If there’s anything more horrifying than seeing someone burning, it’s seeing someone who has already burned. Fernandez wandered the hills of the fire scene, lost in thought.
Blackened ashes still emitted a pungent smoke. The dry smell of burning filled his nostrils.
-Crunch.
The sound of a dry twig snapping underfoot echoed. Of course, it wasn’t just a twig. It was the charred remains of a human. Fernandez was all too familiar with that sensation. In his past life, and in this one.
The bones of a burned person break surprisingly easily. Fernandez bent down and swept through the ashes. A blackened skull revealed itself beneath his hand.
Beyond the empty eye sockets, it seemed as though he could hear something. Screams, groans, cries, pleas.
-How sentimental.
Faijashi appeared behind him, sneering. Fernandez brushed off his hands and stood up, walking forward.
“It was necessary.”
-Expected, too.
As he approached the heart of the fire, more corpses came into view. Even if they were completely disfigured beneath the ashes, Fernandez could distinguish the traces of humans, beasts, and trees.
It was a familiar sight.
-Now you’re feeling remorse? Are you going to bow to the dead and say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry’? Arrogant, hypocritical, and downright nauseating. If I had a stomach, I might actually vomit.
Faijashi slowly moved in front of Fernandez. He blocked his path, staring at him with blazing eyes.
-Get a grip. In your past life, you were… no, ‘we’ were slaughterers. We willingly created deaths that didn’t need to happen. Cities, towns, nations, fortresses—we burned everything that stood in our way without discrimination.
“It’s not about morality, Faijashi. It’s not some old-fashioned reason like that.”
-Then what is it? Hey, Fernandez… Fernandez… These people had at least thousands of reasons to die, and you had the power to make it happen. That’s all.
That’s all. Faijashi cut off his words abruptly and disappeared. Fernandez looked around without answering. Suddenly, something shiny caught his eye.
Found it. Fernandez walked over without hesitation and pulled out a glass bottle half-buried in the ashes. A liquid flame flask bearing the seal of the Temple of the Gods came loose in his hand.
Under specific conditions, the liquid flame from the Temple of the Gods creates a fire that never extinguishes until it has completely burned. More akin to alchemy than magic, it was a clean tool that left no trace after complete combustion.
Having removed the only trace, Fernandez brushed off his hands and stood up. In the distance, someone was approaching.
“Daryan.”
A young man with a spear slung over his shoulder and deep-set eyes approached. It was a face he hadn’t seen in a long time but could never forget. A young man with spiky hair and intense eyes.
“Fernandez.”
“What brings you here?”
“That’s my line.”
Daryan spun his spear once as he spoke. His aura was menacing. Fernandez placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and looked at him.
“I don’t want to believe it, but I have to ask. Did you do this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it was necessary.”
At Fernandez’s words, Daryan’s brow furrowed. He slowly unwrapped the cloth covering the spearhead. The Sun Spear gleamed under the cloudy sky.
“So, you’re the beastmen field commander who crushed an army of fifteen thousand with just three hundred. Of course, who else in the Federation of Nobles could pull off something like this?”
“Why stop me? Is it the Emperor’s order?”
“Yes. The Emperor… doesn’t want excessive power concentrated in anyone’s hands.”
“Excessive power?”
“Bülrang has fallen into the hands of the Chieftain. And even a passing child knows that the Chieftain is allied with King Carvelier. King Carvelier’s authority has already grown too high. In such a situation, rumors of a legendary general who defeated fifteen thousand with three hundred among them… is excessive.”
Daryan closed his eyes and thrust the spear into the ground. He let out a sigh.
“Sworn brother. I meant it. The bond we felt when we crossed blades that day… and even now. I believed you were the only one who could understand me.”
“Understand? You want me to understand a temple knight who sides with vampires and exploits the blood of civilians?”
“At least you and I wouldn’t confuse purpose and process.”
Daryan smiled bitterly and aimed his spear. The spearhead sliced through the air with a cold hum.
“The Emperor holds the leash of the Empire’s people. What do you think will happen if the Empire falls? One vampire might consume one human a day. But the division of the Empire, the war that will follow… tens of thousands of lives will be lost daily.”
“It’s funny, Daryan Schryke. The difference between Shield and Vaitas.”
Fernandez pushed up his greatsword with a humorless expression. The dark greatsword cut through the hazy sky as it rose.
“‘To kill one evil man, even if hundreds of innocent corpses must appear, so be it.’ That’s the doctrine I learned in the church. There is no unnecessary sacrifice. Only insufficient sacrifice.”
The two men stared at each other, then leapt into action simultaneously. Their blades danced through the air.
*
The whirlwind created by their blades scattered the ashes. Like a brush dipped in ink painting on paper, a storm of wind and fire erupted in the narrow gap between them.
-Clang!
Every time their weapons clashed, the powerful vortex of force disrupted the ashes. Like rain, like wind. No. Like a tidal wave!
-Skreeeak!
The greatsword slid down the spearhead. If it continued, it would crush not just the fingers but the wrist as well. But Daryan lightly flicked the spear shaft, deflecting the attack.
