Tyr’s death.
The gods of Asgard knew it instinctively.
It is a trait of gods that when a high god of Tyr’s stature dies, they feel its effect upon the world.
Thus, at this time—
“......All of you.”
The high gods of Asgard finally arrived in the human world.
Their wrath reached the ends of the sky.
“I will slaughter you.”
At their head stood Baldur.
SWISH!
KWA-AANG!
“Gk-aaaagh!”
Baldur’s god-form shot forth, and he drove his sword into the body of one of the Zodiac.
Along with that, a physique that shoved with overwhelming force.
Already by then, the Zodiac’s body had been crushed from clavicle down to below the pelvis.
CRUNCH!
The Zodiac was sent flying as-is and rammed into the ground.
Just like that, one person was out.
“Urk......!”
Soldiers and knights went cold all over.
The Zodiac had already been pushed back.
With just Baldur’s arrival, the balance collapsed.
And not only that.
Setting Odin aside, most of the high gods under Baldur had arrived. They possessed power on par with the Twelve Gods of Olympus.
The Zodiac’s power was already being overwhelmed, and even in numbers they were far short.
Then, from atop the barrier, Edwin shouted.
POOM─!
At that moment, fireworks burst from the barrier up into the sky.
It was one of the prearranged instructions.
‘All units, withdraw to the barrier.’
POOM─!
And the next firework.
‘Form up in teams to respond, and each team must include one Zodiac.’
At that, the human side moved quickly.
Jane with Vasileo, Glaukos with Aias, and Ospreet with Ludovic, and the other Zodiac.
Most of them converged toward the barrier, especially toward where Pielot and Dierre were.
It was Edwin who was issuing these fireworks instructions.
He was darting busily along the barrier, giving orders to the soldiers.
In truth, not all of it was his doing.
‘Dierre—this guy is something else.’
Edwin’s instructions had in fact been written in advance in Dierre’s notebook.
Before the Asgardians had arrived, Dierre wrote them down in his notebook and handed it to Edwin.
‘We also preassigned which opponent each Zodiac would face at the start.’
Dierre’s operational directives and deployment orders—
All of it called Frondier in the Mangot War to mind.
“But I don’t know how long we can hold like this.”
This time was different from then.
It was a situation where the humans’ power was clearly lacking. A Zodiac had already died—proof of that.
Ospreet asked Dierre,
“Dierre, aren’t these orders dangerous?”
Ospreet was also following Dierre’s instructions.
It was Empress Philie who had originally delegated this authority to Dierre. In the Azzie affair, she had highly valued Dierre’s ability to infer the situation—and above all, that at the time Frondier had asked Dierre for help.
Thus even Ospreet, called the Archmage, obeyed Dierre. In truth he already had a comrade he could trust—Frondier—and this time was no different.
Yet the unease was unavoidable.
“At this rate we could be wiped out.”
They already knew the Zodiac’s power could not reach the high gods. They had endured thus far only because Dierre had arranged the most favorable matchups to last the longest.
If the main human assets clustered close, it became a firefight. And humans would certainly not win that.
“Headmaster. To tell the truth—”
Dierre spoke with a smile,
Cold sweat beading at his temple.
“I have no intention of winning.”
“......Huh?”
“Not yet.”
Then Dierre raised his voice.
“The enemies’ attack is incoming! Everyone, adopt a defensive posture!”
His voice was suffused with aura and boomed out. It carried so far and so clear that even the gods could hear it where they were.
No—rather, that was—
“He’s drawing us in.”
Baldur spoke. He stood at Zeus’s side.
“King of Olympus. They’re baiting our attack.”
“I know.”
Clack.
Zeus lifted Astraphe.
“Then are we supposed to be cowed into staying our hand?”
“......No.”
“Exactly.”
Zeus’s eyes took on killing intent as he looked down on the humans.
“Whatever their scheme, we’ll oblige them. ‘We’ll block the gods’ attack,’ they say—aren’t you curious?”
BZZZT!
Astraphe roiled in answer.
“All units─!!”
Zeus raised his voice and shouted.
With Odin absent, overall command of the gods lay with Zeus.
“Attack!!!”
At that, all the gods raised aura and mana.
KWAAAA─!
Spells and barrages of aura poured down at last upon the humans in front of the barrier.
“Urk......!”
The Zodiac, Ospreet among them, and the other powers to match, all raised their respective shields.
Layer upon layer of barrier formed by combining their strength. The gods’ power slammed into that point.
“Grrrrr......!”
Pained voices from the human side. They poured all their strength just into blocking the gods’ deluge.
The situation was clearly unfavorable to the humans.
Yet Ospreet soon realized Dierre’s intent in making this situation.
‘I see! Right—this isn’t a fight against humans!’
This was not like the wars the Empire had fought until now. Their opponents were not monsters or humans, but gods.
They had absolute confidence in their own existence. A confidence that humans’ power could never surpass them.
As he endured the pounding gods’ power, Dierre watched the gods’ behavior.
‘As I thought, they won’t move.’
Even though the humans were too busy blocking the gods’ power to move, the lower gods didn’t step out.
‘Right. Of course they wouldn’t. If they did that, it would amount to believing the high gods can’t breach the humans’ defense.’
In the midst of the strain, a smile tugged at Dierre’s mouth.
‘The gods are stronger than humans. We’re fighting already knowing that. So for the gods, that self-evident premise must not be overturned. They won’t allow it.’
Therefore Dierre gathered the human-side elites into one spot.
He concentrated all their defensive power on a single point to brace for the gods’ attack.
Then the gods would have to strike there.
‘Proud gods won’t attack elsewhere! This trial of strength was a clash bound to happen!’
Ospreet shouted,
“Dierre! But it’s still a one-sided attrition for the humans! If this becomes a war of attrition, humans can’t win!”
“This isn’t attrition right now!”
Dierre shouted back.
“Right now we have to keep ‘ending in draws!’”
“Draws......?”
The odd word furrowed Ospreet’s brow.
From Ospreet’s point of view, the top priority right now was to reduce the number of high gods somehow. Sacrifices in the process were unavoidable.
They had received some reinforcements, but most were limited to handling the lower gods. Pielot and Aias were still not enough to face the high gods.
When Baldur and gods of his rank arrived from the Bifröst, it was no wonder the humans’ morale wavered.
“I’m not like Senior Frondier.”
Dierre’s eyes glittered even as he poured all his aura at the enemy before him.
“No matter how much I try to read the opponent by mind games and fight for advantage—”
Ospreet had seen that smile before.
Dierre said he was not like Frondier—
But those eyes were clearly—
“I can’t help expecting something.”
THOOM─
Then—
Everyone felt yet another pressure.
The vast oppressive force they had felt when Zeus and Baldur arrived.
They felt an equal pressure once more.
Only this time, it wasn’t from the Bifröst.
It rose from the ‘Door.’
“......Ah, at last.”
Dierre’s eyes softened then. A slightly weary smile.
“Now we can play rock–paper–scissors.”
In answer to those words, the someone who emerged from the Door stood atop the barrier.
It was two people.
One was the white-blessed Princess, Aten.
And the other—
“So which one is it.”
With eyes scattering killing intent, he swept over the gods floating in the sky, one by one.
“Which one of those is the bastard trying to take my children.”
Angper de Roach.
He stood upon the barrier.
“I can’t say for sure, but—”
Aten chimed in beside him.
“It’s all the same anyway, isn’t it.”
“Indeed.”
Angper raised his sword and drew the blade inward toward his body.
At that posture, Zeus’s eyes went wide.
“Everyone, get clear!”
Zeus had no time to explain. What sort of power Angper possessed.
So the gods misunderstood.
They thought to ‘see’ Angper’s attack and then evade.
Roach Swordsmanship Basics
Chapter 2
Horizontal Cut
How simple a motion that is.
The horizontal cut that the entire Roach Order takes as a matter of course.
At the first instant that cut began—
From the god farthest to the right,
And by the instant it ended—
To the god farthest to the left—
SHEENK─!
They were cut.
***
Aten stood still at the Roach estate.
She neither knocked on the door nor called Angper’s name.
The cold wrapped around her body, seeped between her skin and clawed at it.
In a cold so sharp it might draw blood—Aten simply looked at the Roach estate.
She already knew Angper was inside.
And Angper would already know Aten had come.
Creak.
After who knows how long, the door opened.
Angper appeared, haggard.
Whatever he had been doing inside, his face was in worse shape than Aten’s, who had waited outside.
“......What is it.”
Angper spoke to the princess.
Aten bowed her head deeply.
“We need the help of Lord Head of House Roach.”
At that, Angper’s eyes cooled.
The imperial palace—no, the Empire—was always like this. They humiliated him, humiliated his son, and in the end, only looked for Angper when they were in a pinch—selfish to the core.
But Aten’s next words were a little different.
“Please save Frondier.”
“.......”
Angper’s words caught for a moment. He let out a short snort.
“You chose your words well.”
“.......”
“Yes—we must save him.”
Step.
Angper walked slowly.
“Because he is my son.”
Step by step, footprints steeped in killing intent advanced.
He came to a halt before Aten.
“Frondier and Azzie—both will return alive. Of course. They are my sons. Strong children.”
As he spoke, his eyes, cold as ice, looked down at Aten. Cold sweat trickled down Aten’s back as she met those eyes.
“So I’ll say this while we’re at it.”
“......Say what?”
“On the day Frondier and Azzie come back alive to me—”
Shriiing─!
Angper drew Gram and held it up before Aten’s eyes.
“I will kill every last Zodiac and burn the imperial palace. Do you agree?”
“.......”
“Princess Aten.”
Angper’s voice was neither exaggeration nor bluster.
He had the power to do it. And he would not hesitate.
“How much of the palace must I take for you to be satisfied?”
“.......”
“You slandered one child as a demon and shamed me and my wife, and in the end drove us out of the Empire.”
“.......”
“The other child died on his way home from the palace. We haven’t even recovered the body yet.”
Aten lowered her head. Her body trembled.
“What’s next.”
“Urgh......!”
Angper’s aura. Just emanating it made it hard for Aten to bear. She poured out mana to brace her body.
“Will you discard them again?”
Angper pressed Aten harder without a care.
As if he might as well kill Aten here and now with aura alone.
“Will you take my son on your whim again, slander him, and make him a laughingstock before everyone!!”
KWOONG!!
The ground sank a layer. Aten’s legs shook. She barely kept her balance.
“Answer me. My next action will be decided by it. Do the royals agree to the burning of the palace?”
There was no mercy in Angper’s eyes. He demanded an answer of Aten.
Gritting her teeth, drawing in a deep breath, Aten spoke—
“Do so.”
“......Huh. You spout whatever words will get you out of the moment. Well, that’s the palace’s specialty—you’ve learned it already.”
“I ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) hate the palace.”
Aten spoke, looking straight at Angper.
“Lord Angper, I hate the Empire.”
Aten’s snow-white eyes. In them, rarely, a great fury boiled.
“I have been taught much to protect citizens. As a healer who saves people, as a mage who protects people. I learned administration and politics to make a better nation. I learned the mindset for dealing with citizens.”
And yet—
Before Aten’s very eyes—
“And on the day Mr. Frondier knelt in the center of the square—”
“......!”
“My everything collapsed.”
The day the proclamation was made to drive Frondier out of the Empire.
What a sight that had been.
Emotions had surged through Aten then—she had never managed to sort out what they had been.
Only now could she put that feeling into words.
“I could not understand.”
This was what expressed Aten’s feelings of that time most precisely.
She could not understand.
What was happening right now.
How on earth things could be such that they treated a hero that way.
A sight that carved a great fissure in Aten’s snow-white heart.
Angper paused at that, then roused his anger again.
“—Nonsense!! If so, why are you still a princess! Why has no one in the palace been punished! It’s all talk with you! The palace and the Empire regret nothing! Nothing has changed! Where did you pick up those sugarcoated words......!”
“You know the reason!”
Aten cried out.
“Everyone who was there then knew Frondier’s heart.”
“......!”
“Frondier did not want the Empire to bleed. Among the citizens who drove him as a demon and were swept along by rumor, among the Zodiac who branded him a demon and those who didn’t—he did not want factions to split and conflict to arise. You know that’s how he left!”
All who had witnessed that scene then—what had been in their hearts.
Angper—he could hardly claim not to know.
“I hate the palace! The Empire too, the citizens who will not see the truth, and the Zodiac the same as them—I hate them all!”
Aten trembled with resentment.
“And yet—Mr. Frondier believes.......”
“......!”
“He left believing the Empire would get better. Believing in me, in my mother and father, in my family!”
That the palace would be sustained and the Empire’s peace would continue—
That was not Aten’s wish.
It was Frondier’s wish.
“Lord Angper. Please save Frondier.”
Aten bowed her head again.
“On the day Frondier returns—if he wishes the palace gone. If he gives just that one word—”
Aten’s eyes opened.
And in them, perhaps for the first time, killing intent alighted.
“I will take the lead. In the name of Terst.”
