Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume17 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 12===

Then&mdash;Haruaki's team arrived at the sports ground.

Tents of different sizes were arranged on the sports ground. It looked like a camping site.

The first unusual situation they saw was on the far side&mdash;the place reaching the sports ground if circling around the school building.

"Un Izoey!"

She was fighting in close quarters against four or five knights. Reflexively, Haruaki wanted to run over to her&mdash;But instantly, he seemed to see her make a chin raising motion. It felt like she was trying to convey something to them through her gaze.

"Meaning we should do what we're supposed to do?"

"...Yeah, after all, she spent so much effort to stall those guys for our sake."

There was less than an hour until the time limit of 2pm. They had to pick up the pace.

The group ran into the sports ground. Several knights attacked them but their fighting style was much simpler compared to Satsuko and Fourteen just now. Although their durability made things difficult to some extent, Konoha and Kotetsu still managed to render them incapable of fighting for now.

"I thought there'd be more knights waiting for us, but didn't expect so few...!"

Kirika nodded and said:

"If you think about it calmly, we've defeated many knights so far. Un Izoey must have taken out quite a few along the way here and she's holding those guys back right now... Also just now..."

"...Satsuko also eliminated many people. Looks like... Quite a lot."

Fear narrowed her eyes and spoke quietly. Haruaki recalled how Satsuko and Fourteen were attacking dead knights as if it was just a way to kill time. The knights still deserved pity despite being enemies.

Haruaki glanced at Fear to inspect her expression. She looked quite calm, but was that really the case? After seeing dead bodies, was she really unshaken? Was there any unease in her heart? Although he had many things he wanted to ask, there was no time at the moment.

The target tent was obvious at a glance. That tent was clearly much bigger, more magnificent, and its fabric was very high-class. Also&mdash;

Sleif was standing sternly at the tent's entrance.

"Sleif...!"

"That name is incorrect. How it pains me for stinking Wathes to address me by this sloppily selected name. My true name is Dainsleif."

Haruaki smiled deliberately.

"But clearly you were the one who introduced yourself with that name."

"I never expected this hassle with your group to persist until now. Would you introduce yourself seriously to a gutter rat on the road side?"

Her shoulders shook lightly.

"...What a revolting embarrassment, a miscalculation... Nauseating. Who could have expected you loathsome lot to advance all the way."

"We're not going to let you guys do as you please. Step aside. We won't allow 'Dominionization' to succeed."

Sleif&mdash;or more accurately, Dainsleif&mdash;looked up lightly under her visor-like helmet.

"Your objective is «Dieu le veut» after all? Foolish."

"What's so foolish, you idiot? You're the fool. Looks like you don't even have comrades to rely on now?"

Fear was right. Now that no knights had shown up as reinforcements, it meant that there were no more knights remaining. She had sent out all manpower. Or perhaps all the knights were no longer capable of fighting. Hence, were the knights currently fighting Un Izoey the last of them?

This left only this girl and the elderly Dominion Lord.

Two people. Just two people, that was all.

In that case, it should be possible to stop them. Dainsleif had lost «Karma Speed». No matter how strong she was, she could not possibly be stronger than Pendragon. They probably did not have the same tacit understanding and coordination as Satsuko and Fourteen to run circles around them. It should be possible to stop them&mdash;

Relief was causing an uplifting feeling to surge from the depths of Haruaki's chest. This infectious feeling was probably spreading to his teammates who entered combat stances with vigor in their eyes. No need to hesitate, all they needed to do was move forward now&mdash;

Nevertheless&mdash;

Dainsleif went "hmph" in mockery then answered Fear's assertion:

"Oh? Do you really believe that?"

"What...?"

Dainsleif immediately extended her arm horizontally&mdash;

"The Lord has commanded, this view-obstructing tent is no longer needed once you lot arrived. Don't bore the Lord, go on and finish acting out the final scene in joy!"

Using her bare hand, Dainsleif sliced the tense supporting rope in front of the tent. Then lifting her leg lightly, she sliced another supporting rope.

A strong gust of wind happened to blow, greatly flipping up the tent that had been liberated from its restraints. Starting from the front half whose supporting ropes had been severed by Dainsleif, the tent flew back as though being peeled off&mdash;

Hence, the tent's interior was presented before their eyes. Support columns left emptily in their place. Tables with vases. Neat rows of armor as decorations. A long red carpet. At one end of the carpet was a platform one level higher than the ground, with something resembling a throne. No&mdash;Not resembling.

It was a throne.

Chin resting on his hand while sitting in his wheelchair, Dominion Lord Trinac Agana was there, his deep-set eyes staring at them. Haruaki saw Fear hold her breath, but she immediately bit her lip and returned the Dominion Lord's gaze with determination.

A spear was embedded in the wheelchair. According to Un Izoey, this was Zilch Ground&mdash;the "mobile territory" prepared to circumvent the curse of "dying as soon as one exited the territory." A different spear&mdash;next to the throne, within the Dominion Lord's reach, another spear was planted in the ground.

That was «Dieu le veut»&mdash;the spear which had harmed Kirika's body, using her fresh blood to stain these lands in preparation for this town's "Dominionization."

The object they needed to destroy.

It was already in sight, available for their taking once the female knight, whose true nature was a cursed sword, and the elderly man were defeated.

Once they were defeated, everything could go back to normal.

The Yachi home as usual. The school as usual. Daily life as usual.

(Great, it'll be soon. Success is really almost here...!)

Feeling impatient, Haruaki could not help but take a step forward.

However, he saw Dainsleif shrug.

"How pitifully shallow&mdash;Precisely the spinal reflexes of a gutter rat's. Even if it is a trap, your eyes can only see the bait inside."

"What...?"

"Your eyes are worse than the blind's. ''The knights guarding the Lord are right here''."

Here? Where?

There were no signs of anyone apart from the Dominion Lord and Sleif in this place, the original location of the tent.

No&mdash;Considering humanoid objects, there were some.

The gloomy silver armor placed at the entrance and along the two sides of the red carpet. Each set of armor was standing motionlessly with a sword resting vertically on the ground in front of them, held in both hands. Immobile decorations. They should be decorations&mdash;

"Please issue the command, my lord."

"Yes. Awaken&mdash;«Wittelsbach Knights»!"

Instantly&mdash;

With impeccable motions, the two rows of armor simultaneously raised their fists to their chests.

The clanging sounds from the armor were superimposed. Haruaki's group stared wide-eyed.

"No way...!"

"These are not humans, right? I sense no presence."

Kotetsu frowned and groaned.

"Speaking of which, are these sets of cursed armor? Absolutely ridiculous...!"

"Your brains are absolutely ridiculous. This is the most ancient and illustrious knightly order. An order of royal guards who only mobilize on command. The curse consists of sixteen dead knights. In other words&mdash;A cursed chivalric order."

The sets of armor grated as they moved, then even proceeded to walk, raising their silver broadswords and adjusting to an overhand grip while their helmets shook with ominous metallic sounds.

"I've never heard of that kind of curse...!"

"A foolish query&mdash;A curse is an acute poison defiling all concepts. There exists nothing in this world that cannot be cursed."

The Dominion Lord answered Haruaki while watching the sets of armor slowly enter formation. Then as though to pass time, he started to explain the origins of the «Wittelsbach Knights».

Reportedly, they were the tragic result of the courageous chivalric order who had fought in a last stand to defend the throne room during  a certain small nation's demise. Locking themselves in the throne room to defend their king, they waited for reinforcement. During this time, the enemy army outside the door kept assaulting them psychologically in various ways. Killing, violating the wives or children of the knights, making them listen to the screams of their loved ones. For the sake of their king, the knights kept enduring and held their position for a very long time. But actually, the king was already assassinated in the back room. Everything was a sham perpetuated by the enemy nation in order to toy with them for amusement. In the end, the knights walked out of the main door, laughing madly while cursing everything in the world. Then they fought to the death as martyrs.

"They feel neither pain nor fear, because they are the knights who fought until death, simply following their king's orders foolishly. Having become their lord, by royal authority I have commanded them to 'take action in accordance with hatred against Wathes.' So long as this royal decree stands, they will always follow my orders. That being said, should I lose my status as king, in that very instant, they will probably attempt to kill me as a result of the curse."

While the Dominion Lord was speaking, the sets of silver armor finished entering formation. Then raising their silver broadswords towards Haruaki's group, they took a step forward. Sixteen sets of cursed armor. Cursed knights.

Against these unexpected enemies, Konoha gritted her teeth, readied her knifehand stance, and said:

"Hmph. It has been nagging at me how surprisingly, you people rely on cursed tools so much!"

"Shut up, Wathe. Once all objectives are accomplished, I will be responsible for destroying them!"

"Truth be told, all you do is talk a good game!"

Konoha and Kotetsu engaged the first detachment of the Wittelsbach Knights. Using their arms and legs imbued with the sharpness of blades, they clashed with the armored knights' broadswords, producing loud impacts. Probably increasing in hardness after being cursed, even Konoha and Kotetsu were unable to slice through them.

With a total of sixteen enemies, it was impossible for just two people, Konoha and Kotetsu, to hold back all of them. One of the knights approached Haruaki first.

"Haruaki, hurry and retreat!"

Fear dodged the broadsword and punched the knight's helmet from below. This impact caused the part of the helmet covering the mouth to come loose&mdash;A completely desiccated skeleton could be seen underneath. Hollow eye sockets, jaws devoid of teeth. Haruaki could not help but shudder. Fear's face also twitched stiffly but now was not the time to be concerned with what lay underneath. Unleashing a kick with full force, she made the armor back away.

"Chupacabra Bandage... Damn it, so heavy!"

"I'm having a rough time too...! Although now's not the time for disheartened words!"

Kirika and Kuroe also escaped while extending their respective weapons. But compared to the armored knights' mass and pressure, their bandage and hair were far too fragile.

(Damn it... And to think we're so close...)

Behind the silver knights, Dainsleif's figure on the red carpet was gradually receding. After walking over to the side of the Dominion Lord's wheelchair, she turned around and stood there motionlessly. Beneath the helmet, her eyes were calmly observing the situation. Haruaki could sense her pride and determination in protecting the Dominion Lord no matter what happened.

Standing between her and Haruaki's group were the sixteen deceased knights, clad in heavy armor, unable to feel pain, fear or fatigue. Let alone breaking past them to advance, simply avoiding lethal injuries was already taking full effort.

Worse of all&mdash;They were slowly getting cornered. Whether quantity or quality, the enemies were putting them under pressure.

Trying out every method they could think of, Haruaki's group still found themselves helpless.

Haruaki also had Konoha transform into a Japanese sword.

"True-Kill... Counter!"

Even a sword drawing attack from the Japanese sword failed to slice through the steel armor of the knights.

"Impossible!"

"Shallow to the point of evoking pity. Even if you are a Japanese sword cursed over many years, they are also sets of armor that were likewise cursed over many years to likewise acquire astounding power. Furthermore, now that the concept of 'I am a knight' has been fortified by 'Dominionization,' don't believe mistakenly that they can be easily sliced."

Sleif mocked from her position standing next to the wheelchair. Haruaki and Konoha backed away to catch his breath.

Although fingers were missing from his left hand, it did not affect his control of Konoha very much, just that it was still hurting a lot. The shock generated from the impact against hard armor would attack his amputation wound directly, seeping into his body through the exposed flesh, bouncing randomly inside. Haruaki gritted his teeth and deliberately ignored the pain.

"Our attacks are not entirely ineffective... As long as we keep attacking the same spot multiple times, it should be possible to defeat them, but..."

The Japanese sword shook slightly as though in worry. She was probably worried about the pain in his left hand.

Haruaki gripped her tighter to tell her "don't worry." If something so trivial as his fingers hurting would give Konoha pause, it could get problematic.

"If it works, I'm willing to try anything. But the enemy isn't giving us any time to try things at our leisure...!"

Two other knights attacked them at the same time. Haruaki jumped back again. Using her full strength, Fear smashed her body against one of the knights, using the momentum to make him crash into the other, thus buying time for Haruaki and Konoha to follow up with an attack. However, Fear frowned and held her shoulder.

"H-Hey! Are you okay!?"

"Huff... Don't worry. Just a little shoulder dislocation, I've already pushed it back in."

While Fear was answering gruffly, a vigorous shout was heard. Kotetsu was locked in a scuffle with the knights. Attacking head on, mustering full force, he was engaging the most number of knights but as a result, his injuries were also the most severe. The color of blood on his body flashed in and out of view while pieces of his torn clothing dangled.

Speaking of injury, everyone present was not unscathed. Although not a lot of time had passed since the «Wittelsbach Knights» were mobilized, Haruaki's group was already all covered in wounds. This was not only due to the armored knights being too powerful but also because they had spent too much energy fighting Taciturn, Satsuko and Fourteen, as well as the other knights&mdash;

A certain ice-cold feeling silently crept up Haruaki's spine.

A feeling&mdash;one that he did not wish to notice&mdash;one that he did not wish to articulate. A premonition.

Next&mdash;

"Guuuuuuuh!"

"Class Rep!"

The splattering of fresh blood. Kirika was retreating when her legs tripped from fatigue. Chasing her closely, an armored knight made a thrust with his broadsword, piercing her abdomen.

Kuroe reacted in alarm. While extending her hair to pull Kirika's body over, she also used hardened hair as a shield to slide in front of Kirika's body. After the knight withdrew his broadsword, Kirika collapsed forward, clutching her belly. Haruaki frantically wanted to rush forward to cover her, but he was also facing the approach of armored knights which he could not ignore.

His back shivered again from a sense of chill.

(Damn it... We already got this far...)

A small voice was trying to catch his attention.

A small voice was forcing him to admit.

(The Dominion Lord is clearly over there, the spear is clearly visible over there...!)

Extremely gloomy and dark emotions were stirring in the bottom of his heart, attempting to devour all of his willpower and vitality.

(At this... rate...)

He tried his hardest not to think about the next words.

Through moving his body in a state of self-oblivion, he pushed those words away to the other side of his quickened breathing.

Haruaki did everything he could to feign ignorance of the ominous premonition climbing up his spine.


However, he had no idea how long this could last.