Side Story Chapter 223

Everyone waited for the messenger; some of them were anxious, and others were hopeful.

A woman walked into Reinhardt’s council chamber, one that the kings recognized immediately. They had to suppress a disappointed sigh.

-It’s Hubalt’s Ghost Sword.

-Lilith Aphrodite...

-Well, she must be the one who feels most slighted by the Battle God’s ambitions.

The kings pitied Lilith, but none of them offered her their help. Each was occupied by their own emergency, meaning they couldn’t afford to dispatch troops to help LIlith. Even Ulabis was in the same situation, despite the goodwill between them.

‘Thran has to prepare for attacks from two empires, Hubalt and Swallow, so our situation is dire...’

Ulabis thought.

However, his eyes were sparkling brighter than ever because he knew who had come with Lilith. On top of that, Ulabis had recently almost died while helping Avalon. Although hadn’t offered his help expecting to receive a reward, certain suspicious activies in Swallow meant that Ulabis would take any help he could get.

‘The lives of millions of Thran’s citizens depend on me.’

Ulabis’s urgency was well-founded. After hundreds of attempts over nearly as many years, the people of Swallow and Thran had realized that it was impossible for them to coexist. There was only one possible conclusion for them, then:

‘Either wipe out the people of Thran and settle Swallow’s citizens there, or brainwash Thran’s population.’

They were trying to rewrite the history of Thran. In fact, Ulabis had already discovered Swallow attempting it several times.

Ulabis focused on the present as Lilith regarded the conference.

“Greetings to the mighty kings.”

Lilith made for Hubalt at maximum speed, but, halfway through her journey, stopped at Reinhardt. With Bel away from the empire, she had the perfect opportunity to turn the tide in her favor. She delayed her grand plan for one very important reason.

“I’m here to deliver a message from Joshua Sanders, Lord Emperor of Avalon,” Lilith informed the conference.

Everyone’s jaws dropped to the floor. They had been worrying about what they would say if Lilith actually asked for their help. No one had expected Lilith to be here to deliver the Martial God’s message. Of course, not everyone believed her—she might be so desperate that she was exploiting the Martial God’s name to extract assistance from them...

-Ghost Sword, I know that you and the Emperor of Avalon have been close friends for a long time, but do you expect us to just believe that you have a message from the Martial God...?

The impatient king of the Allied Powers of Palentine ended up asking the question out loud.

Rather than answering him, Lilith strode toward the table in the center of the chamber and laid a crystal ball down.

-That is...?

“The Martial God will speak for himself.”

Everyone focused on the crystal ball in the center.

-Long time no see, everyone.

Joshua stood proud in the snow, free from the ice boulder

A gasp arose from the attendees.

-It’s re-really the Martial God...?

* * *

Urector helplessly burst into laughter.

“Hahahahahaha!”

The other Martial Knights’ reactions weren't any different.

“What? Your brother is going to stab Hubalt in the heart?”

“Those insolent—!” Kerook, enraged by the Martial Knights’ mockery, was about to fling himself at the enemy.

However, Selim stopped Kerook and shook his head.

“It’s okay, Kerook,” he quietly said.

“B-But, Your Highness!”

“I’ll handle it. You know I need to be the first one to fight.”

Selim jerked his thumb over his shoulder, eliciting a soft groan from Kerook. The nobles watching Selim and the others from atop the walls were there only because of Selim, so he needed to show them that they had made the right choice. Sometimes, putting on a show was necessary.

“I’ll give you a chance to end this cleanly!” Selim shouted to the Martial Knights.

“What?”

“Let’s end this with a duel between the commanders!”

Urector boggled at him from across the line. “A fight between commanders? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I’m different from your chicken of a leader.”

“Chicken...?” Urector’s expression hardened. It didn’t take much for the Martial Knights to realize who Selim was talking about, and none of them took kindly to Selim’s aspersions.

“Are you... insulting Sir Bel?” Urector asked through gritted teeth.

“Aren’t I just speaking the truth? I’ve been looking for him for a while, but he’s nowhere to be seen.”

“Shut it!” Urector roared. He stamped his foot at Selim hard enough to distort the air. “You’re real uppity after he single-handedly devastated your entire capital!”

“Am I not remembering something correctly?”

“What?”

“Didn’t Bel high-tail it out of there too? He abandoned all his men and just—

vanished

.” Selim shrugged.

It was technically the truth, and they could not deny it. Every one of the foreign delegates who had witnessed the incident said that Hubalt’s raid had failed and that the Battle God fled to avoid fighting the Martial God. Of course, Avalon had sustained significant damage from the incident, but it still pushed other countries toward joining the Martial God’s side. The fact that someone who had been missing for decades had reappeared was surprising enough, yet his martial prowess apparently had not diminished.

“Urgh! I have to give it to you: both you and your father are smart asses!” Urector howled at the top of his lungs. His energy raged, tearing the space around him.

“Stop, Urector!”

“Commander! Let me do it! I’m begging you:

please

let me do it!”

“Don’t let the Prince get into your head! There’s too many eyes on us right now!” the Martial Knights’ commander firmly said.

The main forces of both empires were watching them. Regardless of whether this battle was going to be between the knights or just their commanders, they all knew that its outcome would greatly impact the morale of both armies.

“I’m telling you that I can win this!” Urector stormed toward Selim, ignoring his commander’s orders.

“Urector!” the Martial Knights’ commander yelled.

Urector had absolute respect for Bel, the Battle God—more respect even than his parents and the gods above. To hear that person insulted by a princeling brat...

“Even your father can’t talk about Sir Bel like that! I’ll rip your tongue out!” Urector raged as he charged toward Selim.

When Urector was around ten meters away, Selim darted forward to meet him. Kerook remained idle, though whether that was because of Selim’s instructions or because he was too surprised to keep up was unknown.

Urector and Selim were only five meters away from each other, but since Selim had a spear, Urector was already past Selim’s attack range.

‘Idiot! How stupid is he to let me close in?’

Urector’s eyes sparkled. The Martial Knight Order had been founded on admiration of Bel, so every one of the Martial Knights was a close combat expert.

‘He’s still a whelp!’

At that moment, Selim suddenly threw his spear high into the air.

“What?” Urector mumbled as he watched the spear fly away.

He didn’t get any more time to think about it. His fists clashed with Selim’s, immediately followed by an exchange of strong kicks.

“...Ugh!” Urector groaned. To his dismay, he was losing ground with every clash. It had to be said that Urector’s close-combat techniques were far from ordinary; he was using his energy-release ability with each attack, adding incredible power to his exquisite technique.

‘What in the world is going on...?’

Urector wondered.

“Do you know what my nickname was when I was a boy?” Selim leisurely asked as their battle continued.

Urector was out of breath, as was only natural during a battle, but he forced himself to answer. It was a matter of pride—if a boy could do it, Urector could do it too!

“...What?”

“‘Doppelganger.’”

“...Did you just want to brag about how you take after your father? Lucky you having such a cool daddy,” Urector sneered.

Selim shook his head. “No, it’s not because I take after His Majesty. It’s because, like right now...”

Urector's eyes widened as the space around Selim’s fists distorted.

‘W-Wait—!’

Goosebumps spread down Urector’s arms when it became clear that Selim was using close-combat techniques uncannily similar to his.

“I can understand the mechanisms behind any type of martial arts and imitate them in real time,” Selim explained.

“That just means that you take after your father! Then you must know that Joshua Sanders himself said that an imitation can’t beat the real thing!”

Selim smiled wryly. “Despite all you said about how the Battle God is the best, you live by the Martial God’s words?”

Urector gritted his teeth. It felt like the longer he talked to Selim, the more Selim was getting into his head. In that case, he was better off staying focused on the battle.

“You’re finished!” Urector shouted. He gathered all the mana in his body, reaching so deep that his veins bulged from the effort.

Selim threw a punch at Urector that had the power to pulverize solid rock.

In response, Urector’s fist hurtled toward Selim.

“You can’t win this fight!”

“It’s too late,” Selim quietly said.

“What...?” Urector's eyes widened.

Right before their fists met, Selim’s spear dropped out of the sky and pierced Urector cleanly through his heart.

As the light in Urector’s eyes rapidly faded, he thought to himself,

‘How is this... even possible?’