Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume6 Chapter7 (section)

=== Part 1 ===

Moldorf trod cautiously forward. Because he worried that the sound might get him noticed, he didn’t wear any armour. A sword in a thick leather scabbard hung from his waist and he grasped a short spear in his right hand.

Although he had remonstrated with his younger brother, the regret and anger in his heart was no less than Nilgif’s.

He had been prepared to bear eternal dishonour and had fought. Because there was something that he wanted to protect even in exchange of his own reputation. But in the blink of an eye, Garda had turned it into ashes.

When he thought of the people’s anguish, even he felt like letting his cheeks bathe in hot tears, just as his little brother had. In truth, the reason that Moldorf didn’t cry was because his heart had already wept so bitterly that his tears had all run dry.

But they hadn’t been entirely abandoned by the Dragon Gods. What had worried Moldorf the most was that it would take at the very least an entire day to reach Zer Illias. If the battle ended while he was making his way there, there might never be another chance to get close to Garda. But then unexpectedly, that very Garda had left Zer Illias that he had always remained secluded in since appearing in the western lands and had moved to Eimen. Moreover, penetrating the tower was easy since the entire military force was being thrown at Ax’s army.

The spear in Moldorf’s hand was one used for throwing. He had vowed to himself that it would all be decided in a single strike.

''If I had done this earlier'', he thought. But he purposely decided not to dwell on it. What they had been anticipating up until now, Ax gathering together the west and making a move, had created a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Ten or more women, among them Lima Khadein, were gathered in a circular hall. In the centre was Garda. He was holding his hand up before a woman that Moldorf guessed was Taúlia’s princess. The hand gripping the spear grew hot.

''Don’t think. Just do it. Just pierce him through the heart''.

With his skill, he only needed to move forward and throw the spear in the same breath. And then it would be over.

But… That was only if his opponent was human and could he really compare Garda to a human being? Wouldn’t it be better to take one more step closer? He needed to consider that there might not be another opportunity. In order to be absolutely certain, shouldn’t he close the distance at least by another half a step? No, he was close enough. If he made a false move now, Garda might sense something.

Then, like this…

“Fool.”

For a second, a sharp pain seemed to pierce Moldorf’s forehead. Garda’s hoarse voice could be heard. ''Have I been spotted?'' Moldorf felt his entrails go cold, but Garda’s back was still turned towards him. On the other hand, a strange sight appeared before him.

No, it couldn’t be said that he saw it with his naked eye. The image that flashed through Moldorf’s brain was of something like a mist rising from each of the ten or more women, with Taúlia’s princess at their centre. It formed a spiral and filled the hall. Hanging like clouds from the ceiling, the mist next spiralled counter-clockwise and contracted into a shape that resembled an arrow then suddenly pierced straight through the top of Garda’s head.

Garda roared with laughter. The one he scoffed at for being a “fool” was Ax when he brought out the air carriers.

Assailed by headache and nausea and with his body feeling like it could break, Moldorf tightly grit his teeth and through sheer force of will, succeeded in not making a sound.

''Is this sorcery?''

It felt like a power that shouldn’t exist in this world. The scene before him seemed somehow to spit on all living creatures like a blasphemy against them.

''Gods'', Moldorf took a throwing stance. His large biceps bulged, the muscles along his shoulders and back were stretched tight. ''Dragon Gods, Spirits, every kind of god that anyone anywhere believes in, anything is fine. Gods! Grant me the strength to strike down this sorcerer who twists and distorts the laws of this world. Please let my insignificant self purify this evil at a single blow''.

He pulled back the right side of his body with all his strength and took a quick step forward.

In an instant, is body’s taut muscles were released towards a single target.

The spear whistled through the air.

The spear drilled into Garda’s chest and with unabated force, the tip pierced through his back and pinned him to the floor.

So it should certainly have been.

But in practice, Moldorf remained frozen in position as he took a step forward. His spear was still in his hand. As though it were stuck to his palm, the weight of the steel would not leave it.

“Fool.”

This time, the voice was obviously directed towards Moldorf. The face of an elderly man peered out from under the hood. There was something evil about his smile.

“Did you think that I hadn’t noticed your presence? As I am now, no plot, no sword and no spear could find me. I have a clear grasp of every phenomenon that occurs within the surrounding area and can freely manipulate them in actual fact.”

“B-Bas-Bastard.”

Moldorf let out a feeble voice from between his clenched teeth. He was struggling with all his might to break free of this curse but every time he tried to take a step in Garda’s direction, invisible wire ropes seemed to bite into his entire body. The pain was so intense it almost reaped the valiant, long-serving general’s consciousness.

“Y-You knew, so why…”

“You have already served your purpose.” Garda chuckled mysteriously at his own words.

“Purpose?”

“After I have defeated Ax, it will be your turn next. Every last person in the west will consecrate their ether to me. Including of course everyone in Zer Illias. But you, you fought better than anyone and served me, Garda, well. As thanks, I will show you how I will devour the entire battlefield and gather ether. It will be the very moment of birth of the second Magic King Zodias, of the one who will rule the world!”

Moldorf’s eyes became bloodshot and the lines of his sinews bulged. The sorcerer was saying that he would kill everyone. Not only Ax and his troops but also his little brother, Lima Khadein and the people in Zer Illias.

He roared. It was a bellow like a dragon’s, fitting of his nickname, but as he couldn’t break free, it was entirely pointless. Darkness stretched out between Garda and him, and even if he spent his entire life trying to cross that darkness, even if he spent a hundred or a thousand years, it felt like it would not be enough.

''Bastard!''

Moldorf’s eyeballs that he could just barely move freely rolled left and right. He could feel that the thing like mist was continuing to be released from the ten or more maidens.

Then,

“Hmm?” Garda raised his eyebrows.

Something urgent must have come up because, even as he was still turned to face Moldorf, he looked at the bracelet on his left wrist. Moldorf saw a small shadow pass through the round jewel that was encrusted within it. Although he had absolutely no knowledge of sorcery, the scene that had appeared on its surface was surely the battle that was even now unfolding outside of Eimen. It was as vividly reproduced in this distant place as if a part of it had been cut off and trapped there.

Just as Garda had supposed they would, Ax’s forces were finally fleeing. The troops led by Nilgif continued to press forward without slowing their offensive.

Garda’s eyes were wandering around the battlefield when they suddenly stopped on one point.

As the chariot squadrons and cavalry had cut off their path of retreat, Ax’s army was caught in a pincer movement to their front and rear when, from behind the enemies at their back, a group enveloped in a cloud of dust came galloping. Brandishing spears and swords, they lunged at the chariots with the force of a hurled javelin. Because of the unexpected surprise attack, the archers were flung one after another from the chariots by the Mantos dragons and even the cavalry was reeling.

They were strong.

And fast.

“Survivors from Kadyne?” Garda muttered balefully.

He knew who they were. The sorcerer dispatched to Kadyne to serve as a pathway had not only received ether from Garda but had also sent it to him. Garda had been able to sense that person’s death. Conversely, he did not know what had happened in Kadyne after that.

But he could not have imagined that people who had been hideously tormented by his magical trap would turn to come to Eimen.

Above all else, there was the one horseman who was racing in the lead. Although his build was slight, he galloped fearlessly into the fray, unheeding of the forest of spears or of the dragon’s claws. The man was undoubtedly responsible for fanning that army corps’ vigour. He wore a mask.

The man suddenly grabbed something that was hanging from his horse’s neck in one hand and held it high above his head.

“The sorcerer of Kadyne is dead!”

Amidst the steel blades that were moving to fall on him from all directions, his voice was clear and resonant. What he held to the sky was a man’s severed head.

“Even a sorcerer will die when they’re cut down. Garda is the same. How long will you let a single sorcerer deceive you? The one you should be fighting isn’t us. From here on, I will defeat Garda. Know that anyone who gets in my way is an enemy to the west!”

“What!” Garda’s eyes trembled with hatred.

In that instant, perhaps because his senses were turned elsewhere, the spell that bound Moldorf shattered into tiny pieces.

Moldorf stepped forward.

When Garda noticed it, startled, he once more put himself on guard. But the reason his reaction this time was slow was because Moldorf’s target was incomprehensible. Having switched his position, he seemed about to throw the spear in completely different direction from Garda.

He threw the spear. Not at Garda.

The spear whistled up wind as it flew and its tip pointed towards a single woman.

Lima Khadein.