There were two staircases in the research wing’s Building 12, and one of them had now become the most critical line of defense. It could not be allowed to fall.
The western staircase was defended by Barter Goodspring and members of the Special Forces, while the eastern staircase was held by the young heroes and some of the more capable cadets.
Hector, the leader of the eastern defense, felt like he was at his limit.
“How long are these bastards going to keep coming!”
“Were there always this many dolls in the academy?”
“The headmaster is a puppeteer, you dumbass!”
“What, are you accusing Headmaster Alderson of collecting these shitty dolls?”
“Shitty dolls?! Are you insulting stuffed dolls right now?!”
“Die! Just die, damn it! I’m so sick of these dolls!”
No. He had reached his limit long ago.The crude curses, mixed with occasional nonsense, suggested that it wasn’t just the cadets who were starting to lose their minds. Under normal circumstances, Hector would have frowned upon hearing such foul language, but...
“Hector, sir! What’s the situation right now?”
“What’s the situation?’ Fucking hell, even a blind-ass bat could see we’re completely fucked right now, you donkey!” he wanted to say... but he fought off the urge.
Hector took great pride in his Bednicker lineage. He would never, under any circumstances, say anything that might tarnish his family’s honor. “I’ll be honest, it’s not looking good!” he said instead. “But we just need to hold on a little while longer! I can see the enemy’s assault weakening!”
That was a lie. The enemy’s attack hadn’t wavered one bit since it began. If the intensity of their attack were plotted on a graph, it would be a very smooth, steady line, like the surface of a calm lake.
Hector felt a certain eeriness at this fact. It was a feat of consistency that only an army of dolls could perform.
“Got it! You heard that, you motherfuckers? Just a little more! Squeeze out every damn bit of strength you’ve got like your fucking lives depend on it!” shouted a particularly foul-mouthed knight cadet with a rough voice. He was strong enough that he didn’t need to aspire to be a hero, and his mental strength was extraordinary as well.
Hector definitely remembered hearing the cadet’s name before, though he couldn’t remember what it was now. But even that cadet is at his limit, he thought.
In fact, that cadet wasn’t the only one. Hector himself was starting to feel his senses dull, but that was only natural. He was at the front of the defensive line. He had faced the most dolls. It was only his usual grueling training regime that kept him standing now.
He knew from experience that the human body was surprisingly strong and resilient. Even after you think you can’t move anymore, you find you can keep going for a while longer. Of course, pushing past that limit meant suffering excruciating muscle pain the next day...
But it was better than dying, wasn’t it?
Hold on. All I have to do is hold on.
He didn’t know how long he would have to hold, but Hector was confident that the attack force would bring results, even if their foe was a demon lord.
It was a level of trust that surprised even him.
Even though he hadn’t been included in the attack team, he’d never once felt dissatisfied, which was a bit unusual.
Luan was much younger than him, and not to mention only had one blessing. How had his level of trust in the youngest Bednicker grown this much?
“...”
He didn’t care nor bother to wonder how the trust had been built. He had no interest in tracing it to its source. It would be a pointless and lame endeavor.
There was only one thing that mattered: Hector trusted Luan.
KEEEEEEEK!
There was nothing unfamiliar about screaming dolls now. He had long grown used to them, and so Hector swung his sword on autopilot while he thought over the situation.
The staircase was just a little short of five meters across. It was the standard width, neither too narrow nor too wide... So why did it feel so wide now?
Still, it’s doable.
The width of this staircase... With a well-planned strategy, a dozen or so people could easily hold off hundreds of enemies by swapping around at the right moments.
That was proving true. A mere four people were holding off dozens of dolls’ attacks in this five-meter-wide space.
If they kept this up, they should be able to hold out for another hour or two. Of course, there was no guarantee that Luan would defeat the demon lord by then, but—
“MOOOOOM!” came a scream-like roar from behind him.
It was so loud that Hector couldn’t help but divert his attention away from the dolls for a brief moment, even though he knew he shouldn’t.
However, it turned out to be the right choice. An academy cadet—an especially large one, who was unable to resist the demonic energy—was stomping toward the defense line, tears streaming down his face. “Mom! Mom! Wait! Take me with you! MOOOM!”
Hector became genuinely curious about the face of that cadet’s mother.
“Are you leaving again? Without me? Why won’t you take me with you! Why did you have to die...!”
...I take back what I said.
Butterfly Goodspring, standing next to Hector, screamed in a sharp voice that tore through the place, “What the hell are you doing! STOP HIM!”
Hector agreed with Butterfly’s instructions, though for a moment, he thought Butterfly’s voice sounded as high as a woman’s.
As for the cadet creating a ruckus, he was the top student at the academy and appeared to have never missed a day of physical training. A strong body with a weak mind.
Even with both Zeros and Karis desperately trying to stop him, all they managed to do was get a free ride to the front line by hanging on to him.
“This guy...! He’s a beastfolk!” Karis shouted in a panicked voice.
Beastfolk... That explained his explosive strength. Biting his lip, Hector quickly decided what to do.
“Butterfly Goodspring!”
“What!”
“You can stop him, right?”
Butterfly flinched and looked hesitant. “I can stop him, but... if I leave, my place—”
“I’ll cover!”
“What?”
“Go! If that bastard breaks our line, our whole defense will collapse!”
“...”
With one final moment of hesitation, Butterfly let out a grunt before moving to follow Hector’s order.
On this eastern staircase, Hector Bednicker was the commander. At first, he’d refused to accept it, but as the situation had worsened, he’d been forced to.
Hector had been born with the qualities of a general. He was quick to grasp the ever-changing situation on the battlefield and give appropriate orders. Even in this situation, he had the ability to calmly place his own life on the scale, treating it no different from any other. Indeed, he seemed to have a natural aptitude for command.
“Uaaaaahhh...!”
Butterfly took the full brunt of the beastfolk cadet’s charge with her body.
At the end of the day, he was just a cadet, an amateur compared to Butterfly, a young hero, a possessor of blessings, and the genius of House Goodspring.
Dammit...!
...But that was only true when Butterfly was in peak condition.
Butterfly had already been fighting for nearly five hours. She was physically past her limit, and her ability to focus was low. The cadet, on the other hand, aside from his emotional instability, was physically sound.
“Stop! I said stop! You rabid pig bastard!”
Now she understood why mercenaries were so foul-mouthed. Who wouldn’t be when risking their life on the battlefield every day?
Butterfly put all her strength into stopping this cadet, enough to break her toes. With her face flushed red, she barely halted the charging beast.
Then she punched him in the gut, right below his chest.
Bam!
“Keuk...”
With all her emotions behind the punch, the cadet crumbled. There was no time to even check if he had actually fainted.
With no time to waste, Butterfly quickly turned around.
* * * * *
* * * * *
Hector was still on his feet, but with two major wounds now. His left ear was ripped and about to flap off, and his right knee was horribly bent at an unusual angle. His trembling body looked as if it might collapse at any moment.
Seeing his critical condition, Butterfly tried to return to the defense line as quickly as possible.
“WAAAAAAAA!”
“I want to go home! Let me go home! I want to go home!”
But she couldn’t. Like a chain reaction, the cadets began to run wild en masse.
The trigger must have been the beast cadet. Although none of them were as big and strong as him, there were just too many. Most of the people here were cadets, after all. The young heroes only made up a small portion of the group.
“Fuck...!”
Butterfly had no choice but to stop the cadets instead of returning to the defensive line.
After we stop them, then what?
If they focused on stopping the cadets, the defensive line would be breached by the dolls. If they went to stop the dolls, the cadets would rampage and break the defensive line.
Either way, they were doomed.
...What should we do? Hector thought through the pain.
Should he take the sane ones and retreat to the fourth floor...? No, that would be too difficult. It might have been possible when there were only one or two crazed cadets, but the number of rampaging cadets was at least a dozen and still growing.
I misjudged.
He had kept the cadets close so he could keep an eye on them and ensure they didn't do anything stupid.
He shouldn’t have. He should have sent all the cadets who looked unstable to the fourth floor and locked them up in a room, but he’d hesitated because it seemed too inhumane.
Now, that hesitation had led to this mess. His damn pity and compassion had ruined everything and put everyone’s lives at risk.
Is this the end?
The thought he was trying so hard to avoid crossed his mind, when—
“FO──CUS──YOUR──MINDS──!” a voice like thunder roared all around them, a deafening boom that echoed through the vast hallways of the massive building.
If it had echoed all the way to the eastern staircase, then it must have reached the western staircase as well.
Whose voice is that?
Hector thought it was his first time hearing this person, but that wasn’t true. It was understandable why he thought that, though. Marco, on the western staircase, knew the owner of this voice better than anyone, and even he needed a minute to recognize the mysterious source.
His Highness the Prince?
No, it couldn’t be. Prince Glenn had never been one to raise his voice—or rather, he had been unable to—even in moments of extreme anger.
But the voice just now had been a shout, almost a roar, like a lion.
There was no way the frail prince could bellow like that—
“TAKE HOLD OF YOUR SANITY!”
...No, it was him.
Were it anyone else, perhaps they would have decided they were mistaken, but Marco would recognize that voice anywhere.
Marco turned his head, and he saw.
Fiery crimson hair, blazing eyes... Bearing the unmistakable symbol of imperial blood, Marco saw the figure of The Empire’s prince.
“To every cadet still breathing, I, prince of this empire, command you! Even if you cannot help, do not become a burden!”
Though there was no wind, the prince’s crimson hair whipped about fiercely, and his eyes burned like a sunset aflame.
It was a sight to see. His entire body seemed to be covered in red flame.
“I know this is no simple request! Resisting the madness of the demon lord requires more resolve than enduring torture! But I believe in you! Not as individuals, but as fellow cadets who shared the same space and received the same teachings!
“Cadets of Kartell Academy! Remember! Was the education we received so worthless? Do the teachings of our revered professors amount to nothing? Can the despicable whispers and madness of those vile demons truly defeat our hard-won dignity as humans? Are you, cadets, nothing more than beasts...?”
There was a slight tremor near the end because it had been a long time since he had spoken like this, and his throat was quick to strain.
Still, after coughing a few times, the prince continued, “No, you are not! Maintain your dignity! Awaken your intellect! Do not give way to such madness! If losing your mind is easy but remaining sane is hard, then we must choose the harder path! Because that is the greatest ‘fuck you’ we can give to those damn fiends who deceived us—”
With that, the voice cut off.
Behind the scenes, all the strength left Glenn Scarlet's body and he collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
The fiery crimson hair and blazing eyes that had raged just moments ago were calm now. Although all he’d done was give a brief speech, Glenn felt as if he had sprinted with everything he had. He was completely drained.
“...”
“...”
For a moment, silence blanketed the hallways.
Of course, the screams of the mindless doll demons were still present, as were the sounds of fighting to stop them.
But everyone alive felt it.
Silence.
Then, all of a sudden, a faint wind blew in from somewhere.
And something incredible happened.
“Huh...?”
“What... is this?”
The light in the eyes of those consumed by madness slowly began to return. And that wasn’t all.
“RAAAAAAA!”
“I feel, I feel power surging through meee!”
“You weak, stuffed bastards! Is this all you’ve got?!”
Even the young heroes who had been pushed to their limits felt a new surge of vigor within them.
Hector and Barter, only these sons of The Empire’s most renowned noble families understood what had just happened, and they couldn't help but shudder in awe.
So this... is the bloodline of the king...
Is this the famous Resonance of the imperial family?
The noblest bloodline even among the Great Houses. It was the only power in the world that could amplify the power of blessings, and that incredible skill had been wielded through the young prince’s voice.
“That's right...! I have to help!”
“Damn. What the hell was I spouting just now?”
“Mom... There’s no Mom anymore...!”
“Help the young heroes! Don’t let those demons advance any further!”
The voice had drowned out the demon’s whispers and driven off the madness. He had shared his innate Magic Resistance Aptitude with ordinary people.
This was a power possible only with the king’s bloodline.
“...”
Tears filled Marco’s eyes. He had always believed this day would come.
The boy resented the imperial family, questioned the empire’s existence, and never fit in with anyone his age.
His eyes were always focused on the weak. He moved in and out of the slums as if they were his home, never hesitating to grasp the dirty hands of those residents. He ignored the approaches of beautiful noblewomen but never shied away from meeting the eyes of elders disfigured by a plague.
The boy who had so naturally become the king of the slums would one day become emperor of this empire. Marco had always believed it.
“Let’s do this!”
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
Revived young heroes. Cadets freed from madness. The defensive line, which had been retreating, finally took a step forward, and the dolls that had been charging up the stairs were now being pushed back.
I can hold on...!
At this rate, they could make it!
Hector and Barter’s thoughts turned positive...
Until one cadet looked out the window and saw what lay beyond.
“Uh...”
Thud.
The thick book that was about to be swung like a weapon dropped to the floor.
“Hey, what’s wrong? What are you looking at?”
“O-over there...!”
Raising a shaky finger to the window, all the cadets followed the cadet’s finger. There, the cadets saw...
Hundreds of armored cavalry. They, who had been modeled after the legendary Platinum Knight Order, stood above the building, not as saviors but as reapers.
[...]
One of the armored knights took a stance.
“Huh...?”
Those with sharp eyes recognized it as a spear-throwing stance.
The moment its red cloak fluttered like a mirage...
RUUUUMBLE...!
The window and the wall shattered into a million pieces.
____