327. The Hawk, the Wolf, and the Sea Serpent (4)
– Crunch, crunch.
The sound of boiling blood echoed low. Karadskar, engulfed in confusion, collapsed to the ground, exhaling rough breaths. He couldn’t comprehend the current situation. A trivial surge of magic flickered like a flash, and then his strength drained from his entire body.
But there was one thing he could understand. It was his defeat. Lying on the ground, he turned his eyes to watch Fernandez approaching.
Death was near. The dark greatsword in his hand gleamed ominously under the moonlight. Though his body didn’t seem intact, with blood smeared around his mouth and a limping leg, there was no means to turn the situation around.
“Did I lose?”
“Yes.”
Fernandez knelt on one knee beside Karadskar’s panting face. The smell of blood wafted through his rough breaths.
“How futile.”
“Have you come to your senses?”
“I’ve always been sane. When I roasted human flesh, drank blood, and rolled children under wagon wheels. I have no intention of making excuses, Imperial. I did all those acts by my own choice, and if I had to do it again, I would gladly do so.”
Fernandez silently gazed into his eyes. The red glow in his eyes. The traces of a soul shaken by demonic corruption and magic erosion, the human spirit crumbling.
Yet, even then. The fact that he maintained his reason paradoxically made one imagine how strong his soul was, and what kind of person he might have become if fate had been different.
He might have united the plains of the poor and wretched White Horse Tribe. Perhaps he could have built a powerful force and revived his people through proper diplomacy with the northern civilized societies.
The White Horse Tribe’s military forces are essentially their entire populace. Unlike other civilized nations, almost all of their tribe members are immediately deployable as combatants. Thus, the legion that rose under his command was essentially their entire tribe.
No matter how this war ends. Their future would never be bright. The people consumed in battle, the lost foundations, the vast continent they could conquer but not rule, and the rebels rising every moment.
Establishing a nation and ruling it are entirely different matters. The regions Karadskar could govern with his power and authority were limited, and even if he sent trusted subordinates to rule in his stead, it would only scatter his people.
The fate of a nation with insufficient population compared to its military forces unfolds. Karadskar is a conqueror. But he could never be a ruler. Therefore, he must have known that this war would eventually lead to mutual destruction.
-Perhaps, Yekaset wanted that.
‘All that remained for him was ruin.’
-Like us. Right. The dead son will never return.
It was as if the inner soul had turned into ruins. Such people project their ruins onto the world. Fernandez understood his heart more desperately than anyone.
“Have you finished your defense?”
“……”
Karadskar looked up at Fernandez without a word. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rosary. The chain rattled, wrapping around his wrist with a solemn friction sound.
“Trespassing, civilian massacre, cannibalism, arson, theft, murder, illegal occupation of private property. Listing your war crimes would be endless……”
“Are you judging me by the standards of civilized society?”
“No.”
-Clink.
The rosary swayed slowly above his head. Beyond it, Fernandez’s bloodshot blue eyes glimmered.
“Demon worship, heretical gatherings, hostile acts and indiscriminate attacks against the church. The deaths of innocent people caused by it. Will you defend these sins?”
“Your civilized society’s religion is heresy to us, and the evil deeds of your church are akin to demon worship to us, Imperial. You speak of innocent deaths? You? My son, who died by your command! What evil deed did that child commit to make you so righteous?”
“None.”
“What……?”
“That child was only suspected of a future crime, the child was innocent. Karadskar. Though I overlooked a small tragedy to prevent a greater one, I will not defend my sins.”
Fernandez said so, dropping the rosary beside the wolf’s head.
“Religious tribunal judicial authority, immediate execution of heretics, exorcism military authority, church sacrament proxy authority…… I will not exercise the rights guaranteed by the Temple of the Gods. At least, I have no qualification to exercise those rights over you, so I will not face you as a priest. Thus, there is no plaintiff or defendant in this court.”
“What are you talking about……”
“That is, I am not an Imperial, nor an apostle of the Temple of the Gods, nor a priest of St. Bartholomew Monastery, but merely a murderer who assassinated an innocent child standing before you. The price for taking your life, soul, and the future you should have had. You have the right to question me.”
Crunch, Fernandez crushed the rosary. He planted the greatsword on the ground and quietly gazed into Karadskar’s dying eyes.
It was like a play. A clumsy comedian’s dialogue reciting lines on a scripted stage. Both Karadskar and Fernandez. At this moment with death at hand, they were thinking the same thing.
“……Why did that child have to die?”
“In the distant future, he would have been a man marching towards civilized society. Becoming the Kagan of the wilderness, grinding hundreds of thousands of innocents under his wagon wheels.”
“How ironic.”
“……Yes.”
The child’s death ultimately led to the same outcome, the ultimate irony. Fernandez looked down at the dying Karadskar with sunken eyes.
He exhaled a rough breath and whispered.
“You lost too. So…… was it a son, or a daughter?”
“……A son.”
“If you hadn’t done it, we might have shared a drink. I won’t forgive you, but I understand you.”
“……I too. I won’t apologize to you. I don’t regret it. But, I understand you.”
At those words, Karadskar…
Kar burst into laughter with a sound like the wind escaping. Even if they were to go back, they could never be friends. With the same actions and the same mindset, they would undoubtedly commit the same deeds without regret.
It was the horizon. The two of them looked more alike than anyone else in this world. Though not many words were exchanged, in that moment, they understood each other.
“The wolves aren’t howling.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you find it strange? Even in this moment when you and I are fighting, my soldiers aren’t targeting you.”
Karadskar gasped, blood dripping from his mouth. Fernandez gripped the sword hilt tightly and raised his head. The surroundings were eerily silent, not a single breeze in the cold stillness.
“…Hah.”
“I don’t know why you went to such lengths for just one person, but run. This is a trap…”
At that moment, Karadskar’s head snapped violently. Even though he had transformed into a demon, his body was not a spirit form. Flesh, blood, muscles, and bones twisted in a direction that should have been impossible.
Fernandez pulled the sword hilt and stepped back. Crunch, crunch. With a horrifying grinding sound, Karadskar’s body crumbled into a pile of flesh.
[Does this look familiar to you?]
“Yekaset…”
[No, wait, Faijashi? What a ridiculous name. You named yourself in our language, yet dared to turn your blade against us. Traitor. Yes, that name suits you perfectly, you pitiful fool.]
A metallic laughter erupted from the remains of Karadskar, now a pile of flesh. The sound was so vile it felt like it could boil one’s brain.
Fernandez wiped the blood from his mouth. Though his internal injuries from the battle were healing quickly, the Blood of Diemonica reacted to the presence of the Great Demon, boiling once more and twisting his energy.
-Run, Fernandez. We don’t have many cards left.
‘Can I even run?’
Fernandez scanned his surroundings with cold eyes. All the way to the dark horizon. Yellow eyes glowed densely, swaying in the darkness. Soldiers transformed into beasts lurked in the shadows, watching him.
Even if he started to flee, how many of them could he break through? Fernandez assessed his condition. A broken right ankle, a right arm with severed tendons rendering it useless, a left arm barely gripping the sword hilt, and internal organs so damaged that even breathing caused blood to reflux.
Without the Bronze Throne, using magic was out of the question. At least for now. Until he could find another means to cast spells, it was impossible. He had played all his cards.
Karadskar was an opponent who required that level of preparation. Compared to the fact that even Daryan couldn’t assassinate him alone, it was a reasonable expenditure. But against a Great Demon…
When facing Sadarkelisa, he had many pawns left. When he slew Mumto, he had the divine power of Vaitas and the souls of the Conclave. But now, he stood alone against the Great Demon, powerless and devoid of magic.
[Did you think you hid it well? Did you think we would all be fooled forever, mere toys in your play? Faijashi, you cunning and pitiful human… You showed us too much.]
The wolves surrounding him murmured in unison. A massive presence descended from the giant moon in the sky, spreading across the entire land.
It felt like his brain was boiling. The blood in his veins screamed to wipe out the demon before him. Not out of some divine duty, but a simple desire for destruction. It was the early symptom of mental corruption.
[Now, Faijashi. Does this sight remind you of anything?]
Karadskar’s remains continued to make the sound of bones being crushed. The pile of flesh, no longer resembling a human, had a single bloodshot eye rolling out from within.
Fernandez did not avert his gaze.
“A dead corpse.”
[Haha, then I guess I’ll have to play along with this conversation to shake off the rust from your old memories.]
The pile of flesh laughed ominously. Soon, faint whimpers and pleas emerged from within.
[Kill me… please kill me. Father, father, please kill me.]
Fernandez’s grip on the sword hilt tightened. Even though he knew it was the demon’s ploy to provoke his reason, anger surged through his veins, constricting his heart.
[Do you remember now? Faijashi. We saw you. Many of us fell by your hand. Not anymore. Now we know you, and the schemes of those wretched false gods in the heavens! You’re too late again. Your tricks are over, and this world will once again burn joyfully beneath us!]
“You’ve become quite talkative.”
At Fernandez’s cold words, the maniacal laughter from the pile of flesh subsided. Fernandez stared directly at the rolling eye that gazed at him.
“Your strength hasn’t fully returned, has it, Yekaset? Isn’t that right?”
[……]
“No, you haven’t even fully manifested your true form. Ah… I see. The final condition of that ridiculous seal was the heart of an apostle. Too bad. The apostle who would willingly offer their heart died with their sanity intact.”
[You bastard…]
“Let me ask you this instead. Did you think you hid it well? That I wouldn’t notice? If you knew my past, if you saw my previous life, you should have been more cautious. Yekaset. Yekaset of the Seven Crowns. If you remember Faijashi of the Crimson Tower, you should have been more careful!”
Fernandez’s eyes burned like fire.
He took a step forward. Despite the pain rising from his broken ankle, despite his unbalanced, limping gait, he didn’t stop!
Unfazed by the overwhelming presence of the Great Demon and the madness boiling in his blood, Fernandez glared at the pile of flesh and spoke, word by word.
“Did you ask me to kill you? Did you want to mimic my past life? Did you want to provoke me? If so, you’ve succeeded, so you can look forward to it.”
He spun the sword hilt and raised it high. The blade stretched straight, piercing the moonlight, and Fernandez brought it down on the pile of flesh.
“I will make you repeat those words with all your heart. I swear it in the name of Faijashi Wildcast, the mage who rules the five thrones of the Crimson Tower.”
The blade plunged into the pile of flesh. The eye that had been staring at him burst. The wolves that had been whispering ominously around him fell silent, all eyes fixed on him standing tall under the moonlight.
Fernandez didn’t look at them. He stared straight at the bloated, corrupted moon beyond the cloudy sky.
“No matter what it takes. You will not survive longer than today.”
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