By Zephyria “Ugh…. Have I not been using my body enough lately.”
“Battalion Commander, are you alright!”
Andreas barely managed to get up in the deep pit. His bones ached and his whole body was sore. One of the elites nearby could not rashly approach because of maintaining the balance of the barrier, and stood in place, asking about his condition.
Andreas waved his hand as if he was more or less okay.
“My left arm is wrecked.”
“That…!”
“It’s okay, it’s nothing. It’s a good thing I raised my guard, or my ribs would have been broken.”
Andreas smiled bitterly and looked down at his left arm, which was completely useless and had no strength at all. He tried to move his fingertips but failed, and immediately used the pulled-in vines as a splint, recalling the person who had made his arm like this.
‘Magic power aside, there is nothing to criticize in combat.’
The speed at which he came above his head in an instant in the Imperial Palace where teleportation was not possible. The agility to sense the air currents and search for the main body. The meticulousness to accurately target only the gaps and vital points. In addition, the grip that held his shoulder tightly so that he could not escape, and the powerful and destructive magic power that took his breath away.
Andreas could understand what it meant to lose the will to fight with all of his fraudulent abilities.
Bang―! Kwaang―!
Explosions continued to be heard in the sky near the ice wall. As the powerful magic power of the two people constantly clashing flowed through his skin, goosebumps rose and his body trembled slightly.
Andreas chuckled at the sight of the collision of the two opposing magic powers that could not be properly seen with the naked eye. He even thought that it was fortunate that he only ended up with one arm broken in the midst of all that.
“Are they monsters….”
The purple eyes, which had been traversing the sky following the flashing lights, stopped at a point that was completely unrelated.
It was because he suddenly had a strange thought.
As Andreas recalled the battle just now, Leonardo’s actions that he could not understand flashed through his mind one by one.
Eventually, they merged into one question and floated in the empty air before his eyes again.
“…….”
There was one strange thing about Leonardo Blaine.
He had such fast and agile movements and powerful magic power, and there was even a golden opportunity when Hugo was briefly away from his side.
‘…Why didn’t he run away?’
* * *
Hugo thought as he fought with him all along.
‘Have I ever felt this guy’s magic power in the Imperial Palace?’
This was the second confrontation with Leonardo. As his first encounter with him was so intense, his magic power was deeply ingrained in Hugo’s senses to the point that he would never forget it again.
But even though he had seen him in the Imperial Palace in the past, he had never felt his magic power so strongly and clashed with him like this. Hugo felt that his wave that was now echoing in the middle of the Imperial Palace was somehow unfamiliar.
He could not shake off the strange sense of déjà vu that he felt every time the searing blade, where his magic power was concentrated, flickered before his eyes.
And one more thing he couldn’t understand.
‘Is it on purpose?’
What Hugo was most concerned about was the situation where people would be hurt and damaged as a result of the inevitable battle with Leonardo in the Imperial Palace. So now Hugo was unable to use any long-range attacks or large-scale magic other than close-range attacks.
But it was the same for this guy. He would have known from the last battle. That he was inferior in terms of physique and stamina.
Then what was advantageous for him was not a close-quarters battle where he could put his weight on and push, but a long-range battle where he could freely launch attacks from a distance. But except for the attack that burned Andreas’s clone earlier, he had been fighting only at close range.
‘That can’t be….’
Hugo could not understand his intentions at all, so he kept swinging his sword with all his might to sap his strength as much as possible.
Earlier, he had briefly hoped that he was fighting only at close range because he was worried that people would be in danger when he saw the fragments of the ice wall scattering.
But now, he changed his mind, thinking that if he had even considered that, he would not have caused such a commotion in the middle of the Imperial Palace. The surrounding area was already a mess, and the losses were enormous in terms of manpower and money.
Hugo strongly swung his long sword to put pressure on him, pressing him down, and said, wanting to end this meaningless fight before the Battalion Commanders arrived.
“Leonardo, now that you’ve come to the Imperial Palace, resistance is meaningless. If you keep doing this, your sins will only increase.”
At those words, Leonardo knocked Hugo’s sword away with a momentary force, and instantly switched his position with his opponent, going up. Then, he pressed down with his sword in the same way that Hugo had done, and said.
“My sins? What are my sins? Don’t you guys have any sins for suddenly grabbing someone who was living well?”
“Didn’t I tell you? It’s to protect you. Nothing will change no matter what you do.”
“Protect me? What a joke.”
Leonardo suddenly seemed to have had a switch flipped, and showed a very angry expression. His expression turned coldly, to the point of being cynical, and the flow of magic power around him also changed rapidly, emitting a threatening aura as if to swallow the opponent facing him.
Hugo instinctively had a bad feeling about the changed air current.
‘Long range.’
And even that was on a different level from the red ray that the guy had fired before.
As a powerful magic power that overwhelmed the crowd was concentrated in Leonardo’s hand, Hugo immediately moved quickly in the direction of backing against the ice wall.
It was a moment when he realized that he had not been fighting with all his might until now. Otherwise, there was no way to explain the source of that intense magic power that was spreading in all directions.
Even if this ice wall was split like before by Leonardo’s attack, he had to prevent that magic from flying towards the people at all costs. The elites’ barriers could not withstand that level of magic power at all.
As soon as Hugo put the ice wall behind him, Leonardo, with an angry face and veins standing out on his neck, reached out to him with both hands together and said.
“The only one who can protect me is me.”
Hugo paused at those confident words and stared at him. And at that moment, the flames that had been raging wildly in Leonardo’s hands exploded and stretched out towards Hugo.
Hugo deliberately slowed down a little to confirm that the guy was aiming at him, and waited for that huge sun-like magic power to get close to him before dodging by a hair’s breadth.
Before long, the straight line of crimson flame collided with the magnificent, thick wall of ice, exploding together with a destructive sound that shook the surroundings.
KWA-AAAAANG!
Immediately after the first explosion, Hugo Agrizendro deployed a barrier at the very center of the sky, preventing ice shards from bursting outwards. The strong gust of wind caused by the explosion made the scattering ice fragments feel threatening, like sharp glass.
Even amidst all this, the citizens watched the fierce battle between the two mages from behind the Council members’ barrier, holding their breath. Such a large battle rarely occurred in the Imperial City, so even knowing the danger, they couldn’t take their eyes off the magical energy that seemed to destroy everything.
However, when the fierce gust of wind that followed swept violently towards where they were gathered, they all screamed, cowering in fear.
It was then that a little girl’s hat, which had been captivated by the explosion of strong magic, was blown away by the wind.
“Ah, my hat—!”
Before she could grab it, the hat floated into the air and was swept away somewhere, crossing over the heads of the lined-up crowd. The small child tried to catch it, weaving through the crowd, and unknowingly approached the direction of the battle little by little.
Fortunately, the hat soon fell to the ground, and just as the child, who had barely arrived in front of it, was crouching down to pick it up,
a second explosion caused another gust of wind, and a nearby sign fell right in front of the child. The child was startled and fell backward, so she wasn’t hurt, but the white hat she was trying to pick up was crushed under the sign.
Startled, the child awkwardly got up and tried to pull her hat again, but the sign was so heavy that the hat wouldn’t come out easily.
At that moment. The lower part supporting the tall ice wall was cut in half due to a chain explosion, and cracks appeared horizontally with a cracking sound. Soon, the huge ice wall, as high as a spire, swayed ominously from side to side and slowly began to tilt towards the hole that Leonardo had created when he escaped earlier.
The people who were crowded in that direction were frozen in place by the unrealistic sight, but at someone’s cry, they woke up from the shock and began to run for their lives.
“I, it’s falling this way—!”
“Kyaaaa!”
“Everyone, evacuate!”
As the magnificent ice wall fell and cast a shadow, people inside the building also poured out, and the street in that area was filled with screams.
The child’s mother, who was facing the shocking scene in the middle of the crowd, hurriedly looked around when she suddenly realized that the child who had slipped out of her hand was nowhere to be seen. Then, she began to search for the child, pushing through the fleeing people.
“May? Where are you, baby!”
It was not easy to go against the crowd pushing in one direction amidst the chaotic screams. People pushed her away as she tried to go in the opposite direction, and she struggled to withstand the violent collisions while firmly holding onto her collar.
In the midst of all this, a familiar figure behind the messily scattered signs caught her eye.
“May—!!”
Her face turned white when she saw the small figure struggling to pull out the hat. Soon, she ran in the direction the wall was falling to save her child.
However, she couldn’t move forward easily due to the ruthless wave of people.
“Everyone, get out of the way! My child is over there!”
As soon as Hugo saw the ice wall tilting from the sky, he urgently shouted to Andreas below.
“Andreas! Stop it with all your might!”
“I know!”
Andreas, covered in dust from the whirlwind, braced the ground with his one relatively intact arm and pulled huge tree trunks from the ground with all his might.
Thick trunks continued to rise under the falling ice wall, suppressing the force trying to break through as much as possible. From behind the direction the wall was tilting, vines wrapped around the ice wall and pulled tautly in the opposite direction.
Thanks to this, the speed was temporarily reduced, but perhaps because the ice wall was so thick and heavy, the thick tree trunks began to break helplessly. The vines pulling from the opposite side also snapped one by one. Andreas, realizing that it wouldn’t work, mobilized his shattered left arm and drew out magic.
Even so, when the trunks failed to completely stop the falling ice wall, Hugo decided to break the wall altogether and quickly flew towards the direction the wall was falling.
“Huh…?”
The child, who was only looking at her hat without knowing anything, suddenly raised her head slightly at the screams of people and the feeling of being shaded. In the field of vision she looked up at, a magnificent ice wall was rushing towards her.
The child, with her eyes wide open, froze as it fell so quickly that the tree trunks supporting the bottom were meaningless.
“Baby—!”
As the child’s mother tried to run in a frenzy, one of the Council members mixed in the crowd grabbed her tightly and stopped her.
“Where are you going! Get out of here right now!”
“My daughter is over there—!”
At the woman’s words, who was struggling violently and shouting, the member also turned his head following her desperate gesture. Only then did he see the child, who he hadn’t noticed because she was hidden by the fallen sign.
The child was so frightened that she couldn’t take her eyes off the shadow that had come close to her, and the child’s mother screamed at her child who couldn’t move under it. The member, realizing the situation, quickly inhaled and shouted.
“Run away, quickly!”
The member immediately let go of the woman he had been holding and ran to the child instead. The ice wall was almost about to fall, but he thought that saving the child was the top priority.
However, the speed at which the ice wall crushed the tree trunks and fell was incomparably faster than his running legs.
Although the distance had not been narrowed enough, the fear of death rushed in against his will when he saw the large shadow in front of him. Because of this, even as his legs gave way and he fell forward, the member stretched out his arms and hugged the child tightly.
At that moment, as he closed his eyes tightly, held his breath, and waited only for death.
Brilliant gold appeared before them.
Leonardo, standing firmly with his feet at the head of the crouching child, stretched out one hand towards the magnificent ice wall that had collapsed and come right before his eyes. And he stretched out his other hand behind him to create a powerful barrier.
A huge and splendid golden magic circle unfolded in front of him, and at the same time as he chanted the spell, dazzling flashes of light poured out in all directions.
“Destroy.”
In an instant, people’s ears went numb, and the world was silent for a moment before an enormous destructive sound rushed in with an increasingly intense ringing in their ears.
The child’s eyes, whose ears were dazed by the shockwave, were completely dyed gold, and the huge ice wall that had come right in front of her was shattered as if it were being destroyed without a trace. As a result, the golden hair of the man blocking the child swayed in the strong wind, emitting a brilliant light.
Instead of sharp fragments, ice that had been completely crushed into powder scattered like snow in all directions from the sky. As a result, sparkling ice powder scattered and piled up like snowflakes around the plaza.
Leonardo lowered the hand he had stretched out towards the ice wall and turned around, looking down at the child who couldn’t move and the Council member who was hugging the child.
Then, he lightly lifted and pushed aside the sign that had fallen next to him with one hand, and picked up the child’s hat that had been crushed underneath.
As the child stared blankly at him, Leonardo dusted off the hat and held it out, asking.
“Is this yours?”
The child quietly nodded. Then, he put the hat on the child’s head and said with a smirk.
“It’s pretty.”
At his voice, the Council member who had been tightly closing his eyes gently opened them. Realizing that he was still alive from the pouring light, the member relaxed his hunched body and slowly raised his head.
As the child blinked and looked at him, Leonardo picked up the child being held by the member with one arm. Then, he grabbed the arm of the member who was lying down and looking up at him and pulled him up in an instant.
He glanced at the member for a moment before turning his head and approaching the child’s mother behind him. Then, she also hurriedly ran to Leonardo. Leonardo handed the child to her and said.
“It’s dangerous, so take her and go far away.”
“Ah… Thank you, thank you—.”
The woman hugged her daughter tightly and sobbed, bowing her head to Leonardo several times. Then, she repeatedly bowed her head and thanked the Council member who was standing blankly behind her.
People and Council members who had not yet escaped, and Hugo, were watching their appearance.
The woman quickly hugged her child, turned around, and ran far away. The direction she was running was a street that Leonardo knew well.
Staring at the receding figures of the two mothers and daughters, he suddenly looked closely at the familiar streets of the Imperial City and the tall buildings visible behind them, and the flags fluttering there, with flickering eyes.
The vast city and civilization spread out in the center of the proud Laina Rogia. And the people who were full of life there. All of those things were once what he had risked his life to protect, and had protected.
Everything was here, but he felt like he had been tormented by nightmarish memories and had forgotten everything.
‘Did I… want to come here?Leonardo raised his head and recalled the appearance of the military headquarters that would appear if he passed the main street at the end of that street and went a few more blocks. Each and every place was drawn very clearly in his head.
Starting from that place, this street he was looking at now was the very street where the citizens of the Imperial City poured out on his last expedition, sincerely wishing for his victory, handing him bouquets and handkerchiefs, wishing him good luck, and sincerely loving the hero of this country.
Three years had passed since he had been unable to set foot here again since that day.
“Leonardo.”
Leonardo, who was staring blankly at the scenery, turned his head at the voice calling him.
Hugo Agrizendro was approaching him with a slightly strange expression.
Leonardo grabbed his magic sword again and jumped far back to create distance from him. However, he no longer felt any intention to attack from the man looking at him, so he also withdrew his magic and stood there facing him.
Hugo carefully took a few more steps and approached as Leonardo’s wariness disappeared. Then, with a slightly complicated heart, he asked him.
“Why did you save the child?”
‘It was a chance to escape.’
Hugo never thought he would expect ‘if’ from him. But now he was quite seriously waiting for his answer.
He had a feeling that depending on his answer, that ‘thought’ might really change.
Leonardo’s brow furrowed slightly at Hugo’s question. He looked like he didn’t understand the intention of the question.
Soon, he answered with a dumbfounded laugh as if asking something obvious.
“Because that’s my job.”
Hugo stared at him, speechless.
There was no lie in the eyes of the man who spoke calmly.