Emperor Has Returned

“Our emperor who came down in human form.”

“Our emperor who filled the glasses with the blood of our enemies and their flesh.”

“Our emperor who is our beacon of hope, even through death.”

Amongst the screams and rising smoke, Rieto was on his knees, citing prayer after prayer without skipping a beat.

It felt uncomfortable for those listening, to hear three similar voices come from a single mouth.

Camille could feel an inscrutable itch inside her. However, unlike her inner feelings, her energy level was starting to feel better.

‘So this is the emperor’s grace………’

It was different to the power of the ‘grace’ that was bestowed upon her during her Paladin ceremony. Common ‘graces’ like stronger physical and mental fortitude, and a few magical ‘graces’ were given upon being made a Paladin.

However, priests were granted the ability to grant higher levels of ‘grace’ when they saw fit. And for bishops, they had the ability to bestow ‘grace’ that were comparable to miracles.

“My emperor, Kenosis. You that reside in the souls and body of everyone. May you allow your power and body to be granted to our less fortunate servants……”

Even those that were burnt, cut or hearts ripped out would not die for they had close to infinite lives.

Upon giving bishop level ‘grace’ to Paladins that were already powerful from being bestowed the common ‘graces’, it made them no different from an immortal army.

The reason why Ethan went offensive on the city without much thought was because of Bishop Rieto.

Apart from urgent situations, these direct confrontations were normally avoided.

Laying a siege to a whole city required a substantial force to overpower the opponent. This was dangerous as it didn’t always go as the church thought it would. Even the Pope wouldn’t have agreed to Ethan’s plan.

‘If not Bishop Rieto, it would have been impossible to get the support needed for the attack.’

Bishop Rieto was famous for his broken mind. Most of the time, he was anything but an ordinary bishop but from time to time, he had a frighteningly keen insight that no one else could detect.

He always firmly believed that he was right, which is why he was supporting the White crow knights at this present time.

By coincidence, the Hugin knights had showed up while he was at Hiveden for business.

‘No, was it really a coincidence?’

Camille doubted herself. She looked at Rieto with a sense of awe. One way or another, today a legend would fall.

The White crow knights will be the hands that killed the legend and Bishop Rieto will be the eyes and mouth that supported the downfall.

‘If Lars Raude is really in the city, he will for sure die tonight.’

*****

Juan looked around.

It wasn’t the best of situations. Their plan had failed, the Paladins knights were all grouped together and they’d just found out that they couldn’t be hurt or killed.

The Hugin knights did have the undead knights in their ranks, but they weren’t invincible against Paladins. The ‘grace’ found on a Paladin’s sword had the power to vanquish the undead knights.

The fire that had started to spread also didn’t help create an environment for an undead knight to be in.

Ethan walked through the flames. His leg turned into ash and crumbled.

But instantly, it reformed and again it started to burn.

While the healing process looked impressive, the pain looked extremely excruciating. But even so, Ethan was smiling.

“Kid, so this is your version of hell? It’s nothing much.”

Ethan swung his sword around him.

A strong gust of wind blew towards the flames, extinguishing most of the fire inside the alleyway.

The Paladins that were on fire had their armors in blazing red after the fire had subsided.

Their expressions on their face told of their pain, but they still made the way across, joining their fellow Paladins.

“You’ll need to bring something worse than hell if you want to kill me.”

Ethan ran at Juan. Juan managed to avoid his sword just in time.

“You’re boasting when this is not even your power……..”

Nonetheless, Juan could not help but acknowledge that his situation wasn’t good.

The blessing that the Paladins were receiving was his own mana. It was most certainly this……. ‘grace’ thing that Anya had mentioned.

If the power of this ‘grace’ was what he expected it to be, the Hugin knights had no chance of winning unless Lars intervened.

For now, Juan decided to back off from fighting Ethan. Ethan didn’t follow him. There were plenty of Hugin knights around him that he needed to kill.

“My knights, lift your swords! For our emperor resides inside you!”

“For the emperor!”

With a deafening cry, the Paladins ran at the Hugin knights aggressively.

Although they came into the city without a plan and the Laus scouts, it was almost certain that they held the advantage. Ethan jumped into the action and immediately chopped off a Hugin knight’s head.

Continuing his strikes, Ethan turned his head as something grabbed his attention. A giant hammer whiskered past from where he just stood. Ethan smiled wickedly upon seeing the hammer.

“Thought you’d only show yourself after I’d finished killing all your ravens.”

White haired elderly knight, ‘blacksmith’ Dilmond Debussy was glaring at him.

The elderly knight laughed as he accepted Ethan’s provocation.

“You’re tongue is too long for you, baby. Beings your age are more skilled with their tongue than a sword, so instead of staying on a battlefield, how about you run along to your mother’s bottom side and do your duty?”

In a fit of anger, Ethan ran wildly at Dilmond. What really angered Ethan was how Dilmond classified him as a certain type.

Dilmond moaned as a powerful shock hit his shield.

Ethan tried to get through his shield with powerful strikes.

Even though Dilmond had never been lazy in his training, he could not help but feel Ethan’s powerful strength a bit frightening.

Dilmond bitterly resented the strength and ‘grace’ that Ethan was blessed with. But still, he never thought that he would fail his assignment. He heard a voice from behind that he’d waited for.

“Knights, forward!”

With Anya’s voice, the undead knights revealed themselves. They had been waiting for the Paladins that had been burning in the alleyway to move towards the back of the group.

As the undead knights revealed themselves, a cold air swept through the area, while a burning heat existed behind the Paladins. Ethan looked at the undead knights and smiled.

“Although we were the ones that had killed them, it seems like they ate each other’s eyes and flesh. No wonder you lot are called ravens.”

“Well I’ll be happy to rip and eat that smile off your face.”

With his undead knights, Dilmond charged forward.

*****

“Anya, can you tell me the current state of the fight?”

Juan asked Anya what the situation was like. Having just slain a Paladin knight, she was wearing blood all over herself. Tiredness had engulfed her face as well.

“Someone of bishop class is raining down a blessing to the Paladins in the city. The only Bishops close by would be…..Bishop Karl and Rieto, but there’s no way that pig Karl would put himself in danger, so it’s most likely Rieto. There was talks of him coming to get something from Hiveden as well.”

“Yeah, he was coming to get the indeterminate polyhydron. So that’s the bastard that’s keeping these Paladins alive.”

“Yes. This couldn’t be achieved with any ordinary ‘grace’. Especially as burns are normally hard to recover from but if its bishop level……”

[Anya, Juan.]

They could suddenly hear a voice inside their heads. It was Lars.

[I’m sending you voices created in my head. I apologise if you’ve found it unpleasant. I’m heading there now.]

“Huh? What are you saying! No!”

Anya shouted in panic. Lars replied as if he could hear what they were saying.

[I’ve got a grasp of what’s happening. And the sun is up, so like me, the undead knights won’t be at their full strength. I have to join in order to turn the situation around.]

“Stay still Lars. You’ll only create more worry for the rest of us.”

[Juan.]

“I said no.”

[My knights, my friends are dying. I can’t just stay put.]

“You’re already plenty useful by summoning the undead knights. If you continue to argue, Anya will come and break your legs.”

Juan replied with a crude feeling.

Lars had already used too much of his negative energy. If he’d use more strength in his current state, there was a high possibility that the indeterminate polyhydron wouldn’t be enough to keep his sanity.

“You’re the only one who can summon and control the undead knights. Anya can only control the knights that are summoned. If you die here, the undead knights will disappear and the hugin knights will be no more. Is that what you want?”

[………..]

“Don’t worry. I’ve got a plan.”

Juan turned towards Anya.

“Anya, so let me be clear. If I can kill this bishop, then this godforsaken situation can be won, right?”

“Uh, yes. Of course. But there’ll be paladins guarding this bishop, and he’ll be blessing himself with the same ‘grace’ as well. It’d be almost impossible to kill………..”

“I still have to try. Meanwhile, stop Lars from joining the fight.”

As Juan faced towards the Paladin camp outside the city, he turned around.

Before he left, he stopped and looked at Anya. Anya’s pupils were wet with anxiety. Juan said to Anya as if he was trying to calm her down.

“Don’t die.”

*****

Sina’s face darkened seeing Bishop Rieto furiously continue his prayer.

Asking for the emperor’s power to kill the emperor’s people.

The Paladins were slaughtering civilians and destroying Hiveden.

It was hard for Sina to stay still while she watched on, but she couldn’t do much as her body had been restrained tight.

“Camille!”

Sina shouted to Camille who was standing next to bishop Rieto, guarding him. Camille glanced towards her. Her expression faltered upon seeing Sina’s fierce eyes.

“Is this what you want? To help instigate a slaughter? Do you think the emperor would have stood for this?”

“We are not the emperor.”

Camille replied with a stern face.

“We are not great like him. We cannot think the same way as him. We are only but listening to his words, spreading his worth across the empire.”

“You’re spreading his worth by killing unarmed civilians?”

“Eliminating his enemies is a part of it. We are the emperor’s spear, so it can’t be helped that we are viewed in that light.”

“Instead of pointing your weapon at the innocent weak, couldn’t you stop other swords that need to be stopped? Wouldn’t that be closer to what you are trying to achieve?”

Camille declined to reply. Her lips were tightly squeezed and she avoided Sina’s eyes.

She of course knew full well that these actions were wrong and that Sina’s words were completely right.

However, having spent all those years as a member of the White crow knights, she felt like it was her duty to go against her feelings.

Like Ethan said, maybe the only way to truly escape from their shackles as White crow knights was to kill Lars.

At least for today, Camille decided to throw away any sentiments.

And at that precise moment, Bishop Rieto’s prayers suddenly stopped.

Upon looking, Camille noticed a trembling Bishop Rieto as he looked somewhere towards the east.

His face was distorted in anger and confusion.