Looking at the fallen Genoa knight, Manuel quickly regained his senses: it seemed his tactic of using the plague to weaken their combat strength, making his side appear stronger to boost army morale and accelerate the enemy's collapse, was about to succeed.
"But I was almost in mortal danger just now, and there was no sign of the character code she gave me—that's just too much," Manuel thought with a sigh, recalling the goddess who had reincarnated him. "It perfectly matches my image of a trash god."
But there wasn't much time on the battlefield for him to ponder.
Manuel quickly composed himself and continued to lead his personal guard, charging and disrupting the Genoa army, putting his bold plan into practice on the field.
Soon, within the Genoa army, Carlo Merlo noticed that the opposing commander, the Crown Prince of Theodoro Principality, seemed to be riding alone on his warhorse, leaving his subordinates and soldiers behind, holding a lance, and slaughtering through the Genoa formation as if in an unpopulated land, causing their battle array to collapse even faster.
"What are our knights doing?!" Carlo roared, truly unable to understand how the enemy commander could be alone in their army; why couldn't any of his taxi soldiers stop him?
"General, we tried to stop him, but he seems to have divine protection; he kills one if one comes, a pair if two come, and no knight dares to advance anymore," a military officer replied with a choked voice.
The knights under him had been pierced to death by Manuel, leaving him with nothing, and he was now afraid that the General, in his anger, would throw him to the enemy to die.
Meanwhile, in the Theodoro Army, seeing their Crown Prince bravely leading the charge, their morale was boosted to the highest level.
They shouted, "Long live the Holy Father!" and "Long live the Holy Mother!" as they surged towards the Genoa army with spears and lances.
The musketeers, seeing this, also grew eager to earn merit and rushed forward, firing their muskets at the enemy.
Finally, after barely holding on for half an hour, the Genoa army's formation completely collapsed, the mercenaries' discipline vanished, and they fled from the battlefield, only wishing to survive.
Carlo Merlo's face turned pale; he frantically clawed at his black hair with his right hand, trying his best to calm down, but it was useless.
He sent messengers to ask the navy when they would arrive, only to learn half an hour later of the tragic news that the navy had attempted to land, been repelled, and suffered heavy losses.
Looking at his fleeing soldiers, he finally accepted the fact of their defeat in this battle.
But it wasn't over yet; he glared hatefully at Manuel, who was still charging with his lance in the army, bloodshot eyes appearing.
He ordered Vargas, who was still trying to maintain order beside him, "Vargas, find me a crossbow."
On the other side, seeing Manuel still charging without any sign of retreat, his personal guards were practically going crazy with worry.
"We've already won! Go tell His Highness he can come back!" Badars was almost dying of anxiety.
"We can't keep up; His Highness is riding too fast and keeps charging into the most crowded parts of the enemy lines.
Unless His Highness decides to stop, we can't get close to him," Aidian said with a worried expression.
While the Generals worried about his safety, Manuel was still wreaking havoc in the enemy formation, in an excited state for some unknown reason, completely oblivious to any potential accidents.
"Hahahaha, I'm so high! WAAAGH!!!!" After knocking down another Genoa knight, Manuel, clad in light armor and riding his warhorse, roared at the enemy.
As he let out that roar, Carlo Merlo had already confirmed his identity based on his exquisite light armor, warhorse, and the personal guards trying to keep up with him, but Manuel had not yet noticed the dangerously close distance between them.
This reckless behavior allowed Carlo to pinpoint his location more accurately, and just as the Genoa army was collapsing like a mountain, Vargas handed him a still sturdy crossbow.
Carlo took it, aimed towards Manuel, and muttered, "This young man is Manuel, the Crown Prince of Theodoro Principality, isn't he? What a pity; it seems his life will end here.
"What 'inner shadows,' 'not using despicable means,' 'chivalry'—these ridiculous, boring ideas, who cares about them? Hahahaha... But I don't have these boring ideas now... All I have in my mind now is a single, simplest idea, the only one, and that is to win, nothing more.
But you, this little brat, took that away with your detailed plans, despicable tactics, and unparalleled courage.
"Since that's the case, isn't it reasonable for me to take away something important from you? As for what others think, or what you think, it doesn't matter at all!"
With that said, Manuel had just entered the crossbow's range, and Carlo seized the moment, firing a fatal arrow at his chest.
Manuel, who was fighting in the enemy ranks, sensed something as the arrow flew, and tried to dodge by turning sideways, but it was too late.
His light armor was easily pierced by the crossbow bolt, which impaled his right chest, causing him to cough up blood, lose his balance, and fall from his horse.
In his final moments of blurred consciousness, he only heard cries of "Your Highness" and wails from around him.