Resonance

Arad surveyed the battlefield leisurely.

The 13 Lords’ Magus were gently pressuring the Holy Kingdom.

Though Bartheau countered at the front with Magus Arts, the situation showed no signs of improving.

Though the Holy Kingdom looked overwhelmingly disadvantaged, Arad still hadn’t withdrawn his hand from the sword hilt.

“You would have anticipated this degree of power difference from the start, Bartheau.”

He’d judged that Bartheau blocking him alone meant there was some reason. And the moment the 13 Lords tangled chaotically with the Holy Kingdom, as expected, Bartheau drew out something he’d been hiding.

It was a shield split in half.

A worthless object that even antique shops wouldn’t handle.

The moment the 13 Lords were about to rush at Bartheau with derisive snorts, Arad shouted.

“Fall back!”

Bartheau floated the shield before his eyes and thought.

‘As expected, that bastard is special.’

Even Magus renowned throughout the world hadn’t sensed danger from the shield.

No, even the Holy Kingdom’s priests wouldn’t know this shield’s true value.

Because this was an old Holy Kingdom treasure that could only activate with Bartheau’s special Magus Arts.

Arad had seen through it.

But it was too late.

This great sacred relic exerted power the moment it was witnessed.

“O my noble God to be worshipped on high!”

When Bartheau spread both arms wide, densely concentrated mana burst out and was absorbed into the shield.

Amplification.

Bartheau was born with Amplification Magus Arts that infinitely increased mana.

This had the characteristic of not remaining inside the caster’s body but all escaping outside to bulk up.

However, the drawback was that he couldn’t do anything else with the expanded mana.

Simply sending out mana to increase its size was all Amplification could do.

But Magus Arts full of drawbacks combined with the Holy Kingdom’s old treasure evolved into incomparable advantages.

Grun.

The divine shield made from the same mineral as Altier.

If Altier possessed power to imprison demons, Grun had the unique property of reflecting demons’ power.

But unlike Altier, Grun had merely been enshrined underground in the Sacred Emperor’s Temple for a long time.

Because to activate Grun required ten Arishas’ worth of mana concentrated in an instant.

Naturally an impossible task.

Until Bartheau became Sacred Emperor.

Whoooong!

The shield absorbed Bartheau’s mana and shed its hard shell.

When the shield split in half exuded silver luster, all the world’s light was facing forward.

Grun repelled everything.

Even if it was the light cast upon this place.

“Owen!”

The 13 Lords also sensed something ominous and immediately put Owen forward.

Owen’s reflection membrane condensed to the shield’s size.

It was confidence that whatever burst out from Grun would be reflected as is.

Bartheau grinned coldly.

Endlessly expanding mana gathered in Grun.

Mighty power that would sweep away even Rakis’s imperial castle in one blow burst forth.

Not power an individual’s Magus Arts could block.

This was a crystallization of pure power that erased everything in the world.

Swoooosh-!

Massive mana that would soar to the sky poured from Grun.

Only then did Owen and the 13 Lords’ complexions turn pale.

By the time they understood Grun’s characteristic, Rakis was already being dyed in radiance.

“How sly.”

Then, a faint amber sword stroke split the radiance. Even so Grun didn’t lose momentum, but Bartheau’s smile completely vanished.

‘What?’

After the radiance split, the carved amber spread widely.

The world filled with Grun’s waves became bright yellow.

Even the radiance that had been pressuring Rakis was dyed in yellow light and fixed in place.

“Why didn’t you bring out such an interesting thing before?”

Bartheau’s eyes widened.

The bright yellow world began subsiding as if paying homage to Arad.

The yellow that fell like rain settled into the earth and altered the soil.

Eventually the yellow light extracted from the soil condensed like water droplets and surged before Arad.

“Though, you should have matched brute force against Chris, not me.”

When Arad snapped his fingers, the bright yellow droplet shot toward Grun.

Bang!

A hole pierced the silver shield’s exact center.

The droplet didn’t stop at merely penetrating Grun but crossed through Holy Kingdom forces. And the moment the droplet burst in the middle of the forces, the condensed mana scattered and swept away the surroundings.

KABOOOM!

In an instant, half the Holy Kingdom’s main force was annihilated.

Bartheau couldn’t open his mouth.

The power emanating from Grun transformed at Arad’s will, then the shield that reflected everything was penetrated.

Who could believe it would be resolved so futilely easily?

“That… that is…”

It wasn’t as if the 13 Lords had grown up directly watching Arad’s battles either.

Those who became 13 Lords after Arad became emperor were seeing this bizarre spectacle for the first time today.

Only the previous generation marquis who’d watched Arad since childhood was roughly observing that incomprehensible power.

“That is not Magus Arts.”

“…?”

“But His Majesty said this.”

The marquis recalled the day he first saw that unfamiliar power.

“All power has hierarchy, and I merely established superiority.”

“What does that mean?”

“He said primordial times contain power we cannot even imagine.”

The marquis chuckled while watching Arad walk toward Bartheau.

“Hasn’t the Rakis imperial family researched the world’s beginning for a long time? He must have found some special answer there.”

Words Arad had said with the marquis and Mardo beside him still weren’t forgotten.

“Do you lords believe in the special power dwelling in all life?”

There was no need to understand what that meant now and question it.

Because Rakis under Arad’s rule had been invincible throughout history, only the fact that foundations for a thousand-year nation were established mattered.

Arad approached Bartheau with a smile showing confidence.

“Did you think you could stop this emperor by believing in a shield fragment with petty tricks unsuited to that crude ability?”

“Arad!”

Bartheau activated Amplification Magus Arts, but the mana burst out as soon as it formed in empty air. The mana was refusing Bartheau’s control.

‘What on earth is this…’

The mana felt like a living creature.

As if it had taken fright of Arad, even Magus Arts wouldn’t activate.

“No need to be ashamed. You were just one among those ordinary people cut by me. You simply weren’t born with a Holy Emperor’s qualifications from the start.”

Bartheau broke into cold sweat.

Unable to activate Magus Arts, he was merely a powerless old man.

‘I must somehow inform Arisha of Arad’s bizarre appearance.’

The thought that Grun would be enough had been arrogance.

Should he have brought even Altier?

How could he have guessed that Arad possessed power to casually ‘dominate’ mana that even the 13 Lords’ Magus couldn’t handle?

But no opportunity was given to correct mistakes.

“My old friend, the sharpest dagger must be drawn at a perfect moment like now. And I don’t leave alive those who’ve grasped the dagger. Information is most important in war, so how could I leave survivors?”

Arad’s eyes rippled with deep amber.

“Thank you for alleviating boredom all this time.”

Bartheau felt his body stiffening rigidly.

A sharp sword swept over the aged neck that had stopped in attention posture with no recourse.

Stab!

As Bartiu’s head fell futilely, the 13 Lords approached in surprise.

“Your Majesty! If you’d taken him hostage, you could have made the Holy Kingdom retreat!”

“To unify the world, Rakis must kill them all sooner or later anyway. Hostages are meaningless in this war.”

Arad brushed blood from his sword and grinned.

“Execute all Holy Kingdom forces.”

And it was around when the 13 Lords were deployed to the battlefield’s center where Rakis and the Holy Kingdom clashed fiercely.

Arad suddenly turned his head.

A pillar of light massive enough to erase the smile draped on his lips was bursting out near Rakis’s border.

“…!”

Arad’s eyes widened.

Because he saw countless somethings entangled in the light.

“How could there be so many souls…”

The 13 Lords who’d been organizing Holy Kingdom soldiers were the same.

They got goosebumps at the untimely vast power.

The time the light remained didn’t take long.

But Arad was silent at the lingering resonance.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

The marquis who’d organized the situation rushed to Arad.

“Isn’t that place the border Duke Chris is defending?”

“…”

“What has happened…”

Arad raised his hand and cut off the marquis’s words.

“We must withdraw all forces to the imperial capital.”

“What?”

“To think I’d feel such an overwhelming soul in my lifetime!”

When Arad grinned coldly, the marquis felt eerie dread.

He felt chilling fear from Arad as if a blade touched his heart.

“Who is it? No, did the Holy Kingdom have another treasure? I cannot know. This war has too many variables! Kuhahahahahaha!”

After bursting into mad laughter, he suddenly wore an indifferent expression and commanded the marquis.

“Withdraw all forces as soon as organization finishes. The 13 Lords should head to the border region to confirm what situation occurred, then return to the imperial capital.”

“Then what becomes of the plan to head into enemy territory as is?”

Arad curled up the corner of his mouth.

“Now is not the time to concern ourselves elsewhere. We must do something about that first. Otherwise everyone dies.”

This was the first time seeing Arad with so little composure.

The power the light had emitted certainly made the 13 Lords fearful for one moment.

But they hadn’t felt anything more than that.

What on earth had Arad seen in the light?

“That is something that shouldn’t exist in the world…”

Arad gazed endlessly at the border where light had vanished while flowing out a voice filled with trembling.

Arisha was looking down at Pernok in the barracks.

Pernok, who’d fainted after emitting such sacred radiance, still hadn’t awakened.

Though all treatment was finished and even bodily wounds had healed, Pernok still had his eyes closed.

But why did an unfamiliar person’s face seem to overlap with sleeping Pernok?

Arisha blinked.

Grayish energy was seeping into Pernok’s body.

Countless memories surfaced.

Moments lived seeing and hearing in the lower realm and Netherworld bloomed like bubbles then burst out.

At the end, cold memories remained.

Days lived as a prince of one nation.

Lingering attachment he’d wanted to forget but could never erase.

“Ahh…”

Pernok finally realized why he wandered the sea of memories.

The stimulated soul was injecting memories and spiritual power into the body to transform into the appearance of his prime.

Complete synchronization.

The final evolution awakened the moment synchronization rate exceeded 90 percent.

The moment he fully reminisced his past self within this nightmare-like memories.

Pernok’s frail body struggling with synchronization rate would shatter shell and all, reborn as his past peerless body.

That was the soul finding the proper place where it should be.

Perhaps it could be called the completion of flesh.

“…Supreme…”

Memories flowed in.

“…General…!”

Very naturally, as if engraved in flesh.

“Supreme General!”

He opened his eyes containing the memories that had seeped in.

In one corner under a shaded tree, a woman with a fresh expression was frowning.

“What time do you think it is now, taking a nap here?”

“Did something happen?”

“Oh really! The tribal chiefs’ meeting is about to convene!”

“Meeting…”

“Didn’t His Majesty tell you a month ago about discussing Barganta’s founding?”

“Ah… that’s right.”

“I brought clothes and your sword! Prepare right now and come! If you’re late again this time, His Majesty will be greatly angry!”

When he nodded indifferently, the woman held out the sword and clothes and went down to the castle.

“Barganta…”

He rose while murmuring the name full of attachment.

He wore clothes symbolizing the Supreme General and fastened the black sword at his waist.

One character was carved on the scabbard.

Peerless (無雙)

A title all the people revered and worshipped on high for a nation’s blade that had never lost in a single battle.

The Undefeated War God, Kaid, slowly moved his steps toward the castle where the king and tribal chiefs gathered.