Chapter 64: Variant (1)

The wyvern had spectacular flying skills. All Yuri could do was follow its movements with his sword.

“Why the hell is this beast so smart?”

“Kiyaaah!”

Of the orc riders who had been firing arrows while chasing him, only two remained now, fleeing in desperation.

With the roles reversed, the wyvern Yuri was riding began to hunt down its former enemies. It soared high into the sky, then dived like an eagle catching its prey, snatching the enemy rider.

Then it climbed back up again.

At first, the enemy wyvern was dragged along by the rope connecting them. But no matter how strong an orc’s body was, it wasn’t tough enough to withstand a wyvern’s weight.

The orc’s body was torn in half. Blood and entrails splattered through the air.

“This beast…”

Yuri patted the back of the wyvern’s head.

The creature had made an effort to kill only the riders, avoiding hurting the enemy wyverns. When it had been an enemy, it seemed like an arrogant wyvern bastard, but now that it was an ally, it turned out to be a warm companion who protected its own kind.

“How did you end up being captured by orcs…”

“Kiyaaah!”

The wyvern flew toward the last remaining orc rider. This time too, Yuri cleanly decapitated the orc.

The now riderless wyverns began to shake their heads as if coming to their senses and flew off into the distance.

Maybe they were seeking freedom? Yuri felt it was time to say goodbye.

“Wyvern.”

“Kiyaaah!”

“It was a pleasure, even if it was brief.”

He stood up on the wyvern’s saddle and looked down. The battle between humans and orcs below looked like ants fighting.

As if it weren’t that important. But those fighting down there were locked in a fierce struggle for their lives.

And that was where Yuri belonged.

“There.”

He pointed to a spot on the ground.

“Can you drop me off there?”

“Kiyaaah!”

The wyvern roared once more and dove straight toward that location. The destination was the rear of Briol’s army, where the soldiers of Joachim and the Duchy of Klein were stationed.

Smaller countries with limited forces had formed a joint defense formation, but their line was beginning to crack.

They couldn’t allow it to collapse. If the front broke under the orc assault, the entire Alliance could fall. It was like a crack that would burst a dam.

The wyvern spread its wings and glided like an arrow. The target approached rapidly.

“Wyvern, be happy.”

“Kiyaaah!”

Judging the wyvern’s speed, Yuri jumped early.

Using the momentum from the high-speed flight, he launched forward in a straight line.

Right at that point, a large, well-fed orc stood. Yuri drove his sword into its chest and used its body to cushion his landing. The orc’s body slid, knocking down several others in the process.

His landing trajectory carved a deep mark in the ground.

“Phew…”

Yuri stood up after landing like a meteor. All human and orc eyes turned to him.

He didn’t let that brief moment of silence on the battlefield go to waste. He raised Guilty and shouted:

“For Briol… no, for Joachim!”

And he charged straight into the orcs. The battle resumed instantly.

After all, he was an ally. Joachim’s army roared and began pushing back the orcs again.

Yuri held the spot where the line was weakening and pushed the orcs back.

“Thank you for your help. But… how did you get here riding a wyvern?”

A knight from Joachim fighting beside Yuri asked.

“While I was fighting the wyvern, I saw from above that this area needed help.”

“Sad but true.”

He was a middle-aged man with a long mustache. His movements showed extensive combat experience. He fought the orcs as if it were part of his daily routine.

“We’ve lost our strength. Joachim isn’t what it used to be.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. Today’s youth are too weak…”

Yuri knew Joachim had never been particularly strong. When Sven spoke ill of them, he described them as a gang of bandits—and he wasn’t entirely wrong.

Still, Yuri agreed.

“True. Doesn’t seem like the legendary Joachim.”

“I see His Highness understands.”

“Then how about we, the real knights, push these orcs back?”

“Haha! Sounds perfect!”

“What’s your name?”

“Gonte Merchin, Baron of Febaine.”

“Let’s go, Sir Gonte.”

“An honor.”

Together, they advanced toward the orcs. The line of Joachim, which had looked on the verge of collapse, began to recover its formation.

Yuri shouted.

“Is this all Joachim can do!?”

Then he ran ahead. It was an unusual sight for Joachim’s troops, who had never fought alongside Yuri.

It looked like that prince would fall immediately under an orc’s axe. But the opposite happened. He was the one who started the massacre.

Every time he swung his sword, deep wounds opened in the orcs’ bodies and blood gushed out. Enemies were shredded as if they were straw dolls.

Though it seemed like he was killing them effortlessly, every move was a gamble between life and death. And he always made the right call.

Gonte nodded as he watched Yuri.

“So the rumors were true. The spirit of knights still lives in Briol. That’s the body of someone who’s been through countless battles. Nothing like today’s pampered greenhouse-raised children.”

His voice rose, perhaps inspired by the scene.

“I can’t fall behind.”

His sword became even sharper.

“We are Joachim!”

His shout echoed loudly.

Before, humans and orcs fell equally. But now the tide began to turn in favor of the Alliance. At least in this area, humans were killing more orcs.

Yuri smiled. Just a moment ago, Joachim’s front line was in danger. That’s why he had come. And now Joachim was gathering its strength to push back the orcs.

He had caused that change. He thought that if they won this battle, maybe they could also avoid the tragedies to come.

He was proving with actions why he had returned to the past.

“Don’t retreat!”

Suddenly, an attack came from outside his field of vision, aiming for his neck.

Yuri deflected the blow with Guilty. A curved scimitar sliced through the air.

“What…?”

An orc who had fought earlier on Briol’s front had been pursuing him. Yuri stared at the orc, puzzled. The orc pointed his sword, face twisted with rage.

“Want to settle this here, huh?”

Yuri raised his sword. He didn’t want to be caught up with this obsessive bastard any longer. He’d kill him here and now.

He dodged all the curved slashes coming at him. Then, finding an opening, he stabbed the orc in the chest. The orc managed to pull back a little, but was left with a long wound.

His face contorted.

“What’s wrong? Thought it’d end just because you lost an eye?”

Yuri pointed at his own eye while staring directly at the only eye left of the orc—an eye Yuri himself had taken.

Then he smiled.

The orc, enraged by the provocation, roared.

“Akuwaakkai!”

That word, at least, Yuri understood.

“Arkuma kumelo!”

“Shut up.”

Maybe, due to Yuri’s growing fame, that orc had begun to see him as his archrival. But for Yuri, he was just another orc among many.

A fleeting life destined to fall under his sword on the battlefield.

“You must be a rare kind of orc among your kind.”

It wasn’t common for an orc to pursue a rival just to settle a fight. What’s more, he fought with technique, not just brute strength. But that didn’t mean anything. That’s what war was like. No matter how unique someone was, only the victors remained alive.

Like when Briol was razed and the Empire’s flag flew over its ruins. If you don’t want to vanish into the margins of history, you have to crush your enemy.

“Haa…”

The world’s mana began to transform into his own energy through the mana technique of the Cut of the Soul and the Heart.

Thousands of thoughts raced through Yuri’s mind. What he could do, and what he couldn’t. He pointed his sword toward a state brushing the limits of possibility.

The technique swirled within his body. On the blade of Guilty, a spiral pattern began to appear, like an endlessly repeating fractal.

The orc struck with his scimitar. Yuri stepped back, still channeling mana into his sword.

The pattern started to fully emerge. He stepped forward, dodging another thrust.

He could sense everything happening inside his body thanks to the mana that flooded him.

“Akuwaakkai!”

The scimitar came at an impossible angle to dodge. Yuri swung his sword.

Then, countless whirlwinds erupted around Guilty. They merged, forming a greater vortex, and then another, even bigger. The scimitar disintegrated from its core.

Its fragments spun like grains of sand caught in a whirlwind, shredding everything they touched.

The orc’s single eye opened wide. Yuri stared intensely. Two lives were battling, wagering everything.

One would die, the other survive.

That’s how wars are built. If you want to see the end, you have to kill. The orc’s body was torn apart by the vortex. Watching it, Yuri spoke.

“Yuri Briol.”

Did the orc understand? With his last breath, with his only eye, he stared intently and answered.

“Duote.”

Was that his name? Just like the feared orc swordsman who had slain so many knights in Yuri’s previous life.

And that was his final word. His body was consumed by the technique and reduced to a swirl of blood.

Nothing remained but a formless trace.

The whirlwind spun once more over Guilty and faded.

“Ooooh…”

Humans and orcs alike halted their fighting, stunned. Joachim’s soldiers gazed at him with reverence. The orcs—with fear.

With a trembling voice, Gonte asked,

“T-that technique… what was that?”

Yuri looked at his sword.

It had no name. It was the result of sudden inspiration. His lips moved.

“This is…”

A name crossed his mind.

“The First Movement, Yuri Style.”

“First movement?”

“The Spinning Whirlwind Sword.”

“Spinning Whirlwind Sword?!”

Thus he introduced his new technique. And he raised his sword.

“You all saw it well, didn’t you?! This is me—Yuri Briol!”

As always, he raised his voice to boost the morale of his troops.

“Now it’s your turn! I expect great things! Show what it means to be a knight of Joachim!”

But the reaction wasn’t what he expected. No one responded.

Joachim’s knights kept their heads down as they swung their swords.

“Briol really is different.”

“Countries like ours are hopeless…”

“Let’s just hold out. He’ll take care of it.”

“Why did we even join the Alliance…?”

Instead of being inspired by Yuri’s feat, they grew even more apathetic.

Gonte shut his eyes in shame.

“How embarrassing…”

Yuri’s eyes widened. At first, he thought Gonte was just a conservative, but it turned out Joachim’s knights truly lacked spirit.

Even in Briol, known for its egalitarianism, a squad this listless would’ve been dragged into endless training by its commander. In the Empire, they’d have been kicked in the face—boots on.

“Sir Gonte. When this war ends, I’ll invite Joachim’s knights to Briol. I want to offer them an intensive training course.”

“Really? That would be a great help for relations between our nations.”