Chapter 63

Chapter 63

Chapter 63

Chapter 63

After departing from the events that occurred in the Necropolis, the Black Duke headed in a hurry toward his fortress. Upon entering the main hall, he discovered that the royal seat belonging to the ruler of Saxony was occupied by his own descendant.

The Black Prince was staring fixedly at his progenitor from that structure which should have remained untouched for the legitimate ruler.

“Father.”

“Dale.”

Both pronounced their respective names in a dry gesture of filial recognition.

Whiz!

“The lord of the duchy is back!”

At that moment, the crypt custodians bent their knees at the same time, firmly resting the edges of their weapons on the ground in front of their position.

“My mother and Lize are out of danger,” Dale added to report the situation.

“Mom managed to soothe Lize until she was able to fall asleep.”

“…I understand,” the Black Duke declared, maintaining firmness in his tone.

“It is a great relief.”

While the territory of Saxony was the scene of bloody battles and his own home remained under siege, he, in his role as leader, had found his hands tied. Despite everything, his offspring assumed the defense of the Saxon building, guiding the inhabitants in his absence, which was the reason he now occupied said throne.

The young man rose without haste from the lordly chair, showing with this act that he still considered it premature to take possession of that space.

“Duke, would it be possible for us to talk in private?”

The ruler gave his approval with a slight nod of his head.

In the highest area of the Saxon building, precisely inside the private office of the Black Duke, the glow of the first light of day began to seep through the large windows. The ruler stood motionless facing the morning clarity, which caused his body to cast an elongated silhouette on the floor.

“I suppose you have important matters to set forth.”

“I had an armed encounter with the high-ranking member of the Black Tower who orchestrated the assault on the fortress, and I managed to finish him off,” Dale revealed. The Black Duke’s features showed a brief gesture of bewilderment at the revelation.

“…Were you able to strike down all by yourself a sorcerer belonging to the sixth circle?”

Even while being fully aware of the prodigious capabilities that Dale possessed, such a feat was inconceivable. Defeating with his own hand a veteran of the Black Tower gifted with the power of the sixth circle seemed like a fantasy.

However, for the young man’s intentions, that lacked great relevance.

“Indeed,” Dale ratified with total certainty.

“In the course of the combat, I was able to glimpse the ideological dimension that he had built in his role as a leader within the Black Order.”

“…”

The mage’s internal visions exposed the unforgivable horrors committed by the Black Order.

“Likewise, from his own words, I obtained knowledge about the true essence that composes the Black Order.”

“…”

That was the underlying secret that the authorities of the Empire tried to protect with such zeal.

“The individual who holds the second position in command in the Black Order, the very duke of Saxony…” Dale pronounced, bringing up the man’s annals and the guilts from which he could never detach himself.

“Was everything you instilled in me in the past a complete falsehood?”

The young man brought to his memory the reflections on the value of existence that his progenitor had instilled in him some time ago.

“Does it turn out that your lessons were nothing more than a despicable display of double standards?”

The boy’s voice denoted a slight tremor because of the feelings that it was impossible for him to suppress.

The subject standing in front of him was not just any stranger. It was the progenitor who looked after his growth, the source of the very blood that flowed through his own body.

It never crossed his mind the possibility that his father would compromise with the dark dealings of the Empire.

“Did you also not have the strength to remain on the sidelines of the baseness of the Empire?”

“…”

A very thick and difficult-to-calculate silence took over the room.

“At that time, when the armies of the Empire, commanded by the paladin coming from another reality, stood up to the Demon King…” the ruler finally broke the silence.

“Once the most formidable warriors of the Empire joined forces and managed to subdue the Demon King… an individual appeared before me.”

After the fall of the Demon King was concluded, while the imperial battalions remained stationed in the northern lands, a subject came in search of the sovereign of the north.

“Was it Marquis Eurys?”

“He presented a proposal to me,” the duke confirmed with a nod of his head.

“He was in the organization phase of a ‘large-scale trial’ and required my direct participation.”

“And what did said trial consist of?”

“A series of tests destined to reach the level of the ninth circle.”

The Black Order had been constituted with that sole purpose since its inception.

“He warned me explicitly that, if I chose to reject it, he would use the imperial armies concentrated in the northern sector after the campaign against the Demon King to eradicate completely the rule of the north.”

“…”

“His plan consisted of falsely branding me as an ally of the Demon King, directing all that military power against our lands.”

To think that the respected Black Duke was broken by imperial coercion was implausible. However, reality was far from being a simple matter.

Using the extermination of the Demon King as justification, the armed groups of the Empire had been stationed strategically within the Saxon territory.

Not even the leader of Saxony himself possessed the means to oppose such a deployment, and he kept a vivid memory of the imposing personalities gathered in that place.

The Crimson Duke, the White Duke, the Holy Sword, the Phantom Sword, and… that savior brought from another dimension.

Dale himself had been a witness to such events in the past.

Even the fearsome Black Duke lacked the necessary power to rival alone against a front of such magnitude, cohesive under the untouchable banner of saving the Empire and purging demonic evil.

Having them positioned in the very core of the Saxon territory, offering resistance was equivalent to a death sentence.

“So you ended up yielding to his requirements?”

“The High Pontiff and the members of the White Tower council supported the act, and I was conditioned through a geas to contribute my capabilities to said trial.”

A geas represented the binding commitment of the White Tower, a mystical bond of an unbreakable nature. Said restriction was sealed directly by the highest authority of the White Tower in conjunction with his highest-ranking councilors.

“Was it for that reason that you consented to the perversion of the Black Order, justifying yourself by saying that you had to safeguard the security of Saxony by having no alternatives?”

“…”

The young man could well have structured an argument to justify his progenitor’s actions, pointing out that it was a forced path with the goal of safeguarding what he valued most, and that not even the Black Duke himself had options in the face of such excessive oppression.

However, those words never came out of his mouth. It was not possible for him to pronounce them. The room continued to be plunged into silence.

“I could have chosen the alternative of fighting against them until I breathed my last,” the Black Duke declared after a prolonged interruption.

“Although the probabilities of victory were null, I could well have unleashed all the tools within my reach, including the ‘Death Order,’ with the goal of causing them a detriment that they would never manage to redress.”

Despite everything, he did not take that path. He could not carry it out.

“However, as incoherent as it may seem… the thought of Elena came to my mind.”

Elena, Dale’s progenitor. The lady who possessed the ruler’s sincere affection.

“Was it then that you decided to give in?”

The ruler nodded quietly before continuing with his story.

“The fear of losing Elena paralyzed me.”

His tone of voice experienced a slight oscillation, evidencing fragility for the first occasion.

“I was terrified by the idea of not getting to know the descendant that we would conceive together.”

The child that would be born as a fruit of the union between the ruler and Elena.

“For that reason, I gave my support to the activities of the Black Order. I bowed before the demands of the Empire and the directives of the Red Tower, surrendering before the weight of their weaponry and their supposed fairness, bowing my head in an act that I consider cowardly and degrading.”

The leader prolonged his explanation, sprinkling his affirmations with a touch of bitterness toward himself.

“Through the alliances woven in the Black Order, focused on obtaining superior capabilities and hidden mysteries, all with the goal set on accessing the ninth circle…”

That forbidden procedure whose end was to graze the ninth circle.

“Through the accumulation of suffering and collective desolation within a structure of mystical confinement…”

The specifications of the prohibited procedures began to be detailed by the duke himself.

“The plan required opening a portal that connected directly with the dimension of the absolute truth, using the harmful mystical current emanated from said process.”

“Did the incursion into that environment guarantee the ascent to the ninth circle?”

“There were no absolute certainties,” the ruler declared.

“The mind behind the design of this process belonged to the Crimson Duke; my role was limited to that of a simple assistant.”

However, omitting the faculties of the Black Tower and the direct intervention of the Black Duke, the execution would have resulted in unfeasible. That was the reason behind the constant attempts of the Crimson Duke to involve Dale in the new networks of the Black Order.

His interest was not focused on the Black Duke, but on Dale, because the latter would inherit the main position in the Black Tower. Such strategy pointed to a single outcome.

“At the end of the day, the efforts concluded in a resounding failure.”

“Does it mean that it was impossible for you to enter the plane of truth?”

“On the contrary, the incursion into the dimension of truth was completed satisfactorily.”

The two main figures of the Black Order, who boasted the supreme mastery in mystical arts, the Black Duke and the Crimson Duke, managed to enter the so-called “dimension of truth” on that day.

“Being so, what was the reason for the debacle?” questioned Dale, showing himself incapable of deciphering the reason why an apparent achievement was classified as a defeat. The ruler cleared the unknown:

“The failure occurred because I decided to meddle in his plans.”

“…! “

“It was intolerable for me to remain static while he materialized his perverse aspirations.”

In case an individual dominated by greed and evil managed to ascend to the ninth circle, transforming into an entity equivalent to a deity of the demons, the fate of the earthly plane would be seriously compromised, an outcome that the Black Duke foresaw to perfection.

“And what happened with the geas…?”

For the conditions of the Black Duke, hindering the desires of the Crimson Duke constituted a direct transgression to the agreement of “assisting in the development of the tests,” for which the magical pact had to be activated. It was about a mystical binding set by the leader of the White Tower in the very being of the Black Duke.

“No binding pact originated in the White Tower possessed any validity within the domains of that environment,” explained the ruler with a grimace of disappointment.

“Have you had the opportunity to contemplate the dimension of truth?”

The young man denied with his head in a subtle way.

“In that site, the logical principles and the rational laws that govern our environment lack validity completely.”

An unexplored space that escapes any attempt at human rationalization.

“I limited myself to sabotaging his intentions, and that determined the outcome.”

The goal that the students of magic pursued with such desperation was within the reach of their fingers, but ended up being unattainable.

“Did you manage to break the Crimson Duke?”

Before the question posed by his son, the Black Duke nodded. In the bowels of that plane, not even the Crimson Duke himself possessed the means to face him.

“Under that panorama, father, what was the reason for withdrawing from that mystical plane without claiming any reward?” Dale inquired with insistence. The Black Duke drew a melancholic expression on his face, at the time that the experiences linked to an old companion emerged in his mind involuntarily.

“On a previous occasion, within that plane…”

It was about the same question and, consequently, entailed the identical reply.

“Do you really maintain the idea that my return occurred empty-handed?”

Upon the breaking of the first lights of the morning, the sovereign of Saxony remained standing in the private room that he shared with his spouse.

His beloved Elena rested placidly beside the little Lize. Those beings constituted his most precious family nucleus.

They represented the absolute reason for which he would be willing to give anything to guarantee their well-being.

He evoked with clarity that winter evening of light and dark nuances in which his son Dale arrived in the world.

The clear memory of that defenseless creature emitting its first cries while resting on Elena’s lap remained completely etched in his memory.

Simultaneously, he remembered the perversity linked to the Crimson Order, an authentic earthly ordeal. Inhuman acts impossible to forgive. The indelible marks that the past left in its wake.

The gears were in full operation and the course of events did not admit a turnaround.

It was then that he brought to his mind that which he managed to extract from the environment located beyond the truth.

With the firm purpose of safeguarding his loved ones against the bellicose intentions of the empire and seeking redemption for his previous faults, he was resolved to give it all.

On that day, after turning his back on the Crimson Duke, the sovereign of Saxony sealed an alliance with an infernal entity. Said affirmation did not constitute a literary resource. Neither was it about any of the dark beings or commanders of the underworld about which the White Tower launched recurrent warnings.

Beyond the borders of conventional understanding, in the domains of truth, a being of another nature offered him an agreement.

That mystical entity possessed real existence and consented to the terms of the pact without hesitation.

A short time later, during the course of a winter evening of lights and shadows, a new existence took shape.

The descendant to whom he professed the greatest affection in all of creation.

Chapter 63