Chapter 10:
The Kingdom’s Greatest Swordsman
THE AZURE EXPANSE where the royal and imperial armies battled was now stained black with smoke from all the explosions.
Amid the chaos and fighting, where men put their lives on the line for their respective sides, a Demonic Knight chortled. His laughter echoed around him. “That’s fifty done,” he declared. “Weak. You’re all too weak. It’s laughable to think this is the best you can do.”
Lienhart had donned his Demonic Suit and was wielding a pair of sabers. Each was far too large for an ordinary Armor to manage two at once, but his Demonic Suit brandished them with practiced ease. Practical skill, not brute force, backed his attacks. His blades cut through the royal army’s Armors as easily as a knife through butter.
Lienhart’s Demonic Suit spread its wings wide, allowing him to maneuver gracefully through the air. Many an opponent scrambled to escape when they faced his unmatched strength.
“Someone save me!”
“You can’t show your back to the enemy,” Lienhart rebuked them. “It’s like you’re begging me to kill you.” And so he did just that, thrusting one saber right into his fleeing opponent’s back.
Lienhart relished the thrill of battle like a lone hunter, rather than as the cog of an enormous army. In fact, he treated battle exactly like a hunt.
“If I can’t find anyone stronger, this’ll be boring,” he said.
The imperial army had the upper hand to begin with, but the Demonic Knights were distinguishing themselves on the field above and beyond that. The order’s highest-ranking members were particularly devastating, putting up extreme resistance against the royal army.
“Hm?”
Having identified Lienhart as a threat, the AI destroyers charged toward him, firing lasers and deploying drones to surround the Demonic Knight. They had him closed in on all sides, hoping that superior numbers might finish him off.
“Maybe you’ll turn out to be a little tougher than the others, hm?” said Lienhart, not the least bit panicked by his situation.
His batlike wings stretched wide, flapping powerfully against the wind. Accelerating at incredible speed, he shot forward through the air toward the destroyer, lifted his swords, and sliced straight through the ship’s plating. The destroyer was swallowed by the ensuing explosion.
“Ha ha! How are you this weak?” Lienhart watched in amusement as the ship’s wreckage plummeted toward the ocean.
His deranged glee invoked fear in the royal army. The way he fought even disturbed his own allies.
“So that’s the youngest Demonic Knight!”
“They say he’s a genius swordsman—the Sword Saint of this generation.”
“Um…is it just me, or is he really enjoying fighting?”
Lienhart ignored their comments, busy scanning the battlefield for further prey. “Now, who’s going to be next? I’d prefer to fight the Kingdom’s Sword Saint, if possible, but the Scumbag Knight is the one I’m pursuing.”
In his heart of hearts, he desired a battle with the enemy hero more than anything. His favorite activity was battling and beating strong opponents. He was like an innocent child, eager to test his strength by finding the most challenging opponent he could on the field.
An enemy Armor suddenly approached him, the pilot hollering, “I won’t let you continue your reign of terror!” Judging by the man’s voice, he was probably a middle-aged knight.
From what Lienhart could tell, the man was an experienced veteran. The suits accompanying him appeared to be manned by similarly battle-hardened fighters. What Lienhart liked most about them all was their courage in coming to fight him.
“You’ve still got some brave men among you, eh?” he said.
Scratches covered the first enemy Armor, suggesting he’d already cut down a number of imperial troops. Lienhart’s intuition assured him that this man was tough, but he wasn’t the sort of opponent Lienhart preferred.
Lienhart clicked his tongue. “Too bad your fighting style has no flair. You’re just a washed-up old knight, aren’t you? You should’ve gauged the difference in our strength before charging at me like a fool.” He flew forward in the blink of an eye, jamming his foot into the enemy Armor’s head and sending it reeling backward.
“Guh!”
The men accompanying the enemy Armor covered for him quickly, shouting, “Lord Balcus!”
Lienhart assumed they were his retainers. Their care for him was touching, but that gave Lienhart no pause. “Ha ha!” He let out a strangled laugh and raised his blade. When Balcus’s men charged him, he sliced right through them.
“You bastard, killing my men!” Balcus howled at him. Now recovered, he charged once more, but Lienhart’s saber parried him without difficulty.
“It’s their fault for dying so easily,” Lienhart told him. “Now, it’s time for you to—”
Before he could cut down his enemy, an enormous explosion split the air behind him.
“What the hell?” Lienhart glanced backward. His sword missed its original target, slicing through the arms of Balcus’s Armor instead. Without looking, Lienhart swiftly plunged his sword toward the cockpit, but again his aim was off, and he narrowly missed.
“Guh!” Balcus groaned, his suit skewered by Lienhart’s sword. “You’re one tough bastard.”
He tried to struggle, but Lienhart ignored him, his gaze focused on Arcadia. The fortress had been struck by something; a column of smoke rose from it.
“Something got through Arcadia’s shield?” Lienhart couldn’t hide the shock in his voice.
Several low-ranking Demonic Knights sped toward him. “Lord Lienhart! His Imperial Majesty ordered us back to Arcadia to combat the enemy infiltrating the fortress!”
If it was a direct order from the emperor, Lienhart had no choice but to obey. He yanked his sword from Balcus’s suit, which began to lose altitude.
Lienhart pointed his saber at it. “I’m sick of hearing all your screaming and crying.” A ball of compressed air formed at the point of his sword and burst forward, slamming into Balcus’s Armor and sending him flailing.
“Graaah! Nicks! Leon! The rest is up to you…” At first, his voice echoed in the air, but explosions drowned it out as the Armor lost all propulsion and plunged toward the sea.
Lienhart had no more interest in it. He flexed his wings to return to Arcadia, and the low-ranking knights followed.
“These infiltrators ought to be fun to play with,” Lienhart said, licking his lips.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Arcadia’s fortress was breached?”
A Demonic Knight stood on the deck of an enemy ship as flames devoured it. Fire burst from the exhaust pipe of the pack on the Demonic Suit’s back. The Demonic Knight—Gunther—was accompanied by numerous lower-ranking knights. All around him and his men, enemy vessels were sinking.
Another Demonic Knight, Laimer, had come to deliver that message to him. “From what I hear, we’ve all been ordered to return to the fortress,” he told Gunther. He couldn’t provide further information, since he himself had only heard that through the grapevine.
Gunther’s brows knit. He glanced at the royal army. “We could’ve dealt a more devastating blow to the enemy if only we had a little more time.” Still, he shot off from the deck, followed by his subordinates.
Laimer sped along behind him. “Well, all I’ve heard is that the Scumbag Knight boarded Arcadia. If we don’t get back quickly, the command room will be in danger.” Laimer was still young, and his voice hitched.
Gunther didn’t share his panic. As much as he detested acknowledging it, they still had the first seat—Finn—at the fortress. Gunther intended to reclaim that position eventually, but he wasn’t so proud that he couldn’t recognize Finn’s strength.
“Calm down,” he told Laimer. “Arcadia has Finn to protect everyone. His Imperial Majesty and the others won’t be beaten so easily.”
“Y-yeah, you’re right.”
“Anyway, what about Hubert?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Hubert’s Demonic Suit was slimmer and taller than those his comrades piloted. Its T-shaped head was topped with a circular decoration. Team battle was Hubert’s specialty.
“Lord Hubert! Squadrons one through three successfully dispatched the enemy’s assault troops!”
“What a pain this is,” Hubert muttered to himself.
The emperor had ordered them all to return to the fortress, but he and his men had penetrated far into the enemy lines, and navigating back out was proving difficult. If they turned their backs, the royal forces would swoop in to take advantage. Hubert’s forces could beat the enemy in an outright battle, but they couldn’t simply ignore them to retreat.
Hubert oversaw eight squadrons of three Demonic Knights each. He excelled as a commander, which was why he’d been put in charge of twenty-four knights—to best utilize his unique skill set in battle.
One of his subordinates approached and told him, “Lord Gunther apparently already returned to Arcadia ahead of us.”
“He beat us there, hm? I guess that means either he or Finn will claim the Scumbag Knight’s head. They’re stealing all our glory,” Hubert chuckled.
Laimer suddenly appeared beside him.
“Hm? You didn’t go back with Gunther?” asked Hubert.
“I’m supposed to be under your command, so no. But if you don’t get moving soon, Finn’ll snag this battle’s greatest accomplishment for himself.”
“Indeed. Let’s hurry along, then.” Hubert and his men finally shook off all their pursuers and started back toward the fortress. As they did, Hubert thought to himself, They already have Finn there to protect them, so if they need us in the fortress too, perhaps His Imperial Majesty and the others there are in more danger than I realized.