Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Chapter 48

“I feel as if I am in a fantasy.”

Elizabeth, tucked under the blankets in the chambers of Marquis Eurys, nicknamed the “Crimson Duke,” flashed a smile. He possessed the exact appearance of a nobleman from a dream.

“Has it been a pleasant fantasy?”

Marquis Eurys inquired, taking a sip of the purple wine he was holding, causing Elizabeth’s cheekbones to flush red.

Elizabeth nodded, submerged in a state of absolute joy, and the aristocrat leaned down to seal his lips with hers. A liquid substance passed from his oral cavity to hers.

Was it red wine…?

Just at that moment, an extremely strange sensation assaulted Elizabeth’s mouth, and she swallowed with great effort. That did not have the notes of an alcoholic beverage.

“…!”

It was blood. Elizabeth rejected it abruptly, splashing the pristine fabric of the sheets with a crimson hue.

“Well, my God.”

Marquis Eurys let out a laugh laden with coldness upon witnessing the scene.

“Was the cup not to your liking?”

The expression on his face conveyed absolute frigidity.

In a confrontation that pits a knight against a sorcerer, the management of space is fundamental.

However, what Dale had just exhibited through his shadow cloak… that expanse of dark water and the aberrations that inhabited its depths.

The stinging torment caused by the “Shadow Stalker.”

The superiority that Dale’s shadow entities manifested in close quarters against an armored combatant completely exceeded Sir Helmut’s expectations.

For a warrior of the sword, whose goal is to close the gap to prevail, entering such a death trap of his own volition was madness…

Besides, if the relevance of distance on the battlefield was negated, it was clear who would possess the absolute advantage in a duel between a knight and a practitioner of the magical arts.

“Lord Dale has achieved victory!”

While the troops cheered loudly for Dale’s victory, Sir Helmut Blackbear remained lost in his thoughts.

“Could he have selected the dark garment foreseeing this outcome from the beginning?”

Such a move would be unthinkable without an absolute understanding of one’s own resources and the dynamics of combat. It was not limited to mere theoretical knowledge, but to total control.

Practically like a deity of war.

From the fact of reanimating a “Black Sword Death Knight,” a feat reserved solely for the highest-ranking practitioners of dark mysticism, to subduing an orc warlord using only his physical gifts…

Possessing unparalleled potential and development in both the art of steel and the mystical disciplines within the imperial domains…

“Lord Dale continues to transform, again and again.”

He heals his deficiencies and empowers his virtues. Each gear fits with the other, consolidating an almost impeccable balance.

He does not falter in confrontations of force against warriors, nor in clashes of will against mages.

It was at that precise moment when Sir Helmut understood it.

What Dale pursues is the definitive manifestation of the art of war.

From the first moment, his goal was to never bite the dust before the most formidable warriors and mages in the world.

Even Sir Helmut Blackbear, a member of the seven sword deities of the continental territory, the “Seven Swords,” felt stunned by Dale’s alarming skill.

And what kind of rival could that be whom Dale longs to reach through the extreme perfection of his martial gifts?

Would there exist someone capable of resisting the resentment of the “Black Prince”?

After turning the matter over in his mind, Sir Helmut tilted his head in a sign of denial. For the moment, it was only appropriate to celebrate Dale’s triumph.

The great exodus of the demonic hosts.

The confrontation came to an end by containing the massive advance toward the southern lands by the orc horde.

Although their contingents did not equal the forces of the superior demons or the demon lords, safeguarding the imperial domains against thousands of orcs represented a colossal challenge. Particularly when measuring forces against adversaries empowered by the “Twelve Purifiers.”

In the dependencies of the Duke of Saxony.

“We have analyzed the brain structures of the Purifiers, concluding the work after three full days.”

Explained Eris, who served as the right hand of the Lord of the Black Tower.

“Has any data of relevance been obtained?”

“They had previously suppressed almost the entirety of their cognitive faculties, erasing their memories.”

“It was to be expected.”

The Black Duke nodded slightly, without reflecting the slightest astonishment.

The extremist zeal of the mystics of the red tower lacked a rival among any of the towers of the five colors. After this gesture, the Black Duke expressed himself with serenity.

“They possessed prior information that Dale would move independently along with the mounted forces.”

And that only pointed toward one conclusion.

“Some member of our own ranks must have provided the Purifiers with the precise indications regarding Dale’s steps.”

“Is there suspicion of someone in particular?”

“The aberrations of truth.”

Ruled the Black Duke.

“… Could it be that the veteran members of the radical faction of the Black Tower maintain secret pacts with the Red Tower?”

“Do you no longer remember the actions of the Black-Red Guidance Corps?”

The Black-Red Guidance Corps. An unofficial faction constituted in the course of the imperial unification conflict for the purpose of “mystical inquiry and mutual support” between the Black Tower and the Red Tower.

Although said faction was extinguished and its annals were eliminated upon concluding the conflict, and although the Black Tower, led by the Black Duke, opted to cut ties with the “dreadful legacy of times past.”

Not all of the members of the Black Tower supported his determinations.

Although they felt incapable of challenging the Black Duke head-on, radical elements persisted who continued to defend the aberrant baseness of the Black-Red Guidance Corps under the pretext of reaching absolute truth. These beings repudiated the Black Duke’s mandate and preferred to ally themselves with the Red Tower.

“A new internal cleansing is glimpsed.”

Eris, the Black Duke’s assistant, manifested with coldness.

Mentally evoking that the individual in front of her would never manage to completely shed that shadow.

The underground experimentation room of the Black Duke.

In that place rested the remains of the night raven knights, kept without the slightest deterioration.

Even devoid of life, they waited to fulfill their mission, integrating the heritage built by the Saxon lineage through the ages.

Facing the remains of these warriors stood the two men of the Saxon lineage.

“They were my men.”

The warriors under Dale’s command. The blades of Saxon that Dale was unable to safeguard.

“In my capacity as leader… it is my obligation to make their wishes prevail.”

Therefore.

“Show me the procedure to invoke the Order of Death.”

Dale expressed himself devoid of any hint of doubt.

The arcanum of the Saxon lineage to preserve the death knights while doing without a constant flow of mystical energy.

However, its authentic benefit went beyond that limit. Upon contemplating them, Dale intuited naturally that they were not ordinary death knights.

Each of them constituted a higher-ranking death knight, comparable to Sir Veil of Baskerville or to Sir Milvas, the Pure Sword.

“……”

The Black Duke remained silent for a few moments. He only remembered the landscape that Dale had displayed before the orc warlord… projecting the scenario that would emerge when Dale’s gifts amalgamated with the perennial shadow of the Black Tower.

When Dale finally managed to surpass him and transform into the next “Duke of Saxon,” positioning himself at the pinnacle of the Black Tower. How capable would this boy be of disassociating himself from the shadow from which not even he himself had managed to escape?

“At the moment in which you mature and manage to surpass me…”

After a brief pause of meditation, the Black Duke took the floor.

“In the instant in which you rise to the summit of the Black Tower.”

Implying that the times were not yet propitious.

“The army of shadows will belong to you exclusively.”

Upon assimilating the background of those expressions, Dale swallowed hard in a forced manner.

To defeat through his own faculties the most powerful dark mystic of the continental lands, the one settled at the summit of the Black Tower.

Inspired by that idea, Dale could not restrain his deep avidity for knowledge and manifested.

“…Father.”

“What is it about?”

“Am I permitted to measure my strength against my instructor in this same place and moment?”

The barrier that the “Black Duke” represented was excessively tempting to pass up.

“Agreed.”

The Black Duke nodded with serenity. There was no dynamic more optimal for a preceptor and his successor to put their capabilities to the test than a direct confrontation.

“What tools will you use to compete?”

“Allow me to employ my entire repertoire.”

Declared Dale, while his cloak of shadows stirred around his limbs.

“Unfold the entirety of your potential.”

The Black Duke nodded his head.

“Stand up, dark blades of Saxon.”

Dale executed a snap, pronouncing the ideal mystical words to return his warriors from beyond the grave to life.

The fallen combatants, wielding their weapons, stood up in unison. The dark blades of Saxon, projecting their edges charged with a completely dark energy.

“Your formulation is extremely accurate.”

The Black Duke could not camouflage his pleasure in his role as instructor when contemplating the visual clarity and brevity of the command.

Surrounded by the warriors from beyond the grave, each reflecting Dale’s dark arts and skill with steel, they began to manifest the martial capacity of those who in their day knew how to break sacred weapons.

In parallel, Dale extended the “Lake of Darkness” using his cloak of shadows. A wave of shadows covered the room and the “Shadow Stalkers” drove their thorny appendages into the surface of the floor.

From the foundations of the underground room, coming from all possible orientations, lethal strikes were directed against the Black Duke devoid of any consideration or mercy.

And that was when it happened.

Reality seemed to freeze.

To be more exact… the dark edges of the death knights and the sharp protrusions of the Shadow Stalkers, which were oriented toward his position, remained fixed in space. They remained static and, immediately afterward, reoriented their hostility toward Dale himself.

Neither the Death Warriors nor the elusive “Shadow Stalkers” managed to evade the authority of his directive.

Exactly the same thing was happening as in the past. Just as Dale had bent the “Headless Knight” in the course of the fortress challenges, on this occasion he was subordinating himself before a shadow of much greater dimensions.

“In a confrontation between practitioners of the dark arts, stripping oneself of dominion over one’s own entities constitutes the most catastrophic oversight.”

The Black Orb expressed itself with total serenity.

“……”

Faced with this, Dale focused all his attention again.

He evoked in his mind an environment dominated by an absolute cold and a void of ashen tones, externalizing the bluish mystical energy forged from the shadows of that winter evening.

The dark blade of the death knight, which had previously frozen, finally restarted its trajectory.

Slowly and rigidly, but undeniably, it oriented itself toward the area of the Black Orb’s neck.

Dale had wrested the authority over the Death Warrior from the most formidable dark mystic of the continental lands, restoring it under his own directive.

“…!”

Not even the Black Orb himself could camouflage his bewilderment at such an event.

Snap!

In the middle of that moment of bewilderment, the dark steel of the Death Warrior moved. The severed upper extremity slid without offering resistance across the surface. The acoustic isolation settled suddenly. However, in the middle of that vacuum of sound, Dale showed no signs of losing his calm.

“Truly amazing.”

Just as was to be expected, the cranial extremity of the Black Orb spoke from the floor.

“To think that you would possess the faculty to snatch from me the dominion of the entities from the beyond.”

It resembled a scene from a low-grade horror tale.

“Undoubtedly, an unforeseen setback.”

Preserving the composure of a preceptor, he found himself unable to hide his complacency before his pupil’s demonstration. How was this possible? Dale breathed heavily due to the astonishment.

Before he managed to realize, the upper extremity of the Black Orb had returned to its initial position, just as if it had never experienced any cut at all. In the same way as previously, when the Purifiers attacked Dale, finding themselves unable to perish even when they longed to.

“How can something like this happen…?”

Upon assimilating the reality of the facts, Dale questioned again. Not even he, possessing his entire background of knowledge, could unravel the mechanism behind that. A deception? Not at all.

It had no relation to a simple sleight of hand.

“Is it that you still don’t grasp it? I simply have not given my consent for them to perish.”

With that notion in mind, Dale contemplated an alternative and swallowed with difficulty.

“Alteration of reality…?”

Mystical arts represent the faculty of transmuting mental conception into tangible facts. However, the human psyche suffers from so many flaws that it never reaches an authentic omnipotence.

However, for those individuals who have truly settled at the pinnacle of the mystical arts, such as the subject considered the most outstanding dark sorcerer of the continent, there was the option of altering the very directives of this environment using purely their determination.

By way of illustration, suppressing the elemental principle of “death.”

Upon deducing this, Dale let out a laugh devoid of joy. He lacked any option of achieving victory. It did not matter at all how young he had been when he became the greatest prodigy of the imperial domains, carrying out feats out of the ordinary; none of that had weight.

If the individual stationed in front of him made use of the entirety of his resources, the outcome would be sealed in the blink of an eye.

Just as the circulating comments about the “Black Prince” indicated, the denomination of the subject most feared by the imperial forces did not constitute a simple fable.

After a period of time, an emissary of the crown appeared with the purpose of transmitting congratulations to the Saxon lineage for having contained the great exodus of the demonic beings.

Along with valuable gifts intended to exhibit the splendor of the imperial forces, they formally validated the actions of the “Black Prince,” who had stood out notably before the demonic advance despite his few years of life.

Likewise, they extended a proposal to Dale to remain a series of weeks in the facilities of the Red Tower Academy, located in the capital city, for the purpose of encouraging the “bond of cooperation between the black and red sectors.”

Chapter 48