When Zakriel’s axe hit Barney Junior’s shield, the reactions of the prisoners were beyond Thales’ expectations.
Barney Junior took the lead in the attack. He blocked Zakriel’s attack with his sword and shield without making any kind of fancy maneuver, and also prevented the latter’s attack on Beldin and Bruley.
But the others…
The axe charged forward swiftly and Barney Junior’s sword flashed. Barney Junior, while engaged in a violent fight, blocked Zakriel’s slash, and pushed away the axe hilt Zakriel sent his way using the momentum of his axe swing. Barney roared furiously at Samel, who intended to approach the battlefield,
“Step back, Samel! I’ll take the first round! Naer, cover me!”
While Barney Junior roared furiously, Naer shot out from the group and joined the fight.
However, the other Royal Guards of Constellation did not rush forward. In contrast to the way they usually behaved, they stayed away from the battlefield.
Without offering any explanation, Nalgi and Bruley grabbed Thales and moved close to the wall on the left.
Barney Junior and Naer were the only ones on the battlefield, or rather, Barney Junior was the only one who dealt with Zakriel’s attacks head-on, which were sometimes nimble and quick, and at other times as fierce as a hurricane. Barney’s movements were rather clumsy.
Naer, who was supposed to assist him, stood a distance away. He held a small knife and a dart in his hands as he carefully watched the two people fighting against each other. He did not move at all.
‘What?’ Thales was rather puzzled.
*Whoosh!*
The calm Zakriel suddenly extended his arm to the side and took advantage of his position to push Barney Junior’s shield aside. He then swung his axe at the latter’s neck!
*Clang!*
Barney Junior grunted, turned, and clashed against Zakriel. They moved away from one another the moment they collided, to dodge the other party’s next strike. But it appeared that Barney Junior came out of the encounter worse than Zakriel had—there was a wound on his right arm.
As he watched their fight, Thales became confused. He finally gave up struggling, turned his head around, and anxiously asked the people beside him,
“What’s going on?”
But before anyone could answer, Samel, who was on the other side, found an opportunity to force his way through to join Thales and the other two guards. Right when he joined his former colleagues’ formation, he pointed at Barney Junior and asked in exasperation,
“What is he planning to do? Die?”
*Whoosh!*
Zakriel brandished his axe again, stirring up a gust of wind. The strike was defused by Barney Junior with a Counter Stance, executed at the perfect moment. But he was soon made to handle a flurry of Zakriel’s follow-up attacks, and seemed to be in great trouble.
In the face of Samel’s impolite question, everyone else’s expressions turned rather unpleasant.
However, Beldin did not mind. He looked worriedly at the two people in their violent and intense battle, paying attention to the stairs blocked by Zakriel, and said calmly, “Barney said that the first round is just testing waters. We will act as circumstances dictate. Our goal is to try to break through and reach the stairs.”
Samel furrowed his brow, seeming displeased.
While the sound of intense fighting rang in the air, Thales could not suppress his urge to voice the question in his mind any longer. He shot a glance at Quick Rope before he asked resolutely, “Why aren’t any of you helping him?”
The prince was extremely worried as he watched Barney, who was surrounded by never-ending danger.
“There are eight of you—”
But before Thales could finish, Beldin interrupted him with his hoarse voice and said falteringly, “Can’t… do it.”
Thales froze. ‘Can’t do it?’
He turned to sweep his gaze over the others, but found that all of them had the same expression—solemn resignation.
‘Why?’
On the other side, the duel between Zakriel and Barney Junior grew more and more intense. It was as though real heat and tension had been created in their fight. Their faces were savage, their movements ferocious, and their attacks became increasingly violent and unstoppable.
The moment Zakriel growled and withdrew his axe—a millimeter away from breaking Barney Junior’s skull—Barney Junior risked his life and carried out an equally sharp and risky attack.
Strong wind billowed against their faces. The sound of clasing steel and iron rang out.
“We have no way of helping him…” Nalgi sighed softly and spoke wearily as he stared at the fight between the two people. “Zakriel is not an ordinary person, much less a conventional supreme class warrior.”
‘Not an ordinary person?’ Thales and Quick Rope were both stunned.
Nalgi stroked the weapon in his hand as he stared at the two people, who were practically fighting with their lives. The space between his eyebrows was clogged with worry.
“His Power of Eradication is called the ‘Chaos of Armies’ and is a rare mutation of ‘Pegasus’ Music’. The key to this power is in its incomparable perception of the user’s surroundings.”
When they heard Nalgi mention this, the Royal Guards of Constellation became a little absent-minded.
‘Pegasus’ Music…’ This sounded quite familiar to Thales. ‘Wait, I heard from the real Wya that this is Miranda’s Power of Eradication.’
When he thought of this, Thales became serious.
“The Chaos of Armies? Perception? What do you mean by this?”
This time, Beldin was the one who answered him, “Attention.”
Beldin’s voice was hoarse. He also spoke incoherently. It was as though his voice had been baptized by a sandstorm.
But this did not stop Thales from sensing the anxiety in his voice, neither did it stop him from seeing the hesitation in Beldin’s gaze.
“A person’s energy and attention is limited. They cannot do two things at the same time. Even when paying full attention, they can only take notice of one or two things at once. If we focus on more things, we will not be able to pay enough attention on our target; we will not have the ability to care about all of them at the same time.
‘Attention…’ Thales mulled over this word.
On the other side, Barney Junior, who was on the losing end, finally made a somewhat successful counter-attack.
At the price of being hit by the other party’s knee, he managed to slash into Zakriel’s shoulder. The wound was only a millimeter away from the latter’s vitals. Thales thought that it was a pity.
“But Zakriel is different.” Beldin’s words became graver and graver. His voice was filled with pride for his fellow countrymen’s strength, but it was also filled with the pain of being betrayed by an old friend.
“The ‘Chaos of Armies’ takes the perception, observation and rhythm emphasized in Pegasus’ Music and develops it to the maximum, towards another direction. Zakriel can effectively divide his attention without losing his focus within a certain range, multitasking and being in control of all the variables in a fight. We don’t know the limit to his power.”
‘Multitasking?’
Thales glanced at Zakriel who was skillfully swinging his axe, and then at Barney Junior, who was doing all he can to fight back. Puzzled, he asked, “What do you mean?”
Samel snorted coldly and cut in, “It means that the Knight of Judgment possesses countless eyes, and can observe numerous targets at the same time.
“He no longer fears being surrounded, and no longer dreads group fights. The attention he has on each person when he has to fight against ten people in one go is no less than when he is only fighting against one person. He will never attend to one thing and lose sight of another just because he is attacked by a crowd.”
Samel tightened his grip around his sword. His gaze never left the battlefield at all, like he was ready to attack at the next moment.
His words made the prisoners cum former Royal Guards look even more worried. Bruley even grunted and pointed at Naer, who was still holding the dart without letting go.
“No, Bruley.” Tardin shook his head, as if he understood what the other party’s indecipherable hums meant.
“Naer cannot rashly take action unless it’s at a critical moment—it could be disadvantageous to Barney.”
‘…will never attend to one thing and lose sight of another just because he is attacked by a crowd.’ Thales carefully deciphered the meaning of that sentence. His expression immediately changed. ‘What is this? A knight does not die even when he battles alone[1]? He has no weaknesses even when someone tries to attack him from behind him?’
He recalled the scene earlier when Zakriel faced five Shadow Shield assassins. The unbeatable Knight of Judgment had attacked continuously in a few seconds and perfectly eliminated the five of them.
Another dull sound arose. This time, Barney Junior only managed to force Zakriel back with an almost suicidal crash, because Zakriel seemed to have some qualms about something.
The prince turned to look at the battlefield and asked anxiously, “So, it makes no difference to him whether he is up against one opponent or many opponents?”
This time, Tardin’s bleak and resigned voice, which made him sound as if he had seen through everything in the world, rang out, “Worse than that.”
Tardin shook his head. He seemed to be rather emotional and also seemed to be in anguish.
“Zakriel is a genius rarely seen in the world. He exploits the advantages of the ‘Chaos of Armies’ to the maximum. His ability to multitask is not only used on his opponents; everything that happens on the battlefield is within Zakriel’s knowledge, that means both his and his opponents’ bodies, weapons, intentions, and their movements. He pays attention to the positions, environment, terrain and conditions around him and his opponents. He can focus on factors as great as the increase and decrease of force during the fight, and even ones as minor as the sand and obstacles beneath their feet, he can also take note of sudden accidents. He will even take it a step further and perfectly transform all these things into his strategy against his opponents.
“Then, with his skills, which are not inferior to his senses at all after he trained it through thousands of battles…”
Tardin’s expression was taut. He stared at Zakriel, who again forced Barney Junior into an extremely flustered state with the terrain, the length of his axe hilt, and even the weight of Barney’s own shield.
“Those who duel against him will always be at the greatest disadvantage, because Zakriel will always be able to take note and observe all the elements and variables on the battlefield, thereby causing them to work in his favor, and he can use them as easily as how an arm controls the fingers. It’s as though god is helping him. These elements and variables will work with him flawlessly.
“It is not obvious under ordinary circumstances, but those who have fought him all feel something: the man has no weak points at all and is unstoppable.”
Thales thought of something. ‘Everything is within his knowledge, transformed into his strategy against his opponents… Always be able to take note and observe… all the elements and variables on the battlefield… as easily as how an arm controls the fingers… has no weak points at all and is unstoppable…’
Thales could not help but tremble. That bloody and nightmarish evening six years ago appeared in his mind again…
Together with it was another person’s soft murmurs.
‘”People who seize everything in their grasp, take the world into account in their hearts and are capable of observing the entire situation… Only these people are qualified to be called… truly strong”‘
Thales stared at this fight in a daze. While he observed Zakriel, who fought more and more boldly, he felt that he understood something.
He could see it now…
Barney Junior might seem as if he was attacking swiftly and fiercely, but it was hard for his normal attacks to be effective. Zakriel could always handle them easily with the most energy-saving, simple, and effective method.
Only those desperate attacks—in which Barney Junior had to pay a huge price for and be injured in order to hurt Zakriel—worked. Only those attacks managed to harm the Knight of Judgment’s body. But unfortunately, every single slightly effective killing strike looked like they missed Zakriel’s vitals by only a millimeter, causing others to sigh in agitation.
Thales, however, understood now that it was not as simple as Barney Junior missing by a millimeter.
Tardin sighed and said, “Under such circumstances, not only do sieges by many people not work on him… On the contrary, the more opponents there are in a chaotic battle, the more jumbled up the variables are, and the messier the battlefield is, the better Zakriel would be able to find the position that suits him the most. He will then be able grasp the opportunity and leverages that enable him to survive, and even win the fight by utilizing flaws and gaps in his opponents’ attacks that ordinary people cannot imagine… He will only become stronger the more he fights.”
The faces of all the Royal Guards became more and more unpleasant. Thales clenched his fists tightly, while Quick Rope—standing beside him—had a disbelieving expression.
Thales turned in disbelief and said, “So, in comparison to Zakriel when he fights against a single opponent, when he fights against multiple people by himself in a brawl…”
Nalgi nodded and finished Thales’ sentence while the worried look on his face remained.
“…He will only become many times stronger. If we rashly participate in the fight, we’ll only be increasing Zakriel’s leverages.”
These words made Thales extremely shocked. Beside him, Quick Rope even widened his mouth into an ‘O’ shape.
‘So… when Zakriel is up against eight opponents, it’s actually even more beneficial for him? He’s practically the human version of the Blood Mystic?’
“He gave me advice on how to use my sword before,” Samel said coldly beside them. “So, I know that when you face him, you are not only facing Zakriel. Instead, it is an entire battlefield known as Zakriel. The Chaos of Armies… chaos wrought by an army, and that chaos truly belongs to him.”
His words were strong and firm, but made the others feel heavy-hearted.
Thales furrowed his brow hard. “Just like a brigade?”
Samel fixed his gaze on him. He was silent for a second before he nodded. “Just like a brigade.”
A distance away, Barney Junior moved quickly and roared. He crashed into Zakriel’s body with a Dueling Stance that was executed without holding anything back, and without any fancy tricks, he crashed into Zakriel’s body!
*Thud!*
Both of them fell to the ground at the same time, they then leaped simultaneously and panted.
“Give up, Barney. This wouldn’t be the ending you want,” Zakriel said softly.
Barney Junior snorted coldly. “That year, why didn’t you give up?”
In the next moment, both of them moved, and their weapons clashed against each other once again!
Beside them, Quick Rope could not stand it anymore. “Isn’t this too much?”
The rookie mercenary rubbed his face and widened his eyes until they were as large as pigeon eggs. He pointed at Zakriel, who was fighting against his enemy in silence.
“Can he also fight one hundred opponents by himself, and challenge a whole army alone?”
In the face of Quick Rope’s rather disbelieving words, all the prisoners stared at him with unpleasant expressions.
Because of this, Quick Rope could not help but tremble. When he remembered the grudges he formed with them, he took a step back in embarrassment.
Thales looked at the group. He felt like they had something to say. As expected, Nalgi curled his lips.
“Do you know the battle that made Zakriel famous?”
‘The battle that made him famous…’ All the prisoners trembled in unison.
Quick Rope blinked and immediately put on a wary face that made him look like he was saying “I won’t be deceived”.
There was fascination in Nalgi’s eyes as he stared at the Knight of Judgment, whose expression did not change at all even when he was engaged in a violent fight.
“Zakriel once followed Prince Midier to Dragon Clouds City for a diplomatic trip when he was young. His Highness was so ‘eloquent’ that he offended the Northlanders who created difficulties for them with their military force.”
‘Midier… Dragon Clouds City…’ The relevant scenes appeared in Thales’ mind.
“Old Barney told me that, at that time, the seventeen-year-old Zakriel faced the enemies by himself.”
Nalgi clicked his tongue and said in a manner that made him seem proud but listless at the same time, “He took ten or so minutes… And by himself, he defeated forty White Blade Guards.”
Quick Rope froze for a moment. Thales’ train of thought also halted for a short while.
The next moment…
“What?!”
Thales opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to do with it. He seemed like he wanted to scream, but was unable to. Thales finally finished digested Nalgi’s words. Endless shock and fear appeared in his mind altogether.
‘For… forty?… White Blade Guards?’
He remembered those fighters from six years ago, who had their faces covered and wielded blades. They were the elite soldiers who did not back down even in the face of death brought by Black Sand Region’s vicious attack. They fought a bloody battle until the end, and even dealt Lampard’s troops a bloody blow at one point, causing them to descend into a disorderly mess. Lampard’s troops had even suffered great casualties because of it.
There were even some of them who did not mind protecting him and Little Rascal from arrows with their own bodies.
The White Blade Guards… Nicholas, Mirk, Monty, and Justin…
‘He defeated forty of them alone?’ Thales’ expression became stiff. ‘How is this possible?’
It was obvious that Quick Rope was affected more greatly by Nalgi’s words than Thales. He stared at Zakriel in disbelief while the man remained a distance away. He then redirected his gaze at the prisoners who wore grim expressions. His face was contorted, and his speech incoherent; he looked like he wanted to laugh, but was unable to.
“Is this a joke? Forty… White Blade Guards? Those are all veterans…” Quick Rope blindly waved his hands in the air, as if he could toss his questions even further away by doing this. “It’s impossible… such a major incident…” Quick Rope’s mouth fell open in his daze, as though his outlook on life had just suffered a huge blow.
“Why didn’t Nicho… Why didn’t anyone tell me about this before?” At a loss, he stared at the ground. He found himself unable to accept this frightening news.
No one replied him. Thales sighed in his heart.
“Be prepared, Tardin,” Beldin said coldly at this moment. “Barney is about to step back.”
Everyone’s expression froze. Barney Junior’s attacks had become slower as he fought against Zakriel in the distance.
“So, it is not a problem even if he fights against one hundred people alone?” Thales frowned tightly.
The attitude of the prisoners when facing the prince was obviously a lot better than when they faced ‘Wya Caso’. Samel said softly, “You have to understand that no matter how many people there are on a battlefield, the number of people who can attack one person at a time is limited.
“Other than in special battle formations, even if a thousand people surround and attack one person, only the six or seven people in the innermost layer of the encirclement will be able to clash weapons against that person and attack him with all their might at the same time.” He stared at Barney Junior from afar and said sternly, “As long as he has enough stamina, and his mind is not exhausted, there is no reason for Zakriel to lose.”
Thales’ heart sank. ‘No… If that’s the case, there’s… no hope at all for us to win with just the Royal Guards present. What in the world are Barney Junior and the others doing?’
“You know, there was once someone among the Royal Guards of Constellation who got bored and made up a doggerel.” Nalgi shook his head.
Behind him, Bruley raised a finger and pointed expressionlessly at Nalgi.
“The last verse of that doggerel was…” Nalgi cleared his throat and said solemnly, “Tony stood firm, and none in the world could harm him…
“The Knight of Judgment attacked without regrets…
“…and all perished.”
Translator’s Note:
[1] A knight does not die even when he battles alone: Is actually this: A Knight Does Not Die with Empty Hands. From Fate/Stay Night. You can read more here: https://typemoon.fandom.com/wiki/Knight_of_Owner
