Artoria Lavada di Castellia.

That was the name of the most fearsome knight in the whole of the empire. She alone held the right to call herself the nation’s hero after single-handedly delivering the nation from a grisly fate during the first war against Kaslavna. Now, she was poised to do so again, standing upon the front lines and mounted gloriously on her armored steed, her golden eyes striking fear into her already-broken enemies as she drove them from the position mercilessly.

“General Castellia! General Castellia!”

The sound of hurried hoofbeats managed to reach Artoria’s ears easily despite the clamor of combat and the footsteps of retreating foes all vying for dominance in the cacophony of sounds that surrounded the knight. She turned easily in her saddle, regarding the exhausted courier who’d rushed to her side.

The messenger’s face was haggard, their eyes almost desperate and haunted as they gazed upon Artoria’s unblemished visage, the courier’s only shred of hope contained in the general’s reflection. Upon catching their breath, the courier spoke at once, not even pausing to take a sip of water.

“General Castellia, the... the third front...!” The courier said, alarm evident in her voice. “Kaslavna has unleashed it at last... their greatest weapon. The ‘hero.’”

Artoria nodded, her expression displaying supreme unconcern. With a gentle nudge, she turned her mount eastward, preparing to depart. “Took them long enough. Return to the rear and get some rest. I’ll take care of everything.”

The courier nodded their thanks before urging their horse toward the rear lines, thankful for the opportunity to rest at last. They’d traveled through a multitude of active combat zones as they struggled to reach the first front where Artoria currently stood. Miraculously, they’d survived, but not without suffering several wounds that now festered.

As she watched the messenger depart, Artoria raised her sword in the air, the noonday sun casting its glow upon its bloodstained steel. At once, its shining surface alerted her cohorts, causing them to rally at her position.

“Dame Yvonne, Sir Oliver, Dame Janice. You are to coordinate the men in my absence! Kaslavna has unveiled their trump card, and I must slay it ere the sun sets.” Artoria said.

“H-Huh!? Me!?” Janice stared at Artoria with wide eyes. She simply couldn’t believe that her personal hero would assign her such an important duty. Yvonne and Oliver were longtime cohorts of the general, but Janice had only just become a part of her elite unit. To be given a command position so quickly was unheard of.

“Indeed. You were the first to heed my call to arms, and your bladework reminds me of my younger days. Unpolished and unsightly, but violent enough to make up for what you lack.” Artoria smiled, a hint of pride in her voice. “Trust in yourself, and you shall see victory at the end of the day.”

Without another word, Artoria urged her mount forward as she raced off into the distance. There was nothing further that needed to be said. Her knights had received their orders, and she was needed at the third front, for there resided a problem that only she could solve. The distance between each front was great, but Artoria’s steed was swift and strong. Within the hour, the general managed to reach her intended destination.

 “...So they’ve managed to do it again.” Artoria mused as she watched soldiers catapult through the air, their corpses bursting into pools of blood as they landed on the ground unceremoniously. The moment she arrived, Artoria already understood what it was Kaslavna had unleashed upon the battlefield.

Soldiers and knights alike were being devastated with the utmost ease, all of them dispatched in such a violent manner that their limbs were sent careening through the air as if they were no more than dolls being thrown around by an angry child. The scene was almost comical if it wasn’t for the fact that actual lives were being lost at a harrowing rate.

Artoria dismounted, slipping off the back of her horse in one smooth motion. She patted its thickly muscled neck, instructing it to stay. “I think it’s better if you stay back this time, Thessa.”

The horse whinnied in response, and Artoria allowed herself a grim smile. She advanced toward the line of battle where the empire’s soldiers retreated rapidly in the face of the enemy’s unstoppable onslaught. Had she never witnessed this sight before during the first war, Artoria would have assumed that Kaslavna had somehow managed to field a squadron of knights just as powerful as she, if not more. However, she was no stranger to this absurdity that was completely out of place in this world.

It had surprised her the first time, but now it was nothing more than something which aggravated her to no end. After all, she already knew that her opponent would only be a single boy. Indeed, it wasn’t a single knight, nor was it even a man. It was simply a boy. An absurdly powerful boy, but a boy nonetheless.

Artoria’s white-gold cape billowed in the wind as she stepped past droves of fleeing soldiers, her unwavering gaze fixed ever forward. Her appearance somewhat alleviated the terror that had taken hold of the soldiers, but they could do nothing other than run from the overwhelming monster that pursued them. It was just a boy, but that boy struck fear into the soldiers like never before.

Some had been veterans while others were fighting for the first time. Their experience was irrelevant in the face of this utterly absurdly powerful entity that Kaslavna had somehow obtained. Their appearance was that of fresh-faced youth, but their movements and abilities were far beyond anything that should’ve been possible in this world. Not only that, but they possessed powers only the sorcerers of old could have wielded and their knowledge of Chivalric Arts surpassed even the most ancient of knights.

Truly, this young boy was nothing more than a monstrosity.

“Huh? Why aren’t you running?”

Artoria returned the boy’s confused gaze with a cold glare, her lightless golden eyes not unlike the sight of twin dark suns. Without uttering a word, she dashed forward, her acceleration creating an enormous explosion that rocked the battlefield to its very core. There was no need for her to hold back her true strength against an abnormality of this magnitude.

“Lex Talionis.” She intoned. “First Blossom: Marigold.”

In the empire, marigolds were a two-faced symbol. On one hand, they were strongly associated with the sun and symbolized strength and light. However, there was another deeper, darker meaning. One that represented grief, despair, and mourning. It was a parting flower that was offered upon graves, expressing one’s loss of love and light as they despaired in another’s passing.

The marigold petals that bloomed around Artoria’s blade epitomized that very concept. Beautiful yet deadly, her sword lashed out in an arc that spelled death as it glowed with a golden light, releasing a massive wave of energy that annihilated everything in its way.

Contrary to popular belief, Lex Talionis was not a wyrblade. It was a supremely hardy weapon and a masterwork sword no doubt, but that was all it was. What Artoria had just unleashed was an ancient technique known as Chivalric Arts, a power that allowed even a knight to harness the power of mana and obliterate their foes. With the method of its awakening lost to the annals of history, few knights could wield such powerful techniques, and those who awakened it knew not from where it sprung.

“Hah! That’s pretty interesting!” The boy grinned, deflecting the wave of energy nonchalantly as if the world around him was no more than a game. “You’re the first person who’s used magic against me! I guess you’re a hero as well, huh?”

“...A hero ‘as well’?” Artoria spoke at last, barking out a mocking laugh. “How bold of you to call yourself a hero when you know nothing of this world. Look around you child. What have you wrought other than death? What have you spilled other than blood? Are these the actions of a so-called hero?”

“W-What kind of question is that?” The boy laughed nervously, clearly attempting to hide his true ignorance. “As the proud hero summoned to save Kaslavna from the evil empire, isn’t it inevitable that there’ll be a few casualties along the way? If you didn’t want this, you could’ve surrendered.”

“Is that so...?” Artoria murmured to herself, hiding the intensity of her cold fury under a veil of disinterest. She hefted her greatsword easily with a single hand, resting it on her shoulder as she prepared to launch forward once more. There was nothing more to be said.

“Of course!” The boy grinned, his superhuman hearing picking up on Artoria’s whispered words easily. “In fact, I’ll even give you a chance to surrender no—Whoa!”

The boy’s words were cut off by the sound of clashing steel. Artoria’s blade cleaved through the air, leaving a trail of golden petals behind it as it plowed into the boy’s hastily raised parry. The sheer force of Artoria’s strike flung the boy several meters away, even causing him to form small craters on the ground as he crashed and bounced several times.

Despite that, he stood unscathed upon his final bounce, even wearing an easygoing smile on his face. Normally, such a sight would have unnerved anyone else, but Artoria merely snorted derisively. She had expected this sort of inhuman resilience after all.

“How rude... Don’t you know it’s against the rules to interrupt the hero when he—Gah!”

Again, Artoria leapt forward with golden petals billowing around the sharpened lump of steel that was her greatsword. She hammered a mighty blow from above, not waiting for the boy to finish his speech before unleashing a calamitous strike equivalent to that of a falling meteor.

The ground beneath the boy cracked and burst open as he attempted to stop the downward descent of Artoria’s blade. He winced, gritting his teeth as he pit his inhuman strength against Artoria’s own. Meanwhile, Artoria continued increasing the downward pressure, determined to crush the boy mercilessly despite his buckling knees.

“What is it that you think you wield?” Artoria intoned. Her golden eyes burning with the fury of twin suns searing their rage into the boy’s very soul. “Do you think the power you possess is yours? Do you think the reason you’re capable of withstanding my strength is due to any of your own efforts?”

With every word, Artoria’s blade sunk closer and closer toward the boy’s head, his knees failing him with each passing second. Even so, he showed no signs of giving up as he continued to struggle against Artoria’s overwhelming strength.

“O-Of course...! I was... summoned here... to struggle against oppressors like you...!” The boy spat. “Just you wait...! I’ll show you the true power... of Kaslavna’s hero!”

“By all means,” Artoria said casually. Although it looked as if the boy’s sword was about to shatter before the knight’s unfathomable power, the ground itself gave way first. 

It began with a slight tremor beneath their feet before a full-scale eruption of dirt and stone burst upward. The incredible pressure formed by the boy and Artoria pitting their strength against one another had caused the tightly packed dirt and rock of the battlefield to become intensely compressed beneath them before finally giving up in a massive explosion.

Artoria leapt backward, sailing through the air and landing on her feet gracefully. With a flourish of her white-gold cape, the cloud of dust and silt was banished from the air, revealing the boy’s kneeling form. His breath came rough and ragged, but the light of determination was still bright in his eyes as he slowly rose to his feet and pointed his blade at the golden-haired knight.

In response, Artoria did the same, lowering the tip of her sword to the boy’s level. A moment of stillness passed between the two as they evaluated one another. In the boy’s eyes, he was in no way inferior to his opponent despite what had just happened. Of course, he had been momentarily overwhelmed by Artoria’s surprising strength that had surpassed that of all other opponents he’d encountered thus far, but it was still nothing in comparison to his true potential.

“Starting now, I’ll be fighting you seriously.” He said before quickly rattling off several phrases that sounded like nonsense. “[Greater Enhance], [Burst Accelerate], [Temporal Acceleration], [Technique Mastery], [Greater Technique Mastery], [All Buff - Unconditional].”

Several multicolored lights shimmered around the boy’s body in response to his chants. Had Artoria not known better, she would’ve assumed such chants were the result of witchery or even an offshoot of Chevalier Arts. In fact, that had been her first thoughts upon first encountering one of Kaslavna’s “heroes”, but she was now more than familiar with the concept of “cheat abilities” even if they were foreign to her world.

“I am Shin, hero of Kaslavna and savior of this world! Here I come!” The boy moved so quickly that he practically disappeared from sight, reappearing in front of Artoria with his sword cloaked in revolving layers of flame and lightning. In contrast, Artoria hadn’t even moved an inch, and her current stance was ill-positioned to parry the incoming attack. A grin of victory spread across Shin’s lips. “This is the end! Dynavolt Slash!”

Shin’s sword came crashing down as if a smite from the heavens themselves, a glorious explosion of flame and lightning swallowing up Artoria’s seemingly stunned form as the blade cleaved her in two, ending the golden-haired knight’s life in a single decisive stroke. As Shin annihilated Artoria’s very existence with the elemental power of his attack, it was clear that the golden-haired knight’s victory against Kaslavna’s first summoned hero had been nothing more than a fluke.

Or so it seemed.

“...Is that all?”

“W-What!?”

Smoke cleared. Dust settled. Artoria’s armor gleamed pristine in the light of the setting sun. Her unblemished figure stood unscathed despite the magnitude of Shin’s reality-defying attack, her golden eyes piercing through Shin’s very core as she glared at him with supreme disappointment. At that moment, Shin understood the true meaning of fear.

Ever since he was summoned to this world following a truck accident in his own, he had been handed everything on a silver platter. Power, fame, fortune, and love. Everyone and everything existed to serve him and his hedonistic fantasy of becoming a hero that would save the world. A person that everyone loved and adored. Someone who was always in the right, and a man whose sword spoke justice with each swing.

Never before had he felt fear, nor had he experienced the dread he felt right now when Artoria took her first step toward him. Not only had she emerged completely unscathed from his “final blow”, but the look in her eyes told Shin that she had never even considered him a true threat in the first place.

“Is that all?” Artoria repeated. “Did you seriously think that would be enough to defeat me? You carelessly throw around powers you do not truly understand. You flail your blade around thoughtlessly like an infant... Yet you dare kill my men and drive my forces away from their rightful places? How dare you.”

“H-How... How are you alive...!? I felt it! I definitely felt my sword cut through you!” Shin stammered, his eyes wide with terror as he stumbled away from Artoria in an almost desperate fashion.

“You have no right to stand on the same battlefield as me.” Artoria said, completely ignoring Shin’s question. “You have no right to spill even the blood of my men... So what makes you think you have the right to spill mine? My strength. My power. I earned all of it. Can you say the same?”

“W-What the hell are you talking about!? O-Of course I can! I fought hard just to stand here! I practiced for hours just to master the art of controlling mana! What makes you think I—”

“Everything that you have, everything that you are... None of it is yours. The powers you gained, the strength that flows through your limbs... Even the very right to breathe the same air as I do. It was all given to you. Someone like you who remains ignorant to the meaning of struggle will forever be unable to wound me.”

“Y-You...! That’s wrong! That’s so wrong!” Shin roared, unable to accept the truth behind Artoria’s words. So what if the goddess gave me a few cheat abilities!? So what if I can do things the people of this world can’t!? So what if I didn’t have to train as hard!? I... Why the hell do I have to listen to this fucking NPC preach!?

“Is it now?” Artoria raised an eyebrow, continuing to advance toward Shin. She took each step in a deliberately slow and measured manner, allowing the threat of her existence to continue forcing terror into Shin’s body. It was merciless and dishonorable to torture an opponent, especially on the battlefield, but then again, Shin didn’t deserve any honor. At least not in Artoria’s eyes.

“I-I’ve had it with you, you fucking NPC! If you won’t tell me how you survived, then I’ll just find out for myself! [Inspect]!”

A world of darkness unfolded before Shin’s eyes the moment he dared utter that command.

[jUdGeMEnt]

sTrengTH: d eAth

DexTeritY: rEMorSe

cONSTitutiON: deSPA iR

INTelligENcE: rEgreT

wiSdoM: soR Row

ChaRISmA: P aiN

aFfINiTY: Anti-Isekai, Anti-System, Anti-Regressor, Anti-Reincarnator, Anti-Transmigrator, Anti-Hero, Lake

[end]

Artoria smiled as Shin stopped in his tracks. His eyes that were already filled with fear now overflowed as dread seized his limbs, causing him to collapse onto the ground as he attempted to continue retreating from Artoria’s advance.

“N-No... That’s... That’s impossible...! What... What even is this!?”

“How foolish.” Artoria raised her sword high in the air as she prepared to deliver a decisive strike. “You only now thought to [Inspect] me? The previous ‘hero’ did so immediately and despaired. I know not what you see, but understand that I shall never tolerate the presence of thieves on the battlefield.”

“T-Thieves...?”

“Indeed. You fight with powers that are not your own and strength that you have not earned. What else are you but a thief?”

“Aha... Ahahahaha....!” Shin cackled as if he had descended into insanity. “Y-Yes! That’s right! This must be a dream! I’ll wake up and find myself back in bed with my harem! This can’t be real because... Because I’m the protagonist...! And the protagonist never loses! The protagonist never dies!”

“Swallowed by the shadow of my sword.” Artoria’s blade descended. “Be forever forgotten, foolish one.”

As the day came to a close, so too did the battle end.