Chapter 337
While Joshua was battling in the Imperial Palace, people and beasts were stomping toward the Avalon Empire’s border.
The grand army of one hundred thousand—no, two hundred thousand soldiers shook the ground beneath them.
The howl of violent beasts echoed through the air. The sky was covered by a pack of wyverns that were so ferocious that it looked like they would tear clouds apart. Everyone looked at the horizon to see the flags raised by the soldiers at the front. At that moment, the wind sent the flags waving vigorously. They belonged to the Swallow Empire, one of the two empires that practically ruled the continent.
“Commander Eima.” An aide came up to Duke Eima, the man called Ice Emperor by the people of the continent.
“Report.” Eima gestured at the aide.
“We currently have a total of 213,298 soldiers. Aside from the infantry soldiers, there are 2000 wolf riders, 500 wyvern knights, and 5700 C-Class knights, who have been drafted from 68 knight orders,” the aide reported.
“That’s enough.” Eima interrupted. “How is our main unit?”
“Ah! His Majesty has mercifully sent us the A-Class knights, including the ones that just became a Master, so if I add them…” The aide stroked his chin.
“If you add them?” Eima repeated.
“…There are a total of twenty-three A-Class knights,” the aide happily explained.
Eima gaped blankly for a moment.
“That’s splendid,” Eima said, breaking into a smile. “I knew there were many hidden forces inside the Empire, but…”
“Yes, I was also very surprised at first.” The aide nodded.
“That must mean the Grand Duke put his heart and soul into this war, but… I might set my heart on a different agenda, so how could he entrust me with such an army?” Eima mischievously asked.
“Wouldn’t it be an indication of how much he trusts you, master—no, commander?” the aide carefully suggested
“Trust? The Grand Duke?” Eima chuckled, shaking his head. “I guarantee you that is definitely not the case.”
“Then…?”
“He’s certain about his skills and about his subordinates’ loyalty toward him. In many ways, he’s truly something.” Eima shrugged. “Well, that is also the reason why I’m betting my future on him.”
“Commander…” The aide trailed off.
“Let’s stop the silly talk.” Eima turned his head to look beyond the horizon. “They’ve also noticed it by now, haven't they?”
“Yes.” The aide nodded. “The wyvern riders finished scouting and detected unusual movement inside the castle. It appears that they are preparing for defense.”
“Tsk. It’s meaningless.” Eima quietly clicked his tongue and fixed his eyes on the castle.
In a civilian’s eyes, the castle would be the size of an ant, but Eima could see the castle as clearly as if he was standing right before it. The old castle, no, it was more accurate to call it a fortress, looked like it had been made decades before. However, it was this gateway and impregnable fortress that Eima’s army had to pass through in order to get into the Avalon Empire. It was called…
“…Einberg.” Eima quietly mumbled, clenching his fists. “How long have we dreamed of this moment? The moment our Swallow Empire army takes that damn fortress down and tramples over the Avalon Empire’s land.”
“In the past, many of our empire’s heroes have fallen here, so today is the day to avenge the spilled blood,” the aide added with a faint smile.
“What did the Grand Duke say?” Eima asked.
The aide looked at the crystal ball in his hands. The crystal ball flickered three times at regular intervals.
“He says he’ll entrust you with all the matters since you’re the commander,” the aide answered with shining eyes.
“We’ll march right away,” Eima said without hesitation.
The aide’s eyes widened with surprise.
He pulled himself together, loudly stomped his foot against the ground, and took a long, deep breath that made his chest puff up.
“March!” he shouted, his mana carrying his voice far and wide.
The order to march was given to the entire army.
* * *
In a flash, the razor-sharp dagger pierced Kaiser’s heart.
‘He definitely said ‘the Darkness Emperor,’ one of the Three Celestials as people call them, but even if I considered that—’
Joshua flinched. The Darkness Emperor was about to move again to launch a much bigger attack, but no one detected his movement because he was hidden deep in the shadows.
‘…I see he’s not only good at being stealthy,’ Joshua assessed as he moved.
Kaiser was dying at that very moment, but the attack that the Darkness Emperor was about to launch wasn’t something that could be taken lightly.
Joshua disappeared. When he showed up again, he was right before the Darkness Emperor. The Darkness Emperor gave him a wide-eyed look, unable to hide his surprise. Joshua had no regard for his opponent’s reaction and punched him as hard as he could.
Joshua’s attacks were bizarre, so the Darkness Emperor’s hand also had to move chaotically, resulting in a brilliant display of light shining off of his dagger. The moment he thought Joshua was aiming for his waist, Joshua changed his course of attack to strike the Darkness Emperor’s jaw or his legs.
“Your hand-to-hand combat technique is…” the Darkness Emperor quietly marveled after only a few blows.
In the end, the Darkness Emperor lost his grip on the parchment in his other hand. It swayed down on the floor. Joshua reached his hand toward the parchment; however, the Darkness Emperor was quicker that time.
“Aha! You laid yourself open to attack!”
The Darkness Emperor was already holding two daggers. Using the dagger in his right hand, he aimed for the top of Joshua’s head, and with the other hand, he was thrusting at Joshua’s heart. Both parts were vital parts of the human body that were essential for survival.
Joshua’s countermeasure for the Darkness Emperor’s attack was truly splendid: Joshua spun, cutting through the air, and used the momentum to take half a step to the right and avoid the dagger that was flying toward his heart. Then he deflected the dagger that was aimed at the top of his head with a powerful kick. The resultant noise was an earsplitting clang! It was hard to believe that the sound had been produced by the collision between a three-centimeter-long dagger and a human foot.
The recoil pushed the Darkness Emperor’s arm backward, giving Joshua a perfect opportunity to fight back.
However, Joshua immediately came to a halt and just watched the Darkness Emperor from ten steps away. The Darkness Emperor didn’t try to resist the shockwave that was pushing him back. Instead, he used the recoil to let go of his daggers without regret, clearly revealing what his goal was.
The Darkness Emperor’s daggers dropped to the floor with a clear metal ringing. The parchment, which he had lost his grip on, lightly landed on top of those daggers. Joshua was going to dart forward again, since, if the man before him was really the Darkness Emperor, there was no way that Joshua could let him go, but…
“…Keugh!”
Joshua couldn’t do so in the end because someone happened to groan in pain. No one needed to tell Joshua who it was that was moaning in agony.
“Kaiser…” Joshua groaned after he looked down.
The Darkness Emperor seemed to think it was his chance to flee, so he stopped attacking and disappeared into the darkness, but Joshua didn’t even look in his direction.
“Do you have any last words?” Joshua asked Kaiser.
There was no way Kaiser could answer him. His injury was critical; it wouldn’t be strange for him to die any second. Still, Joshua could tell Kaiser’s answer from his eyes as they slowly turned lifeless.
“…Your inner pocket?” Joshua asked.
Kaiser’s eyes were fixed on his top’s inner pocket, making his intent clear.
Joshua rummaged in Kaiser’s inner pocket for a moment and flinched when he felt something. He met Kaiser’s eyes again.
“You…”
“…Kek… keke…” Kaiser was laughing even while he was dying. His mouth was bloody, but his eyes silently said that he didn’t regret anything and had not lost yet. Kaiser tried to make his presence felt until the end.
Joshua stared at Kaiser’s corpse for a very long time and then shoved the object into his inner pocket.
“Second Prince Kaizen,” he quietly said, breaking the suffocating silence.
Joshua was clearly addressing Kaizen as if the prince was beneath him, but his voice had the power to silence any protest.
“Wh-what is it?” Kaizen stuttered.
“Assemble all the nobles in the council chamber immediately,” Joshua commanded.
“I’ll tell the First Prince, so gather up every single one of them.”
Kaizen and the other nobles’ breaths caught in their throat, and their eyes bulged at Joshua’s unexpected words.
Joshua’s eyes turned cold.
“This is not a request, it’s an order. I’m in no mood for games, and this is a matter of urgency.”
“Wh-what in the world are you trying to do…?” Kaizen stammered out.
“The central army, the mobilizable reserve forces in the provinces, each family’s private army… I’ll summon all the forces to the Imperial Palace regardless of their faction or the size of their army,” Joshua explained.
Even the surviving Second Battalion knights held their breath.
The nobles reacted instantly.
“Ri-ridiculous!”
“You can’t do that! Who do you think you are to give such an order?!”
“You’re using the crisis… that’s so rude! I wasn’t going to say anything, but I don’t have a choice. How could you have such an idea…!”
“Above all, even Their Highnesses don’t have the power to summon the families’ private armies!”
Joshua let the nobles’ protests wash over him for a moment.
“Then do as you wish,” he replied with a cold smile.
The nobles gaped blankly at him. They hadn’t expected Joshua to stand down so easily after dropping such a bombshell.
“If any family doesn’t wish to send their soldiers, then they don’t have to,” Joshua said.
“Th-that means…?”
Joshua began to speak, enunciating each word with a weight that brooked no interruption.
“But I’m asking you to do this in order to save our country, because its fate is hanging in the balance right now. If there are any families whose armies are intact after the war…”
Joshua trailed off for a moment, then poured out his energy. The intangible energy spread outward from him, making the nobles freeze up as it rolled over them.
“…I’ll punish them myself for turning their backs on their country in a time of crisis.”
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