Burning Empire.
Everywhere, the stench of blood and the horrific sounds of screams dominated the area.
The hospitals of the Empire were filled to capacity with the injured.
In this makeshift medical tent, Iris wiped the sweat that had gathered on her forehead with her hand.
“Aaaah!! Save me!!”
“Saintess..!! Bring the Saintess!!”
“Huh… Ugh.. It hurts..”
The dreadful sounds coming from all around made Iris even more anxious.
“Please, just hold on a little longer!”
“Urgh…!!”
A man lay there, a huge gash on his body as if he had been clawed by a beast.
As Iris placed her hands on him, a bright white light shone, and his wounds began to heal slowly.
A few minutes passed, and the man started to breathe steadily again. Confirming he was safe, Iris took a moment to calm her dizzy mind with a sigh.
But that moment was very brief.
“Saintess! This patient over here is critical!”
A priest called out to the saintess with a desperate expression.
Iris tightly closed her eyes for a moment and sprang to her feet.
How long had it been since this endless hell began?
The number of people who could provide healing was few, and the flood of injured people was countless.
Iris was about to run over to the priest when someone grabbed her hand, stopping her in her tracks.
“S-Saintess! My husband is in so much pain… please help him..!”
A middle-aged woman clutched her own clothes with a desperate look on her face.
Iris replied with a troubled expression, “Please wait a moment, I’ll get to him shortly..!”
But despite Iris’s words, the middle-aged woman wouldn’t let go of her hand.
“Can’t you see my husband first? He’s really about to die right now!”
“U-others are taking care of-”
“The priests are doing nothing!”
“Saintess! You need to hurry!”
It was a situation where every second counted.
But the middle-aged woman had no intention of releasing Iris.
People around who had been waiting their turn also approached, grabbing at Iris’s clothes.
“Saintess! Don’t ignore us! My wife is bleeding out over here!”
“When is it my father’s turn? You keep saying he’ll be helped soon!”
“Hey! I’ll pay anything, just treat my son first! I may not look it, but I’m a baron-”
Desperate pleas for help echoed from all sides.
But with only one Iris, she had no choice but to utter disappointing words again.
“I’m so sorry..! Just a little longer, please-”
“How long do you expect us to wait?! Can’t you see my husband is dying?!”
The middle-aged woman furiously shouted at Iris.
Before she could say anything more, a knight approached them and spoke in a stern voice.
“If you disrespect the Saintess any further, you will be removed from this place.”
“……”
The knight’s imposing figure caused the crowd to quiet down.
They all returned to their families with sour expressions.
“Let’s hurry, Saintess.”
“…Yes. Thank you, Knight.”
After thanking the knight, Iris suppressed the pounding in her heart as best as she could and rushed to the priest to resume her treatment.
For the patients who screamed in agony, for the priests taking care of them, and for the saintess Iris, it was an unbearably long and grueling dawn.
*
Imperial Palace of the Empire.
This place, which seemed impossible to breach with its powerful barriers and strict guards, was ablaze.
“Stop them! We must protect His Majesty!”
Soldiers clad in armor adorned with red and gold drawn their weapons and charged towards the Dark Knight before them.
“It’s useless.”
Yet despite their fierce determination, a single swing of the ebony-armored figure’s sword was enough to end their lives effortlessly.
The Dark Knight readied his sword again and stepped into the palace’s interior.
Having arrived at the audience chamber, he stared at the Emperor sitting on the throne.
“To think the Emperor sits idly by while his people burn. Pathetic.”
“How dare you, Demon race, come here!”
The Emperor gritted his teeth, glaring at the knight, but due to the dark helmet that concealed the knight’s features, he couldn’t see his eyes.
“It’s time to spill blood in this world again, oh king of humans.”
With that brief remark, the Dark Knight advanced his sword towards the Emperor’s throne.
“Now!”
In that moment, several knights rushed towards him, unleashing their mana-imbued strikes.
These were the Emperor’s elite guard, all of them capable of expert-level combat.
Each knight held a strength that commanded respect and had set aside their dignity as knights to charge in unison, yet the Dark Knight blocked their attacks with ease.
“Weak.”
Following quickly on the heels of that statement, the Dark Knight retaliated.
With a single swing of his sword, ominous and dark mana surged around him, devouring the soldiers without a trace.
With no more obstacles in his way, the Dark Knight approached the throne and aimed his sword at the Emperor’s neck.
“What are your last words?”
“…Though you take my life, my Empire will not fall to a wretch like you.”
The Emperor gazed at the Dark Knight with burning eyes.
His gaze reflected both the anger over failing to protect the Empire and the despair of dying so futilely.
“Good words. I’ll take back what I said about you being pathetic.”
With that final remark, the Dark Knight swung his sword towards the Emperor’s neck.
The massive sun of the Empire would lose its light that day, never to return.
.
.
.
After a brief passage of time.
As the Dark Knight sat silently on the throne stained with the King’s blood, a bat-winged demon swiftly flew in and knelt before him.
“What’s the situation?”
“The human’s resistance is quite strong, but it won’t last long.”
Nodding at the demon’s words, the Dark Knight Tyrus muttered while gazing blankly at the throne before him.
“It would have been nice if the Demon King were here.”
The only one to whom he pledged his loyalty.
Undeniably brutal and cruel, yet still more important to him than anyone else in the world.
His savior from the extraordinarily wicked humans.
Everything Tyrus did was solely for the sake of the Demon King.
“What about the Elves and Beastmen?”
“The Elves are holed up in the forest and refuse to come out. The Beastmen are paying no attention to the Empire.”
Satisfactory with the demon’s report, Tyrus nodded.
“Today will mark the fall of the Empire.”
“It’s a beautiful day.”
The bat-like demon grinned widely, exhibiting a wicked smile.
Tyrus slowly rose from the throne and ordered him, “Go prepare for any unexpected situations. I will join you shortly.”
The demon, who had been laughing grotesquely, bowed in respect to Tyrus’s words.
“Yes, I will take my leave now-”
Shred-
The sound of something tearing cut off the demon’s words.
The demon’s body split in two, collapsing weakly to the ground.
A figure emerged from behind the split demon.
A monster with golden eyes, Athena, looked down playfully at Tyrus.
“Ding-ding. It’s your loss.”
“What?!”
Caught completely off guard by the unexpected appearance, Tyrus leaped from his throne in shock.
‘…Has she already slain the dragon?‘
It couldn’t be possible.
Dragons are forces of nature, masters of mana, and omniscient beings.
No matter how strong that monster is, she couldn’t have caught one so easily.
As Tyrus was thrown into a panic, Athena pulled something from her bosom and presented it to him.
“Thanks to you, I got this. Pretty, right?”
In her hand was a large horn shining with a brilliant blue light.
The horn exuded a beauty more exquisite than any gem.
“Did you kill the dragon?”
In response to Tyrus’s question, Athena shrugged nonchalantly.
“No? I didn’t kill the dragon. I just took the horn. I didn’t want to annoy Mother Nature by killing it.”
“….. You planned this from the start.”
Tyrus lamented internally.
From the beginning, she had no intention of engaging the dragon in a proper fight.
Of course, bringing back the horn inflicted considerable damage on the dragon, but had she fought to the very end, she wouldn’t have arrived here so quickly.
Besides, she showed up immediately after he had killed the Emperor.
Such a coincidental timing felt almost too precise.
“Are you aiming for the Emperor’s seat?”
“Pfft. What does that even mean? It was just a coincidence.”
Tyrus frowned inside his helmet at Athena’s carefree words.
‘… This is ridiculous.‘
Even in a situation so blatantly clear, she shamelessly lied.
A demon who invaded the palace and killed the Emperor. But then, like a shooting star, she showed up to take him down and save the Empire.
It was painfully obvious who the people would idolize.
“Well, since I lost the bet, I guess you have no qualms about dying at my hands?”
With a broad smile, Athena extended her hand, revealing a golden sword.
“…. It won’t be easy.”
As Athena gripped the sword and slowly approached, Tyrus likewise drew his sword and got into position.
“I’ve heard you’re as strong as the Demon King.”
Tyrus kicked off the ground, appearing right before Tyrus in an instant.
“But that doesn’t mean you are the Demon King, right?”
After finishing her short sentence, Athena’s sword surged towards Tyrus’s neck like a flash.
Anticipating the ambush, Tyrus raised his sword quickly, barely managing to block the attack.
Clang-!
When their swords met, flames erupted like sunlight around them, and with a tremendous shock, Tyrus lost his balance.
Before he could catch his breath, a torrent of magic fired straight at him from the front.
Three blazing flames surged at Tyrus, aiming to erase him completely.
Athena had naturally expected him to dodge.
But the Dark Knight inhaled deeply, bracing himself for the incoming flames and taking them head-on.
“Gah!”
The intense heat seared through him as Tyrus let out a faint groan, yet he quickly regained his composure, gripping his sword with both hands.
As the astonished look grew in Athena’s eyes, Tyrus seized the moment and swiftly swung his sword towards her.
In that decisive moment, Tyrus succeeded in striking at Athena’s neck.
However, disappointingly, the result was merely a slight scratch.
Boom-!
Feeling a tremendous impact from his body, Tyrus was sent crashing backward.
“… Not bad.”
Athena wiped the blood trickling down her cheek and gazed down at the knight.
“Don’t you want to die peacefully? I can ensure you won’t feel any pain.”
“… Not yet.”
Ignoring Athena’s words, the Dark Knight gathered his will.
Ominous black mana swirling around him formed large wings resembling a dragon’s behind his back.
An imposing figure, reminiscent of the Demon King, emerged.
Yet even so, Athena merely maintained a relaxed expression.
“Ardiete.”
With the utterance of that brief phrase, white flames enveloped Athena, engulfing her in a blaze of intense fire.
From afar, one might mistake her for a single sun blazing in the sky.
Despite her body burning fiercely and emitting ominous flames, Athena stared expressionlessly at Tyrus and gave a slight nod.
“I’ll let you have the first move.”
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