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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: To the Capital (3)
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WEEEEEEEEEEEE—
A siren began to wail madly throughout the capital. It was the first time the alarm had sounded in over a decade, not since the Imperial War.
When that siren—the one reserved for emergencies in the capital—began to wail, the entire Empire would shift to a state of emergency until further notice.
And that meant escaping the capital had just become several times more difficult.
"A siren! A siren! We have to get out of here, now!"
Seamus's mind went blank. Of course, they had certainly done enough to warrant it. They had broken into the Imperial Palace and snuck all the way into the Emperor's bedchamber.
The problem was how to escape. Did Kratos actually have a plan for getting out?
What if he didn't? What if he'd just charged in without a contingency?
'We're screwed.'
But Kratos seemed deaf to his words, focused solely on crushing the life out of the soldiers before him.
The Emperor's bedchamber was already so packed with corpses there was hardly room to stand.
Hot blood splattered across the room, and strangely, it wasn't a vivid red.
"Where is your cowardly king! Did he flee in terror?"
"A m-monster."
"Back! Fall back! Keep your distance!"
The soldiers grew deathly pale at Kratos's combat style. It was utterly brutal. He wasn't using a weapon; he was just shattering and twisting bones with his immense, brute strength.
With every step Kratos took, the soldiers retreated one of their own.
"All of you are tainted."
Orange particles were continuously absorbed from the dead bodies.
It was the same with that intelligence agent from before, and now with these soldiers.
It was clear that the closer one was to the heart of the Empire, the more likely they were to produce these particles of light.
Monsters that release light particles. And the people of the Empire.
The traces of black magic in the Libria underground and the Empire... This was undeniable proof, wasn't it?
"Well, well. I was wondering what specter from the past dared to invade the Imperial Palace."
While the soldiers faltered at Kratos's madness.
The red-eyed Director of Central Intelligence slowly walked in.
"A true specter from the past, indeed. I'm certain I killed you. Hmm. I don't feel the same energy, though. What could it be?"
"Ludwig Brandt… Director of Central Intelligence!"
Seamus gritted his teeth, trying to keep his wits about him. If they were caught here, it was truly over.
"Aha. So you're one of the remnants who still haven't forgotten that traitor. Cockroaches like you have gotten quite bold, daring to invade the Imperial Palace."
Before my death, Ludwig Brandt had been around my age. He should be well over sixty by now.
But the man before me could have easily passed for someone in his early thirties.
Did that bastard somehow age in reverse? And by more than twenty years at that.
I was an exception, of course, having possessed a new body.
"Tsk. Still sucking up to a man whose corpse I tore to shreds and fed to wild dogs. What a pathetic existence."
"Heh, so it was you. The Emperor must be truly desperate. To appoint someone like you as the Director of Intelligence."
The memories and emotions from the day I died resurfaced, taking over my entire body.
Nausea churned in my stomach as pain and rage flooded my mind, seizing control of my entire nervous system.
Even the instinctive rage I'd felt since entering the capital—a rage that wasn't my own—was screaming at me to kill him now.
No, it was more than anger; it was pure killing intent. Blood surged through my veins, and my fists clenched instinctively.
"Hraagh—!"
I threw the most rage-filled punch I had mustered since awakening in this body.
This was a punch that could tear right through a man's gut. I could at least send this bastard to the afterlife before making my escape.
*Fwoosh—!*
*Thwack—*
It was blocked.
"What…!"
I had never imagined this punch could be blocked.
To have it blocked so easily sent a chill through my heated body.
Stay calm. Time for a new plan.
Plan A was to infiltrate the Imperial Palace and see the Emperor. Whether I would talk to him or kill him was undecided, but that plan was now scrapped.
Time for Plan B. A good plan always accounts for as many contingencies as possible, doesn't it?
"Plan B! Get ready!"
"Plan B? There was a Plan B?!"
Of course. It's the ultimate strategy: run like hell.
It seems my current stats aren't enough to guarantee sending that bastard to the afterlife.
As they say, revenge is a dish best served cold. It's infuriating, but I need to get stronger.
Now was the time to retreat. If I died here, I wouldn't be able to get any revenge.
***
Ludwig Brandt frowned as he caught the fist.
"You're no pushover."
The force was absurdly powerful. If he hadn't managed to coat his entire hand in energy at the last second, the impact would have sent his arm flying.
He must be wearing some kind of artifact. No human could generate that much power with pure physical strength.
A few more exchanges followed, but none yielded a meaningful result.
Kratos attacked, and Ludwig caught it more easily than before.
He was just a brute, all power and no finesse. His attacks were crude, lacking any real skill or technique.
He wasn't even using mana, which was common enough. What was he holding back for?
"I'll hang your heads in the middle of the capital."
As Ludwig drew his sword and raised his energy, a black aura shimmered ominously over the blade, as if thirsting for blood.
"No way. Yes, that's it. So that's why."
Kratos nodded, his expression turning sour as if he'd realized something.
*Fwoosh—!*
Ludwig's sword thrust quickly toward his abdomen, but Kratos threw his body aside, dodging the blade.
It was an aura blade. Nothing here could block that aura.
Anything he might use to block would be sliced to ribbons unless it was also coated in aura. And Kratos couldn't use aura, could he?
"You. You've given up on being human."
"I haven't given up on being human; I've chosen evolution. It's the process of transcending the limits of the human species! Knights, seize that wretch behind him!"
With a dozen people now crammed into the fight, the room descended into chaos.
"Aargh—!"
A soldier Kratos had used as a shield screamed as his lower body was sliced in two.
Ludwig's relentless attacks failed to land a decisive blow. Kratos rolled on the floor, used soldiers as shields, and more.
He was evading like a cornered rat.
He'd considered capturing the man alive for interrogation, but this was the kind of pest you had to kill on the spot to avoid future trouble.
"Just hold still and let me take your head—!"
Ludwig gathered all his energy and thrust his sword.
"Kuh—!"
Then the man rolled on the floor, took something out of his pocket, and threw it on the ground.
*Pfft— Pfft—!*
The moment the spheres hit the ground, they spewed a thick, gray fog.
It wasn't a simple smoke bomb. The moment it was inhaled, it stung the eyes and nose, forcing a cough.
No, it was more than that. It even seemed to dampen his presence.
Through a gap in the vision-obscuring smoke, Ludwig swung his sword wide in the man's direction.
"Cough—!"
A pained cough echoed as a window flew open with a clatter. Ludwig whipped his sword, creating a gust of wind that cleared the smoke, but the room was empty. The two were gone.
"Chase the traitors! Do not let them escape!"
WEEEEEEEEEENG—!
The wail of the siren poured violently through the open window as the soldiers dispersed throughout the castle, following Ludwig's command.
The capital was already under lockdown; there should be no way out.
He didn't know how they had gotten in, but the entrance they'd used was already swarming with troops, and mages had been mobilized to uncover any hidden passages.
"I'll kill you."
His red eyes shone even more ominously.
Of all the faces to disguise himself with, he had to choose that one. Memories of a past he thought he'd forgotten resurfaced, and his expression soured.
A mere decade, it seemed, was not enough time to forget.
"In that case, I will kill, and kill, and kill again. Until the memories are washed away completely."
He was already in the process of obtaining such power, after all. A power that transcended humanity.
*Drip— Drip—*
Ludwig Brandt looked at the dark red blood flowing down the end of his sleeve.
He hadn't escaped completely unscathed. While blocking the punch, the shock had pierced through his demonic energy and torn the flesh of his forearm.
Strangely, the wound wasn't healing right away and throbbed with a deep pain.
"Anything that could become a variable in the process of evolution must be eliminated. That is what His Majesty the Emperor has commanded."
***
I'd faked jumping out the window, but in reality, I slipped back into the wall, backtracking the way we came.
"We can get out, right? You have to know a secret passage, don't you? And what was that about your face, and Director Ludwig! Just who are you…?"
"Quiet. The way we came in is probably already blocked."
Seamus's legs trembled so violently that he collapsed to the floor.
'Why did I insist on coming? We're so screwed. I should have just waited outside.'
He knew too much now. And they were being hunted by the Empire's infamous Central Intelligence Bureau.
Worse, its director, Ludwig Brandt, was after them personally.
"Don't overreact. You're not going to die. Hmm, is it around here?"
Kratos tilted his head, looked around, and then knocked on the wall.
"Oh, it's still here. The emergency exit."
"What? What did you say? In here? No way, right?"
The castle wall split open to reveal a very long passage and a metal slide.
This was, in fact, an emergency escape route that had been built after the capital was nearly captured during the war.
And it wasn't just an escape route from the palace—it was an escape route from the entire capital!
"We're not really going in there, are we?"
A long tunnel, filled with nothing but pitch-black darkness. He was so sick of dark tunnels!
However, Kratos grinned and pushed Seamus into the passage.
"Aaaaaaaargh— I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you!"
"See you at the exit."
Simply running away with my tail between my legs didn't sit right with me. I had to give them a proper parting gift.
"Eat this."
Kratos took out a few explosive items from his inventory, removed the safety pins, threw them far down the opposite passage, and quickly threw himself onto the slide.
That damn Emperor. I could hardly believe he was the same man I once knew. During the war, he was the type to lead the charge on the front lines until the very end.
And now he was scurrying off to hide just because a couple of intruders broke in.
And to top it all off, he'd appointed that son of a bitch Ludwig as the Director of Central Intelligence.
That position of all positions! An organization I'd built with more care than any other!
And another important fact. Ludwig Brandt's original eye color wasn't red. It was blue.
That meant his eye color had changed. And unless he was wearing colored lenses, such a change could only come from some internal influence.
An influence that was undoubtedly sinister. Of course, it was likely the same influence that allowed him to reverse his age and appear so young.
"I can't tell where the rot starts and ends. Is the whole thing just rotten, from the tips of the branches down to the roots?"
From the looks of it, that was the most likely possibility. Perhaps more than ninety percent of the so-called nobles were complicit.
As his thoughts were settling, a dim light appeared, signaling the end of the slide.
*KABOOOOOM—!*
A massive explosion echoed from the Imperial Palace behind me. I could say with certainty that at least one of the spires had been blown away. These were no ordinary bombs.
'Heh, a direct hit.'
It was a card I could only play once. Both the infiltration of the palace and blowing up one of those damn spires.
If it was a card I couldn't use again, I had to make it count.
Ah, I felt dizzy. Was it from the long slide? Or was it from suddenly expending so much energy?
"Seriously! Who just shoves someone like that? My heart nearly leaped out of my chest!"
Having arrived first, Seamus was stomping his feet in anger when Kratos appeared.
But as Kratos emerged from the slide and tried to stand, Seamus froze for a moment before rushing toward him.
"Uh, uhh…! Uh! Blood! Blood! Blood!"
A deep gash in his side. Blood pouring out.
Clutching the gushing wound in his side, Kratos collapsed to his knees, a wave of dizziness washing over him from the sudden blood loss.
"Ah. Looks like this one isn't regenerating very well."
His vision turned black.
Damn it.