"Crack!"
The echo of clashing steel had barely faded when a crimson radiance burst from the hilt of Theresis's sword. The Originium embedded within flared with blood-tinged energy, releasing a shockwave that shot toward Felix's eyes. The invisible force was nearly imperceptible in the dim twilight.
Felix spun aside to evade the lethal strike. Blazing flames swept outward, shearing through the clock tower's pillars. A toppled bronze bell served as a massive shield, intercepting the pursuing blade.
"Your swordsmanship is not as formidable as your Sarkaz power," Theresis said evenly. "Though most Sarkaz are the same. I am no exception."
"Sometimes we focus too much on what lies beyond," he continued. "The Sarkaz long for a home. They wish only to settle. Yet they fail to see the dangers lurking around them."
Felix flicked the sparks from his blade to the ground. "To confront threats from without, we must first quell strife within. Theresis, do you know what Kazdel looks like now?"
"I have read the reports from my spies," Theresis replied. "But I have never seen it with my own eyes."
"What a pity."
At that, Theresis surged forward once more. The shockwaves from their clash set the twelve bronze bells of the surrounding church swinging like colossal hammers.
Bang!
Their swords collided again. Felix staggered back several steps. His boots struck the trembling bricks, and the flying copper shards severed a pendulum loosened by the vibrations. In the fading light, the fragments wove a haze of golden dust.
"Break!"
The blazing sword slid into a gap in Theresis's chainmail. Felix thrust upward with force. Theresis rotated with the motion, his blade slipping beneath his arm. A hidden short edge sprang from the hilt, slicing across Felix's right arm and drawing blood. Before the droplets could fall, Theresis had already kicked off the ground, vaulting into the air and bringing his sword down once more.
Dusk deepened without warning.
Two sparks ignited within Felix's pupils as he retreated sharply. Theresis's sword pierced the brick floor. With a twist of his wrist, he shattered five feet of stone tiles, reducing the fragments to dust with the sweeping edge of his blade.
"Such swordsmanship," Theresis murmured. "It feels both familiar and foreign."
He tore away half his cloak. "Had you been born a century earlier, Kazdel would not have fallen to such ruin."
"Do you truly believe that my existence a hundred years ago would have helped you defeat the coalition led by Kal'tsit?"
"Heh. Kal'tsit." Theresis's voice turned glacial. "She destroyed Kazdel, and now she claims she wishes to rebuild it. She does not understand Kazdel, yet arrogantly believes she can change it. That pride, that presumption, that arrogance was the very reason Kazdel had failed time and again over the past century.
"Times have changed, Theresis. If you still cling to the same delusions as Duq'arael then you may as well perish with them."
On their tenth exchange, Theresis let out a muffled groan and dropped to one knee. He staggered back, narrowly avoiding the oncoming slash. The two launched at each other again, rolling and clashing atop the tilting dome of the clock tower. Each strike felt like a collision of souls.
Moonlight pierced through the shattered dome above.
Their crossed blades jammed into the teeth of the main gear, halting the suspended bronze bell just before it could fall. In the same breath, Felix and Theresis charged. Steel met steel in midair, producing the loudest ring of the day.
As midnight bells tolled, both men crashed downward. Fragments of blazing fire fell like meteors, blossoming into brilliant petals of flame around Theresis. In the next instant, a three-hundred-pound bronze bell plummeted like a falling star.
"Clang—!"
The final roar shattered the stained-glass windows.
When Felix regained his footing, he realized he was no longer on the surface of Londinium. The explosion had sent both him and Theresis plunging into an underground cavern. Wildfire ignited in blue-gold brilliance, illuminating the vast chamber in flames.
"Where is this?"
Theresis suddenly laughed. His gaze swept across the cavern, where dozens of statues stood upright, each gripping a sword. Though motionless stone, they exuded an imminent, razor-sharp killing intent.
"This… is the underground throne of the Palace of Westhaleg.."
His smile vanished. Drawing a slow breath, he removed his robe and cast it aside. Raising his sword toward Felix, he spoke without hesitation.
"Come. Kill me."
"Do you truly wish to die?"
Felix lifted his blade.
"I am already surprised you spared Theresa," Theresis said calmly. "As the Sarkaz King, allowing the former Sarkaz King to live is a risk to your own safety. You cannot be certain that she harbors no lingering ambition, no hidden desire."
"She is your sister."
"You are the king of the Sarkaz."
Theresis's voice remained steady. "Even without the Black Crown, you are the Liberation King recognized by the Sarkaz."
"Therefore, you must eliminate every potential threat."
"What's the hurry?" Felix shot back, tightening his grip on his sword. "Or do you think you're about to die here, so you're trying to say everything while you still can?"
Theresis offered no reply.
"Come!"
Felix stepped forward once more, blade raised. Theresis met him head-on. Steel collided with steel, a deafening clang reverberating through the underground sanctuary as the metallic stench of blood thickened the air.
Theresis let out a low grunt and staggered back, his boots carving two streaks of blood across the blue bricks. He braced himself by driving his sword into a crack in the floor and wiped the blood from his face.
"Is that enough?"
"Not enough."
Theresis answered calmly, "Do you believe in fate?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because as long as I'm strong enough, I can shatter fate." Felix held his sword horizontally before his chest. "I don't believe in any so-called predetermined script. If it exists, then I'll change it."
Clang!
Amid the raging flames, their blades locked again. Suddenly, Theresis's sword snapped in two. The broken fragment tore through the curtain of steel between them. In the same instant, Felix's sword swept upward, piercing Theresis's right chest. At the same time, the shattered blade drove into Felix's left shoulder.
Theresis stumbled back two steps and collapsed onto the throne beneath the Palace of Westhaleg. Blood streamed from his wounds. He steadied himself with his sword, drew a slow breath, and stared at the place where they had fallen.
He could feel his life slipping away.
"Kill me… and lead the Sarkaz to a new future." Theresis coughed, blood staining his lips.
"The future?"
Felix withdrew the blade from Theresis's chest and sprinkled a high-grade hemostatic agent, the kind used by medical operators, onto the wound.
"Today, Theresis of the Military Commission dies upon the throne beneath the Palace of Westhaleg." He paused. "And is reborn as a general of Kazdel. From this day forward, you will stand as one of Kazdel's own, leading the Sarkaz to carve their path across the world."
"…"
Theresis froze for a moment, then shook his head with a faint, disbelieving laugh.
"Heh..."
A slow warmth began to spread through his once-cold body. He glanced down at his chest. The punctured wound had nearly sealed. Though the fractured ribs sent waves of pain through him, he could at least stand and move.
He reached out and grasped Felix's extended hand.
"Then tell me," Felix said, pulling him up, "what exactly does your Military Commission intend to do?"
"…You have truly fulfilled your duty as the Liberation King." Theresis inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment before lifting his gaze. "What we carry is the Sarkaz's curse and their vengeance upon this land."
"In the beginning, the Sarkaz sought only to reclaim their lost homeland. We had no place to call home. Or perhaps anywhere could have been our home. But as time passed, civilizations arose across this land. And where there is civilization, there is conflict."
"For us, we became the victims. Those emerging nations seized our territory, slaughtered our kin, and branded us as demons, all in pursuit of land and resources."
"The Sarkaz would not sit idle and await extinction. We sought only to reclaim what was ours. Our home. That was when she appeared."
Felix noticed Theresis's voice had softened.
"Kal'tsit united every nation willing to resist Kazdel. She forged them into a coalition and led them to assault our capital, our final refuge."
"In the end, as recorded in your history books, Kazdel fell. We were defeated. But we drove the invaders back as well. It ended in a draw."
"This is why Kazdel's reputation among other nations is so poor," Theresis said with a quiet sigh. "Yet I have seen you establish diplomatic ties with multiple powers. Only you could have achieved such a thing."
"I understand the broad strokes," Felix replied. "But what exactly does the Military Commission intend to do?"
"Since this land has abandoned us, and the invaders seek to plunder what little we have left, then let the entire world become Originium." Theresis smirked faintly. "I don't care who falls first. In the end, we will be the last to perish. The Sarkaz possess far greater resistance to Originium than any other race. At the very least, we would be the final victors."
Felix fell silent for a long moment. Dragging the enemy down with you… it was like sacrificing everything just to crash into the opponent headfirst. The comparison was messy, impossible to articulate clearly, but the essence was simple enough. Mutual destruction.
By the time their conversation ended, the two had already climbed out of the pit. Theresis saw the mercenaries of the Military Commission waiting ahead. He also saw the operators of Tomorrow's Development. Drawing a steady breath, he stepped forward.
"General…"
"The Military Commission has been defeated." His words stunned the gathered mercenaries. He continued calmly, "From this day on, the Military Commission no longer exists. Those who wish to leave may do so now."
Some mercenaries collapsed where they stood. Others, unable to accept the absurd declaration, roared with bloodshot eyes.
"That's impossible!"
"Silence!"
The shout came from Manfred, a general of the Military Commission and Theresis's own student. He dropped to one knee before him. "Even if the Military Commission ceases to exist, I will still follow you, General!"
Understanding dawned on several soldiers. One after another, they knelt, swearing to follow him to the end.
Theresis gave a slight nod. His gaze shifted to Felix, then to Theresa, whose expression held unmistakable relief. His own face remained composed. Just as he was about to speak, the ground suddenly began to tremble.
"What's happening?"
"An earthquake?"
"That's impossible. Londinium has never—"
Theresis straightened abruptly, staring toward a distant structure.
The Shard.
"What happened?"
"Someone has activated the Shard's ultimate weapon." Theresis stepped forward without hesitation. "It's powerful enough to turn the entire land into Originium."
The moment the words left his mouth, Felix leapt into the air, gliding toward the Shard Tower. Along the way, he shattered the remaining Military Commission drones, streaking forward like a falling meteor before crashing into the tower itself.
"Clever…"
"Scanning for high-energy reactions — detected!"
Felix blasted open the door to the weapons chamber. Inside stood a figure wearing a golden mask.
"…The Confessarius."
"So it is Your Highness in person." The Confessarius bowed with eerie grace. The golden mask fractured into spiderweb cracks, revealing a youthful face beneath, blood dripping from his chin onto the control console.
Warning alarms blared. The dome of the Shard Tower began to split apart. A circular array of three hundred sixty high-energy Originium shards emitted a piercing shriek.
"Once activated, this weapon cannot be shut down." The Confessarius smiled faintly. "It merely paves the way for what comes next. Your Highness, you must excuse me."
"Do you think you can simply walk away?"
A flash of sword light erupted, brilliant and unyielding, binding itself to the Confessarius's body.
An eerie blue flame ignited around him. It did not burn flesh.
It burned the spirit.
"Damn it! What kind of flame is this?" His voice warped, shifting from that of a young man to a middle-aged one, then to that of an old man.
Felix paid him no further attention. He turned to the control panel.
The weapon could not be canceled. Nor could he destroy it outright. If it detonated prematurely, the entirety of Londinium would be annihilated, himself included.
This should not happen.
He inhaled slowly and redirected the weapon's trajectory away from the land.
Toward the sky.
Toward the heavens above Kazdel.
In the next instant, the unleashed coronal shockwave tore through the clouds, shredding them into luminous rings of ionized light.
Layer by layer, the sky began to fracture. The first shard of the firmament scraped past the clouds and crashed to the Terra atmosphere, revealing beyond it a breathtaking, resplendent expanse—the true starry sky.
For the first time in three thousand years, the radiance of the Galaxy illuminated the world below. The false constellations the people of Terra had long gazed upon shattered and dissolved.
They became a blazing meteor shower.
Across the newly reborn grasslands of Kazdel, purified Originium blossoms unfurled into silvery-white flowers.
This was true freedom.
And also the moment when Terra's trial truly began.