Episode 155
Just before the messenger fled from the main forces led by the Seventh Prince, Mordred.
When the elite Crusader forces, composed of the empire’s most powerful lords and their formidable warriors, reached the first fortress.
A young boy stood alone at the entrance to greet them, his eyes wrapped in black bandages.
But the fact that he was just a boy was no reason to let their guard down. Mordred’s Iron Cross cavalry prepared to charge, and the mages accelerated their circles in unison.
Facing the empire’s proud army, the boy spoke softly.
The progenitor of Saxon, the undying Duke Frederick.
And at the pinnacle of the Shadow Tower in the deepest darkness of the demon realm, as the ‘Eldritch.’
“Supreme Necromancy: ‘Celestial Watcher.’”
At that moment, from the heavens above, a god began to gaze down upon them.
Through the rift in the sky, a massive single eye blinked, observing them.
And this god had countless tentacles.
A god who did not love humans.
The tentacles slipped down through the rift.
The forces led by the ‘Black Prince’ of Saxon were as follows:
The Black Cavalry, composed of the battlefield destroyers known as the Night Raven Knights, boasted by the Saxon ducal house.
The black mages under the Black Duke.
And the Black Armor Company, existing solely for Dale, with a hundred heavily armored infantrymen clad in artifact armor, serving as Dale’s personal guard.
Additionally, the York family, who had formed a secret alliance with Dale, and their proud Blue Rose Knights, along with the northern lords loyal to Saxon, were no exception.
As Dale received the report from Mordred’s messenger and urgently turned his forces toward the first fortress.
Beyond the horizon of darkness and cold, another force appeared.
Heading toward the fourth fortress, where the ‘Black Prince’ and his forces were stationed.
The shadows in the distance gradually approached, revealing the Templar Knights, clad in white surcoats with blood-red crosses, claiming the church’s banner.
And the Rose Cross Knights of Lancaster, bearing the emblem of white and red roses.
This was the church-led division among the four Crusader forces.
Initially, it was thought they were joining Dale’s forces after hearing the messenger’s report.
But when the white magic of the white mages began to swirl, and the ‘Hymn of War’ echoed, overlaying the darkness and cold of the demon realm with the imagined paradise of the seventh-circle white mage, Borenius.
“Prepare for battle immediately.”
Dale shouted without a moment’s hesitation.
“Battle readiness, sir?”
Sir Yones, standing beside Dale, asked in confusion.
“But those are Crusader forces…”
“Yes, they’re conducting their own holy war.”
“No way.”
Sir Yones swallowed hard in disbelief.
“Form a defensive line quickly, and tell them to hold on tight if they don’t want to die.”
Without hesitation, Sir Yones shouted.
“Establish a cavalry defense formation and brace for the impact of the cavalry charge!”
Dale’s command swiftly spread through the chain of command to the entire force.
Leading the first line of the cavalry charge were the Master Templars of the Templar Knights, followed by their templars.
Blood knights armed with fanatical conviction, clad in armor of blood, riding their horses.
Enhanced by the hymn magic of the White Tower, their bodies began to glow with holy light.
“These madmen are really…”
Even Dale hadn’t imagined they’d be so reckless. But he couldn’t deny what was before him. Nothing would change.
This was war.
The distance between the two sides rapidly closed. The enemy was already in battle formation, their ‘Sword of the Church’ enhanced by hymn magic, but Dale wouldn’t be easily defeated.
Why they suddenly decided to betray them was a question for later. The battle had begun, and there was no turning back.
Dale and the Black Armor Company, along with the dismounted Night Ravens and Blue Rose Knights, hastily formed a defensive line.
Facing the rapidly approaching cavalry charge of the church forces.
“In the name of the Holy Goddess, we come to exact holy vengeance on the Saxon apostates colluding with demons, to avenge the brothers of Lusignan and fulfill the goddess’s will!”
The voice of a Master Templar, amplified by magic, echoed loudly. Collusion with demons, vengeance for Lusignan.
Dale was speechless with disbelief.
Under the blazing sun and golden clouds, the blood-soaked knights began their charge.
“The goddess wills it!”
“Kill them all, the goddess will choose her people!”
Ignoring the unknown catastrophe unfolding with the Seventh Prince Mordred and his forces.
The church’s swords charged, turning their backs on the heavens.
But for a mage, the advantage of terrain cannot be ignored. Dale’s circle accelerated, resonating with the power rooted in his heart from Shub.
The darkness embedded in this land existed solely for Dale and Saxon.
Thus, the ‘Black Prince’ overlaid another winter night upon the chilling cold and darkness.
Fortunately, the land itself was the realm of the Shadow Lord.
Even if a seventh-circle white mage stood before him, it wouldn’t change.
Two high mages overlaid their respective otherworlds, and the two worlds began to collide.
The sky was torn, and beyond the celestial rift, a ‘god’ peered into this world.
Blinking its massive eye, observing the ants on the ground like a human.
Countless tentacles began to slip down around the god’s eye.
“Ah, aaaaah!”
“Save me! Save meee!”
“Please don’t abandon me! Please!”
The pitch-black tentacles wrapped around the soldiers, dragging them up to the ‘heavens above’ where the god resided.
There was nowhere to run. On this endless frozen wasteland, there was no place for them to escape.
The tentacles descended endlessly, engulfing and devouring the soldiers.
Some were crushed by the tentacles, their insides bursting, or they were dragged, struggling, to where the god resided…
Screams echoed everywhere. Some cried, while others lost their sanity and burst into laughter.
It was madness, a hellish frenzy.
The overwhelming power that neither a knight’s aura nor a mage’s magic could touch.
In the face of this madness, a knight who had joined the Crusade with deep faith and a sense of holy duty thought.
Was that truly the goddess he believed in? Was this madness really what she desired?
Even if it was just a malevolent god, where was the goddess who should save him?
Why was the kind and compassionate sister goddess silent?
“Why…?”
The knight pleaded, looking up at the sky. But the god he sought was not there.
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me)…”
The knight muttered weakly, and a tentacle that had silently descended wrapped around his body.
The tentacle began to lift him toward the sky.
”…”
The knight no longer resisted.
In fact, he smiled broadly.
Yes… this was ascension! The goddess herself was honoring his faith, bringing him to her side!
‘I am ascending to the heavens!’
How could he not have understood the deep and profound will of the sister goddess! Oh goddess, please forgive this unbeliever’s brief doubt!
“Heh, hehehe…”
The knight laughed.
“Hehe, he, hehehehe…”
Overwhelmed by an indescribable supreme joy, he began to laugh.
The two worlds of the heavens and the winter night clashed, leaving no room for the meddling of lesser elders.
To be frank, even Dale couldn’t easily trespass into the realm of the seventh circle. But as when he first obtained the ‘Book of the Black Goat’ and faced Cardinal Nikolai, pure skill doesn’t determine everything in a mage’s battle.
Within the world of the winter night, Dale deployed the avatar of the Shadow Lord.
He snapped his fingers at the blood-soaked knights approaching him.
The ground beneath darkened, and from the shadows, the 《Shadow Lurkers》 unleashed their spiked tentacles toward the Templars.
“Goddess, grant me the light to banish this darkness before me!”
The bloodied knight swung his sword against the shadows lurking around him. At the same time, beams of light rained down from the sky like a celestial bombardment, engulfing the lake of shadows that Dale had conjured.
The surrounding darkness froze as if turned to a desert of salt, yet the pillars of light came no closer to Dale. His world stood as an impenetrable barrier.
This was undoubtedly a battle between the highest-ranking mages, but Dale’s influence on the battlefield extended far beyond mere magic.
“Lady Shadow.”
He called out to his silent knight, who always remained hidden within his shadows. A silhouette took form in the darkness, and together, Dale and she looked up.
The blood knights approached, unfurling their wings of blood and taking to the sky. The avatars of the Templar Order, the blood angels, had filled the heavens.
In response, a black valkyrie spread her wings and soared towards them.
Simultaneously, the ground-bound templars, lacking the avatars’ flight capabilities, descended upon the defensive formations of the Black Armor Company and the Night Raven Knights.
Boom!
Worlds collided, soldiers clashed. Amidst the chaos, the Shadow Lord finally drew his sword. It was not the infamous black sword that symbolized Dale.
It was the hero’s beloved sword, Peacemaker, claimed after defeating Michael Lancaster.
In the world of a white and dark winter night, a light rivaling the heavens unleashed by a seventh-circle white mage began to swirl.
The war had begun.