Kaaang!
The knight who parried Arman’s strike gritted his teeth.
For the face visible beyond the clash of blades was unmistakably that of his commander.
Yet the twisted neck and lifeless eyes made it all too clear what the entity before him truly was.
“...Commander, forgive me!”
Angling his blade, the knight deflected the opponent’s force.
At the same time, Gerud lunged in from the flank and severed Arman’s left leg.
As the off-balance body tilted, the waiting sword aura clove clean across its neck.
Slash!
The knight’s face contorted as he stared at the commander’s severed head rolling across the ground.
The rage boiling within him naturally turned toward Silgrim.
“You bastard, because of you....”
“It’s not over! Burn it!”
At Oscar’s shout, the mage of the Central Army thrust his hands forward.
Fwoosh!
Yet even before the flames could fully ignite, the cross-section of the severed neck swelled black.
『Corpse Explosion』
Kwaaaang!
Just before the blood and bone fragments could pierce the knight whose back was turned.
Chester’s wind snatched him away a step faster.
“Watch out.”
“T-Thank you.”
But it was still not over.
The severed head had detonated, but the body remained intact.
“Get away from the corpse!”
Just as Gerud shouted, keeping a wary eye on the fallen body on the ground.
The corpse sprang upright and began to sprint.
Scarcely had the Masters standing in its path scrambled out of the way.
Ignoring them, the corpse flailed its limbs and bolted toward the interior of the fortress.
Just as the worst-case scenario painted itself inside everyone’s minds at that dreadful speed.
“I’ll stop it!”
With a short shout, Gilliot kicked off the ground.
『Wind Wheel, Triple Consecutive』
The moment Gilli caught up with the corpse in an instant and kicked it in the flank.
Vwooom!
As if it had been waiting for that very moment, the corpse swelled black and detonated.
Though the catastrophe of slaughtering citizens and soldiers had been averted for now, Gilli, caught in the aftermath, winced in pain.
‘Damn it.’
A burn severe enough to slightly expose the lateral malleolus of his ankle.
Above all, because his ankle had been twisted in an unnatural direction, it was difficult even to remain standing still.
—Pity. I intended to blow off the entire leg.
Silgrim, who had presented a dilemma from the very beginning, let out a sickening sneer.
—Still, this isn't bad either.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-clang!
Black chains erupting from the ground surged toward the immobilized Gilliot.
Seeing this, Chester whipped up a gust of wind, barely managing to yank Gilliot away.
Cr-cr-crash!
Right into the spot where he had been standing a moment ago, chains as thick as a human torso slammed down one after another.
“Hm? It suddenly feels like a shadow has fallen....”
Sensing something amiss, the mage of Pervache looked upward, his eyes trembling faintly.
“E-Everyone, look up!”
The moment everyone’s heads snapped upward at that shout.
‘Rain?’
What met everyone’s eyes were pitch-black dots blanketing the sky.
The moment they realized those were countless spears of demonic energy.
The Masters cried out in sheer horror.
“Evade on your own!”
“Damn it!”
The mages each raised shields to block the spears, while the knights swung their swords.
Kaaang!
Deflecting a single spear, Gerud’s eyes widened in shock.
For the impact transmitted through the blade was enough to send a numbing shock through his entire body.
‘This is the power of just a single spear?’
The sheer volume of demonic energy condensed within it was almost impossible to fathom.
Above all, the relentless barrage of falling spears offered no leeway even to regain their footing.
Kaang! Kang! Kaaang!
The knights moved frantically to parry the spears, and the mages, too, gritted their teeth as they unfurled their defensive barriers.
“Kugh!”
To the naked eye, it appeared as though they were raining down indiscriminately, but they were not.
The rain of spears, prepared with every individual’s trajectory of movement accounted for, locked them down so firmly that they could not take a single step from where they stood.
—Hmph.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Silgrim gazed at them with arrogant eyes.
In a situation where a single mage overwhelmed 7th-circle Masters.
He slowly stepped forward.
Toward the Commander.
“Run... away!”
At the shout of Maxim, who was protecting Oscar, the Commander hesitated briefly.
Run away, but where on earth was he supposed to run?
Toward the interior of the fortress, teeming with frail, powerless weaklings?
Or toward the open plains, where an army of thousands of corpses lay in wait?
“....”
The black spears falling like heavy raindrops vanished the instant they made contact with the Commander.
Silgrim, who was slowly approaching, observed the spectacle and spoke.
—I came after hearing the explanation, but it is indeed a fascinating ability.
An ability that absorbs all energy.
Silgrim nodded his head, wreathing his entire body in demonic energy.
—From what I hear, you can also discharge it after absorption.
“Is this what you’re talking about?”
When the Commander snapped his fingers, the demonic energy absorbed thus far was discharged straight forward.
Kwaaaaang!
Exposed entirely to that trajectory, Silgrim’s body was annihilated without a trace.
The demonic energy he had wrapped around himself was overwhelmingly insufficient to block an attack comprised of everything absorbed up to that point.
—Indeed, quite a troublesome ability to deal with. I believe I just died about thirty times in an instant.
His four eyes narrowed as if intrigued.
Meeting that serpentine gaze, the Commander gritted his teeth and threw a fist.
Kwaaang!
Silgrim’s abdomen was gouged through, his black robes tearing to shreds as chunks of flesh spilled behind his back.
Yet a smile still hung on Silgrim’s lips.
—You must know by now that such actions are meaningless.
Chains surging from beneath the rent robes coiled around the Commander.
The instant they touched his flesh, the chains were absorbed as if erased, but Silgrim did not mind in the slightest.
All he had to do was recreate as many as were lost.
“K-Kugh...!”
Before long, a pained groan leaked from the Commander’s mouth.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
—I was already informed. That your physical vessel is a defective product.
Knowing that fact, he battered him with an amount of demonic energy bordering on infinity.
“Kuuugh!”
His face trembling violently, the Commander repeatedly absorbed and discharged demonic energy.
Exposed to that energy, Silgrim’s head burst apart without pause.
Expel the surging energy.
Once it filled back up, expel it once more.
The Commander repeated the exact same act time and time again.
Each time, Silgrim’s body shattered, yet.
—...It seems this is the end.
The first to cough up blood was the Commander.
Cold sweat poured across his entire body, his face pale white.
“....”
Gasping for ragged breath, the Commander’s eyes shifted to the side.
Oscar was right nearby.
Even while receiving Maxim’s protection, he could not tear his eyes away from him.
That face, looking as though it had suffered a great shock, suddenly overlapped with the image of him as an infant.
Sensing his impending end, the Commander’s lips parted faintly.
‘A farewell....’
He had to say it, yet not even the strength to push out a voice remained.
He had wanted to at least tell him he was grateful for everything.
Ultimately replacing those words with a faint smile, the Commander looked squarely at Silgrim.
—Hm?
Simultaneously, the chains coiling around him vanished as if by magic.
With a body that had already reached its limit, he had begun to absorb demonic energy once more.
Realizing what he intended to do, Oscar screamed.
“Stop! Your body can’t take it!”
“....”
The Commander slowly closed his eyes.
Then, burning his physical body, he drew his ability up to its absolute maximum.
Unlike his younger brother, a vessel broken from the very start.
Yet being able to absorb everything in his surroundings was a power granted to him alone.
—Such a thing....
Looking around, Silgrim’s brow furrowed.
—I was never told this was possible.
Not merely the energy making direct contact with his flesh.
Even the black spears pouring down upon the ramparts were being erased.
“Haah, haah.”
“...Phew, phew.”
As if overcast skies were clearing and warm sunlight was filtering in.
The Masters, who had barely been clinging to their lives until now, finally caught their breath and looked toward the Commander.
Contrary to everyone’s expectation of agony, his expression was serenely peaceful.
Like an ascetic monk who had attained enlightenment and cast off every mortal tribulation.
“....”
Oscar’s gaze locked onto the Commander’s right hand.
A hand slowly lifting.
At the energy coalescing at its tip, the surrounding scenery warped like a heat haze.
“Everyone, fall back! As far behind the Commander as possible! Quickly!”
Snatching the collar of an exhausted mage, Gerud kicked off the ground.
Chester, too, slung Gilliot over his shoulder and ran.
Confirming that they had evacuated the area, the Commander brought his fingers together.
Silgrim’s four eyes went wide.
For the compressed energy gathered at the tip of the opponent’s finger possessed a density completely different from before.
‘This is....’
No matter who he was, this had to be dodged.
The moment Silgrim’s foot moved backward.
“Too late.”
Snap!
The moment he snapped his fingers.
Kwaaaaaang!
Accompanied by a deafening roar, a portion of the fortress walls along with the ravine behind them vanished.
Silgrim could not even muster a scream.
His body, wiped out as if reduced to nothingness, was reconstructing slower than usual.
Even that reconstructing flesh was repeatedly swept away and annihilated anew by the lingering residual energy.
“Kuuugh!”
“Such power....”
Even the Masters positioned behind the Commander shook their heads in utter disbelief.
For had they been on the receiving end of that strike, they wouldn't have even dared entertain the thought of surviving.
—Cough! Gasp!
The revived Silgrim spat out his breath as if vomiting.
He instinctively counted the number of remaining corpses first.
‘In that brief moment... I died over a thousand times?’
An involuntary chill ran down the nape of his neck.
Of course, there were still many corpses left.
Yet it was not an amount capable of withstanding attacks like that several times more.
Silgrim’s four eyes fixed upon the Commander’s right hand.
If those fingers moved even slightly, he fully intended to flee the area immediately.
Because above all else, his own life took paramount importance.
Thud.
Yet the opponent did not attack again.
Having expended all his power, the Commander let his head droop limply before collapsing to the spot.
Only then did Silgrim’s tense shoulders settle down slightly.
—...It is finished.
“Hey!”
Sprinting frantically, Oscar pressed two fingers beneath the Commander’s nose.
‘He’s still alive.’
The breath he exhaled was faint enough to snap at any second, but it was still clinging on.
Yet, aside from that single fact, everything was steeped in despair.
“...Even after that, he won't die.”
“To think there are still that many corpses remaining....”
The sound of the Masters’ will to fight breaking could be heard.
The reality that one had to hit him five or six times in a row with an attack of that caliber just to kill him.
The reality that they would still have to kill him thousands of times more granted them an insurmountable despair.
—You still draw breath.
A dark energy fluttered and billowed atop Silgrim’s body.
Once more, he prepared to pour down the black rain.
His objective, naturally, was to confirm the Commander's death.
“We must stop him...!”
Gerud and the other Masters lunged forward in unison, yet none possessed the destructive power they had shown at first.
Merely blocking the black spears had drained their stamina and mana to the dregs.
For the exact same reason, none appeared to have the leeway left to unleash their worlds.
‘Damn it.’
Staring at their backs, Oscar grew furious at his own weakness.
If only he had tried harder in this newly granted life.
If only he had trained with desperate, relentless tenacity, he might have already reached the 8th circle by now.
The times he had moderately compromised, the times he had settled for moderate satisfaction, crossed his mind in vain regret.
‘...Damn it.’
Just as Oscar, feeling more powerless than ever before, clenched his fists so hard that blood began to seep.
Black dots formed across the heavens.
—Die.
Silgrim’s voice rang out like a death sentence.
And death poured down from the sky like a torrential gale.
“Haah, haah.”
Just as Gerud, too, gazed powerlessly at the falling spears with wavering eyes.
Kwaaaaang!
The falling spears were erased as if by a miracle.
At that sight, Oscar’s gaze involuntarily turned toward the Commander.
Yet he remained in a state of merely leaking faint breaths.
‘Then....’
Just who?
The answer to the question everyone harbored echoed from above.
—The Four Gentlemen: Fragrance of Plum Blossoms Spanning Ten Thousand Li.
Oscar slowly lifted his head at the familiar voice echoing through the speaker.
Descending upon the battlefield in place of the black spears was the clear, cool scent of plum blossoms.
Following that, a colossal airship was seen descending through the clouds.
—...A flying ship, you say?
Silgrim glared at the figure standing upon the airship’s railing.
He was clad in a robe white as snow.
—8th-circle Mage of the White Tower, Lloyd Schultz.
Indifferently parrying Silgrim’s gaze, the man pulled back the hood he was wearing and murmured briefly.
—I join the battle from this moment forth.

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