The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military

Chapter 152: A New Phase (2)

All of the masters in the Empire appeared to stop the apostles that worshiped the God of Blood and the God of Death.

The commanders of the North and the Northeast, who guarded the safest regions in the continent. 

The Eastern Commander, who had become more relaxed after receiving Iron’s help. 

The Western Commander, who was able to recover and revitalize his troops after the Death Lord had gathered all of the Death Corps in the capital. 

And the Southern Commander, who still came to the Center despite the ongoing crisis in the South. 

Even the family heads of the two prestigious families that maintained and propped up the Empire appeared alongside these commanders. 

And finally, the Central Army Commander, who was injured but was still able to remain on the battlefield because of his courage and bravery. 

The Empire’s proudest and strongest forces had gathered together in the capital.

The apostles of gods cackled loudly when they saw them move to stop them.

Meanwhile, inside the broken down Imperial Palace, the Death Lord tried his best to kill Iron. However, despite his eagerness and dedication, they still failed to kill him. The situation gradually became difficult for them.

They had beaten down and destroyed everything that hindered their path before occupying the Imperial Palace. But surprisingly enough, when they were already on the verge of victory, they were blocked by a single person, Iron.

― Please! Please get out of my way!

Tears of blood dripped down the Death Lord’s cheeks as he released huge amounts of death energy. The souls of the departed that were still gathered in the area felt pity for him and flew towards Iron. However, Iron remained in his stance, his back steadfast and sturdy.

The Death Lord lamented the fact that Iron was not an ordinary wizard. After all, he would have already killed him to complete the corruption of God’s Orb if he was one. However, Iron was the saint. In addition, his powers were their bane. He was bound to face difficulties if he wanted to eradicate him especially with the state he was in.

His biggest problem was that his power was not enough. He couldn’t call for the blood giant since it had already devoted most of its attention in dealing with the divine beasts. And his remaining power was actually being blocked and cut off because of Baepsae. Baepsae, who was perched snuggle on Iron’s head, was, in fact, releasing huge amounts of divine energy. This energy might be a source of vitality and strength for Iron, but for the fallen, it was a curse.

“Hoo…” 

Baepsae’s overwhelmingly powerful divine energy was able to offset all of the magic created from death energy that flew towards Iron. That was the reason why the only thing that the Death Lord could use to fight against Iron was his blood energy, a power that was created from his pure bloody martial art technique.

The Death Lord could only constantly engage Iron in close combat using his bloody martial art technique. It was in fact a technique that combined the vampires’ unique blood magic and their unique martial arts. And since the Death Lord was a being who had defeated a master, he had full grasp of this technique to the point that he could integrate his death energy in every blow. 

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Keuk!” 

Iron let out a groan as he blocked the Death Lord’s bloody martial art technique. 

Iron had no choice but to block the technique by himself since Baepsae was already having a hard time offsetting the death magic that flew all over the place. The only problem that Iron was facing was that the Death Lord was still extremely powerful despite his huge disadvantage. It was to the point that each blow of his technique could be compared to a master.

Fortunately, vampires were basically beings that had fallen from corruption so the power of the blows from his technique were halved under the influence of sanctuary. That was the only reason why Iron was able to endure the continuous blows. 

He was very lucky that the situation had overlapped and that his powers were against the Death Lord’s power. If that was not the case then Iron would have long succumbed against his constant onslaught of attacks.

However, this situation was also a testament to Iron’s strength. Even though the power of the Death Lord, who sacrificed his comrades’ lives to gain more power, was halved, being able to block him alone meant that he had already grown strong enough to reach the pinnacle. 

― You… If I can just pierce through you!

“That’s right. If you go past me, then the Empire will collapse.”

Iron immediately corrected his posture as he answered the Death Lord’s words.

That was the truth. He was the only person guarding the crystal.

The knights of the Imperial Palace, the Emperor’s secret guards, the wizards and the priests were all overwhelmed by the sheer number of beings from the void that swarmed in the palace. Even his divine beasts, his main source of power, were tied up and dealing with the blood giant. In other words, he was alone in this battle.

― Why?! Why?! Why are you stopping me?! You also hate the Center!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Iron did not falter. He endured the onslaught of the annoying hits from the death magic and the Death Lord’s bloody martial art technique that weren’t stopped by his holy power. He held out and stood firmly despite the Death Lord’s powerful strikes.

― Are you truly going to protect those horrendous beings?

Iron nodded lightly after hearing the exhausted Death Lord’s question. 

His previous life had made him aware of how horrible the Emperor was. The God Game had also let him know how selfish the Gods, who sent him here, were. However, that did not matter. Countless wars and battles had already made him realize long ago that there was no absolute ‘good’ in this world.

“It doesn’t matter to me whether God or the Imperial Family are horrible. I am protecting this place right now because it’s more beneficial to me to protect this place than going to your side.”

The Death Lord shut his mouth for a moment before speaking quietly. 

― …That’s true. Everyone has their own stance and thoughts.

The Death Lord stretched his arm up as he said so.

― I promised that I would witness the collapse of this Empire with my own eyes but… it seems like I won’t be able to keep it.

The Death Lord’s expression was filled with bitterness. 

Iron felt that something was unusual with the Death Lord. He immediately loosened his defensive stance as he rushed towards the Death Lord.

“Thunder! Owl! Stop it!”

Iron shouted urgently but the blood giant was already sucked in the arm of the Death Lord. 

Thunderbird and Owl rushed towards the Death Lord with all their might but the huge force of the suction had bounced them off. Of course, the same was true for Iron. Even Phoenix, who was dealing with the beings of the void, rushed forward to stop the Death Lord but also failed. 

Iron saw the Death Lord’s body, a body that was barely maintained, began to collapse as a huge amount of power was concentrated on his body. This was a testament that his body couldn’t handle such a huge power. 

Perhaps the Death Lord had felt that the end was coming, he turned to look at Iron as he smiled.

― I hope you can accomplish your goals.

Hearing the Death Lord’s words, Iron quickly jumped up from the ground and boosted his mana before calling for his divine beasts. 

“We have to cover that. Can it be done?”

The divine beasts all nodded their heads after hearing Iron’s words.

The first to step forward was Iron. He took the lead with his steel mana and stood firmly behind the wall of fire that Phoenix had created after him. Then, Owl also created its territory as it erected strong mana barriers around the wall of fire. Thunderbird also created storm barriers that swirled and whipped around them. Iron also compressed the sanctuary to cover only him and the Death Lord.

The Death Lord’s power, which had been forcefully stopped from being released wildly on the outside, accumulated inside his body until it couldn’t handle it anymore. The only outcome was an explosion.

The Death Lord’s body’s explosion created a powerful blood storm that swept everything in its path.

Crack!

The black core in his body, the byproduct of his contract with the God of Death, broke down the moment his blood mana burst out from his body. Then, the countless souls that he had collected wrapped the bloody storm and broke down the sanctuary that Iron had compressed to cover them.

Iron’s strength alone was not enough to stop the Death Lord’s self destruction. After all, he was someone who had signed a contract with both the God of Blood and the God of Death. In the end, the entire Imperial Palace was caught under the bloody storm as it gradually increased in size. 

However, surprisingly enough, there was no damage in the area where the huge white crystal was located. 

“En… dure!”

Iron gritted his teeth as he spoke to his divine beasts. 

The first barrier to disappear was Thunderbird’s storm barrier which was immediately followed by Owl’s mana barrier. Phoenix’s fire barrier was able to hold out a bit longer but it still reached its limits in the end. Perhaps they had used all of their energy in those barriers that the divine beasts’ bodies all turned small as they flew behind Iron. Even Baepsae slumped on Iron’s head as it reached its limit after trying to help Iron and the other divine beasts amplify their divine and holy power to create a shield. 

The only one left was Iron. He used his steel mana sword to try and split the rampaging blood storm. Iron gnashed his teeth and endured, especially after he saw his divine beasts doing their best for him. He wanted to let go of the sword in his hands but he did not give up. He held on despite his trembling hands as he scraped off the remaining handful of steel mana in his body to protect his body that felt like it was being torn off by the storm. His trembling legs were only standing thanks to his will. He even bit his lips until they bled to awaken him and his spirit that seemed to want to go dim at any moment. 

Perhaps the heavens were impressed by his strong will? 

His black sword suddenly began to crack the blood storm apart, albeit only bit by bit. 

“Hoo…”

His eyes that looked like they would close at any moment returned to clarity and calmness as he took on the most perfect stance and posture that he could muster. It seemed like Iron’s concentration would reach its peak whenever he met with overwhelmingly strong opponents. 

Was it like this when I met with the dark elves? Or when I met with the Ghost King? Perhaps, it was the same when I met with the Elven King too?

“Heup!”

Iron squeezed the last of his mental power as he breathed in and forcefully cut the raging blood storm. 

All of the mana present in the air gathered around his sword and formed a shape. However, the phenomenon only happened for a split-second. It was so short that even Iron himself failed to see it happen. Nevertheless, the brief moment where the clear shape of a sword qi was formed was enough to completely cut off the blood storm. 

“That…” 

“Is that even possible?” 

The soldier, who saw this scene from afar, looked at it incredulously. 

The raging blood storm that covered the entire Imperial Palace and ravaged everything in its path slowly lost strength. Even the whirlwind at the center of everything gradually lost its spin. The Northern Commander did not create any huge aura blade nor did the Northeastern Commander created a violent sword storm, however, the blood storm still lost its strength.

Perhaps the God’s Orb also wanted to repay their hard work. It began to emit a brilliant night once again, after losing most of its power due to the blackness of corruption, the moment the blood storm weakened. It’s brilliant light extended through the gaps of the blood storm and illuminated the entire capital. It’s warm and gentle light seemed to have lifted the darkness and chaos that covered the entire capital. At the same time, it spread holy power that covered the entire Imperial Palace and closed all of the dimensional cracks in the sky.

― Is this the end?

― What a pity.

The gods, who had been showing off their strength through their apostles, voiced their regrets as they got slowly sucked back into the dimensional gate.

Thankfully, they had been removed. This gave the masters room to breathe as they turned their attention towards the blood storm. With the masters’ attacks on top of the diminishing power of the storm, the blood storm gradually winked out of existence. Then, the dimensional gate, which had diminished until it was just a small crack, was single-handedly closed by God’s power before sweeping away the remnant of the beings of the void that had been left in the Imperial Palace.

The masters only headed towards the place where the God’s Orb was after all of these things had been dealt with. There, inside the huge and devastated audience hall, was the huge white crystal emitting a brilliant light. 

The first among them to move was Crimson.

He knew that Iron dealt with the Death Lord alone so he wanted to rush over and check in on him. However, he had only taken a few steps before he stopped in his tracks. Even Lioner and the other masters, including the Northern Commander, who were following behind him, stopped in their tracks.

All they could do was stare for a long time at the man who protected what the Empire wanted to protect so much. 

The young man stood alone with his sword stabbed on the ground after being caught up and successfully dealing with the blood storm. There, behind him were small fainted birds and a huge white crystal that was littered with cracks. 

“The Empire’s Hero…”

At Crimson’s murmur, everyone unsheathed their weapons and paid their respects. 

The arrogant Lion Family Head and the Godly Sword Family Head, people who only thought about improving their own forces and power, also unsheathed their swords and brought it to their chests to give their salutations and respects to the Empire’s greatest hero before lifting their swords to the sky. 

This was a scene that could only be seen when they acknowledged the birth of a new master. And this was done by all of the masters of the Empire. 

It did not matter if his swordsmanship failed to cross the wall, or if his standards as a divine beast contractor were still vague and ambiguous, or if his utilization of holy power was still immature, they still considered him as a master. After all, his every move has proven to them that he was a master, through and through…