Prior to the subjugation battle, the Empire began gathering every individual across its lands who could serve as combat strength.
The Ereveon subjugation wasn't happening for the first time.
The central Empire had launched two subjugation battles to slay the first Great Beast.
But the results were all catastrophic failures.
One Aura user from that era went missing, three died, and eighty percent of the northern garrison forces were annihilated.
Thus, to avoid repeating the same fate, the Empire had no choice but to pour every ounce of its strength into this subjugation battle.
The Empire's second Aura user, Sword Saint Franz Eldin.
The knight order of the Belfern Ducal House, which had single-handedly checked the Southern Kingdom Alliance.
Holders of the Platinum Iron Blood Valor Medal, awarded only to those who subjugated Great Beasts.
The Northern Free Mercenary Alliance, Holy Light Knight Order, Administrative Bureau, and more.
Experts who had been in seclusion across the Empire began converging on the Northern Frontline.
With only the minimum forces left behind to safeguard the Empire's security, these were the finest talents the Empire could currently deploy.
"Captain, didja see that?"
"Where?"
I turned my head in the direction Lia was pointing.
An enormous procession of carriages stretched out in a long line.
These were the participants arriving for the subjugation battle.
Lia was pointing to the most ornate carriage among them.
It was the one carrying the Sword Saint, Franz Eldin.
"I figured since he's stronger than the Knight Commander, he'd be all muscled and burly-lookin', but he's pretty lean, huh."
Through the carriage curtain, a red-haired man came into view.
A handsome man with half his face covered in tattoos.
"Isn't that someone else?"
"Jealous or somethin', Captain? But there's no way anyone but the Sword Saint would be ridin' in the golden carriage bestowed by the Emperor."
"...No way, is that really him?"
"Yup, the real deal. And didn't they say the Sword Saint has red hair?"
I narrowed my eyes and peered more closely into the carriage.
This wasn't some dark fantasy souls-like game; it was a sculpted heartthrob straight out of a romance novel.
I felt something akin to the déjà vu I'd experienced when I first possessed this body.
In the game, Franz Eldin wasn't a handsome pretty-boy character.
He had suffered burns across his entire face in a past battle with a Great Beast, leaving him hideous.
On top of that, he was undergoing monsterization, so Franz Eldin was practically half a monster in form.
But that man showed no signs of monsterization or burns.
In that instant, my eyes met those of Franz Eldin riding in the carriage.
Not pupils grotesquely shaken with madness, but a serene gaze without a single ripple.
The power contained in those eyes—even sending shivers down my spine—was undoubtedly real.
Déjà vu.
Perhaps a sense of wrongness.
Something akin to that: an intense suspicion.
"..."
"Captain? What's with that look like you're about to crap yourself? You okay, Captain?"
I quickly shook my head to clear the stray thoughts.
"No, it's nothing."
Right now, all I needed to do was successfully complete the subjugation battle.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The subjugation battle preparations were conducted far more thoroughly than those for the Great Beast.
Those gathered at the Northern Frontline sparred with each other and practiced coordination to sharpen their senses.
I also joined the sparring lineup, training in Wave techniques and passing them on simultaneously.
My main partner for coordination and sparring was Irena.
Irena's spear thrust forward.
Her body flickered like a flash as she feinted a frontal plunge but aimed for the side, and I swung my sword to deflect the spear.
Countering with a step forward, I spun my sword through the air.
My form vanished behind the sword tracing a monotonous counterclockwise arc, reappearing right in front of Irena.
She slotted her spear into the path of my wooden sword targeting her carotid.
Using the disrupted momentum, I flipped my body midair and landed behind her.
I kicked off the ground and charged, accelerating explosively in bursts from ankle to toe.
A serpentine diagonal slash.
As Irena stepped back, she hurled her spear forward.
The bullet-like spear grazed my cheek by a hair's breadth.
She seized the end of the hurtling spear shaft with just thumb and index finger, then slashed horizontally.
Her superhuman strength created a compressing gust that pushed my body back slightly.
Faster than the recoil pushed me, she regripped the spear close and closed the gap.
Six consecutive thrusts, wielding the spear like a stiletto.
I slammed my wooden sword into the ground and leaped into the air once more to evade the thrusts.
I brought the wooden sword down from above.
Irena countered by circling her spear toward my sword.
The deflected wooden sword smashed her shoulder, and her spear whipped my abdomen.
Thwack!
With a sound like flesh bursting, Irena and I were flung in opposite directions.
Irena dusted off the dirt from her clothes and tossed the broken training spear to the ground.
"You've grown tremendously since I first saw you. Unrecognizable."
I wiped the sweat dripping from my chin and let go of the broken sword.
The hilt was deeply dented from how hard I'd gripped it.
"I'm still far from ready."
"We just brute-forced with strength. If I'd used my Aura or you'd used your Wave, the outcome might've been different."
"...Who knows."
Even if I'd used Wave, I'd still fall half a step short, just like now.
Unless my Wave reached stage 4, victory was hard to claim at this point.
"Sparring's over, so where to now?"
"I've finished my schedule. Probably off to train my Wave."
"No plans? Come with me then. Got something for you."
Irena jerked her chin at me.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Weapons broke frequently on the Northern Frontline, so they produced armaments right there in the field.
The steel sword I favored had been forged right in this place.
Irena led me into one of the lined-up smithies in the village.
"Smithers, you around?"
A bald blacksmith with soot smeared on his face emerged from the back, where the sound of hammering steel echoed.
Smithers welcomed Irena.
"It's the Captain. Finished reinforcing the Frost Spear you left. Try it out and tell me if anything feels off. I'll adjust it anytime."
Smithers retrieved the Frost Spear from the back of the smithy.
Irena took the spear and examined it closely.
The spear, forged from the embryonic core of a Great Beast she'd hunted herself, emanated its own chill.
Nodding in satisfaction, she pointed at me.
"How's the sword for Ian's gift coming along?"
Smithers eyed me with interest.
He soon brought out a pitch-black sword.
It pulsed as if it were alive.
"Rigid Body Armament made from Radiata's embryonic core. Its ability seems to be absorbing blood... but who knows the details. Probably similar to what the beast used."
Rigid Body Armament.
The collective term for weapons crafted by processing a Great Beast's embryonic core.
Weapons that inherited the beast's abilities in life, possessing special powers.
A luxury item that every captain-level figure owned.
Irena's Frost Spear was one such Rigid Body Armament.
She took the sword and held it out to me.
"What's this?"
"My gift to you."
"If it's a gift, I'll gratefully accept. But why all of a sudden..."
Irena grinned.
"You didn't forget our promise, right?"
"Of course not. You said we'd end it together."
"Keep it. I will too."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Northern Frontline, atop a hill blanketed in white snow.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of elites had assembled there.
The final morale boost before entering the battlefield.
Northern Frontline Supreme Commander Baldir Nordelheim began his speech.
"The Empire has failed here twice. Our ancestors are buried in this land, and the North was soaked in their blood."
He took one step forward.
His eyes, entering old age, held both weariness and cold resolve.
"Today, we face the third."
He slowly gripped his sword hilt.
Instead of raising his weapon, he lifted his head firmly.
"If we fall today, the Empire falls. Kill them. Until the last one standing declares victory."
Next to take the stage was the spear-wielding woman, Irena Krauze.
Irena hurled her voice down the hill, spear in hand.
"I am Irena Krauze, Captain of the Empire's 1st Knight Order. I won't give you false hope. I won't spout irresponsible promises that we'll survive."
She scanned the ranks of soldiers.
"My order is one: Become demons before that hellgate. If the man beside you falls, stand on his corpse. No arms? Bite the enemy. No legs? Crawl and slaughter them. Even in death, cling to their feet."
She raised her spear high and shouted.
"Killing the enemy is the only way we survive—and the only tribute we can pay to the comrades who fall first."
Silence flowed instead of cheers.
The sound of armored fists pounding chests echoed in place of roars.
Spears and shields, cloaks and banners fluttered amid the snowfall.
"Let's go."
Earth-shaking footsteps resounded from beyond the blizzard.
The soldiers' spear tips quivered in unison.
A shadow loomed through the blizzard.
Ereveon, in the form of a massive knight, and thousands of Great Beasts before him roared.
A broken Empire flag was impaled on the shoulder of the silent Great Beast at the forefront, as if awaiting Ereveon's command.
For a moment, déjà vu from the familiar armor design and rusted sword.
Then, a trumpet pierced the blizzard.
The soldiers charged toward the Great Beasts.