Chapter 134: The Awakening Power
Imran Akran is a Master. One of two swords held by the Niboria Empire. The implications of that fact were clear.
Swish.
Knights from each faction erged from their tents, and those who had been on horseback dismounted and offered their respects. Even though he had co with only a few hundred cavalry, tens of thousands of troops were watching their every move.
"I heard you were injured…… But you look fine."
"It's truly Lord Akran."
This was the intangible asset that a Master possessed.
In truth, more than half of the knight commanders assembled here were people who had once prostrated themselves before him, begging to be taught. The relationship between master and disciple was a bond as powerful as bloodline. Sure enough, the majority of his attendants were also sons of influential nobles.
And so, from that mont forward, the leadership of the forces naturally passed hands. The authority, titles, and honor of the nobility could not go against that great tide.
Bwoooong!
Soon after, accompanied by the sound of a horn, another outsider made their appearance. The Mountain Rabbits lifted their heavy backsides and walked out from the encampnt.
At the very front stood a man of striking appearance.
Calix.
So called him the one acknowledged by Imran Akran. So said he was a hidden disciple, while others freely used the word successor.
But those who watched the two separate groups realized sothing was different.
Master Imran Akran and his knights wore clean white cloaks, whereas the Mountain Rabbits carried weapons and mounts of every kind.
Desert-born and Astria-native humans, elves and dwarves, warhorses raised in the forest and Rockboars. The freedom of wanderers was woven throughout.
Gulp.
The sound of soldiers swallowing was unusually loud. As the two groups slowly advanced toward each other, an unidentifiable tension seeped across the plains.
In that gap, a single cavalry rider burst out and rode toward the Mountain Rabbits.
It was Vice-captain Marik.
"Calix."
"You've worked hard."
The greeting was brief. He swept his gaze over Basim, Volga, and the other mbers whose expressions had hardened, then got straight to the point.
"Master Sevi Belgrado was with us as well, but couldn't co. It seems the injuries were more severe than expected. Imran Akran also doesn't appear to be in a normal physical state."
"The fact that he ca out anyway ans the situation is that bad."
"……Yes."
For a mont, Calix's complexion darkened. It was not good news.
'Sevi Belgrado has dropped out. To fight Legion Commander Kohtan, we need to mobilize every available force — what a sha.'
Above all, he could not forget that the opponent standing before him was no easy foe either. Marik reminded him of this as well.
"Don't let your guard down. He is not a man who is swayed by sentint."
He already knew. No — he had no choice but to know. Within Calix's field of vision, a trendous amount of energy surged and churned.
Shhhwooosh!
In turn, the energy within his core flowed outward. The divinity was faint, but chaos and dense darkness surged like waves in ti with the beat of the hooves.
Soon, the power of the two n collided in the space between them. He was pushed back greatly in the first clash, but Calix's energy quietly — yet tenaciously — coiled around the other's and held its ground.
In that instant, the Master's eyes wavered ever so slightly.
Unlike before, this was no longer a relationship where one side was unilaterally bestowing upon the other.
That was right.
He now stood in a position where that was warranted.
***
The eting took place imdiately. With only a temporary tent erected to block the sunlight, the representatives of each force ca forward personally, without attendants.
For Marquis Ashapel, he couldn't hide his sense of disappointnt.
'I could have dealt well enough with Count Lugar.'
It wasn't as though he had been sitting idle, rely watching. While Duke Akron of the North had remained silent, Count Lugar of the West had been ready to negotiate.
'Acknowledge the Mountain Rabbits' leadership, but concede nothing regarding the post-war political structure.'
But the mont Master Imran Akran appeared, the discussions that had been moving beneath the surface beca aningless.
The white cloak was dotted with dark red bloodstains. The armor was orderly, yet dust and dried mud were sared here and there.
He had cut through the front lines to get here.
And he paid no attention whatsoever to the high-ranking nobles.
"It's been a while. I thought we'd et again soday, but I never expected the reunion to co this quickly."
The first greeting was directed solely at Calix. However, there was not the slightest trace of warmth. As the energy of both n clashed again and again, the faces of those around them turned pale.
At that, Calix also stepped half a pace forward, blocking the path in front of Royce and Adrian.
"I trust you've been well."
He returned the words calmly, and Imran Akran's expression stiffened. His gaze fell upon the area beneath the tent, where small patches had frozen solid.
'……A wicked power. He said he fought Legion Commander Midra?'
Instinct sounded a warning.
"So-so. But you've changed considerably since I last saw you. It's not simply that you've grown stronger. Wouldn't you say?"
"Many things happened."
"As they do for everyone."
In the midst of this sharp exchange—
Calix, too, clearly looked into the other man's body. Through the pure white energy, a turbid aura seeped out.
He had not fully recovered from his injuries.
"Was it Kohtan?"
"……."
A silence fell at the blunt question. When the man known as the 'Human Sword' furrowed his brow, not a single person dared to open their mouth.
An enemy even the Niboria Empire struggled to handle.
Yet in Calix's eyes, only a composed expression remained. It was then that Imran Akran realized that the young man before him was the sa person as before.
'Only the nature of his energy has changed — the stubbornness is still there.'
He would sooner break than bend. Rather than negotiate ambiguously, he would upend the board entirely. It was exactly as his reputation suggested.
Sohow, that fact was a comfort, and he nodded, letting a faint smile show.
"Yes. I was defeated by Legion Commander Kohtan."
Count Lugar, Duke Akron, and the other high-ranking nobles let out low, stifled sounds. The sa words carried different weight depending on who spoke them.
In that mont, they grasped what lay within Imran Akran's words.
'He's speaking to us. He's saying this is no ti to be fighting over factions.'
'anwhile, the Mountain Rabbits drove back Legion Commander Midra.'
'……Should I return to my domain even now? No — that's the worst possible move.'
Each of them recalled the predetermined ruin bearing down on them. And so, listening was permitted — but the right to speak was not granted.
Only Calix and the Empire's Master would decide.
"If you called for , you must have thought of a way to fight that wicked being as well."
The answer ca alongside the question.
"Our allies' deaths beco the enemy's resources. A battle of numbers is aningless. We will not use conventional slaughter or encirclent and annihilation tactics."
"Then?"
Imran Akran's eyes flashed briefly, in a way that was barely noticeable. Niboria had chosen a frontal assault and been broken. Calix had never faced Kohtan directly, yet seed to know this.
"We will buy ti while minimizing casualties. We will fight in the place we choose, in the manner we choose."
"A delaying battle. But in every battlefield I have experienced, wicked beings revived without limit. In the end, unless you strike at the head, victory is difficult."
"Yes. That is why I intend to gather all of our allies' strength into one."
His gaze then swept across the encampnts of the noble armies in turn. Practically all of the Empire's forces were assembled in one place.
The number of soldiers mattered, but more than that—
"I will draw out all knights of upper rank and above."
"That is—"
"You an to exhaust Kohtan's power, then press for the decisive blow. And of course, the Mountain Rabbits will fight alongside you."
Marquis Ashapel imdiately objected, but a glance from the Master swiftly shut him up. However, information pertaining to the battlefield was a separate matter.
"Mage Yelayen will co as well."
Duke Akron of the North, ruler of the northern territories, stepped forward directly. He shared with everyone the ssage the mage had left behind.
"The Pointing One departed eastward. He said we would et when the ti ca. My guess is that he intends to rally the survivors of the Kriya Order."
"……The clergy."
Naturally, the pieces fell into place.
At that, Count Lugar also slipped in a quiet word.
"It's a fight well worth taking on. In the face of the Empire's crisis, an army of unprecedented scale has gathered, has it not? My forces alone number twenty-three thousand. Combine Marquis Ashapel, Duke Akron, and the Mountain Rabbits, and we have a grand army of over seventy thousand in total."
While inwardly hoping to be promised a share of the spoils after the battle, he outwardly feigned following the greater cause and signaled his willingness to cooperate.
Imran Akran frowned at his petty behavior but did not stop him from speaking. The choice was not his to make.
The essential elent for victory.
It lay in the hands of one young man.
"Calix."
Royce, leader of the Mountain Rabbits, spoke his na. Now that the Master had instantly settled the hierarchy among the various forces, the ti to make a decision had co.
And soon, Calix slowly opened his mouth.
"It's ti to move. We march in three days."
No promises about the future, no threats about reality, no gentle persuasion. He gave the order in a composed tone and turned his back.
There was no need to go any further than that.
He was still a Mountain Rabbit — but he had beco sothing that could not be defined by a single word.
That was all.
***
The Mountain Rabbits faced a trendous change in just two days. They spent a frantic stretch of ti sorting seventy thousand soldiers by criteria and redistributing supplies.
Naturally, problems arose in the process.
"……You're saying there are six thousand n without neural accelerators?"
"Count Lugar pulled a trick. Anyway, the order is to send them all back. Those guys are no different from having zero combat power."
"No wonder — I thought to myself, even for the Niboria Empire, these numbers seed odd. On top of that, about ten thousand are being split off as a supply unit, right? So in practice, our actual combat strength cos to around fifty thousand."
Even so, the effect that Master Imran Akran had brought could not be denied.
True to the earlier promise, knights from each faction gathered in one place. A swift decision that left no room for the high-ranking nobles to object. The knight commanders weren't without their own grievances, but they inwardly revealed a look of satisfaction at the fact that they would be following the Master.
With four forces thus unified as one, the plains before Palrn Fortress blazed like broad daylight beneath thousands of torches.
That night—
Whoooo.
Calix was once again in a nightmare.
He looked out upon the world, transcending the constraints of light and darkness, distance and space. He borrowed the eyes of an eagle and looked down upon the Empire's capital; he mixed among Kohtan's forces through the gaze of a single Corrupted; and he caught a fleeting glimpse — in the heart of a mountain range, locked in a desperate struggle — of Mage Yelayen.
And at the very end, when he reached the Land of Shadows, the deepest part of it—
[You still have not arrived.]
He awoke drenched in cold sweat. Calix wiped his brow and read the neural accelerator's warning ssage.
[Warning: The balance of energy within your body is uneven.]
[Cold energy up 9%, currently at 13%]
Paradoxically, within that was an increase in ability. He rose from the bed and turned his head, and the result of what he had done in his sleep filled his vision.
Ice spines had grown from every direction.
'I've been having nightmares two or three tis a day. The fact that I'm reacting this sensitively — it could be because of the Nature Attunent ability. I may be reacting to the darkness itself.'
He then extended his hand, and in ti with the minute movents of his fingers, ice crystals condensed and gathered.
Was this the awakening of a new power, or the beginning of a curse?
Nothing had been determined yet.
At that mont, a presence was felt through the shadows cast by the torches. It was probably Priestess Ella, who had sensed the dark wave and co to help.
And Calix quickly realized that assumption was wrong.
Thud, thump.
From outside the tent, the sound of sothing colliding with the ground was heard. An unpleasant stench then tickled the tip of his nose, and energy surged upward from deep within the earth.
"……An attack!!"
"Enemies! Get up, now!"
The dark night flowed in reverse.
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