Chapter 144: Chapter 141: For the Lionheart

The battle is headed for a climax.

The Lord of Wisdom and the Guardian of the Grail have reached a lull in the battle of infinite power.

The demonic army pushes forward inexorably, finally overrunning the city walls.

“Hold your ground! Hold until the citizens retreat!”

The War Knights rallied their knights and soldiers to the defense, but it was only a matter of time.

The demons that had infiltrated the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods were annihilated by a wave of light, but the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods crumbled with it.

There was no contact with the Holy Lady and the Holy Knight, and the outer walls were crumbling, with millions of demons rushing in.

“Retreat! Retreat to the inner city!”

In the end, the only option left was the inner city, between the outer walls and the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods.

“Aaah…….”

“Aaahhhh…!”

Children crying from the heat of the demons that have reached their noses, and mothers embracing them.

The men, whose will to fight is still intact, are now woefully outnumbered.

“…….”

Walter, the leader of the Imperial Gifted, watched the scene and knew it. The end is near.

Most of the knights were already dead. None of the soldiers were strong, and the elite had long since been exhausted.

“Whoa…….”

“Your Majesty…!”

Even King Lionheart, the absolute protector of the kingdom, had used all his strength to intercept meteors for over three days.

Now it was coming to an end.

Walter began to feel terrified at the impending doom.

“Can’t we… evacuate?”

“Sir Walter!”

Aren said in a panic, but the head of the Imperial Gifted spoke with difficulty.

“If we break for the exits now and wait until later, we will not be able to…….”

Leon replied calmly to Walter’s words.

“Where do you mean, out of this place?”

“You’ve got to live, you’ve got to survive, and you’re not going to die if you stay here?”

Walter’s voice was close to venomous. It was a meaningless gurgle of hope.

“…….”

“Your Majesty, please, please give us a way to live!”

Seeing him still clinging to hope for life, Leon knew all too well that it was futile.

This is how this world ends.

It’s a predetermined future, and this fight is a past that only reenacts it.

Doesn’t it matter what happens now?

Fight or flee. In the end, the future won’t change.

“No.”

It doesn’t. Leon’s gaze flicked to the silver-haired woman in the corner, gasping for air from exhaustion.

Next to her, he saw the mechanical spider servicing itself, checking its armor.

And…a wave of light from the rear.

The voice of the goddess who had confirmed the deaths of High Priestess Anak and his old friend.

Isabel, High Priestess of the Moon and Purity, and Gillingham, Holy Knight of the Sky and Thunder, stopped dead in their tracks after slaying the Demon Archduke and the Archdemons.

War Knight Gildus and his son Galleon, rallying the knights at the front, were unable to keep up with the retreating forces.

All of this is not a mere repetition of history.

The strangers from Earth changed history for them, for their future selves.

Although the outcome may not be the same, this history is vastly different from the past.

That’s why it’s not meaningless.

That’s why it’s still worth fighting for.

“It’s all over now…….”

“No, it’s not over. There are still those who are fighting.”

In the past, in the present, and in the future.

He himself was fighting, and generations after generations of knights were with him.

“There will be no retreat. There will be no evacuation.”

The choice ignited his will to fight, and it made him grim.

“We’ve come this far…what can we do?” he said.

The army was less than ten thousand strong, and the enemy still outnumbered them by hundreds, if not thousands of times.

What can we do with our feeble human strength against that endless army?

“Mount your horses.”

“Your Majesty…?”

“Mount your horse, grab your spear, and let’s go fight.”

The final charge. After a seemingly pointless, almost futile, and indeed futile maneuver, the Lionheart King spoke.

“You still talk about fighting for honor and glory, it’s a lost cause!”

Despite the insolence of the remark, none of the surrounding knights had the presence of mind to point it out. Their exhausted bodies were too tired to even raise their voices.

But Leon, in a voice that encompassed them all, spoke with determination.

“For our pride.”

For that which is immortal, unyielding in the face of death.

Leon grabs both of Walter’s shoulders. It wasn’t a forceful grip, but one of encouragement and wanting to be there.

“Fight with this king on horseback to the end.”

“Your Majesty…….”

“For the Empire. For the good citizens you were supposed to protect.”

Leon’s gaze traveled to all who looked at him.

The surviving dwarves, elves… and knights. And citizens. And again──those from the future.

“Until the last spark of honor on this land is extinguished.”

A charge.

Charge once more.

Together.

It was a request, not an order, from Leon.

The first to respond was a pure white horse that approached with a steady clatter of hooves.

“Thank you, my old ally.”

Stroking her mane, Leon climbed aboard. In response, the knights each mounted their own steeds, and the horseless stood up on sturdy legs.

“Your Majesty…….”

The redheaded girl and her companions, who had come to join Beatrice, approached. Leon spoke to them from his horse.

“Watch, and remember. This is the last gallop of our time.”

Leon leads the way, determined, followed by the knights and soldiers.

“Let’s go, Stallion!”

The Lionheart King kicked Stallion’s side and let out a sharp, rumbling roar.

It was a last ditch effort, but it was not one of resignation or abandonment. It made way for the future he would leave behind.

Knowing certain defeat, the light races against the endless darkness.

“For honor.”

“”To glory…!!!””

“””For the Lionheart──!!””””

The trumpets blare as the knights gallop through the streets of the Inner City.

“……!?”

The demons panic in the face of the charging knights. The sight of cornered rats scurrying in unison is almost comical at first glance.

“Keeeeeeeeeeee!

But with a blinding light, the charging knights blinded the demons and caught them off guard.

At the moment of impact, the flesh of the demons burst open, sending black specks flying.

They are trampled under the hooves of the light horses and erased from this world.

“Waaaahhhhhhhhhh…!”

The knights roared, slashing at the demons in front of them as they broke through. The soldiers behind them crossed their spears and pierced the demons’ hearts.

High demons and Archdemons were no match for the shining charge. Small and large were irrelevant.

No one could stop it. The wedge formed by the Last Ten Thousand pierced through all the demons in the city, through the shattered gates, through the endless waves.

There has been light, waves have swept, thunderbolts have fallen and flames have burned.

All miracles were with them, all divinity was with the Grail Guardian.

They charge again and again like a mighty boulder rolling down the ridge of a crumbling mountain. Nothing seemed to be able to stop them.

And yet.

Ten million is a number that makes the impossible possible.

The seemingly unstoppable forces of light are engulfed by infinite darkness. Caracael, Lord of Wisdom, knew they had reached their limit.

[It’s almost over. I’ll finish them off]

The Lord’s finger points at the forces of light and in the next moment, a beam of doom, a thick darkness and terrible curse cuts through the Light Army, killing knights, halting their gallop.

When darkness finally overtook the light, Caracael smiled in triumph.

[This long struggle with divinity is over; it is now the age of evil]

Drunk on that triumphant miasma.

─────────────!!!!!!!

A blaring horn echoes across the battlefield. The eardrum-bashing blast draws the attention of Caracael and the demons alike to the western ridge, where a group of horses slowly emerges.

A knight on a black steed is at the forefront, staring down the evil army.

“The Lionheart King hasn’t given up yet.”

“He is the father of the Grand Duke.”

The Grand Duke of Dragonia, Karina, smirks at her lieutenant’s words.

“But who persuaded Your Excellency to change your mind?”

“A wench who left me some change from the God of Vengeance.”

“I’m going to regret this. I know it.”

As if seeing from the future, the avenger himself spoke.

“Gaspar, break through the center of the enemy! Delvoske, take the right wing and stab the flanks of the troops surrounding King Lionheart!”

The Archduke of Dragonia mounted her horse and urged her men on. The northerners, the agents of her will, cried out in a booming voice.

“Do not fear their pale darkness! For ours is the deepest darkness of this world!”

These avengers have made a pact with Ventasis, the God of Darkness and Vengeance. They have risked their souls for vengeance, and have been given the power to carry it out.

Led by the Grand Duke, who wields a magic sword forged with the power of vengeance, they charge into the dark hordes.

“For vengeance! For justice!”

“”For the Lionheart!!!””

As the dark army raced across the land, the Demons of Wisdom responded with a barrage of magic against the 30,000 Northerners.

But no amount of infernal fire raining down on their midst, no amount of poisonous fog blocking their path, could diminish their momentum.

The avengers, led by Grand Duke Karina, are not stopped by such deterrents.

Their fiery will to revenge, aided and abetted by the God of Vengeance, slowly closes the distance between them and the demons.

Spears are crossed as large demons stand in their way, and yet──

In the moment of conflict, all is swept away.

[Human bastards…….]

They are relentless.

There are only 30,000 of them. A handful of men charging in front of an army of this magnitude. What does that mean?

For honor? For pride?

The wisest man in the world cannot comprehend why these ignorant mortals, a mere speck in the universe, would cling to such fleeting values.

[You are powerless to resist this wave. What is the point of a moment’s resistance?]

‘But it’s annoying. I can’t stand it.’

Caracael’s twelve fingers pointed at the Northern army.

‘I’ll have to deal with the Grand Duke first, who has the presence of Lionheart.’

Holy Descent────

[????!!]

Just as he was organizing his tactics to snipe at a more threatening enemy force.

“I caught you off guard.”

The golden knight leapt in.

Risking everything, pushing through all the recklessness-──

[You…?!]

──And finally, against all odds.

[The others…?!]

Caracael quickly realized the cause.

The gods of this world had descended behind the Lionheart King’s brilliant polarizing light.

Arianna of Light and Justice.

Petos of War and Flame.

Demera of Life and Fertility.

Ultima of the Sky and Thunder.

Tatar of the Sun and Judgment.

Poma of the Sea and Waves.

Dinah of the Moon and Purity.

Fle of Dreams and Death.

Heto of Iron and Blacksmiths.

All at once, these myriad deities, who had to be strengthened at the Holy Knight’s expense, manifested themselves.

Their destructive power tore through the Archdemons, toppled waves of demons, and led the Lionheart King here.

[Impossible…!]

How can so many gods descend into the body of a man, with the power of a single entity?

[How…!!!]

The twelve great spells that had been directed at the Northern Army suddenly turned toward the Lionheart King but Leon’s holy sword shines against each and every one of them.

This sword shows that Leon Dragonia Lionheart was at his most powerful–indestructible, unbreakable, and──

Fiery, never extinguished───

Extreme light, infinite light that cuts through darkness.

It is the symbol of indomitable, indestructible, and undefeatable.

This glorious sword is a symbol of divinity, the pinnacle of the Holy Knights, agents of the divine.

“Death to evil, only death!”

Light erupted.

Accelerated by the power of the living demigod, the extreme light consumed evil with the heat of battle.

Even the Demon Lord Caracael, who had studied countless magics and gained wisdom, could not resist the polarizing light of all divine light.

It would not allow the vile malignancy even a moment to scream.

The light was there, and for a moment…the evil of the world was gone.