Chapter 47

Requiem

"It stopped… huh?"

"…No way."

Noel and Katya, who had been silently observing the scene, both let out cries of astonishment at the same time.

Just moments ago, the spirit had been rampaging so violently, so it was only natural.

And the spirit’s gaze remained fixed on the flag Aiden was wrapped in.

The flag bearing a lion. The Imperial flag.

[-]

Beneath the visor glowing with red light, ragged breaths could be heard.

The wild charge toward Noel like a mindless beast, the image of her plowing through every obstacle like a human-shaped tank, all of it was gone.

What remained in her eyes was unmistakably—

‘The final boundary.’

Even in this state.

Even in a condition so far from sanity that she had clearly lost reason, even the ability to speak, she would never cross that line.

Warden of the Realm. A knight who protected the nation.

Even in death, a knight who had lived with that title seemed to remember the pride she had built in life.

The Warden of the Realm did not harm the symbol of the Empire.

She did not harm those who bore it.

‘—Just as I thought.’

Let’s lay down one simple premise.

A spirit could only manifest in the material world if it had a powerful yearning left unfulfilled in life. The stronger that yearning, the more powerful its manifestation.

No matter what the scenario claimed about interference from demons or demonkind, that was the fundamental rule.

—In other words.

Even if someone had the power to resurrect a spirit using a technique close to raising the dead, they couldn’t twist that foundational ‘yearning.’

In other words.

Even if someone implanted the suggestion that harming Noel was the same as protecting the Empire—

They still couldn’t shake the identity of ‘protecting the Empire.’

"……."

Aiden silently gazed into her eyes, glowing like red lanterns.

No matter how he tried to recall any description of the Warden of the Realm, nothing like this phenomenon had ever been documented.

Clearly, this was a deviation from who she had been in life.

It could only be described as a sign of madness. A state where sanity could no longer be maintained.

Implanting a suggestion to harm someone like Noel, someone so precious, in someone this upright would not have been easy.

It must have taken years of curses and corruption, enough that breaking the mind entirely was actually easier.

And yet.

The Warden of the Realm.

Sir Teresa Adelaide.

Even with her mind shattered, she never once acted in a way that would disgrace her name.

"I'm sorry."

Aiden calmly offered his apology once again.

How could one not offer praise?

Until the very end.

Even beyond death, with her mind clouded, even in a state where her spirit had been muddied and tainted—

This knight had not lost her pride. She had fought with everything she had to protect the Empire.

As the Warden of the Realm—a title that meant a knight who protected the nation—she acted without a shred of shame.

And what Aiden was now making use of was that dazzling pride.

He had every reason to apologize.

To this knight, who could not bring herself to strike him with her sword and was holding back her entire body that was ready to launch forward with everything she had.

But even so—

‘…I can’t let someone like her end up killing her own family with her own hands.’

That was why, all the more, he had to bring her down here and now.

Aiden raised his sword.

Supernatural power began to circulate through his body.

-……

The first thing he prepared was the First Vow. Then, mixed into it, was the Pure White Qi.

-……!!

The two supernatural forces interwove and were reborn as the Guardian’s Flame, producing firepower far more powerful than either one alone.

Even that alone created firepower nearly twice that of the original abilities, but then—

—Holy Flame Operation: Detonation.

The energy wrapped around his body instantly surged, more than doubling in strength. And then—

—Spiral, Hollow Point.

The power thus shaved down was shaped according to the operation technique he had copied from the Prince.

-…………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The violently expanding and colliding powers began to spin, shredding themselves into smaller pieces.

Just watching it triggered an instinctive sense that it was becoming more and more dangerous.

Aiden wrapped that infused supernatural power around his sword.

And now, there was one last thing left.

‘Two sword parts.’

The hilt and the blade.

It wasn’t a complex structure like a revolver, so it couldn’t hold multiple powers, but at least two supernatural powers could be embedded.

That meant there was still one final enhancement available.

‘…Come to think of it.’

Back then, Meyer had asked him a question.

No matter how powerful and well-crafted a technique was, it meant nothing if you couldn’t land it on your opponent.

He had asked if Aiden had the skill to land something like that.

Aiden had replied casually. That he was the type who excelled in real combat, so he was confident. Though his senior hadn’t even pretended to listen at the time.

Which made it a bit of a shame that he wouldn’t get to show it.

Because this—this was why he’d answered like that.

-System Message

▶ ‘Skill: The Savior’s Vow’ is reacting.

▶ ‘Public Enemy of the World’ detected.

▶ In accordance with ‘Geas: Protect the World,’ supernatural power is being enhanced!

Seeing that, Aiden let out a small laugh.

‘…Just as expected.’

While the main scenario was progressing, he had expected that this geas would activate properly.

Because the journey he was on now was, in itself, the path to saving the world.

And when it came to this kind of “real combat”—

He had the ability to take the technique Meyer had forged for him and amplify it to dozens of times its original power.

Dozens of cores burst out from all over his body, orbiting him, and Katya and Noel simultaneously gaped at the sight.

"…What is that—!"

Dozens of cores—such an accomplishment was something only legendary masters, spoken of even on the Great Plains, could barely manage. Anyone would react like that upon seeing someone draw them forth so effortlessly on the spot.

And that mana arts power was soon infused into the sword's hilt.

-System Message

▶ ‘Imbuing Supernatural Power’ has succeeded. The weapon's power is increased!

With that message floating before him—

Aiden raised his sword.

[-!]

At that moment, with the formation complete, the Warden of the Realm, whose focus had been fixed on the flag, finally raised her sword to block.

But it was already too late.

The only requirement for this technique was its long activation time. Its biggest weakness was that no opponent would just stand still and let it happen.

And from the start—

Responding with "defense" against this technique was a completely wrong choice.

He took a deep breath and raised his sword.

Muttering to himself the activation phrase Meyer had taught him.

—Tear it apart.

—Blade of Dawn.

And then.

A flash.

The tip of the sword flared.

▣

There are those who are called Saints.

It’s a title given to those who’ve reached the pinnacle in their respective fields. A nickname bestowed with awe upon those who traveled across the continent.

The Sword Saint who pacified the continent with a single rusted sword, the Divine Spear who felled a primordial giant with a human body, the Imperial Marksman who drove away an otherworldly calamity descending from the stratosphere—

The one known as the Knight of Dawn was also a man who stood among the ranks of Saints, carrying with him countless feats of valor befitting the name.

There was something all witnesses of his battles had commonly testified.

That if you saw him fight in a place without a single light source, in the middle of the night—

It felt as if he was "splitting night from day."

Wasn’t the nickname "Knight of Dawn" itself derived from the blinding light that burst forth from his weapons every time he unleashed a technique?

In other words, it was a phenomenon that had become symbolic of him.

Honestly, I had thought it was just another bizarre legend preserved in the records.

Until I saw it with my own eyes.

“—!”

Noel grit her teeth and raised her arm to shield her eyes.

Had she not done so, the supernatural power bursting from Aiden’s sword would have been too bright even for her to face directly.

There were no other words that could describe it.

‘Dawn…!’

This level of brilliance was so absurd that it made one wonder if the records had actually toned it down.

Even for someone like her, standing at the very peak of the superhuman realm, it was hard to keep her eyes open.

‘Where in the world did he get something like this…!’

While Noel was reeling from the inexplicable sense of injustice—how Aiden could just whip out things like this in the blink of an eye—he swung his sword.

Thanks to the nature of Holy Flame, which amplified power by sheer density of qi, the Guardian’s Flame, already devastating on its own, split into dozens the moment it left the blade’s edge.

Each and every one became a violently spinning spiral in place. Slashes imbued with piercing force, designed to shatter through any defense.

Just looking at them was enough to grasp their monstrous power. Even someone like Noel, a top-tier superhuman, would have a hard time recovering if hit head-on by one of those.

“—!”

But the Warden of the Realm’s response wasn’t ordinary either.

Though she was too late to fully respond, she manipulated her qi on the fly and formed it into a blade shape.

There was no point in forming a conventional defense against those spirals, so she aimed to intercept them instead.

And the trajectories she crafted were accurate. They cut straight through the incoming slashes, cancelling most of them out.

Even if she couldn’t fully block the attack, it was a clean maneuver that would at least deflect any lethal damage.

But.

Noel’s mouth dropped open at what happened next.

Those spirals, broken into smaller forms, didn’t stop. They kept splitting, accelerating all the while.

From dozens, to hundreds.

From hundreds, to thousands—

“What the—?!”

So stunned, Noel muttered aloud.

The slashes continued to divide endlessly. Tiny spirals filled the air, blanketing every direction so thoroughly that even she couldn’t track them all.

It felt as if the world itself was being swallowed up by blinding flashes of light.

And those endlessly splitting slashes began to penetrate through the ‘gaps’ between the retaliatory slashes the Warden of the Realm had produced.

-!!

-!!!!!!

At last, when she saw the relentless spirals piercing through that suit of armor, Noel was rendered speechless.

Because she fully understood the destructive power of Aiden’s attack.

‘This is…’

An attack amplified with qi density through Holy Flame, spreading so broadly it was virtually unavoidable, slipping precisely through vital gaps and breaking through even defensive techniques.

In actual combat, it wasn’t entirely impossible to counter.

You could flee the area before it launched, or interrupt the caster before they struck—

There were ways to deal with it without directly engaging the attack, if one could think fast enough.

—But.

If you could unleash it.

And if you could land it.

And if your opponent was a spirit—

‘Certain kill.’

…There was no other way to describe it.

Even if this weren’t the Warden of the Realm, but the spirit of something even more formidable—there’d be no way it could endure this!

-!!!!

The Blade of Dawn, having pierced through the gaps in her armor, set the Warden of the Realm ablaze entirely.

Holy Flame, already possessing a natural advantage against spirits, burned even more fiercely the moment it touched the spiritual body.

The movements of the Warden, who had been rampaging so fiercely just moments ago, began to slow. Her armor gradually crumbled away.

"……."

Aiden quietly lowered his sword as he watched.

It was already a fatal blow.

Even a Warden of the Realm, who had grown strong enough to overwhelm even Noel, couldn’t possibly continue fighting after taking a hit like that head-on.

In truth, the state of her body—torn to shreds and burning—was agonizing to witness. It was almost strange she wasn’t dead on the spot.

And yet.

[…………-!]

Even so.

A knight did not retreat.

With a strangled cry, soaked in blood, she still tried to rise, her will to fight unextinguished.

"……."

Aiden silently watched.

Stubbornness—one could call it that. One could even say she was foolishly clinging to something already over.

But considering the reason this person had manifested in the first place, that persistence wasn’t something to be belittled.

Aiden didn’t know how the Warden of the Realm’s mind had been corrupted. He didn’t know what sinister methods the demonkind had used to twist her spirit.

What was certain—

Looking at her now—

It felt like she believed that "continuing to fight" was the same as "protecting the Empire," and that’s why she clung to this so fiercely.

“Sir Teresa Adelaide.”

So then—

“My home is here too. My dad, my little sister, they live in the Empire.”

Because she was that kind of person—

There was something he had to promise her in return.

“My family, my friends, my acquaintances—they’re all here.”

The wish she had left behind was something Aiden could deeply empathize with.

Noel had said the Warden of the Realm was like the sun.

A knight who valued spending peaceful days with anyone—regardless of status, age, or gender—above all else.

The reason someone like that had come to revere the value of the Empire to this extent… most likely—

It was because of the people in it.

Her family and kin. Those who lived diligently and did their jobs.

Ordinary, everyday people. Powerless, but kind-hearted people.

And wanting to protect those people—

It overlapped far too much with the reason he had recently thrown himself into the insane task of saving the world.

[-]

Beneath the visor, red light stared straight at Aiden.

Stared or rather,

She stood silently and listened to his words.

There was no longer any battle cry.

She just stood there, listening to what he had to say.

Facing such a soul, Aiden met her gaze directly and continued.

“So, I promise you.”

He drew upon The Savior’s Vow once again.

It was something his father had drilled into him since childhood, and something he’d come to understand with his own body now that he was an adult.

To avoid, at all costs, people who made promises with just words.

And Aiden didn’t want to become that kind of adult.

Beneath the core formed of mana arts, within the embedded geas, he added one more meaning.

Following the first geas—to protect the world—he etched in a second one, right before the Warden of the Realm’s eyes.

“I’ll protect the Empire.”

Her ideals—the values she had wanted so desperately to safeguard—

That simple, peaceful, idyllic vision she dreamed of was something Aiden also longed for deeply. And now, he would carry that wish in her place.

So.

Let it be known.

“I’ll make sure the people in it, even the powerless but good-hearted ones, won’t suffer injustice.”

And so, I ask.

“So please.”

It’s okay now.

“You can stop fighting.”

Rest in peace.

[-…….]

Beneath the visor, silence lingered for a long time.

With her sword still raised, the Warden of the Realm stared at Aiden for what felt like an eternity.

And then.

Thud.

Her sword slipped from her hand and fell.

Though the red light beneath her visor still glowed like a lantern, the hostility radiating from her had melted away as if it had never been there.

She was not in her right mind. She had lost the ability to speak. There was no way to know if his words had truly reached her.

Even so—

[-I believe you.]

It almost—

Sounded like those words had been spoken.

And at that moment, her body began to crumble and scatter.

As if she had fulfilled the wish she had long held before death. As if she had no regrets left to bind her.

“…….”

“…….”

In the silence where no one could speak, amidst the fragments of the vanishing spirit of the Warden of the Realm—

The "power source" that had been located within her chest revealed itself. Aiden walked quietly through the drifting particles and gently received it with both hands.

Noel, blankly, murmured its name.

“A pin… wheel…”

The token of a promise she always used to make for Noel.

—I’ll protect the Empire!

With that alone.

With only the will to fulfill that one vow she had offered—

The Warden of the Realm had endured beyond death.

“…….”

The pinwheel Aiden held in his hands also soon scattered into particles.

The token bearing the knight’s vow dissolved into the air, dispersing far and wide. Fading into the distance, quietly leaving this world.

So that no one could ever disturb her again.