The king’s blade was more resplendent than even a mountain of silver. He flourished it with a simple yet elegant motion, ensnaring the light of so many magical lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
The weapon was by no means massive, but neither was it a slender affair. Taking the form of a perfectly balanced longsword, it rested in the king’s relaxed grip naturally as if a fishing rod made to pluck souls.
His sapphire eyes stared at us, a mere party of five who had dared breach the sanctity of the throne room. Reflected in the brilliant blue of his eyes was not fear, nor was it hesitation. Like the sea, he displayed an eerie calm that belied unfathomable danger within its depths.
Yet, those eyes were not focused on me.
“So, this is your choice, ‘Dragon’?” The king directed his question at the woman who stood beside me with a disgustingly sweet face that was completely out of place in this situation.
Even if she tried to sneer, I doubted that she would look anything less than beautiful.
“That’s right.” Alesia replied in her usual singsong voice.
The king’s glare never wavered. “Why? What of the Nocturnal Ocean Plan? What of everything that we, the Cloaked Court, worked for? I turned a blind eye to your activities, even when they involved sacrificing lives because I believed in our cause. I believed in forging our own path for the greater good, even if we had to bloody our hands to do so.”
“The plan is irrelevant now, not to mention the fact that the Elven princess is no longer within our grasp.”
The king’s eyebrow twitched, displaying the first hint of irritation that he felt deep within. “You would forsake us and join with the enemy who has frustrated us at every turn merely because of a single setback?”
Alesia shook her head. “No. I am saying that the Nocturnal Ocean Plan is no longer necessary for us to fulfill our goals. You are right. We have bloodied our hands many times to reach this point, and I am afraid that we will continue to do so until that vile ‘God’ finally falls from their perch.”
“Indeed. So why is it that you abandon us? Why is it that the plan we have painstakingly risked our lives for has now become unnecessary? You will explain this to me, Alesia, for I was willing to place my daughter’s life in your hands.”
“We found the one who still holds the authority of the Hero,” Alesia said, her response stunning the king into silence. “The sacrifice of the Catalysts are no longer required for us to summon ‘God.’ Not only that, but... The one who will defeat ‘God’ is not me, but her.”
At last, the king’s gaze fell upon me as Alesia gestured toward my direction. The pressure that he exuded was enormous, but it was something that I had already prepared for.
As the king of a nation, he was no mere figurehead. Rather, he had not only abused all the privileges that royalty afforded him in order to amass a staggeringly impressive collection of skills and levels, but also honed his body and martial techniques to perfection.
Unlike the politicians of Earth, he was the very embodiment of a leader that placed his people before himself, ready and willing to rise up in their defense if needed. At least, that’s what I would’ve thought had he not just admitted to being part of Alesia’s rather unsavory plans.
Even though she was on our side now, there was no turning away from the lives that she had taken in order to achieve her goals. Despite her love, Antenora knew that too, and though regret wracks Alesia’s mind even now, she understands the weight that the mantle of responsibility bears.
After all, she was the former Demon Lord before she was struck down in her attempted lover’s coup against “God.”
“...So you are the one who Alesia has chosen to follow.”
“Yeah. So how ‘bout you make this easy for all of us and follow me too? We’ll need the cooperation of you and your people to really make this a success.”
“Very well...”
I immediately brightened up as those words left the king’s lips. Perhaps the reason why there were no guards in the throne room was because the king had already decided to join us and avoid any further bloodshed in the first place if we managed to reach him.
However, his next words dashed those fanciful thoughts away.
“...But on one condition. If you are the one who Alesia has placed her hopes in, then I must confirm your strength firsthand.”
Of course. Saw that comin’ from a mile away.
I sighed. “Let’s get to it, then.”
The king lifted his sword, the tip pointing straight toward my heart. Beside me, my companions stepped backward and made room for my imminent bout. Despite the distance that now separated us, I could still feel their hope and belief in me giving me strength.
BOOM!
The king’s shoulders bore the great weight of his nation’s people, and his first strike certainly reflected that. His silver blade bore down against my forearm as he abruptly burst forth from his standing position, closing the distance between us within a fraction of a second.
My arm held fast, refusing to waver. The responsibility weighing upon the king was certainly impressive, and if I had been alone, it might have even broken through my defenses.
But I wasn’t alone. Not anymore.
Getting blown away by a single attack would be so lame... I smirked as I pushed against the king’s sword, shifting it to the side and creating an opening.
Immediately, my leg shot forward like a bullet fired from a rifle, describing not an arc but a straight line that pierced directly into the king’s breastplate.
A dull ringing sound reverberated through the room from the impact, sending the king stumbling backwards several steps. I grinned, making a mental note of the fact that the king was hardier than I thought.
Normally, my strike would have punctured through even the toughest of armor, but I simply couldn’t afford to fight at full power here. After all, it’d be a disaster if I accidentally ended up killing the king.
But that didn’t mean I was going to give him an easy time of it.
Without waiting for the king to recover, I dashed forward and thrust my fist into him, striking his breastplate once more and causing it to crack like a piece of hot glass dropped in snow.
“...You... Are you even human?”
I laughed. “You betcha.”
The king grimaced, angling his sword toward me warily. Inspecting the weapon a little more closely, it was surprisingly simple for the weapon of a king.
If it wasn’t for the royal family’s crest that was engraved on the pommel, I never would have assumed that the weapon belonged to nobility, much less royalty. The rest of the blade was simple and lacking in gems or decorations that nobles usually preferred.
Truly, a weapon built for combat and nothing more...
I burst forward once more, having decided that I’d had enough of staring. The king braced himself, fully understanding that he was now on the defense despite boldly issuing the first strike in our duel.
Like a dragon baring its fangs, my hand shot out and grasped the king’s mail hauberk, throwing him up into the air before quickly following suit, leaping upward so that I hung in the air slightly above him.
Raising my leg high above my head, I prepared to finish the fight with a destructive ax kick, but in that very moment, the king’s eyes widened as if he had been waiting for this very moment.
“Ignite, Eisenwight!”
The king’s regal command echoed powerfully in my ears like a lion’s roar. A blinding, golden-hued light burst forth from the blade, forcing me to squint.
Within seconds, the light expanded into a sphere, pushing me back even as my leg had begun its downward descent. A moment later, the two of us crashed back into the polished granite floor of the throne room.
“Shit...!” I pushed myself to my feet rapidly. Although I hadn’t actually taken any damage from that maneuver, it still worried me greatly. The last time I’d seen a transforming weapon, it had been during my fight against Archbishop Taunes, and that certainly wasn’t something to take lightly.
As I rose to my feet, the king’s armored figure came into view. His furred cape billowed in some unseen wind, and what was left of his once-burnished armor still gleamed like the noonday sun.
His blade pulsed with a white-gold light that dripped off the edges and faded into the air as if it were liquid sunlight. He smiled, the tip of his sword never wavering from my head.
“Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am King Alexei Ardene of the Ardene Kingdom. I apologize for hiding my true strength earlier. Now then, shall we once more begin this duel in earnest?”
I smirked. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
“Hell yeah!”
Thank you for the chapter.
Thank you for reading!