With her wings outspread, the black dragon took the lead, followed by the hundreds of wyverns, griffins, pegasi, and flying summoned creatures. Below, the rest of the army rode forth on their other means of transportation, such as their war horses, summoned creatures, earth spirits, and chariots.
The leader of the White Dragon Knights, Alchester, looked up into the sky as he rode on the back of his own barded steed.
He was looking up at the daughter of Raizakia, the demonic dragon whose name had become infamous starting from the era of war. Alchester didn’t know what exactly was going on between Raimira and Eugene. However, to Alchester, who was unaware of the true circumstances, the current sight above him felt both extremely awe-inspiring and symbolic. This was a child of the Demon Dragon Raizakia, but she had been influenced by the Hero and had now lent her wings for the sake of protecting the world.
According to what had been passed down through legend, dragons were both proud and arrogant. But such a dragon… was not only carrying the Hero on her back; she had also allowed dozens of other humans to ride along as well. As for the army that was following the dragon, this awesome and majestic sight at their head sent thrills down the spines of the entire Hauria Liberation Army.
Regardless of whether the upcoming battle was won or lost, everything that happened here would be recorded in legend. And as time went by, their story would eventually become a myth. So, all those present here were now a part of those legends and myths.
And the one that all of the legends would be written about — the protagonist of their story that would become part of the legends and myths — everyone in the Liberation Army was thinking of that Hero’s name.
“The Radiant Eugene Lionheart,” Carmen muttered once more.
That was the name she had unconsciously muttered when she first saw Eugene holding up the standard on the palace wall. Although that name had only been spoken in Carmen’s murmurs to herself, once this war had ended — if Eugene defeated the unnamed Demon King who had taken over Hauria City….
Then, everyone would end up calling Eugene by that name. Carmen would make sure that it happened.
He was the continuation of the legend from three hundred years ago, a descendant of the Great Vermouth.
“The Brilliant, Eugene Lionheart,” Carmen muttered with a cheerful smile.
Although her words were muttered in a low voice, the sound still managed to reach the ears of the Black Lions flying around her.
“It seems like she’s really taken with that name,” Dezra subtly leaned closer to Ciel and whispered.
Unlike in the past, Dezra now seemed accustomed to riding on a wyvern’s back.
Ciel’s eyes were boring holes into Raimira’s back. She pouted at Dezra’s quiet jibe and said, “You have to admit that he did look radiant.”
She recalled the sight of his figure standing tall with the light of dawn at his back, the Lionheart standard fluttering beside him….
Ciel unknowingly had to take a deep breath to calm herself. Her face felt flushed and hot.
‘What a severe case of lovesickness,’ Dezra thought as she clicked her tongue.
Seeing Ciel shake her head from side to side while clutching her red face caused Dezra to feel a mixture of distressed emotions. Her distress came from the fact this sight brought back memories of Shimuin and the appearance of Ciel crying through her swollen eyes.
“How about you fly a little closer?” a deep voice suddenly sounded from nearby.
The speaker was Gargith with his bulging muscles. Because his bulk was so large, the wyvern he was riding seemed smaller in comparison.
“It’s fine,” Ciel responded.
Gargith tried to persuade her, “But Lady Ciel—”
“I said it’s fine, so don’t say anything you don’t need to,” Ciel ordered.
Right now, it was still better for her to keep this distance. As she had this thought, Ciel raised her hands and slapped her cheeks. A tingling pain ran over her cheeks, which were still flushed with heat before the wind from their flight cooled her skin.
‘You’re not ready yet,’ Ciel told herself.
If she went over to him without having any confidence in herself or having finished the necessary preparations, she might just end up giving in to her greed to be with him. Ciel wanted to stand proudly at his side on her own merit, and she didn’t want to cause Eugene any embarrassment.
“Sir Eugene,” Raphael flew closer to Eugene on his steed, Apollo, a huge pegasus with two pairs of wings. “If you would grant me permission, I would like to fly ahead of the army to scout.”
Raphael was wearing a heavy suit of armor that didn’t seem to match well with his boyish appearance. However, the uniquely world-weary air that clung to him actually made his choice of outfit seem natural.
“There’s no need for that,” Eugene assured him.
The two pairs of wings and gigantic physique possessed by Raphael’s trusty steed, Apollo, were not innate to the beast. Apollo was a holy hybrid created through a combination of cross-breeding, magical biology, and holy magic. All the pegasi in Yuras’ Holy Beast Cavalry, who were currently flying along behind Eugene, were also holy hybrids.
Therefore, the pegasi of Yuras’ Holy Beast Cavalry were much stronger and faster than that of Shimuin’s Heavenly Beast Cavalry. In fact, among all the squadrons currently flying through the air around them, no other flying creature was faster than a pegasus from the Holy Beast Cavalry.
However, they still couldn’t be faster than one of Sienna’s spells.
“I’m grateful that you have volunteered on your own initiative, Lord Raphael, but the area ahead is already being scouted through the use of Lady Sienna’s spells,” Eugene explained.
“Alright, I understand,” Raphael said with a nod as he pulled on Apollo’s reins.
Raphael didn’t feel so strongly about his offer to help that he would stubbornly insist on going ahead with it no matter what, and he didn’t need any empty flattery from Eugene either.
There was only one thing that the Crusader desired. Raphael had wholeheartedly devoted himself, body and soul, to serving the Light.
‘The same goes for all of you as well,’ Raphael thought as he looked at the dozens of priests kneeling behind Eugene.
Each of these priests had been carefully chosen by the Saint herself from the Luminous Covenant, where they had previously been implanted with sacred relics or artificial miracles and turned into holy weapons. After they were picked to join the Graceful Radiance, these priests then received renewed instruction in holy magic and were given combat training by Raphael. Then, from this group, the most outstanding dozen or so had now been selected once more and had been entrusted with the duty of guarding Eugene’s back.
‘If any danger does come looking for Sir Eugene,’ Raphael narrowed his eyes at his former students.
They would need to protect Eugene, even if it meant offering up their own life to the Light. During the past year Raphael had spent instructing them, the most important thing he had imparted to them was the spirit of dedication. In the first place, the Graceful Radiance was a suicide squad that had been put together for the sole purpose of martyring themselves in the coming battles against the Demon Kings.
“I really hate that kind of thing,” Eugene said, with a sour expression, once Raphael had left them. “At first, I thought that they were just battlefield priests who had received advanced training to serve as a special unit that directly assisted the Saint… or at least that’s what you told me.”
“We’re not all that different,” Anise replied to Eugene in place of Kristina.
After the events at the Fount of Light, any relics and sacred weapons belonging to the Maleficarum that could be safely disposed of were taken care of. However, that still left the living biological weapons the Inquisition had created, and as living beings, they couldn’t just be disposed of like inanimate weapons, could they?
Eugene also thought there wasn’t any need to resort to such drastic measures. However, he had never expected that they would be repurposed into a suicide squad.
“The purpose of the Graceful Radiance’s existence is to serve me, the Saint. And the reason for my existence is to serve and protect you, the Hero,” Anise extrapolated.
There were many ears currently listening in. So, Anise didn’t try to persuade Eugene with a long argument.
She also didn’t feel like there was any need to do so. Suicide Squad was a new term that had only come into use in the past three hundred years. During the war, there was no need for such a term because everyone who had entered the Devildom had been prepared to sacrifice their lives for the mission.
Eugene was also aware of all this. When fighting against the Demon Kings, it was only natural to accept the likelihood of death. However, wasn’t there a difference between being ready to accept death and setting your death as the sole purpose of your entire existence?
“I just think that being prepared to die and setting your own death as your ultimate goal are two very different things,” Eugene tried to argue.
“In the end, whatever the case might be, it just means that they won’t run away in the face of death, not run towards it. Sir Hero, you should already know far too well just how terrible our enemies, the Demon Kings, are,” Anise said while staring at Eugene with a calm and relaxed gaze.
But Eugene could sense just how many complex emotions there were swirling in the depths of those eyes. No, there wasn’t even a need to try and sense it. That was just how well Eugene knew the woman named Anise Slywood.
“I know,” Eugene gravely responded.
The one who was feeling the most pain due to their circumstances was Anise, who had been the one to carefully select the members of the Graceful Radiance. As such, Eugene didn’t lay any of the blame for their mission on Anise.
“However, what I’m trying to say is that I hope there can be as few deaths as possible,” Eugene insisted.
“You’re quite the greedy person, Sir Hero. When you say things like that, it makes me slightly concerned that you might be taking the weight of your own life far too lightly,” Anise whispered back with a sly grin.
No matter what he said in response, he would end up being scolded. So Eugene just cleared his throat and avoided meeting her eyes.
“I’ve finished the scan,” Sienna suddenly spoke up. She had been concentrating with her eyes closed while standing atop Raimira’s head.
Although there was strong interference from the high density of dark power that awaited in front of them, Sienna’s Absolute Decree had managed to pierce through enemy lines to see what lay ahead.
“There are almost no life signs anywhere in the city. However… there is still a lot of movement being detected. You know what that means, right?” Sienna asked with a grave look on her face.
“The undead,” Eugene provided the answer with a furrowed brow.
“Amelia Merwin is the most masterful and powerful necromancer among all the black wizards who have ever existed throughout history,” Balzac chimed in. He had been standing among the Archwizards gathered behind Sienna. “Even though most of Hauria’s citizens were expelled, the number of corpses that were left behind by those who were caught in clash during the siege of the city must have numbered in the hundreds. If she raised the corpses in the city’s cemeteries as well… she may have formed a literal army of the undead.”
“The older the corpses, the weaker they are, so there’s no need to worry about the ones raised from the cemeteries,” Sienna said with a snort.
No matter how many ghouls or skeletons were stumbling around within the city, Sienna could sweep them all away with a single spell. The only truly tricky and troublesome opponents to deal with were the high-ranking undead.
“I can barely feel any life signs coming from the black wizards,” Sienna added with a frown.
“It seems that they’ve made quite the drastic choice,” Balzac muttered, the lenses of his glasses glinting as he pushed them back up his nose[1]. “I don’t believe there is any chance that the black wizards would abandon their advantage of having a secure base and leave the city to create a distraction. Yet even so, the fact that barely any life signs can be felt coming from them… that must mean that most of the black wizards are already dead.”
Now that things had come to this, purging the black wizards brought Amelia no benefits, so that meant….
“Liches,” Eugene spat out with a twisted scowl.
His disgust was due to the fact that he didn’t have even a single good memory associated with liches.
Liches were undead created from dead black wizards. Once a black wizard was transformed into a lich, they would gain great power and could not be put down unless their life vessel[2] was destroyed.
Of course, becoming a lich didn’t just come with only benefits. Even if one were transformed into a lich, most of one's human desires would still remain, so one would be forced to suffer from never being able to satisfy one's hunger and thirst. Also, it was said that if the lich’s life vessel was destroyed, they would never be able to reincarnate and would be forced to suffer in hell for the rest of their existence.
“What about the demonfolk?” Eugene inquired.
“I think they’re all gathered over by the royal palace. As for the demonic beasts… they seem to be outsi—hmm?” Sienna paused, her nose wrinkling in surprise.
After being silent for a few moments, Sienna let out a snort. She had yet to meet Amelia in person, but….
“How could there be such a crazy bitch?” Sienna said with complete sincerity.
Outside the Centipede Mountains, something huge was rising out of the desert. Sienna was immediately able to recognize what this giant figure was.
She immediately transmitted what she had just seen to Eugene.
The giant figure was one of Fury’s adopted children, Kamash, the Chieftain of the Giants.
Eugene also let out a snort as he nodded in agreement with Sienna, “She really is one crazy bitch.”
As Kamash rose out of the sand, spreading out from the center of his feet, the desert began to turn black. It was from this blackened sand that the demonic beasts began to rise.
Although they couldn’t be compared to the Centipede Mountains or Kamash, the demonic beasts were all large creatures that could tower over ordinary humans. On top of that, even the large army of undead that had just been roaming the city now reappeared in the desert.
Eugene reopened his eyes that he had closed while receiving the image from Sienna. Then he slowly walked over to stand next to Sienna. There was no longer any need to keep up the image transmission spell as Hauria was slowly drawing nearer.
In the distance, Eugene spotted the figure of Kamash just standing there quietly.
The flying squadrons following Raimira also noticed Kamash’s giant figure and relayed the information behind to the ground troops. Everyone couldn’t help but be shaken by the news that a giant had suddenly appeared ahead of them.
Giants were just as rarely seen as elves. The giants who didn’t join the Demon Kings’ side during the war had gone into hiding out of guilt or fear that they would be forced into a murderous rampage due to public persecution. All other giants were now living in small groups within the forest that had been granted to them in Helmuth.
“That is the giant that Vermouth and Hamel killed three hundred years ago,” Sienna’s voice was able to reach every member of the agitated army.
Just from her words alone, everyone was able to recall the name of this giant.
This was Kamash, the largest and strongest giant in all of history.
“Kyaaaah!” Melkith screamed in excitement at the sight of the gigantic Kamash.
The Spirit Summoners of the White Tower of Magic, who were following her, were frightened by her outburst and immediately tried to restrain her, but Melkith shook off all of their attempts and flew up into the sky.
“Sister! Allow me to take him down!” Melkith offered.
Apart from the Wise Sienna, there was still the question of who exactly was the strongest wizard among all the wizards of this era?
Melkith thought that this undead giant was the best opponent to prove and publicize the fact that the answer to that question was herself. If she proved herself by slaying Kamash, she might be able to bring the other Towers of Magic under the leadership of the White Tower of Magic and thus monopolize their research funding….
Though, in fact, rather than her ambitions for the White Tower of Magic, she was more motivated by her personal desire to show off the power she had gained from contracting three Spirit Kings.
Eugene was the one to reject Melkith, “No way.”
While stretching his neck from side to side and shaking his wrists, Eugene added, “I have to be the one to kill that giant.”
“What? Why!” Melkith yelped in protest.
“Hmm…,” Eugene paused in thought. “That thing was brought back to life because the founder of our clan didn’t finish him off properly, right? As such, I should be the one to finish things with him.”
Three hundred years ago, they had killed Kamash, but they hadn’t done anything to his body. They could never have expected that his corpse would disappear from the battlefield or that three hundred years later, Kamash would reappear right in front of them as an undead.
Eugene had no sympathy for Kamash, who had been raised as an undead. In the first place, Eugene and Kamash had never even exchanged a single meaningful conversation.
Their only history together was when Kamash had shown up leading a group of giants under his command and blocked Vermouth and Hamel’s way forward. They fought, and Kamash had died. The only words he had exchanged with Kamash at that time were… battle cries, screams, and insults… that sort of thing.
This guy was a bastard who deserved to die.
That had been the case three hundred years ago, and it was still the exact same case now. As for sympathizing with someone who had been resurrected as an undead, regardless of his own will, and granting him peace… such a thought had never once even crossed Eugene’s mind.
He had already killed this guy three hundred years ago. At that time, he had fought together with Vermouth. But Vermouth was no longer here.
“In that case, I’ll just have to be the one to kill you once more,” Eugene muttered wryly as he lowered his arms to his sides before saying to his companions, “I’ll be heading out first.”
“Is there a need for that?” Sienna asked in surprise. “Why don’t we just fly over together.”
“No way,” Eugene resolutely shook his head.
He turned to look behind him. Eugene noticed that Anise had a displeased expression on her face. The eyes of the Graceful Radiance’s priests sitting behind her shone brightly.
Whoosh!
Wings of black flames erupted from Eugene’s back.
“It’s too early for me to need your help,” Eugene informed them.
“Sir Eugene,” Anise protested.
“I’m just going to go and kill a giant. Why would I need your help already?” Eugene grumbled as he turned around.
Kamash wasn’t the only one waiting ahead in the desert. There were dozens of huge demonic beasts and the undead army as well. There might even be other demonfolk lying in ambush.
‘He probably won’t be able to recognize me,’ Eugene silently assessed Kamash.
It was only natural for that to be the case.
However, Kamash should be able to recognize Vermouth’s White Flame Formula. However, that might not be the case if this guy’s brain had completely rotted away until the giant had lost all sense of reason. But if he had even a sliver of consciousness left, there was no way that Kamash wouldn’t remember Vermouth’s flames.
After all, they were the flames that had killed him.
So if Kamash remembered those flames and recognized them….
…Would he really be able to stand still and wait for Eugene to arrive?
“I’ll be done by the time you get there,” Eugene promised as he took off into the sky.
Fwooosh!
The wings of Prominence flapped in the air. Black flames enveloped Eugene’s whole body. Soon, Eugene had transformed into a black comet that pierced through the sky.
***
His head was fuzzy.
Right now, the only thing that he knew was what kind of state he was in. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but….
‘I… died…,’ Kamash slowly thought to himself.
What had happened to the followers he had taken with him to bring down the humans’ walls? What had happened to his siblings? His father, what had happened to his father?
It wasn’t like Kamash didn’t have such thoughts. However, he wasn’t driven to find the answers to these questions. Amelia had made it so he couldn’t muster up the urge to follow those idle thoughts. All that Kamash could focus on was the memory from the moment that he died. It was a memory of how he had died and who had killed him.
Amelia didn’t think that anything else was necessary. There was no need for any elaborate memory and personality manipulation like what had gone into creating Hamel’s Death Knight. While making Kamash into an undead, all Amelia wanted from him was simple, overwhelming violence. Therefore, any emotions that weren’t needed to supply such violence had been suppressed.
The reason Kamash’s head was so cloudy was that there was a void left in his emotions. He had the memories but none of the emotions that should have accompanied them.
When he recalled the memories of his siblings and father, the current Kamash couldn’t feel any of the corresponding emotions of longing, worry, or sadness.
The only memory that did spark something was the memory of what he had seen prior to his death — a flurry of slashes, a non-stop barrage of attacks, various different weapons, and…
…Those flames.
Kamash slowly began to stir.
The memory was growing stronger. It had touched on something deep within him. A light began to shine inside Kamash’s cloudy head. This light became a bolt of lightning that lit up his confused consciousness and caused his body to react.
Boom.
Kamash began walking forward. Slowly, ever so slowly, his face began to show an expression in reaction to that memory.
As his face twisted into a grimace, Kamash glared up at the sky.
“Vermouth,” Kamash growled.
The flames were still approaching.
“Hamel,” the King of the Giants spat out his enemy’s names with hatred.
1. Fun fact: This is a trope seen often in anime and manga; the Scary Shiny Glasses. You can look it up by this name on tvtropes.com. ☜
2. The original text uses the English words ‘life vessel’ instead of the more esoteric phylactery. ☜