Chapter 216
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bells of Fendra Castle started ringing, and they were only used whenever there was an emergency.
“W-what?! What’s going on?” exclaimed a confused nobleman.
“The enemy has snuck up on us!”
“...!”
The nobles in Fendra Castle jumped out of their seats at the alarm bells.
“Let’s take a look at what’s going on,” said Baron Ashbal with a stiff look. He hurriedly ran out of the door. He climbed up one of the castle walls, and his eyes widened at the sight.
“The Pontier Family banner?”
“Damn it, they’re already here!” Baron Ashbal gnashed his teeth and yelled, “Take advantage of the castle walls, shut the gates, and get your bows!”
“Understood!”
“The enemies will surely climb up the walls with ladders, so be prepared for that. I want you to start boiling the oil as well!”
“Yes!”
Baron Ashbal’s gaze pierced the soldiers gathered in the distance, and when his eyes landed on Duchess Pontier, Baron Ashbal closed his eyes and muttered to no one in particular, “This war shall end today, my lady.”
***
“Master, it looks like they have no plans of leaving the castle,” said Icarus.
“Unless their heads are just there for decoration, they’ll defend that castle to their last breath,” Cain quipped.
Icarus smiled at Cain’s remark.
However, Joshua seemed to be less than amused as he said, “We don't have time. We’re going to end this right away.”
“...!” The soldiers stared at Joshua with wide eyes as the latter continued marching.
They could see the faces of the enemy troops from here, and they would obviously rain down arrows on those who dared to advance beyond a certain point.
“Oh, wait, wait, wait…!” Cain stepped in front of Joshua.
Joshua stared at Cain in bemusement, but Cain quickly continued. “I don’t want you to play the hero all on your own. Master… sometimes I wish you were the kind of king who knew how to use his subjects properly.”
“What are you talking about? I’m just walking because we have to break open their gates as soon as possible.”
Cain followed Joshua’s gaze and stared at the castle gates.
Most castles in Avalon had two gates clad in solid steel, whereas lesser nations would use plates of iron. Castles in smaller cities would only even use nothing but timber. However, Fendra Castle’s gates were made of enormous slabs of steel.
There was no way a conventional attack could scratch them, not to mention break them apart.
Cain’s pursed lips finally came apart as he smiled. “Master, you told me to just watch last night, but this time, I want you to watch me.” Cain started moving. “I’ll show you what my awakening has done to me.”
With that, Cain abruptly accelerated. He let loose a battle cry as he made a beeline for the castle gates.
The defenders were quick to respond with a hail of steel. Every step Cain took was littered with dangers that would take his life if he got brazen enough to commit a mistake amidst the hail of steel. However, Cain’s footsteps remained steady.
‘I can do it.’
The first arrow barely missed him. The rest were already on their way.
As Cain ran, he started chanting in his head. ‘Aura overlay; aura over aura.’?
Cain fell into a state of hyper-focus, and everything around him slowed to a crawl as he lifted his gigantic sword. Cain felt like he was in another world, just like the night when Joshua gave him a new purpose.
Cain attained enlightenment.
He always thought that the aura blade was the end goal of all knights, but it seemed that there truly was a sky above the sky.
“If I could use Aura Overlay as a war song, then I could trick my opponent as well.” Cain’s eyes lit up. “I can do anything with aura…”
It was strange, but a sound only Cain could hear started ringing. It seemed to have drawn a film of protection over his entire body.
“Aura Protection,” muttered the distant Joshua with a smile.
It was impossible to hide from the rain, so Cain was inevitably unable to dodge every single arrow. However, rather than piercing his flesh, dull clunking noises were incessantly produced as each arrow made contact with Cain’s Aura Protection.
Even more surprising was the fact that every arrow seemed like it had bounced off of something invisible before falling to the ground.
At the sight, Baron Ashbal was stupefied. “What is that?”
However, Cain wasn’t done with his showcase just yet.
Cain raised his gigantic sword over his head and covered it with the same film of protection covering his body. Afterward, he ran even faster to the point that it was becoming difficult to keep up with his eyes with the naked eye.
In the eyes of the uninitiated, Cain’s actions were unprecedented because he wasn’t supposed to be using what seemed like Aura Blade like that.
“This is crazy!”
“H-He’s gonna hit the gates!”
When Cain got close enough to the gates, he gripped his sword tightly and swung downward.
Boom!
A horrible explosion occurred at the moment of the collision.
“This is it.” Once again, Cain gripped his gigantic sword with both hands and swung his sword into the castle gates while it was covered with an enormous amount of mana befitting a knight of his caliber. “Break!”
Bang!
The steel gates were torn apart as if they were pieces of paper.
The soldiers on the castle walls stared in shock as Cain casually entered Fendra Castle and roared like a lion at them.
“Let’s end this. NOW!”
***
With the gates broken, no one could stop the Pontier Family’s army. Baron Ashbal was the most powerful of them, but Cain had already beaten the shit out of him once, so most of the soldiers laid down their weapons soon after the gates collapsed.
Charles expressively swept her gaze across the bound traitors kneeling in front of her.
“Untie me at once! I am Baron Ashbal, a nobleman of Avalon! You can’t treat me like this, girl! You are nothing compared to me. Do you understand me?!”
“Wow, I can’t believe that he’s still like this, even at the end…” Icarus was infuriated.
However, a gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her from moving forward.
“Sir Cain?”
Cain shook his head and gestured in Charles’ direction. Icarus was still confused, but she wasn’t the type of person who couldn’t read the mood. In addition, Charles’ indifferent expression was enough for her to stand down.
Charles gazed over the prisoners, and her eyes stopped on one person in particular.
“Cox. Is there anything else you would like to say?”
The disgraced count slowly lifted his head.
“What more could a traitor say, my lady? But if I have to say something, then all I can say is that it’s too bad. In the end, we couldn’t achieve our goals,” muttered Cox.
“...”
Charles stared at Cox for a long time.
“Is that right, Cox? All right. Here’s my decision…” Charles finally said.
Flinch.
Cox flinched. He revealed a helpless smile and said, “I don’t think you can do it.”
At that, Charles turned around without replying.
It was time to bring this long story to an end.
He was closer to her than her own blood. He was a father better than her own father. Even through the hard times, he was there for Charles. Tragically, it turned out that he had been a mole all this time. He had long betrayed the family and was merely biding his time for the golden opportunity to strike.
Right now, Charles had to make a decision.
“Lord Sanders. Would you please do me a favor?”
“...” Joshua didn’t say anything in response.
However, Joshua could see that despite her steadfast posture and demeanor, her voice and eyes were wavering and trembling. The latter was even welling up with tears she was desperately trying to hold back.
Joshua retrieved Lugia and replied, “Of course.”
Charles had just become an adult, and Joshua knew that even though he couldn’t carry all the weight on her shoulders for her. At the very least, he could carry some of it for her.
“Joshua Sanders! Prisoners of war have to be treated according to Imperial Laws!” Baron Ashbal desperately shouted. His hands and feet were bound in iron shackles that the Magic Tower made for powerful prisoners like him.
Therefore, Joshua’s mercy was his only way to survive.
“Even you can’t weather the wrath of His Majesty the Emperor if you violate Imperial Laws! Can you hear me?!”
.
“Noisy till the end,” Icarus couldn’t help but mutter.
“I don’t care about the emperor’s wrath,” said Joshua.
”W-what?!” Baron Ashbal was stupefied to hear that from a nobleman like Joshua.
“If I were scared of the emperor’s wrath, then I wouldn’t have done all this in the first place,” added Joshua.
“...!” The listeners reeled in shock, especially Baron Ashbal.
“You crazy bastard! You madman..!” Baron Ashbal started swearing once more, and he kept on doing that as if he had gone mad. In response, Joshua simply lifted Lugia without saying anything in response to Baron Ashbal’s stream of invectives.
“You…!” Baron Ashbal trembled furiously when he saw Joshua lifting his spear.
- Master! This is our chance!
Stop.
Joshua abruptly came to a halt. Naturally, it was because of Lugia rather than Baron Ashbal’s incessant cursing.
- This is our chance to make an army of dullahan for our Dullahan Lord!
“...” Joshua didn’t know what to say.
- Wait, we can also turn him into a death knight because he’s still alive! I mean, we can torture him until he swears that he will do bad things from now on. He’s not really that bad as a warrior as well, so what do you think?
“Kekeke…” Joshua’s hesitation injected courage into Baron Ashbal’s veins. He arrogantly stuck his chin out and spoke, “Do you finally understand what I’m talking about?”
However, the way Baron Ashbal stuck his chin out only made it easier for Joshua to cut his head off.
“No.”
- O-okay…
“I don’t want the soul of a traitor.”
With that, Joshua finally made a move and cut Baron Ashbal’s head off.
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