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Chapter 3: Operation Last Order

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They saw it clearly.

An image, that of a black hole. A black hole in the red sky, with chains of lightning moving around, buzzing and jolting.

The rift.

A Grand Rift, one that must be destroyed.

“Sigma!”

The fifteen thousand army swiftly divided itself into three.

In a three head formation akin to a Sigma, they marched onwards at a speed surpassing human limit. This superhuman army, clad in unusual armors, had no cavalry.

Their speed, however, surpassed that of a speeding horse.

Under their feet, colourful lights propelled them forward.

Mana.

With mana, they powered their Air Sliding Arte. Along with their superior physique, they seemed as though sliding through the air. Moving in unison, each step of the way.

One step, one second.

There was no rushing. Also, there was no lagging.

One step, covered twenty metres.

Another step, covered another twenty.

United, every step seemed effortless.

As though it was a normal step; each and every one.

They moved in such unison, none lagged behind.

They ran across the eerie battlefield, with rotting trees here and there, while ground filled with blood-red veins.

Bloody stench filled the area.

The nauseating stench attacked their senses, yet they shrugged it away. They had been in many battles, such stench had little effect on them.

Beasts came to greet them.

Hundreds of almost ten-metre white Yetis rushed. Following behind, thousands of lizardmen with sharp bones protruding from their body. Thousands more of horned wolves, moved to their two sides; going for encirclement.

At their back, almost a hundred twenty-metre high trolls, each holding a large stone club.

They stood before the army, as though guarding the rift above them. The biggest of the trolls stood below the rift; it was over thirty metre. The club it held, was its height.

Had it extended its club overhead; with its arm, it might reach the rift.

The Troll King.

A Grand Beast, an absolute authority among the trolls.

It glared the incoming army.

Howling, as if in anger, the trolls in front of him moved.

Slowly, yet earth-shaking.

In front of the trolls, a giant thirty-metre mammoth charged towards the army.

Still some distance away, the white Yetis were leading the beasts’ rush.

The incoming army, in solid formation and in overwhelming confidence, would instill fear in anyone. Yet these beasts had no fear, as if they could not even understand it.

Leading front of the army, was a solid line of shield bearers.

Following at the back, three lines of strong infantry units. They had their long spears to the front, in solid formation.

The Yetis neared them.

Many of them jumped, yet the army’s third line simply had to raise their spears.

Chaotic sounds.

Loud clashes of different kinds.

Blood had been spilled, guts and organs sprayed around, limbs shredded from their body.

The lines of spears were shredding whatever beasts greeting their front.

The army did not slow down.

Nearing their objective, they steadily marched on.

In the middle of the marching army, an old man marched along.

Surrounded by over twenty knights, each one of them bore eyes of conviction and strength.

The old man was giving orders as they moved.

He was General Shurran, Supreme Commander of Kharlussian Army.

The last Great General of Kharlussia.

Adored by many, respected by all. After the government of Kharlussia collapsed, he took the rein.

For four years, he had led this war against the Union and the otherworldly beasts.

This time, he led this army to destroy a Grand Rift suddenly appearing in his territory.

His plan was solid, and he had calculated the necessary danger and risk, thus he only brought this fifteen thousand into what was called the inner hive; this very location now.

BRIMM—

Suddenly, the rift hummed, loudly.

The incoming beasts all abruptly turned docile.

They went down to the ground, as if bowing down.

General Shurran had an epiphany.

“Grand-Tactical Strike. Slow down!”

The army slowed down. In fifteen different places, nineteen knights stood in three-lined hexagon formation, while soldiers channeled their mana into them.

The beasts did not deter them in any way, as if overwhelmed with fear.

Within ten minutes, it was ready.

“Aim, the rift! Attack in ten, nine,”

The knights half-kneeled, while the soldiers put forth their shield to the front in a tortoise formation, covering the front of the knights as well as all around.

Transparent mana shield, Ein Gard, appeared. Powered different colors of mana, the hexagonal shields complemented each other.

The Knights were ready.

They aimed towards the rift hovering in the sky.

The rift continued to hum, the vibration seemed to be more intense.

“...One, Attack!”

His army complied immediately; fifteen large lightning-like beams flew towards the rift.

As it reached it, it came out.

A grey hand.

A spherical shield formed around the rift. A humanoid face with fangs came out.

What followed was a loud incantation.

KARA—HASSHUU—!

Shockwave filled the entire battlefield, engulfing the army as well as the beast.

The red sky shook.

=======

“Ugh…”

A groan.

A man clad in bloodied armor slowly opened his eyes.

His mind was still in shambles, but he felt pain in his abdomen, aches from the rest of his body.

Dizzy, he closed his eyes, focusing.

...

He remembered who he was.

He was Krone Kozak, Shurran’s elite knight.

‘Right, I can’t stay immobile here.’

He focused on healing his wound, but first, he had to deal with the pain.

Soon, the pain slowly dissipated.

It was deemed an unnecessary warning, thus the owner, him, shut it off. He felt tingling and ripples around his abdominal wound, a sign that his accelerated healing had activated.

His body was slanted and leaned against the carcass of a giant Thurmusk, a mammoth-like creature with multiple tusks and armored carapaces on its shoulders.

He raised his head a little.

In his vision, a vibrant colour.

Red.

Something red in his sight, very near.

So very near that it was blurry, in fact, the red colour latched on him, on top of his armored chest. His mind still dazed, and while the colour was different, he recognized it in a second.

It was her hair.

“Ju…?”

Her hair was disheveled, some strands even laid on his cheek.

His hand touched it.

It was covered with red fluid, half-hardened. The hand moved down onto her cheek.

Cold.

“Juanna.”

His eyes opened wide. He raised his head, observing her.

Clad in white, thick carapace-like armor, she laid motionless on top of him. From her back, he could see several holes and cracks on her armor.

His other senses activated, he felt some kind of fluid on top of him.

Red, thick fluid.

A familiar nauseating smell filled his surrounding.

He shivered, breathing heavy.

Around him, he could see hundreds of his comrades; motionless, some still have limbs, but most were in parts. Accompanying them were small and large beasts; from flying monsters to those which burrowed underground.

All over on the battlefield.

An eerie battlefield.

Darkened ground with large red veins all over up until the sky.

It was a ceiling, to be precise.

An enclosed place, yet so large that accommodating several thousand beasts was nothing. The veins were weakly pulsating, as if pumping blood.

His head ached.

“What the hell happened…?”

His hands embraced the cold body of the young woman.

Still unable to move his legs, he pulled her up closer to his face. Her face was half shimmered with blood, while her hand was tightly gripping him; even when her body was already this cold.

“Damn it.”

Tears started to swell in his eyes, knowing well what she had done, even when the details eluded him.

She must have sensed it coming.

She knew how deadly it was.

He tried to recall what he last remembered.

“Operation Last Order.”

He gasped.

Krone’s memory finally retracted back to his current situation. Juanna still in his embrace, he caressed her hair. Overwhelmed, he almost stifled himself.

“Right, this is the operation.”

An operation which took two armies to work in concert.

An operation which objective was to destroy the enourmous rift for good. This kind of rift was super rare. Even throughout the twenty years war, only two others with similar size were reported.

However, the problem it posed was real.

One by one, Grand Beasts, beasts classified as “Grand” or simply S-class, kept on coming from this rift.

These humongous beasts would take a Kharlussian Army; the strongest in the world, extreme effort to take down just a few.

Each one towered over from twenty to thirty metres, with various forms.

From the agile, two-headed feline to a rampaging Tulmusk.

They had variety, yet two things made them much more dangerous than a horde of low-level beasts. First, their higher consciousness and second, them working in cohort according to a superior’s command.

They were not rampaging wildly, but followed a certain plan.

These two things were crucial. These made them so much deadlier aside from their raw strength and tough body.

General Shurran had taken all these into consideration, and decided to finish it off once and for all, before more came in from the rift.

His decision was quick, decisive.

“Did we fail?”

Krone, still lying there, tried to recall the most recent details.

The two armies marched through the mountains.

Winter had passed, yet the snow was still abundant. The rift was not visible from the sky or far away, yet one could see the concentration of dense, dark ground around a certain location.

Those with Mana Vision could see the terrible mana distortion from tens of kilometres away.

Each time a Grand Beast passed through, other sensors with acute Mana Sense would shiver from the high Mana Fluctuation.

Juanna, in his embrace, was one of them.

From these two type of sensors, Shurran’s armies gained valuable intel.

There were over thirty Grand Beasts already passed through.

The second army distracted most of these beasts while the elite first army made their way into the inner side of the rift.

Closing in, dark red veins were apparent all over the ground.

As they did, they noticed a structure; a bud-like structure almost fifty metre high. Just as intel put it, it was as if a budding flower dyed in blood.

The bud, the headquarters nicknamed it as “Hive”.

They had to do this fast, even calculating into it possible high casualties.

The reason was apparent, to avoid higher casualties later since they had to do this before the bastard third party entered the fray.

Shurran had to leave the main body of his army, to conclude the operation as fast as possible.

The main army, covering Northeast and Northwest, kept those third party in check.

Not far away from their location, was them, the Union’s army.

Several hundred thousand soldiers.

Fully armed with artillery and backed with Air Cruisers, they were on stand-by.

Any moment of weakness in General Shurran’s defensive formation, they would move in.

Land Cruisers were stationed further away as support, since they could not operate well in this mountainous region.

This army was among the many stationed around the central region, awaiting orders from their masters.

Thus, Shurran had to make sure the main body of Kharlussian army kept them in check.

The first army, under General Shurran’s personal leadership, entered the Hive.

After overcoming series of lurking predators and thousands of low-level beasts, they finally made it to the innermost enclosure.

Within, a fluctuating hole of light of various colours covered their view.

“Grand-level rift…”

For a few seconds, many stood in awe.

The very rift which had devastated their Far Eastern Fleet.

Appearing right in the middle of the sea, it continued bringing in dozens of marine Grand Beasts for five days.

The very rift which appeared in-between their Ancient Capital and Imperial Capital.

Grand Beasts came out, wreaking havoc and destruction right in the middle of the Imperial Capital.

They distracted the best Kharlussian knights while the Union marched on.

“Sigma!”

Shurran issued a loud, solid command.

His deep voice filled with mana reverberated throughout the battlefield.

Soldiers snapped back to reality.

Eyes focused, they formed a sigma formation following their respective flags.

Ten thousand elite troops of the first army, divided into two sides.

Meanwhile another five thousand formed the inner arrow-head, marching through the wide space filled with red veins. Being there was akin to being inside a monster’s stomach.

The thought crossed everyone’s mind, yet they shrugged it off.

You only live once, anyway.

Another half of the first army was outside the hive and before the innermost enclosure. They were the stop-gap for any returning beasts, preventing them from surrounding the hive.

Krone was with the General.

As per his duty, his eyes and senses were active all around, in case of any ambush. He had snow-like armor, along with a stout shield and spear on his right-hand.

He had thick yet steady Mana-Coating, an Arte which he already reached Grandmaster level.

A level none among the Knights reached before their forties or even fifties.

Vibrant light coated his armor and lances, all while he was running alongside the old general.

He had accompanied Shurran for ten years, and he thought the old man never ceased to amaze. Already seventy-five years old, the general did not fail to keep up with the young ones.

He was a fatherly figure to all remaining Kharlussian, still devoting their life to the motherland.

His presence somehow boosted the morale of the army, making them able to fight two, even three times more ferocious than normal.

The army as a whole was able to ignore tiredness, shrugged off injury and recovered from confusion at a rate any commander would kill for.

Krone observed him from his back.

His wide back, the reliable back he had been following for ten years. The years were the most gruesome years in his life, yet it was also the most memorable.

The memory, he would not trade it for anything.

===

Back to the current Krone, he was baffled.

“It was going smoothly, as planned, so what goes?"

Krone returned from his reminiscence.

If it was going so smoothly, what made them in such a state now?

He turned around.

Corpses of his fallen comrades, lower rank beasts and a few Grand Beasts that stayed within the hive were around him. These beasts were powerful, but they could not possibly deliver such a blow to the most Elite of Kharlussia.

He turned to look to his front, up in the air.

Shivering, humming rift was in his sight. Smaller than what was in his memory, with lightning coming in and out, seemingly unstable.

His memory was triggered.

“That’s right. That thing, came out.”

He remembered.

Back then, the rift was humming so loudly.

It was unprecedented.

The Grand Beasts turned docile and bowed down, as if welcoming their monarch. General Shurran had an epiphany, and he ordered a Grand-Tactical Strike to be ready. His order slowed down the march, with hundred Knights forming the formation.

They formed the skeleton of the strike, while soldiers powered the formation.

All fifteen brigades was powering up a Grand-Tactical Strike. Within ten minutes, it was ready. Due to the burden of its massive power, the knights could barely move.

“Aim: The Rift! Attack in Ten, Nine,”

The knights half-knelt, taking the most stable position for the strike. The soldiers put forth their shield to the front in a tortoise formation, activating Ein Gard, covering the front of the knights as well as all around.

The knights aimed towards the rift hovering in the sky.

The rift continued to hum, the vibration seemed to be more intense.

"Attack!"

As the count fell to one, Shurran ordered an immediate attack.

While it was still quite far for a devastating strike, he had a feeling that he ought not to wait.

It was as if his instinct was telling him; absolutely do not wait!

His army complied immediately.

Fifteen large lightning-like beams flew towards the rift. Even if it was not enough to destroy the rift, it should still weaken it considerably.

At the very least, Grand Beasts cannot pass through.

Krone’s sharp, predator-like eyes observed it closely.

A hand.

A grey, human-like hand came out from the rift, taking in the first beam.

Within the split second, a spherical shield came, protecting the rift.

The lightning beam was barely stopped. Within the next second, half of its body, a four-metre humanoid body clad in silver armor, came out. Its head passed through, with its fang protruding down onto its chin.

Its mouth moved.

Krone heard the incantation.

KARA, HASSHUU!

A booming spherical shockwave, spread all over the battlefield.

====

…

He recalled it clearly now.

At the time, he moved towards the general, activating his Arte; Ein Gard.

At the same time, the young lady moving alongside him, rushed to his front.

She activated the same defensive Arte.

She was the very same one he was embracing right now.

The cold, bloodied lady on top of him was her. Her legs were twisted, while the back of her head and forehead shattered. He could feel gooey stuff coming out of it.

He remembered what he had said before, and what the general was joking about.

“A bad omen, is it?”

He shivered.

His eyes reddened, and his stomach already stopped being so itchy, a sign his recovery was sufficient.

His heart throbbed, a tingling feeling ran throughout his body.

With tears running down his cheek, he took her face closer to him.

Tender face.

Tender, pinkish cheek.

An innocent-looking lady. With civilian clothes, one would never think she was in the army.

Looking at her closely for a moment, he finally closed their lips together. It had the iron taste of blood; she was coated with it.

A good moment passed, he reluctantly let her go.

Wiping the blood coming from her mouth and her face, he moved his legs. With extreme care, he took her over the giant Tulmusk, softly putting her on the ground behind the giant carcass.

Taking a knife from her chest, he ripped the thick fur of the Tulmusk, placing it below her head. Then he took a larger portion, using it to cover her whole.

He examined her face, his hand on her cheek before he gripped it into a fist.

Twitching and crackling sound resounded.

“Ju, wait for me.”

He stood up, examining the giant Tulmusk.

He stabbed the mana-coated knife into the beast’s elephant-like head. Digging a little more, he took out a thigh-size crystal. It was a shining, green crystal. It was a core; a Grand-level core.

A Life-Force type core, useful. He held it near. Soon, mana within it seeped into him. His injuries vibrated, ripped flesh mending. The core's mana filled him with energy.

He placed it into his spatial ring.

Wasting no more time, he jumped high onto the carcass.

The view of the battlefield filled his eyes. Mana filling his body, one of his best traits ran in full potential.

Predator’s Eyes.

Sharp eyesight with extreme ability to detect movement, temperature and vibration. As long as he focused, he could see well even from afar.

“Where? Further?”

His eyesight moved further to the front, several kilometers. Figures came into view.

“They’re still here!”

He could see several thousand people surrounding a figure.

A tall, grey figure clad in silver armor, twice taller than any tall man. Its right hand seemingly was blown off, with steam still coming out.

"What's that thing? A knight beast?"

In groups, thousands of people moved in unison.

Two was attacking from afar, two defending while three were attacking in the very front.

Several others were making sneak attacks one after another. There were several more at the back, treating those severely wounded.

It seemed they were pressuring it, yet it’s mana coating was still thick.

Thicker than any Knight Beasts or Grand Beasts able to use mana coating.

“Damn. At least ten, twenty times thicker than mine.”

He wanted to join the battle, yet his legs were lagging. They were still recovering, thus he decided to lie down to accelerate healing.

“Joining like this, I’ll just be a burden.”

He stopped his observation to conserve mana.

Directing what was left to his legs, tingling feeling waved through his spine down to his abdomen, down to his legs and feet.

He had triggered his most crucial trait; one he inherited from the core of a high-level beast.

He called it Accelerated Healing, the one trait that had saved him from near-death, several times in the past. It consumed a lot of mana, and would only focus on the most vital organs or injury when he was unconscious.

He took out a thick-metal container from his spatial ring, and drank a full mouthful.

Slowly, mana surged through his veins and his spine. His mind became clearer, and he felt his leg’s recovery hastened.

After a moment, his recovery made significant progress.

“Huh?”

His senses tingled.

He turned his eyes towards the frontline, focusing again. Krone felt the ambient energy shift, just like when the silver giant blasted the Kharlussian army.

His eyes caught sight of the fanged beast, tightly gripping its own hand.

Mana surged out.

Dread.

He had no doubt of it.

His right hand to his mouth, Krone activated his communication ring.

"Guys, take shelter!”

KARA, HASSHUU!

From his position, the shout was faint, yet his acute hearing caught it. He ducked behind the Tulmusk, covering Juanna’s body.

In a moment, booming shockwave blasted the whole battlefield for the second time.

====

Echoes were drumming the enclosed space.

The Hive’s ceiling shook, veins ripped apart, blood sprayed all around. Bodies flew as if cotton balls blown by the gust.

“What the hell? It still can do this.”

Powerful.

Such a powerful mana explosion.

He thought it was an ultimate technique, one which could only be used once in a while. Never did it cross his mind that the while was really that short.

Plunging his spear deep into the ground, he gritted his teeth while holding it with his right hands.

His head was on Tulmusk’s body, parts of it were blown away by the shockwave.

His left hand kept Juanna’s body on the ground.

GRUU, GRUUU.

Pieces of carapace-like structure fell from the ceiling. Even the hive was damaged.

“How far was that? Four, or five km? Damn,”

When he thought of his remaining comrades, he cursed.

Even he, so far away, had to face with such pressure.

Those injured nearby surely had no hope of survival.

“General, survive. God, let him survive.”

He understood.

If the general fell here, then the whole remnant of Kharlussian Army would fall apart.

Was there anyone else able to keep ten million people together, united against the onslaught of the Union? The young ones losing their fatherly figure would lose the very place to lean to.

Most of the old ones with experience and capability already left them.

It was then that he realized how valuable experience was.

He had such realization years before too. One person’s experience, ability, and influence could affect many millions.

In similar standard, the Empire’s Supreme Guardian was the same.

After he fell in battle, many lost hope. He was the Empire’s centre of gravity.

As for himself, and the rest of the Empire’s remnant, the old man was their centre of gravity.

“Survive!”

His eyes changed, sharper, feline-like.

He felt his heart thumping violently, his blood rushed throughout his body. As the shockwave stopped, he took out his spear from the ground.

Lightly patting Juanna’s cheek, he smiled bitterly.

Jumping onto the beast’s body, he focused his gaze towards the centre of the explosion.

“Where, where is he?”

His view flew through the frontline, finally resting on a tall figure.

It was ramming through a group of knights. It had lost both arms, and its mana coating was nothing like before. Obviously weakened, it however had no desire to stop.

Within the group, Krone caught sight of the one he wished to find.

“It’s targeting him!”

He rushed towards the battlefield.

His speed was beyond normal, beyond what normal soldiers could ever do.

With a tap on the ground, he slid for over two hundred metres before another foot had to tap the ground.

Sliding on the air.

Air Sliding was a basic Arte, practically all knights and almost all soldiers able to do.

He however had mastered it to such a high degree; already breaking through to the grandmaster level. With almost twenty years battle experience, he had faced situations of ‘be good at it or die’.

Such situations sped up mastery many times over.

As he slid through the air, his eyes never took off his target.

Ramming through dozens of surviving knights, the creature finally reached its target.

With a kick, it sent through a vicious shockwave, sending the few still protecting the general away.

Pieces of metal armors and shield were blown away, blood splattered.

The shockwave blew the old general over a hundred metre.

Tumbling, the old man was now alone, his knights separated.

The grey humanoid beast stopped, seemingly catching its breath.

Within seconds, metal chains came out of nowhere, flying through the air.

As if they were alive, they slid through the air, coiling around the beast’s legs, body and neck. It was the surviving knights.

They were Krone’s comrades, with similar responsibility, as advisor and protector of the general.

Thirteen knights bound it on the ground, sending destructive mana through.

The knights were injured all over, yet they refused to fall, continuously sending their energy, suppressing the beast. Its movement dulled, mana coating shaking.

It was as if it had to bear thousand tons of weight.

GRAAA!

The creature shouted.

In that short time-frame, the old general grabbed a large spear, sliding through the distance. With his momentum, he launched his most mastered Arte.

In the form of a swirling spear, it was the Piercing Drill, Arte Instana.

Powerful, heavy drill.

Coming right through the air, he avoided its armor.

It directly landed under its arm, on top of the beast’s opened rib-cage.

Ripping through it, the user twisted it in a violent motion, to further broaden the damage he had inflicted.

KHUAAA---

A loud shriek filled the air, as if it was exhaling all air within itself.

The beast finally kneeled, yet the old knight did not dare to be at ease.

He took out a knife from his chest. Plunging it right below its neck, he twisted it as much as he can before taking some distance.

He breathed out heavily.

His mana depleted, his strength expended. When he rest his knee on the ground, a loud explosion occurred.

The knife, coated with mana, exploded right on the beast’s face.

The surrounding knight pulled their chains, stretching the beast’s body. A few other knights, gaining consciousness, got ahold of their weapons.

Spears, axes, swords and knives.

Filling them with violent mana, they threw them all towards the beast.

Thud-thud-thud.

Some of the heavier weapon managed to stab into its tough body, while the lighter ones were deflected.

Even so, the humanoid beast was filled with dozens of weapons.

Its breath seemingly was weakened.

KROO---

It drew a really deep breath.

Krone, now only a few hundred metre over, felt a tingling sense of crisis. With mana, he grabbed whatever shields he managed to see on the way, and rushed his way towards the exhausted old general.

“Take cover!”

The beast raised his left leg, before uttering;

HA-KU-SHA!!

The leg plunged into the ground, shattering the surrounding.

A similar shockwave rushed through everyone around.

In the nick of time, Krone kneeled right in front of his superior, activating his defensive arte, Ein Gard.

White mana covered the four broken shields on his arms. He took in air, constricting his innards while keeping his mouth open.

At the same time, he maximized his mana coating.

A loud boom.

Within split second he received the shockwave, he could no longer felt his limbs.

His consciousness went haywire, as if he was rammed by a huge object.

“Kuh—”

He forced himself back to consciousness.

Blood was running through his forehead, ears, nose and mouth. Meanwhile, his right hand was twisted in a strange way. His left, he checked, was none.

Blood was coming out from his shoulder.

He tensed his muscle, forcibly stopping the bleeding.

He felt only little pain.

Courtesy of one of his traits, Adrenaline Rush.

“General,”

He turned around, his sight rested towards a figure on the ground.

“Sir,”

He examined his superior.

His left leg was no more, his hands were in bad shape. His head had a large injury, half his face in blood.

His breath was weak.

Evidently, he was dying.

Krone felt the urgency.

His right hand, weakened though it was, took out a potion from his spatial ring and forced it into his mouth.

Taking bandage out, he wrapped it tightly around all the bleeding parts.

“Ohh,”

Gaining consciousness, the general realized his presence.

“Sir, I’ll get you out!”

“Krone!”

His weak hand latched onto his neck, his eyes right into his young protégé’s.

“Finish, that, off. Destroy, rift,”

He pressured himself to say those words, before letting go of his breath.

It was a long exhalation.

As if he was letting all the air he had accumulated through the years.

All off in one go.

Krone trembled.

He turned silent. Grabbing the old hand, he was shivering.

All this time, he had followed the man.

He had brought him to his current level. He had shaped his worldview, he had structured his discipline, he had enriched his values.

The old man did all that, throughout these ten difficult years.

He tightened his grip, fighting his boiling emotion.

Always stay calm, that’s how judgement should be done.

Stay calm…

Stay calm…?

His words of wisdom echoed within him.

He was part of him, and now that part had left the world.

He gritted his teeth, yet soon let it loose.

He remembered his last order.

“Sir, yes Sir!”

He grabbed the general’s spear.

A large spear, even with tips half-broken. On his hand, he felt its majesty. His mana spread around it, and within it, flowing within its own veins.

Truly, a top-quality spear.

A spear which accompanied the legendary general. Now an Immortal Hero of Kharlussia.

…

His forced his right hand to twist, forcibly straightened it back to normal.

He moved right and left, trying to familiarize himself with having no left hand.

“Alright.”

His gaze turned to the distance.

The grey humanoid beast.

It had no name, at least not to their knowledge. It was a newly discovered entity. This entity obviously had superior consciousness, since it clearly targeted the general; being the leader of the fray.

“You took so many of us by yourself.”

He muttered.

He forced himself to stay calm, yet his blood boiled. He circulated his mana within his body.

He wanted to rush, yet he knew he stood no chance by being hasty.

“You took away my beloved, you took away my comrades…”

His gaze became a stare.

His eyes seemingly changed yet again. The armless creature, finishing off the last surviving knight on the ground, noticed his intent. With its left feet seemingly broken, its stand thus unstable, yet its fighting spirit flared as their eyes met.

Finally stabilizing his mana, Krone walked towards it.

“Now, you took away the one man I would even call father…”

His stare became sharp.

It was as if the whole place became nothing to him, with only the creature in his sight.

He swung the spear on his hand.

With one hand, it was a little difficult to use, yet he did not mind.

He took a knife from his waist.

A military-grade knife, the one he took from his beloved. He placed the knife’s handle in-between his teeth. It’s blade towards his right.

“This is war. So I’m not blaming you.”

The two weapons on him, he steadied his pace.

In his mind, he steeled himself for what was to come.

The spear was his mentor’s. Also his father’s.

The knife was his closest friend’s. Also his beloved’s.

This knife, and this spear, both will take down this creature.

“Not blaming you. Yet I’ll have you pay for all your deeds.”

No other way around it.

Absolutely, a must. No other option.

“Even if my soul had to shatter…!”

That was his intent.

Their eyes locked with each other. Being a creature of battle, the sheer intent explained it all.

With no one else, no other interference.

It was akin to a duel.

A duel.

One human, One beast.

A duel to the death.

“Come, my mortal enemy. I’ll let you share my pain.”

He slid through the air, and the beast did the same.

URAAAAH!

In this now desolate place, a single war-cry opened the duel.

A duel, no human witnessing.

==== Chapter 3 End ====