Karnak, Monarch of Death

Karnak’s prediction was spot on. It was just as the setting sun began to steal the colors of the plains.

A sentry, keeping a vigilant watch, suddenly shouted, ”She’s here!”

On the dimming horizon, a small girl wielding a twin-handed sword appeared. She was more than 100 meters away from the camp—far enough for the King’s Order to ready themselves. In the wide-open plains, her approach had been spotted with ease.

”The demonic sword!”

”Everyone, prepare for battle!”

”To your positions!”

The girl with the demonic sword silently glared at the King’s Order as they readied for combat. Without a word, she kicked off the ground and charged toward the camp with terrifying speed. But this time, breaking through their defenses wouldn’t be so easy. The King’s Order was fully prepared. As the girl rushed forward, the soldiers flanked her from both sides and launched coordinated attacks.

”Not so fast!”

”Do you think we’ll let you through that easily?”

The girl counterattacked, swinging her demonic sword and releasing dark energy in all directions. The shadowy blades tore into the ground, creating massive explosions.

Boom! Booom!

Yet not a single soldier fell. They had already withdrawn beyond the explosion’s range. The troops regrouped, forming their defensive lines once again. The girl scanned the encirclement with narrowed eyes before suddenly bursting into laughter.

”Kyahahaha!”

Oddly, no one paid her laugh any mind. They simply held their positions calmly, maintaining the first line of defense.

”At first, it was unnerving.”

”But we’ve heard it so many times now.”

”It’s nothing special anymore.”

Varos, commanding the defensive line, smirked in satisfaction.

Good, everything’s going according to plan.

Nothing was free in the world. Exerting power required replenishment. It was an unyielding law of the world. The demonic sword Mareda was a creature that drained human blood to fuel its dark powers. It couldn’t wield its strength endlessly. There were clear limits.

Thus, the mission for the first line of defense was simple:

—Drain the demonic sword’s power!

The objective wasn’t to defeat it outright but to defend while gradually wearing down its strength. Charging recklessly to attack would be disastrous. If someone were struck by the demonic sword, their blood would be drained, not only killing them but also strengthening the enemy. The key was to maintain a fine balance.

”Ahaha!”

Laughing wildly, the girl swung her sword at the warriors before her. It was night, and her attacks were sharper and stronger. Even if the members blocked with their swords, it seemed as if she could cut them down along with their weapons. So, the soldiers focused solely on retreating.

”Ugh!”

”Evade!”

There was no need to fear being chased down and cut to pieces. That’s what their comrades were for.

”Torres!”

”Stay safe!”

With loud shouts, two soldiers thrust their spears at the girl’s back. They made no effort to conceal their attack, even yelling to draw her attention. The girl twisted her body, spinning her demonic sword to effortlessly deflect both spears.

Clang! Clang!

In doing so, she allowed the retreating soldiers to escape beyond her range unharmed.

”Hah, I’m alive.”

”Good. Back to it!”

The encirclement reformed, tightening around the girl once more.

The girl hesitated. Her target was clear. She had to reach it, and anything in her way needed to be eliminated. But the obstacles were maddeningly elusive. They retreated just before she could strike, only to regroup and harass her from behind whenever she tried to advance.

Should she press forward and ignore them, or stay and eliminate them? The indecision was exactly what the King’s Order had intended.

”Everyone, fall back!”

”Good! She’s heading toward the center of the camp!”

”Our turn now!”

”Go after her!”

The strategy was simple. They would let her pass, then strike from behind. But the gap in power was too wide to keep her tied down indefinitely.

”Hehe.”

With a faint chuckle, the girl with the demonic sword pushed off the ground.

Boom!

It wasn’t so much a leap as it was an explosion beneath her feet propelling her upward. Her entire body shot into the air, propelled by the force, as she attempted to break away from the encirclement and target her objective.

”Kyahahahaha!”

In an instant, she widened the gap between herself and the defensive line. If this continued, she would be too far away to pursue effectively.

Varos gave the signal.

”Wester! Camilla!”

Two figures, a man and a woman in their thirties, emerged from behind the tents, clad in robes. They were Wester and Camilla, mages from the Seventh Squad. Priests were scarce in the King’s Order, since the church only allocated a fixed number to the order. Only one priest was assigned per squad.

Mages, however, were relatively more abundant. Like Karnak before he became a squad captain, there were several fourth circle mages assigned across the Squads.

Both Wester and Camilla raised their staffs.

Magical energy coursed through their staffs, drawing radiant glyphs into the air. The luminous patterns pulsed with power, radiating an overwhelming force. As the spell reached completion, they shouted in unison.

”Strike of Thunderfire!”

”Descend upon us!”

A pillar of lightning shot down, slamming into the girl with the demonic sword.

Boom!

A deafening roar tore through the night sky. But when the smoke cleared, the girl emerged. She was unscathed. Not a single hair was out of place. The instant the lightning struck, she had shielded her body with a barrier of blood energy.

However, the spell wasn’t entirely ineffective. To block it, she had expended a significant amount of her power. The girl turned her gaze toward the mages. The spell had posed a genuine threat, marking them as obstacles she couldn’t ignore. She had to eliminate them first. But the mages were already retreating, abandoning the tent and running swiftly.

”We did our job, didn’t we?”

”Exactly! Let’s get out of here!”

Without looking back, they sprinted away—conveniently in the opposite direction of the camp’s center, the demonic sword’s target.

This presented another dilemma. Her target was in one direction. The obstacles were in another. She had intended to eliminate the obstacles first, but they had retreated so far that they no longer seemed like threats.

While she hesitated, the King’s Order had reformed their encirclement, closing in on her once more.

Varos bellowed, ”Good, back to it!”

***

Under Varos’ command, the King’s Order maintained a solid first line of defense. Despite their efforts, the demonic sword Mareda continued pushing toward the center of the camp. It was expected.

They weren’t trying to block her entirely. Their aim was only to exhaust her power as she advanced. Pushing her too hard before she fell into the trap would be risky. If cornered, she might flee again. This was why Ziken, Karnak, and the other aura users among the leadership remained stationed near the trap, waiting for the right moment.

Watching the battle from a distance, Triv couldn’t help but remark, ”My goodness, is that man some kind of clairvoyant?”

As expected of the King’s Order, the elite of the elite, everyone fought skillfully. The knights and mages worked in perfect coordination, seamlessly pressuring the demonic sword.

But Varos stood out even among them. He wasn’t an aura user, nor was he particularly fast or strong. Yet he handled the demonic sword with an ease that rivaled, if not surpassed, the capabilities of most aura users.

Striking, retreating, weaving through openings, disrupting her rhythm, and seizing the right moments—all his movements were flawlessly calculated. Even Triv, a blue-rank aura user himself, doubted he could fight as effectively.

”How can he even do something like that?”

Lefan, who was hiding nearby as bait, asked in disbelief. ”Are you saying even with aura, you can’t pull that off?”

He knew how skilled Varos was. Every sparring session ended with him getting completely outmaneuvered.

But enough to impress even a blue knight?

Triv shook his head.

”That has nothing to do with aura, does it?”

Using aura might let you take down a powerful foe with a single strike. But even the most skilled aura user couldn’t strike the exact same spot with pinpoint accuracy dozens of times in a row, especially not against a moving opponent.

Varos, however, anticipated his opponent’s every movement, targeting only vital points. He struck first, and his opponent arrived later, making it look like they willingly walked into his blade.

”Does he calculate every move because he’s ridiculously smart?”

”He doesn’t seem that bright to me.”

”Then maybe he’s got unparalleled experience?”

”He doesn’t seem that old either.”

”That’s why it’s so fascinating.”

Meanwhile, Varos was silently keeping track of time.

This should be enough, right?

It had been quite a while since the fight started, and many of the troops were visibly fatigued. It was time to pass the torch.

”Alright, King’s Order!” Stepping back, he called out with a playful grin. ”Let’s clock out!”

***

There was a clear difference between retreating and clocking out. Retreating was pulling back strategically, depending on the tide of the battle.

Clocking out? That was leaving work when your shift was over. It meant they were abandoning the fight entirely. At Varos’ command, the King’s Order began retreating en masse, running out of the camp.

The demonic sword hesitated, scanning the surroundings before making a decision. Her enemies had withdrawn far enough. They were too distant to return in time to interfere. They were no longer a threat. Now, nothing stood in the way of her true objective.

”Ahaha...”

With wild laughter, the girl with the demonic sword raced across the plains like a predator. With no obstacles, she tore through the camp and arrived at the center in mere moments. There, she found her target.

”Ugh, so she came after all...”

A swordsman in his twenties, wearing a tense expression, readied himself for battle. It was Fross, from the Seventh Squad. The girl, exhilarated, lunged for him.

”Ahahaha!”

But if there was a first line of defense, it implied the existence of a second. Two figures emerged to face her. They were Harris and Serati, red-tier aura users.

”Alright, our turn!”

”I’ll go first!”

With fiery red aura blades in hand, the two charged forward. The demonic sword, no matter how powerful, couldn’t ignore them and continue targeting Fross.

”Ahahaha!”

The girl redirected her attacks toward the new challengers. Black aura clashed with red in midair, exploding with deafening roars. Fross, narrowly escaping the fray, shook his head in disbelief.

”This is ridiculous. Two aura users protecting me?”

Harris and Serati exchanged wry smiles as they held the demonic sword at bay.

”How does it feel to be such a big deal?”

”Stick to the plan!”

”On it!”

Fross retreated further as the two aura users blocked the girl’s path. Three streams of destructive light intertwined across the plains, painting a dazzling dance of devastation.