-grandnephew would turn out to be the Hero! I can’t believe that he’s already defeated a Demon King! I still can’t help but wonder if this is a dream.”
“If I hit you, you should be able to tell right away whether or not this is a dream,” Carmen threatened.
“Big sis, please take my age into consideration—” Klein suddenly stopped talking.
It wasn’t because he had sensed anything strange but because he had noticed a change in Carmen’s expression.
“...Big sis?” Klein tentatively questioned.
Carmen’s face was so stiff that it was hard to believe they had just been conversing casually.
But Carmen wasn’t the only one who managed to feel it .
As Ciel felt a creepy and ominous feeling wash over her, she instinctively covered her left eye with one hand, “...?”
It felt like something was writhing around inside of her eye. In fact, something that looked like black ink was staining the whites of her left eye, but Ciel didn’t have the time to pay any attention to what color her eye currently was.
Ciel had felt this current sensation somewhere before.
It was from when they were still at sea, during the subjugation of the Demon King of Fury. Ciel was reminded of when she had followed Eugene after his consciousness was engulfed by the rampaging Moonlight Sword and what she had seen within that mysterious void.
Something was coming.
Apart from Carmen and Ciel, the number of people who had sensed the ominous presence approaching them increased one by one.
‘Just what… is that?’ Cyan, the prospective Patriarch of the Lionheart clan, wondered.
Even without taking into account his current position within the family, Cyan happened to have a personal connection with Ivatar. He had also been interested in the joint training that was about to take place between the Zoran tribe’s warriors and the Black Lions. Cyan had been feeling frustrated because he was finding it difficult to overcome the barrier between him and the Fifth Star of the White Flame Formula, which had led him to be present in the Black Lion Castle at this moment.
But Cyan didn’t waste any time with any pathetic notions of regret at having to come here today. Instead, Cyan had a different thought.
While clutching at his pounding chest, Cyan’s head spun to the side, and he shouted, “I-immediately request support from the main estate.”
Cyan had given this order to a Black Lion who was stationed nearby.
But was there really any meaning to requesting support from the main estate?
Among the forces currently stationed at the main estate, the strongest were Gilead, the Patriarch of the family, and Gion, the Captain of the Fifth Division. Both were experts who had managed to reach the Seventh Star of the White Flame Formula.
But even if they managed to arrive in time, would they really be able to face that ominous presence? Even if they brought the entire order of the Knights of the White Lion with them, Gilead and Gion still wouldn’t be a match for that thing.
However, once they received a request for support from the Black Lion Castle, the main estate would immediately report the emergency to Sienna in Aroth.
As long as the Wise Sienna managed to arrive in time with the other Archwizards….
Cyan gasped for breath as he readied Geddon’s Shield and the Devouring Sword Azphel to defend himself.
The Black Lion Castle was also accessible by warp-gate. How much time would it take for the main estate to react to the request for support and send help back through the warp-gate? There was no way of knowing. But even so, Cyan had no intention of turning and fleeing immediately.
He was the future Patriarch of the Lionheart Clan. He was the brother of the Hero, Eugene Lionheart.
‘There is no way that I could do something so shameful as to run away in fear,’ Cyan thought to himself.
Everyone present had the same thoughts as Cyan. They couldn’t tell what exactly it was, but they could all sense that something disturbing, terrifying, and ominous was approaching them. However, not a single person threw down their weapons and tried to run away. It was the unity brought about by their shared name as the Lionhearts that led all of the Black Lions to ready their weapons.
“If you want to run away, then go ahead and do so,” Ivatar spat out as he suppressed the urge to gasp for breath.
He and the warriors from the Zoran tribe weren’t a part of the Lionheart clan. However, what was more important than that fact was the pride that they all held in being ‘warriors.’ He might currently be occupying the position of Great Chief of the Samar Rainforest, but Ivatar believed his identity as a warrior came before his identity as the Great Chief.
In the end, every single one of the hundreds of knights and warriors currently present chose not to flee despite the mysterious and ominous presence they sensed approaching them.
‘When will it strike?’
‘From which direction?’
‘And how will it attack?’
Nothing could be seen with the naked eye. The only thing they could make out was that the ‘ominous’ sensation grew stronger as it gradually drew closer. They still couldn’t be sure where the sensation was even coming from.
The mysterious presence suddenly manifested itself.
A figure appeared in the skies above the forest that was going to be used as the site for the Lionheart and Zoran tribe’s joint training. It was currently night, with the sun having already set. So when the figure suddenly manifested itself, standing in the middle of the night sky and surrounded by a fog-like gray mist, it stood out against the bright canvas of the sky illuminated with countless stars and the radiant moon.
The figure was revealed to be that of a tall, well-built man. However, there was no way to make out his face. This was because the man was wearing a white mask that covered his whole face. The only facial feature that could be made out was his dull, sunken eyes.
Everyone’s hearts were pounding.
Nothing had actually happened yet. The only thing that had happened was that someone suddenly appeared standing in the night sky. Yet, even so, everyone below felt their heart begin to race violently. They even felt like they might just collapse onto the ground without even realizing it.
Carmen gritted her teeth. She had felt this sensation once before.
When they faced the Demon King of Fury while at sea, her body had frozen in terror, and she was unable to move properly. Carmen had vowed that she would never again allow herself to be overcome with terror when facing such a demon, however….
‘Just what even… is he?’ Carmen wondered.
The aura of power around the man was such that it made even the Demon King of Fury seem laughable. It felt like dark power, but there was something foreign about it.
No… was that really the case? It wasn’t truly unfamiliar, either. It reminded Carmen of when Eugene had used the Moonlight Sword.
‘No, it’s different,’ Carmen realized.
This feeling was far worse.
If it had been at any other time, Carmen would have been far more focused on that pure white mask, but the current Carmen didn’t have the mental capacity to spare for such thoughts.
Fwooosh!
White flames engulfed Carmen. These were the flames of the Eighth Star of the White Flame Formula, the highest level that any of the Lionhearts had been able to achieve since their founding ancestor, Vermouth.
Carmen pulled her pocket watch out from her vest. In her head, she could picture her subsequent movements. She would leap up towards him and attack while shouting the same thing she always did, ‘Form change.’
But she wasn’t able to do any of that. This was because the figure, which had been floating in the sky just moments ago, had at some point arrived right in front of Carmen.
This was the specter’s first time seeing Carmen in person.
However, he knew who she was. Ever since he had first been resurrected as a Death Knight and had become possessed with a desire for revenge against his former comrades, he had been gathering information about the Lionheart clan, those who had inherited Vermouth’s blood.
‘Carmen Lionheart,’ the specter recalled.
With the exception of Eugene, Carmen was said to be the most skilled expert in the entire clan. It would seem that such an assessment had been made without any exaggeration. If faced with such a level of skill before he had become the Incarnation of Destruction, he would surely have struggled.
‘Was I really that weak?’ the specter asked himself.
As the specter raised his hand, Carmen was left without any time to even shout ‘form change.’
Clickclickclick!
But at the same time that Carmen suddenly swung a punch at him, the pocket watch transformed into a heavy gauntlet around her fist. The wind pressure and flames released by the force of her fist pushed away the nearby Klein.
As Carmen’s gray hair fluttered in the air, the flames around her expanded. Her punches were launched one after another. Carmen then leaped towards the flames she had just expelled, and the scattered flames of the White Flame Formula, which had been fluttering around her like a lion’s mane, were pulled back towards Carmen once more.
Tchtchtchk!
The gauntlet’s form shifted. Carmen’s fist, which had grown so large that it seemed out of balance with the rest of her body, pierced through the flames.
Booooom!
‘What a heavy blow,’ the specter observed.
Carmen’s outstretched fist had made contact with something. However, there was no sensation of having damaged or broken the object she had struck. It was like she had hit a wall that could never be broken. Instead, it felt like the fist she had used to hit him would be the first to break. But that didn’t prevent Carmen from pulling her fist back for another attempt.
“Transform,” Carmen said as pure white light erupted from the exact center of the Black Lions’ dress uniform that Carmen was wearing.
Snick!
Light that was as sharp as a razor tore through the uniform. This intense light enveloped Carmen’s whole body.
This was the transformation sequence for one of Shimuin’s greatest assets, a magic set of armor that had been made using a part of a Dragonheart, the Exid. On top of that, Carmen’s exclusive set of armor had been reinforced by Gondor and the other dwarven craftsmen using the scales and leather of Raizakia.
“White Flame Dragon,” Carmen shouted as her transformation came to an end.
Now wearing a black and silver colored Exid, Carmen raised her left fist while her right fist was still extended. Initially, while her right hand was equipped with the Heaven Genocide, her left hand wasn’t wearing any equivalent piece of equipment.
But that was no longer the case after she had transformed. The Lion-Dragon’s left arm seemed to transform into the left arm of the Demon-Dragon, as Carmen’s arm was wrapped in flames of pure mana. The nails of her left hand were now sharp enough to match the power of Heaven Genocide.
Carmen’s eyes flashed as her Demon Dragon’s left arm was shot forward. The flames amplified by the Dragonheart created the image of a massive dragon around her fist.
Boooooom!
With a loud explosion, the specter’s body flew backward.
In fact, it was possible for him to have withstood the blow — without flying backward or even dodging the attack — but the specter hadn’t chosen to do so.
He had seen what Carmen Lionheart was capable of. That was enough for now. The specter halted the flight of his body and landed on the ground.
“That’s how it is, hm?” the specter muttered.
Right as the specter landed on the ground, a surge of killing intent, along with actual attacks, came flying at him from all directions.
The specter continued to muse, “So these are the descendants of Vermouth.”
This was the Lionheart clan.
The fact that not a single person had tried to escape brought a smile to the specter’s face.