Ulte Gard.
The last Guardian, who inherited the duty passed down from ancient times.
Once cursed by Genesis, he roamed the perilous lands of the continent without rest.
Moving for dozens of days without food was commonplace, and despite suffering fatal injuries, he pressed on with reconnaissance. He was also trapped within ruins for years at a time.
Ulte’s accomplishments were those of sheer madness, far beyond the mental limits of any ordinary person.
For this reason, when it came to enduring pain and enforcing willpower, there were only a handful of individuals across the continent who could compare to Ulte.
“…”
In the early stages of the battle, a misjudgment led to the loss of one arm.
Lacking abilities that transcended natural healing, Ulte didn’t hesitate to tear off his own injured limb if it hindered him.
To the point where even those watching couldn’t help but scream at the sight of his ruthless disregard for means or methods.
Through such extreme measures, Ulte managed to survive an encounter with the Demon King—a historical apostle unmatched in malevolence.
However, Ulte’s survival did not equate to victory.
If the clash at Lucern could be called a battle, then the Empire’s legions suffered a devastating defeat.
“…”
The numerous legions and fortified strongholds lost all meaning.
Even though the fortress had been reinforced sufficiently to withstand overwhelming odds, the enemy the Empire faced went far beyond normal comprehension.
Skilled through years of war, the legions moved systematically, abandoning hopes of defeating the Demon King but striving to delay his advance.
But even this effort seemed questionable to Ulte himself.
The Empire’s forces quickly lost control of Lucern, which they had rebuilt as a stronghold with significant resources.
And the retreat from Lucern marked merely the beginning.
The Demon King continued to march forward, cloaked in darkness, while the legions retreated repeatedly.
“…Numbers mean nothing.”
Among powerful beings of similar caliber, some could deal effective blows through sheer numbers, while others couldn’t.
The Demon King clearly belonged to the latter category.
Pushing forward with overwhelming numbers only resulted in turning into piles of ash before reaching him.
The accursed blessing surrounding the Demon King endlessly replenished itself no matter how much was expended.
The minimum level capable of dealing meaningful damage was near-Archlord tier.
However, many figures of Archlord or Lord-tier strength had already perished during the Demonic Realm Expedition and subsequent events.
“…”
Ulte suddenly realized just how dire the situation truly was.
Several skilled clerics worked tirelessly around Ulte, attempting to heal his shattered arm.
Despite the world being in such chaos, it was still reliant on divine power—a fact that made Ulte chuckle bitterly.
“The price of failing to turn away from contradictions…”
The contradictions that had to be ignored to maintain this world had finally caught up.
This was the result of refusing to accept those contradictions.
Ulte recalled the gaze of hatred and regret in the Demon King’s eyes—eyes that had lost their way.
Ulte, Ray, Anthonyus—they were all different in character, yet shared similar values and purposes in life.
Because of this, Ulte couldn’t blame the other two for contributing to this absurd situation.
Moreover, it was ironic that among the three, only he, the weakest, had reached the desired conclusion.
“There’s nothing I can do about it.”
There was nowhere for Ulte to run anyway.
Even if there had been, he wouldn’t have considered it—an inability to win this war would mean the end of the world.
“…But we can’t stop him with our current forces.”
It was nothing more than a one-sided retreat.
The Demon King was advancing towards the heart of the Empire, starting from Lucern.
The front lines had collapsed into a V-shape, yet there was still no way to meaningfully slow the Demon King’s progress.
Currently, the Empire was regrouping its forces near the White Tower, located close to the southern region, in an attempt to halt the Demon King.
Ulte, after stabilizing his injuries as much as possible, planned to join these forces at the White Tower.
If the White Tower fell, it would become extremely difficult to restore the southern front line, now devastated by the Demon King.
But the White Tower would fall.
From the start, Luna hadn’t asked Ulte to defeat the Demon King.
She simply requested that he expend all his strength to collect data.
The forces gathered at the White Tower, including Ulte, were essentially sacrificial lambs in pursuit of this goal.
‘There must be a plan.’
Ulte firmly believed that Luna wouldn’t demand sacrifices for meaningless reasons.
For years, she had anticipated a situation like this and prepared accordingly.
Certainly, the sacrifice of the legions would lead to meaningful results.
Yet, despite trusting Luna, Ulte couldn’t shake off his worries.
‘I’ve heard that Speira Prizzran possesses capabilities comparable to the Demon King…’
Is it even possible to prepare for both the Demon King and the traitorous Sacred Maiden simultaneously?
Suppressing his doubts as best he could, Ulte gripped Genesis with his partially recovered arm.
Resina quietly embraced Ulte from behind.
*
The battlefield unfolded largely as Luna had predicted.
The Demon King’s movements, suppressed by unknown forces, were simple and devastating.
Without proper countermeasures, the simplicity of the Demon King’s actions became lethal to the Empire.
Even before Anthonyus succumbed to the corruption of the evil spirits, Luna had foreseen a scenario like this and calmly received updates on the front lines.
Fortresses like Lucern crumbled almost instantly, and the Demon King was now closing in on the White Tower.
“…”
With this, the Empire was nearly cut off from the land of the Elves, where the World Tree rooted itself.
While this was a painful blow to the Empire, the Elves would face even more direct threats with the severance of land routes.
If the World Tree intended to guard its land until the very end of this war, cooperation with Luna was inevitable.
This represented a terrible gamble for the World Tree but also the final choice to protect its cultivated land.
If the World Tree made its decision, its Guardians would act differently than in the past.
Luna had taken their potential assistance into account while preparing her strategies over the years.
As events unfolded as expected, while she might not be able to kill Anthonyus immediately, she could at least restrain him somewhat.
Great sacrifices were required, and they were already being made.
“…”
At present,
Speira posed a greater threat than Anthonyus.
Anthonyus never bowed to the dark curses of the evil spirits until the very end, leaving him now as a mindless puppet wielding aimless emotions.
Thus, Anthonyus’ movements were straightforward and predictable—at least for the moment.
On the other hand, Speira acted deliberately to bring about destruction and was highly intelligent.
“…”
Speira was currently hiding her presence.
This meant that an entity equivalent to the Demon King was lurking unseen, influencing events from the shadows.
No matter how brilliant a commander might be, it would be impossible to make sound judgments with such an unpredictable force at play.
At the very least, locating Speira’s position would allow some form of action, but she was fully aware of this herself.
Back at the Imperial Capital,
Luna slowly narrowed her eyes.
“…I haven’t forgotten.”
The existence of the Sacred Country over the past few years was due to the need for both sides—herself and Speira—to prepare their respective strategies.
Now that the Sacred Country had collapsed, it was time to reveal what each side had prepared.
Years of preparation had gone into these strategies.
Failing to execute them properly would result in enormous losses.
Both Luna and Speira needed to successfully implement their plans to deliver meaningful blows to each other.
Given Luna’s restricted mobility compared to Speira’s freedom of movement, Speira held a clear advantage.
With no knowledge of when or where Speira might emerge to strike a critical blow against the Empire, Luna’s movements were further constrained.
Still, it had to be done.
Luna hadn’t forgotten—not because she was incapable of forgetting, but because she had directly confronted Preches at the center of the Demonic Realm.
The meeting with that accursed being, which consumed the remainder of Ray’s life, remained vividly etched in Luna’s mind without fading.
After analyzing the dark radiance Preches sought to recreate countless times, Luna unraveled its characteristics.
Although understanding the corrupted power from memory didn’t mean she could replicate it, establishing a foundation to track it was certainly possible.
“…”
Despite spending vast budgets to trace the remnants of the dark radiance, data on it remained scarce.
Unless Speira revealed herself first, there was no current method to track her.
Almost everyone on the continent, except one individual, believed this to be true.
Tzzz-t!
Information collected from various White Towers across the continent converged toward Luna.
A map of the continent materialized in the air, with a red dot blinking upon it.
“…”
Found.
Because Luna hadn’t forgotten—and couldn’t forget—the erased memories blinked back at her as a red dot.
Luna closed her eyes briefly and fell silent.
At that moment, a knock sounded at the door.
Luna rose from her seat and opened the door herself to greet her visitor.
Lea stood before her.
Though it had been a while since they last met, Lea had grown slightly taller. Luna greeted her composedly.
Lea spoke first.
“I want to see my older brother.”
“…”
Occasionally, very cautiously, Lea would ask Luna about Ray.
But today, there was a firm determination in Lea’s voice that refused to back down.
Luna had no intention of hiding Ray’s condition from Lea unnecessarily.
Still, every time Lea expressed her desire to see her brother, she revealed a faint sense of hope.
Perhaps Lea was searching for warmth and hope in Ray.
However, the warmth and hope Lea sought were no longer with Ray.
Understanding the weight of the disappointment Lea would face upon seeing Ray, Luna had previously ignored her indirect requests.
But this time, Lea seemed unwilling to step back.
“It’s an imperial decree.”
“…”
“If you truly respect me, let me meet my older brother.”
“…”
Luna saw no reason to reject Lea’s request and create unnecessary conflict.
This was Lea’s choice.
And now, it was time for Lea to understand the weight of her choices.
