Leo swallowed hard as he felt the madness filling the air.
"Defend the city!" someone shouted.
"Keep the last refuge of mankind from the enemy's hands!" another cried.
They had been inside Glory for barely thirty minutes. Because the place showed no proper fortifications, the expedition had expected only light resistance, but the scene before them was nothing like they'd imagined.
The enemies weren't only demons. Human knights were swinging their blades with desperate ferocity, elves hid between buildings firing arrows, and dwarves operated massive war engines. The forces waiting in Glory far exceeded the expedition's worst estimates.
"Swing wide to the right and advance!"
"We must disrupt their formation."
"Mages and the dwarven artillery brigade, target their lines! Aim for where the demons mass!"
Even the expedition's elites were flustered.
A brutal fight had begun. It was kill or be killed. The foes in the city fought with unmatched savagery, and the expedition matched them blow for blow. Demons and demonic monsters howled as they assaulted the buildings. Under Halo's, Zerath's, and the Pirate Queen's coordinated commands, the expedition's best split into three columns to break the enemy's defenses.
"Die, you devils!" Leo roared.
He stared at a knight swinging his sword at him and took a long breath. The knight's blade thrummed with mana. The aura it released was chilling—clearly above 7-Star in power.
"I don't feel sorry," Leo said.
Zzzzzkt!
The mana flowing from him flooded the knight, freezing him solid.
Crack!
Leo didn't hesitate. He swung his sword, and the frozen knight shattered like a statue and scattered into shards.
There was no guilt. The situation had been too urgent for remorse.
I can't become a burden, Leo thought.
He knew the man before him could have had a reason, but that didn't change anything. They were simply fighting to protect what they loved. The expedition fought for the future, and their enemies fought to defend the last fragment of their world. There was no clean line between good and evil here.
If I hesitate, my comrades will be hurt, Leo thought.
He had to kill or be killed.
War was always miserable, no matter how one dressed it up with words like honor or pride. Leo wasn't a child who couldn't distinguish such things. He had to do his part. With the power he'd gotten through his fortune, he wanted to save at least one more comrade.
So Leo called out, "Rigor, release all your strength."
"Already?" Rigor asked, surprised.
"Caron has to enter the Core of Sin as intact as possible. We'll make a path for him," Leo replied.
"Understood," Rigor answered.
Zzzzzkt!
Leo had been planning on breaking through at full force from the very start. Centered on him, a sea rolled outward, then froze solid.
The ridiculous title of the Demon King of the Frozen Sea was nothing more than a nickname born of luck, but at that moment Leo didn't feel ashamed of it.
It didn't matter what anyone else called him as long as he could be with Caron; as long as he could steadfastly guard the back of the man who never looked back, that was enough.
Boooom!
The allied bombardment began, and towering buildings collapsed in an instant. Debris fell toward the ground at horrific speed. Some caught in that rain of rubble died without even a scream.
Scrreeeek!
Leon's domain held steady. He froze the fragments that flew at him and cut them apart before they could reach him. It was something he had done a thousand times. He swung his blade again and again. He couldn't reach the one he respected, and perhaps he never would, but he kept doing what he had always done. Cut, and cut again, guarding Caron's back.
Caron, Leo thought.
No matter how superb or monstrous Caron was, he couldn't shield himself perfectly from every angle.
Leo cleaved down the foes who charged at Caron and shouted to him as he fought, "Move forward!"
Caron didn't look back. He merely lifted his hand slightly and answered with a single sentence.
"That's my cousin."
That one phrase was enough.
Caron was the type who nagged often, but in this moment he didn't nag. Even when Caron spoke bluntly, Leo knew—deep down—how much Caron trusted him. Caron had dragged a talent as ordinary as Leo's this far, and that alone made Leo feel he owed more than words.
"Maelstrom," Leo said. Although he hadn't mastered the higher forms of the Oceanwolf Sword Arts as quickly as Caron, he practiced each technique he had learned with steady diligence.
Craaaash!
Ten whirlpools erupted over the frozen sea. Each vortex carried countless shards of ice and flung them outward.
Scrreeeek! Scrreeeek!
The icy maelstroms ground whole groups of enemies to pieces. The metallic tang of blood filled Leo's nostrils, but he no longer winced at the scent. This was a battlefield. Blood in the air was expected.
"Orion!" he called.
"Don't worry, Leo," Orion said. "We've been preparing for this long ago."
When Leo successfully broke through the enemy's defenses, the next fighter immediately took up the baton.
"Ifrit!" Orion shouted.
"That's all I've been waiting to hear," Ifrit answered.
"Show no mercy," Orion ordered. "Elves, humans, demons—any who block our way are the enemy."
"They are nothing but shattered pieces of a broken world," Ifrit replied coldly.
"Open the path," Orion said.
Craaaash!
The breath of the Spirit King of Fire, Ifrit, scattered across Leo's frozen sea. Raging flames that consumed everything met ice and boiled it into a pale fog of steam. The battlefield, filled with crumbling ruins and screams, disappeared under a white mist.
Caron seized that opening, calling out, "Now!"
A crack opened in the enemy's thick defensive line. If the expedition struck now, they could break through the defenses in one swift strike.
Neigh!
The unicorn beneath Caron shone brilliantly.
"O Light, grant us the strength to pierce despair!" Seria cried, and her blessing descended upon Caron and the vanguard. Caron and the knights who followed him became a single white flash.
Zzzzt! Crack!
They crushed the enemy ruthlessly and cut through the lines.
"Demons are marching to the sanctuary!" the defenders cried.
"Hold until the gods awaken!" others yelled.
"Protect our last home with your lives!"
The defenders fought desperately, but their strength couldn't stop Caron and his comrades. Caron rode his unicorn and stared at the city's center—a vast dome of black and violet. Menacing from afar, it was far more sinister up close. That place was the last scene of this cursed tale.
"Are you nervous?" Halo asked, riding beside him.
Caron snorted and replied, "Do you really think I would be? Just think about what to drink after we end this quickly."
"How about we drain all the liquor from the supply wagons?" Halo suggested.
"I already grabbed the good stuff from your office. We'll start with that," Caron said.
"You stole all of those? You're a ruthless bastard," Halo said.
"The liquor that you steal from your grandfather tastes the best. You'll understand when you're a grandson too," Caron replied.
They accepted the madness of war and charged on.
***
"Twenty percent of our forces are combat-ineffective. We will link up with the Third Army!" Zerath reported.
"The Third Army is the same. The enemy resistance is fierce. The battle has shifted to street fighting. Change strategies," Beatrice replied.
Through the small communication orbs tucked in their ears, Zerath's and Beatrice's voices crackled on without ceasing. The fighting had grown more intense and more gruesome. Everyone who lived in the city had become an enemy, charging at them, and the ruined buildings served as deadly cover. Casualties far exceeded expectations, but there were no choices left.
Scrreeeek!
Caron leaped down from his unicorn as he sliced through the throats of giants trying to block his path.
"Dismount, everyone!" Halo ordered after getting down beside Caron. He barked directions at the troops streaming off their horses.
Caron swung waves of power to buy his comrades time to dismount.
Leo was the last to dismount from his horse. His face had gone noticeably pale. He had clearly pushed himself too far.
"Are you all right, Leo?" Caron asked.
"...I feel like I'm going to vomit," Leo muttered.
Caron handed him a small bottle of Dew of the World Tree and said, "This was saved for you, so drink it."
Leo took the bottle with a bewildered look. He asked, "There's not much left, is there? You should keep it."
"Oh, I stocked up plenty the last time we resupplied. Seems like the World Tree's been busy producing dew," Caron replied.
"At this rate, it's practically tears," Leo added.
"That's not my concern. She's waiting comfortably on the continent. This is the least she can do to help," Caron said.
After drinking the Dew of the World Tree, some color returned to Leo's face. Caron let out a small sigh of relief before quietly turning his gaze toward the Core of Sin. Now that he stood before it, he could feel it clearly.
"How absurd," Caron muttered.
There was an immeasurable and suffocating amount of hatred and murderous intent. If all the world's negative emotions were gathered and blended into one manifestation, this was what they would look like. It was so grotesque, so dangerous, that just looking at it threatened to corrupt the mind.
Flaaaash!
If it hadn't been for Seria, many of Caron's comrades would have surely lost their sanity. Even the most seasoned warriors, who had spent their lives honing their swords, could barely withstand the force.
"So, we just have to go in there now?" Leo, having regained his strength, asked eagerly.
But Caron gave a bitter smile and shook his head, then answered, "The fake Caron seems to be unconscious for sure, but getting inside won't be easy."
Even though the expedition had reached the very edge of the Core of Sin, the Caron of Void still hadn't moved. Just as Cardan had said, he must have taken heavy damage. If the Caron of Void had been at full strength, he would've wiped out the entire expedition, and the demon forces, long before they arrived.
But the fact that they'd managed to get this close meant that Cardan's plan had worked.
"Just because he's down doesn't mean there isn't a gatekeeper," Caron remarked.
"Then who—?" Leo began, but before he could finish asking, a voice echoed in Caron's ears. It was Gratia's voice.
"Oath-bearer, he's coming," Gratia said.
"How pitiful. Don't you agree, Gratia?" Caron asked.
Booooom!
From the ashen sky, an enormous figure emerged. His brilliant golden scales shimmered in the gray sunlight.
"Mortals, you have reached this place at last. I cannot bring myself to feel joy at this moment," a voice filled with overwhelming mana intoned across the field.
The sound of that voice stirred fear, but none of those present lost their will. Dragons were the strongest beings on the continent, and among them, one stood alone at the pinnacle. The Dragon Lord they had met before had returned as an enemy.
Yet a faint smile curved across Caron's lips, and a gleam of battle spirit flickered in his blue eyes.
"For the great Dragon Lord to end up as nothing more than a glorified guard dog... I've got to admit, it's disappointing. Still, I'd have been a little sad if you hadn't shown up," he said.
Whoosh.
The murderous aura of Guillotine thickened around him.
"I've never killed a living dragon before, you know. I guess I'll finally get to experience it," Caron continued.
"Forgive me. I have no choice but to stop you," the Dragon Lord rumbled.
Caron's grin only widened, then he said, "I will fight fairly, alongside my comrades. You don't have any complaints, right? Oh, and one more thing."
They were at the final gate leading into the Core of Sin.
"I beat up elders quite well—especially ones who have lived for hundreds of years, like you. Wow, I'm already excited," Caron added.
Even at the very brink of the end, Caron was still Caron.
With those irreverent words, he hurled himself toward the Dragon Lord.
Moments later...
Boooooooom!
The sky and the ground began to overturn.