One of the pillars holding the front line, a Darkiron, was dead. Only one remained.
Simultaneously, Buldrokkas'tee, freed from the other Darkiron's interference, rushed to kill Lazurite and Platinum.
The fragile balance crumbled.
"…Retreat."
"But...!"
"Retreat! I said retreat!"
The old man facing Yujin spat out the words in fury. This wasn't a battle anymore. They were being slaughtered by monsters. The only option was to save the remaining personnel and flee.
"Who gave you permission to leave...?"
Theresis swung his sword, glaring at the enemy, but he couldn't catch the Union members who moved with blinding speed.
Even Yujin lacked the energy to chase the old man as he scaled the wall and vanished.
"Whew."
His side and thigh, pierced by arrows, burned as if seared by fire. If he were in peak condition, he could have pursued, but not now.
Buldrokk tilted his head, preparing to throw his pike, but Yujin raised a hand to stop him.
"You don't need to chase them?"
"Doesn't matter. Variables always exist. Even if we don't chase them..."
The Silverlance Pegasi would handle the rest.
As they fled, the Union fired parting shots, but Yujin deflected them, protecting the children.
"Larin, is your arm okay?"
"I'm fine... ugh."
She tried to lift the arm that had been grazed by an arrow, but it fell limply. Yujin gently caught it.
The children were unharmed. Sona was scratch-free. Only Yujin and Larin had taken damage in the prolonged fight.
Yujin tried to use the Nearl Arts to heal her arm, but Larin grabbed his hand to stop him.
"…No. Your condition is worse than mine."
"Still, if it scars..."
"It's fine. Kisha is here, and once we get out..."
Theresis watched Yujin and Larin holding hands with a complicated expression. He nudged Buldrokk in the ribs.
"What do you think?"
"About what?"
"That over there."
Buldrokk glanced at Yujin and Larin but felt nothing in particular. His body was still hot from battle, rendering him indifferent to other matters.
"Does it matter? It was the Master's order, and meeting like that naturally builds bonds."
"No, hah. That's not why I'm asking."
"I don't know."
"…Forget it."
Theresis shook his head wearily.
Just getting here had been hell. Getting lost multiple times, running out of food and water... The guards at the gate had mistaken Theresis and Buldrokk for vagrants causing a scene.
Seeing the star, Yujin's symbol, rising in the twilight, they had realized something was wrong and taken a gamble.
They knocked out the gate guards and literally flew through the air to get here. Theresis, carried on Buldrokk's back, had felt like he was going to die.
"Yujin, what now?"
Theresis asked.
"Well, this iron gate is the main exit. We need to open it to get out..."
[It is physically locked, making manual opening virtually impossible. Any electronic access has likely been cut.]
PRTS, who had remained silent so Yujin could focus on fighting, spoke up.
Hearing PRTS and Yujin, Buldrokk stood still for a moment, then walked over to the massive iron gate. He jammed his fingers into the small seam and began to apply force.
[...? Impossible. Opening a locked iron gate with human strength is—]
Before the sentence could finish, Buldrokk activated his Arts. Red light wreathed his hands, reinforcing them as his muscles swelled. A terrible grinding noise began.
Creak, clank, crunch.
The sound of gears turning echoed as dust fell from the gate. The noise paused for a moment with a clatter, then, with the sound of something breaking, the gate moved again.
"Oh."
[...]
Yujin let out an impressed sound. The massive iron gate began to slide open. Finally creating a gap wide enough for a person to pass, Buldrokk dusted off his hands.
"Whew. This should be enough."
"As expected, if force doesn't solve the problem, it's because you aren't using enough force."
[That is not the correct lesson, Knight...]
Larin supported Yujin, while Sona led the children out first. Buldrokk and Theresis followed without much emotion.
Beyond the massive gate lay the guard post and the sun that had completely vanished. They looked at the city lights slowly turning on. Yujin touched the spear on his back and looked into the distance.
The barren wasteland. Something was kicking up a dust cloud as it ran toward them.
Seeing the visible dust cloud, Buldrokk and Theresis gripped their weapons. Sona and Larin hid the children behind them.
But identifying the faces running toward them, Yujin sighed.
The city lights hadn't fully returned. As the moon rose and moonlight descended, the silver light became clearly visible to their eyes.
This city did not acknowledge them.
And they did not acknowledge this city.
The scent of mud, distinct from ordinary knights.
Flesh and bone, the countless heroes buried on the battlefield.
Yujin wasn't the one to finish the Armorless Union.
It was the job of those who judged and crushed the enemies of Kazimierz.
The Silverlance Pegasi.
They had arrived.
"Dammit! How many?"
"That... exact numbers are impossible to confirm."
Documents flew as the office descended into chaos. The people who had been engaging in armchair theories fell silent. Those who flaunted themselves in skyscrapers reaching the sky were now terrified.
"Impossible. It's impossible! The last report said only ten were stationed in the city. How did their numbers suddenly swell?!"
"The Adeptus declared the blackout an emergency and summoned all of them..."
The most revered and honorable knights, feared most by those in the Merchant Association.
"Where are the military advisors? The observers! What were they doing?!"
The executioners were coming. In a one-sided situation, they might have tried to flee, but even that was now impossible.
"Their distance at the last report was..."
573km.
"They covered that distance... in an instant? While maintaining camouflage?"
Now, there was nowhere to run.
One was manageable.
Two was difficult.
Three meant fighting for your life. Even if you killed the enemy, you likely wouldn't be in one piece.
If the number exceeded what could be counted on two hands...
Everyone here could die at their hands.
Buldrokk and Theresis narrowed their eyes, glaring at the opponents. Watching the Silver Knights rushing with heavy steps, they instinctively raised their guard.
There were nearly twenty of them. Even starting a fight seemed unthinkable. That was the meaning of a nation's pinnacle.
'Each one... is a walking weapon. If they all attack, even Master...'
Theresis rubbed his temples as he watched them. Only Yujin stood at the front, staring straight at them. The knight at the lead approached Yujin.
"Are you Yujin?"
"…Yes."
The knight shifted his gaze to the silver spear on Yujin's back, staring at it intently. Then, he patted Yujin‘s shoulder and walked past him as if going his own way.
"There is much to say, but now is not the time. We will do what we must. You do what you can."
The knights passed Yujin without emotion and entered Sector Zero. As their silver glow vanished from sight, Sona collapsed to the ground, exhaling deeply.
"Haa! I thought I was going to die. That pressure..."
Buldrokk tapped his pike, looking where the knights had disappeared. His red eyes burned with competitive spirit.
"I want to fight them."
"Crazy bastard. If we fought them just now, we'd all be dead."
Theresis brushed his hair back roughly. The world was vast, and the strong were many. Even with weapons that burned the earth and sky with the advent of Nomadic Cities, the monsters standing at the crossroads were not to be ignored.
"So, what now?"
Theresis asked Yujin. Yujin touched the shoulder the knight had tapped and looked at the city beyond the wasteland.
The words the knight left behind. What he could do. Only one task remained.
"To the arena."
It was time to end everything that had happened in Kazimierz.