Episode 48
* * *
“I feel like I’m dreaming.”
Elizabeth smiled, covered in a sheet in the bedroom of Marquis Yuris, the ‘Blood Prince’. He was the prince of her dreams.
“Did you have a good dream?”
Marquis Yuris asked Elizabeth, who was blushing, taking a few sips of the blood-red wine in his hand.
Elizabeth nodded in ecstasy, and Marquis Yuri kissed her. Liquid flowed from her mouth to her mouth.
Bloody wine… … ?
Just then, Elizabeth swallowed her breath at the strange taste in her mouth. It didn’t taste like wine.
“… … !”
It was blood. Elizabeth spat out the blood she had in her mouth. The white sheets she was wrapped in were dyed blood red.
“Oh, no.”
Marquis Yuris smiled coldly at the sight.
“Did the drink not suit your taste?”
It was a cold smile that was almost creepy.
* * *
In a fight between knights and wizards, distance is life.
But the sight Dale had just seen through the Shadow Cloak… …the Lake of Darkness, and the terrible creatures sleeping within it.
The Thorn Hell of Shadow Lurker.
The advantage that Dale’s shadow creatures would have in close combat with knights was something even Sir Helmut could not have imagined.
The closer the distance gets, the more advantageous it is for an article to enter a deadly situation on its own two feet.
Furthermore, if we exclude the influence of ‘distance’ on the battle, it goes without saying who will have the upper hand in a fight between a knight and a wizard.
“Prince Dale has won!”
So, among the soldiers who were shouting for Dale’s victory, Sir Helmut Blackbear thought.
‘Did you know this would happen from the beginning and choose the Shadow Cloak?’
An act that is impossible without 100% mastery of one’s own abilities and, furthermore, the principles of combat. It is not even a realm of understanding or knowledge. It is mastery.
It was as if he were the god of battle.
From raising a ‘Death Knight of the Black Blade’ that only high-ranking Warlocks can do, to fighting prowess that allows one to fight and defeat an Orc Warboss with just one body of their own.
With talent and growth rate unparalleled by anyone in the Empire in swords and magic… … .
‘Confucius is still evolving.’
Complementing your weaknesses and strengthening your strengths, as all the elements mesh together to create a harmony that is close to perfection.
He is not pushed back in a physical fight against a knight, and at the same time, he is not pushed back in a battle of ideas against a magician.
Only then did Sir Helmut realize.
What Dale was pursuing was the most perfect form of combat.
From the beginning, he assumed that he would be up against the ‘strongest knight and wizard’, and that he would never lose in a single fight.
A talent for killing that even the ‘Monster of Slaughter’ Sir Helmut Blackbear, who has reached the level of the Seven Swords, the strongest knight of the continent, could not help but be astonished.
And who on earth is that kid trying to reach by honing his fighting skills so much?
Could there be anyone who could dare to endure the hostility of the ‘Black Prince’?
After thinking about it that far, Sir Helmut shook his head quietly. Now was the time to simply congratulate Dale on his victory.
* * *
The great migration of demons.
The battle ended with the large-scale southward advance of the orc horde being halted.
Although the scale of the army was not comparable to that of the high-ranking demons or the demon lords, it was by no means easy to defend the empire against thousands of orcs. Let alone against enemies with the addition of the ‘twelve Purifiers’.
The Duke of Saxony’s office.
“We pulled out the brains of the Purifiers and completed the investigation that lasted three days and nights.”
Eris, the secretary of the Black Tower, continued speaking.
“Were there any other achievements?”
“Most of the brain functions had already been removed, including the memory-erasing magic.”
“I guess so.”
The black ball nodded indifferently, as if it had known that would happen.
The fanaticism of the Red Tower’s red magicians is incomparable to anything from the Five-Colored Tower. Nodding, the Black Lord continued speaking calmly.
“We knew in advance that Dale would be moving separately with his cavalry.”
And that meant only one thing.
“An insider on this side must have given specific orders to the Purifiers in advance, including Dale’s movements.”
“Do you have any other guesses?”
“They are monsters of truth.”
The black ball answered.
“… … Are you saying that the hardliner elders of the Black Tower are in collusion with the Red Tower?”
“Have you already forgotten the exploits of the Black and Red Training Corps?”
The Black and Red Knights. An unofficial unit established between the Black and Red Knights during the War of Imperial Unification for the purpose of ‘academic research and cooperation’.
Although the unit was disbanded and its records were erased after the war, the Black Tower of the Black Knights system chose to break away from the ‘darkness of the old era’.
However, not everyone in the Black Tower agreed with his methods.
Even though they could not express their rejection in front of the Black Ball, the hardliners at the time affirmed the unforgivable evil deeds of the Black Red Priesthood as a process of truth. These very monsters rejected the Black Ball system and joined hands with the Red Tower.
“The winds of purge will blow again.”
The black agent, Eris, opened her mouth blandly.
Remembering that the man in front of her too can never escape from that darkness.
* * *
The underground workshop of the Black Ball.
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The corpses of the Night Raven Knights, still in their physical form, were there.
To fulfill their duty even after death. Waiting to become part of the karma that the heads of the Saxon family have built up for generations.
Right in front of the corpses of those knights were the two fathers and sons of the House of Saxony.
“They were my articles.”
The Knights of Dale. The Sword of Saxony that Dale failed to protect.
“As a lord… … I have a duty to respond to their wishes.”
That’s why.
“Please tell me how to invoke the ‘Death Order’.”
Dale opened his mouth without a moment’s hesitation.
The secret of the Saxon family that sustains the Death Knight without a constant supply of magic power.
But that was not all their true value. After seeing their appearance, Dale could tell intuitively that these were no ordinary Death Knights.
Each and every one of them is a high-ranking Death Knight with the rank of ‘high-ranking knight’, such as Lord Vale of Baskerville and Sir Milvas the Sword of Purity.
“… … .”
The Black Lord did not answer right away. He simply recalled the scene Dale had shown him that day in front of the Orc Warboss… … He recalled the scene when Dale’s talent had once combined with the deep-rooted darkness of the Black Tower.
When Dale later takes his place as another ‘Duke of Saxony’ and stands atop the Black Tower, how free will this child be from the darkness that even he cannot escape?
“When you grow up, you will surpass me… … .”
After thinking about it, the black ball opened its mouth.
“When I reached the top of the Black Tower.”
As if it just wasn’t the time yet.
“This dark army will be yours alone.”
Dale took a deep breath, understanding what she meant.
The greatest black magician on the continent, the one standing at the top of the Black Magic Tower. It is to take down that man with one’s own hands.
At those words, Dale opened his mouth on the spot, unable to suppress his unbearable curiosity.
“……father.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“Right now, in this place, may I dare challenge you to a duel?”
Because the wall of the man called ‘Black Ball’ in front of Dale is so curious that it can’t be tolerated.
“good night.”
The black ball nodded softly. For a master and disciple to gauge each other’s skills, there is no more certain way than a duel.
“What will you compete with?”
“Please let me give it my all.”
Dale said, his ‘shadow cloak’ fluttering at his feet.
“Do your best.”
The black ball nodded.
“Arise, Black Swords of Saxony.”
Dale snapped his fingers, reciting the perfect spell to awaken his Death Knight.
The knights who were supposed to die, all at once, raised their bodies, holding their knightly swords. They held the Black Sword of Saxony, the pitch-black Aura Blade.
“The order is very neat.”
He clearly drew a picture and gave hints, but they were neither too long nor too grand. Looking at that, the black gong could not hide his delight as a teacher.
Death knights surround him from all sides. Each and every one of them is a death knight who reflects Dale’s black magic and even the realm of the sword.
From the swords of those knights, the martial arts of the warrior who had once defeated the divine sword began to unfold.
At the same time, Dale flapped his shadow cloak and unleashed the ‘Lake of Darkness’. The flood of shadows flooded the area, and the ‘Shadow Lurkers’ simultaneously thrust their thorny tentacles along the waves at their feet.
From beneath the floor of the underground workshop, from all sides, fatal blows were launched, aiming for the life of the black ball. Without any consideration or reserve.
It was just then.
The world stopped.
To be exact… … the Death Knight’s black sword and the Shadow Lurkers’ thorny tentacles swinging towards him stopped in their tracks. After stopping, he turned his malicious gun on Dale.
“… … !”
Death Knights who had to carry out his orders, even the ‘Shadow Lurkers’ were no exception.
It’s the same as that time. Just as Dale had defeated the ‘Headless Knight’ in the test of the tower, he bowed his head in front of an even greater darkness.
“In a duel between warlocks, losing control of a creature is more fatal than anything else.”
The black ball continued speaking calmly.
“… … .”
So Dale focused his consciousness again.
I imagined a blank world filled with cold and ashenness, and projected the black magic of that very winter night.
The black sword of the Death Knight, which was supposed to stop, finally began to move.
Very hard and stiffly, but surely towards the ‘black ball’s neck’.
The Death Knight, controlled by the continent’s greatest black magician, was returned to Dale’s control.
“… … !”
Even the world’s most powerful blacksmith could not hide his shock at the sight.
Phew!
At the same time as the shock, the Death Knight’s black sword swung. The severed head rolled limply on the floor. Silence fell like a feather. However, in the silence, Dale did not seem to panic.
“It’s truly amazing.”
As expected, the black ball’s severed neck, rolling around on the floor, opened its mouth.
“I never thought you would take control of the dead away from me.”
It’s like something out of a B-horror movie.
“It was truly an unexpected blow.”
With the ease of a master, he does not hide his delight at the appearance of his disciple. How on earth? Dale swallowed his breath in surprise.
Before I knew it, the black ball’s neck had returned to its original position. It was as if there had never been a ‘cut-off neck’ from the beginning. It was just like that time. Just like the Purifiers who had attacked Dale earlier, when they wanted to die but couldn’t.
“How on earth… … .”
Realizing that fact, Dale asked back. A trick that even he, the best in the world, could not figure out. A trick? No.
This was not some egregious act of deception.
‘Do you still not understand? That I did not permit your deaths.’
After thinking about it that far, Dale held his breath at one possibility.
‘Reality manipulation… …?’
Magic is the power to turn imagination into reality. However, the human mind is extremely imperfect and is not omnipotent.
Nevertheless, in the case of those who have truly reached the pinnacle of magic, for example, the man who is said to be the greatest black magician on the continent, it would be possible for him to manipulate the very principles of this world with his own will.
For example, erasing the very concept of ‘death’.
Dale laughed in vain when he realized that fact. There was no way he could win. No matter how young he was, Dale had become the greatest genius in the empire and had achieved absurd things.
If the man in front of him gives it his all, it will only take a split second for victory or defeat to be decided.
Just as the fame of the ‘Black Prince’ that people whisper about is not an empty one, the name of the man the empire fears the most is also not an empty one.
* * *
Some time later, the Emperor’s men arrived to congratulate the House of Saxony for stopping the great migration of the Demons.
In addition to the gift of a thousand gold coins to show off the grandeur of the empire, we also want to officially commend the achievements of the ‘Black Prince’ who, despite his young age, displayed brilliant performance in fighting against the great migration of demons.
Furthermore, with the addition that he would like to invite Dale to the Academy of the Red Tower in the Zodiac for a few weeks for ‘interaction between black and red’.
