V
The banner of House Valedstorm fluttered in the breeze over the far hill. Claudia clasped her spyglass in a white-knuckle grip, her shoulders quivering with repressed emotion, as she turned her gaze away from it.
“Good,” Ashton said to himself, looking pleased as he surveyed the scene. “Sergeant Major Ellis actually looks very convincing, standing there all majestically. They can’t miss the banner either. Yes, I think that should fool the imperials.”
“Ashton Senefelder,” Claudia said, her voice utterly devoid of emotion.
“Yes?”
“I’ve got a question for you.”
“Wh-What is it?”
“It’s about our body double for Major Olivia. I didn’t think you’d do the armor, let alone have her dye her hair, but what I want to know about is that. Where did that come from?” Claudia pointed at the banner like she suspected it of murdering her parents. Close inspection revealed that a vein in her temple throbbed, and the spyglass crunched unpleasantly under her iron grip.
Olivia quietly backed away from the two of them.
“What? Didn’t I say, Lieutenant?” Ashton asked.
“You did not. I wasn’t told anything about that,” Claudia said, her face blank. She turned to Olivia. “Major, were you told?”
Olivia had been told, as it happened. Or to be more accurate, she was one of the culprits behind its inception. When Ashton had brought the idea to her during their stay at Fort Glacia, she’d enthusiastically agreed to help make the banner. Chatting and joking while working with others to make something was a new experience for Olivia. And what a wonderful, happy time it had been! The militia soldiers were full of nerves and jitters at first, but by the time the banner was complete, everyone was totally at ease. When the topic of Olivia’s double was raised, Ellis volunteered right away, nearly panting in her excitement.
“Ser, oh, ser! Please pick me!” she’d cried. Why she’d kept staring at Olivia as though spellbound, though, Olivia wasn’t sure.
Later, Olivia exercised her authority to authorize the distribution of Dominic’s hidden stash of food and alcohol, and the party really got going. For some reason, they’d all gathered round her at the end and started tossing her into the air, but Olivia happily went along with it. She would treasure the happy memories she’d made that night.
“Um, yeah, he did tell me,” Olivia replied, nodding stiffly. Claudia’s eyes narrowed. Despite the warmth of the day, Olivia felt a strange chill run down her spine.
“I see, ser. So I was the only one who didn’t know about it, then...” Claudia said, half to herself, then turned back to Ashton. “Ashton, you still haven’t answered my question.”
“Well,” he began anxiously, “I suppose it was just before we left Fort Glacia.”
“Was it really?! You made that in only half a day, did you?” exclaimed Claudia, folding her arms and nodding along as she went on. “Yes, even from here, I can tell it’s a fine piece of work. You must have really toiled away.” Her face remained empty of expression, and Olivia felt a tension in the air like the calm before a storm.
“Do you think so, Lieutenant?” Ashton said, becoming cheerful. “It’s true, it was a tremendous effort. But thanks to all the guards pitching in, it turned out splendidly.”
“Oh, very good,” Claudia remarked dryly.
“They worked particularly hard on the scythe blades,” Ashton went on. “Aren’t they drawn well? They look like they could chop your head clean off.”
Olivia watched him as he went on with the explanation, remembering how, just the other day, he’d told her off for never reading the room. Reading the room was, as Olivia understood it, about sensitively perceiving the people around you, something Ashton was patently failing at right now. She wondered if her noticing this fact was a sign of her personal growth.
Claudia sidled casually up to Ashton as he went on, oblivious. Then, she seized him by the shoulders and began to shake him hard, bellowing, “You little scumbag!” she roared. “You enjoy this, huh? You enjoy tormenting me?!”
“Wha—?!” Ashton squawked. “It’s nothing like that! It’s just capitalizing on Olivia’s infamy—er, I mean, her great renown! Look, it’s stopped the enemy in their tracks!”
As his head lurched back and forth, he jabbed a finger frantically toward the base of the hill. Olivia got the vague feeling that he’d said something rude about her, but he was right about one thing: the enemy army had come to a standstill. Even from this distance, they could tell how the banner held the army’s attention.
Olivia clapped her hands to draw the other two’s attention. “Are you two almost done?” she said. “As Ashton says, the enemy isn’t moving. This is the best chance we’ll have to save the Second Legion.”
Claudia, panting hard, replied, “Ye... Yes, ser! And allow me to say, ser, I’m truly sorry you had to witness that!” Then to Ashton, she added, “Don’t you think this is over, Senefelder! I’ll talk to you later.”
“Seriously...” Ashton, free from Claudia’s clutches at last, readjusted his collar before he turned to Olivia. “Everything’s gone according to plan so far. What’s our next move?”
“Everything I’ve seen confirms the Helios Knights’ prowess in formation tactics. On that count, they’re a notch above the Crimson Knights.”
But where the Helios Knights excelled in group strategy, the Crimson Knights excelled in a far greater caliber on the individual level. Olivia explained that the Helios Knights’ strength was in how the whole army moved like an individual soldier.
“So that’s it. It’s true, there’s a greater all-round finesse to their maneuvers when you compare them to the Crimson Knights. That was apparent right away, even to me,” Ashton said.
“Yeah. That strength will become their weak point, though. Isn’t it funny how the world works sometimes?”
“‘Their weak point’?” chorused Ashton and Claudia together. They looked at one another, then both turned away again awkwardly.
Claudia cleared her throat, then said, “How exactly is it a weak point? To me, they look totally invulnerable...”
“I agree with Lieutenant Claudia,” Ashton said. “Breaking that defensive formation will be nigh on impossible.”
“Huh. Is that how it looks to you?”
“It doesn’t to you, Major?”
“Nope. To me, it looks like the Helios Knights are too used to fighting in formation. That means if we take out their commanders, the army will totally lose its ability to adapt.”
“So what you’re saying is,” Claudia said, “we target the unit commanders and disrupt the chain of command, and that will put us on track to win?”
“Yep, that’s the idea.” Olivia squatted down, then, picking up a fallen twig, drew a large circle on the ground. Ashton and Claudia followed suit, crouching down where they stood.
“First is just what we talked about at our last meeting,” Olivia said, drawing a smaller circle facing the larger one. “Ellis, dressed as me, takes a unit of three thousand soldiers to draw the enemy out on the right. Not so far that they notice the trick, of course. Then”—she drew another small circle—“you two, along with two thousand soldiers, take the opportunity she creates to rush them from behind. The final thousand soldiers will come with me to charge the enemy on the left.” She added a final small circle.
“Next, we let the Second Legion know about the plan. Their general is supposed to be brilliant, so while we draw the enemy away, I bet he’ll be able to regroup his forces. What do you think?”
“If all goes well, we’ll be attacking them from all sides...” Ashton mused, staring thoughtfully at the diagram on the ground. “I like it.”
“That all sounds good to me, Major,” Claudia said, nodding her approval as well.
“Then that’s settled! Let’s get a runner off to the Second Legion right away, then it’s time for us to get moving.”
As one, Ashton and Claudia stood up and saluted, shouting, “Yes, ser!”
Olivia gave her orders, and with that, the operation commenced.
Patrick’s Command
Patrick listened to the disquieted muttering from his army with rising irritation.
A woman with silver hair and clad in ebony black armor had suddenly materialized up on the hill. She stood gazing coolly down at them, with a black banner emblazoned with a skull over two scythes raised beside her. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that here before them stood the imperial army’s most dangerous enemy—Death God Olivia.
“My lord, it’s—”
“You don’t need to tell me,” Patrick spat. “There’s only one person who’d fly that ghastly banner.”
“It’s her, then. Death God Olivia...” Ares said under his breath. Nervous sweat beaded on his brow.
Patrick had not at all anticipated seeing Death God Olivia, who belonged to the Seventh Legion, here on the central front. He too had read the report submitted by Colonel Guyel that some of the officers now referred to as The Death God Journals. She was a fearsome opponent, not only manipulating the Crimson Knights into a trap, but also badly wounding Rosenmarie of the Three Generals. However, Patrick also saw a golden opportunity here to wipe Death God Olivia from this world for good.
“Ares, send word to Major General Kristoff. Tell him to take seven thousand Helios Knights to meet the Death God’s unit.”
“Seven thousand?!” Ares exclaimed, his eyes popping. “That’s almost all the knights in our army!” This, his reaction said, was not standard procedure—it was entirely abnormal.
“You heard me. We mustn’t skimp on the force we send to meet the Death God and her soldiers. The Helios Knights are to hold nothing back, and keep her from having free rein on the battlefield.”
“But ser, the Second Legion are still standing. If we divert almost all the knights...” Ares trailed off. He didn’t protest directly, but from his tone, Patrick knew he didn’t like the plan.
“Got an objection?” Patrick asked.
“Well, that would be a blunt way of putting it,” Ares said at length.
“Don’t worry. There’ll be no problem so long as I take the main force and crush the life out of them.”
“My lord, I can’t go along with this,” Ares protested. “Even with the Second Legion on its last legs, the increased danger you face is too great.”
Patrick well understood Ares’s fears. Obviously, the danger to Patrick weighed heavy on his mind. But what his aide was afraid of was that, if something did befall Patrick, the whole army would fall apart.
Throughout all of history, no army had ever lost its commander and still emerged victorious. The southern area army’s collapse after the death of General Osvannes was a prime example of this. It was a reasonable concern for an aide to have.
“What a funny thing to say,” he said, his lip curling. “Tell me, then. Is any battle guaranteed to be safe and free of risk?”
Ares sighed. “I’m well aware that I speak out of turn when I say this, but that is not what I was saying.” He opened his mouth to elaborate on his concerns, but a man from Patrick’s personal guard stepped forward and interrupted whatever it was he might say. It was Sieghart, the captain of the guard.
“Major Ares, your concerns are valid, but you need not trouble yourself,” said Captain Sieghart. “Should the general find himself in danger, we will be there to give our lives in his defense as his guard.” At this, the other assembled guards knelt.
“Well, you heard the man,” Patrick said. “Besides, I’ll make it out alive so long as I have this.” He drew the scimitar at his waist with a dramatic sweep, holding it aloft for all to see.
Sunlight caught on the edge of the blade, making it shine with a dim luster. The sword was a real work of art. The merchant who’d brought it to Patrick had explained that it was both fine and exceedingly rare, brought over the sea in ages long past from another continent that might or might not even exist. Where other swords were double-edged, this blade was single-edged and curved back on itself. The merchant touted the blade’s merits with total conviction, and indeed, its edge was phenomenal. Smitten at first cut, Patrick paid the exorbitant sum the merchant had asked for it.
Ares looked up at the sword, his eyes narrowed against the glare. Then, he clicked his heels and saluted. “Very well, my lord. I know you won’t alter course once your mind is made up. I’ll have the orders delivered to Major General Kristoff.”
“Tell him to be on his guard. We don’t know what tricks the Death God may try.”
“Yes, ser!”
The Decoy Unit
As she watched the Helios Knights moving, Ellis couldn’t stop a gloating smile from spreading across her face.
“Here they come—they think I’m Olivia and now they’re all worked up! Do I really look that much like her? Maybe people will mistake me for her little sister.” She giggled. A blond, blue-eyed man stood beside her, watching the Helios Knights with his arms folded—her brother, Second Lieutenant Luke.
“You’re hopeless,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Can you save the happy-go-lucky attitude for when we’re not staring down the enemy? And not just any enemy—the Helios Knights under one of the empire’s Three Generals! This isn’t like when we were fighting bandits and things like that. Plus, you’re like five years older than her, so I don’t know what you mean by ‘little sister.’ Are you feeling all right?” He reached out to check her temperature, but Ellis violently swatted him away.
“Shut up! Who cares if she’s younger than me?” she grumbled. “Anyway, quit moping around here and go out there and attack them already!”
When Olivia had entrusted her with this crucial mission, it had sent Ellis’s heart soaring higher than ever before. Never had she felt this way amongst the tedium of guarding towns and subduing bandits. The outcome of this battle, in Ellis’s mind, now rested upon whether she could draw out the enemy. Thus, her own role was of the greatest importance. She, disguised as Olivia, was at the core of this whole battle.
Luke watched her dubiously as she clenched her fists.
“What?” she said. “Overcome by my beauty or something?”
“You’ve got some overinflated idea that this whole battle is resting on you, don’t you?” he said. When Ellis’s only response was to click her tongue in frustration, he went on. “Got it in one, huh? You’re so easy to read. What, did you think you were a real commander now?”
“I can think whatever I want,” she muttered.
“You’re just a body double for Major Olivia—no more, no less. Also, you might be my little sister, but I’m still your superior officer, so you’d better address me properly when we’re out in public.”
He’d seen through everything. And as much as it irked her to admit it, he was right on every point. Just because he was right, though, didn’t mean she had to accept it.
She chanced another loud tut, then saluted smartly. “Yes, ser! Please forgive my many transgressions, Second Lieutenant Luke, and allow me to rephrase my earlier suggestion: get out there and intercept the damn enemy, ser,” she finished, pointing at the Helios Knights. She heard a muffled laugh from the soldiers behind them. Just then a trumpet sounded. The enemy was in range of their archers.
“I can’t even with you,” Luke groaned.
“What? Got a problem?”
“Whatever.” He turned to the waiting soldiers. “All archers, begin three-stage volleys! Meet any who break through with your pikes. We have the high ground, and we’re going to squeeze all the advantage we can from it!”A roar of assent rose up. Turning back to Ellis, Luke added, “And you make sure they don’t see you for the dumb girl you really are.”
“Hey! That’s mean, jerkface!” Ellis retorted, but he ignored her. He raised his left hand, and the soldiers, waiting for his signal, raised their axes above the logs they’d felled in preparation for this moment. They cut the ropes holding them back, and the logs went thundering away down the slope toward the Helios Knights.
The Second Legion
Almost all the Helios Knights were changing course, heading to the hill occupied by Olivia’s unit. Blood watched them with the dawning realization that his assumptions had been off the mark. The imperial army was far more worried about Olivia than he’d imagined. His crooked smile grew wider. Here on the battlefield, he only received bits and pieces of information, but even so... He should have known better.
“There’s a messenger from Major Olivia, my lord,” Lise announced, cutting through his reverie.
The messenger stepped forward. “Ser, I’m here to tell you that the unit over there on the hill is a fake.”
“A fake?” Blood exclaimed. “What does that mean?”
“Well, ser, that’s what I’m here to explain.”
As the messenger began to outline the plan, Blood’s eyebrows rose higher and higher. The woman he’d thought was Olivia was a decoy, the runner told him, while the real Olivia was laying low on the hill on the opposite side of the battlefield.
Lise, just as surprised, cried out thunderstruck. “What?!”
The messenger continued. Major Olivia planned to lie in wait, then launch a surprise attack from the enemy’s rear and flank when the time was right. Olivia also apparently wanted the Second Legion to regroup and mount a counterattack while the false Olivia’s unit drew the enemy away. If the plan worked, they would have the enemy surrounded. If so, even a small force would be enough for him to hold out. Blood felt sure of that.
Blood watched as the messenger galloped away again, then called Lise.
“You hear that?” he said. “Major Olivia has the cheek to come here and tell us to regroup while her people lure the imperials away. And to sweeten the deal, she wants us to mount a counterattack! Quite the impossible task we’ve been handed, eh?”
Lise chuckled. “But Major Olivia clearly thinks not for you, ser. And she is absolutely correct.”
“You think so?” Blood said. “There’s not a scrap of evidence to back up that assertion, though.”
“Evidence? Of course there’s evidence,” Lise said. She sounded so confident that Blood felt his interest piqued.
“Oh yeah? Even with the man himself telling you in as many words that there’s not?”
“Yes, ser. You’d be surprised how much we don’t realize about ourselves.”
“There’s truth in that,” Blood conceded. “All right, will you tell me, then?”
“I know you can do it, because I believe that you can do it,” Lise replied without hesitation. “Beyond a doubt.” Her gaze didn’t waver as she looked straight at him. Avoiding her eyes, Blood looked away and scratched his head.
“Um, well,” he muttered. “From what I can see of the soldiers over on the hill, Major Olivia has got her militia moving like a proper army. I don’t know how she did it, but it looks like she’s the real deal.”
“Major Olivia’s plan is already in motion,” Lise pointed out. “We can’t sit here doing nothing.”
“Agreed. The commanding general of the Second Legion can’t allow some upstart major to leave him in the dust. Captain Lise,” he began, but she got in first.
“We assume a circle formation, with the wounded soldiers on the inside,” she said.
Blood laughed, shaking his head. “That’s right, Captain,” he said. “That’s what we’ll do.”
With Olivia’s entry onto the field, the Battle of the Freyberg Plateau approached its finale.
Claudia’s Ambush Unit
After receiving Olivia’s orders, Claudia and Ashton took their forces around to the rear of the imperial army. They succeeded in avoiding attracting the enemy’s attention, but another problem had presented itself.
“Hmmm.” Ashton stared up at the crown of the hill in a state of uncertainty. “That’s an unexpected development.”
The Helios Knights laying siege to the hill numbered more than twice as many as the three-thousand-strong decoy force holding them back.
The imperial army wasn’t taking any chances against Olivia, that much was clear. As much as Claudia might have despised the “Death God” nickname, she couldn’t deny that Ashton’s plan had worked any longer.
The problem was that it wasn’t really Olivia up on the hill. She more or less knew how to swing a sword, but apart from that, she was just another soldier with dyed hair and special armor.
“This is all because you had her wave that banner around,” said Claudia. “Those knights outnumber them more than two-to-one. Even with the advantage of terrain, the decoy force can’t hold on for long, and before long the attackers will see through the disguise. So,” she announced, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “what should we do, o all-knowing tactician?”
Ashton, looking troubled, scratched absentmindedly at his cheek. “I admit that I was overly optimistic. The reputation of the Death God is even more ingrained than I thought. But that means—”
“Their main force’s defenses will be even lighter. Right?” Claudia interjected. Ashton’s eyes went wide for a moment, then a smirk spread over his face. Though it was irrelevant to the matter at hand, Claudia found herself thinking that she’d rarely seen a man who suited such an expression less.
“What was the sarcasm for, if you already had it worked out?” Ashton teased. “That’s just mean, Lieutenant.”
“This is only happening because your misjudgment happened to turn into a favorable situation, and don’t you forget it,” Claudia snapped. Ashton had a keen eye for his surroundings, but it was people like that who failed to look at the ground under their own feet, and people like that who died first in a battle. Especially when they couldn’t even swing a sword properly. It was up to Claudia, therefore, to watch out for him instead.
“Don’t worry, ser,” Ashton said, “I’m not that big-headed.”
“I hope not. Anyway, what are we going to do?”
“It’ll be hard on them, but we have to leave the decoy force to hold the Helios Knights there for a little while longer. Right now, it’ll be even easier to get in and take out their commanders. There’s no way Olivia will miss that opportunity.”
“Then we can’t afford to waste any more time. Let’s get moving.” Claudia turned back, then raised her sword high and announced to the soldiers standing rank-and-file, “We charge the enemy’s rear! This is our chance, while the bulk of their force is locked in on the decoy force. I want to see you fight with the bravery of lions!”
A roar of “Yes, ser!” rang out as the soldiers, as one, punched their fists into the sky.
At Claudia’s command, the two-thousand-strong infantry unit began to advance on the main force of the imperial army.
Olivia’s Ambush Unit
Olivia gave a small sigh, then returned her spyglass to its holster at her waist. She’d been watching the decoy unit. Just as Z had told her, a battle was like a living creature. It wouldn’t go where you needed just because you wanted it to.
Beside her, also peering through a spyglass, stood Warrant Officer Evanson, a blond man with indigo-blue eyes.
“This wasn’t what we predicted,” he said, sounding taken aback.
“Yeah, it looks like almost all the Helios Knights went for the decoy unit,” Olivia agreed. “Battles are volatile like that. There’s nothing you can do about it. Still, that’s all their planning gone up in smoke. I guess the imperial army really wants me dead. It’s hard being so popular!” She laughed cheerfully, and Evanson returned a strained smile.
“Not popular in a good way, then. Not that I agree, of course. Thanks to this, the defenses on the main force have thinned out. It does mean that my older brother and sister over in the decoy unit have just found themselves with much more dangerous jobs, though.”
“You’re Ellis’s little brother?”
“I am, more’s the pity...” Evanson said, with an embarrassed laugh. Olivia didn’t know what was a pity, but now that she looked at him again, she could see a hint of resemblance. He had Ellis’s prettiness, just a masculine version of it. When Olivia first left the Gate to the Land of the Dead, all human faces had looked the same to her, but now she’d learned to properly tell the difference. That had to be another sign of her personal growth.
Evanson was looking at her a little dubiously, so she asked, “What’s up?”
“Huh?! Um, nothing, I...” he replied, tripping over his words for some reason. “I just wondered. My sister, she didn’t say anything rude to you, did she, ser? She told me you made the banner together...”
Olivia tilted her head at him. “No, I don’t think so. I really enjoyed talking to her,” she said. “Oh, actually, she did say her little brother wet the bed until he was twelve. I suppose that was you.”
Evanson looked outraged. “That... That jerkface! Why would she even bring that up? Please forget she told you that, ser. There wasn’t anything else, though?”
“Anything else...” Olivia said, thinking back. “Oh! Now you mention it, she did just sit there and stare at me from time to time.”
Evanson sighed dramatically. “I thought so...” he said. “Don’t let it concern you, ser. It’s a kind of affliction she suffers from.”
“I’m not concerned or anything. But she’s sick? Have you taken her to a healer?” Olivia inquired. Ellis hadn’t seemed unwell chatting away next to Olivia at the party. On the contrary, she’d practically bowled over everyone around her with her enthusiasm. Olivia knew from her reading, however, that illness came in many different forms. Someone could look perfectly healthy while they were anything but.
“Um, not exactly,” Evanson muttered evasively. “If it were a proper illness like that, maybe something could be done about it. But the healer said there was absolutely no chance of curing her.” He glanced around nervously as he spoke, his voice growing smaller and smaller until at the end Olivia could barely make out what he was saying.
“Are there illnesses that aren’t proper illnesses?” she asked curiously. “You mean it’s not in any books?”
“Well, you probably won’t find it in a book, but it’s better if you just don’t ask. Better still if you just don’t think about it all, actually.”
“Huh. Okay,” Olivia replied. If he told her not to ask, it was probably best to leave it alone. There were lots of things in the world one was better off not knowing. She remembered learning that the one repairing the stove when she broke it wasn’t Comet the Fairy, but Z using magic. That had been one of those things she wished she didn’t know.
As she reflected on such old memories, Olivia noticed a messenger coming toward them, breathing hard.
“Lieutenant Claudia’s infantry battalion is storming the imperial army’s rear!” the messenger cried.
“Thanks,” Olivia said. Then, with admiration, added, “Claudia’s on it, as usual.”
“Should we make a move as well, ser?” Evanson asked, his face solemn.
“Right, yeah. We can’t dilly-dally, or the decoy unit’s going to get pulverized.”
“How should we time the charge?”
“I’ll keep an eye on things, so wait for my command. Evanson, you make sure you’re ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.”
“Yes, ser!”
It was crucial that they attacked while the enemy’s guard was down. Thanks to Claudia’s ambush, the imperial army had been plunged into confusion, but Claudia only had two thousand soldiers. Making effective use of the ambush at a tactical level would require her to not only carefully read the situation, but also to listen closely to how the battle breathed.
Mulling over Z’s lessons in her mind, Olivia issued her commands to the waiting soldiers.
Claudia’s Ambush Unit
Thirty minutes had passed since their attack began. Claudia’s forces were unyielding as they pushed forward in an incessant assault on the panicked imperial soldiers.
“Everything’s...going well...” Ashton panted. “I don’t see any...Helios Knights...either.” He was surrounded at all times by a team of burly bodyguards who kept a close eye on their surroundings. They had all been chosen after passing Claudia’s rigorous examination. Ashton, it was fair to say, was the brain of the Seventh Legion. She had to keep him safe, no matter what.
“Don’t get comfortable yet,” she said shortly, then urged their soldiers forward again. Across the battlefield, trumpets blared, and the voices of fighting soldiers blended together in a deep rumbling like an earthquake. The sheer vigor of her soldiers was pushing the imperials back as they retreated again and again.
Everything changed, however, when one huge imperial soldier came forward, filling the gap his allies had left behind. He wielded a black club, leaving the broken bodies of Claudia’s soldiers in his wake as he cleaved them with it left and right, again and again.
This is bad. If this goes on, the battle will swing back in the empire’s favor... Claudia thought. Which makes it a perfect opportunity for a test run.
She gave the order for her soldiers to fall back, but she didn’t go with them. Instead, she faced down the huge, blood-splattered man.
“You’re going to fight me, pip-squeak?” he said. He looked disappointed as he shook the coagulating brain matter from his club and scoffed, “What a joke.”
“Stop yapping,” Claudia said dismissively. “You’re nothing more than a means to an end.”
“A means to a what? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Claudia didn’t bother answering him. She lowered her weight, then imagined a single, unbreakable thread, stretching away into the distance. Once, she had feared this power within her and pushed it away. But now she was going to use it.
She called all of it up, then simply dashed straight forward.
First it was Heaven’s Sight, and now she embraced Swift Step.
“Ngh—?” the man grunted. He turned, confused, to look behind him, a gaping hole in his side. The next moment, there was an explosion of blood as his guts came spilling out.
“Hyaaaagh!” He fell heavily to his knees. He died weeping, trying to scoop up his fallen entrails.
I couldn’t cut him all the way in half... Claudia thought, looking at him. I’ll need to do a lot more work if I want to keep up with the major.
She turned around and saw Ashton pointing at her, gaping in astonishment. He wasn’t the only one. Every person on the battlefield wore a similar expression.
Claudia didn’t pay them any attention. She briskly brought her sword level, then ordered her forces to resume the advance.
Patrick’s Command
Two hours had passed since Patrick had sent out his main force. The Second Legion should have been at death’s door, but despite his forces’ perpetual assault, it was still holding out. That the Second Legion held out one step from the brink began to irritate Patrick.
“They’re regrouping in a circle formation, ser. They’re going fully on the defensive.”
“I can see that. Defense won’t bring their dead soldiers back, though. There’ll be chinks in their armor. Focus your attack on those.”
“I don’t disagree, ser, but I’m not sure it will be so simple. Their general is highly competent, and now that he’s exclusively focusing on defending...” Ares trailed off, sounding doubtful. Patrick snorted loudly, then pointed his spyglass at the hill. It was slow, but the Helios Knights were advancing. Kristoff was doing well, just as Patrick had expected.
Just as I thought. Even the Death God is struggling, he thought. She’d better be, after I sent almost all our knights to her.
He’d just gone back to working out his plan to break the Second Legion’s defense when a commotion broke out in the rear guard. Just as he turned to look, a runner came sprinting up to him, heaving for breath.
“My... My lord!” he gasped. “The enemy! They came at us from behind out of nowhere! Now they’re bearing down on the main force at furious speed!”
“They came from behind?!” Patrick exclaimed. “How many?”
“Around two thousand, ser!”
“Two—” The pieces slipped into place. “That’s the Death God’s independent regiment. The nerve.” Without thinking, he snapped the commander’s staff in his hands clean in two. At Sieghart’s command, his personal guard moved swiftly in around him.
“You don’t think,” Ares said nervously, “that the Death God predicted we’d send all the Knights after her and split her forces?”
Patrick shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know, but if she did, that’s some devilish ingenuity. Or maybe I should say death god-like.”
“How do we respond?”
“There’s no need to panic. Send the remaining knights to the attackers. Give them a good, long look at the ironclad defenses of the Helios Knights.”
“But ser, the main force’s defenses are only...” Ares stopped, then said, “Very well. I’ll give the command.”
Patrick glanced at him, but Ares only cleared his throat, then immediately moved onto relaying orders. In minutes, a thousand Helios Knights moved off.
Thirty minutes later, a new messenger arrived.
Patrick let out a bellow of rage. “The Death God is on our left flank?!”
“Yes, ser! They’re rapidly cutting through our soldiers and heading this way!”
“I’ve never heard anything so stupid! The Death God is up on the hill! The Helios Knights have her pinned down!” Patrick shouted, showering the messenger in spittle as he pointed over at the hill. The messenger didn’t acquiesce to him, however. Instead, he stepped forward as though to confront him.
“B-But, she has silver hair and ebony black armor—the spitting image of the Death God in all the stories! Damn it, no ordinary human can cut a man clean in two!” the messenger shouted back hysterically, his face pale. He was so shaken that he forgot himself and cursed in front of his commander. He should have been reprimanded for that, but given the content of his outburst, they all only stared at him in confusion.
“So what, there are two Death Gods now?” Patrick shouted back, incandescent with rage. “You expect me to swallow that cock-and-bull story?”
“Ser,” Ares said quietly, “there’s only one explanation I can think of.”
“Explanation?! Explanation?! Well, spit it out already!”
“One must be the real Death God and one a fake.”
“A real one...and a fake one?” Patrick repeated.
“It appears that the Death God has had us wrapped around her finger this whole time,” Ares said with a desperate laugh. Patrick only stood there, gobsmacked, until they heard screams of pain rise up from the soldiers nearby. Patrick turned toward the sound just in time to see a girl with silver hair emerge through a spray of blood. In her right hand was a black sword wrapped in coiling black mist, and her armor bore the ugly mark of a skull over two crossed scythes.
At the sight of her, the messenger screamed in terror and ran, tripping over his feet as he went.
“We’re heeere!” the girl announced, grinning to show sparkly white teeth as she surveyed the scene before her. She looked, at least to Patrick, like a predator staring down its hapless prey.
“Protect the general!” Sieghart bellowed. His personal guard was already moving, the soldiers drawing their swords as they advanced aggressively on the girl. She dodged every one of their blows, moving with the grace of a petal fluttering on the wind. Then, without mercy or pity, she beheaded the first with the ferocity of a wild animal.
The strike came so fast and so out of nowhere that the guard didn’t even have the chance to cry out. His blood sprayed through the air like a rain shower while his body, reduced to little more than soulless lumps of meat, crumpled to the ground.
By the time the girl came to a complete stop, every member of Patrick’s personal guard lay dead around him. In mere moments, the girl had summoned hell itself into the mortal world. Even after that level of exertion, she wasn’t even out of breath.
“You... You monster!” Ares burst out, unable to contain himself.
The girl looked at him. “I’m not a monster, I’m Olivia,” she said. “You know, it’s been a while since anyone said that to me! The ‘Death God’ name’s really caught on lately. Oh, but don’t worry! I actually don’t mind ‘Death God,’ so feel free to call me that.”
The girl—Olivia—smiled guilelessly at them. After the unbelievable display she’d just put on for them, it was ruthlessly apparent that this was the real Death God.
“My lord, you have to get out of here, now. I’ll buy you time,” Ares said.
“Shut up, Ares. You know it’s pointless,” Patrick said quietly. Ares stared at him, incredulous.
“But ser, we have the numbers...”
“It won’t do any good. Fifty soldiers wouldn’t be enough to stop her. She’s on a whole other level.” Now he understood just how Rosenmarie had sustained her injuries. Patrick had complete confidence in his blade, but what he’d just seen had ripped that confidence to shreds.
The only person he could imagine overcoming her was Felix of the Azure Knights.
“So we’re going to sit here and wait to die?” Ares demanded, lowering his voice ever so slightly. Whatever emotion was causing his shoulders to tremble like that, Patrick knew it wasn’t fear. He smiled darkly.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” he said. “I’m not having us go down without a fight.” With that, he drew his scimitar. At once, Ares drew his own blade.
“Then I shall fight at your side with what little strength I have. The rest, we must regretfully leave to Marshal Gladden.”
“After I made that big speech at the war council, it’s pathetic, really...” Patrick said. “On which note, Ares, I’m relying on you to make sure I don’t get lost on the way to the land of the dead.”
“Of course, ser. Leave it to me.” Their eyes met and they smiled.
“Are you done?” Olivia asked.
“We are. Sorry to keep you,” Patrick replied conversationally.
“I thought I’d ask, just in case. You don’t want to surrender, right? If you surrender, I’ll let you live. I told the Crimson Knights the same thing.”
Patrick hadn’t expected Olivia to offer him the chance to surrender. He was genuinely taken aback, especially as he couldn’t imagine that she was trying to trick him at this point.
“Sorry to answer with a question, but did the Crimson Knights accept your offer?” he asked.
“Nope.” Olivia shook her head, and Patrick gave a fierce laugh.
“Then, it definitely wouldn’t do for the Helios Knights to accept.”
“Okay,” Olivia said. “Well, time for you to die, then.”
Ares charged, pointing his sword straight at Olivia. She knocked the blade down, wasting no time as she stabbed her black sword through his stomach. He vomited black blood, but didn’t back down. Quite the opposite, in fact—he stepped forward to further impale himself on the blade.
“What?” Olivia stared at him, her eyes wide with confusion. When Ares reached her, he wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Now!” he yelled, his voice like a death rattle. “Stab her through me.”
“You got her!” At once, Patrick brought his blade level, then rushed forward as fast as his legs would carry him, putting his full weight behind the strike—
“Huh. That was a sacrifice play, right? Not a bad idea, in theory. You need to get stronger if you want to restrain me, though.” Olivia snapped Ares’s neck with her left hand. His eyes rolled back in his head as she left him broken, then plunged the blade in her right hand deep into Patrick’s chest.
“Ares... I’m... I’m sorry...” Patrick gasped. All the power rushed out of his body, and his head fell forward onto his chest. As his vision grew dark, he heard Olivia’s cheerful voice in his ears.
“I couldn’t help but notice earlier, but that sword of yours is a really unusual shape. Do you mind if I keep it?”
Patrick never answered her.
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