Shalnar’s month of fire, eleventh day~~
An old clan village hidden in the Gazzetta mountains.
The “village” looked more like a small fortress than a village, and stone buildings were neatly arranged around the environs. At a first glance one could mistake it for a secluded mountain village.
In this small group of buildings, one house set itself apart from the rest, as its disposition was more akin to a shrine than to a simple building.
“Hey granny, still alive and kicking strong, I see.” (Young man)
“And look at you, all grown up. You’re so tall now.” (Village priestess)
The young man was familiar with the village priestess since he was a baby, so after exchanging a friendly chatter the two moved onto the main topic.
“What kind of a revelation have you received this time?” (Young man)
“Mhm… the Evil G.o.d has descended.” (Village priestess)
“Hmm? Him again, what kind of fellow is It now? An ancient monster or a progenitor of the four great G.o.ds (四大神の祖)?” (Young man)
“His body is similar to that of the progenitors. I think he’s probably a variation of a man.” (Village priestess)
The peaceful atmosphere from before had disappeared as the young man listened carefully to the priestess’s revelation.
This descent granted the clan’s most desired wish. In ancient times (EN:A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…), the evil G.o.d that descended to Kaltcio had become the source of prosperity for the white clan, although this evil G.o.d had also lead their clan to their downfall. This evil G.o.d had called himself [Wizard] and had a body of a man (as opposed to that of a beast).
“He has descended in Fonclanc.” (Village priestess)
“A human, eh? Then maybe this time he will destroy the prosperity of the divine arts users?” (Young man)
In the world that was controlled by the white clan, those with ability to use strange arts were a minority and they were treated as second rate citizens and mockingly called [colored]. The [colored] worshiped the four great G.o.ds who, they believed, had given them their powers. The evil G.o.d himself, however, had called that power [magic].
The [colored] had called themselves the [divine arts users] and gradually rose to power. Finally, the white clan was driven off to this region.
“This, I don’t know. However, I saw that his hair was jet black.” (Village priestess)
“Hmm… I guess there’s no other way… I, myself will go and confirm it.” (Young man)
Another humanoid evil G.o.d that had descended before the [Wizard], was a monster clad in human flesh. This monster had culled the [colored] with his power, reducing their numbers to a dwindling minority and providing the white clan with their chance to flourish.
The monster’s statue, enshrined in the shrines of the [artless] all over the world, was based on the shape of this creature.
According to the mission that was pa.s.sed on to every king of the white clan since the ancient times, when an evil G.o.d descended, the king himself would have to go and confirm the existence of the G.o.d. Now the evil G.o.d has descended, and his image was close to that of the black statue. The young man left the priestess’s shrine and returned to his castle to immediately start the preparations for his journey.
“Do you really have to travel alone?” (King’s aide/concubine)
“I have to, this is a king’s mission.” (Young king)
“But… if something were to happen to the body of your majesty’s…” (King’s aide/concubine)
The king’s aid and concubine objected. The king touched the belly of his worried partner to calm her, as she insisted him to at least take a guard with him,.
“It is too late. Besides, my heir is probably already within you.” (Young king)
“B-but, we don’t even know if the baby is a girl or a boy.” (Kings aide/concubine)
As his lady said that, he calmed her down with a kiss and set out towards the lands of Fonclanc.
Zalnar’s month of fire, 2nd day~~
“Impossible. Is that guy really the evil G.o.d?” (Young king)
After receiving surveillance reports on the movements of the Blue Garden troops, he decided to invade Paula and ordered the troops to gather up. While the troops were gathering in a town near the country border, a small scout unit was sent towards the ruins of the Gearhawk fortress and the main force was relocated by separating it into smaller groups so as to avoid detection.
“Your majesty, what are you going to do regarding Risha sama?” (Someone close to Shinha and Rishause) (TN: she was called Risha in the webnovel)
“Risha’s father is long dead, she is now but a bird in the cage. We are going to free her together.” (Young king)
The queen had inherited the late king’s dream, even if all she had managed to do was to protect it in the miniature garden that was named Cofta. But even that city would be eventually taken by the supreme commander of Paula. When that happened, the queen’s protection would not be able to extend to the salvation of the [artless].
“Being a queen, she will probably be unable to accept our help” (Someone close to Shinha and Rishause)
“In that case we will free her through sheer force.” (Young king)
Carrying his silver greatsword, he advanced towards the queen’s army that had taken up a defensive position in front of them. He charged forward, defying the inferior position he currently was at, as the defensive wall stood atop the slight slope on the plains. [Artless] soldiers, who were the descendants of the white clan, were the masters of armed combat. Their charge towards the defendants with weapons prepared in both hands was truly a frightful sight to behold. Faced with it, the divine arts users just barely held their positions with their pride and loyalty of being the queen’s army.
“Mrhm, it’s regrettable” (Zeshald)
Zeshald climbed up on the wall and was observing the battle from the upper part of the defensive wall. Just as he began to think of whether he should send the divine arts militia, who was coordinating the evacuation of the refugees, to cover the queen’s forces, a string of light has stretched from part of the fortress towards the vanguard of the queen’s army and a bright light began to envelop the vast area around the fortress.
The next moment only the beads of light remained dancing in the air and at the same time a huge wall appeared separating the queen’s army from Gazzetta’s forces.
Gazzetta’s soldier’s pace was slightly disrupted by that huge wall, which suddenly separated them from their foes. Shinha looked over his shoulder towards the advancing Fonclanc army as he ordered his army to circle around the wall so as to not halt the advance completely.
“Yuusuke!” (Shinha)
There was quite some distance between Shinha and Yuusuke’s darkness G.o.d corps. Moreover, the knight corps, led by the fire G.o.d corps knights, were in between them. Yuusuke’s main guard squad numbered at around twenty soldiers.
If a squad were to branch off from the main force to interfere with the divine arts, they would have a hard time evading the knight squads in the rear and would incur unnecessary losses.
“Read guard, prepare for battle!” (Shinha)
Shinha chose to use a more reliable method and used his triumph card.
[“Well, Yuusuke, how will you respond do this?”] (Shinha’s thoughts)
Yuusuke was looking at the section of the Paula’s wall where it had connected to his wall. He had roughly determined the coordinates of the queen’s army just by his sight alone and was creating the wall by relying on little more than his intuition.
As he was continuously manipulating the customization menu, a squad member who was monitoring their surroundings and scanning for potential enemies, suddenly informed him about the approaching enemy.
“Gazzetta cavalry is approaching from behind us! They number around forty!” (Yuusuke’s scout)
“That’s bad. Didn’t those guys retreat some time ago?” (Vermeer)
“Captain! You should recall our troops.” (Fonke)
“That is not necessary.” (Yuusuke)
The darkness G.o.d corps and knights numbered at around twenty people. Around half of them were well versed in combat type divine arts. If the cavalry that was almost twice as large in numbers were to rush into them, Yuusuke’s group would be trampled and had no chances of winning. Yuusuke turned towards the impatient knight, told him that there was still some distance between them and the enemy, and continued to manipulate the customization menu.
Yuusuke had already antic.i.p.ated this, so he chose a prearranged customization from the menu and executed it immediately. A stone pavement appeared before the defensive line of his troops.
“Everyone, get on the stone pavement!” (Yuusuke)
Yuusuke jumped out of the wagon, screaming the order, and started running himself. Darkness corps members reacted in a heartbeat while the escorting knights followed behind them, as everyone ran towards the pavement. Gazzetta cavalry continued their charge and now was about fifty meters (~55 yards) away from their target.
“Did everyone climb on it? Everyone? Is there anyone still standing on the ground?” (Yuusuke)
After making sure that everyone got up onto the pavement, Yuusuke swiftly opened the customization menu and pushed the execute b.u.t.ton.
It was an experimental divine art based on the idea that if the vertical movement of a customized object was possible, then the horizontal movement should be possible as well.
At the moment the fluttering light beads disappeared, darkness G.o.d corps and accompanying knights appeared next to the queen’s forces.
“Wh-what the heck?!” (Shinha)
Shinha was watching the rear guard forces as he sent an a.s.sault force towards the darkness G.o.d squad, while his forces were circling around the huge wall. The way that the a.s.sault had played out had left him so speechless that he could only raise his voice in surprise. For a moment he thought that the darkness G.o.d corps had disappeared, but they suddenly appeared next to the queen’s forces.
“He moved his entire force?!… That’s impossible…” (Shinha)
“Your majesty, if this continues we will be pincered between the queen’s forces, supported by the darkness G.o.d squad, and the Fonclanc forces.” (Gazzetta officer)
“I know that myself. Order the cavalry to cover this position.” (Shinha)
The cavalry group was dumbfounded with the sudden loss of their target, as they received a transmission through wind arts to return and back up the main force. Shinha accepted the fact that Yuusuke’s power was greater than he had thought, thus he began changing his strategy, redirecting his army to defend against the attack from behind using the very wall that had foiled their plans.
Contacting the guerilla forces of [artless] in the villages from all over the continent, he ordered them to capture people, close to Yuusuke, under the pretext of protection. Even if they failed to show the might of Gazzetta to the world in this battle, he wanted to at least get some leverage to make Yuusuke come to his country.
“That’s right, there was a girl… named Sun… Communications officer!” (Shinha) (TN: princess peach lol)
Yuusuke’s troops had teleported near the main fortress of the queen’s army. As he turned towards the Gazzetta army that should emerge around the corner of the wall at any second, Yuusuke requested the queen’s army to retreat in the direction of the mountain. The queen’s army conceded, saying things like, “Since it’s an order from the evil G.o.d corps, we will stand down,” but the militia showed resentment towards the command.
However, Queen Rishause, having heard about the Darkness G.o.d corps (Yuusuke) from Zeshald and Reifold, decided that if they really are that strong, it would be better to entrust this battle to them.
According to the queen’s decision, Fonclanc’s army would take over the duty of engaging Gazzetta’s forces. Following this decision, Blue Garden’s forces could honorably retreat from the wall, pa.s.sing through the fortress and head towards the Bouzas mountain range.
Yuusuke looked up at the fortress, cheerfully smiled, and waved at Zeshald who was looking at him from up there. For a while they stayed like that, glancing at each other.
“The queen’s army is retreating.” (Vermeer) (TN: names in this dialogue are added at random. Will revice as the manga catches up)
“Hivodir’s group has gone around the wall and is pressuring Gazzetta’s army from the flank.” (Isotta)
“The cavalry group had started moving in the rear and is probably attempting to join with Gazzetta’s main force.” (Shaheed)
“Good, prepare to send a signal to Hivodir’s group. Order everyone else to back up the water mirror.” (Yuusuke)
Soldiers were quick to execute Yuusuke’s order which he gave in a somewhat calm manner. Yuusuke called out the map item in his customization menu that he had prepared earlier and was waiting for the exact moment to activate it.
On top of having their hands full with the water mirror forces, Izapnar’s elite troops were completely surrounded as they now stood not only against the water mirror’s force but the queen’s army as well, and they also had to face Fonclanc army and Gazzetta invaders. Faced with these circ.u.mstances, some of the soldiers on Izapnar’s side began ignoring their commander’s orders and started surrendering to the queen’s forces.
Before long, Gazzetta’s army circ.u.mvented the huge wall and appeared before the other armies. Yuusuke got lucky, as his enemy appeared in the map item data menu near the wall he created. Because Yuusuke’s attacks were of indirect terrain interference type, he needed a customizable map item next to the target that he wanted to attack. Shinha’s plan was to back themselves against the wall, thus enabling Yuusuke to do just that.
A wall of light stretched outwards from the Yuusuke’s wall and surrounded the White Sword. A considerable amount of stone was required to trap a group of more than a hundred white haired soldiers. Luckily the required resources were available nearby, though the vast wall at the upper part of the main defensive wall of the fortress was continuously disappearing.
“Y-your majesty! That…!” (Gazzetta officer)
“Impossible… did he just confine us within the wall?!” (Shinha)
In the midst of the captured White Sword army, Shinha was late to notice that this nonsensical divine art that had trapped his army also erected similar walls to capture the cavalry group that was moving on their individual orders.
“Grrrrr! He got me… I was wrong to make decisions based on common sense.” (Shinha)
Just like that, Gazzetta’s cavalry corps under Shinha’s command got themselves captured in a situation similar to the one Izapnar’s forces had found themselves in, without crossing their swords with their enemy even once.
After a short while, Hivodir’s corps caught up the captured Gazzetta troops and climbed up the wall. Hivodir was laughing loudly, looking down at the captured troops, thinking that they can now be easily disposed of. However, Yuusuke did not allow him to carry out his wish and ordered approaching Gazzetta cavalry to halt its advance. The cavalry group, seeing their main army being taken hostage, had no other choice but to concede.
“Gather the remaining members of the elite troupes in the central command. In the face of such odds we have no other choice but to regroup!” (Izapnar)
Izapnar was planning to barricade himself and his remaining soldiers within the central command while keeping the ma.s.ses agitated, thus prolonging the civil war and giving him time to come up with a retaliation plan to shift the blame towards the queen. First of all, the very fact that the queen allowed a foreign army to enter their lands, and even more so, to let them enter within Paula’s walls was preposterous. Also, that she had relied on the strength of Fonclanc’s army to repel the Gazzetta’s invasion was a national disgrace and a grave mistake.
There were no more doubts that the queen’s entourage, Zeshald, was loyal to Fonclanc. He shifted all his plans to promote the propaganda that the central figure of Blue Garden was deceived by Fonclanc. By manipulating the information like that, he planned to blame the queen for the disgrace of all the divine arts users of the nation.
For that reason he somehow had to deal with Zeshald. Without eliminating Fonclanc’s support for the queen, it would be impossible to oppose the reconciliation policy between the king Esvobus and queen Rishause. Thus, he could only wait for Belushya, who had successfully infiltrated the water mirror, to accomplish her mission.
“It’s not over… I will manage somehow. I expect them to split part of their force to deal with the Gazzetta’s army, so only part of them should head towards here.” (Izapnar)
While he was grumbling about the measures he had to take and the prospects for the future, the supreme commander was thinking of a speech that would serve to agitate the ma.s.ses. Izapnar crumbled the paper with a speech that did not please him and threw it away. As he filled a cup with water from a jug to clench his thirst, only the sound of the cup being filled resounded in the room.
Only then did he noticed that his hands were trembling wildly. Putting his hands into the pockets to hide the trembling, Izapnar continued to polish his plan.
“At any rate, if I can make the queen lose the support of the ma.s.ses… Hey! Where is Volmes! Communications officer!” (Izapnar)
The plan to prolong the civil war was the do or die last ditch effort for Izapnar. Once the water mirror had gained the upper hand and forced the elite troupes to withdraw, it was already too late to clutch for victory. Except for fleeing the country, the only remaining opportunity for Izapnar to stay alive was to beg for the queen’s pardon.
“What is happening with the regrouping of the elite troupes?! I want the report, FAST! Whatever you are doing… do it faster for f.u.c.k’s sake!”
Only Volmes stayed at Izapnar’s side, who was muttering and shouting by himself in the supreme commander’s office of the central command.