### Chapter 56: Current (Part Two)
Southeast coast of the Western Continent.
Countless ships flying the church’s flag burned, broke apart, and gradually sank into the sea.
Incredible flames shot up along the Mosley coastline, sweeping over greenery, tents, and villages, turning houses into wooden frames and large trees into charred stumps. The inferno ruthlessly expanded its reach, and thick black smoke nearly obscured the sky.
The once calm and peaceful village was no more, replaced by scenes of carnage—knights fighting desperately, bodies lying in pools of bl**d, charred remains, and the frenzied howls and laughter of heretics.
The daylight was bleak, the sun dim.
Shouts and screams spread from this land of bl**d and fire.
On a distant hill, Nick Williams had bloodshot eyes, surrounded by numerous defeated soldiers. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, his hair was a mess, and his armor was stained with bl**d. Listening to the distant sounds of battle and laughter through the fire, he clenched his teeth.
His complexion looked dire—cracked lips, an injured arm, and a medic in cleric robes was cleaning his wounds. bl**d streamed down his well-muscled bicep, but he seemed oblivious.
“Commander! Commander!”
In the chaotic military tide, someone shouted at him, their tone filled with anguish. “There are still many old folks and children in the village! They didn’t come out! We’ve got over two thousand knights trapped in there! Please give the order!”
“Commander! I’ll go! I’m willing to go rescue them—”
“Please, give the order!”
The speaker stepped forward, a burly man nearing forty, clad in silver armor—an officer, also smeared with bl**d, half his face wrapped in bandages. He knelt on one knee, passionately beseeching Nick, his emotions heightened.
But Nick ignored him, his expression darkening further.
After a moment, he suppressed his boiling bl**d and tried to speak calmly to the kneeling officer. “Sound the horn, raise the flags, and reform the ranks. In half an hour, no matter how many remain…”
He paused dramatically.
“We’re retreating.”
The officer looked up, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Why… Commander… the heretics number less than two thousand… we have nearly ten thousand… it’s just a raid… why…”
“Execute the order.”
“Commander! You can’t do this! The knights still have strength to fight! They’re holding back their anger! Why, why have we lost—”
“Why? You ask me why!?”
Nick’s eyes flared with anger, his bl**d-red glare suddenly shot towards the medic tending to his wounds, sending the young medic staggering back, dropping the bandages in panic, staring at Nick’s bleeding arm, bewildered.
“I want to know why too!”
Ignoring the medic and the gushing bl**d, Nick lowered his head, fixing his furious gaze on the kneeling officer, practically shouting, “Get up, come with me! We’re going to find out why this well-prepared battle turned out like this!”
With that roar, the old injuries on his face twisted, his expression turning jagged.
It had been a long, long while since Nick lost his composure, since he was this furious.
Even during the Battle of the Abyss a year ago, watching his elite knights perish and their souls consumed, he had not lost his cool like this.
He whirled around, leading the officer and ten or so guards down the hill, trudging through the muddied ground, weaving through despondent church knights, until they arrived at a camp on the left.
This was the position of the Third Knights Order, commanded by Vice Commander Richard. Upon seeing him approach, some men in the camp looked tense, wary, as if they wanted to stop him but dared not. Nick paid them no mind, striding straight to the central tent, which was preparing to retreat.
In front of the camp leader, two figures stood side by side. One was clad in ornate armor, and the other appeared to be dressed like a merchant. They were clearly waiting for him.
As Nick approached, the armored vice commander raised a hand to greet him, but Nick, with a burst of speed, kicked him squarely in the chest.
“Comman—”
The kick was no joke.
The vice commander barely squeaked a sound before he was lifting off the ground, groaning as he flew into a stacked wooden box of arrows, a CRASH ringing in the air as arrows spilled everywhere, creating a dazzling mess.
Around them, swords were drawn, Nick’s men and a dozen knights from the camp squared off against each other. But with Nick’s dark expression hanging in the air, no one dared to make the first move.
“Richard. You and your over two thousand knights fled the battlefield, letting the heretics breach our coastal defenses. How many brave knights died for nothing…” Nick glared at the vice commander on the ground, who was clutching his chest in pain and still hadn’t gotten up. After a moment, he turned back, SHING, yanking a sword from the waist of one of his guards. “Your actions bring shame to the Williams family. You are a disgrace to the family, and today, I will k*ll you. Now, please say your final prayers.”
“Wait… bro…”
The vice commander, now lying on the ground, was turning red, panic etched on his face as he struggled to speak. He couldn’t push the words out, watching as Nick gripped the blade, approaching him. At that moment, the merchant hurried forward to intervene, “Commander, please wait!”
“Shut up!”
“Commander, please listen to me—”
“Herbert! I haven’t even asked you for your share of blame, and you’re already rushing to your doom?”
This Herbert was the Deputy Director of the St. George Currency Exchange in Emerald City and also the head of the Williams Chamber of Commerce branch located in Bertalia. During this engagement with the heretics, he had largely overseen the army’s logistics, utilizing the currency exchange’s vast resources to supply provisions to the Mosley coast.
However, logistics had recently been interrupted due to an unexpected bandit attack in the Republic’s southern region, with a convoy carrying hundreds of tons of supplies disappearing without a trace and failing to arrive, leading to diminishing rations for the knights, who eventually started fishing in the sea. Unfortunately, under the rough conditions, most caught fish couldn’t be cooked, resulting in a growing number of knights suffering from diarrhea and diseases, severely impacting their fighting capabilities.
Nick was fully aware of all this.
But no matter what, it could never serve as an excuse for their defeat or, worse, retreat.
“The transport route was your responsibility, yet this enormous mishap happened! Instead of thinking of how to save your own skin, you dare try to stop my enforcement of military law!?”
The merchant turned ashen, mumbling, lowering his head, not daring to rebut even a word.
It wasn’t just fear of this commander’s wrath that silenced him—although that played a role.
More importantly, this enraged man in front of him was not only the commander of the Holy Church’s Third Knights Order but also the son of Cardinal St. George, the future leader of the Currency Exchange—despite his reluctance. Regardless, this straightforward, powerful young master could easily decide his life and even that of his family.
Now and in the future.
The merchant could only watch Nick stride towards his cousin, who was also a member of the Williams family, Richard.
It seemed trouble was brewing…
He thought to himself.
“C-Commander…”
Richard, the vice commander finally caught his breath, struggling to rise from the ground, stepping back over scattered arrows, looking pale. “Cough, cough, bro… let me speak! Let me say something! Bro—”
“Don’t call me bro!”
“If I don’t, everyone will d*e here! We ran out of food days ago! The knights have been starving for days, eating everything they could find! Many are getting sick, throwing up while swinging their swords! They can’t fight anymore! I can’t let them d*e again! They can’t k*ll anymore!—”
“I haven’t eaten for a day and a night either!”
Nick stepped forward and kicked the vice commander away again, sending him rolling far. Then Richard sprang up, suddenly kneeling down, tears in his eyes, and in a pitiful tone cried, “Bro… I can’t watch countless brave knights charge into being slaughtered like livestock by those demons! Trampled on dignity, desecrated souls! They’ll d*e for nothing, this is someone else—”
“Nothing?! Do you have any idea that if you hadn’t suddenly retreated from the defense line with your army, we would have won! Do you know my plans behind us? Do you realize the Faith Organization is about to arrive? When the divine miracles rain down, tell me, who will d*e!?”
Faced with his furious brother, the vice commander gritted his teeth, his watery eyes locking onto Nick, as if to shout back with equal fury, “Did they arrive!? Did the Faith Organization come!? Where are they!? Bro! Commander! Don’t you understand, someone is trying to harm us—”
“Shut the hell up!”
Nick slapped him hard, sending Richard sprawling on the ground, but he quickly straightened his head, his eyes burning like they were about to bleed, glaring at his brother as if he could no longer contain the last shred of his rationality.
“They should have come by now!”
Richard shouted hoarsely, “The church pulled personnel from various cathedrals months ago! They were reassigned to Silgaya! They arrived before we did! If they truly wanted to support us, would they still wait until this moment? Not a single ship returning from sea! Have the higher-ups truly underestimated the enemy’s strength? Don’t deceive yourself—”
“Shut up!”
Another resounding slap.
Richard’s hair was tousled, kneeling on the ground with bl**d trickling from the corner of his mouth.
But he laughed instead: “Hahaha! Everyone in the Western Continent knows we intercepted the heretics! Who doesn’t wish for our victory!? We are the first line of defense against the demons! We’re heroes! A bunch of bandit scoundrels dared to attack our supply ships under the church’s flag! They intercepted our provisions!? Do they dare!? Do they even think they can!!?”
“Be quiet! Be quiet! Be quiet!!!” Nick kicked Richard to the ground again, then heavily stepped on his chest, the point of his sharp sword aimed directly at Richard’s unprotected throat. “Richard, you speak nonsense! You dare to undermine the morale of the troops! Do you want me to k*ll you here—”
Richard, seemingly ignoring it, continued to smile broader: “Only one person wants us to lose here! To d*e here! Hahaha! Bro! We are isolated—”
“One last warning—”
“Bro! You still want to fight those disgusting things! We’re not worth it! That person wants to harm us! He wants to harm us!”
“Richard!!!”
“He would even go so far as to let the heretics land on the Western Continent! Trample on this clean, rich land! Just to see our Williams family’s finest, those most likely to become the next cardinal! You, Brother Nick! He just wants you dead—”
SWISH—
The blade flashed, slicing through his throat.
Richard, the vice commander, stared wide-eyed in bewilderment, hands grasping at his neck, trying to stem the gushing bl**d, but it was futile.
bl**d stained his upper body red in an instant.
“Gah… cough…”
Richard reached forward, as if trying to grasp something, yet nothing was there.
I’m gonna d*e…
Realizing this, Richard lifted his head, taking one last look at his brother.
He saw Nick drop his sword, tears welling up in his eyes.
The crowd surged around them, chaos erupted, muffled sounds reached his ears before swiftly fading away, and the scene quickly enveloped in darkness.
Richard felt the ground cold and wet.
Bro…
It felt like years since he had cried…
In his final moments of life, that was all that came to mind.
