The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 58 – The Voice (1)

“His Majesty who was born in the human form.”

“His Majesty who filled the glass with the enemy’s blood and filled the dish with the enemy’s flesh.”

“His Majesty who has been our guiding light from even beyond the grave.”

In the middle of rising smoke and screams coming from all sides, Rietto knelt down on the floor and endlessly muttered his prayers. His fast prayer was almost as if three different voices were coming from one mouth, somehow making the listener feel utterly uncomfortable.

Listening to his prayer, Kamil felt chills run down her spine. However, her body was soaring with energy.

‘This is His Majesty’s Grace…’

This Grace was incomparable to the one she was granted when she first became a Templar. The basic Graces that were granted to the Templars were physical and mental strengthening, Spear of Wrath, and a few other magic skills. However, the clergy were allowed to exercise much more varied and high-ranked Graces. Amongst them, the Bishops used Graces that were almost equivalent to miracles.

“My emperor, the mighty Kennosis.”

“May His Majesty who resides in everyone’s spirit and body grant you power and Grace to the proxy of the fingertips…”

The Bishop’s Grace could provide almost infinite vitality, which could save those who were burnt, beheaded, and stabbed in the heart. The Templars were already hard to kill with their basic Grace alone, but with the Bishop's Grace, they were simply an immortal army.

Behind Ethan’s aggressive behavior was Bishop Rietto’s support. Such an offensive attack on a surrendered city usually would never be approved, unless it was under urgent circumstances. The full force of the thirty Templars and the remaining knights was too dangerous, and couldn’t be overcome unless the opponent was another knight order that was just as powerful as them; there would be no way that the Pope would allow it.

‘It would’ve been impossible to implement this plan if it wasn’t for Bishop Rietto’s support.’

The fact that Bishop Rietto’s spirit had been fragmented was well known. Although he was in an abnormal state, his insights were still frighteningly keen sometimes. After all, the only reason he volunteered to support the Order of the White Crow was because he firmly believed that he was right. Bishop Rietto briefly staying in Hiveden for business and the Order of Huginn appearing at Hiveden occurred at the same time by coincidence.

‘No, but was it really just a coincidence?’

Kamil couldn’t confidently say so. She looked at Rietto in awe. Regardless of whether the incidents were a coincidence or not, the empire’s old legend would fall today. The Order of the White Crow would be the hands to choke the legend, and Bishop Rietto would be the eyes and mouth to support them.

‘If Ras Raud really is in this city, he will certainly die today.’

***

Juan looked around at his surroundings. They weren’t simply in a ‘bad situation’—it was way worse than that. Their traps had failed, the Templars had regrouped, and now they found out that the Templars couldn’t be wounded or killed. Although there were knights of the dead in the Order of Huginn, they weren’t immortal against the Templars. The Grace that lay within the Templars’ swords had the power to destroy the knights of the dead. To make things worse, the fire which had begun to spread everywhere made the environment not very suitable for the knights of the dead to comfortably move around.

Ethan walked out of the fire. The burnt lumps fell down every time he took a step forward. Reddish flesh had just been regenerated from where the lumps fell off, and the new flesh was burnt again by the fire surrounding him. While his body was healing with the help of the Grace, it couldn’t get rid of the pain. Nevertheless, Ethan was still smiling.

“Is this what you call hell, kid? There’s not much to see here… It's less than I had expected.”

Ethan swung his sword around. Strong gusts of wind blew and drove out the flames. The fire began to subside, but the Templars’ armors were still glowing red due to the remaining heat. Regardless of the pain, the knights joined their comrades to continue the battle.

“You need to bring more than hell to kill me,” Ethan said as he instantly charged at Juan.

“Pretending to be proud of something that’s not even yours,” Juan said as he barely dodged Ethan’s sword.

Juan acknowledged that they were in a bad situation. The power protecting the Templars was Juan’s own mana, and it certainly seemed to be the Grace that Anya had mentioned. If the Grace was as powerful as Juan thought, the Order of Huginn had no chance of winning, unless Ras intervened.

Instead of fighting Ethan, Juan stepped away from the battle line. Ethan didn’t bother to chase Juan as there were lots of knights of the Order of Huginn he had to take care of all around him.

“Raise your swords! His Majesty’s will resides inside you!”

“For His Majesty!”

With a loud chant, the Templars and the knights pushed the Order of Huginn even harder. The Templars were surrounded by the Order of Huginn and did not have the support of the Laus Mountain Scouts as they had been in a rush to get to Ethan, but it was clear that the Templars were at an advantage.

Ethan immediately jumped into the battlefield and beheaded one of the knights of the Order of Huginn. He continued to swing his sword, and instinctively tilted his head to the side to see a huge hammer grazing past him at a short distance. Ethan’s smile became fierce when he saw the hammer.

“Well look who’s here. I thought you would only show yourself once everyone was dead so that you could live up to the name ‘flock of ravens.’”

The old knight with white hair, ‘blacksmith’ Dilmond Debussy was glaring at him. The old knight laughed and accepted Ethan’s challenge.

“You’ve got too long of a tongue, little baby. An imitation like you seems to be better at moving your tongue than your sword. So why don’t you crawl under your mother’s skirt and serve your filial duty instead of wandering around the dangerous battlefield?”

What provoked Ethan was the word ‘imitation.’ Ethan burst into a rage and ran wildly at Dilmond.

Dilmond groaned at the heavy shock he felt from his shield when Ethan’s sword dug into it and carved it out. Dilmond had never been lazy in training, but Ethan’s power felt too strong. Dilmond bitterly resented the talent and Grace granted to Ethan. Nevertheless, he didn’t think that he would fail his duty. Dilmond heard a voice from behind that he had been waiting for.

“Knights, forward!” Anya shouted.

With Anya’s voice, the knights of the dead appeared. They had been waiting until the Templars would fall a little further back to the alley where the fire was still spreading.

As soon as the knights of the dead appeared, the Templars felt a burning heat from their back and freezing chills from the front.

“Although we were the ones that killed them all, it looks like they ate each other’s eyes and flesh. No wonder they call you ravens,” Ethan coldly smiled at the knights of the dead.

“I’ll rip and eat your smiling face too.”

Dilmond charged forward along the knights of the dead.

***

“Anya, can you tell me exactly what’s going on right now?”

Juan asked Anya about the current situation they were in. Anya was drenched in blood as if she just came back from beheading one of the Templars. Her face was filled with heavy tiredness.

“Some Bishop is raining down a high-ranking Grace upon the Templars. Any Bishops that might be around Hiveden are… Bishop Carl and Bishop Rietto. There would be no way that pig Carl would join the battle, so there’s a high possibility that it’s Rietto. I heard that he was coming to Hiveden to receive an item of some sort.”

“He was coming to get the Indeterminate Polyhedron. So what you’re saying is that the bastard is reviving all these Templars?”

“Yes. Ordinary healing Grace can’t be this powerful, especially as burns cannot be normally healed. But if it’s the Grace bestowed upon a Bishop…”

『Anya, Juan.』

At that moment, a voice suddenly echoed in their heads. It was Ras.

『I’m sending my voice directly inside your heads. I apologize for the unpleasant sensation. I am currently on my way to the battlefield.』

“What?! Sir, what are you talking about!? Please don’t!” Anya shouted in frustration.

Ras replied as if he could hear what Anya and Juan were saying.

『I can imagine what situation you’re in right now. I bet the knights of the dead can’t use their full strength because the sun just rose, and it’s the same for me as well. However, I must join the battle so that we can overcome this situation.』

“Stay still, Ras. You’ll only create more worry for the rest of us,” Juan said.

『But Juan.』

“I said no.”

『My comrades and knights are dying. I can’t just sit here and do nothing about it.』

“You are already contributing the most you can by summoning the knights of the dead. If you continue to use more of your power, Anya will come and break your leg, not me,” Juan replied in a perplexed mood.

Ras had already used too much of his unholy essence. While he was barely maintaining himself, with the Indeterminate Polyhedron, there was a high possibility for his current form to collapse if he used any more of his strength.

“You are the only one capable of creating and summoning the knights of the dead. All Anya can do is control the knights of the dead that you summoned. If the Templars get you, all the knights of the dead will disappear and that will be the end of the Order of Huginn. Is that what you really want?”

Ras remained silent.

“Don’t be so nervous. I have a plan,” Juan said as he turned around to look at Anya. “Anya, all this bullshit would end if we kill that damn Bishop, correct?”

“Sorry? Oh, yes. Y-you’re right, but there will certainly be more than a few Templars protecting that bastard, and he would be using the Grace on himself as well. It’s practically impossible to kill him and…”

“But it’s worth a try. Make sure Ras doesn’t intervene.”

Juan recalled the direction of the Order of the White Crow’s tent, and turned his body. Before he left, he stopped for a while to look back at Anya. Anya’s pupils were shaking in anxiety. Juan said to Anya as if he was trying to calm her down.

“Don’t die.”

***

Sina’s face gradually darkened to see Bishop Rietto continue his prayer endlessly.

‘Asking for His Majesty’s power to kill His Majesty’s people.’

The Templars were nothing more than murderers slaughtering unarmed civilians, and destroying the city of Hiveden. It was hard for Sina to stay still and watch, but she couldn’t even move as her body was completely restrained.

“Kamil!” Sina shouted at Kamil who had been protecting Bishop Rietto beside her.

Kamil’s expression faltered as she glanced at Sina’s fierce eyes.

“Are you really going to be an accomplice to this massacre? Do you think His Majesty would have remained a spectator if he was still here?”

“We are not His Majesty,” Kamil answered with a stiff face. “We are not as great as His Majesty. I don’t dare to put myself in his shoes. All we can do is accept His Majesty’s will and enact his values on this world.”

“And slaughtering unarmed civilians is part of His Majesty’s values?”

“To eliminate His Majesty’s enemy is part of his values. We are nothing more than His Majesty’s butcher blade, so this all we can do to show our faith.”

“You can protect the innocent and the weak by blocking the swords pointed toward them, rather than swinging your own sword at them. Wouldn’t that be much closer to His Majesty’s mercy?”

Kamil didn’t answer, but firmly closed her lips and disregarded Sina. Kamil also knew that the Order of the White Crow’s actions were wrong, and that Sina was right. However, Kamil had lived a long time as a Templar of the Order of the White Crow. Such time and duty made her turn a blind eye to the current situation.

‘Perhaps Ethan was right when he said we must kill Ras Raud to break free from this curse.’

Kamil decided to be merciless, at least for today.

At that moment, Bishop Rietto’s prayer suddenly stopped.

As Kamil looked, Bishop Rietto’s entire body was shaking while he stared toward the east.

His expression was distorted with anger and confusion.