Chapter 74

Heroes on the battlefield always die first, their light too bright, drawing the eyes of both enemy and ally.

Kairos’ 1st Legion assault commander, ‘Indomitable Bronson.’ He was born a commoner, yet his valor shone more brilliantly than any high noble. When the Wailing River front stalled and both armies bled each other dry, it was always Bronson who turned the tide.

“Follow me! For the glory of the Empire!”

When he raised his great two-handed axe and roared into the enemy, the soldiers’ morale shot through the roof. Where his axe passed, Valerian soldiers’ severed limbs and crushed skulls piled up. He was no mere commander. He rolled in the mud with his men, shared the same bread, and plunged first into the deadliest places, a living war-god. His mere presence kept Kairos’ crumbling front miraculously standing.

And precisely because of that, he became the first piece to be removed from Rian’s chessboard.

That night, the hideout of the ‘Silent Dagger.’

The commander burned the assassination order sent down from Rian before his men. Watching the paper turn to ash and scatter, his eyes gleamed coldly.

“The target is the 1st Legion assault commander, Viscount Bronson. At dawn tomorrow, Bronson will launch a full assault to retake the ‘Blood Ridge’ at the front. We will disguise ourselves as archers of Kairos’ 3rd Legion and eliminate the target amid the chaos of battle.”

There was not a trace of hesitation in his voice. Though they were to kill a hero of the same Empire, for them only their lord’s orders were the sole justice.

“No mistakes will be tolerated. Our arrows will be aimed not at Valerian’s foes but at Kairos’ hero. Yet those arrows will become the shield that protects our lord and the Aster family. Do not fear staining your hands with blood. We are shadows. Shadows seek neither glory nor honor, only results.”

The men nodded silently. Through the night they carefully applied a plant-derived neurotoxin to their arrowheads. Even if the wound was not fatal, the poison, coursing through the veins, would paralyze the heart, a secret toxin known only to Argos.

Dawn the next day, the Blood Ridge.

True to its name, the ridge was shrouded in blood-red mist and gun smoke. As the full assaults of both armies began, the sky filled with fireballs and Magic arrows, and the ground turned slick with corpses and blood.

“Charge! Charge!”

In the middle of that hell, Bronson roared like a great bear and leapt first into the enemy. His two-handed axe sprayed blood as it smashed both shields and skulls of Valerian soldiers. At his fearless display, Kairos’ troops forgot their fear of death and followed him with cheers.

Amid the chaos of battle, in the rear where the archer units were positioned.

Members of the Silent Dagger were mixed among other archers under Kairos’ 3rd Legion banner. They pretended to draw their bows at the enemy, but their sole aim was the one man wreaking havoc deep inside the enemy lines, Bronson’s back.

“Wind: southeast. Distance: 150. Target: exposed.”

The commander’s low whisper drifted out on the wind.

It was the moment Bronson struck down a Valerian knight with his axe. His back was exposed, for a very brief, fleeting instant.

Sssshhk-!

Three arrows flew silently, as if one. They threaded through friendly corpses, enemy screams, and clouds of smoke, and struck precisely into the vulnerable seam of Bronson’s armor on his back.

“Guh…!”

An attack from behind. Bronson turned in disbelief to the arrows in his back. They were unmistakably the arrows of the land he had risked his life to defend, Kairos. His eyes filled not just with anger but with a deeper betrayal and sorrow.

As he faltered for a moment, the Valerian knights in front seized their chance. Dozens of spears and swords pierced his body at once.

“……”

The Indomitable Bronson did not let out a single cry. Watching the blades that pierced him, he slowly sank to his knees. As his vast body fell into the mud, the roar of Kairos’ 1st Legion turned to screams.

Their war-god, their hero, had absurdly fallen to friendly arrows.

The legion’s charge stopped as if in a lie. Soldiers panicked and staggered, and Valerian forces struck back frenziedly in the gap. Kairos’ 1st Legion collapsed utterly.

That afternoon, the Shadow Forge.

Rian watched the hero’s final moments impassively through the Eye of the Abyss. Only after confirming Bronson’s body was trampled into formlessness under enemy and ally feet did he quietly pick up the notation ‘Viscount Bronson’ from the war map. He then casually cast it into the nearby blazing furnace.

“Master, news of Viscount Bronson’s ‘accidental death’ has been reported to the capital immediately. The 1st Legion is nearly annihilated, and the front has returned to a stalemate.”

Kael’s report drew a nod from Rian.

“Good. Now both sides will be stuck in this tiresome war of attrition for a while.”

He rose and headed to the laboratory where Gideon waited, a new blueprint in his hand.

“It’s time to build the next toy, Gideon. The longer the war drags on, the more powerful weapons our clients will demand.”

The death of a hero was for him merely another step in his plan.