The Liberation Army raced through the desolate academy grounds.
Trees lining the road had grown wild and twisted like monsters.
Magical streetlamps were covered in cobwebs.
Magic devices that had ceased functioning lay abandoned along the roadside.
“This atmosphere is…….”
“The students really are still here, are they not?”
The Liberation Army whispered anxiously at the sight of the academy, its former glory gone and its grounds reduced to something resembling a decaying ruin.
It seemed that they were only now beginning to grasp where they had come and what they would be fighting.
Running with a blazing light suspended from the tip of the Holy Sword, Theodore thought to himself.
‘Did he create the light with this in mind as well?’
If so, it was an astonishingly calculated move.
Theodore had sensed it when Julian dealt with the official responsible for the academy at the Imperial Magic Bureau, but Julian knew how to manipulate and inspire people in a way utterly unlike an inexperienced seventeen-year-old prince.
‘Perhaps the Commander’s account of his speech about liberating the academy was true.’
According to the Commander of the Holy Knights, even the haughty ministers had felt ashamed and supported the Liberation Army, regardless of whether they belonged to the pro-war or pro-peace faction.
The Commander had said that he, too, had become certain that they could succeed and that Julian was someone they had to follow.
‘He also said that the Crown Prince would undoubtedly intensify his efforts to keep His Highness in check.’
Therefore, those of the Temple had to protect the Third Prince.
Julian was the one candle that might drive the demons from an Empire engulfed in disorder.
The Commander had repeated those words time and again.
Theodore had been uncertain at first, but the more he observed Julian from beside him, the more convinced he became that the Commander was right.
‘The Saintess and the High Priest said the same thing.’
They advanced through an academy permeated by dark magic, relying upon Julian’s light.
Theodore made a decision.
He would protect that light.
“Haa.”
At that moment, he heard a sigh from behind him.
“I hope they are all still alive.”
It had been a quiet murmur, but Theodore heard it clearly. He turned around from the front of the formation.
“Your Highness, are you all right?”
“I have to be.”
Despite his answer, Julian’s face was as pale as that of a sheltered scholar who had spent his entire life indoors.
Theodore unconsciously frowned.
Did Julian not realize how important he was?
Seeing him worry about the other students first despite his frail body stirred Theodore’s instincts as a holy knight sworn to protect God’s will and the weak.
“You clearly are not all right. This will not do. I should carry you on my back while we run.”
“That will not be necessary.”
Julian recoiled at Theodore’s excessive concern.
“What do you mean, it will not be necessary? Your Highness is the light and hope of our Liberation Army. As your personal guard, I have a duty to protect your health…….”
“Do you not also have a duty to protect my dignity?”
“Who would dare damage Your Highness’s dignity?!”
You. You would.
Julian stared at the personal guard who had begun behaving like an overprotective nursemaid the moment they entered the academy.
Theodore’s eyes were blazing as though he could smell demons in every direction. Julian would have believed him an inquisitor rather than a holy knight.
“If you carry me while running, who will wield the Holy Sword?”
“I am capable of doing both.”
“No. Then I will look incompetent. Would I not look like some helpless child who cannot even manage this much?”
“Would that not merely mean everyone else was too blind to see Your Highness’s true abilities?”
At this rate, he is going to carry me on top of his head.
Julian suppressed his discomfort and changed the subject.
“I can heal myself. More importantly, how are you still perfectly fine? Do holy knights eat something special?”
“Could I possibly have eaten more nourishing food than Your Highness? This is the result of training.”
“You people were born with muscles, I swear…… Haa. Healing. Healing.”
Despite his grumbling, Julian continued running while using healing power on his legs.
“Shall we slow down slightly?”
“What would happen to my authority if I fell behind here? We continue at this pace.”
He could not display weakness as their commander if he intended to bring the Liberation Army under his control.
At Julian’s firm response, Theodore reluctantly warned him.
“Do not overexert yourself. Your Highness’s safety takes priority over everyth—!”
He stopped speaking and straightened abruptly.
As Theodore swept his wary gaze over their surroundings, Julian raised a hand and signaled.
The Liberation Army following them stopped.
FLAP-FLAP—
The sound of beating wings came from the darkness.
Everyone tensed and gripped their weapons.
The air grew ominously cold.
The sound of wings drew steadily closer.
Just as the tension reached its peak, a shrill and unnatural screech pierced their ears.
“!”
Theodore recoiled and raised the Holy Sword higher.
Beyond the light blazing at its tip, they could clearly see a swarm of black monsters rushing toward them.
“Vampire Bats……!”
At Theodore’s cry, the monsters poured from the sky and descended upon them.
“Get down!”
The instant Theodore leaped and swung his sword, Julian threw himself to the ground and shouted.
“Everyone, get down!”
He immediately followed with another command.
“Holy knights, raise your shields! Defend overhead!”
The divine power carried in his voice compelled the Liberation Army and the holy knights to obey immediately.
The moment the gleaming metal shields formed a roof over the Liberation Army, Julian thrust his hand upward.
“Holy Shackles!”
“?!”
Theodore turned at the unfamiliar incantation.
Then he saw it.
The attacking Vampire Bats had been seized by white light extending from the surfaces of the shields.
‘What is that?’
It resembled the immobilization magic used by mages on battlefields.
Unable to pull themselves away from the shields, the Vampire Bats remained pinned in place and thrashed violently.
SCREEECH!
The Vampire Bats that had been diving toward the Liberation Army crashed into one another and became entangled.
SCREE!
Those descending behind them frantically beat their wings and tried to climb back into the air.
“You are not escaping!”
Julian, who had been watching for precisely that moment, shouted.
“Holy Lightning!”
CRACKLE!
Lightning struck the immobilized swarm of Vampire Bats.
The escaping creatures were pierced through and swept away all at once.
SCREE!
Their wings spasmed as they plunged onto the shields.
THUD, TUNK, CLANG.
The charred corpses of the bats struck the shields and tumbled away.
Theodore, who had leaped forward to protect Julian and cut down the first bats, witnessed the entire scene.
“G-God above……!”
Vampire Bats were vicious monsters that formed swarms in the air, dove upon their prey, and drained their blood.
It was impossible to know where they would attack from. If several of them seized an unfortunate victim with their powerful claws and lifted them into the air, the victim could only struggle helplessly while the bats drained every drop of blood from their body.
On rare occasions, those who survived after having their blood drained became cursed vampires themselves.
Yet those terrifying monsters were now falling from the sky, blackened like chicken wings burned in an oven.
Theodore unconsciously lowered the Holy Sword and muttered.
“What in the world……?”
“So it actually worked.”
The young prince who had accomplished the astonishing feat calmly caught his breath.
“Divine power truly is effective against monsters. I was not entirely certain.”
“…….”
While Theodore remained speechless, Julian turned toward the Liberation Army.
“Is everyone unharmed?”
“Is everyone all right?”
“W-what happened?”
The mercenaries began stirring at the confused questions.
When they heard that the monsters were gone, the holy knights cautiously raised their shields.
“Ugh!”
The holy knights and mercenaries lifting their shields made strange noises of alarm.
“Wh-what is this?”
“Are those Vampire Bats?!”
The faces of those who had lost comrades to Vampire Bats—or had merely heard of their terrifying reputation—turned white.
“How did this happen?!”
“His Highness……”
Still looking dazed, Theodore explained.
Julian had used the metal shields as targets, bound the swarm of Vampire Bats with Holy Shackles, and destroyed the immobilized monsters with a single lightning strike.
Everyone’s mouths fell open.
“Deputy Commander, did H-His Highness truly do this?”
“Would I lie at a time like this?”
Theodore glared at them.
‘Is it true?’
Rumors that Third Prince Julian was a madman had spread throughout the Empire, but Theodore was different.
Although he was the direct heir of a ducal house and could easily have inherited a noble title, he had entered the Order of Holy Knights and risen to the position of Deputy Commander through his own ability.
He was the wielder of the Holy Sword.
The strongest holy knight, who had killed more demons than anyone else.
There was no possibility that such a man would speak nonsense in the demons’ stronghold.
‘It must be true.’
Gulp.
The members of the Liberation Army looked back and forth between the bat corpses and Julian, swallowing dryly one after another.
‘This was completely unexpected.’
His plan to charge through the academy on the night of the new moon while defending them with divine power had already been surprising enough.
Yet the Third Prince’s methods were even more unconventional and daring than they had imagined.
He had dealt with a swarm of Vampire Bats attacking from the air by pinning them against metal shields and striking them with lightning.
‘It is difficult to believe that he would attack monsters in such a manner.’
‘I have lived through countless battles, but I have never seen anyone dispose of Vampire Bats like that.’
‘Did he order us to prepare metal shields because he anticipated something like this from the beginning?’
Even the elite holy knights and battle-hardened mercenaries marveled inwardly.
When they heard that the Third Prince, widely rumored to be insane, would lead the Liberation Army, they had assumed he would be nothing more than a figurehead.
At most, they had expected him to accompany them and serve as a source of divine power.
However, Julian had seemed far too sane as he moved among the Liberation Army and persuaded its members. He had even displayed the shrewdness of an old fox despite his age.
They had begun to wonder whether the rumors of his madness had been false……
‘He is far more extraordinary than that!’
‘Could those rumors have spread because he was too brilliant for anyone to understand?’
Unable to conceal his own astonishment, Theodore asked a question.
“Your Highness, how did you think of such a method?”
“They came at us, so my hands moved on their own.”
He had devised that response in an instant?
Theodore blinked.
‘He becomes more astonishing every time I see him.’
Theodore already knew that Julian was courageous.
However, anyone would naturally be terrified when confronted by a swarm of Vampire Bats on the night of the new moon. That would be especially true for someone who had never fought monsters before.
A seventeen-year-old prince raised entirely within the Imperial Palace would have deserved praise merely for remaining conscious.
Yet how had Julian acted moments earlier?
He had assessed the situation swiftly, issued precise orders, and attacked boldly.
He had displayed the bearing of a natural commander.
Above all, his ingenuity in using metal shields and divine power to defend and attack simultaneously had been remarkable.
After accomplishing such a feat, he remained perfectly calm.
‘Is everyone with the blood of God like this?’
After marveling for a moment, Theodore shook his head inwardly.
He had met several members of the imperial family. How could he even entertain such a thought?
‘Perhaps he acted insane all this time…… merely to conceal how extraordinary he truly was.’
***
‘He is unusual.’
Sion Arcane, a mage serving in the Liberation Army, watched Julian thoughtfully.
‘He possesses divine power of such overwhelming magnitude, yet he thinks exactly like a mage.’
Those who understood neither divine power nor magic regarded both as equally mysterious miracles, but the principles behind them were markedly different.
A god received faith and, in return, granted power to its incarnations and followers.
Magic developed the secret arts of dragons and applied them by manipulating the flow of mana.
Their sources and mechanisms were entirely different.
‘Black Magic, which draws upon the power of demons, is different from both.’
Consequently, the ways in which each power was used were also different.
Priests and holy knights believed that they were borrowing God’s power. As a result, they rarely deviated from orthodox methods.
Mages dreamed of becoming Archmages who would succeed the dragons, altering the flow of mana according to their own designs.
In other words, divine power represented stability but was predictable.
Magic allowed freedom and individual control, but it was dangerous.
‘Yet he freely alters divine power according to his own will and uses it as naturally as magic.’
Sion gazed at Julian with newfound interest.