Gozine

The 28th Life.

Throughout this life, I’ve pondered many things.
But now, it’s time to bring it to an end.

I grip my sword, tighten my hold, kick off the ground, and leap forward.
The ground I stood on vanishes in an instant, and a strange illusion, as if I’m floating in midair stimulates my brain, ironically reminding me that this moment is reality.

Now, this is truly the end of the story.

“For Emperor Esteban!”

“Execute the traitorous princess!”

“Execute the traitorous princess!”

The same rough shouts erupt repeatedly.
The enemy soldiers already believe the current emperor Penelope is a traitor.
Likely, they think she schemed her way to the throne.

I have no intention of persuading them.
If they were the type to be reasoned with, this wretched war wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Now, if they have convictions, they must carry them through and move forward.
If I hesitate even for a moment here, everything I’ve barely managed to protect could be lost.

Black Blade Flash.

The black blade glows with a viscous, purple-tinged mana, its edge sharpening to a deadly gleam.
It slices through the enemy in an instant, and doesn’t stop there. It continues to cut down the next enemy, and the next, like dominoes collapsing. A faint thrill begins to rise in my chest as the enemy forces crumble.

The enemy ranks freeze for a moment.
But the sword doesn’t stop. It moves on to the next target.

Black Blade Chain of Flashes.

One moment of hesitation. One, then two.
Enemy heads begin to hit the ground more frequently.
My pounding heartbeat roars so loudly it’s dizzying.

Shwat!

Blood sprays.

“Kill… the traitorous princess’s knight!”

“Do not retreat! The founding king’s grace is with us!”

A rough battle cry.

‘Right. That’s how it should be. That way, I’ll feel less guilty when I cut you down. And’

Dash!

I charge into the heart of the enemy formation and unleash Black Rose.

Like petals scattering at the end of April, the swirling, dancing petals around me are beautiful, but laced with poison. Stormbringer wears the light. True to its epithet, the blade cuts through the enemy at blinding speed, shattering their will to fight.

“Damn it…!”

“H-how do we…! That thing’s a monster!”

“Everyone, stay calm! How dare you cowards tremble before a mere upstart brat, when you are knights of His Majesty Emperor Esteban!”

A legion commander shouted, trying to rally his troops.

His gaze locks onto me. His sanity is already gone, no different from Esteban, who seems to have offered everything to a demon.

‘If even someone of his skill has been brainwashed, the probability is already slim.’

But it’s fine.
Either way, wasn’t this the expected outcome?

Even that’s already a fortunate thing, the fact that the legion commander didn’t join the frontlines.
Even if I don’t know the details, his combat ability must have degraded to the point where it’s incomparable to the past. Those brainwashed by dark magic can hardly fight at full strength.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.
There’s something far more important.

“For the Arkheim Empire!”

Ziiing…!!

It began with the legion commander raising his sword and shouting, and light erupted.

‘Damn it. I thought I’d avoided him. Of all things, this…!’

A blinding yellow lightning bolt begins to seep into some of the enemy soldiers

That is the power of the founding king. Lightning.

‘Lightning-attribute mana. Unlike pure holy mana, its offensive power is absurd. And that technique’.

[Lightning’s Blessing].
Its effect is simple. It temporarily grants holy attributes to the army he leads. It doesn’t have the destructive force of pure lightning, but if attacks imbued with holy mana keep coming? That’s a real headache for me, who uses dark swords.

“Everyone, protect Young Master Nox!”

That was Christopher’s voice.
He had arrived here under Theo’s orders to guard my side. There may be many reasons, but he’s someone who will be of help.
I know full well the power of his Frost Sword. Moreover, Christopher recently perfected his secret technique, ‘Snowblossom.’
He succeeded in fully blooming the talent that stands just below a Sword Emperor.

“Young Master, Christopher….! This unworthy body will do everything in its power to ensure victory in this battle…!”

“Quiet.”

“…..”

Waaa——!

A roar can be heard simultaneously as he unleashes Snowblossom.
Ice flowers overlay the top of the black flowers, rapidly spreading around the surrounding areas.

Enemies momentum wanes, and they begin to retreat.
But I have no intention of stopping there.
Naturally, this isn’t the only sword I can wield.

Moonlight Sword.

Since Stormbringer isn’t suited for this, I decide to use another sword this time. A pure white blade floats in the air, and I snatch it before dashing forward.

I aim straight for the legion commander’s neck and swing.
This sequence of events happened clearly, but in an instant.

Thud.

The sound alone told me everything.
The legion commander’s head rolls on the ground, and the outcome of this first battle is decisively settled.

Waaaa———!

The triumphant cries from our side accelerate my heartbeat to its limit.
This is just the beginning.

You may recall what I said back in Chaders.

About a damned game named Inner Lunatic.
No, it’s a reality. The fact it demands everything to be decided swiftly that the enemy doesn’t even notice.

**********

By the time Nox sounds the victory horn and secures the first battle for our forces.
The northwest region of Rondel was also beginning to stabilize.

The power of the Stiliner family was on another level.
Cell, who has already surpassed the family head, along with the knights and mages by her side—these elite forces are more than a match for the hastily assembled, demon-tainted army. To make matters worse, Ulysses joins the fray, completely overturning the tide of battle.

“Esteban…. What are you doing here, siding with demons in this state?”

Ulysses was genuinely furious.

The Sun King he knew, Esteban’s face now bears no resemblance to the founding king.
Esteban, having lost everything to the demons, was a twisted version of his former self.

It couldn’t be helped.

Ulysses shook her head, and the Stiliner family, along with Cell, declared that they will punish these traitors severely under military law.
The oppression of beastfolk and the anger of commoners weren’t incomprehensible, but venting their fury like this wasn’t right.

‘If we give them everything they demand, won’t they just become the new privileged class, creating another divide between nobles and commoners? That would go against the new empire Emperor Penelope envisions.’

As she organizes her thoughts.
The corrupted Sun King took a step forward and spoke.

“Are you bewildered?”

“…What are you talking about?”

Ulysses responded sharply to Esteban’s words.

Since that man had been silent, they couldn’t help but murmur in confusion. That person, is he really the Esteban they once served?
The former emperor?

Though he fell to the demon’s whispers, he is like a father to them.
To Ulysses, he was an indescribeable friend, the Monarch to whom she had given all of herself and offered her loyalty

“Do I appear corrupted? By demons? Do you believe I betrayed you all, and so you point your swords at me?”

“…If not that, then what? Do you think we’d accept you raising your sword against the people? Esteban von Arkheim. Where is the emperor I knew? Where is the man worthy of the name ‘Sun,’ who brought peace to his people?!”

Ulysses’ shouting voice.
But Esteban doesn’t back down easily. The moment Ulysses and the soldiers behind him feel a pang of confusion. The Esteban that they thought was broken, the former emperor begins to regain his voice.

The solemn, serene Esteban from the past, who illuminated the darkness like the sun.
His voice almost makes them believe he’s returned to those days.

“I did not have my heart stolen by demons. People of the empire. In the end, I simply made a choice. My son Louis was the same. We only sought what we desired.”

“…What could you possibly have desired? Former Emperor. As the head of the Stiliner family, I ask you, if you were not swayed by the demons’ temptations, then for what purpose did you stand by and watch so much bloodshed?”

The head of the Stiliner family.
Robert. Esteban smiles faintly at his words.

“Humanity is a hollow existence, Robert. Do you know? In the end, humans die. Truth is hidden in the darkness, and humans differ from demons only by the smallest margin.”

“What kind of sophistry is this?!”

Robert was outraged, but Esteban continued.
To make matters worse, a demon appears behind Esteban. Dantalion. The demon Nox had defeated, but he couldn’t destroy it to its magic stone.
With the Book of Dantalion, which can glimpse the future, he gave various advice to Esteban, and the accuracy of that information is terrifyingly high.
It was natural.

The book was used mere hours ago.

Everything Dantalion says now is a future that will come to pass unless variables interfere.

“Robert. You nearly lost Cell once, didn’t you? Your own daughter.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I have already lost mine.”

Confusion spreads among the allied soldiers as they look at each other at Esteban’s words
Emperor Esteban had a child he lost?
Even Ulysses didn’t know this truth.

Ulysses bites her lip, wanting to ask what he means, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak. Because stepping forward from behind her is a light of the empire more legitimate than even her.

“What do you mean by that? Former Emperor. Esteban von Arkheim.”

“Penelope.”

Penelope von Arkheim.
The new sun of the empire has arrived. Though she was believed to be in the central capital, she used a portal to appear here and resolve the situation.
Perhaps in the place where her father will meet his end, Penelope gazes at him with solemn eyes.

“You seem to already know.”

Esteban spoke flatly before continuing.

“You had an older sister. She was discarded because her birth was deemed unworthy.”

Esteban’s voice carries sorrow.
But Penelope feels a disconnect. Discarded.
In fact, that expression might be accurate.

But not completely. She didn’t die.

Luna still lives, breathing in the deepest, most wretched darkness. Penelope sensed a gap in information. Perhaps her father believes his first daughter is dead?

Is that why he sold his soul to demons and went mad?
Did he surrender himself to the darkness, seal his own power, and now unleash it to create a variable to break this situation?

“She is alive.”

Esteban’s expression stiffens slightly.
An unexpected revelation, but he tries not to show it.
Either way, it’s too late to turn back now.

Whether the daughter he thought dead was alive or not, he had already become a foolish emperor. In that state, countless demons and malevolent forces became his followers, rallying behind him.

The only way to sever this is for a new power to rise.
Just as he once swept away the remnants of Catalyu and founded the Arkheim Empire, the same must happen now.

In any case, the conclusion was already decided.

Esteban’s lips turn pale as he presses them together.
Only a confession, as if vomited out through the gaps, and tragedy remained.

“It doesn’t matter who is alive or not. You already know, don’t you? Penelope—no, new emperor. I am a relic of the old era, and I will bind and torment you. If you dispose of me, you can reach greater heights. Can you do it?”

A man telling his own daughter to kill him. Esteban’s words are brutally cold, but Penelope’s response is even colder, enough to satisfy him.

“I will kill you. If necessary.”

The same words Nox once said to his own father.
But it was more serious than ever.

The moment Penelope’s words end, mana swirls violently. It was the full extent of the Sun King’s power, the very limits of his mana, amplified by the demons.

Zzzzzzzzt!

The swirling mana takes shape, condensing into the form of lightning before Esteban shouts solemnly at the soldiers opposing him.

“Whether saint or sinner, those who dare raise their swords and staves against Esteban von Arkheim, the former emperor, shall pay the price! Even if I have joined hands with demons, that does not change. Blame your own abilities, your monarch, everything you trusted—and perish!”

Kwakwakwakwa!

With a deafening roar, lightning crashes down, and a voice filled with human tragedy erupts.

**********

[Esteban Side Story – A Fate Entwined with the Overbearing Sun]

Death comes too easily, without even a sound.

I realized this not long after I made my mark on the world, before I could even share my plans with Ulysses, the Three Sword Emperors, or the Four Sages.

I had a wife, and her frail body collapsed repeatedly.
But blinded by my pursuit of a grand cause, I failed to care for her. Now, I must admit it. I was a good emperor, but that doesn’t mean I was a good husband.

Esteban von Arkheim.
The name of the man who would become emperor, now my own, I was utterly intoxicated by it.

Despite striving to protect the families of my people and my companions, like Ulysses von Fritschel’s child, I couldn’t protect the one I loved.

— An engagement with such a lowly family? The name ‘Sun King’ will be tarnished!
— That’s right! Please reconsider, Your Majesty!”

My wife.
Though she was a noble, she was born into a weak household. At the time, I was forging alliances through marriage to expand the imperial family’s influence and spread its name across the continent.

Naturally, the ministers opposed my marriage to her.
A tragic affair—but with only feeling of love, I could give her nothing. The one I love was replaced by a villainess who used me through the folds of her skirt.

— It’s alright, Your Majesty. I don’t mind.

Even so, my hidden wife worried for me first. Was that my absolution?

In the end, I lost her.

My wife died giving birth.
The woman who devoted her beautiful years to me died without ever becoming my official consort, discarded because of her status. The child born then. The one I couldn’t even name, became a flaw in the eyes of the people and myself.

People said.

— This is the chance to eliminate her. She will become a problem for the people, and the nobles who threaten the imperial authority.
— Please make a decision, Your Majesty!

The child was beautiful.
My died wife.
No, she looked just like the woman who was never recognized as my wife.

Though it pained me, in the end, I made a cruel choice.

I abandoned her.

It wasn’t for power.
Back then, protecting the empire was my greatest priority, and I firmly believed it was for a righteous cause.
I was convinced that child had no place in that future.

If that was the case, wasn’t it better to let her go?

Having made my decision, I abandoned her, and her fate became unknown to me.
I only heard in passing from others that she had died.

But do you know?
A child abandoned by their parents may endure it, but the parent who abandons their child must live the rest of their life under the weight of guilt and cruelty. Sadly, I didn’t know this, and so, I lost what was most precious for me.

Endless emptiness, the collapse of the self.
It began to consume my spirit, already worn thin by the long war against demons, and soon, I was broken.

‘Esteban the Fool’
The dishonorable nickname stuck to me, and it didn’t take long for me to fall apart. The demon’s whispers and the backlash of mana continued to break me, and their target was always me, and the child I failed to protect.

In exchange, the Empire I had protected.

Was the Arkheim Empire founded merely to satisfy my own desires?
Am I nothing more than a failure who couldn’t even protect his wife?

A demon kept whispering, and in the end, I sealed away my ego.
I resolved that if the chance ever came to atone for my mistakes, I would do my best. And the result is now.

Esteban, who struggled while watching the countless war orphans and suffering people.
He couldn’t even protect himself in the end. Having failed to protect his wife, his daughter, anything at all, he resolved to end it here.

The empire must fall.

The empire, whose founding virtues of goodness and resolve have long since eroded, must crumble, and a new nation must rise.

For that, I finally raised my sword.

I look at my daughter, Penelope.

What if, as she said, my first child hadn’t died?
Would she have grown a little taller than Penelope?
Or about the same? Or perhaps….would she resent me?

I don’t know.

The only certainty is that lightning has struck, and I am looking ahead.
I will bring down the empire, eradicate the demons, and correct my mistakes.

Just as King Solomon once sealed the 72 demons, I will destroy Arkheim and rebuild it anew.

**********

As Esteban rages on.
Nox von Reinhaver, after securing his first victory, moves swiftly for the next task. There was still much to do.
Especially concerning Esteban, the Sun King could create variables at any moment, throwing Penelope and the others into chaos.

No matter how ruthless utilitarian Penelope may be, he’s still her father.

‘This is dangerous.’

In the end, Penelope is forced into a situation where she must kill her own father.
No way this was desirable.

In the end, she must make a choice, and it’s unlikely to bring her happiness. But what can be done? This too is the path she chose. It’s nothing more than one of the few absolute crossroads an emperor must face.

Penelope von Arkheim.
The new sun of the empire knew

That her father will lose his life here. That tragedy will spiral into greater tragedy.

That her own blood relative.
Her sister Luna likely doesn’t like her.

**********

‘This is something I must resolve myself.’

Amid the raging war in Rondel.
A woman steps forward to face Esteban.

None other than…
Penelope, the current emperor, who was believed to be in the imperial capital.

She had come here to personally decide the fate of the founding king who was now a rebel.

“Your Majesty.”

“Robert von Stiliner. You’ve worked hard. I am grateful for your victory.”

“Did you come here safely?”

“Yes. Thanks to the portal, the trip was much faster. More importantly… For the sake of what must be done, may I ask you to step aside?”

“Of course.”

What must be done was clear.
As Robert bows, Cell and the knights follow suit.
The mages grip their robes and offer their respects, as imperial decorum dictates.
Penelope accepts this calmly before walking up to her father and slowly parting her lips.

“Esteban von Arkheim. The founding king of the empire, my father. He was once the light and hope of the Arkheim Empire.”

Like a line from a heroic tale.

She speaks with detached solemnity. Her words, like a eulogy, spread calmly among the soldiers, washing away the blood spilled across the continent.

“But no longer. You, as the people say, have lost your brilliance. You were swayed by the first prince Louis, had your soul stolen by demons, and now raise your sword against the very empire you built. For this, the judgment I, the current emperor, must pass is… execution.”

“Do it, if you can. My daughter.”

Esteban responded with a smile, welcoming his daughter’s participation in the battle.
Penelope instinctively senses something off, this isn’t the father she knew in her childhood. But it can’t be helped. Now, she must stop him and ultimately kill him.

Her utilitarianism will finally be fulfilled with her father’s death.

Even if it’s a tragic fate, so be it.
Those with something to protect.
They must be willing to pour everything into it. Only then can they prevent it from being taken.

Penelope knew this better than anyone.

For a moment, a boy flashes through her mind, but she shakes her head.

She can’t rely on him forever.
Even if Nox von Reinhaver is a man within her circles, he wasn’t her. The only thing Penelope can do is stop her father, to push herself to the limit so she doesn’t lose herself just like him. To keep her eyes open to the world around her.

That alone will drive her forward.