episode_0034

“Indeed.”

At Aria’s words, who stood beside me, I quietly nodded.

“It’s a relief everyone looks so energetic!”

Alice bounced around, laughing as if something were incredibly fun. I couldn’t laugh.

What unfolded there was undeniably evil.

The place that should have been a festival was shattered and burning, a blood-red barrier descended, and people died.

At the same time, these acts of evil were not committed by anyone else, but in my name, solely for my sake.

For the answer I sought. For myself.

Therefore, I asked myself again.

Could what I sought here truly be the answer for me?

“…….”

I remained a spectator, sitting in the audience, looking down at the stage.

“─Come, you brats of the Holy Kingdom!!”

With a roar, Fanged Wolf Sandalphon kicked the ground. He sought to clear the cumbersome obstacles blocking his path, and simultaneously, my path.

The distance narrowed. The Holy Knights, their armor imbued with the dazzling brilliance of star clusters, formed a defensive formation, and in front of them, a werewolf, proclaiming himself the vanguard of the organization, clashed.

Boom!

The ground shook with a force like a dump truck ramming forward. Along with it, the Holy Knights’ starlight armor shone even more dazzlingly.

They stood unyielding even against an impact reminiscent of an actual truck collision—revealing a will as sturdy as steel and as noble as starlight.

But in the end, will is merely will.

No matter how strongly one resolves and vows not to break, it is the most fleeting thing to snap and crumble in the face of the world’s storms.

“……Weak.”

Just as the knights’ front line seemed to block Sandalphon’s charge and contend with his power.

Bang!

Sandalphon stomped his foot with all his might, and the ground cracked, an unseen shockwave surging forth.

.

A foundational technique that draws power from the lower body through a unique foot stomp. With that movement, a result that could finally be called a technique revealed itself.

.

An ancient technique where one steps with the Earth Tremor Step, slides in, and slams their opponent with the back of their upper body.

“Weak! Truly pathetic, you worms!”

Just as both sides were locked in a power struggle, he unleashed an Iron Mountain Lean at point-blank range, sending the knights flying. Moreover, those knights who were flung away didn’t merely bounce off.

Crunch!

They were compressed.

Literally—squashed flat.

As if armor and all were crumpled like paper, the knights’ bodies were flattened like dried squid.

As the crumpled armor emitted a starlight glow, squashed flesh, bone, and organs dripped blood and bodily fluids through the gaps. It was as if stars were bleeding red.

Furthermore, this didn’t stop with just the knight who was directly hit by the Iron Mountain Lean; even the knights in the rear of the formation, who were supporting each other’s weight, were no exception, with him as the epicenter.

Due to being further away, they were at least squashed to a degree where they were still recognizable as ‘people.’

“The strong prey on the weak.”

The knight closest to Sandalphon, who was directly hit by his Iron Mountain Lean, was already unrecognizable. The area around him was no exception.

The wall of people formed by the heavy knights’ defensive formation had literally become a ‘wall of human flesh.’

“The strong eat, and the weak are merely eaten.”

Sandalphon laughed maniacally in front of the wall of flesh. As always, I couldn’t laugh.

“Weak, weak! Everywhere I look, all I see are pathetic lumps of meat!!”

Sandalphon roared boisterously. No sooner had he roared than firebolts from rifles wielded by ‘Red Coats’ rained down from all directions.

The Holy Knights also continuously unleashed various negative effects, known as divine curses in the game, including starlight-based offensive projectiles.

Furthermore, this had been the case ever since Sandalphon first appeared, and it was no exception now.

However, the leashes and chains meant to bind him, the Holy Knights’ divine curses, were powerless; none of them could subdue the rampaging wolf.

Realizing that a power struggle was meaningless, the front-line officer raised his voice.

“It’s the Leo Formation! Everyone scatter and immediately execute the ‘Leo Formation’!”

“Oh Constellation, grant us the favor of Leo……!”

The constellation that was once Hercules, who defeated the ‘Nemean Lion’ and was reborn as a star in the night sky to honor that feat.

“Who is a lion!! Is it you bastards?!”

As the Holy Knights unanimously cried out the lion’s name, the Fanged Wolf’s wolf-like head twisted its lips into a sneer.

“Good. Come, you lions!! Show me power worthy of that name!”

After sneering, he re-assumed his stance. In front of the Holy Knights, who scattered and formed a pincer formation.

Thud!

Once again, with the stomp of , the Fanged Wolf’s massive body charged forward as if sliding. In that state, he precisely transferred the surging power and body weight, finally unleashing it through his palm.

“─ .”

Speaking the tiger’s name with a wolf’s face.

Furthermore, despite the technique’s name meaning ‘fierce tiger scratches mountain,’ there were no claws to be found on him as he delivered a palm strike. No, he didn’t even expose any claws.

The wolf’s hand, without claws, performed martial arts.

Becoming a tiger before the lions.

That tiger momentarily looked towards me, who was overseeing the stage, and I, too, looked down at him from my seat in the audience. Our eyes met.

“The Commander saw me! He’s looking at me!!”

Then the Fanged Wolf bristled all his fur and rejoiced wildly.

“Magnificent! What a superb day!!”

Crunch!

The Fanged Wolf’s palm strike pierced into one of the scattered Holy Knights. The wolf’s claws didn’t even brush him. That was the end of it. He died instantly.

.

Moving like a bear to deliver a tiger-like strike that severs the breath.

Instant death with one strike, a single decisive blow. There is no next time.

That is the essence of Bajiquan, the martial arts style wielded by Fanged Wolf Sandalphon.

With each unfolding of that essence, the number of knights dwindled, one by one. Leaving no corpses to recover.

As if a body hit squarely by a cannonball would vaporize without a trace, leaving behind only a few scattered intestines.

“Watch me, Commander!”

Leaving Sandalphon, who was rampaging alone on the stage, behind, Alice pouted beside me.

“Sandalphon is having fun by himself, that’s unfair! Alice wants to play too!”

“Wait, Alice.”

At her grumbling, Aria smiled with a gentle voice.

A voice that was gentle yet imbued with a chilling coldness.

“─The entertainment has only just begun.”

Leaving her words behind, I turned my head.

To survey those who, even with the Crystal Palace engulfed in explosions and fire and a blood-red barrier descended, still sat motionless in the audience.

Among them, there was no need to speak of the most prominent one.

She was a girl who shone like the sun, even from the furthest distance.

A girl seated with the three Great Dukes who supported the Empire. Even amidst this pandemonium, surrounded by the strongest individuals protecting the Queen, I saw her giving commands swiftly and without agitation.

She had no immediate business with me. Therefore, I simply imprinted her image for the future.

The Queen of this nation, the girl who bore the sun—Nike Pendragon II.

Plunging the situation into chaos while not touching the Queen and her surroundings was our own kind of message. They probably understood it too.

Furthermore, the reason they did not leave their seats even in this situation was likely due to the Empire’s prestige being at stake.

It was their pride not to retreat before The Black Serpent. Her pride was, after all, the Empire’s pride.

Her not moving was something we had no reason to refuse.

Our objective was, after all, the Holy Kingdom on the stage, and as long as the Empire knew that, they would not get involved with us and would concentrate their efforts ‘to protect the Queen.’

Just as the three Great Dukes of the Empire, seated beside the Queen, were doing. Their heavy bottoms and self-preservation were proof of that.

The situation was unfolding as planned.

Subordinates carried out their tasks within their respective roles, and rampaging on the stage was no longer solely Sandalphon’s responsibility.

The opponents, too, were no longer unilaterally and meaninglessly suffering weaklings.

“Ah, truly not elegant!”

From within the helplessly collapsing defensive formation, a knight finally walked out alone.

“Astolfo, Captain of the 2nd Holy Knights Order ‘Orion’—. I declare my participation in the battle.”

Armies are not about individual strength, but rather about emphasizing cohesion as an organization and valuing it as a virtue.

However, in this world overflowing with ‘out-of-spec strong individuals,’ there are unavoidable monsters, no matter how excellent the organizational power. Just like now.

In such cases, their response isn’t much different.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Monster for monster.

“Is the broadcast still running? This is an ideal battlefield for me, the most handsome and magnificent man among all men worldwide, to demonstrate my prowess.”

In front of the wolf slaughtering his subordinates, the man who proclaimed himself the Captain of the 2nd Knight Order nonchalantly removed his helmet.

Beneath the helmet, a dazzlingly beautiful face was revealed. Along with well-groomed straight hair. It was so long it reached his feet, overly long for a man.

“─Coolness, confirmed.”

Moreover, the knights who walked out were not just one.

“It is time to advance with faith towards the stars! Come, invincible adversary! I, Sir Quixote, shall be your opponent!”

“Oh, my Lord! Please, listen to my advice and live a long life! Haven’t you understood the situation yet?! Your opponent is none other than The Black Serpent!”

“Hahaha! Sancho! Are we not, then, Charlemagne’s Twelve Paladins!”

“……Silence, you two fools of La Mancha.”

Charlemagne’s Twelve Paladins.

The twelve strongest and most supreme knights of the Holy Kingdom, the land of chivalry.

Each of them was at least a captain leading a Holy Knight Order, or held a military position equivalent to one, forming the core power of the Holy Kingdom.

The most noble and righteous organization of knights in this world.

Leading and commanding those twelve Paladins was someone.

“……Everyone, be quiet.”

He was a knight who held a holy spear in his hand, and simultaneously bore the epithet ‘Divine Spear’.

“Oh, Sir Roland!”

“Do we not have evil to vanquish?”

Saying so, Sir Roland, the Divine Spear, raised his head.

Justice to be upheld in the face of evil. Yet the justice he spoke of, unlike that of the Knights Order from before, never echoed hollowly.

Furthermore, Roland’s eyes were not directed at the Fanged Wolf directly in front of him, nor at Silan or Selena in the vicinity.

Far away, he was looking at me, sitting in the audience. Straight into my eyes.

‘That is the key to the mausoleum…….’

I, too, looked at him. At the holy relic in his hand, the Star Spear.

What was that man thinking, to claim the holy relic and come here?

Could he truly have been unaware that countless forces, including us, coveted that holy relic?

There was no doubt it was a trap. But what was it targeting, and what was its purpose?

Was there even a card strong enough to be called a ‘trap’ in front of us in the first place?

Surely, the mere joining of Charlemagne’s Twelve Paladins wouldn’t be called a trap.

I shook my head after thinking. Even if it were a trap, nothing would change.

I would simply break through and take it.

Whoosh!

In an instant, a spear was launched from Roland’s hand towards me. And it was that very holy spear.

No sooner had I thought ‘thrown spear’ than Sir Roland charged ahead of the spear, snatching it mid-flight.

In that state, he arrived right before my nose and re-gripped the spear shaft.

He re-gripped it and plunged it down with all his might.

A strike meant to drag the spectator from the stage.

Clang!

Roland’s spearhead, charging like a harpoon, did not reach me. Not even if it was a strike unleashed by the ‘Divine Spear’.

“Black Blade…….”

“Nothing will be allowed to reach the Commander-nim.”

In an instant, Aria’s black blade was there, blocking Roland’s holy spear.

A jet-black sword that absorbed all phenomena, like a black hole devouring stars.

“Yep, that’s right!”

A blonde girl, as if she had been waiting, was also twisting her lips into a smile.

Her eyes were blacker and darker than ever, not smiling at all.

“Because we will absolutely not allow that to happen.”