◈ 471. [Side Story] A good brother (4)
a while ago.
A palace of thorns soaring into the sky. somewhere inside.
“Cool!”
Metallic, who was carrying Lark on his back and moving forward, vomited blood.
The old knight’s whole body was studded with thorns, and blood was pouring out every time he took a step.
Currently, the Thorn Tree Palace is completely occupied by the branches of Everblack.
Thornwood was trying to get rid of an intruder that Fernandez wouldn’t allow.
With every few steps he took, thorns fell from all sides.
Metallic moved his body desperately to dodge the attack, but he couldn’t stop the wound from gradually increasing.
Finally
flop!
At the end of the accumulated injuries, the two knees, which had been firm, touched the floor.
“… I think I’ve come this far, lord.”
Metallic, who vomited blood, muttered in a dying voice.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you until the end… .”
“Thank you for coming all the way here.”
Lark, who was kneeling in front of Metallic, praised the old knight in a quiet voice.
“Thank you for the long time.”
“It was an honor to be able to serve the lord.”
“It was an honor for me to be with you too.”
Metallic’s gigantic body, which smiled vaguely, slowly collapsed forward.
“To the empire and to the master’s path… Let there be light… … .”
thud… !
The old knight collapsed and died in a puddle of his own blood.
Metallic’s blinded eyes that could not be closed were covered by Lark with his remaining forearm.
“May you also rest in your days ahead.”
After a moment of silence in front of the death of an adjutant who had been with him since the first day he went to the battlefield.
Lark looked inside the imperial palace. The whole aisle was full of thorny vines.
Lark, who had lost all his limbs, had no way to break through these thorns and get inside.
However, Lark stood in front of the aisle with kneeling steps.
Hiss-
hiss-
The tree trunks swarmed around Larc, making sounds like poisonous snakes. It exhaled bloody air as if it would tear the next victim to pieces at any moment.
“I am Larque ‘Avalanche’ Everblack.”
In front of him, Lark was aloof.
“The commander of the 1st corps, the pilgrims of the border, the military commander in charge of the imperial army, and the legitimate heir of the imperial family… .”
Lark was ferocious.
“He is the protector of mankind!”
The thorns trembled in unison and stopped in place.
“I want my younger brothers… We must go see the Guardians.”
Although the ends of his limbs had been cut off, he was in a miserable state, almost crawling on the floor on his forearms and knees.
Lark roared once more with a confident voice.
“Can’t we open the road soon!”
Tree branches trembled and made a way.
Lark entered it.
The road was still long and rough – but he had work to do.
***
Boom! Quagmire!
Within the throne room of the emerging thorn tree palace, Fernandez and I were fighting again.
In the meantime, Fernandez was concentrating his magic on making this ‘ark’.
And when the ark was completed, it began to exert its full strength in the fight against me.
Charleureuk!
He covered himself with thorns that had been wounded by my attack, then slowly stood up from his seat with the thorns wrapped around him like armor.
In his hand was a huge staff made of thorns.
“Did I mention that the second round is about to start, Ash?”
Fernandez smiled in front of me, who opened his mouth small in embarrassment.
“Then I’m thinking of starting soon too.”
“Don’t enter Phase 2 without being a Mr. Monster!”
The tips of the trunks of the thorns, which stood up in a coil like a group of poisonous snakes, split into four branches… … A flash of magic flashed within him.
Flash! Flash-!
Quagmire and light!
A beam of light flies and explodes.
It was unbelievable power. In front of the absolute difference in output, the shadow army made up of my remnants quickly began to lose.
“Kuh… !”
I tried to fight Fernandez by calling out all the wizards in my remnant unit, but I couldn’t handle it. This one was swept away at once.
Wizards are strategic weapons comparable to Earth’s fighters.
And all fighters are powerful, but of course, even among them, the fighting power varies greatly by generation and technology.
Just as there is an incomparable gap between fighters of World War II and fighters of modern warfare.
And the magical combat power of Fernandez and I… … To put it bluntly, there is a performance difference between a biplane and a stealth fighter.
Even if dozens of biplanes attack in formation, they cannot even leave bullet marks on the latest stealth planes.
That level of pure and overwhelming output difference.
Kwakwang! Kwagwagwang!
As the strongest wizard in the empire and the last wizard in countless world lines, Fernandez’s wholehearted power was terrifying.
After wiping out half of my remnant army with a barrage of magic, Fernandez spoke nonchalantly.
“In the next 15 minutes, this ark will depart for the spirit world.”
“… !”
“It is a strong and safe ark that will not be swept away by the space-time drift of the spirit world. In other words, it is impossible to go out from here.”
Fernandez tilted his chin and grinned.
“Why don’t we pray that the shutdown protocol is back to normal within 15 minutes and that there are other passengers on board, Ash? Wouldn’t it be a bit boring if we were the only people in the world who were the last in the world?”
“Please stop talking bullshit… .”
I’m sharing the sale rights for Young-Gye housing redevelopment.
“Selling goods! solicitation! Fake sale! False advertisement! Is this all an outright crime?!”
Your dream of owning a home will come true! Not in some kind of purgatory!
I manipulated the remnants of the army and rushed at Fernandez.
A while ago, half of Fernandez’s attack flew away, but in the meantime, the other half stuck close to Fernandez again.
Fernandez shouted as he tore the clinging remnants one by one with thorns.
“Why don’t you stop admitting it now! Your attack has an overwhelmingly high chance of failure! If that’s the case, even in the spirit world, even if it’s just the mental body! to keep going! Wouldn’t that be safer!”
“Stop talking like a parent telling a kid whose dream is to be an artist to be a civil servant safely!”
Looking back, I… … No, Godeok’s parents are both legends, my God!
“What’s the point of such a ‘safe defeat’!”
I vomited in a bloody voice.
“That thing can only be preserved… It’s just a stuffed paradise!”
“It’s better than not even being able to preserve it!”
Fernandez also shouted.
“How many times do you think I recorded your futile attempts being shattered! You know how to compromise, Ash! Even a safe defeat must be in hand!”
… Fernandez’s words are not without truth.
Suddenly, I remembered the card game I played with the gamblers.
To win at Texas Hold’em Poker.
You should be able to give up your stake without hesitation if you think you are at a disadvantage by looking at your hand and calculating the odds.
That way you can win the whole game.
In short, it is a game where you have to play well to win in the end.
What is different about living in the world?
You have to back down, you have to compromise, you have to bend… … It must be something that can endure without breaking or breaking on the long journey called life.
… but.
If this current game is the last poker in the world.
If that’s the case, even if what I’ve got in my hand is the weakest hand with no genealogy. Even so, you have to go all-in.
not backing down without compromise. without bending.
Even if it is broken, broken, and eventually broken into pieces.
We have to fight.
That’s my choice as a winner.
“Don’t talk like a safe defeat is no defeat! What I want… … Victory!”
There is no need for a bad ending or a normal ending.
There is only one true ending I want.
And after that – It’s a world everyone will live in!
“As long as the odds aren’t zero, I wonder if they’ll surrender!”
“No, you will have to surrender! I will make it!”
Empty arguments ring the air.
We continued our bloody battle without any intention of bending to each other.
Fully raised from the throne, Fernandez strode toward me, and my remnant army, which tried to stop him, was devastatingly swept away.
Before I knew it, Fernandez passed the long carpet and stood in front of my nose.
Fusing with the thorns, Fernandez looked much taller than usual.
A magical light flickered behind Fernandez, who was arrogantly looking down at me with dark red eyes.
“All I need is your soul anyway.”
Fernandez pointed his thorn wand at me.
“Kill the body first, hippo Ash.”
Facing him, I gnashed my teeth. Holding the flagpole in his hand.
And it was then.
“stop-!”
A hoarse shout came from the entrance of the audience room.
Me and Fernandez looked back terrified.
And there is
“… Lark brother?”
They are in a state of misery, having lost all their limbs, but they smile at us… … The first brother was standing.
Both Fernandez and I were taken aback and froze.
“I’ve come to pick you up, little brothers.”
Lark looked at us with unchanging warm eyes and whispered affectionately.
“Let’s go home together.”
***
There was no sense of reality.
The look of Lark, who appeared in that terrible look, and the words that came out of his mouth.
do you want to go back home?
Will that be taken out of this thorn tree ark floating in the far sky of the ecliptic, where all citizens are in danger of death?
But Larc continued.
“Fernandez can still be undone.”
“… .”
“Let’s go back. And let’s have a meeting together and come up with another plan to save the world. We are the same ‘Guardians’… … And aren’t they brothers?”
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about, brother… .”
Fernandez let out a laugh.
“It is already irreversible. We have come too far.”
“no. There is nothing that cannot be undone.”
Larc was strong.
“There will be other things we can do to save the world. So let’s lower our weapons and talk.”
“There is no turning back!”
Fernandez shouted as if vomiting blood.
“Who do you think cut off your brother’s limbs!”
“… .”
“The human I brainwashed to come this far! Killed human! How many do you think there are!”
Fernandez jerked his wand. Then, dozens of thorns entwined around the tip of the staff and turned into a giant spear.
“It took me several worlds to come to this conclusion… You think you’re doomed!”
I also took my eyes off Larc and glared at Fernandez.
“Stay back, brother Lark.”
“… .”
“I’m going to make a decision soon and then take my brother and escape from here… !”
Taat-!
Me and Fernandez lunged at each other at the same time.
Fernandez’s mighty thorn spear was thrown at me, and my last remnants thrust their swords forward. I prepare my ‘trump number’ behind it… … .
And
taat!
Lark intervened between them.
He had no calves or feet below his knees, so he had no idea how he had jumped so swiftly.
Frightened, Fernandez and I unknowingly changed the direction of the attack. But it’s a little late.
hooked! Pooh… … !
Fernandez’s thorn spear and the sword of my remnants were pierced on both sides of Lark.
“older brother… ?!”
“Hyung?! What is this… .”
In the midst of us freaking out, Lark came out with only his forearm and snatched Fernandez from the back of his neck –
Wow!
hugged at once
Then he grinned as he coughed up blood.
“It’s a hug of friendship, you children… !”
There were no arms like the marble pillars of old, and no strength that seemed to pierce our waists.
But neither I nor Fernandez had to accept his embrace, helpless.
