Part 2
Balliard crossed the main square of Arkenfel… as empty as a graveyard.
A city that once overflowed with life now lingered only as a fading memory, dissolving in his mind.
Bodies lay scattered across every corner. Bricks had fallen from collapsed walls. Smoke still rose into the sky like a voiceless lament.
The footsteps behind him came to a sudden stop.
"What are you doing? Don't just stand there, boy!" the general growled without turning around. "We need to get out of here before that damned army finds us."
He muttered under his breath, trying to convince himself with a raspy voice:
"Once we reach Varka, I'll regroup with the rest of my men… we'll return with an army of twenty thousand soldiers!"
But Junya's reply pierced him like a frozen blade.
"There's no escape, Balliard… there never was."
The general spun around, his jaw clenched tight.
"What the hell are you talking about? This is nothing but a setback. My son is already reporting our situation to Varka and—"
"Your son? This one?"
With unbearable calm, Junya tossed something onto the ground.
A head rolled across the stone, stopping at the general's feet.
Marko's lifeless eyes stared back at him—without seeing.
Balliard froze. His whole body trembled, as if the very air had turned to ice.
"No… Marko… this… this can't be…"
"If it's any comfort," Junya added, his voice hollow, "they told me it was quick. Painless. The same kind of death you'll have in this very moment."
"Markooooooooooooooooooo!!!"
The cry ripped through the empty square, tearing apart the silence more than any explosion could.
The Lion of Arkenfel—the general who never bowed—fell to his knees like any ordinary man. Broken. Reduced to ashes by a single truth.
"Marko… my only son… why…?"
For the first time since anyone had known him, Balliard was no longer the hard general who commanded respect.
To Yamato's eyes, all that remained was a destroyed father.
"This never would've happened if you had just listened from the beginning, Balliard…"
The general raised his tear-stained face, locking eyes with Junya.
"You… you're not Junya Mori… what the hell are you?"
Yamato clapped slowly, his body twisting, the hero's façade tearing away like a broken veil.
"I see you finally understand, Balliard."
His voice turned into a chilling echo, heavy with resentment.
"If you had listened to me from the start, none of this would've happened. Maybe your son would still be alive. Maybe he would've survived the judgment this kingdom deserved…"
The Void itself vibrated with his words.
"But no. Your choices dragged everyone down—the convoy workers, the forest sentinels, the tower guards, the adventurers, Harlem… they all fell because of your selfishness."
"What the hell are you? What do you want?" Balliard roared, his hatred barely hiding his despair.
Yamato looked at him coldly, like someone studying an insect before crushing it.
"I'm not a man of many words. But I'll give you the satisfaction of knowing… before you die."
A black swarm began pouring from his body—nanobots buzzing like a living, ravenous hive.
"My name is Yamato. Lord of the Void."
"Once, I was just an ordinary boy. A hero, like Junya. But your rotten government called me a mistake for bearing this power," he murmured, caressing the dark tide that writhed around him.
"They discarded me like trash, thrown into a forgotten pit—left to rot in the dark…"
His eyes gleamed with an unnatural light.
"There, I grew stronger. And I realized this corrupt world doesn't need heroes… It needs to be reformed. Corrected."
Balliard let out a bitter, broken laugh.
"Don't give me that crap… you're the visionary who's gonna fix everything?"
"That's right." Yamato didn't hesitate. "Though I know a small mind like yours could never understand. You're part of the problem too."
"Rot in hell, you murdering psychopath!" Balliard spat, hatred still burning beneath his despair.
For the first time in a long while, Yamato's impassive face shifted. A faint grimace pulled at his features.
"You're right… I still have much to learn."
His voice dropped, dripping venom.
"That's why I take back what I said."
The swarm crept slowly toward the general, spreading like liquid shadow. Balliard glared back, defiant, refusing to look away.
"I no longer want you to die quickly… or painlessly."
Balliard laughed again—the ragged laugh of a broken veteran who knew his end was inevitable. He raised his sword and stood tall, staring down the Lord of the Void.
"My name is Hector Balliard… General of Arkenfel, commander of the northern forces, the Lion of Valdheim. Remember it, boy."
Yamato regarded him with icy disdain.
"Incredible… you still believe you'll die with dignity on the battlefield. Typical. But useless."
The general's sword erupted in blazing fire as he charged. Yamato didn't even move. The swarm answered instead—unleashed like a furious hornet's nest, a rain of countless cuts devouring him second by second.
Balliard fought back with every ounce of fury left, swinging his blade in wild arcs. But it was pointless. His movements slowed, faltered, drowned in blood.
Armor shattered. Flesh split under invisible blades. The ground ran red.
"Uaaahhhhhh!"
Just as he thought his sword might reach Yamato, his right hand was severed. The steel clattered to the ground with a dull thud.
Even so, ignoring the agony, he lunged forward with his other arm, trying to strike his enemy barehanded. But his legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees, dragging himself like a wounded beast while the swarm devoured him alive.
The nanobots gave no mercy. Each cut was torture—pain beyond what any human could endure.
Still, Balliard crawled forward until his bloody fingers brushed against Yamato's boot. He looked up and smiled deliriously, as if he'd won.
"Got you, boy…"
The swarm recoiled all at once, shaping into a dark spear that hovered above the general, vibrating with bloodlust.
"Congratulations," Yamato whispered calmly. "Now die."
The spear plunged down, piercing through Balliard's back as if he were paper. The Lion of Arkenfel exhaled his final breath, and his life ended along with the city he had sworn to protect.
Yamato picked up the fallen general's sword. Tearing a strip from the man's ruined uniform, he tied it to the hilt, fashioning a makeshift banner.
He walked slowly across the main square until he reached the ruined fountain. There he drove the sword into the ground, standing tall like a grim flag declaring the end of an era.
Then his gaze lifted to the statue of Yoru, the last still standing amidst the ruins.
With a single gesture, the swarm surged forward, shattering it into dust and fragments.
"This city no longer belongs to you…" he murmured coldly. "It's ours now."
He touched the hidden earpiece at his ear. Static crackled through the silence of the desolate city, where only the wind dared whisper.
"Sera, can you hear me?"
"I'm here, Master Yamato. What do you require?" her gentle voice replied.
"Send Malyss and the cleanup squad. I want this city shining for our new inhabitants."
"At once, Master. Anything else?"
Yamato's eyes lingered on the general's corpse. To him, it was just data. Nothing wasted; everything could be turned into something new.
"Yes. Tell Darwin to come. There are parts here he can use."
"Any news from Sei?"
"The army and Sei are already back. Casualties are minimal."
"Perfect. Over and out."
He cut the connection. Silence returned to the city, absolute.
The age of Arkenfel, ruled and abused under Balliard's command, had officially come to an end.
Yamato stopped before the sword planted in the fountain—the makeshift banner proclaiming the north's defeat.
"The fall of the Lion is only the beginning…" His voice rang out like an inevitable decree. "The Void will devour everything in its path."
The wind swept across the ruined square, carrying with it the last ashes of Arkenfel.