One strike.
That was enough to drive the Black Knight from the wall.
Fiore swung his sword, and the Black Knight, who blocked it, was hurled away as if struck by a cannonball, landing at the base of the wall.
Dust rose among the Imperial troops.
Fiore stepped onto the parapet and pursued the Black Knight without pause.
"Y–Your Majesty!"
"That's—!"
"It's dangerous!"
He had leapt alone into the middle of the Imperial army's formation.
Everyone cried out to him in alarm, but Fiore did not hesitate. The moment he landed in front of the Black Knight, the Imperial soldiers around them stepped back, and a circular space opened between the two.
Everyone understood instinctively.
The outcome of this siege would be decided by the battle between these two.
While the eyes of the battlefield were focused on them, Yuri did not loosen the string of tension.
"What's everyone doing? Want to stand around and watch together?"
"N–No, sir!"
"Clear the ones on the wall!"
The knights of Briol, who had been frozen in shock, began to move.
The stalled battle began to roll forward again.
Because of Fiore's appearance, the morale of the Imperial knights had dropped, and they were slain without much resistance.
Those with higher cultivation barely managed to leap down from the wall in a desperate bid to survive.
Having secured the wall, Yuri turned his gaze.
Fiore and the Black Knight were moving toward each other.
He kept his eyes wide open, straining to follow them.
He entered the realm of the heart-soul, doing his best not to miss even the smallest currents of mana that rose from their bodies.
"Ah…"
Yuri had never seen Fiore fight in earnest.
Fiore enjoyed training alone in the underground training hall, so while Yuri knew he was strong, he could hardly imagine how he swung his sword in actual combat.
And the sword he saw today—
It was beautiful.
He wanted to grab someone and say it.
Do you see that?
"Your Highness, what is it?"
At some point, Laurent and Jared had come up beside him.
Instead of answering, Yuri extended a hand and pointed at Fiore Briol.
"Yes. His Majesty is winning."
"No, that's not it."
"Sir?"
"Do you see it?"
"See what…?"
"There…"
Watching from within the realm of the heart-soul, Yuri could see the form of mana blooming from Fiore's body, and how the sword path extending from him left traces upon the world.
There was more unseen than seen.
Yuri realized it.
His father, Fiore Briol, was not hiding his sword.
It was simply that he had no need for an opponent.
"Flowers are blooming…"
Receiving Jared's bewildered gaze, Yuri laughed as he spoke.
Wherever Fiore's and the Black Knight's swords met, flowers of mana bloomed.
At times, they unfurled in layered profusion like roses, at others they drooped downward in clusters like lilies of the valley. Soon, the afterimages of the flowers faded, scattering along the paths the two moved.
Suddenly, a spray of red erupted.
Blood gushed from the Black Knight's chest.
Following the flow of space dominated by Fiore, it formed a flower pattern made of blood.
A blood blossom.
Like a butterfly drifting down to rest upon a petal, Fiore's sword began to descend slowly toward the Black Knight's chest.
It was not particularly fast, nor did it carry overwhelming force.
But it could not be avoided.
Like a marble dropped into a funnel, spiraling inexorably toward the exit, no matter how the Black Knight reacted, Fiore's sword would inevitably fall upon his heart.
Yuri thought the battle was over.
It was at that moment—
Within the heart-soul realm he was seeing, a black stain appeared.
It forced its way into the domain Fiore had woven with his sword, marring the picture he had drawn.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion rang out.
Someone stood between Fiore and the Black Knight.
A knight clad in black armor.
Fiore looked down at him impassively, then slowly withdrew his sword.
"Thank you."
"It's nothing."
At the Black Knight's words, the black-armored knight replied.
"You cannot face that monster alone."
"Mm…"
"I will assist you."
With that, another black-armored knight appeared.
Centering on the Black Knight, three men now stood before Fiore.
At some point, Einzer had come up beside Yuri.
"Those are knight order commanders," he said.
"Really?"
"Men who could easily be candidates for the ten strongest. And there are three of them…"
But Fiore did not retreat in the slightest. Rather, he took a step toward the three.
"Not just those three…"
Before long, the Imperial troops surrounding Fiore had grown thick.
He was, quite literally, facing the Imperial army alone.
"Shall we go out?"
Jared asked.
He was proposing to lead Briol's knights out of the fortress to fight alongside Fiore.
Yuri shook his head.
"No."
"But—"
"Don't misunderstand my father. He's not the type to test himself against others. Only desperate fools like me do that."
"Sir?"
"The reason he's still standing there…"
Yuri set one foot on the parapet.
"…is because he's judged it to be perfectly safe."
The three who were looking at Yuri turned their eyes back to the battlefield.
In that moment, Fiore took a step forward.
Yuri entered the heart-soul realm, desperately tracking the movement.
Fiore's sword had now entered an even more intense domain.
Not flowers, but flames of mana burst upward like a fountain.
Something was about to happen.
Seeing those flames, Yuri felt an unshakable sense of foreboding.
Just before the Black Knight's death, when the two knight order commanders had intervened, Fiore's domain had been briefly disrupted.
At that time, the two had looked like black stains.
Black magic.
From the wall, Yuri could tell—just like the knight he had slain earlier—that those two were already consumed by that dark power.
Fiore's realm was extraordinary, but black magic sometimes surpassed human expectations.
"Your Highness, despite what you say, you're worried, aren't you?"
"A little."
"Hahaha…"
Einzer chuckled.
"Don't worry."
Yuri looked at him. Einzer leaned against the parapet as he spoke.
"I once saw His Majesty fight in his younger days. When was it… anyway, there were enemies all around…"
His eyes grew distant, as if recalling his youth.
"A one-man army."
"Really?"
"A grand army at that. To my eyes, this scene looks different."
Einzer grinned.
"His Majesty looks like the one with more troops."
As his words ended, an anomaly occurred where Fiore stood.
From Fiore's sword, mana shot upward in the shape of a wedge.
Reaching high into the sky, it spilled out in all directions.
All of it was sword aura.
A massive sword built by layering sword aura upon sword aura.
Even that overflowed, sword aura spilling down.
Those who knew what this meant were struck with shock.
"My god…"
At last, Fiore moved.
Taking a single step, he swung his sword horizontally.
It was an ordinary movement.
But the aftermath transcended comprehension.
"Ah…"
Yuri's mouth fell open.
Fiore's sword aura spread endlessly along his sword path, forming a massive, fan-shaped domain.
Everything within it was severed.
The sight of countless people collapsing at the same time was unreal.
At first, it looked as if they were merely sinking down without strength.
But an instant later, blood spurted from the severed surfaces, dyeing the earth red.
Of the three who had faced Fiore, the Black Knight and one knight order commander survived, but the other, along with the surrounding Imperial troops, died.
In front of Fiore, a vast, blood-red semicircle had been carved into the field.
Inside it, those whose upper and lower bodies had been separated writhed helplessly.
It was a horrific sight.
Then, the Imperial troops who had been in formation behind Fiore panicked and fled. Crashing into each other and falling, some were trampled to death.
It was fear born of overwhelming power, leaving them without even the thought of resistance.
Before Fiore now remained only the Black Knight and a single knight order commander. They had not died, but were grievously wounded.
As Fiore stepped forward, the two turned and fled.
To see one of the ten strongest give up resistance and run was surreal.
Fiore gave chase at once.
"As expected…"
Yuri nodded.
"Practical."
Fiore did not stand there, sheathing his sword and striking a pose as he watched his enemies retreat.
One could feel his determination to seize the opportunity and kill them here.
His hurried running form looked a little unrefined, but the mindset was admirable.
"Mm…"
"Ahem…"
"What, does he look unrefined?"
"No, sir. It's just, His Majesty doesn't often have reason to run."
"New recruits run like that…"
"Why does he swing his arms out to the sides?"
In any case, Fiore's speed was tremendous.
He closed in on the Black Knight and swung his sword at his back.
The Black Knight turned and countered, and their battle resumed.
Chasing and retreating, their sword strikes clashed again and again.
But the Imperial army would not simply watch any longer. Dozens of black-armored knights rushed in, clinging to Fiore.
Their swords intertwined.
Blood splattered.
Fiore, perhaps starting to tire, stopped running.
A few knights, after hesitating, were slain by his hand.
And then—
The Imperial army retreated.
Jared muttered,
"To think I'd see something like this with my own eyes. Guess it's worth living long."
Einzer looked at him.
"What's with the old man talk from someone young…"
"It's just a saying."
"In any case, what a sight. To see one man drive away an army."
Fiore looked after the retreating Imperial forces, then turned and began to walk back.
Yuri signaled at once, and the sound of a horn rang out.
It was the sound of victory.
Yuri climbed onto the parapet and shouted,
"All hands, cheer!"
The Briol army shouted toward Fiore.
Everyone on the wall raised both hands and waved their weapons toward him.
Fiore, returning with a calm expression, paused for a moment and glanced up, then continued walking.
Yuri shouted,
"Fiore! Fiore! Fiore!"
Then everyone began to join in.
From all directions, Fiore's name was chanted.
"Your Highness."
"What?"
"Perhaps that's enough."
"What is?"
"His Majesty is feeling embarrassed."
"I know."
Fiore's face had faintly reddened.
With the entire Briol army calling his name and praising his feat, he seemed a bit bashful.
Yuri didn't care, and urged them on even louder.
"He's not just Fiore! He's the Invincible! Fiore!"
"Invincible!"
"Fiore!"
"Invincible!"
"Fiore!"
Since Fiore was walking calmly from afar, it would be quite some time before he reached Bezos Castle. Yet the cheers of the Briol army did not stop.
"…"
In the end, Fiore's pace quickened. For a moment, it seemed he might run, but perhaps feeling that would be awkward, he resumed walking.
"Invincible! Fiore! Invincible! Fiore!"
Fiore's eyes suddenly lifted toward Yuri.
Yuri immediately ducked behind the wall and sat down, leaning his back against it.
He had been teasing, but the sight he had just witnessed still burned in his mind.
Fiore's techniques were quite different from Yuri's own, yet they had given him much inspiration.
This was the swordsman hailed as the strongest of this age.
He looked down at his hand.
It was trembling faintly.
Since obtaining Chaos, he had thought he'd grown much stronger. But he was still far from it. If he could not completely make Chaos his own, he would never surpass monsters like the Black Knight or Fiore.
He must completely dominate Chaos…
Beware the heart demon.
Suddenly, Moyong Chan's voice surfaced in his mind.
Yuri closed his eyes, then opened them.
It was but a fleeting moment.
Yet within him, the time that passed was long. In the moment his eyelids fell, Yuri had endured a long trial within the heart demon, and returned.
He lowered his head, exhaling heavily, and panted for breath.
"Your Highness?"
Jared called to him.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing."
Yuri raised his head.
Jared flinched, looking startled.
"You don't seem fine."
"What do you mean?"
"It's just…"
"I just overdid it."
Perhaps because he had used Chaos excessively in this battle, this heart demon episode had lasted quite a while.
But it was nothing.
Yuri shook his head, clearing away the lingering sensation.
Then he stood, and grinned.
"We won."
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