As the barrier collapsed on one side, one of the members standing in two rows on the right—close to the citizens—also fell over. The member in the back row was pushed and nearly fell as well, but nearby members caught his arm tightly, preventing him from going down.
However, the real problem was something else. When the barrier gave way, a narrow opening briefly formed in that spot, and someone used the confusion to hurl a glass bottle.
"Ah, ah—!"
"Please don’t come close!"
The bottle flew at high speed toward the iron cage, slicing through the space between the pressing crowd and the resisting members. Seeing it, Hugo instantly stretched out his arm and caught it right before it could hit the cage—then shot a fierce glare in the direction it had come from.
People nearby flinched under the chill of his gaze and looked around nervously. Then, another bottle soared from within the crowd, and one of the members reflexively struck it away.
The deflected bottle shattered in midair, scattering sharp shards in every direction.
"Aaah!"
As the fragments rained down, people nearby screamed. At the same time, the shards must have struck the horse in front of the cage—one of them suddenly neighed and reared back in fright.
That reaction instantly agitated the other horses connected to it, making them thrash and snort. Andreas shouted, startled.
"What the—why are they acting like this all of a sudden?!"
"Commander, I think they were startled!"
One of the elite members tried to calm the horse, but it kept kicking and resisting.
That was the beginning. As if triggered by that movement, the rest of the excited horses suddenly surged forward, accelerating.
Flynn, who was holding the reins, briefly lost his grip from the force of the galloping horse, then quickly leapt up and mounted the lead horse, trying to rein it in. He turned back and shouted toward Hugo.
"Commander!"
As the horses picked up speed and ran wildly, the connected iron cage rattled and jolted violently. The members assigned to the escort flew up and surrounded the cage, keeping pace with the runaway horses.
Hugo closely followed them and shouted urgently to the elite members circling the area.
"Cut the links connecting the horses!"
No sooner had he spoken than one of the 4th Battalion’s elite members drew his sword and struck the harness connecting the horses and the cage with all his strength. Another member sliced the opposite side. The links snapped instantly, and the frantic horses charged straight ahead.
Worried the stampede might injure civilians, Hugo glanced at Flynn, who was holding tightly to the lead horse, and called out:
"Flynn, take the horses and go straight to headquarters!"
"Yes, understood!"
Despite the urgency, Flynn answered firmly, gripping the reins of the galloping horse and struggling to stay upright. As he regained his balance and steered the horses forward, Hugo immediately turned his eyes back to the cage.
The horses had been detached, but the iron wheels—still spinning from momentum—continued rolling at speed.
Without hesitation, Hugo sped up and flew to the front of the cage’s path. He gathered cold energy in both hands and grabbed the oncoming iron cage, gradually applying force in the opposite direction to counter its movement.
As he touched the surface, the ice began to vaporize from the intense heat, producing a sharp hissing sound. Steam erupted around him, blurring the scene.
Thud!
Amid the chaos, a suspicious thump echoed from within the cage, and Hugo felt a deepening sense of dread.
While he struggled to stop the massive block of metal head-on, an intense green light flared from the ground and spread rapidly. It was Andreas—his palm pressed to the ground as he activated a magic circle.
Where the green magic circle spread, thick tree roots began sprouting through cracks in the shattered earth. The roots twisted quickly, forming a strong net, and Andreas controlled them to wrap tightly around the spinning wheels.
At that moment, the wheels—caught in the roots—suddenly stopped rotating, and the iron cage rocked violently. The situation looked dangerous, and the elite members of the 4th Battalion rushed to the front to help Hugo, but he urgently stopped them through clenched teeth.
"Don’t touch the iron cage. Help Andreas from behind!"
"Yes, sir!"
The 4th Battalion members quickly changed direction and moved to the rear, grabbing the coarse roots Andreas had created and pulling with all their strength. This increased friction against the ground, producing a deafening screech that made the people around them clutch their ears in pain.
Screech!
Even Hugo, gripping the bars to minimize impact, winced at the piercing, nerve-jarring sound. Lowering his head and enduring it, his eyes suddenly flashed as he looked down.
The roots summoned by Andreas, along with the help of the elite members, seemed to be working—the rapidly spinning wheels were clearly slowing down.
Sensing the reduced speed, Hugo waited for his chance, then braced both feet against the ground and shoved the iron cage in the opposite direction with all his might. Friction flared beneath his feet, smoke surged around him, and the earth gave way—deeply carved from the pressure.
His legs, straining against the force, became embedded in the ground. The iron cage, which had been tilting due to the roots, rattled and finally came to an abrupt, resounding stop.
The fervent cheers vanished without a trace, replaced by murmurs rippling through the crowd.
The square’s once-pristine road was a wreck—paving stones broken, earth exposed, and dust rising chaotically, testifying to the havoc they’d just endured.
Hugo, who had been holding his breath all this time, finally exhaled and looked at his palm. Cold steam rose as he caught his breath for a moment.
Even though he’d worn the Council’s tough white gloves and had wrapped his hands in ice beforehand, the gloves were scorched, and the skin beneath them burned faintly, as if lightly singed. The tree roots wrapped around the iron wheels had also blackened and snapped, falling away in pieces.
Hugo stared at the glowing embers for a moment, then quickly came to his senses and raised his head to examine the sealing devices and magic stones surrounding the cage.
His expression gradually stiffened. A sigh soon escaped his lips.
"...Oh no."
The sealing devices wrapped around the cage had been significantly displaced from their original positions due to the violent shaking. Andreas, who had also flown to Hugo’s side, noticed his grim expression and asked,
"What’s wrong? Isn’t it fine now that it’s stopped?"
"The seals have been disrupted."
"What?"
The energy radiating at this range was unusual. Hugo narrowed his brows and spoke, eyes still fixed on the iron cage.
"Evacuate the citizens immediately."
It was true that the seals had been slightly disrupted by the recent impact, but the sealing stones before their eyes were no child's play. Quite literally, even a dragon wouldn’t be able to lift a finger under this level of restraint. Andreas, still unable to grasp why Hugo looked so grim, stared at him blankly.
And then—
Creak! Creak, creak!
The iron cage began shaking more violently than before, the noise growing louder and harsher. As Andreas flinched and turned his head, an eerie, swelling energy leaked faintly from inside, brushing over his skin.
But before he could fully register it, Hugo shouted again, voice sharp.
"Hurry!"
At Hugo’s command, Andreas finally seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation. He nodded quickly and barked orders to his subordinates.
"Evacuate all citizens and deploy barriers in every direction. This is an emergency!"
"Yes, understood!"
The elite members of the 4th Battalion immediately dispersed, raising stronger barriers than the regular members and securing a wide perimeter around the iron cage. Seeing this, the other members also pushed the nearby citizens back, forcing them away from the scene.
"This is an emergency! Please, step back at once!"
In the heavy atmosphere, the moment the words “emergency situation” rang out, the crowd erupted in screams and stumbled away in panic.
Even those who had moments ago rushed at Leonardo intent on killing him now sensed something was wrong and fled in terror, desperate to save their own lives.
It was pure panic, as though the lion they had been watching had suddenly broken loose from its cage. People crashed into one another, tripped, and fell—injuries followed. The square that had just moments before echoed with a single furious voice now rang with chaos and screaming.
Hugo shoved Andreas back, sensing a wholly different energy rising from the cage, and backed away himself. Then, in a low, chilling tone, he chanted:
"Ice Wall."
As the spell left his lips, a vast blue magic circle immediately lit up the ground. A towering wall of ice rose from it, splitting the earth where the massive circle glowed. People running away stopped and gasped in astonishment.
Hugo and Andreas flew up at the same time, landing atop the high ice wall. The massive sheet of frost cast a cool shadow over the square, and a chill breeze swept through the area that had been warm just moments before.
Seeing magic of this scale in the Imperial Capital was a rare event, and the citizens, believing themselves now safe, raised their voices again—shouting cheers and staring up at the wall with wide eyes.
But Andreas, who had been worried even while summoning roots and tearing up the ground, looked down at Hugo’s massive ice wall that now split the heart of the capital—and was left speechless.
"Hey, Commander. Are you sure this is okay? This is the Imperial Capital. Did we really need to go this far?"
"This far, you say?"
Hugo glanced at him and gave a dry, hollow laugh.
"Andre... you’re underestimating that man."
****
When the iron cage had finally reached the Imperial Capital’s gate after a long journey, Leonardo, confined within it, lay flat on his back, his arms, legs, and neck all bound.
What held him down were restraints made of magic stones—each joint of his body wrapped tight, pinning him firmly to the base of the cage.
The iron bars were also specially crafted to weaken the flow of mana, suitable for containing even powerful monsters. On the outside, a black tarp had been wrapped tightly to block both light and sound to some degree, reinforced with nets of magic stones and multiple layers of sealing stones.
In short, he was in a state where he couldn’t move a single finger—his entire body crushed under a suffocating weight of suppressive force.
And yet, even under those conditions, Leonardo—burning with rage—emitted heat so intense that the cage itself had turned scorching. Had the materials not been so specialized, the entire structure would have melted away long ago.
With his eyes and ears covered and a gag in his mouth, he had been forced to estimate his location solely by the shaking of the cage and faint sounds through the floor.
But the moment the slow-moving iron cage passed through the teleportation zone of the final gate...
He sensed it—not with his five senses, but with instinct—that he had entered the Imperial Capital he loathed so deeply.
A rush of blood surged backward through his body. His organs twisted as if in rage. The cheers and jeers directed at him pierced even his blocked ears, flooding in from all directions. Every cell of his body ignited in boiling fury.
‘I gave everything to the Empire.’
It felt like his entire body was aflame. Just like that morning—when all the sins of the world were laid upon him—it felt like plunging into a bottomless abyss.
‘The fact that you bastards can live in comfort here in the capital... it’s because of me.’
He trembled with fury toward these ignorant people. Rage twisted inside him at their blindness, their contempt.
‘Just die.’
‘Why did you survive?’
Hallucinations whispered in Leonardo’s ears. His bound body writhed under the pressure of their voices. At the same time, the cheers from outside drove into his chest and brain like cruel mockery, rejoicing in his downfall.
Had a single act of defiance really been such an unforgivable sin that those he had risked his life to protect now wanted him dead?
Why did they cheer so loudly? Why did they resent so deeply? Why did they hate so much?
‘Murderer bastard.’
Leonardo's breathing became strained. The voices echoed through his skull like awls, stabbing deep. Though his eyes were covered, it felt as though ghostly hands hovered before him—reaching out to drag him into darkness.
Everything was futile.
Clinging to past glory, resenting those who didn’t ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) understand, being wounded by their words—none of it meant anything now.
And yet... why did the world keep dragging him, who was trying desperately to endure, back into the misery he wanted to escape? Why did it continue to humiliate him like this? Why was it so desperate to tear him apart?
He couldn’t understand.
At that moment, as Leonardo fought against the hatred strangling him, the iron cage suddenly rocked violently with a loud thud, and the ground began to tremble harder and harder. Soon after, the frenzied cries of agitated horses pierced his ears like a dire omen.
The iron cage—once creeping forward—quickly picked up speed. Even from inside, the change was clear. Urgent voices of the Council members echoed around him.
The hallucinations in his ears faded. His thoughts grew clearer.
Though completely restrained, Leonardo opened his eyes within the darkness. He could feel Hugo’s mana seeping in faintly from beyond the sealed exterior. The fact that his power was leaking through the cage—even within the Imperial Capital—meant something had clearly gone wrong.
As the cage rattled, and the vibrations intensified, he felt the force binding him gradually loosen.
And in that moment, Leonardo instinctively knew—
An opportunity had arrived.
