In The Name Of Ingrad! (30)

Viscount Muriel was struggling to raise his sword at the unbelievable result.

“I know that you are an exceptionally outstanding knight… but that is as far as it goes.”

At the tremendous force pressing down on him with strength, his legs were on the verge of giving out.

Speed if it was speed, strength if it was strength. He could tell that Archduke Pearl’s reputation, lacking nothing in any respect, was indeed not empty.

It was exactly the 117th exchange so far. Although Archduke Pearl had not gone all out at first, he was certainly an absurd monster, and Muriel himself understood that he had fought fairly well in his own way, but he had not the slightest intention of backing down like this.

That was because he had felt something that had been blocked until now.

He had realized that he was merely behind in strength and speed, and that in terms of technique, he too was not inferior to Archduke Pearl, so he wanted somehow to escape this situation and continue another close battle.

“I do think youth is good. However… your world and mine are different. You have a world where you should play your part… If you lose your life to my sword now, I will become a villain who cuts off the future.”

“That is arrogance. You may be defeated by me.”

“You are spirited. But does it look that way?”

In that instant, a sensation different from anything until now was transmitted from Archduke Pearl. To Muriel, what he felt now was “killing intent.”

He had implicitly known that Archduke Pearl was not trying to kill him, but now it was different. If he resisted, he would die.

And the chilling premonition he felt around his neck was certainly a warning of death that would never miss.

But he could not step back.

Pride?

It was not such simple stubbornness.

‘Yes, this emotion is a competitive spirit. It is a desire to rise…’

Recently, he has often faced powerful people. And he had endlessly drunk the bitter cup of repeated defeats. It had been the same with Ingrad’s beastkin, and after returning to the Empire, he had often been defeated in decisive bouts with Dame Agnes.

Moreover… the shocking defeat against his father, whom he had thought was at a similar level, had made him worry whether there was a problem with his talent, but everyone had said the same thing.

‘Do you not have a future?’

It was truly something he hated hearing. And Archduke Pearl before him had also spoken in a similar context.

“I… have no intention of becoming a loser.”

“What is important in life is not victory or defeat. You are obsessed with something… something beyond victory and defeat.”

“…Perhaps I am.”

At that instant, he put all his strength into his legs and was able to push away Archduke Pearl’s sword, and as he leapt back to put distance between them and began to refine his mana and convert it into aura, it happened.

“If you risk death, you can gain one thing. Will you try?”

“…Are you saying you will teach me?”

“I intend to kill you. At first, I did not intend to, but perhaps… I had a premonition that you would become a great obstacle in the near future.”

A snicker escaped him. Did that not mean he had thought of Muriel as an opponent he could kill at any time? Muriel had no intention of dying here or backing down.

However… what worried him was the case where he was defeated.

‘Would I bring shame upon my house…?’

But a smile began to spread across his lips. After he died?

That would be the responsibility of those left behind.

There was something he had always heard.

The place where a knight dies is the battlefield.

A knight always lives with the fate of being killed by the hand of a strong person… and so on. There were truly countless statements beginning with “A knight…”

However, in this situation now, he thought all of those things were useless. Facing a powerful enemy called Archduke Pearl, he thought it was enough just to be able to put forth his full strength.

“The fact that I was able to cross swords with you. When I go to the afterlife, I will boast about it. So… I will believe you will use your full strength.”

“…You are a person too precious to kill… Very well.”

At that instant, an incredible force that could not even be compared to anything until now began to burst out from Archduke Pearl, and the same was true of Viscount Muriel.

Each famous house of the sword had secret techniques passed down through the generations. Right now, both of them had drawn up those secret techniques.

The secret technique passed down in Archduke Pearl’s house was the acceleration of consciousness.

As the words meant, it was the power of contemplation that accelerated the consciousness and allowed one to see all things in the world slowly. In Viscount Muriel’s case, it was the simplest secret technique, but also the most effective secret technique for enhancing physical ability.

It was a method of converting the mana in the body into “aura” and then circulating it throughout the entire body. In exchange for placing a fairly large burden on the body, it could be called a secret technique that allowed one to obtain powerful strength.

It had the drawback that it could not be used for a long time, but it was certain that it allowed one to gain strength that was powerful to that degree, so he had used the secret technique in order to splendidly decorate the end.

And then came silence. While the very flow of the battlefield was being twisted as their force alone made the surrounding area painful, the one who moved first was Viscount Muriel.

Kkwaaang!!

A roar rang out, and the place where Viscount Muriel had stepped shattered to pieces.

As the wall screamed with every step he took, Viscount Muriel rushed in from the front, emitting tremendous force, and Archduke Pearl, who had been calmly watching him, began to move around the time the sword flew toward his heart.

Archduke Pearl avoided Viscount Muriel’s blade by such a narrow margin that the phrase “a sheet of paper’s difference” felt meaningless, then stretched out his hand and lightly knocked away Viscount Muriel’s blade with the back of his hand!

With a crack, the sword’s path began to slip away, but as if he had expected it, Viscount Muriel instantly recovered his sword and forcefully added rotation to it.

It could be called a movement that one had to know how to use aura for, and that only a Master could forcibly operate, but Archduke Pearl, who was watching this, abruptly lowered his own body to match Viscount Muriel’s rotating movement, added rotation himself, and responded to Viscount Muriel’s sword with his own sword.

This was instead a movement that would fluster Viscount Muriel, and after a fleeting instant passed, at the moment the swords touched, a tremendous roar that could not all be contained by human hearing rang out, and Viscount Muriel’s sword could be seen shattering into pieces and scattering into the air.

At that instant, along with a sensation of his chest being shaken violently, Viscount Muriel’s vision grew distant, and what he thought as he collapsed was that Archduke Pearl… had not been serious even while pushing him this far.

It was the same even now… Though he had lost, Muriel thought that being able to fall to such a powerful person was a consolation in its own way, and he recalled one person’s face.

‘Was he called Wijel…?’

If Archduke Pearl and Wijel had clashed, how interesting a fight would that have been? Viscount Muriel felt regretful that he could not see it.

Meanwhile, Archduke Pearl looked at Viscount Muriel lying on the ground in a serious state, lightly touched his own forehead, and said,

“Open the gate. I will cut off the head of anyone who resists and hang it on the wall.”

It was by no means a loud voice, but the soldiers and knights felt as if it somehow rang out thunderously and dug into their ears. They realized anew just how terrifying a confrontation between Masters was, but Archduke Pearl looked at the blood wetting his finger and gazed down at Viscount Muriel, who had collapsed.

He knew that he was an outstanding person.

He could tell that he was a skilled person worthy of being called a “genius,” and after crossing swords with him, it could also be said that his desire to rise was tremendous.

Moreover, he was a genius of a different feeling from his own son, so Archduke Pearl found himself strangely wanting him.

‘Marquis Giltian’s house has been a Noble Faction house for generations. However… if I can draw them in at the price of his life…’

It was the moment Archduke Pearl’s scales began to tilt toward sparing Viscount Muriel.

The Imperial Army’s morale had already fallen as far as it could fall, so Archduke Pearl judged that only the finishing touches remained, but it was then. An ominous magic power began to be felt in the sky above the capital…

“…What are you trying to do?”

Archduke Pearl looked up into the air and frowned. He felt as if ominous magic power, like black fog, was covering the capital.

Moreover, seeing the magic power expand at high speed while maintaining a certain boundary, Archduke Pearl instinctively realized that something was strange. He hurriedly grabbed the collar of the collapsed Viscount Muriel, jumped down from the wall, and began to create distance.

And as if chasing after Archduke Pearl, something soon stretched rapidly to the place where he had begun to retreat and created something similar to a curtain.

Ominousness. Just as he thought that word fit the feeling of the magic power perfectly, a soldier was just about to pass through the curtain.

“Gg, ggeuaaaah!!!”

He began to scream in pain and started drying up completely.

“What in the world… is that supposed to be?”

His gaze naturally crossed beyond the curtain to the Imperial Army, and after confirming that all the troops at the certain boundary were drying up in a similar manner, Archduke Pearl roared with aura in his voice.

“Luminas!! What exactly are you thinking!!”

Archduke Pearl’s voice thundered through the skies above the city, but for the moment, no answer came back.

Agnes was looking over the battlefield with a grave expression.

‘This is… traces of black magic…’

No matter how bad the Empire’s circumstances were, it was common sense in this world not to touch black magic. Agnes could not understand what Shadow wanted by doing something like this.

No, even while thinking that it must have been used because the Empress had given permission, on the other hand, she could not help but seriously agonize over whether this was justified.

Moreover, as she looked over the countless lives that had dried up and died without distinguishing between friend and foe, she had the despairing thought that the Empire had no future, and Agnes found that far too lamentable.

However, her duty was to protect even such an Empire, so she once again gripped her sword, and not long after, an order was delivered from the adjutant she had ordered to inspect the battlefield situation and return.

“Viscount Muriel was defeated… and is presumed to have died.”

“…Did he fall in battle?”

“It is said that when the curtain spread, Archduke Pearl disappeared while carrying something presumed to be Viscount Muriel’s corpse like baggage.”

“He is not someone who would toy with the dead. He must have taken him… in order to show courtesy to an outstanding knight. Inform Marquis Giltian.”

“…Will he not be unable to accept it?”

Agnes knew what the adjutant was worried about, but she also knew that hiding it was not the answer.

“Tell him that… together with him, we will aim for Archduke Pearl’s head. Tell him I will join in his revenge.”

“…I shall obey your command.”

Leaving behind the adjutant as he withdrew, Agnes looked beyond the black wall at Archduke Pearl’s army.

‘A week at most… We will not last longer than that. What exactly are they thinking…?’

Agnes could not understand the Imperial Family’s judgment at all.