On the battlefield, war was raging and the soldiers were fighting while organizing the retreat.

History has shown many times that a disorganized retreat was the worst move that any army could take.

But in the best case, a retreat would always end with a great amount of loss as your enemy was unwilling to let you leave.

"Isn't it just about fleeing?"

This was not simply about fleeing. This was a Tactical Withdrawal. A strategic retreat.

"Heh. What a fancy name."

The white knight ignored his friend and companion as he observed the army operation.

In this kind of situation, the guards assuring the retreat had to be powerful enough and skilled enough.

But more than anything — They had to be ready for death.

Like a gecko sacrificing its tail to survive, they were heroes who–

"Sacrificial pawns, you mean."

The white knight sighed. But this time did not bother correcting his companion.

After all…He was right.

"So we are 'it' this time huh."

"Not necessarily so. I do not plan to sacrifice myself. At least not in this situation."

He spoke quietly while ignoring the look of pity, the words of encouragement, the sobs, the screams of agony and rages, and all the emotions that were filling the place as they kept retreating.

Aurora had proposed that the paladin stay with him and help him protect the back but he refused.

"Were you trying to act cool?"

"No. You know having allies would simply be a bother."

"See. Trying to act cool. How many times did you try such a line in front of your mirror?"

White blushed slightly and coughed.

The truth was — Many times.

The small penguin or rather the Emperor Penguin was waddling while wearing a chick suit on the upper part of his body and a monocle laughed out loud.

While White looked up.

What was his name? This was something he had long since forgotten.

From the very moment Camelia saved him from the burning village, he had been dedicated to becoming a knight worthy of her.

His loyalty also might have transformed into a crush. Sadly – 

"Your crush was crushed beautifully, should we say?"

"Do you plan to keep rubbing salt on my wounds?"

"Not until you find a new woman."

The penguin looked around, 

"Tsk~ Tsk~Tsk. Look at all those females in heat looking at you with tears in their eyes. As a male, the fact that you don't even feel a stir in your loin at this sight makes you a failure."

The knight was speechless, "Man should give all his love to one woman."

"Tsk. Well. You aren't completely wrong. Though I prefer freedom. Hopefully, you will find that woman soon. I want to see what kind of woman can make you fall."

"Speaking of. Do you have mates?"

His friend and companion was from the realm under the control of Asmodeus.

Despite his appearance, he was a very rare ice spirit and this form was nothing more than something Asmodeus supposedly forced some spirit to do once upon a time.

In the end, his friend started liking it and decided to keep the appearance.

"Mates Huh. I did have a few. Though it doesn't matter now."

"How selfish."

"Selfish I am."

White laughed. Speaking of which, he found it quite funny.

He, a knight under Castitas church, ended up with a beast from the divine beast of lust domain while the prince, Blessed of Luxuria, ended up with one from the territory of the Divine beast of Chastity.

They joked until finally, a woman clad in pure white clothes approached him.

Aurora Castitas.

For White, she was an enigma. Someone he could not understand.

She had the appearance and charm of a benevolent woman but he could also feel a certain distance and coldness from her whenever she spoke to people.

This was not something as simple as arrogance.

But something deeper. Something higher. 

It was as if she was not looking at people as people. As if even when they talked to her, she was not listening.

It was a weird feeling. But he didn't care.  

He was a man who followed his duty. Protecting Camelia was impossible for him. So he would do his best to protect the Holy Daughter and make sure she returned alive and well.

If he had to be cold-blooded. Even the lives of all the soldiers present — his included, were not enough to be worthy of her life.

"Your holiness."

He took a knee, his armor rattling and his sword piercing the ground, his respect was not for Aurora but for the divine authority she represented.

White was not blind. Even though he was not part of the inner circle of the Blessed, he was unlike many believers and could see that the Goddesses may not be truly worthy of respect.

But this did not matter.

He was not a man with grandiose ambitions such as overthrowing the rules of the goddesses.

Rules may be nothing but a game for the Goddesses.

Those rules may limit and constrain the strong, making them feel hate for the goddesses.

But those same rules were what protected the Weaks.

Those rules were the reason the King of Wratharis couldn't simply march and massacre all the army as he wished.

In the same way, the Queen of Lustburg could not simply fly and massacre all soldiers.

A world without rules was nothing but Chaos.

A world filled with Chaos might be heaven for the strong. But it will always be hell for the weak.

"Are you sure you want to fight?"

Looking up at the Holy Daughter, White smiled,

"I await your decree and your grace."

"Very well."

Aurora placed her hands on his head, warmth filled with him.

"May the protection of the goddess be with you. Under the sun of the goddess, you will feel No pain. No Hunger and No Woes. May the light guide you."

White Knight stayed in the same position for a long while even after Aurora Left.

The camp was deserted and the wounded as well as healers had evacuated.

On the horizon, he could see the rear guard fighting for the retreat, shedding blood until the very last.

Never stopping.

Never wavering.

Never retreating.

Those people were sacrificial pawns.

Those people would never be remembered by anyone but their family.

They would become statistics, soon to be forgotten even by the citizens they protected.

Thus was the ugliness of war.

White started walking, but his gait slowed even as the last warrior died while being besieged by three wounded beasts.

They had given their all, dwindling greatly the might of the army he had to face.

"Tell me. Dear friend, Do you still think they are pawns?"

"They are. I still believe they are. But even then —"

"Even then?"

" —- They are worthy of respect."

"Indeed."

He smiled, an army of more than four hundred beast men was rushing at him but all he did was laugh out loud.

He was naught but a poor warrior. He did not have great ideals and had no dream of justice.

But even so —

"Be buried alongside the heroes of Lustburg."

A chilly air flew from his body as he planted his sword once again on the ground.

[Zone: Ice Age]

On that day, a battlefield was changed into an ice Cemetery.

***

A world of ice and snow. 

This was the sight that greeted Sol when he appeared above the battlefield where the army of Lustburg retreated and left the place for the White Knight to show his might.

As far as the eyes could see, ice covered the ground, freezing to death encased in it.

In a way, one could say that it was a work of art. It was a beautiful gift to the dead, as thousands of bodies would forever be kept in the ice coffin.

“How interesting.”

Sol muttered, admiring the effect of this field. This was a level of power he did not expect from anyone in the mortal world expect Blessed and a Few others.

This was definitely not comparable to a King. But this was without a doubt far above what any normal Duke could do.

Sol smiled and looked up, his eyes becoming complicated. Ever since his small realization, the world he could see started to change.

This went beyond the simple thread of Fate. He could see more, he could even hear more. He had a feeling that Setsuna's power as well as Lilin’s mixed and enhanced his one power and divine weapon in a way he could still not completely explain.

A river. A large stream or was it a tree? 

Sol chuckled and ignored the vision in the sky. Even if the world he could see changed, it would not change him.

At least he hoped so.

Taking one step, he seemed to glide through to space and finally teleported in front of the only part of the battlefield that wasn’t covered in ice.

There, he could see a young man clad in shining armor with his sword planted in the ground. His breath was weak and his aura feeble. Clearly, this attack had not been easy.

“Your Majesty.”

“You have done a great service.”

“I have only done my duty.”

Sol nodded, not caring about White's words. As a king, merits was something he always had to keep his mind.

Soldiers were not his family and friends. Expecting them to fight for his rise without rewarding them properly was bullshit.

But there was a problem—

“Do you know? Soldiers like you are actually the most troublesome.”

Sol grinned amicably and White nodded, understanding what he meant. No matter how it looked, he was the White Knight. This was the highest rank a Paladin could attain in the Church.

In terms of rank, he was not inferior to a Duke in terms of authority and may even surpass them. After all, all kingdoms were in fact Theological empires.

This means that there was no higher position to reward him with.

The church and the royal power did not mix.

So White could not receive land. He could receive riches but he did not need it. 

“Sigh. No matter. Even if you cannot receive a noble title, I can bestow one to your bloodline. Your children will be nobles from birth. Though I will have to decide later what kind of rank I will give. But I think it will be at least Earl.”

White twitched and opened his eyes wide with disbelief. 

A hereditary earl rank. 

He thought Sol would give him some Baron fiefdom for his progeny at most and this was the norm. 

Earl were highs ranked nobles just below Duke and Marquis.

 This was far beyond his expectations.

“You too kind.”

“I am kind indeed. But powerful men need to be rewarded.”

Saying so, his eyes started to shine as he looked at White. White shuddered as he felt the gaze on him.

He felt like he was being peeled one layer after another, taking away all secrets his body could hide and observing even his very soul.

“Interesting.”

Sol muttered again for the second time, “You fused with your spirit?”

He muttered. Looking at White, he could see so many tangled lines and thread. It looked like the Fate of two individuals had been fused forcibly together, mixing and resulting in the current situation.

It was easy for him to interfere from there and understand what made White so Strong suddenly.

He didn’t just use his contracted partner as a battle aid. But fused and used his power. One might think that it was stupid to do so. After all, having an ally next to you should be better, and — They weren't completely wrong. But it was a matter of perspective

If fighting alongside the partner gave a result of 1+2= 2. Then fusing would give a result of 1+1 = 4 or even 8 depending on the level of fusion.

“You are quite courageous. Do you believe in your partner this much?”

Sol immediately noticed the flaw in whatever they were doing. The core of this technique was none other than the Penguin itself.  Once he decided to go crazy, hurting White would take just a thought.

“Your Highness, do not spread disharmony in our midst. The two of us are great friends..”

A gentleman like Pengui appeared out of White Knight's body and continued to speak.

“This is no deep secret. His Zone and mine are similar and our power share the same origin. Since I am but a spirit I decided to use his body as well as my soul to fuse with his.

The results are what you see.”

“Ohhh…”

Sol mused. He could see how the white knight seemed disappointed and he understood. Even if it was him, he would be quite unhappy if all his secrets were divulged so easily.

He chuckled, “This technique is beautiful for those stuck at the basic level.”

He felt like his luck was once again at work. There were many humans and even with how low the chance of awakening with enough CP was, there would still be many who wished to gamble and see and see.

Sadly, the reality was cruel.

Those born in high clans had powerful techniques passed down from generation to generation.

The majority have nothing. Could only rely on gambling and many of them would only find despair in the end.

“Rise.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Standing up, White Knight furtively glanced at Sol again before lowering his head. 

The king was not to be looked at.  At least not at his level.

Doing the opposite was worthy of death.

Those were the rules established during the birth of the Bloody Queen. One of Lustburg ancient Kings and Queens.

“This technique is not really suitable for learning your highness. We managed to do so because of the similarities in our power or rather because I decided to follow his path. But for most people —”

Sol raised a hand, “I understand. In the end, everything that matters is strength. You see the negative. But for many, this is more than worth it.”.

Only geniuses could talk about something as lofty as following their own path. Sol was sure that even if he said the technique had some deadly flow, 7 out of 10 would still learn it.

Power was a capital and an insurance. Without it, all your words and righteousness were useless.

“Then Your Highness. Might I ask what will happen next?”

“Next, huh?”

Sol looked up, his eyes deep, hiding an unfathomable light. Slowly, the moment was approaching.

A malevolent grin formed on his face, 

“Let Wratharis bask in the illusions of success for one more week.”

After this — They would only mourn.