15
“ ”
The emperor’s slim arm went spiraling through the air. It landed on the grass at about the same time as Vincent himself, who was knocked to the ground by the shock of it all. It was a moment later before the wound began to gush blood, soaking the emperor’s red-and-black outfit.
“Your Majesty!” After the instant it took for his thoughts to stop and restart again, Julius pulled the emperor up. Ferris, his face pale, collected Vincent’s arm and quickly began working a healing spell. But this was neither the time nor the place for the cat-boy’s recovery magic. “Ferris! We have to get back to the woods! There’s nothing to hide behind here!”
“Wha—? Huh? Hwah?”
“We don’t know how His Majesty is being attacked! I don’t see anyone! It must be someone striking from a distance!” Julius spun on his heel and, just as he had told Ferris, made a dash for the woods. Ferris followed after, but without keeping his head down; the situation still had not sunk in for him.
An attack of some kind grazed his cat ears, slamming into the trees beyond. Whatever it was punched clear through the trunk of the first tree, as well as the one behind it. It was then that Ferris finally understood what was happening.
“A sniper?!” cried the demi-human. As if in affirmation, several more trees cracked under fresh impacts.
The blow that had claimed the emperor of Volakia’s arm was a long-range, covert magical attack. The assassin had likely been positioned to watch over the route back to the Crystal Palace, and when the fugitives had so readily shown themselves, the killer had taken a shot. Whoever it was, they were careful and attentive, and their accuracy was alarmingly good. If they had aimed just an inch or two higher, it would have been Vincent’s head they blew off.
“They don’t even seem to care if we go in the woods…!”
“That’s because they no longer need to be subtle. And all those shots… How many of them are there?”
Ferris gripped his head as he ran; Julius held the emperor. Sniper shots followed them like a curtain of rain. From right to left, they came with frightening speed and precision; Julius had minimized his movements when dodging to avoid throwing Vincent around too much. The emperor was pale—and unconscious from the shock of losing an appendage. If they didn’t stop the bleeding, the man would die. Julius had to make a choice, and soon.
“Ferris! Take shelter under a tree and tend to His Majesty! I’ll keep those assassins busy!”
“You think you can do it?”
“I have to! The emperor’s life is what determines whether it’s peace or war for us!”
“…! All right…!” Ferris trembled for a moment at the weight of this responsibility but nodded. Julius set Vincent in the shadow of an especially large tree, and Ferris began treatment immediately. Presently, he had the severed arm reattached and had moved on to lifesaving measures. The demi-human was a healer among healers, able to reverse the course of even a mortal wound so long as he began to work on it before the victim died. This was Ferris’s—Felix Argyle’s—battlefield. Meanwhile, Julius Juukulius charged toward his own fight.
“Ire, Qua, Alo, Ake, Ine, Ness. My Sprouts, lend me your strength,” Julius whispered, drawing his saber and holding it proudly before him. Six differently colored lights danced about the weapon. Each one only emitted a faint glow. But under the canopy of the forest, which blocked out the sun, they seemed blindingly radiant and beautiful. Six elements, six greater spirits, all granting the knight their power—this was the true strength of the Spirit Knight.
“Go get ’em!” Ferris cried, and Julius made for the clash with the wind at his heels. Sniper shots tore up the earth mere hairs behind the man as he sped across the difficult forest terrain. The enemy was highly capable, but it wasn’t enough to stop Julius. Perhaps they knew he was the greatest threat, though, because the incoming shots quickly shifted to target to him. Even as he evaded blasts from all four directions, Julius was relieved to know he had gotten the attention of the snipers. Now Ferris would be free to do his healing work. All that remained was for Julius to play his part.
“…!”
Shots grazed his cheek and the soles of his feet, allowing the knight to see that the attacks were colorless globes of light. The projectiles were simple spheres of mana, not imbued with any element. That made them akin to the non-elemental attack of Groovy’s magic knuckles. However, these marksmen proved much more refined than that, aiming specifically for Julius’s hands, feet, and vital organs with almost unbelievable precision. Their speed was far greater than that of a heavy bow, and the sniper’s ability to target a moving enemy seemed almost inhuman. The notion floated into Julius’s thoughts that this assassin might be another of the Nine Divine Generals. They were Volakia’s most capable fighters, after all. If so, then at this moment, there was only one person who would deliberately take aim at His Majesty…
“Balleroy Temeglyph!”
The man was not testing Julius’s skills or trying merely to incapacitate him. The knight of Lugunica was involved in a genuine duel with one of the Nine. Picturing himself in a sort of joust against one of the empire’s best fighters, Julius felt his heart tremble. Would his own abilities prove enough for such an opponent?
“ ”
Julius was said to be the third strongest of the Knights of the Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Lugunica. Though he was ranked just after Reinhard and Marcus when it came to strength, the purple-haired man was all too aware of just what a distant third place it was. His abilities were still growing, and Julius didn’t know how well he could match one of Volakia’s strongest. Thus, whether he quaked with excitement or terror, neither could be certain. However, there was one thing Julius was certain of.
“This arm of mine, gripping this sword. It burns in this moment.” He felt the weight he bore, and he knew the awe in which he held his enemy. At times, he doubted his own skill with the saber and whether he had really earned the title he had been given.
This battle would doubtlessly reveal the answer, or at least, the hint of one.
“…!”
Julius emerged from behind a cover of dense trees within the forest. The moment he did, his very flesh reacted to the hail of the invisible light-missiles with the physical enhancement gifted to him by Ine, the light-element greater spirit. It was the same card he had played in his battle with Cecils, one that substantially improved Julius’s reactions. The moment his heightened senses detected an attack, he would bring up his sword to block it at the speed of thought.
He sent the globes of light flying away with swift, small motions of his flame-wreathed saber. Julius parried one, then another, and yet another.
“ ”
As he blocked each of the incoming shots—though only just—the knight tried to reach out with his feelings to determine the location of the sniper. Once Julius emerged from the woods, he would be in a wide-open plain. There would be no appreciable obstacles until the walls of the capital; he’d be a sitting duck.
But the sniper wouldn’t be the only one who’d benefit from the better lines of sight. It would also leave the assassin’s own location more obvious to his target. If Julius could just discover the sniper’s location, it would allow him to retaliate with his own magic. Thus, the knight of Lugunica made a choice. He would relinquish the initiative but still move to the plain, knowing he would be on the back foot. Whether the strategy would be for good or for ill, Julius would discover if he survived his opponent’s opening gambit…
“Not bad, not bad. But it only works if yer enemy is at the same height as you.”
Julius thought he heard these words drifting on the wind as he emerged onto the grasslands. However, there was no time to waste on the voice. For the same instant it reached him, so did several sniper shots, each from a different location, and it took everything Julius had to defend against them.
“Impossible…”
By exercising the limits of his swordsmanship and magic, he was able to deflect most of the globes of light that came at him. A few shots he couldn’t protect against had managed to graze his left shoulder, right leg, and thigh. Yet Julius felt more surprised than pained. He no longer doubted that Balleroy was the sniper. Even so, Julius believed there had to be more than one shooter. When one considered the shots taken at the emperor, and now at himself, there was little doubt. Otherwise, how could the projectiles have come from so many directions at once?
However…
“I can’t imagine there are very many people alive who are capable of such precise shooting.” The entire volley had come at Julius in the space of a breath. That there was a group of people around who could launch a barrage not only with great strength and accuracy, but also maintain such incredible coordination, was unthinkable.
The only conclusion was that Balleroy had some sort of trick up his sleeve.
“I have to figure out what it is, or I’ll never reach him.”
Attacks of tremendous aim came too fast for the knight to catch his breath. Their many directions meant he couldn’t determine the sniper’s location, either. Julius adjusted the grip on his sword, fingers trembling, and prepared to meet this hunter’s incredibly honed technique.
He reminded himself that on his unsteady shoulders rode the fates of a kingdom and an empire.
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