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Side Story Chapter 312

“Yes! All of the imperial knights have arrived except for those knights who are on a different mission!”

The unit was composed of the Imperial Knights of Avalon, led by Cain, who wasn’t fully healed yet. They had laid low in the basements of various buildings, disguised as civilians, until it was time to rendezvous.

“We’re here too.”

Cazes and Valmont arrived a little later.

Cain’s eyes gleamed. “How did it go in the palace?”

“Prince Kireua and Prince Selim, Sir Viper, and the Black Knights stayed behind.”

“…Do you think they’ll be okay?” Cain asked, concerned.

Selim, Kireua, and the others were only facing one person, so the question might be seen as an insult to them. However, it was only natural for Cain to be worried because they weren’t dealing with any ordinary enemy. They were dealing with Bel…

“They’re His Majesty’s sons,” Cazes firmly said.

Cain nodded in agreement. Yes, he had to trust them. Besides, he and the others didn’t have the time to worry about other people because they had a difficult mission of their own to carry out.

“Hubalt’s stationed all of their troops to protect the four gates,” Cazes reported. “They didn’t expect the Magic Tower to participate in the war, so they must have changed their tactics. They’ll be preparing for a siege.”

“That was why we were able to rendezvous so easily, so I guess that’s one silver lining,” Cain added.

None of this would have been possible without Icarus. She had gone through the trouble of constructing basements throughout the city just for this moment, despite the shortage of manpower during the restoration of Arcadia.

“...But it would be problematic if Bel regrouped with Hubalt\'s forces earlier than planned,” Valmont said. “If he manages to escape the palace and comes after us…”

“…Like I said earlier, the princes are the rightful heirs of His Majesty. Trust that they will hold..”

Cain, Cazes, and Valmont briefly looked toward the palace.

“Now, we have our own mission to worry about. If we fail to open the west gates, it’s safe to say Avalon will lose the war.”

“Hehehe, I can already imagine the enemy running around in panic.”

Cain’s crystal ball turned blue. “That’s the signal from Queen Consort Iceline. Let’s go.”

“There are a little over one thousand of us, and we have to get through twenty thousand people at the west gate…” Valmont snickered. “I can already feel my blood boiling.”

Cazes clenched his fists. “While we’re at it, let’s be as loud as possible to cause more panic.”

One after another, the Imperial Knights climbed up a ladder which led to one of the fanciest mansions in Arcadia. The mansion, owned by Charles’s Pontier Merchant Group, was only around a hundred meters away from the west gates.

“Is everyone out of the tunnel?”

“Yes, sir!”

“The moment you get out of the mansion, scream as loudly as possible so that our people outside can break the siege sooner!”

“Understood, sir!” the Imperial Knights shouted at the top of their lungs.

“Let’s go!”

The Imperial Knights rushed out of the mansion and let out “panicked” screams.

“Wh-What?!”

“Th-The enemy! The enemy is inside the city!”

Hubalt\'s forces had been calmly firing arrows at Avalon\'s forces as they were slowly approaching the city—the screams immediately put them into a panic. At the same time, the troops led by Iruca initiated their attack.

“Mages! Please start your first wave of attacks!”

“Tornado!”

“Flare!”

“Wind Cannon!”

A dazzling barrage of spells rained down on the west gate. Hubalt\'s forces screamed as they dodged the attacks.

“Get to your assigned positions and charge, everyone! Our first priority is to take control of the gate winch!”

In response, one thousand three hundred Imperial Knights rushed into battle with a thunderous battle cry.

*

The Shining Darkness hadn’t been welcomed in either the Angel and Demon Realms because the overwhelming power he had been born with stirred up everyone’s envy. After the Demon Spirit’s betrayal, the Shining Darkness had met his demise. That was the story known to the people of the Angel and Demon realms.

“After losing his soul, the Shining Darkness’s body became an empty shell; it ended up in the bottommost dimensional rift, called the Gray Zone or the Great Battlefield of Angels and Demons,” Bel went on.

“...A shell?”

“Annihilating a god isn’t easy. Your father had to trap himself in an ice boulder to annihilate the Demon Spirit, so there’s no way the body of the Shining Darkness, whom even the Demon Spirit feared, would be destroyed that easily.” Bel spun his spear. “I thought a weapon was cumbersome, but this is pretty good, actually. It’s like a part of myself. ”

Kireua gasped. “Wait, are you telling me that you took the Shining Darkness’s body? How is that possible?!”

“It’s not like it hasn’t been done before.”

“What?”

“Aden von Agnus and Marcus ben Britten gained power by becoming the Demon Spirit’s Fragments. And there’s the Angel’s Spirit\'s heir somewhere in this realm.”

Kireua\'s eyes widened. “A Fragment? Wasn’t that a term for an authority that was chipped off of a god’s soul?”

“It’s just a term of convenience. Simply put, we call everything that was chipped off of the gods ‘Fragments’.”

After playing with his spear for a while, Bel slammed the butt on the ground.

“But such Fragments can only come from gods like the Demon and Angel Spirits because they’re so supreme that annihilating them is a tremendous feat. The Shining Darkness was every bit their equal—no, he was superior to them. He was even harder to destroy.”

“Then you are…” Kireua asked back blankly.

Bel grinned. “Yes, there’s no way a genius like me showed up out of nowhere. The Shining Darkness was called the Chaos Spirit in both realms, so it would be safe to say that I’m the Chaos Spirit’s Fragment.”

Kireua and Selim trembled with horrified disbelief. Dragons were considered the strongest creatures in the realm, but with the Shining Darkness’s body, Bel could drive the entire race of dragons to the verge of extinction without any weapons, even though he was still a human like them.

And now he was armed.

“This is actually a spear made from the dragon lord’s bones.”

Bel fired an aura strike at Selim, releasing sparks.

Selim gasped and instinctively held up Longin to block the strike.

Selim was flung into a wall with a deafening boom, and an unsettling crack.

“Selim!”

“Because of the Demon Spirit, your father is too busy traveling from body to body to even recognize his Fragment. But I’m going to claim his soul and become the sole god of this world,” Bel continued, revealing why he didn’t care about the Human Realm’s collapse.

*

After all of the available forces had headed to the west gate, the area near the south gate was quiet. The very terrain was different now, resembling the antarctic region where the snowy mountain in north Avalon was. A snowstorm raged, centered around a huge ice boulder.

-…You’re the Angel Spirit’s Fragment.

“You noticed that long ago, didn’t you?” Arash answered with a smile. Her eyes were fixed on the ice boulder.

-Somewhat. If the Human Realm’s collapse was caused by the imbalance of light and darkness, it should have been ruined right after the Angel Spirit’s death.

“Then you must know the only way to save the Human Realm.”

When she received no response, Arash smiled bitterly. There were actually two ways to save the Human Realm. Since the collapse was caused by Joshua annihilating the Demon Spirit, the world would be safe if the Angel and Demon Spirits were saved. The other way was to erase all traces of both Spirits from the world and find a new Spirit to balance the realm. However, the answer was already decided.

“You’re the Human Realm’s only hope,” Arash continued.

Once again, Joshua didn’t answer because he knew exactly what his answer would start.

“Your Majesty.” Arash turned to Anna.

“H-huh?” Anna stammered. She’d thought Arash was just talking to herself.

“I’ll trust you with the empire.”

Anna\'s eyes widened. “Wh-What?! Why do you suddenly sound like you’re saying goodbye—”

“It is a goodbye.”

“…What?”

“This has been my destiny from the beginning.”

Anna was quick-witted, so everything immediately fell into place.

“Hey! You asked me to build a new Swallow with you!”

“A new Swallow can only exist when there is ground to build the new country on.”

“…Stop. This is… too sad.” Anna was unable to meet Arash’s eyes.

Arash smiled once again. “I’ve spent my entire life being someone else’s puppet; my life has been nothing but gray.”

Anna choked up. “I told you to stop.”

“But you’re here now. A reliable empress. I can have hope even if I don’t play my role as a puppet anymore.”

“Seriously…!”

“Besides, a real member of the Imperial Family came back, so it’s only right for the fake to step off the stage,” Arash gently said.

The area fell into a solemn silence. Although no one from Avalon had met Arash before, Anna was already quite attached to her. She was bawling.

“Look up, Your Majesty. I’m proud of the life I lived as Arash bel Grace.” Arash’s voice—no, her entire being faded away. “Let’s talk about the rest after the defrosting. It looks like I have a little time left.”

-Okay.

Arash beamed contently. “Farewell, Your Majesty.”

“Hey, Arash! Hold on! Wait!”

Before Anna could say anything, Arash turned into a ray of light and was absorbed into the ice boulder. The area fell silent once again. Anna couldn’t bear her emotions and left.

After some time, Joshua\'s eyes opened.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

Shortly after, the seemingly indestructible ice boulder was obliterated.