The Conqueror!
Klaus tried to move, but—
"Kgha!" He coughed up a mouthful of blood, collapsing to his knees.
His body, pushed far beyond its limits, was finally breaking down.
"Huff... Huff..." His breaths came in ragged gasps as he struggled to rise, only to end up worsening his condition.
"Kgha-!" he crashed onto his back, his vision blurring as the crimson sun loomed overhead.
"Huff... Huff..." Taking deep, burning breaths, he struggled to hold on.
"Hu... Hu..." he clawed at the ground, fighting to stay awake, to keep going—
But the darkness was relentless.
And eventually-
"Huff... Huff..."
It swallowed him whole.
With one last shuddering breath, he lost consciousness.
***
Amidst the clangor of steel and the curses raining down on Anarzel-
Clap!
A single, light clap rang through the battlefield.
Clap. Clap.
The sound was deliberate, clear.
Then-
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The rhythm grew, filling the battlefield with something far worse than the clash of weapons.
A shiver ran through them.
It was just a clap. And yet-
Clench.
A knife-like sensation cut into their hearts, a deep, twisting unease they couldn't explain.
Clap!
Each beat of his palms sent icy dread crawling across the battlefield.
Thump... Thump...
Like an unseen vice tightening around their chests.
It was cold. Relentless.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
And at the center of it all, stood,
Napoleon- The Third.
His snow white hair cascaded down his crimson-dark armor, and with a dark smile on his face, he seemed like a figure straight out of some otherworldly fantasy.
His smile in and of itself, felt both profane and… divine.
His very presence... suffocated them.
Something monstrous lay beneath that intoxicating allure of his. Something that made their instincts scream.
Thump... Thump...
Compared to this, hell itself might have been more merciful.
Or perhaps he was nothing but a legend, exaggerated beyond truth.
Who could say?
Ba- dump! Ba- dump!
No one ever lived to tell the tale.
No one had ever survived long enough to separate the truth from the lies.
In an instant, the battlefield stood still.
No warrior could move.
Clap. Clap.
No one dared to.
Step~
He moved.
A ripple of fear surged through them. No one had seen when- or how- he had left his seated spot.
Tok~ Tok~
Each step rang through the silence.
The warriors, both allies and enemies alike, felt it claw into their bones.
They couldn't move.
They couldn't even breathe.
"Huff... Huff..."
After all,
Step~
No one knew what he was up to.
Step~
No one knew what he was going to do.
"Hu... Hu..." Air itself felt heavy.
Like unseen hands had wrapped around their throats.
But none suffered more than the warriors of the Roselle Army.
Their expression twisted in sheer disbelief.
'H-how? How can a human be this strong?'
Step~
They had heard rumors.
But,
Tok~
Tok~
They had dismissed them.
And yet, even the worst of those tales seem to pale in comparison to the reality before them.
Napoleon stopped in front of Anarzel- who grinned, his face beaming with satisfaction.
'With his strength, usefulness and abilities, he was sure the emperor would take him in, especially when considering that…'
Clench~
If he played his part well, they wouldn't have to die. He also wouldn't have to…'
His fingers twitched, tightening into a fist.
"...Good job. You did well."
The voice cut through the air like a blade.
Anarzel smiled even wider.
"All thanks belongs to your majesty."
Napoleon met his gaze.
And,
Thump... Thump...
Smiled.
"I've decided you're worth keeping alive... for now."
Anarzel's breath hitched in his throat.
For a moment, he swore something unseen- something cold and inhuman- had wrapped around his heart, squeezing.
What was that?!
He had no idea.
But if there was one thing he understood...
If there was one thing he was certain about.
That was the fact that he had barely just escaped death.
Drip. Drip.
Cold sweat tickled down his forehead, splattering onto the dirt beneath him.
He dropped to one knee, head bowed.
"...T-thank you for your grace, your majesty!"
But Napoleon was already looking past him.
His gaze swept across the warriors before him.
Thump... Thump...
A ripple of dread coursed through them.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
He didn't need to say a word. The cold pressure in the air made it clear-
They were standing before something beyond them.
Something they could never fight.
They had heard of his ability.
The Monarch's Aura.
And now, they understood.
They never had a chance to begin with.
They were only alive simply because he allowed it.
Clench.
…That soon became clear.
The Roselle generals stiffened, their hands trembling at their sides.
Napoleon exhaled lightly.
A pity.
They were valuable.
Strong.
But keping them alive was like swallowing a dagger- sooner or later, it would rip him apart from within.
How unfortunate.
He sighed.
"I'll give you one last chance." his voice was calm, but absolute. "Come at me. Together."
Thump... Thump...
Every eye locked onto him.
A challenge.
A final offer.
- How can he be so confident
Silence.
It lingered.
Then-
"You cocky bastard!"
Vice admiral Zareth moved first, his golden halberd cutting through the air like a guillotine.
"Die, you monster!"
A roar of rage followed.
"Die...!!!"
Alger roared out, his facial features contorting to one of anger, pain… sorrow to anger once again.
"Go to hell bastard!"
"Die!!! Diee!!! Diee...!!!!"
The warriors surged forward, unleashing all the pain, frustration, and fury they had swallowed.
An indescribable surge of primal emotion overflowed from every single one of them, a terrifying tyrannical pressure descending upon Napoleon.
Although pressuring.
But,
Step~ Step~
Napoleon had an indifferent expression on his face.
…That was it.
Nothing more.
And most importantly, this was a way to cut off all hope.
That blinding feeling amidst all suffocating darkness.
He had to crush it.
...Had to reduce it to nothingness.
Remove it from the heart of every single one of them.
And,
Step~
Step~
What better way?
What better scapegoats than those who stand at the top of the Empire's food chain.
The members of the Roselle Empire all looked, something burning deep within their hearts.
'C-can they do it?'
C-can they achieve the impossible and put an end to the tyrannical emperor.'
Hope.
It burned furiously within every single one of them.
Slowly tightening and pooling around their chest, like an iron vice.
Time seemed to have come to a stop as the various attacks.
A tide of burning swords, blitzing strikes, and radiant arts- all aimed at the Emperor.
And in the midst of it all-
Step~
Napoleon stood.
Expression unreadable.
He didn't move.
Didn't react.
And then-
Von Anzel, a sequence nine radiant of the luminary pathway, raised his hands, and with a surge of desperation, anger, hatred, sorrow, and despair.
All the concentrated bundle of emotion.
He poured them all with his spirituality into the charm in his hand.
A final gambit.
A last, desperate push.
And then-
Zzzrrr!!!
He said in the Arcanis language.
"Light!!"
Let there be light!
And within the endless, suffocating darkness.
Within the obsolete darkness that shrouded the entire battlefield.
A blinding, burst of light erupted, tearing through the suffocating darkness.
Illuminating everything.
But it all came at a cost.
Anzel's face became pale.
Blood drained from his face as his spirituality rapidly drained away.
Yet,
A faint smile crept up his face.
Victory. He could almost taste it.
The various attacks.
'Hah!'
They were just one step away from sending the bastard to hell.
'They~
• Smirk.
Napoleon smiled.
Then-
Craackaaa!!!!
Kaaaboooomm!!!!!
The ground shattered beneath him.
Step~ Step~
His movements were a blur as dust rose into the air.
And when the dust eventually settled-
Thump. Thump.
He was gone.
'H-how?!'
He had vanished.
But... How?
From rage, to confusion, to the anger that swelled within them.
A great sense of unease suddenly gripped him… them.
A harrowing sense of foreboding settling deep within their spines.
And then-
Clap.
Clap.
Their heartbeat accelerated with the pace at which the clap resounded through the air.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The pace increased and so did their heartbeat.
It echoed through the stifling quiet, akin to deafening thunderclaps in the endless darkness.
Chills~
They felt as though they were being watched, being monitored, being spied on… by a force so profane… even words alone wouldn't be enough to describe it.
T-hat cold sense of fear.
It was menacing and it forced their motion to a stop.
'Haunter!'
A sense of apprehension ran through every single one of them.
They didn't need anyone to tell them how terrifying a Haunter of the cursed pathway was.
But still, Napoleon's seemed to be on another level entirely.
And just as they struggled to understand what was going or more importantly, where the bastard was.
Puchiii!!!
Slaaaassssh!!!!
Riiiiipppp!!!!
Napoleon made use of nightstep, easily teleporting between the thick endless shadows.
He disappeared and appeared, and each time he did appear, he did so behind every single one of them.
And what came next was,
Splatter!!!
Puchiii!!!!
Blood sprayed into the cold air.
Heads rolled off.
And headless bodies gushed out uncontrollably, a bright red liquid.
Standing amidst the carnage with an indifferent expression- he sheated his sword back into its scabbard.
Slliiing!
The headless bodies behind him all dropped onto the ground with a loud crashing thud.
The look of confusion still etched onto their faces even after they were long… dead.
"Huff… Huff."
Drenched in blood, he stood like a sentinel of doom and despair in the endless dark.
An insurmountable obstacle.
A being that couldn't be defied nor denied.
Amidst the pain to the tiredness that clung onto him.
He continued to keep that cold, nonchalant facade of his.
This was what he wanted them to be filled with.
Fear! Despair!
He wanted them to feel it well.
...He wanted this very moment to be etched into the depths of their mind.
Only with this.
A faint smile crept up his face.
Only with moments like this had he been able to keep up with his mantle.
His origin name.
One known to all but comprehended by none.
"The conqueror!"
Amidst the suffocating quiet to the chilling coldness that ran through their hearts, a voice resounded in the dark.
"Surrender or die."
And just as expected,
Thump… Thump…
No one answered.
A cold, stifling silence crept in.
A silence so stifling, everyone could hear the deafening sound of their heartbeat.
The rather "subtle" echoes of their heart racing against their chest.
Thump… Thump…
It reverberated through the endless darkness.
And with a cold, indifferent gaze that sent chills slithering down their spine.
Napoleon spoke up once again, his voice akin to that of a messenger of hell!:
"...I expected nothing more."