TUK 12

Chapter 12

“Really… was what the guards said about you true?”
“Gerard… I think you owe us an explanation for this situation.”
“You said there were spies — was that true?!”
“You… were planning to sell us all to Azrion?! Gerard!!”

Sudden looks of accusation and confusion turned toward Gerard.

‘This is a disaster.’

Gerard snapped out of his daze as he met the gazes of the soldiers under his command. As the burning flames spread all around, he could plainly read the dark expressions on his men’s faces. He even felt a sense of danger that their blades might be turned on him.

“We only confirmed because a man we’d killed on the plains turned up alive and right in front of us. Don’t be fooled by that bastard who killed Crimson.” Gerard tried to explain.

He berated himself inwardly for stirring up words when he could have simply killed and ended everything—then and there.

The problem was that when they held Graul immediately accountable for the failure to protect the mage, these men had seen Rian’s corpse themselves.

“Is that supposed to be an excuse…?”
“We saw that man at Treverbridge too. Wasn’t that why you hesitated before leaving there? You knew he was pretending to be dead!”
“Black hair isn’t common… Gerard. You’re really…!!”
“Gerard was the traitor. We have to report this back to the homeland!”
“Don’t make this mess worse. Surrender quietly, Gerard!!”

At the sudden reversal, Gerard sighed.

“Ah—what a bunch of idiots I’ve been dreaming with.”

It seemed impossible to reason with them. Darkness, it seemed, had put a mask of stupidity over their eyes and ears.

‘This might be worth trying.’

Rian inwardly welcomed the current situation. Internal division while the enemy was trapped—this was a golden opportunity. Of course, not all their blades would be turned on Gerard.

“I’ll make them pay for deceiving us.”
“Traitors get summary execution. We’ll cut the throats of these two and then return home.”

A fight was inevitable. But there was no need to take them all on—just enough.

Ssshk—

Rian drew his sword and dismounted.

“Gerard. This looks like a real mess, doesn’t it?”
“……”

Rian fanned the embers of confusion and division. Gerard didn’t respond.

The rest of the shadows provided the response for him.

“Kill him!!”
“You dirty traitors!!”

The force split in two. Five elite soldiers surrounded Gerard—implicitly agreeing that having the numbers on that side was advantageous.

The remaining three men glared at Rian, their eyes red with anger. The flames licking the surroundings matched the anger in their gazes; they looked almost like monstrous beings who had lost reason.

‘Intense.’

None of the three were easy opponents. Their right arms were sheathed in iron gauntlets holding short swords; their left hands held short daggers shaped like eagle talons, gripped in reverse.

Thud!!

The man in the middle drove off the ground and closed the distance in a single bound. His speed closing in even outpaced Gerard’s.

Clang!!

Seeing the downward strike coming, Rian immediately parried. He didn’t dodge; he matched force with force.

But the talon-shaped dagger in the attacker’s left hand flew in.

Pft!!

The gambeson’s surface was torn. Rian slanted his blade down immediately, fearing the wound might cut flesh, but the opponent took three steps back and moved out of reach.

Thud—!

At the same time, strikes came from both left and right.

Rapid thrusts.

Kerrrung-!!!

They were attacks that crackled like thunder and lightning in the sky. If left unchecked, one would bury into the heart and another into the right flank. He could judge that with his eyes, but he was still far from being able to avoid them all.

Does that mean he was to die like this?

‘No way.’

Crack!

Rian caught a thrust aimed at his heart with one hand. His fingers might have been severed, but the gauntlet leather and his grip on the blade prevented that.

“You madman?! You think that’s enough?” the attacker spat.

As the attack was blocked, another blade slashed at Rian’s side—an assault he neither blocked nor dodged.

Poke!!

The remaining attack found the wound Crimson had torn open earlier. In other words, both of those attackers were inside Rian’s effective range and had their feet rooted.

Rian drove his longsword into the neck of the man who had stabbed his flank.

Poke!!

The strike happened at the same time as the man with the dagger tried to slash Rian’s face; Rian’s attack was faster.

“Y-you madman?!”

The man whose hand Rian held saw, in an instant, his comrade’s throat get pierced. He wore an expression of disbelief—how could someone with a blade through his side still muster the strength and concentration to stab a comrade through the neck? But there wasn’t time to be puzzled. The blade that came out of his comrade’s throat tilted and aimed for his own neck.

Whoosh!!

Rian quickly swung his tilted blade from left to right, attempting a horizontal cut.

Clang!!

The opponent barely blocked Rian’s blade with the talon-shaped dagger. Pushing Rian’s held sword away, he still aimed for Rian’s heart.

Creak-scratch!!

While his blade was being deflected by the dagger, Rian flicked the sword and plunged the point into the opponent’s ribs.

Crunch!!

The tip pierced leather and armor, shattered the rib, and plunged through the lung.

“Gah!!”

Rian immediately relaxed his grip on the opponent’s sword and shoved with his foot to remove the blade from the lung.

Clatter—!!

It was then.

“Die! You son of a—!!”

Poke!!!

The soldier who had initially collided with Rian circled behind and stabbed into Rian’s waist. He’d driven the blade through the back, out through the belly—piercing flesh.

“Gah—!!”

Rian groaned in pain. Blood clung thickly to the blade below his line of sight; the wound was clearly mortal.

Cough!!

Blood poured from ruptured vessels and filled his entrails. The blood backed up and flowed out of his mouth. The amount of blood matched the pain that spread through Rian’s whole body. He felt as if he’d been thrown into flames; he could not get used to it.

In the Aria church, he’d heard hellfire called a place where devils live. Maybe having experienced something like that several times, he thought he understood why devils wanted to crawl into the world.

Of course, now was not the time to ponder devils’ feelings.

The process toward death. Entering the gate of death. As pain nearly swept his mind away, the pain suddenly subsided.

It was the onset of regeneration exploding into undying—immortality.

Whish—

Rian twisted his body and locked eyes with the man who had driven a sword through his back.

“Ugh….”

The opponent stared at Rian in horror. It was only natural—he was looking at someone who should have died any moment, now gazing back with jet-black eyes and a blank calm.

“I saw… a demon…,” the man muttered nonsense.

He might not even have realized he was speaking his last words.

Swish.

Rian pulled the sword that had pierced his body out and slashed the trembling enemy’s neck in a single stroke.

Screech!!

He had no intention of delivering that man’s last words on to anyone. He turned away at once and fixed his gaze toward the place where screams and the noises of slaughter thundered.

‘Gerard…….’

“Traitor…”
“We never trusted you.”
“You’ll pay for mocking us, Gerard…”

Gerard looked at the men who had pointed their swords at him and dropped the weapon in his hand. He judged that showing no willingness to fight might help to persuade them.

“It’s not too late even now. Don’t waste your future being deceived by Azrion’s mad dog. Brothers.” Gerard called them brothers.

He had thought of them as brothers—men of the same origins he had cherished. Were they even his subordinates? The hierarchy made by rank only created a top-down relationship; they could have been on familiar terms, calling each other by names without rigid respect. Though it was a rule born from noble nonsense, it had acted as a strong tether people could rely on.

Gerard hoped they would awaken to the meaning packed into the word brother and agree.

“You diseased birds who can’t think for yourselves. That’s why you’re driven about by the nobles’ stupid logic.” Gerard cut in.

It was a remark that drew a clear line. The brows of the shadowed men creased.

“So you finally show your true colors.”
“There’s no need to speak further. We’ll execute the traitor and return.”

Their remarks were ultimately self-serving; Gerard felt there was no point in negotiating any further.

Thud!!

“Wha—?!”
“You son of a—!!”

Thrust! Slash! Stab! Snap!!

The skill gap was obvious. In the time that a trail was left behind his knife, Gerard plunged his blade into the throat of the man in front and, spinning, beheaded another who charged late.

‘Guh—… the difference in skill is this much?!’

It was a single, well-executed sequence. His feet didn’t stop and reached another opponent. He smashed the man’s face with a pommel, knocking him to the ground, then stamped on his chest to crush bones.

‘Gah!! Reckless… I thought we could win if there were many…’

Within moments, three were dead. Two more rushed in from front and back, but they only suffered severed arms and broken bones as they screamed and died.

Ssshh—

Gerard wiped the blood from his face with his hand after killing all five, and thought about what had caused events to reach this point.

‘…that unnamed Azrion soldier.’

He was certain the origin of this mess was that soldier they had faced on the Dandelion Plain. He’d returned alive, disguised as an imperial soldier, and even killed a mage.

‘Was he pretending to be dead back then too?’

Should they have verified death back then? A mere soldier’s death? Gerard muttered, “No, this is all the fault of that mad monster,” and glared at Rian with fury.

Rumble—!!

Their gazes met. Thunder flashed above them.

Drop. Drop. Tap-tap—

Rain began to fall. It was a sign that deeper darkness was coming.

“What’s your name?”

Thud—.

Gerard closed the distance toward Rian and asked his name.

Thud—.

Rian answered without trying to hide it.

“Rian Kade. I’m a soldier of Azrion.”

Gerard tightened his grip on the short sword in his hand and said to Rian.

“I’ll remember. And I will kill everyone connected to you.”

“Hmm. That would be inconvenient.”

“……”

“I was thinking of presenting death to you here and now.”