Chapter 173: The Purple Mist
[Scene: The battlefield. Delrat's corpse lies at King Thalanor's feet. A faint hiss echoes.]
Knight 1: (alarmed) "Y-Your Majesty! Do you hear that?!"
Thalanor: (snaps head around) "...!"
[An Aquarian soldier smashes a canister to the ground. Purple mist gushes out, spreading unnaturally fast.]
Knight 2: (covering mouth) "What is that!?"
Thalanor: (grim tone) "Everyone! Cover your mouths and noses with mana! NOW!"
[The knights obey, mana shimmering faintly around their faces.]
Knight 3: (staggering) "It's everywhere—it's moving too fast—!"
[A knight coughs violently, collapsing to his knees.]
Knight 4: "Captain!?"
Knight 5 (Captain Maron): (screaming) "A-aghhh—! My chest—!"
[Maron's body convulses. His eyes glaze white, his skin twists blue, a tail bursts through his armor.]
Young Recruit: (terrified) "C-Captain?! It's me! Maron, stop—it's me!"
[Maron—no, an Aquarian—slashes straight through the boy's chest. Blood sprays.]
Young Recruit: (choking) "G-Guh—!" [collapses]
Knights: (collective panic) "N-No way…" / "He… turned… into an Aquarian!?"
Thalanor: (furious, voice booming) "FOCUS! Fall back to Elaria Village! Protect yourselves with every shred of mana you have left!"
[The knights scramble, carrying injured comrades. The purple mist rolls after them.]
Knight 6: (gasping) "Your Majesty—it's breaking through my barrier! My mana isn't—" [coughs blood]
[He convulses, skin turning blue. Another transformation. His roar joins the others.]
Knight 7: (screaming) "Another one! We can't stop it!"
Thalanor: (eyes blazing) "Then I will cut them down myself!"
[He charges, his sword glowing with mana, cleaving through a transformed knight in one merciful strike.]
Knight 8: (desperate) "Your Majesty, what if the gas reaches Elaria!? The villagers—!"
Thalanor: (voice steel) "Then I will stand against it. Even if it costs me everything."
[Inside, his thoughts race: My wife… waiting in Elaria. My son in Zisteria. Have I failed them as a King?]
Knight 9: (noticing) "Your Majesty… you—"
Thalanor: (snaps, shaking head) "No! Not yet. Not while I still draw breath!"
[His aura explodes, slashing down more Aquarians, blood spraying across the mist.]
Thalanor: (roaring) "KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTH NATION! Even if this mist takes us—EVEN IF THIS LAND BURNS TO NOTHING—WE PROTECT ELARIA!"
Knights: (shouting together) "YES, YOUR MAJESTY!"
[The knights push forward, fleeing with renewed resolve. But behind them, screams echo as more are caught and turned.]
Knight 10: (sobbing while running) "We're leaving them behind…!"
Knight 11: (gritting teeth) "If we stop, we ALL die!"
[Thalanor glances back one final time at the capital—once proud, now drowned in purple mist and blue-skinned horrors.]
Thalanor: (low, to himself) "Eren… Zarek… Rylan… If there was ever a time we needed you—it's now."
[He turns back, leading the survivors as the purple fog rolls after them like death itself.]