The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 36 – Falling Petals (4)

“Not bad.”

Juan was impressed. While he and Sina were talking, the Order of the Blue Rose led their war horses toward the back of the village. It was a plan that not only cut off Juan’s retreat, but also allowed them to have the momentum to rush forward. Juan thought the knights being able to take a detour without making a single noise was worth giving a compliment.

‘They might be flustered if the other party wasn’t me.’

Sina felt nervous when Juan did not even flinch. Sina swung her sword several times at Juan, but he didn’t respond actively and only took a defensive stance.

“Hah!”

Ossrey was the first one to rush in. His war horse didn’t even pause in the face of the fallen soldier’s spears and swords, and raced straight toward Juan with its heavy weight and speed.

Juan hastily dodged, causing Ossrey’s spear to graze against his cape.

“Dame Sina!” Ossrey roared as he threw the reins of another horse at Sina, who pulled herself up on the horse in a hurry.

“How many did you send to the back?!”

“Only eleven horses, because the road was narrow. The rest of them will join us from the main entrance as soon as combat begins!”

Eleven war horses cornered Juan as they approached him from crossways. There seemed to be very few ways for Juan to take on the spears and swords flying over his head. Juan was bound to get run over by the horses if he stopped moving even for a second.

“Stop charging at him all at once! Take turns to attack!” Sina ordered, her body tense with anxiety. Juan had yet to draw his weapon.

Sina expected Juan to attack the war horses, but he didn’t seem to think it was necessary. Sina’s throat tightened as her prediction was off the mark.

Following Sina’s order, the knights of the Blue Rose encircled Juan and took turns attacking him with their spears at a distance instead of directly rushing at him.

“This is a bit annoying,” Juan complained. No matter how agile he was, a large number of blades spinning toward him limited his space to dodge.

Before the knights could completely encircle him, Juan grabbed the nearest knight’s leg; it was a dangerous move that could get him trampled by the horse, but Juan expertly pulled himself up on the saddle and pushed the knight off to the ground before he could draw out his sword.

“Watch out!” Sina yelled, but the fallen knight was immediately trampled under the other knights’ horses.

Sina gritted her teeth and charged at Juan immediately, leaving Juan with no choice but to pull out his short sword to parry Sina’s attack. Sina’s sword and Juan’s short sword collided. As Juan’s body was so small compared to the war horse he was riding, his body ended up being pushed back. But Juan didn’t mind it, because neither was he planning to continue to stay on the horse nor continue to fight Sina for much longer.

In a flash, Juan disappeared from Sina’s eyes. Sina recalled the time when Juan traveled a short distance within an instant back to the colosseum.

Everything happened in an instant.

Once out of Sina’s sight, Juan twisted the top of her helmet, causing Sina to lose her balance as her helmet covered her field of view, while also exposing her pale neck.

‘I’m going to get cut.’

Death flashed past her eyes. While she had thought she might end up dying on the battlefield, she never expected that her death would be so ridiculous.

At that moment, Sina’s horse took off and raced forward, and Juan missed his opportunity. Having fallen off her horse, Sina got dragged around with her feet stuck to the saddle.

“Dame Sina!” Ossrey shouted.

Ossrey quickly grabbed the reins and stopped Sina’s horse, but she was already injured. Sina was bleeding from her head, but still tried her best to stand up on her wobbly feet once again and look straight ahead.

“Catch that bastard!” Sina ordered.

Sina withdrew her sword and made an attempt to attack Juan again, but her right arm was dangling and drooping down, as it had been broken from the fall. Even worse, Sina couldn’t see anything with blood and dust covering her face.

“Please stay here! You’ll only get in the way if you step in now,” Ossrey pleaded while forcefully holding Sina back.

“Ossrey!”

Sina had to admit that Juan’s movement was so fast that even she couldn’t detect him. There was no way other knights could handle him.

But Ossrey smiled as he lifted up his shield.

“I have the Templar’s shield; I’m sure His Majesty’s grace will be enough to stop him. Rest here for now, and join us again when you feel better. You are already pushing yourself too hard.”

Just like Ossrey said, Juan couldn’t easily escape the knights. It seemed that he avoided using the skill which enabled him to travel short distances in an instant, as it required too much physical strength.

‘He will eventually wear out.’

Furthermore, Captain Haselle and the remaining knights of the Blue Rose were rushing in through the main entrance.

Sina slightly nodded at Ossrey.

Leaving her behind, Ossrey took off on his horse once again. The Order of the Blue Rose hadn’t come here without any preparation. Especially Captain Haselle. He had prepared weapons and strategies to capture Juan. Although it was only a matter of time before the knights captured Juan, Sina couldn’t help feeling uneasy for some reason.

***

It was as if there was a whirlpool with Juan in the center. Everywhere he went, there was a wild clash. As the knights suffered injuries over time, Juan also suffered minor injuries every time they collided. It was only natural that both Juan and the knights couldn’t give each other fatal injuries, since at least three spears blocked Juan whenever he had the chance to kill someone.

Juan’s expression stiffened.

The battle became even more difficult for Juan as more knights and Haselle joined the chaos, but Ossrey decided to make it even more difficult. Ossrey’s shield flew toward Juan.

Juan narrowed his eyes and swung his short sword, but Ossrey skillfully blocked the attack.

Ossrey’s heart was racing; he felt as if someone was delicately controlling his movements. Ossrey’s heart fluttered as he recalled blocking Juan’s attack against Kato while not even being able to sense his own movements.

‘This must be His Majesty’s grace!’

Ossrey couldn’t even imagine how powerful the Templars must be, fully armed with such equipment.

Juan attempted to attack Ossrey several more times, but was blocked each time and even endured two injuries in the process. He eventually clicked his tongue and gave up on attacking Ossrey.

“I swear that bastard's got eyes behind his back!” a knight screamed as Juan dodged the attack coming from behind.

Ossrey couldn’t agree more. Juan’s body was bloody with minor injuries, but no one had managed to land a successful blow.

‘Is he ever going to wear out?’

Ossrey clicked his tongue. Since Juan was making big movements without any protective gear, he would end up exhausted before the knights who had been taking turns to attack. But Ossrey also had to consider the aftermath of the knights getting injured little by little.

At some point, Juan was blocked by the outer wall. Ossrey realized that Haselle had driven Juan to a corner where he couldn’t escape. While this would also restrict the knights’ movement, it was still better to restrict Juan’s movement rather than letting him create chaos everywhere.

“Are you guys hunting a cat or what, huh?” As Juan taunted, he bounced off the outer walls in a flash to slash at the nearest knight’s throat.

Blood scattered everywhere. There were no restrictions in Juan’s movement, almost like Hasselle’s efforts in cornering him were pointless.

The knights had to search for Juan’s weak spot. Ossrey kept quiet, then immediately charged at Juan.

Instead of facing Ossrey directly, Juan kicked his shield and bounced off.

However, Ossrey continued charging forward without getting pushed back. Ossrey charging at Juan with such reckless abandon left Juan with no choice but to accept his challenge. At the moment Juan thrust his short sword, Ossrey accurately struck the short sword with his shield.

“This is the will of the knights!” Ossrey roared.

Crash!

The moment Juan’s short sword and Ossrey’s shield collided, Ossrey felt an awful pain in the back of his hand as if all his fingers had broken. Juan tried to step back for the time being, but Ossrey grabbed Juan’s short sword with his hand. The blade dug deep into his skin and blood dripped down his hand.

“Now!” Ossrey yelled.

Juan’s movement paused for an instant, and that was it.

Juan saw a net being cast over him. He attempted to use Blink in an attempt to escape, but he had no chance of escaping the widespread net. Juan fell into the hands of the Order of the Blue Rose.

“I knew you guys were hiding something.” As Juan muttered, one of the knights angrily pierced his thigh with a spear. Juan glared at him with a frown.

The knight went pale and his hands started quivering just from looking at Juan’s eyes, but he managed to hold on to his spear.

Meanwhile, Ossrey extracted Juan’s short sword out of his hand. It had even managed to pierce through his shield. The short sword, which had a gruesome pattern on it, induced a strange feeling.

“Ossrey, go get some treatment. You’ve made the biggest contribution today,” said Haselle.

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“Not at all, Captain. If it weren’t for Dame Sina and your plan…”

“Right. We should inform Sina and bring her here. This plan would have been impossible if she hadn’t analyzed this guy. We must show him to Sina. I’ll go and…”

Haselle couldn’t finish his words. As he led his horse to head toward Sina, he ran into a giant figure. The figure was so big that the horse grunted and made way. Haselle raised his head in confusion only to find an armed knight in front of him.

As soon as Haselle tilted his head, wondering if there had been such a huge knight among the members of the Order of the Blue Rose, his head disappeared.

***

“You son of a bitch!”

When the knight who stabbed Juan's thigh earlier tried to stab him again, another knight stopped him.

“Stop! He is already under control.”

“But this bastard killed Arber!”

Many of the other knights cursed at Juan in agreement. It wouldn’t be strange for the knights to ruthlessly stab Juan with spears and swords at any time, yet Juan had a relaxed look on his face. This only infuriated the knights even more.

“Look at that bastard’s face! He’s thinking that we won’t do anything to him!”

“We don’t make the decision on how he should be punished! He won’t die a peaceful death once he is handed over to the Church anyway. It’s better to leave him to the Inquisitor rather than messing with him here.”

The other knights agreed with the knight that coaxed others out of harming Juan. Heretics, especially those that messed with anyone from the Church, ought to meet the most horrific end. The knights were worried that Juan might die too early in the torture.

At that moment, Juan suddenly opened his mouth.

“You should all stop worrying about me and watch your backs instead,” Juan warned.

“What?”

“You guys aren’t the only ones hiding weapons.”

Out of nowhere, a light splatting sound reverberated while blood and pieces of flesh scattered all over the knights of the Order of the Blue Rose.

Behind their backs, Haselle’s headless body slowly fell off his horse.

“Captain!” The knights screamed.

Standing before Haselle’s body was a giant knight with a massive shield and hammer in his hand. Although it was difficult to confirm his identity due to all the mud, dust, and blood covering his face, Ossrey was able to recognize the shield the knight was holding; it was the same as the shield that he was holding in his hand.

“No way…”

Ossrey quickly looked back, only to see Juan, who was smiling.

“I considered making use of his equipment myself, but he was too big. So I decided to return it to the owner.”

Arwain, who had become a Demonic Beast of fog, rushed into the knights of the Order of the Blue Rose.