Arc 7, Chapter 98 - 'The Pleiades Battalion”

Arc 7, Chapter 98 - “The Pleiades Battalion”

――The Kingdom of Lugunica, the Vollachian Empire, the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko, and the Kararagi City-States.

――Each of the four major countries, commonly referred to as the Four Great Powers, had developed its own culture, which was tailored to its land; most notably, the pro-dragon spirit of the Kingdom of Lugunica and the Spirit Arts faith of the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko. The four major countries had taken different paths, as if by design.

This was true not only in terms of national culture and style, but also in terms of the quality of “warriors”.

In the Vollachian Empire, “magic” had hardly developed at all.

The gate and other prerequisites in their bodies were no different from those of other countries, no matter whether they were across the border or not, but compared to Lugunica and Kararagi, the Empire lagged far behind the others in this area.

The Empire, however, did not take that fact to heart.

Of course, falling behind other countries in any field was not welcome, but the fact that the field of magic was not developed meant that other fields were developed instead.

Compared to the technological prowess of the Kararagi City-States, the Spirit Arts and curse arts of the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko, and the magical disciplines of the Kingdom of Lugunica, the Vollachian Empire excelled in martial arts.

???: [Sometimes it’s faster to just swoop in and hit them than to use magic, right?]

And, while this not Spiritual Arts Users-like statement could be fully affirmed, this was close to the general attitude towards magic in the Vollachian Empire.

Though this was highly misunderstood, and kind of the fact that was not being stipulated as well, the use of mana in the human body was not only limited to casting magic.

A small number of martial arts techniques were based on it, in the same way it was used in Spirit Arts, curse arts, and in the activation of some Meteors.

It was perfectly natural for an elite warrior, especially, to use mana to strengthen his own body.

At times, If one who possessed unnatural physical abilities were compared to ordinary people, the trick was the handling of the mana that circulated within the body――a technique called the Flow Method, which was done consciously.

However――,

???: [Cha-cha-cha-cha!]

With a thump, only one foot touched the ground, and in an instant the distance closed by a dozen meters.

If one were to track the figure from the side, it would seem as if time had been stolen, with its extraordinary body movements, but this was neither an illusion nor an optical illusion.

The anomaly was none other than the blue-haired boy who ran through the battlefield.

Following the explanation given immediately before, the boy’s sprinting, which effortlessly transcended human limitations, must have been the result of the Flow Method. However, beneath the boy’s young age and sharp good looks, there appeared no record of the days spent learning such techniques.

Rarely in the world were there such beings. ――There were those who were born unknowingly exercising the Flow Method, which was even said to be one of the ultimate martial arts, and would leave those who were caught up in the natural law behind.

Running down the hillside in a single breath, the boy plunged into the battlefield in search of the honor of the first spear.

Although――,

Blue-Haired Boy: [If the battle has already begun, the honor of being the first spear is nothing, but let’s not worry about the details!]

He broke into the battlefield from the western lands and gazed at the great army surrounding the star-shaped walls in the distance. The long, slitted eyes of the boy were blazing and wet with excitement that would never be felt in a battlefield where grief and joy alternated.

A being that went into battle without proper footwear, without armor or a helmet, without a cause of any kind――it was a barbaric act that could be seen as hostile by both those inside and outside the walls, those who wanted to protect the current Empire and those who wanted to destroy it.

However――,

Blue-Haired Boy: [The high level of ambition is a point worthy of note. With or without it, the appeal of your speech that flows from your mouth changes. It’s just――]

???: [What!?]

In red gear and crude armor, there were skirmishes between small groups of dozens each who were clearly hostile to each other. A boy interrupted from the side, and a soldier wielding a sword cried out.

An admirably clear tone of voice, a mixture of anger, frustration, excitement, but with a fighting spirit prevailing. It was a clever move that called for caution against an intruder on the battlefield.

Blue-Haired Boy: [――But it’s fatally slow!]

???: [Wh――]

It was correct to shout, but wrong to stop and ask who they were.

It was only right that any being who appeared on the battlefield without revealing his or her allegiance should be assumed to be an enemy. The soldier should not have only alerted his surroundings, but also slashed at the sound of the voice.

Still, the enemy was faster, and if one needed to, they could point to ten or twenty other faults.

Blue-Haired Boy: [Oh, and if what you just said was a line that came out because you didn’t ask my affiliation, but because you had no idea who I was, then I’m sorry for being too lightning-fast, I would say.]

A soldier opening his whitened eyes fell to the ground behind the non-stop babbling boy. As they passed each other, he drove his hand akin to a sharp blade into his neck. He expected to be able to chop his head off, but the blow was not powerful enough.

Shaking and swinging his arms around, he twisted his head as he felt that something was off after all.

Blue-Haired Boy: [It’s so frustrating when you feel like you can do something but you can’t. Not that I have any plans to mix up my ideals and wishes with what’s realistically feasible. Well, if I accidentally let him die, I will sink in Boss’s estimation, so let’s call it a good result!]

Immediately after shaking off his uncertainty so brusquely, the laughing boy’s figure turned into a blur.

A moment later, he avoided a sword strike descending on his position, and the back of the boy’s zori hit the soldier’s face from the side, launching him in the opposite direction. 1 The boy leapt off the soldier as he kicked him, and landed within the group behind following the soldier, striking each of their vital points with a single blow before disengaging――Just to slip right into the next group, cutting off the consciousness of another five or so. It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Both the follow-up and the main objective were a criminal act to bereave the surrounding soldiers of their time.

In other words, the mastery of this boy over his own body was beyond human comprehension and could not be pursued with raw strength――one could call it the ultimate lineage of martial arts developed in the Vollachian Empire.

Of course, it was not so easy for anyone to analyze such a situation on the battlefield, or to swallow the fact that a child of twelve or thirteen years could be capable of such a thing.

Above anything else――,

Blue-Haired Boy: [――Tactless.]

???: [―――]

Blue-Haired Boy: [It’s not tactful to try to undermine the skill and good looks of a star actor during his performance. On stage, nothing more is needed than to be admired, to enthrall and captivate. Of course, if I were to ascend to the stage in the same way, I would have to assert a more flamboyant appearance by means of an opponent... worthy of it.]

The group gasped at the boy frowning down upon his surroundings in the center of the slowly crumbling Imperial Guard.

The soldiers, who should have been clashing weapons and fighting for their lives, on both sides were overwhelmed by the boy’s presence and bereaved not only of their time, but their very lives.

Blue-Haired Boy: [No, the blessing of an actor...]

To bereave others of their lives. The boy got a certain satisfaction from that sensation.

As the boy was savouring this sense of accomplishment, among the numerous defeated soldiers bereft of their time within opposing the Imperial Guard was one poorly armed warrior who opened his mouth and said, “You.”

Soldier: [Where’s this guy from? Is he one of ours?]

Blue-Haired Boy: [Hmm, hmm, hmm, whose side am I on? That’s quite a good question from you. What do you think I am? Friend or foe?]

Soldier: [――――]

The warrior clammed up when his question was returned with another question in such a can’t be bothered manner. The boy’s smile deepened at this, and he shook his head, “No, no.”

Blue-Haired Boy: [I wasn’t teasing you. I just thought about it seriously too. I constantly think about that stuff. I didn’t really listen to the Boss, so I don’t really know who is on my side.]

Soldier: [Huh?]

Blue-Haired Boy: [So for now, I’m just gonna act as the herald of justice for both sides.]

The warrior’s eyes rolled back, then his startled face blurred on the side, and the next moment he was flipped over onto the ground.

The smirking boy’s figure was swept away, and this time he slipped into a group of warriors who had been fighting the Imperial Soldiers he had just defeated, and furiously mowed them down.

As the blue hair danced and the sound of sharp strikes seemingly echoed through the air, the consciousnesses of the warriors were erased without as much as a bitter cry. This violence, was just like a storm――No,

???: [A Blue Thunderbolt...]

Blue-Haired Boy: [Oh, marvellous. That’s exactly the alias I was thinking of calling myself, too.]

The warrior, who spilled a breath snatched in shock, was rendered unconscious by the end of those words.

It was the Vollachian way to respond to both friendly and hostile attitudes with equal violence――Yet, this savagery would probably even make the Emperor of this country raise his eyebrows.

But no one was capable of stopping the boy.

Yet it remained absolutely the correct thing to do according to the Imperial way.

???: [Uh, oh――!]

The warriors responded late to the threat posed by that small whirlwind of a boy.

The sensation of the sky, the ground, and the world shaking was felt by everyone on the battlefield at that moment.

Among those who could not treat it as somebody else’s problem were those on the western ramparts who would face head-on the flag-bearing groups running down the hillside――in other words, the Imperial Soldiers that had been ordered to defend the fourth bastion, which was closest to them.

???: [But――]

Not giving in to their fighting spirit, Gudda Dialmo, the Imperial General Second-Class “Tiger Hunter,” held his ground.

For a moment, he was overwhelmed by the sudden appearance and high morale of the opposition. However, the Imperial Soldiers, the subordinates of the “Tiger Hunter”, were not so amateur to be overwhelmed by some ammunition.

Above all, the wear and tear on Gudda and his men was almost minimal as far as this battlefield was concerned.

The Imperial Capital had been under tremendous siege, but the harsh attacks made against the other bastions had had almost no effect on this fourth bastion.

This was undoubtedly the achievement of Olbart Dunkelkenn, who reigned as the guardian of the fourth bastion, and could be called a demonstration of the “The Vicious Old Man’s” capabilities.

???: [In the first place, it’s a good idea ta cut off the opponent’s legs before they even make it here. Basic rule of warfare’s ta sever everythin’ ya don’t need ta fight, whether water or weapons.]

“The Vicious Old Man” described the reason why the enemy’s offensive was overwhelmingly weak compared to other bastions with such a cruelty that it sent chills down the spines of the troops imagining the horror of not being on the same side as him.

However, even Olbart had been required to rush to another bastion to fulfil his role of protecting the Imperial Capital in the case that it was about to be overrun.

Therefore, the fourth bastion currently lacked the power of the Nine Divine Generals, the greatest strength of the Empire.

Olbart’s legacy, his trained superhuman Shinobi, needed to deal with the flying dragon squadrons that had appeared from the sky in the same west as the approaching army.

Since they did not have any firearms, the Shinobi’s techniques were their only means of defending themselves against the flying dragon squadrons.

And against the group that was fiercely rushing in――,

Gudda: [――I’ll deal with you with all my soul!]

With these words, Gudda Dialmo stared at the enemy in front of him, carrying the signature armament of the “Tiger Hunter”――two metal clubs each weighing nearly a hundred kilograms.

Gudda’s alias was attributed to the fact that when he was still a General Third-Class, he had decimated a group of tiger men who were tyrannizing the country, and took the head of the enemy general who had killed the General Second-Class that had been in command.

As a result of that heroic fight to the death, the muscular body of the over two meter-tall Gudda was scarred from head to belly with white tiger claw marks, so he came to be known as the “Tiger Hunter” after word of that fierce battle had spread.

Gudda’s will to fight had remained unshaken even as his army was on the verge of collapse after its General had been killed.

So why would he be afraid of being outnumbered with something to bear right behind him?

Gudda: [We’ll take you on!]

With a yell like a cannon firing, Gudda’s huge body kicked off the ground and closed in on the enemy horde.

Following Gudda’s lead, his subordinates, each carrying their weapons of choice, rushed toward the starry flag that was approaching from the west.

Gudda: [――That one.]

As he approached the moment of impact with his own feet, Gudda looked closely at the vanguard of the enemy――a red Galewind Horse that was charging in front of the group, causing the ground to rumble.

What caught his attention was not the man pulling the reins of the Galewind Horse. The man was merely a reinsman――rather, what warranted his attention was the small figure the man riding on the Galewind Horse carried.

It was a black-haired boy holding a girl in his arms and looking straight at them with his dark eyes.

In that moment, the only thought passing through Gudda’s mind was that the boy was neither running ahead nor deviating from his position, but was charging forward as if it were natural for him to be in that position.

A boy with black hair and black eyes, just like the “black-haired crown prince” in the rumor that had been spread since before the start of the war.

Gudda: [――Hk!]

Gudda killed off the thought by biting his teeth and focused on what he had to do.

Taking advantage of a ridiculous rumor, the rebels had prepared a large number of “black-haired crown princes” and foolishly challenged the Imperial Capital to a decisive battle. Therefore, the Generals who had been tasked with defending the Capital――or rather, all the Generals and Soldiers, had made up their minds.

The authenticity of the black-haired child is of no concern. ――There is but one Emperor we ought to look up to.

Gudda: [――To backstab our Emperor Vincent Vollachia, you damned traitors!!]

Dual-wielding his two heavy metal clubs, Gudda roared like a tiger, the symbol he hunted in his name, and approached the boy charging at the front of the pack.

In front of them was a boy riding a red Galewind Horse whom the rebels were following.

Being a General himself, Gudda wanted to crush the enemy’s fighting spirit with a single blow by mowing them all down. The impact of the strike was so tremendous that it blasted weak eardrums.

Gudda’s thick arms also felt a satisfying response, but his eyes widened.

The black-haired boy was supposed to be crushed together with the Galewind Horse, but what the metal clubs caught was neither him nor the Galewind Horse he was riding――,

???: [I have to protect Schwartz, as it is now my main duty.]

With a body larger than his own and four thick, strong arms, he held a large shield in his hand, which he used to directly block the blow――or rather, both blows from Gudda’s metal clubs.

Gudda’s throat choked up at the astonishing sight, even taking into account the physical capabilities of the Multi-Arm Clan.

Slipping into that momentary delay――,

???: [And... it’s my job to beat up Schwartz’s enemies...!]

Gudda: [——Hk!]

His voice, hushed yet courageous, and filled with a strong sense of pride and honor, struck Gudda in the torso, launching his huge body into the sky.

The man who Gudda saw strike him as he let out a “Gah” had tattoos all over his body and wielded a large two-handed hammer.

He was well trained. But with his physique and amateurish movements, how could he have ――No, the correct thing to question was not merely what had happened to his own body.

Rebels: [OOORAAAAHH——!!!]

Gudda, who had taken the lead, was blown away, and the clashes between the rebels and Imperial Soldiers continued afterwards.

Even if Gudda’s head were to be chopped off, he had trained his men well enough not to lose their will to fight. It was precisely because of this pride that they could hardly believe their own eyes.

All at once, before they could even mount a decent resistance, the Imperial Soldiers were utterly crushed and pulverized by the offense of the oncoming rebel horde.

The sight was so shocking that Gudda’s entire body was filled with an indignation greater than the time when he had seen the head of his General crushed to bits right before his eyes――,

Gudda: [――This is absurd.]

And so, the battle-hardened General let out a hoarse breath at an utterly incomprehensible sight.

△▼△▼△▼△

――As with everything, there were exceptions.

The exception was the Pleiades Battalion, a threatening group of amateurs that crushed the fierce general, Gudda Dialmo, and the strong warriors he had trained.

They didn’t have any techniques they had trained, nor did they have fine armaments, nor did they even have a firm cause.

All they had was a really, really strong will to unite, and a vow to themselves that they would not back down no matter what.

And that was precisely the kind of thing that made the Pleiades Battalion an extraordinary group of people.

Recall the lengthy lecture on the shortcomings of Yang Magic.

Its use, which depended on the skill of the caster and the number of people, and often disrupted people’s coordination of their various operations, was called foolish as it had earned the former Emperor the stigmatic moniker of “Emperor of the Great Defeat”, and even Vincent Vollachia, who was proclaimed as a wise Emperor, quickly abandoned the idea of using it at the consideration stage.

But what if, hypothetically, something like it was possible?

All of the hundreds, or even thousands, of troops would be given a uniform enhancement of the same effectiveness, and yet all of them would not suffer from the gap between their original fighting ability and the skill level of their strengthened selves.

And, the key would be that there would not be the need to have the same number of Yang Magic users as the number of troops. ――If such dreamlike or miraculous conditions were met, would it not be feasible?

It was a pipe dream that Vincent Vollachia would laugh at and discard if he heard it.

A group of incidental coincidences that would even be said to be possible only in this time of war, in this situation, in this circumstance.

Only those who accepted Natsuki Subaru――or rather, “Natsuki Schwartz”, as the center of themselves, who sincerely thought of him as their friend, and who sincerely believed in him as their companion, would be able to achieve a miracle.

――The strengthening effect of the Yang Magic would be applied to each of the individuals Subaru shared the effect of Cor Leonis with; that was, all of his friends who worked together with him.

The power of the “Little King”, originally intended to share wounds and burdens, would now be exploited to use the power that the king alone could not handle, together with his friends that supported him.

Hence, the Pleiades Battalion――,

Subaru: [――I love you, all of you!!]

The thousands of “non-combatants” who traveled with Natsuki Subaru were transformed into an army of warriors and began to lay waste to every battlefield in this battle for the Imperial Capital.