Flames roared and raged.

When thinking about what would normally fall from the sky, most people would think of rain.

And, under battlefield conditions, it wasn’t unusual for arrows to fall from the sky either.

But, what was falling from the sky right now was something entirely different……fire.

It was only on a small part of the battlefield, but to to the soldiers there, the flames brought nothing other than despair.

「AHHHHHHHH-! It’s hot, it’s hot, it’s hot-!」

「Damn it! Put it out! Put out the fire, mages!」

「What, what, what! What happened!」

「If I saw correctly, it looked like a Griffon breathing fire from its mouth!?」

「You’re crazy! Don’t mess around! A Griffon that breaths fire!? I’ve never heard of anything like that!」

「Wait, don’t run, don’t run! If we run, the front line might collapse! We need to defend and hold it back somehow!」

「Don’t mess with me! You want to use us as shields, but I’m not doing that! If you really want to stop that monster, do it yourself!」

Rei called out to Set, who had stopped his Fire Breath for a moment, as such shouts were heard all around.

「It seems pretty hot down there. Give it a moment to cool down. Since we have to land, I’d rather not land somewhere so hot.」

The flames and heat weren’t too big of an issue for Rei, thanks to his Dragon Robe, but he still would rather not land inside a fiery inferno.

Set immediately accepted Rei’s request.

Even though he had just come out of a battle against Noiz, Set didn’t seem that exhausted.

This was partly because he had mostly been providing support from above to Rei in the fight, but the biggest reason was simply his greater stamina as a Griffon, an A rank monster.

「Gururururu~!」

With a high pitched cry, two water balls, about 40cm in diameter, appeared next to Set.

The water balls were shot towards the ground, hitting the soldiers and sending them flying.

Because they were shot from high up in the air, the power behind the water balls was much greater than usual. Exploding on a soldier’s head, it tore their skin, causing blood to fly everywhere as their right eye popped out of its socket, hanging on only by its optic nerve……yet, because the water balls still lacked enough power to kill instantly, the soldier didn’t die even after all that, instead rolling on the ground in immense pain as everything burned around them.

「Gurururururu~!」

Set let out another cry.

Five ice arrow appeared around him……before also being shot towards the ground.

They were released among the chaos caused by his earlier Fire Breath and Water Balls.

The overall damage they inflicted wasn’t that great, hitting only a few soldiers amidst the confusion.

The ice arrows were barely strong enough to chip rocks……but that said, the skin of humans and beastkin were nowhere close to that level of toughness, so those unlucky enough to be struck while wearing leather armour or in unarmoured locations were still quite badly injured.

「That was unexpected. I didn’t think that they would do so little.」

「Guru~」

Set gave a disappointed cry at Rei’s words.

Rei patted him in response to comfort Set……

「Well, it happens, so don’t worry about it. Anyway, I’ll be heading down, so continue to attack from above. Try not to get caught in my attacks as well.」

「Gurururu~!」

With an enthusiastic cry from Set, Rei jumped off.

They had flown low enough to use Fire Breath, so he was less than 10m from the ground. With the Boots of Sleipnir, he was able to land safely on the ground.

「It’s Crimson, Crimson is here!」

「Run-, run away!」

「You idiot, don’t do that! We need to kill him now, while we still have the strength!」

「Don’t be stupid! It’s Crimson! Immovable was supposed to intercept him, but the fact he’s here means……」

「But even so! The fighting on the front lines is fierce right now. We might have the advantage now, but if we just let Crimson rampage at our back, that advantage will disappear in an instant!」

Ignoring the screams all around him, Rei immediately activated Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour.

His magic power, condensed to the point it was visible, was died the same crimson as it’s wielder’s title.

At the same time, the surrounding temperature started to rise rapidly, despite him not doing anything.

It was now autumn……fast approaching winter, and the temperature could be described as quite chilly.

However, the moment Rei activated Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour, the temperature rose rapidly.

15C, 20C, 25C. ……And then, past 30C.

A midsummer like heat covered the surroundings as the temperature continued to rise without stopping.

It was impossible to measure the temperature at Rei’s location, but to the soldiers, the heat had reached midsummer levels……or even higher.

「Well then……let’s get going.」

As Rei poured the magic power he had left into the Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour……the next moment, he dashed forward, charging into the rear lines of the punitive force.

「Hii-, hiiiiii-! Stay away, stay away-!」

The soldier that was Rei’s original target shouted at Rei as he rapidly approached.

However, Rei didn’t care for what the soldier had to say as he barreled towards them while cloaked in flames.

And, the moment the soldier’s body came in contact with Rei’s magic power……

「GYAAAAAAAAAAH-!」

The soldier felt an intense pain wherever the magic power touched him as he screamed in pain.

The soldier was blasted away as he burned, eventually coming to a stop after hitting another soldier.

Of course, that wasn’t enough to stop Rei, who continued charging with his armour active.

Every soldier he hit was sent flying, burning wherever Rei had made contact with them.

Rei had used Overlord’s Armour to charge into enemy lines before, but this time was different.

As an upgrade to Overlord’s Armour, Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour also inflicted burns.

In addition to the physical injuries caused by slamming into them, the carnage he was causing was significantly higher than when he had been using Overlord’s Armour.

「Ahhhhh-! What, what is this, what is this!? I’m getting burned just by touching him!?」

「Run……run! He’s coming, he’s coming! Run!」

「You idiots, stop running! If we collapse here, we’ll be caught in a pincer attack between Crimson and Mercurio’s army!」

「So, what are we going to do then? We have to run……he’s coming!」

The soldiers were thrown into confusion as Rei charged towards them.

Some were saying to run, while others called to stop Rei.

But, in this case, the former was the right decision.

Rei’s Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour, while not quite capable of burning enemies to ashes in a single touch, still gave off enough heat to burn and scorch the soldiers.

The rear guard, which was considered a relatively safe position within the punitive force, had now become a boiling mess of screams and shouts.

Naturally, in such a situation, it was impossible for the soldiers on the front lines to keep their calm.

「What’s going on? That commotion behind us……could it be Crimson!?」

「That’s impossible! No matter how strong Crimson is, there’s no way he could break through so many soldiers! After all, he was just fighting Immovable before! Even if he wanted to run away, he’d still take heavy injuries. Besides, there’s no way Immovable would lose!」

One of the soldiers on the front lines immediately shouted out.

The soldier had been fighting against Mercurio’s army on the front lines when they spotted Rei and Set flying towards them from afar.

That was why he wondered if the commotion at their rear had been caused by Crimson, but he quickly rejected those thoughts.

……No, maybe he already knew in his heart. That the commotion was caused by Crimson.

But if he admitted it, it would become the truth, so he couldn’t admit it.

Even so, deep within, he couldn’t help but think of what had likely happened……

「Gufuh-!」

As a result, he was unable to react in time to the short spear that flew towards him.

He tried to pull the spear out of his throat, but his strength gave out first as the light left his eyes.

「Hey-! Damn it, how dare you!」

Unable to forgive the death of his comrade……even if it was due to his own carelessness, another soldier gripped their long sword as they ran towards the front liens against Mercurio’s army.

 

 

「……This is troublesome.」

Kabajid muttered from the punitive force’s main camp.

Under his cool gaze, he would see the punitive force’s rear lines being overrun.

Covered in crimson magic power, Rei was forcing his way through the punitive force, burning and blasting away anyone he came in contact with, breaking the bones of some and necks of an unlucky few.

No, the real unlucky ones were those who still survived despite their bodies being burning and broken.

Broken limbs, burning bodies……yet still alive. Those who couldn’t die.

The sight of Rei causing significant numbers of such injuries as he rampaged through their back lines made even the usually calm Kabajid from in displeasure.

「That is……probably Crimson, Kabajid. Crimson himself is troublesome, but the Griffon attacking freely from the skies is equally troublesome. No, other people might not see Crimson if they are far away enough, but everyone can see the Griffon flying in the sky.」

「It’s also ferocious, using fire breath while flying. ……Shurus, can’t you do something about it?」

「Don’t be crazy. You already know we’re low on combat strength, right? We don’t have anything that can deal with a Griffon in this situation. And besides, what happened to Noiz? If Crimson is roaming about, that must mean Noiz lost……but I find that hard to believe.」

The surrounding nobles all nodded in agreement at Shurus’s words.

Noiz was a symbol of strength within the Bestir Empire.

So it was hard to believe that he had lost.

「It might be an unlikely situation, but the fact is that Noiz is currently not fighting Crimson. Considering that, is there any point in saying whether you believe Noiz lost or not?」

「That’s true, but honestly, what can we do right now? Fortunately, Crimson is focused on attacking our rear guard right now, so our main camp is safe, but if he were to turn his attention to the main camp, there’s no one who can stop him.」

Shurus’ question was reasonable.

With no one able to stop Rei, there was no telling when their main force would come under attack. And, if that were to happen, they would have no way out.

However……Kabajid, the highest ranking person present alongside Shurus, spoke with his usual smile.

「Yes, if that were to happen, it could cost you and me our lives, not to mention the other nobles here.」

「……Brother, how can you still be so calm? You accepted this final battle at the Brissa Plain because you were confident that you could seal Crimson away, right? So how can you still be so calm now that Crimson is roaming about freely?」

Shurus shouted as his emotions rose.

Seeing his brother’s reaction, Kabajid smiled as he spoke.

「Yes, it’s true that I no longer have a way to seal Crimson. But, that’s only right now, isn’t it? Don’t you think it would be better to quietly surrender now and prepare for the future instead?」

「What……what are you talking about, brother! Surrender!? Do you really think Mercurio would accept something like that?」

「I know you don’t want to forgive him, nor do you have any intention of doing so. ……But, what if you didn’t have a choice?」

Despite Kabajid being his brother, Shurus couldn’t understand what he was saying.

Shurus wondered what Kabajid was trying to say as he stared at his brother, but Kabajid just turned to a nearby noble instead.

「Sorry, but could I trouble you with that matter……if it can be settled by me alone, that would be best.」

「……Understood.」

The noble nodded at Kabajid’s words, a solemn expression on his face.

Kabajid spoke again with a smile still on his face.

「Now then, this is the final battle of the civil war. Let’s fight until the very end without giving up.」

Shurus felt a strong sense of unease towards Kabajid, who showed no signs of concern, despite his life being on the line.

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