Chapter 46 - Subjugation (2)

The savage turn tore up the paving wholesale. Watching Noel plunge her hand into the ground to use it as a pivot drove home just how fast she was running.

And then they reached the outskirts of the capital, a ghost town filled with abandoned buildings. This was where Aiden had directed Noel. Just as he had requested, it was spacious and utterly deserted.

“Is this the place?!”

Noel’s question was urgent as she watched the Lord Protector charge after them like a tank. Naturally so—if they stopped for even a moment, their pursuer would be on them.

In fact, the Lord Protector charging toward them wasn’t even out of breath. Compared with Noel, who was at least sweating, she could hardly have looked fresher.

In other words, remaining completely unaffected after exchanges that drained even Noel’s stamina was clear proof that their opponent’s strength was abnormal.

And pinning someone like that down would take more than ordinary means. Aiden glanced around.

“What could you possibly have prepared here—”

“That.”

Noel’s expression twisted as she looked where he pointed.

“... Your Highness?”

The words had barely left her mouth when an enormous pillar of flame erupted, threatening to tear the sky apart and bathing their surroundings in its light. Katya had unleashed it on the spot without so much as a preparatory movement. The ease with which she produced such an attack was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine, but an even more chilling sight followed.

Despite facing divinity, which had an inherent advantage against spirits, the Lord Protector simply took the attack head-on and barreled through it. Aiden couldn’t help groaning.

“... Oof.”

“It’s not work—”

“Of course it isn’t.”

Fortunately, the attack was only supporting work for what came next. Before Noel could finish her urgent warning that it was useless—

BOOM!

BOOM!

More than a dozen pillars slammed into the ground around the Lord Protector in rapid succession.

Katya had been preparing them here in advance. Recognizing them, Noel’s eyes widened.

“... Suppression Pillars? When did you prepare those?”

“I decided I had to put them to use the moment I saw them.”

They were among the things seized after subduing the gang supplying goods to the capital on the prince’s and minister of administration’s orders. He had been planning this ever since Noel told him they had gotten everything they could, and he had checked the inventory.

“You really do squeeze every last bit of use out of everything you have.”

“...”

It felt like a peculiar compliment to receive in a situation like this, but anyway.

Noel had broken through the Suppression Pillars easily before, but this time they had deployed several times as many. Soon—

BOOOOM!

BOOOOOOM!

An air-rending roar on an entirely different scale from when they had suppressed Katya began to crush the Lord Protector.

The enchanted objects made from spirit wood resonated with one another, forming a seamless barrier. Even though its sole purpose was to pin its target in place rather than attack, it tore the air apart and sent pressure flooding out in every direction. The appalled looks on every witness’s face said it all.

“... Forget me. Even the Empire’s founder wouldn’t last trapped inside something like that.”

Aiden silently agreed with Noel’s pained assessment.

But...

‘... How the hell is she still moving?’

Aiden gave a disbelieving laugh at the thought. Even trapped inside that, the Lord Protector displayed monstrous reserves of strength, still moving her arms and legs.

Still, even so...

‘Everything’s going according to plan so far.’

Her movements were visibly slowing. However powerful she was, maintaining her full strength inside that barrier would be next to impossible.

Slower, and slower, and slower still—until finally she sank to her knees, as though even moving was too much. Which meant it was his turn now. Aiden took a deep breath and drew his sword.

The attack Meyer had taught him hardly had much range. He would have to get close, regardless. He approached within arm’s reach of the slowed Lord Protector, readying his sword. All he had to do now was use the technique he had prepared. Then he would win.

And then Aiden’s eyes met the Lord Protector’s.

—

—

—

—

—

—

—Suddenly.

Goose bumps erupted all over his body. A clear, instinctive certainty that something was wrong ran down his spine. Those eyes said she had been waiting for this. As though she had exposed a weakness to lure her fleeing enemy within reach—

‘She deliberately left herself op—’

Before Aiden could fully process that realization, the Lord Protector’s arm was already moving. Not sluggishly under the suppression, but at the same terrifying speed she had displayed all along.

“Move—!”

Someone rammed into his side. It was Katya, who had assessed the situation fastest thanks to having the most objective view from the sidelines. That was probably why he didn’t die instantly.

“—!”

Before he could properly defend himself, a sword flashed toward Aiden’s flank. It cleaved through both the divine barrier in its path and Katya, then sliced halfway into his side.

The sensation of skin and muscle splitting, the cut reaching nearly to his bones, gnawed at his nerves. As Aiden gasped emptily, seized by pain so intense that he could barely breathe, the Lord Protector was already moving into her next attack.

[“Subjects of the Empire, fear not—”]

The same stern voice as before issued from beneath her battered armor. Energy gathered as she spoke. Ferocious hostility concentrated into a single point at the tip of her sword, like a bomb on the verge of exploding.

[“For I am here.”]

The next instant, his vision went black.

▣

His consciousness buzzed. His vision was blurry, every nerve in his body tingling.

‘... This really isn’t fair.’

Aiden coughed up a clot of blood, mulling over the thought.

Copying and wielding all sorts of people’s terrifying skills had kept him from really feeling it, but fundamentally, he was an ordinary man who had stumbled into the world of superhumans. Let a single unexpected blow land at close quarters, and he was immediately on the brink of death.

No. If Katya hadn’t shielded him with her entire body, that spot would have become his grave.

-System Message

▶ A critical injury has been detected.

▶ ‘Skill: Sacred Body’ activates.

▶ Wound recovery and regeneration accelerate.

The one saving grace was that he had somehow acquired a skill that could help at a time like this. Without Katya’s innate divine power, its performance was far inferior to the original. Still, he could feel it healing him bit by bit from an injury that could easily have killed him through shock alone.

“... That... really hurts...”

Barely managing to steady himself, he leaned his entire body against some nearby structure he couldn’t identify.

What Aiden saw next was a main road, nothing like the alley where he had been just moments ago. He couldn’t even begin to guess how far that blow had sent him flying. The scenery was clearly different, at least. He couldn’t have flown an ordinary distance.

THUD!

Yet all that distance meant nothing: something landed heavily nearby. The Lord Protector. She raised her sword, pointed it at him, and advanced step by step to fight.

‘Dan... ger—’

His mind recognized it, but his body wouldn’t move. Sacred Body was healing him, but far too slowly for him to respond.

The Lord Protector reached him and raised her sword. He could almost see the image of a reaper lifting its scythe superimposed over her. But then the sword stopped dead.

“...?”

Despite his mangled body, Aiden looked up at her in bewilderment. It was odd to say so himself, but wasn’t this a perfect opportunity for her? She had no reason to back down. Why hesitate?

As he wondered that—

He saw someone slam bodily into the Lord Protector. It was a knight enveloped in pure-white energy, clear even through his blurred vision. Noel let out a thunderous shout and gestured to Katya, who had followed right behind her.

Her manner was resolute, of course, but even through Aiden’s blurry eyes, the trembling of her sword hand was unmistakable. She was clearly shaken by having to point a blade at her teacher, someone who had been like a parent to her. Yet resolve soon entered her eyes, as though she were reminding herself that her opponent was only a puppet.

“Stay back!”

With that, Noel charged the Lord Protector. The Lord Protector, who had halted her downward stroke at Aiden, seemed to recognize Noel and turned her red-lantern eyes toward her.

A seething battle cry erupted from beneath her visor. The two knights exchanged blows that seemed to overturn everything around them.

Meanwhile, Katya reached Aiden and struggled to prop him up.

“Get up, hurry! Let’s run!”

“... Run?”

“The Lionhearted can handle herself. Someone that strong isn’t going to lose!”

“...”

In theory, that was certainly true. However much the Lord Protector might be a knight on Noel’s level, she was ultimately not above her. That would have held—if the quest hadn’t made the Lord Protector stronger.

“Guh!”

Noel was forced entirely onto the defensive. The Lionhearted herself was being pushed back. Even then, attacks kept getting through, leaving her with more and more wounds. If this continued, she would lose. It didn’t take him long to reach that conclusion.

“... What’s wrong? I told you, we need to run—”

He could hear Katya urgently pressing him from outside his field of vision, but Aiden remained rooted in place, his blurry gaze sweeping his surroundings again and again.

‘A way—’

His prepared plan had gone awry. Find another. Improvise a way through. He had to find a way to win, or Noel would die.

He studied the Lord Protector. Then the place he had been leaning against moments earlier—the thing she had seen that made her stop attacking. It was a statue draped with the Empire’s flag. With the harvest festival underway, imperial flags were bound to be included among decorations everywhere. This must have been one of them.

And once he recognized exactly what it was, a switch clicked in his mind.

“...”

Realization came. He understood what he had been missing.

‘Oh.’

Aiden heaved a deep sigh. What an idiot. He couldn’t help passing that scathing judgment on himself.

‘... I never needed Suppression Pillars to subdue her in the first place.’

Considering what she was fighting for right now, it was an obvious conclusion.

“Katya.”

Taking a deep breath, he barely managed to form the words.

“Please help me.”

▣

Her breathing was ragged. Not from exhaustion. Noel’s body had been trained never to betray her will, no matter the circumstances. And yet—

CLANG!

She couldn’t remember the last time she had faced an opponent this strong. Their blades collided again, scattering sparks as both figures recoiled. Noel clamped her free hand tightly around the wrist that was now shaking outright.

Cold sweat broke out. Feelings she hadn’t experienced in battle for a long time bore down on her entire body. Anxiety. Fear.

‘... Why?’

Some of it was fear of defeat and death. But there was clearly something else mixed in. Noel simply couldn’t believe that she was fighting Teresa to the death with her own hands.

‘Even so!’

She forced those feelings aside and tightened her grip on her sword once more.

Steadying her breathing, eyes gleaming menacingly, the Lord Protector leveled her sword at Noel again. Noel responded in kind, adjusting her breathing technique to align the flow of her energy. Tension mounted to the breaking point. A chill radiated from the tips of their blades.

Then, a flash. Light from the two knights’ swords scattered in every direction—

“...?”

Noel’s eyes flew wide.

It was the only reaction she could have, unable for an instant to process the sight before her. Then horror flooded her wide eyes.

“Aiden—!”

She had just been thinking she was finally getting used to all this man’s bizarre antics. Yet she had never expected him to throw himself right between two oncoming slashes. And in that battered state, still steadfastly ignoring every instruction to flee!

Noel gritted her teeth and focused every ounce of her attention on her sword wrist. Befitting a superhuman near the pinnacle, her split-second presence of mind allowed her to redirect the slash she had already unleashed.

As the slash veered away from Aiden and drastically reduced the size of several nearby buildings, Noel hurled herself toward him without even time to think. Just because she checked her attack was no guarantee that her opponent would do the same. If she left him there, something terrible was certain to happen to him!

“Aiden, you need to move this way—!”

Paying her no heed, Aiden stayed where he was and wrapped something around himself: a flag bearing the lion, the symbol of the Empire. Even as he watched the Lord Protector’s slash hurtle toward him, he said,

“I’m sorry, Lord Protector.”

He offered that inexplicable apology and simply faced her, with nothing but the flag wrapped around him.

‘Why, what, what are you—!’

Noel’s mind went blank. She had no idea what that man was doing, but despair flooded her in an instant: it was already too late. A horrific scene flashed through her mind. Aiden, cut in two. His upper body flying through the air, spraying blood.

Indeed, the Lord Protector’s slash showed no sign of slowing. She seemed utterly unconcerned for Aiden’s safety. But then, the instant her gaze fell upon the imperial flag draped around him—

“... Huh?”

The Lord Protector stopped dead.