Ancient Imperial Calendar Year 1814
The Kislavein Dynasty had won the three battles against the Arfas Dynasty with overwhelming superiority. However, since all the battles occurred on the same day at different times, it was not yet known who had won and who had lost.
The decisive battle between the Kislavein and Arfas Dynasties was about to begin.
The 1st Army, consisting of one hundred legions under the command of VI Hasan Arfas, was advancing, ruthlessly destroying all settlements in their path.
Ricardo had predicted the route the 1st Army would take and had set an ambush.
"Dynasty Heir, all preparations are complete."
Ricardo, listening to Marco's report, did not take his eyes off the road.
"Good.We must not make any mistakes, Marco."
Marco Kislavein bowed his head respectfully.
"Understood,Dynasty Heir. With your permission."
Ricardo gestured with his hand for Marco to leave. As Marco walked away, Ricardo sank into thought.
"The Northern leader was very powerful. Even though I weakened him with Dark Magic, I almost died. On the other hand, I only have nine legions with me. The situation is very bad."
Ricardo did not show the storm raging inside him; he internalized everything.
Just then, someone took Ricardo's hand. It was Marilin.
"Ricardo,"she said in a low voice.
"I noticed you're afraid.I, and probably everyone else, am afraid too. We are going to fight an army ten times our size. But we have defeated much stronger and larger armies before. We were outnumbered in the Kerbel Forest and during the Northern invasion, but we won thanks to you. We will win again; I'm sure of it."
Marilin's sincere and loving words warmed Ricardo's heart. His heart, which had been beating millions of times per second with fear and anxiety, returned to normal.
"You're right, Marilin," said Ricardo with a smiling face.
"We will win this battle too."
Marilin continued to hold Ricardo's hands with a huge smile.
This moment was one of the rare romantic moments Marilin shared with Ricardo.
Ricardo climbed a high hill, channeled mana to his vocal cords, and spoke in a tone everyone could hear:
"LIONS OF THE KISLAVEIN DYNASTY! I KNOW THERE IS FEAR OF DEATH INSIDE EACH OF YOU! BUT THERE IS SOMETHING YOU SHOULD FEAR EVEN MORE! THAT IS WHAT THE SOUTHERN BASTARDS WILL DO TO YOUR FAMILIES! THEY WILL RAPE THEM! THEY WILL SLAUGHTER THEM! THEY WILL MAKE THEM CURSE THE DAY THEY WERE BORN! IF YOU DON'T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN, DRAW YOUR SWORDS! AND FIGHT UNTIL THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD IN YOUR BODIES IS SPILLED ON THE GROUND! AND TAKE DOZENS OF THOSE SOUTHERN BASTARDS WITH YOU! THE SPIRITS OF OUR ANCESTORS ARE WITH US!"
The Kislavein soldiers drew their swords and roared like lions until their throats were raw.
"LONG LIVE THE DYNASTY HEIR! LONG LIVE THE WESTERN TERRITORIES! LONG LIVE THE KISLAVEIN DYNASTY! LONG LIVE! LONG LIVE! LONG LIVE!"
About an hour later, the Arfas soldiers had reached a visible position. Ricardo decided this was the best moment to attack.
"NOW!"
The Kislavein soldiers, consisting of 9 legions, began to perform Dark Magic simultaneously.
Shortly after, the surroundings of the Arfas soldiers were covered by a black wall.
"What... what's happening?!"
Before the Arfas soldiers could even react, this wall closed at great speed.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
"AAAAAaaaahhh!"
"AAAAHHH AH AH AAAAH!"
As screams erupted, the walls were demolished by an aura slash.
"WHICH SON OF A WHORE DID THIS?!"
VI Hasan roared like an angry tiger; the earth and sky groaned with his cry.
"Let's go," said Ricardo, standing up and charging forward.
"Stop!" shouted Jack.
Jonas grabbed Ricardo's arm, worried.
"Dynasty Heir,please! We can continue performing Dark Magic from our current position."
Ricardo frowned and pulled Jonas's hand from his arm.
"Jonas,do you think we have any Dark Energy left for Dark Magic?"
Jonas shook his head.
"Little.Maybe some have run out completely."
"Look at them!They've lost 90% of their forces. Only a hundred thousand soldiers remain."
Jack interjected.
"But VI Hasan is still in that army!Like an angry tiger, he can slaughter us all without getting tired."
Ricardo filled his sword with Aura and his other hand with mana.
"Yes,but there's nothing else to do. Besides, I've become much stronger since the war with the Turvigs."
"You are right, Dynasty Heir, but it won't be enough to defeat this VI Hasan," said Marco, ready for battle.
Ricardo smiled.
"You're right.Perhaps today is our day to die."
Ricardo took a deep breath.
"LET'S FIGHT,KISLAVEIN SOLDIERS!"
The Kislavein soldiers roared courageously.
"AS YOU COMMAND,DYNASTY HEIR!"
VI Hasan had channeled mana to his eyes and ears and had finally spotted the Kislavein soldiers and Ricardo, who were very far away.
"THERE YOU ARE, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!"
VI Hasan Arfas and his remaining hundred thousand soldiers channeled mana to their legs and ran as fast as cheetahs.
They had wrapped their auras around their bodies like armor.
"No magic that comes can penetrate this armor.Now you're fucked, Kislavein Cowards!"
As VI Hasan Arfas had these thoughts, a massive stone wall appeared before them.
"Did you think this would stop us?"
Hasan shaped his aura into a massive sword and then swung it with all his might, as if venting his rage.
The earthen wall collapsed, but Hasan was left astonished.
"FUUUUUCK—"
From the left, right, above, and below, a tsunami of black fire, about a kilometer long, was sprayed towards them.
"FORM SHIELDS!"
Despite Hasan's order, it was too late. The massive fire tsunami hit them like a hammer.
"HAAAAAAAAAA!"
The Arfas soldiers burned to ashes in the flames. The very small group that survived was on the brink of death.
VI Hasan had saved himself at the last moment by wrapping his aura around his body. This Fire Tsunami, strengthened by Dark Magic, carbonized everything it touched.
When VI Hasan saw the carbonized corpses of his soldiers, he went mad with rage. He brought his hands to his head, pulling his hair, and let out agonizing screams.
"I'll kill you all!I won't leave even a breathing bug alive in the Western Territories! I'll kill you all!"
VI Hasan attacked in rage. He was now too fast to be seen with the eye.
Ricardo grasped the seriousness of the situation.
"Fighting now is too dangerous,"he thought.
Ricardo turned to his soldiers.
"ATTACK!"
The Kislavein soldiers attacked.
Only one person remained, but not an ordinary person: The Sovereign of the Southern Territories, the 65th Lord of the Arfas Dynasty, VI Hasan Arfas.
As Arfas shouted in rage, he filled his sword with aura to the point of near breaking, shaped it, and with a single swing, tore the ninety thousand Kislavein soldiers before him to pieces.
"Haa haa haa."
VI Hasan was breathless. The stress of all these events had caused him to use his Aura to an absurdly excessive degree.
"I'm going."
With a leap, he soared into the sky and landed on his feet at the same speed, fixing his eyes on VI Hasan.
"I am Ricardo Kislavein, Heir to the Kislavein Dynasty. I am the one who put your one million soldiers to the sword."
VI Hasan's rage was evident in every aspect. He was panting, his eyes bloodshot, the veins on his face bulging.
"Bastard! How did you perform those spells? Were those the Dark Magic rumors I heard? So they were true, you sons of a damned whore!"
Ricardo smiled like a villain.
"Hehe,you're furious, aren't you, Hasan? Someone younger and weaker than you, a youth who isn't even an Ancient Dynasty Lord, destroyed your one million soldiers. Hahahahaha!"
Hasan reached right under Ricardo's nose at light speed.
Ricardo reacted quickly, swinging his sword at the same speed, but Hasan suddenly appeared behind Ricardo.
Ricardo used earth magic to bring a large stake out of the ground.
Hasan jumped over this stake and soared into the sky. He raised his hand and created thousands of fireballs.
"You killed my soldiers by burning them, Ricardo Kislavein. You will suffer the same pain."
Just as Hasan was about to lower his hand, he felt a great pain in his back.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!"
Hasan looked at his back; it was as if he had been struck by a whip—his back was charred.
Hasan said in a voice filled with rage,
"Who did this?"
Then a woman in the distance caught his attention.
It was Marilin Kislavein, whose beauty was matched only by her warrior prowess.
"THIS WHORE!"
"Your attention is in the wrong place."
Hasan looked down at this voice and was swallowed by a massive tsunami.
"What is this? How did he flood such a large area?" he thought.
Suddenly, he found Ricardo facing him, holding the sword made of Bloodstone.
Ricardo attacked. He was much faster than normal.
"How did this fucking bastard get so fast? Did he turn the area he flooded into his own domain? How is he performing Domain Magic at this age? I couldn't even do it with the power of the Lahit!"
Domain Magic is a spell that can be performed when one's mental age is ahead of their biological age.
Thanks to this magic, the person becomes unstoppable within any area they fill with an element and can use the area as they wish.
Ricardo appeared in one place and then another, as if teleporting, using his Bloodstone sword to pierce Hasan's aura armor and wound his body.
"I can't see him! I have to get out of this Domain! I can't even heal my wounds forever. But Domain Magic can sustain itself forever without consuming mana... Wait, I remember now... a mana explosion!"
Hasan gathered his mana in a single area, then detonated his intertwined mana.
A beam of white light spread around, blindingly bright. Before anyone could even open their eyes, Hasan attacked.
Thousands of lightning bolts fell from the sky. Everyone except Ricardo, Marilin, and Marco collapsed to the ground.
"Shit," said Ricardo.
Hasan stood before Ricardo and sprayed mana at him.
"I have to give you credit, Ricardo Kislavein. You are very talented and powerful. You are smart. But I am stronger."
As Ricardo resisted the waves of mana coming at him, Hasan maintained his arrogant attitude.
"You know, if you had been born in the South, I would have married you to my daughter. But it seems it wasn't meant to be."
Marco and Marilin made a desperate attempt to save Ricardo.
Marco attacked with his sword, and Marilin attacked with her whip made of fire, strengthened with Dark Magic. But Hasan used wind magic to throw both of them far away.
As Hasan turned his back, he felt his hand being cut.
"Huh!"
Seeing his hand covered in ice, Hasan quickly decided and cut off the freezing part.
"How did you do this?" he asked curiously.
When Hasan saw the dagger in Ricardo's hand, he moved to take it, but Ricardo created a waterspout and repelled Hasan.
"You're delaying your death, Kislavein."
Hasan gathered all his mana.
"Die now."
The intense Dark Magic that Hasan had been exposed to had depleted his aura and mana.
Just like with the Turvig Dynasty Lord.
If it weren't for the Kislaveins' Dark Magic, such small skirmishes would have been nothing to him.
"When I conquer the West, your Dark Magic will be mine," said Hasan.
"You will have nothing."
Hasan felt fear to his very marrow.
"You—"
In less time than the blink of an eye, Hasan's entire body was torn into pieces smaller than atoms.
"I am truly impressed, Ricardo. Your achievements have genuinely impressed me. Both as a Dynasty Lord and as a father, I am truly impressed."
Ricardo had seen someone he hadn't seen in a long time.
Ricardo smiled, bowed his head, and showed his respect.
"I offer my respects to the Dynasty Lord.I am grateful to you for saving my life."
Orsman approached, laughing. He healed everyone's wounds with a healing spell within seconds.
"Raise your head,my son."
When Ricardo raised his head, he saw his father, who had a build larger than even a bear.
"I am proud of you, Ricardo."
These words sank deep into Ricardo. They were words he had never heard in his previous life, words he had never said to his own children. But now, his father in this life had said these words to him. 'I am proud of you'—simple, yet for a son, it was a priceless treasure.
"It's been a long time, father. Welcome."