Chapter 127

Among the path opened by the demons, a black knight appeared mounted on a steed.

The moment Fernan looked at him closely, he recalled the final vision from his prophecy.

“You finally descended completely. Kimaris, at least you fulfilled your duty.”

It was a murmur from that original future in which the 69th demon, Decarabia, had successfully descended.

At that time, he had been so focused on the fact that the egg was the vessel for Decarabia’s descent that he hadn’t paid attention.

But what truly mattered wasn’t Decarabia.

It was who had brought him down.

‘Kimaris…!’

The 66th demon. Kimaris.

A warrior with skin black as coal, mounted on a massive dark horse.

In King Colomo and the 72 Demons, Kimaris was described exactly like that, and the description was terrifyingly accurate.

‘Decarabia wasn’t the one who led the northern invasion! The demon had already been summoned before!’

Why hadn’t he thought of it until now?

Because summoning a demon wasn’t easy.

Even with the World Tree branch, Andromalius had only descended incompletely.

And Seir, who tried to ruin the Continental Academic Conference, needed a crystallized mana-essence magic stone to do so.

‘So then when? How?’

A descent of that magnitude always left traces. Bercheff wasn’t foolish—they wouldn’t have overlooked them.

So there were only two possibilities.

Either the corrupt had hidden them almost perfectly.

‘Or a disaster erupted so immense they couldn’t stop it.’

And he remembered the Monster Wave that, over ten years ago, had nearly destroyed Bercheff.

Hundreds of thousands of monsters ravaging everything in a single surge.

Maybe it was just a theory.

‘But what if they used those monsters and human blood as a sacrifice to summon the demon?’

But.

‘A Monster Wave of that scale had never occurred in a thousand years of history.’

Was it a coincidence that everything fit so well?

‘And it’s incomparable to Andromalius…’

Just looking at him made his skin crawl. The instinctive fear was overwhelming.

The oppressive presence of Kimaris and his power—capable of breaking half a wall with a single strike—was incomparable to Andromalius’s incomplete descent.

‘The demon ranks aren’t just numbers—the difference is that Kimaris descended over ten years ago and has had time to recover his strength.’

It all fit together perfectly.

‘Could he be the one behind this, controlling the corrupt now?’

Just thinking about it chilled his blood.

Could they even stop a fully descended demon without Aint Armian?

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Graaah!”

While Fernan was lost in thought, the demons began their advance.

The soldiers panicked upon seeing the damaged wall, scrambling to reinforce it with whatever they could find.

“I’ll go out with the knights through the main gate. We’ll attack the demon directly.”

The frontier count issued an unexpected order.

“If we fight here, the fortress will collapse. Even if we stop the demon, it would be a problem.”

It was a necessary risk.

If a pillar of the northern barrier fell, Bercheff would suffer irreparable damage.

Better to draw the demon away, even at a disadvantage, than to risk the wall’s collapse.

“Garrett.”

“Yes, I’ll go too. And my Red Wolves with me. I never thought that after becoming a Royal Knight, I’d end up fighting alongside you.”

The Red Wolves were Garrett Schreiner’s personal group. Barely fifty men, but considered the best mercenary group on the continent.

“This is madness!”

“Staying here would be even crazier. When that demon starts fighting, everything around will be reduced to ashes. The farther we lead him away, the fewer soldiers will die in vain.”

“But charging out with so few of us…!”

“If we kill the demon, it all ends. He’s the core keeping the rest together.”

The count easily brushed off Luina’s protests. Then he looked at Fernan.

“Fernan Pellenberg. I must thank you. Hiring Garrett was a brilliant move.”

“I prefer thanks in the form of rewards, not words.”

“For that, we’ll have to kill that bastard.”

“One moment, before you go, take this.”

Fernan handed them two small vials—one to the count, and one to the mercenary king.

“It’s the last of the holy water.”

“I’ll use it with gratitude.”

The count descended the wall with the vial in hand. The White Lion Knights followed immediately.

The same with the mercenary king and the Red Wolves.

‘Maybe…’

Watching them leave, Fernan felt a glimmer of hope.

Even without Aint—the natural enemy of demons.

Still, they were two Royal Knights. Each one, an army by himself.

The fortress gate opened before the demons reached the wall.

Dudududu!

Knights and mercenaries, armed in steel and mounted on warhorses, charged forward.

At the head of the two columns were the count and the mercenary king.

The count’s sword shone with a blue aura.

The mercenary king’s spear burned with a red aura.

And then—

Boom!

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Grahhh!”

A thunderous blast shook the sky. Shockwaves tore screams from the demons.

Their bodies shattered, disintegrating into pools of blood.

Two open lines, like trails in the sand, cut through the demon army.

Blood painted the path.

But the demon Kimaris, even with two Royal Knights before him, merely rested his greatsword on his shoulder. He didn’t move.

The distance between the three of them closed.

Without slowing, the two knights raised their weapons in unison.

The demons blocking the way were immediately swept aside.

Boom!

The strike hit Kimaris.

An explosion shook the battlefield, dust clouding everything.

But Kimaris remained unscathed, his sword having blocked the impact.

And it didn’t matter—the goal of the Royal Knights wasn’t to injure him, but to lure him away.

After the strike, they turned their mounts, veering in another direction.

Neither toward Kimaris nor back to the fortress—a blatant provocation.

“Pathetic.”

Kimaris lightly nudged his black horse.

The steed understood the command and began to gallop.

“Get out of the way.”

The demons split into two again, forming a path.

“Before I return, tear down the fortress.”

The formation, which had been disordered from pursuing the Royal Knights during their charge, reorganized in an instant.

They advanced once more, while Kimaris calmly followed the two Royal Knights.

At that moment, battle also erupted within the fortress.

The demons reached the walls and the prepared spells were unleashed.

“Fire!”

The arrows, like a second gift, rained down on the demons who charged through the spells with their bodies.

“Stop them!”

“They’re coming through the broken wall!”

“Form the knight line!”

The knights lined up in the gaps of the crumbling wall, raising a shield wall.

The larger demons charged against it.

Boom!

The aura-reinforced shield wall trembled violently.

Through the small openings, spears and swords pierced the demons.

A fierce battle.

The numerical difference was obvious, but it didn’t look like the fortress would fall easily.

“Luina, Hyde. We’re going to follow the count.”

“…Excuse me?”

“…What?”

“Then I’m not going, right?”

Fernan, having made his decision, called out to Luina and Hyde, who were decapitating demons climbing the wall.

Realizing he wasn’t included, Gismond’s face lit up a little.

“If those two lose, the world ends. The only thing we can do is prevent that from happening.”

“No matter how strong the demon is, they’re two Royal Knights. I can’t imagine my father losing.”

“Under normal conditions, yes. But it’s a demon. Can we really be sure there won’t be unforeseen events?”

He knew the Royal Knights were strong.

Two Royal Knights together, even stronger—he knew that too.

Even so, Fernan felt uneasy.

Even if they were Royal Knights, the enemy was a demon. And not an incomplete one like Andromalius, but a complete one.

Enemies that once tried to destroy the entire continent.

Could they defeat him without Aint?

“What more do you want me to say? I can’t imagine those two losing.”

Luina’s eyes, as she said that, didn’t waver in the slightest.

‘…She’s right. Even if it’s a demon, the Royal Knights are the strongest on the continent. And there are two. I shouldn’t be this uneasy…’

No, there was no reason.

Was Aint stronger than a Royal Knight? No.

But in that instant, Fernan realized the source of his unease.

‘Kimaris… the prophecy book never mentioned him.’

Kimaris wasn’t one of the demons named in the prophetic grimoire.

Nor was this situation.

Maybe he’d appear in the future, but until now, he had never shown up in any vision.

A complete unknown. Since he’d obtained the book, it was the first time he’d faced something like this.

Until now, even when the future changed, it was always within the same framework; things that already existed, just with slight variations.

Not now.

That’s what scared him so much.

He bit his lips hard.

‘Since when have I clung so much to the prophecy…?’

Knowing the future was useful, even if it was a terrible future, because it gave time to prepare.

That’s how he’d managed to change fate and stop the corrupt and the demons.

But relying too much on an uncertain future was foolish. Clinging to it could ruin everything.

‘Hiring the mercenary king was all I could do.’

That was his best move at the time.

What more could he ask for? Even if he went, what could he do?

“…You’re right, Luina.”

Fernan ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back.

“First we have to hold out here.”

Because it wouldn’t be easy either. The ten thousand demons before them weren’t weak.

They were too many in number, and it couldn’t be said they were weaker in strength.

“GRRRAAAH!”

“It’s a Barka!”

In the distance, a fourth-rank demon appeared. Fernan gripped his staff. The scene reminded him of when they transported the World Tree branch.

That monster had been too much for him back then.

“The natural enemy of golems…”

He had lost several of them that day.

“What are you saying? Enemy of the golems?”

“I still remember. There were four! Exactly four. Isn’t that right, Hyde?”

“Yes. There were four.”

Rumble!

A mountain of rocks rose, taking the shape of a giant.

It wasn’t a golem, or anything of the sort. Just Fernan infusing mana into rocks to give them form.

Even so—

Crash!

It blocked the Barka’s charge.

Boom!

Even counterattacking with its fist, the Barka’s body staggered.

“He stopped it.”

It wasn’t just Aint who had faced demons, the corrupt, and infernal creatures.

Fernan had been there too, always preparing before anyone else.

“I haven’t been sitting idle.”

Even if his priority was protecting Aint, he had never neglected his own training.

Because he knew only he could protect what was his.

That’s why now he could do what he couldn’t before.

Before, not even with golems could he stop a Barka. Now, with just animated rocks, he had done it.

His earth magic was stronger, firmer, more flexible.

Enough, even if just for a few seconds, to contain a Barka’s charge.

Maybe not enough against a demon.

“But against you, it’s enough to avenge my golems!”

The rocks collapsed, enveloping the Barka’s entire body.

The creature struggled in vain.

And in that instant—

Slash!

A sword of blue aura sliced off its head.

“Please explain yourself! What have you been saying this whole time?”

The owner of the sword was, of course, Luina. The true genius who had grown a hundred times faster than Fernan.

After beheading the Barka, Luina leaped back to the wall.

“What I’m saying…”

Fernan extended his staff forward.

“Is that you’d better protect me well, Luina. If I get so much as a scratch, I’ll be charging you for damages.”

“Even now you’re still joking?!”

Luina shouted at him indignantly.