A fierce battle.

No—could it even be called fierce?

“Haa… haa…”

Lilien’s breath came in ragged bursts as she stared ahead. Ezer’s forces, who had been pushing back Krata’s army, could advance no further and were now retreating instead.

“Damn it.”

She ground her teeth. To be driven back in a battle they had been winning—it was humiliating beyond measure.

If only Lutan hadn’t shown up…

At the perfect moment, right after Tia disappeared, Lutan arrived and turned the tide. Ezer’s knights and soldiers fought hard, but lacking any hero-class combatants was fatal.

In the end, pushed back again and again, she had no choice but to order a retreat.

No… maybe surviving at all is the real miracle here.

When Lutan had first appeared, he had been right in front of her. He could have ended her life in an instant, yet he hadn’t. It was as if she hadn’t even been worth his attention—he simply turned away and slaughtered the Ezer soldiers beside her instead.

He didn’t even see me as an opponent.

Commander or not, she had no means to turn the tide. Lutan had recognized that.

Her fists clenched tight—not in anger at Lutan, but at herself for being powerless before him.

Your Majesty… why…

Without Tia, there was no one to counter such unexpected threats. The only reason they could retreat now was because the elves Tia had left behind had kept tangling up Lutan’s advance. If Tia had been here, perhaps they could have gambled for victory—Krata’s numbers weren’t overwhelming, after all. Lutan had come alone, a single man to reinforce the western defenses.

“Captain.”

One of Ezer’s soldiers ran up to her.

“Are we really retreating like this?”

He looked dissatisfied, his voice tense.

“If the elves are holding them off this long, it means they’re doing well. Shouldn’t we be fighting to the death instead of falling back?”

He was telling her that if they ran now, they’d lose their one chance to strike back.

“Captain, we need to return.”

He pressed his point.

“If the elves die holding them here, we won’t be able to do anything afterward. His Majesty will be disappointed in us.”

He wasn’t wrong. But Lilien didn’t believe they could win in their current state.

Lutan had felled Rexton in a single stroke. Lilien’s own strength was far from Rexton’s—she couldn’t hope to carry this battle on her shoulders.

“No.”

She couldn’t tell him all of it, but she could make one thing clear.

“If we go back now, it’ll just be to die with them.”

“Captain!”

“I said no!”

Her voice rang out sharply.

“We can’t stand against Lutan as we are!”

“But we have to keep fighting! His Majesty—”

Thwip!

A sudden sound, and the soldier pitching forward with an arrow through his throat cut the argument short.

“Ambush!”

“The pursuit force has caught up!”

Lilien’s head snapped around—

“Lutan…!”

The Emperor of Krata himself was leading the pursuit, charging straight for them.

“All blades up!” she shouted.

“Turn and face them!”

At her command, Ezer’s soldiers wheeled about. And in that instant, Krata’s forces slammed into them.

The battle devolved into chaos in a heartbeat.

Even without the main body, Lutan’s pursuit force was tearing through Ezer’s ranks like paper.

The elves…

Had he left them behind, or had they all fallen? She couldn’t tell. Either way, this was the worst-case scenario.

Screams rose all around her, and Lutan was drawing closer with every heartbeat.

Her breath quickened. She knew she couldn’t count on the luck she’d had before—this time, Lutan’s blade would come for her too.

“Ugh…”

The frustration burned—at herself, for being able to do nothing.

“Uaaaaaah! Lutan!”

That was why she forced herself forward, as if unafraid.

Lutan noticed, and immediately surged toward her.

This time, she would not escape death.

But just as she braced for the clash—

BOOM!

Something interposed itself between their blades, clashing with Lutan’s weapon in a violent shockwave.

“Kh…?!”

The blast sent Lilien flying, tumbling across the ground. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she forced her head up.

“What…?”

Through her blurred vision, she saw only a vague silhouette.

“You alright?”

The voice snapped her to her senses. She finally recognized the figure before her.

“N… Nael?”

Nael of the Beastkin—a member of the Hero’s Party, a ke’kwa beastkin, and once the chieftain of her people—stood in front of her.

“Break them apart!”

“Help Ezer’s soldiers!”

“Charge!”

More beastkin warriors surged in to join the fray, spears and blades cutting through Krata’s soldiers alongside Ezer’s troops.

Reinforcements.

“Reinforcements!”

“We’ve got allies!”

“Fight!”

Like mercenaries swooping in, they lifted the soldiers’ spirits in an instant. With their inhuman physical strength, the beastkin cut down Krata’s men swiftly and brutally.

“Gaaah!”

“Ghhk!”

Their weapons hit like hammers, leaving screams in their wake.

“Lilien.”

The leader’s voice—Nael’s—called her back to herself.

“What are you doing? Fight with your men.”

“Ah—yes! Yes!”

Blood still dripping from her nose after being flung back, Lilien wiped it away with her forearm and pushed herself to her feet.

The atmosphere had shifted. Lutan was undeniably formidable, but Nael was a hero among heroes of this era.

Maybe—just maybe—they could turn this battle around.

“Lutan.”

As if she truly intended to do so, Nael fixed her gaze on him.

“This should have happened a long time ago.”

The iron gauntlet covering her fist clenched tight—the same fist that had just slammed into the flat of his blade.

“Nael.”

Lutan’s eyes dropped briefly to her gauntleted hands, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“So, you’ve come to get in my way after all.”

“That’s right.”

“I should have known you’d eventually cast aside your god and fall into disgrace.”

Nael met his stare, unflinching.

“I could say the same to you. After Clay’s execution, I saw what you truly were. You didn’t care about the peace of the continent—you just wiped out both Demon King and Hero to secure your own power.”

A low, mocking laugh rumbled from Lutan’s throat.

“Power? You think I arranged his execution for that?”

“Am I wrong?”

“Of course you are.”

He denied any part in Clay’s death.

“He died for his own crimes. I merely oversaw the process… fairly.”

“Fairly? Don’t make me laugh.”

Nael’s jaw tightened.

“You barred us from even approaching him—what was fair about that?”

“You were blinded by emotion. If you’d had the chance, you might have tried to break him out. Judging by what you’re doing now, I’d say my choice was sound.”

He shrugged.

“Though I will admit—I didn’t expect you to act now. If you were going to, I thought you’d cause trouble on the execution platform itself.”

Nael’s expression darkened further.

“That’s not something you have the right to say.”

She had no excuses for her inaction, but she didn’t need to hear it from him.

“I was late because I realized too late.”

At the time, she hadn’t thought anything was amiss—every piece of evidence pointed at Clay. The desperate cries of her people, terrified of losing what few rights they had, clouded her judgment.

She hadn’t wanted to gamble the fate of the beastkin on one decision.

“I thought it wasn’t my place to decide.”

With everyone in agreement to send Clay to the scaffold, and with the weight of her people’s future on her shoulders, it had been hard to act alone. She hadn’t even been sure Clay wanted her to try—he had always seemed like someone willing to sacrifice himself for humans.

But he was human too—and that kind of sacrifice was never something he could endure endlessly.

“So I made the most pathetic choice possible.”

Doing nothing.

Unable to judge whether Clay was good or evil, she’d simply stood and watched him die.

But she hadn’t needed to.

“I should have just followed my heart.”

If her heart told her she couldn’t let him die, then she should have moved—judgment could wait.

Regret.

It hadn’t taken long for it to consume her.

“I should never have pretended I could ‘weigh’ the situation.”

Like the beast she resembled, she should have just charged in, even if it meant dying there beside him.

“And now, I’ll follow that heart.”

This wasn’t penance—she knew she could never atone.

“But at the very least, I can destroy anything standing in the way—”

Her fists clenched, she lunged forward.

“I’ll smash it to pieces!”

BOOM!

Lutan raised his blade to catch her punch, but he couldn’t fully blunt the impact.

“!”

Even the keen edge of his sword couldn’t cut through her gauntlets.

“Uraaaah!”

Locked in a contest of strength, Nael twisted her hips, driving her knee upward into his neck.

“Ghhk!”

Lutan staggered back, and Nael chased him, fists flashing—straight, hook, straight, straight, overhead. Then, suddenly, a low kick to his flank. Forced to retreat, Lutan’s face twisted.

Whoosh!

His blade swept sideways toward her head. Nael arched back to evade, planted one hand on the ground, and lashed out with a kick to his ribs.

CRASH!

He tumbled across the dirt, rolling several times before skidding to a stop.

By the time he pushed himself up, still without a cry of pain, Nael was already standing in front of him.

“You’re… not Lutan, are you?” she murmured.

(End of Chapter)

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