Side Story, Episode 6
“So, brother, please stop hurting yourself for the sake of the world. Live for your own happiness.”
The Empress of Lies, the Queen of Winter and Shadows, spoke.
At that moment, a chill engulfed Dale, and by the time he awoke, so much had already changed.
In an era where magic was dying.
Perhaps it was this change that shattered the ice prison Lize had trapped him in.
─ Let’s play a game to protect the things you love, brother.
After that, Shub was nowhere to be found. Despite the shadowy circle still cast over his heart, the Mother of Old Darkness remained silent in response to Dale.
And in this world, there was nothing left that Dale loved. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what that meant.
Thus, he wandered endlessly, trapped in a nightmare of solitude and despair.
When Dale awoke from the nightmare, he found Yufi looking at him with concern. He forced a wry smile and asked, “Did I say something?”
“Who… who is Lize?”
”…”
Dale fell silent, and Yufi quickly bowed her head.
“You called out that name so desperately… I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize, Yufi.”
Dale turned his head away as he spoke. Outside the window, dusk had already settled.
“Was there something you needed from me?”
“Not really… I just wanted to say thank you.”
“There’s nothing you need to thank me for.”
Dale replied calmly. A brief silence followed, and then Yufi spoke.
“I thought I would part ways with you here, Dale.”
“That was my intention.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I promised to take you somewhere safe, Yufi.”
Dale answered matter-of-factly.
“But this place isn’t safe.”
“What…?”
“This place will soon be engulfed in the flames of revolution, just like your village.”
“That can’t be…”
Yufi gasped at the unexpected revelation.
“Then what will you do, sir?”
“There are people I need to find.”
Dale replied calmly.
“Whether I can find them, or if they’re even alive, I can’t be sure…”
He trailed off, and Yufi swallowed quietly, unsure of what to say to the shadow looming over Dale.
”…I will find them.”
But then, with renewed determination, Yufi spoke up. Dale gave a bitter smile at her words.
“I hope I can do the same.”
More desperately than anyone else in this world.
“Assassinate the Marquis of Rosenheim and leave the territory swiftly.”
That night, the “warriors of the revolution” infiltrating the Rosenheim estate finally began to move.
They aimed to strike at the heart of the enemy, to bring down the foe of the revolution in one decisive blow.
They were clad in armor that embodied the pinnacle of magical engineering, far surpassing the ironclad armor currently in use.
Boom!
An explosion echoed through the air. The swirling magic ignited into flames, consuming the area around the marquis’s estate.
“Explosion! It’s an attack!”
The silence within the castle was shattered, and silhouettes began to move amidst the chaos.
They were silhouettes covered in a sleek, black-gold texture.
The Marquis of Rosenheim was one of the most powerful nobles in the empire, as his name suggested. Thus, those guarding his castle were no mere soldiers.
The era of dying magic did not mean the death of magic itself. It simply meant that the number of mages had dwindled to a rare few, and their power and skill were no longer what they once were.
Magic was dying, and the power of emperors and nobles was not what it used to be. In a sense, they too were dying.
It was the role of new ideologies, technology, and republicanism to fill the void left by the fading and dying.
“Traitors…!”
Knights desperately unleashed their aura hearts, drawing power as they faced the revolutionaries.
Supporting the knights at the front, mages accelerated their mana circles.
As the circles accelerated, magic scattered, and their magic had no color.
No fiery red, no wise and cunning blue, not even a colorless hue.
In the old world Dale remembered, it would have been questionable whether this could even be considered magic.
This was the reality of magic left in this world.
The black-gold silhouettes, armed with “Type 2 Armor,” charged forward, swords swinging.
The black blades slashed, and the knights, desperately squeezing out their aura, fell helplessly. Unable to properly parry even a single strike.
This was not an era where one strong individual could face a hundred. But the Type 2 Ironclad Brigade here were undoubtedly capable of overwhelming a hundred strong individuals.
“Protect the marquis!”
“Revolutionaries…!”
Desperately, the knights and soldiers under the Marquis of Rosenheim blocked their path. But knights who could only wield aura blades were no match for magical armor that rivaled the avatars of aura masters.
Blood splattered.
The black blades danced through the knights, and the Type 2 Ironclad Brigade navigated the castle’s corridors, following the internal map they had obtained.
Just then, a shadow blocked their path.
“You’re processing mana within the armor without absorbing it into your body.”
The shadow spoke with feigned interest.
“Is that how you can exhibit power comparable to an aura master’s avatar?”
”…!”
The pressure emanating from the shadow made the Type 2 Ironclad soldiers swallow hard. Yet, nothing changed.
“Who developed that armor with such technology?”
Before the shadow’s question could be fully asked, the ironclad soldiers charged forward.
Immediately, tendrils of shadow rose from beneath the man’s feet.
As the tendrils shot up, the soldiers swung their swords. The black blades imbued with magic. The blackness within the blades was all too familiar.
The tendrils were severed, and the soldiers quickly widened the distance. They were fast. The shadow looked up at them again.
Black-gold armor, and black swords.
”…”
How long had he wandered this world? Even when he thought he had found a clue from the past, it always ended in vain. Days of endless wandering.
The futility was so painful and agonizing. He thought there was no point in wandering any longer.
Until that day, when Yufi’s village was massacred by the revolutionaries.
They had drawn Dale back into the world. Once again, a clue from the past lay before him.
Dale’s wandering had been long enough that he was no longer swayed by each clue.
“Let me ask.”
Yet, nothing changed.
“Who developed that armor?”
“Do you think we’d reveal that secret so easily…?”
“You will.”
Dale replied coldly.
“No one can hide the truth from me.”
With those words, the Shadow Lord extended his arm.
Simultaneously, Dale’s black robe billowed. The shadow beneath it spread like a lake, engulfing the area.
Screeeech!
Immediately, a piercing scream echoed from within the shadows.
The “Shadow Stalkers” unleashed their thorny tendrils toward the ironclad soldiers.
“What will make you reveal your secrets?”
The living darkness surged toward the revolutionary armor.
“Will pain make you speak?”
Crunch!
The thorny tendrils relentlessly pierced the soldiers’ armor, finding gaps to exploit. Screams filled the air.
As the Shadow Stalkers stripped away the armor, flesh fused with the armor began to tear away.
The agony was incomparable to anything before, and the screams were endless.
Amidst the screams, the Shadow Lord walked forward calmly.
“Do you think mere pain can break our will…?”
Yet, even in the face of excruciating pain, the revolutionaries did not yield.
For a moment, Dale wondered what kind of revolution could drive them to endure such suffering.
He lowered his head, focusing on the shadows entwining them.
Within the shadows, the undeniable truth emerged. That was all. Just as no one could escape their shadow, no one could hide their truth from the Shadow Lord.
“It’s done.”
With those words, Dale extended his arm, and the Shadow Stalkers gleefully tore apart their armor and flesh.
The shadows in the area began to turn crimson, like ink spreading in water.
There was nothing left in this world to love. No reason to show mercy.
As he thought this, Yufi’s face came to mind unexpectedly.
It was right after Dale had taken down the Iron Guard, the assassins of the revolutionary army, clad in their formidable Type-2 armor.
“Thanks to you, my life was spared.”
Marquis Rosenheim bowed his head in gratitude before him.
“How on earth did the revolutionaries manage to develop such advanced weaponry so quickly…?”
“It’s not new technology,” Dale replied, shaking his head, recalling the truth he had glimpsed beneath the armor’s shadow.
“It’s merely a relic of the past.”
“A relic of the past? You don’t mean…”
“Are you familiar with the Fourth Empire?”
“The… the great magical empire, unparalleled in the continent’s history, ruled by the so-called Emperor of Black Gold?”
Dale gave a bitter smile at those words. Indeed, that was the case.
To the people of this era, it was nothing more than a distant legend, an ancient empire shrouded in myth.
“I only know as much as anyone else. They say it vanished from history one day, without any apparent reason…”
Dale nodded at this.
“The weapons these revolutionaries are using are relics unearthed from that very empire.”
Whether this could truly be called an answer was still uncertain.
Yet, what Dale had discovered was a clue closer and more undeniable than any he had found before.