Chapter 301

Chapter 301

The high-spirited mercenaries pulled the battering ram back once more before driving it forward. If they captured the imperial palace, immense treasures were within sight. Moreover, the momentum was firmly in the Alliance's favor.

"Let's goooo!"

"Hooooooh!"

The mercenaries shouted. The door hit by the battering ram was dented, and splinters flew.

"Kaaargh!"

A mercenary screamed as a splinter was lodged in his eye, causing blood to flow like tears.

"Move, you idiot!"

Another mercenary pulled the injured man aside and took his place. They shouted vigorously as they pushed the battering ram again.

Crack!

The door was on the verge of breaking.

Creak.

The latch broke, and the gates of the imperial palace opened. The mercenaries smiled triumphantly, thinking of the future where they returned home rich to live in luxury.

Sniff, sniff.

The mercenary at the very front smelled something unfamiliar.

Fwhooosh!

Flames erupted from the other side of the gates. Fire engulfed the battering ram and the mercenaries, and the ox hide binding the battering ram couldn't withstand the Fire of the Empire.

"A-aaaaah!"

The agony of being burned alive was beyond imagination and caused the mercenaries operating the battering ram to run in all directions, screeching. Their comrades tried to extinguish the flames, but the fire fed by the empire’s flame oil wouldn't go out easily.

"W-what is that!"

Warriors seeing the Fire of the Empire for the first time widened their eyes.

The Alliance Army assaulting the palace hesitated momentarily as the entrance became a sea of flames.

"Now! Block the gate again!"

The imperial soldiers quickly brought sandbags and wood to fill the opening in the gates.

Hamel’s last resistance was fiercely intense, to the point of desperation. Warriors climbing over the walls died on sharp spears as the well-trained imperial soldiers held their positions to prevent the Alliance from advancing further.

The Alliance Army desperately tried to break through the gate while the imperial soldiers repeatedly used the little remaining flame oil to hold them off.

Craaaash!

The palace entrance collapsed once again, and the chiefs urged their warriors who were each competing for merit.

"Now! Go in! Go in!"

Taking advantage of the gap, the warriors rushed into the palace entrance. This time, the imperial steel knights stepped forward to block the warriors.

The entrance was blocked again as the steel knights battled on. The siege became a tedious back-and-forth struggle and a war of attrition between those holding the line and those trying to breach it.

Whenever the Alliance created a gap, the imperial soldiers filled it to prevent the breach.

But it was only a matter of time before they broke through. The Porcana army, which had been spectating until now, finally joined the assault on Hamel and targeted the palace's flanks.

The combined attack was enough to make the morale of the once iron-willed imperial soldiers falter. Even the knights began to drop their weapons and desert.

‘This is the end,’ Urich and the warriors thought.

‘The war ends with Urich still alive.’

Belrua stared at the great hero standing before her. He was a warrior she wanted to respect freely, but he was also destined to be her own son's future nemesis.

‘How could my son ever avenge his father on this unparalleled hero....’

Belrua subtly furrowed his eyebrows.

But as if he had read her thoughts, Urich turned his head and looked at Belrua.

"Don’t worry, Belrua. I can’t feel my legs."

Urich, on horseback, pressed his thigh firmly. At some point, the pain in his back had disappeared. Not only the pain, but all sensation had ceased. His days as a warrior were over.

* * *

The capital that once dreamed of a millennial empire was burning as its destruction spread uncontrollably.

War had always been a man’s affair. Women could only wait for the war's outcome and accept their fate.

Creak.

Damia sat in a rocking chair, soothing her son who had been awakened by the commotion. Her son, Salone, was at the age where he could walk on his own and express his will. Time indeed flew by quickly.

While men rolled on the battlefield, women bore and raised life. As many lives perished on the battlefield, so were children born. Such a cycle of life and soul was one of the truths of Solarism.

"Salone, someday you will receive your true name."

“You can’t pick a flower because you’re afraid of being pricked by its thorns? How disappointing.”

Hearing Damia's words, Xeron's shoulders shook with an expression that was hard to tell if he was laughing or crying. The knights felt the same self-loathing knowing they, who once thought of themselves as honorable, were now committing such a disgraceful act of gathering to assault a helpless woman.

The knights approached Damia, loosening their armor straps. She couldn't take on three well-trained men. However, Damia resisted to the end.

She bit their tongue and kicked their groin, holding them off as best she could, but the violence of men only grew more severe.

“Tired already? Did you not take on all of the sexual desires of His Majesty? Huh?”

A knight aggressively twisted her arm, breaking the fragile bone. Despite the pain, she stifled her scream while her entire body trembled.

The sadism of the knights only became more fueled as she continued to refuse to yield to their violence.

“Let's see how long you can hold out!”

“Let's burn the last flame of our lives together.”

The emperor had toyed with Damia for years with an abuse that would have broken an ordinary woman in days, let alone a year. But she hated the idea of surrendering, whether to fate, a man, or anyone. Violence could bring her to death, but not break her.

The knights watched Damia suppress every single groan. One of them, filled with defiance, punched her stomach.

“Gah, ugh!”

Damia exhaled harshly, opening her tightly shut mouth. As if he was waiting for this moment, the knight's movements quickened.

“Hurry up. I’m next.”

Even while the knights mocked Damia, their eyes were filled with terror. They sought pleasure with the princess to forget their fear.

“The barbarians are going to kill us all...”

The knights' anxiety bred violence. They wielded cruel violence on a single woman as if they were trying to show how low mankind could fall. They sought only their pleasure, regardless of the damage they were doing to Damia's body.

The barbarians trampling the imperial palace was only a matter of time as the palace crumbled under fear and chaos. Even the troops maintaining the front lines had been disbanded.

Click, click.

Footsteps quickened. Someone was walking briskly through the marble corridor, but the knights who were consumed with their desires for Damia did not hear the footsteps.

“Cry out!”

Xeron slapped Damia's cheek hard. There was a strange noise from her jawbone, and her neat front teeth broke off.

Damia barely opened her swollen eyelids to look at the open door. Something blurry was standing behind the knights panting like beasts.

Click.

The footsteps stopped.

Order in Hamel had collapsed. There was no ethics or morality, and even the proudest of the empire had reverted to beasts.

Yet there was still a man donning the violet eagle.

Only then did the knights hear the footsteps and turn around. The ruler of the empire that was on the brink of collapse stood there.

“Go on, continue. It’s a good watch.”

Yanchinus squinted and smiled.

The knights froze. At a loss, they could not react until a sword was driven into one of their hearts. Despite throwing away all their values, their bodies still trembled under the aura of the emperor in a submission that was deeply ingrained in their brains.

Schluck!

Blood splattered as the naked knights fell to the emperor's sword. Yanchinus was trained in swordsmanship as well as any decent knight.

“...Forgive me, Your Majesty.”

Xeron, deeply stabbed in the chest, begged for forgiveness as he died. He wasn’t pleading for his life, just forgiveness.

“I understand, Sir Xeron. It is all my fault. I will not blame your weakness.”

Yanchinus nodded and ended the knight's life. He wiped the blood off his sword with his cloak and looked at Damia.

Her broken arm dangled helplessly, and her belly was bruised. Her face was swollen and ugly, and every breath she took bubbled with blood.

“If you had just given in to their demands, your body wouldn’t have gotten to this state. You are still as stubborn as ever.”

Yanchinus picked Damia up. She wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

Yanchinus walked down the corridor with Damia in his arms.

“Your Majesty! Here you are!”

Knights who had just retreated came looking for Yanchinus. They were among the few loyal ones left who had not succumbed to fear and had kept their duty.

“We will gather the remaining forces and open an escape route. As long as we secure your safety, we can recover anytime. There are still troops in the north...”

Yanchinus closed his eyes and then opened them. The collapse seemed like it was gradually approaching, but before he knew it, it was breathing down his neck.

His heart wanted to stay and protect the throne. Facing the enemy and meeting his end as an emperor seemed honorable, but that was only an escape. Anyone could give up and die.

‘...The true challenge is surviving to the end and achieving greatness.’

Yanchinus gestured with his chin. The knights, with their eyes glistening, stood by the emperor.