The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 37 – Falling Petals (5)

“Focus your attacks on the back!” Ossrey commanded urgently as he threw his severed fingers to the ground. His rank didn’t qualify him to give out orders to the knights, but no one disobeyed despite Sina and Haselle’s absence. Meanwhile, Ossrey was concerned as to how long the knights of the Blue Rose could last against the Templar.

“You, and you there! Take this heretic with you and leave the front line! Go hand him over to the Order of the White Crow at the White Crow Citadel!” Ossrey ordered.

“But…!”

“Go! Now!”

The knights could only nod helplessly.

Meanwhile, Ossrey looked toward Arwain—his appearance was wretched to the point where it was unclear whether he was alive or not; he looked more like a gray corpse covered with dust and blood rather than a Templar.

However, his movements were more alive than ever.

The knights’ body soared into the sky whenever Arwain swung his hammer. Even their shields were no use—the knights fell on the ground and couldn’t get back on their feet. If it was difficult to attack the knights, he would attack their horses’ heads. The knights wondered if anyone in the world could block Arwain’s monstrous hammer.

‘Can a Templar’s shield really stop him?’

Ossrey was afraid, but he had no choice but to charge at Arwain.

One of the knights thrust his spear toward Arwain’s waist, only to slip up and give Arwain a chance to smash his skull.

This battle was looking more and more hopeless. It was impossible for the knights to pierce through the Templar’s armor with the weapons they had.

“Everyone, back off and maintain distance! Don’t think about killing him. Find a way to restrict his movements instead!” Ossrey screamed desperately. Ossrey felt that if it was impossible to kill Arwain, their only hope was to take advantage of his slow movements and tie him up—until he heard Juan whisper in his ears from behind his back.

“Oh no you don’t.”

Ossrey’s neck creaked as he turned his head around—Juan was standing right there. He had already escaped the net and pierced an arrow through the knights’ head. Furthermore, Ossrey spotted dozens of gray soldiers from the Scouts aiming their bow and arrow toward him from above the outer wall.

“The moment you all entered the village square, was the moment you lost all hope,” murmured Juan.

At that moment, an arrow pierced Ossrey’s abdomen.

***

From the moment Juan planned to remain in the village, he started to use the gray cloak to amass as much power as possible. It wasn’t too difficult for him, given that the same power had already dissipated into the sky from the Ash Tower. Although it would be hard to restore the power back to the level it was at when it maintained the Ash Tower, he could recover enough power to take control over a small village. Thanks to Juan absorbing all the power, the ground dried up even after long days of rain.

The power of the gray cloak was the most effective against multiple enemies rather than a single target. The power that brought forth the fog was compelling on its own, but it also held another dark power—it made a demonic slave out of the dead. This was the reason Grunbalde’s kingdom was called the ‘Withered Kingdom’.

As Juan lacked strength after a long fight, he put the Scouts’ bodies to use and made an unbalanced environment for the enemies. After that, Juan devoted himself to taking control of the corpses and the village over a long time. While it wasn’t the most effective method to attack at the moment, it was enough to annihilate the Order of the Blue Rose.

“K-ugh, Arghhh!” Ossrey cried out in pain.

Juan was truly impressed with Ossrey; he was still charging at Juan atop his horse despite the serious injury. The first arrow hitting the target was pure luck, as Ossrey had no time to prepare himself. The emperor’s Grace wasn’t almighty enough to protect those who didn’t even intend to defend themselves.

“You’re a remarkable knight, I’ll give you that,” Juan complimented.

As Juan flicked his hand, dozens of arrows flew toward Ossrey. Ossrey used the shield to protect himself, but couldn’t block all of them. Ossrey’s horse dropped him to the ground—it could no longer continue with so many arrows penetrating its body. Meanwhile, Ossrey was critically injured, but he was still alive.

Juan retrieved his short sword from Ossrey as he laid on the ground.

“Keugh, huff…k-knights of Blue Rose, retreat…”

“No, there’s no retreat now,” Juan cut Ossrey off.

Juan shot an arrow toward the knights fighting against Arwain. The knights felt frustrated at the arrow that suddenly flew toward them, and tried to use their shield, but were soon crushed under Arwain’s hammer.

Arwain was also hit by a few arrows due to his massive body, yet he didn’t seem to care at all.

“Sir Ossrey!” someone desperately called out Ossrey’s name. The knights were in disarray, waiting for the command. But, no one was giving out orders. The knights were shouting words such as ‘Run!’, or ‘Run my ass, continue fighting!’, but it only created even more chaos with no one to lead the Order—no, there was still one person who could lead the Order.

“Everyone, retreat!”

As soon as a familiar voice commanded, the knights quickly altered their movements.

At the same moment, Juan blocked an attack with his short sword as someone charged at him—it was Sina, who was injured all over.

Anyone could tell that Sina’s condition was bad, but had no choice.

Sina was holding her weapon with her left hand, instead of her right arm, which was dangling off her shoulder.

Juan sighed as he saw the end of Sina’s sword quivering.

“What you should be doing is leading the knights and retreating with them, not coming back to fight me,” scolded Juan.

“I’m going to stop you, no matter what!”

‘In that condition? Yeah, right.’?

At that moment, Juan realized some of his demonic slaves of the dead from the Scouts had been shot with arrows by the remaining Scouts that had been waiting in ambush. Their courage to shoot arrows at their fellow comrades that might still be alive was worth admiration.

“Did you give them the order?” asked Juan.

Sina didn’t reply. Dozens of arrows fiercely flew toward Juan—it was as if Sina had commanded the Scouts to shoot at them, without caring for her own safety. The soldiers from the Scouts outnumbered Juan’s demonic slaves, resulting in them to easily falling in the face of the arrows.

Soon, the knights began to retreat.

“No…not just yet,” muttered Juan.

The fog on the floor soared into the sky as Juan beckoned. Suddenly covered by fog which caused her visibility to be reduced, Sina swung her sword in a rage.

“Useless tricks! You think we are gonna fall for that again!?” Sina snorted.

Flash!?

With a flashing sound, a light exploded somewhere within the fog.

Juan found the light to be very familiar; he recalled seeing the same flash grenade in the Ash Tower. It was clear that the knights had collected it from the Ash Tower to light their way inside the fog as a countermeasure against Juan.

Juan smiled coldly. It was only after Sina saw him smile coldly that she realized something was wrong.

“N-no! Turn off the light!” Sina stuttered.

But it was too late. The light grenade brightening the inside of the fog exposed the knights, turning them into easy prey for Juan’s demonic slaves.

The knights that exploded the grenades were instantly attacked with arrows. At the same time, pieces of flesh scattered everywhere whenever the sound of a hammer being swung was heard.

“That bastard is nowhere to be seen!”

“H-he came out of nowhere…”

“N-No. I was trying to stab the monster. I didn’t mean to stab you…”

The knights burst into desperate groans. Demonic slaves had the ability to fade their figure in and out of the fog.

“Your plan would’ve been successful if I was your only enemy,” shrugged Juan.

“Ahhhh!”

Sina desperately thrust her sword. Seeing Sina weakly swinging her sword with her left hand, while her entire body was riddled with wounds was a pathetic sight.

Juan easily dodged Sina’s attack and tripped her with his foot.

Sina was sent tumbling to the ground again. As she staggered and tried to pick herself up, Sina’s fingers touched something—it was Ossrey.

“Ossrey! Ossrey, wake up!”

“Dame… Sina…” Ossrey muttered, groaning.

Sina tried to prop him up, but it was impossible to support an adult man with the current condition of her body. Meanwhile, she could hear the despairing cry of knights fighting, cursing, and requesting for help within the fog, but she was absolutely powerless to do anything for them.

“Get up, Ossrey! Are you planning to die out here?!” Sina desperately screamed at Ossrey.

“I…wanted us to… return to the capital… together,” Ossrey muttered with a faint voice.

It was only then that Sina realized the deal that Ossrey and Kato had made. Kato was not in the position to decide whether or not they could return to the capital, especially when Sina basically left the capital on her own two feet. But Sina could make a guess as to what Ossrey had in mind when he made the deal with Kato.

“Yes, we should go back to the capital! Whether you become a Templar or not after you return, you need to get up first!”

Ossrey’s words came out only as a whisper. Sina lifted her head in despair, trying to find Juan, but he was already out of sight.

“Juan! I’ll be the one to die here! So let go of my knights!” Sina cried.

“Sina, are you still so clueless after all those years of studying history?” Juan’s voice came from somewhere beyond the fog. “The emperor doesn’t spare the lives of enemies that could pose a threat. Inside this fog were the bodies of around thirty more of the Scouts.”

More footsteps than ever could be heard within the fog. The heavy and eerie sounds of footsteps approaching did not belong to the knights of the Blue Rose.

In the meantime, groans and screams of knights had significantly diminished. It didn’t take long for terrible silence to fill the air beyond the fog; only the sound of heavy footsteps hovered around Sina.

Sina raised her sword and kept her eyes on the surroundings, but she couldn’t see anyone. Even Juan had disappeared beyond the fog.

“Juan! Reveal yourself! Let’s end everything here!” Sina hollered within the fog.

“No,” Juan replied quietly.

Sina looked around while breathing heavily, but she couldn’t figure out where the voice came from. The only sounds she could hear were the sounds of heavy footsteps and Ossrey’s groans, while the fog all around them continued to thicken.

“I don’t want to kill you with my own hands. I’ve grown to enjoy your existence.”

“Get back here!”

“So just die there like a dog, the same as your knights.”

“JUAAANN!!”

However, there was no answer to Sina’s anguished cries.

***

Juan slashed the head of the last of the remaining Scouts. There were no longer any Scouts encircling the village anymore. It wasn’t too hard for Juan to kill the Scouts trapped inside the fog; some managed to escape, but Juan didn’t bother going after them.

As Juan gestured, the fog lifted from the air and melted into the gray cloak. Juan had relied on the gray cloak’s power during the battle, yet he was still exhausted.

Juan was victorious, but such achievement wouldn’t have been possible without a few days of preparation. Dispersing the power from Grunbalde’s gray cloak into the sky, and corrupting the ground to summon demonic slaves. Even if Templars had come, they wouldn’t have been able to escape. It was an excessive amount of power to use on just the Order of the Blue Rose, but Juan had no regrets since the Order of the White Crow wasn\'t coming.

Juan recalled the fog and traveled down the village. Demonic slaves wandering around broke down, turning into dust as the sunlight shone upon their body, and a light smoke arose from their remains. Among the dust of demonic slaves were the corpses of the fallen knights of the Order of the Blue Rose—their bodies were scattered everywhere on the village square; some died trying to run away while the rest died fighting against the demonic slaves.

Walking through the corpses, Juan encountered Arwain. His armor was covered with scars, but still seemed intact.

Juan contemplated what to do with Arwain’s Templar equipment. It would definitely help Juan if he absorbed it, but he felt that it would be a waste of equipment. While the Grace within the armor was crude and simple, it would be helpful for people other than Juan; Juan wasn’t capable of making such equipment in his current condition.

‘I’ll just have to bury these somewhere.’

Juan commanded Arwain to dig somewhere in the forest that was easy for Juan to remember and then ordered him to take off his armor. Soon after Arwain took off his armor, his body caught on fire and eventually turned into dust.

Juan covered his remains with dirt and leaves.

“You’ve done well, thanks.” It was the very first and the only time Juan would thank Arwain.

Juan then returned to the village square. The village square was bloody, but time would take care of it. Sooner or later, the beasts would gather, drawn by the scent of blood.

Juan forcefully turned his head toward the place that he had been avoiding —he had to check it one last time.

His gaze paused at one spot. It was a spot where he expected to see Sina’s corpse.

However, Sina was standing there, still alive and looking like a collapsing scarecrow.

“Si…,”

Juan tried to approach her while calling out her name, but stopped.

All around Sina were the corpses of the Scouts. Sina’s own condition was not much better; she looked like a walking corpse. Her broken right arm was frayed with scars and arrow marks, almost as if she had used it as a shield. There were arrows stuck everywhere on her body; her left eye socket was empty, as if she pulled out an arrow from there.

Nevertheless, Sina was alive and looked as if she was still capable of fighting.

“Sina,” Juan quietly called out her name.

Sina slowly turned toward him. Sina’s dried lips cracked as a smile appeared on her face.

“Your Majesty.”

Sina slowly went down on her knees in front of Juan.