After the negotiations with Odyssey were over and the border line was newly established, the withdrawal began, leaving some troops behind. It was because the war between Lionia and Silimaron had ended a few days ago.
Within days of the attack on the capital, the capital of Silymaron fell. Despite being seriously injured, Duke Gregory fought hard until the end, but it was not enough and he died heroically.
Unlike Venus, Lionia did not spare the royals of Silymaron. In this way, Silymaron has become a country in history.
The negotiations with Lionia had already ended a long time ago. I wondered if it would end so well by respecting each other’s gains without giving and receiving each other.
It took quite a long time to prepare for withdrawal as the large army was moving. After a month like that, the main body of the Expeditionary Force, including Aether, finally started moving to return to the home country.
To be precise, I started acting by pretending to withdraw. During the month preparing for withdrawal, I was quite busy. It flew from the nearby palace of Odyssey to the faraway Prince Jonah of Lionia who occupied the royal palace of Silymaron. And he obtained a lot of information and passed it on to Ether.
As the Venus army crossed the Odyssey border before the war and crossed into Venus’ territory, a large Lionian army appeared from the rear.
As if they had been waiting, the Venus forces quickly reversed themselves under the orderly command. And Ether took the lead.
“Listen up, Traitors of Lionia!”
The Prince of Venus, whose youthful appearance had not yet disappeared, stood at the forefront with his short-lived horse and shouted at the Lionian army with a confident appearance that would not be defeated by anyone as much as his momentum.
“With the protection of the Guardian Spirit, I was able to figure out your wicked plan a long time ago! And listen to the despicable losers of the Odyssey!”
Behind the great army of Lionia were the troops of Odyssey. Before they knew it, the two formed an alliance and had a pact to hit the back of Venus, who was returning. Isn’t it diplomacy between countries where yesterday’s enemies become today’s allies and do anything for the national interest? The two countries were clearly showing it.
“How long have you been begging for your life relying on Venus’ mercy, revealing your filthy claws! I will not forgive your meanness and stupidity! However, with the mercy of the Guardian Spirit, if you defeat the army and go back now, I will forgive you!”
The ether lashed out with accusations against the enemy, but Lionian command did not think much of it.
“You knew we were waiting.”
“Although they are using the excuse of being protected by the Guardian Spirit, the reputation of Venus’ intelligence department is amazing.”
Duke Jonah and the staff thought so.
“Still, seeing the prince come forward and shout like that, it looks like he’s prepared something.”
“Even so, with this difference in forces, it is difficult to lose.”
There were about 50,000 of Venus’s troops returning, leaving some troops behind. On the other hand, the allies of Lionia and Odyssey exceeded 200,000.
“That’s right, it’s all the more so because Venus isn’t particularly good at either knights or wizards.”
“Even though Marquis Cantana’s command is excellent, there will be no answer if you attack with straight attacks without using useless tactics like Marquis Jerome Shuske.”
Duke Jonah nodded. Then he drew his sword and pointed forward, giving orders.
“All Forces Forward”
At Duke Jonah’s command, a large army of 200,000 did not break the ranks and began to approach slowly but imposingly.
Ether, who was looking at that figure, sighed once and spoke in a small voice.
“In the end, it turns out like this.”
[Yeah, you said it would be like this, right?]
“There really is no end to human greed.”
[Start. You can’t die quietly, can you?]
Ether nodded and pulled out a metal disk from within. The disc with countless magic circles elaborately engraved on it looked like it was not just one disc, but several discs stacked together.
And when the ether energized the disk, the disk started to glow red.
“Look! This is the wrath of the Guardian Spirit!”
In a sense, the image of the ether that screamed out as if injecting all the energy inside the body felt sublime. By the way, it was a really cheesy name.
I was obviously vehemently against naming it. He agreed to some kind of agitation, but Aether insisted on using that name even after death.
The identity of that disk was no different, it was the wide-area magic developed by the masters of the mage tower and the elders in the past. Of course, it is not as it is, but it has been remodeled and developed to a great extent.
At that time, the disc engraved with the magic circle was huge enough to occupy almost the entire large laboratory, but now it has become several layers, but it has become small enough to be carried in one’s arms.
At that time, five elders, including the Mage Tower Master, were required to start the boots, but now it was possible with Ether alone. Of course, this is possible because the ether sim method learned by ether is several times more efficient than the normal mana sim method.
The existing magic was ice magic, but now it has changed to fire and explosion magic. Of course, the range and power also increased. The theory came from my head, but engraving the magic circle into the disk was a huge task that took Ether and me nearly two years.
It wasn’t designed to be used like this in the first place. Wouldn’t it just be possible to use it someday? Even if I suddenly disappear one day, I wanted to leave at least one trumpet weapon for Ether.
A red light soared into the sky like a ray of light from the disc held in both hands by Ether. Its rays pierced the clouds and seemed to pierce the firmament. 250,000 troops on both sides watched the spectacle, not expecting the horrors that would happen soon after.
the sky splits There was no other way to express it. A huge red crack formed in the blue sky as the beam pierced through it. And there the flames started pouring down. Not a mere flame, it rained down on the camps of Lionia and Odyssey in the form of hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of meteors.
As the rain of meteors engulfed in flames poured down, someone with a keen eye shouted to evade, but the meteors poured down too quickly and widely.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Thousands of times more powerful than when the wizards of Silimaron poured all their energy into attacking, the ground was swept away. The ground shook like an earthquake, and a hot wind that seemed to melt his flesh blew over Venus-kun.
The rain of flames hit the ground for quite some time without stopping. Soon, the sound of hitting the ground died down. Still, it was impossible to identify the Lionian camp because of the rising flames, smoke, and dust.
I was in the middle of the ruins where the flames soared. In front of me, Duke Jonah, who was burned all over, stood alone with a dejected expression on his sword as a staff.
“Like this, like this…”
I couldn’t speak to Duke Jona anymore. Who can understand that feeling? Tears flowed from the pits of Duke Jonah, who had already lost his eyes from burns. And a giant with ambition and skills that could have built a great empire had it not been for me fell. I absorbed that soul.
It happened on a battlefield where I would die if the opponent didn’t die, but 200,000 lives were lost in a single attack. It was truly carnage. and i made it I didn’t feel much remorse, whether it was because my personality was worn out or because it was my soul. But I did feel something stab me deep in my chest.
Then I heard the cry of something that made the world cry.
Hey hey hey profit!
When I heard that, my body started shaking like crazy. No, should I say that the soul trembles because there is no body? Anyway, it felt like my soul was crying.
[Peer?]
It was a reaction that would be felt by an ordinary animal or human when they heard the peer of a high-level monster. I heard countless demon beasts peer in the great forest, but never like this.
Looking at Venus in the distance, no one responded. If this really was the powerful peer I felt, it would be normal for Venus-kun to have already been knocked down.
Looking up at the sky, there are still countless souls ascending to heaven. And a huge bird made of fire was flying in the distance.
[Phoenix?]
It is a divine beast that appears in legends. Where they were born, where they disappeared, and how they live is unknown. because it’s a legend It doesn’t even appear in any history books. But everyone knows. From the grandmother to the grandson, the grandson became an old man and then to the grandson again. In this way, a divine being appeared in a legend that has been handed down by word of mouth for thousands of years.
When I looked at Benus again, there was no reaction. Looks like only me So is that phoenix a soul too? I looked at the ether to see if it could be seen or heard by the ether, but the ether didn’t respond either.
The phoenix approached very quickly. The phoenix, which seemed huge even when it was far away, felt like a huge continent flying in the sky even though it was flying high in the sky when it came closer.
As the Phoenix flew through the sky directly above it flapped its wings, the 200,000 souls that ascended into heaven were absorbed into the Phoenix as if sucked into it.
For a while, I blankly watched the phoenix fly away and disappear. It’s not that I didn’t have any thoughts, but that I stopped thinking because I had too many thoughts.
If I absorb a lot of souls, will I become a divine being like that? Or will it be ascension if I follow that phoenix and get absorbed? Thought bit the tail of thought.
When he came to his senses, Venus-kun was shouting in praise of Aether, who had won a great victory with a tremendous miracle. I also flew through the sky and returned to Ether.
Surrounded by people celebrating the victory, Ether did not show a bright expression even though she was the person responsible for the great victory. He is still young and a good boy. Even I, the soul, felt remorse for the massacre, and this guy couldn’t have felt it.
[It is the wrath of the guardian spirit. that’s what i did
“But I…”
Yes, you carved a lot of magic circles into the disk and infused it with energy, but I did it. Anyway, yes.
[I did]
“Guardian Spirit…”
I tried to alleviate the remorse even a little bit, but I’m not sure if it worked. However, it would be difficult for Ether to collapse at this level.
It’s not good to be a sly person like the current king, the father of ether, but a leader of a country must be strong. Moreover, Venus will no longer be a mere kingdom.
Using the great victory as a stepping stone, the Venus Expeditionary Force reversed itself into Odyssey and turned it into a kingdom. Odyssey, which dispatched the few remaining troops to strike at Venus’ back, had no power to stop Venus. This time, Odyssey’s royalty and core nobles couldn’t escape Venus’ wrath.
And again, the Venus army, led by Aether, attacked Lionia without rest. The elite unit led by Duke Jonah was virtually the entire force of Lionia, and now that it was annihilated, even Lionia was powerless to stop Venus.
Unlike Odyssey, there was strong resistance in the royal capital, but the siege ended in two months, and the name of the country, Lionia, disappeared into the back of history.
Having acquired the territories of the three countries of Lionia, Silymaron, and Odyssey, Venus was reborn as an empire with a huge territory, although it was still incomplete.
Accidents occurred almost every day in the occupied territories. As the territory suddenly acquired this time was larger than the territory of the home country, there was a hole in the administrative power, and Venus was experiencing a great difficulty.
Ether also couldn’t return home after that and stayed in the former royal palace of Silimaron, working like a slave without sleeping for several hours a day.