The Sacred Empire of Agastia's army was resting near the barrier.
They had split into different groups, attempting to enter the Elven Kingdom.
"Still nothing on breaking the barrier?"
"It seems the elves are smarter than we thought. Their barrier is so strong that even our best mages can't deactivate it."
"What a hassle. I just want to go home."
"We can't. We have a job to do, so stop pitching a tent to sleep."
The two men speaking casually, as if they were lazy soldiers, were, in fact, the most important figures on the battlefield.
"Orcus, let me sleep. We've been awake for hours."
"Neinhart, don't make me hit you."
The larger man, with bronze skin, long gray hair, and a massive axe on his back, was the commander of the Onyx Knights, Orcus Platinumburg.
Meanwhile, the smaller and slimmer man wielded a lance resting near his long red hair. He was the commander of the Silver Meteor Army, Neinhart Freidman.
"Like I said, we've been searching for this place's entrance for hours. I need to sleep; I've forgotten the last time I did."
"I don't care. We have a mission to accomplish."
"I know, but sleep is important."
"No. You're just looking to waste time."
Suddenly, Neinhart got angry and grabbed his lance.
"Hey, big guy, I'm telling you I want to sleep for a bit. It's not like the barrier is going to disappear right now."
Orcus grabbed his massive axe, holding it close.
"I don't care. His Majesty ordered me to take command of this mission."
"The empire plans to seize the Elven Kingdom to gain more energy and combat forces."
"If you refuse to follow my orders, then you don't deserve to be a commander."
Orcus's eyes radiated enormous fury, manifesting as magical power.
Neinhart tightened his grip on his lance, ready for any movement.
The soldiers pitching Neinhart's tent were sweating bullets.
"This can't be."
"Are they really going to fight?"
"I wonder how a clash between two sword saints will end."
The tension was so thick it felt like it would explode any moment. But just then, a soldier came running.
"Urgent news!"
Both commanders turned their murderous gazes toward him.
The soldier froze in fear and fell to the ground but quickly stood back up, remembering how urgent his message was.
"Reporting!"
"I've just received word from one of our sentinels that the barrier is weakening on the northern side."
"Reporting!"
Another soldier arrived.
"The barrier is collapsing on the northwest side."
They weren't the only ones; more soldiers arrived, reporting the same thing.
Then they all turned to see the barrier, which had served as a mirror, beginning to fade away.
Neinhart smiled and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"All units, the barrier has fallen!"
"March forward! It's time to show those filthy subhumans the might of humanity!"
"Yes!"
The soldiers stood and began marching immediately. Orcus sheathed his weapon, noticing his companion was no longer slacking off.
"Seems like you're not sleepy anymore."
"Naturally. I enjoy living my life, but if I were to anger the emperor or that guy, they'd kill me."
"True. I fear that man more than His Majesty."
The army marched directly toward the Elven Kingdom.
The men following behind whispered among themselves.
"By 'that guy,' he means him, right?"
"I'm sure of it."
"The strongest sword saint of the empire."
◇◇◇
At the same time, but on the other side, there was a camp coming from the Republic of Alfoster.
There, sitting in a comfortable chair while his men worked, he lazed around.
"This is the life. Not to mention the fact that I'm working."
The man wore elegant clothes for a soldier. He didn't wear armor, unlike the others.
His brown hair was combed back, and his flirtatious gaze gave him a seductive air.
His name was Enzo Giovanni, and in addition to being a high-ranking officer in the area, he was also a member of the cult, specifically, he was Bloodman, who had spoken weeks ago with Ronandt.
"After offering a little help to that fatso, not only did he die like an idiot, but he couldn't even manage to take the palace and use my master plan to go save the kingdom and annex them peacefully to the republic."
"Is there anything better than a democracy where there's no monarchy?"
"Stupid peasants, all of them."
"Anyway, my life as a soldier and as a cult member are different lives."
He murmured all of this quietly, as it would be problematic if anyone overheard him.
Enzo was a man who had gained everyone's trust, and that's why he worked day and night tirelessly to earn, without any trouble, his well-deserved rest.
In fact, that wasn't entirely true—he did work, but he was lazy.
His reason for coming to the Elven Kingdom was by order of the cult.
Apparently, something was happening, and only they knew. So many individuals coming to the same place at the same time was no coincidence.
After finishing his drink, a soldier came running with a report.
"Reporting!"
"The barrier is breaking little by little; it's only a matter of time before we can cross."
"I see, inform the others to prepare."
"Yes."
From a distance, he watched as the barrier covering the vast forest began to fade.
"I don't understand who did this, but it's a stroke of luck."
"All units! In the name of the republic and freedom, let's free the elves from the tyrannies of the empire and the monarchy!"
Enzo and his soldiers entered the forest.
Now, the dangers from two different fronts were closing in on the elves and kobolds.
◇◇◇
"¿What did you say?"
"The barrier!"
The king left his house and, like everyone else, watched as the barrier was crumbling.
Not only could they enter now, even humans could reach their location, since they had a small barrier that used the energy from the main barrier.
This was possible thanks to the king, but seeing the main barrier disappear, his own barrier would meet the same fate.
"Your Majesty! Someone is approaching from the barrier."
In the distance, they saw a figure running toward them.
It was...
"Mother!"
Former Queen Christine flew in on Zara's back.
After leaving the castle with Kurono's map, she managed to get out of the barrier and encountered Zara, who recognized her by her scent, similar to the king's.
Zara landed gently, and the queen dismounted.
"Thank you for the help, Zara-chan."
"N-No problem, and don't treat me like a child."
Everyone gathered, seeing that the queen was still alive.
The king appeared before the crowd, staring at his mother as if he were a small child.
He cried and ran toward her.
Queen Christine remembered her little son and couldn't help but cry, embracing him.
They held each other as if they couldn't believe that the other was still alive.
"Mother, you can't believe how much I've missed seeing you."
"Lionelle, knowing that you and Lilith were alive fills me with a happiness I can't contain."
"Did you know Lilim returned? That means you ran into those kids."
"That's right. They went to confront your brother."
"I took advantage of the chaos to escape, and while I was coming, I saw how the barrier started weakening."
Despite the emotional reunion, there was no time for it.
"Your Majesty, there's a problem!"
"A huge group of humans is approaching from the east."
"It's not just from there; the west is also blocked."
"We can't escape south since it leads directly to the human kingdom, and the north is protected by the three-headed dragon. What do we do?"
The king looked intently at his mother. She calmed him by gently stroking his head.
"I'm sorry that our reunion after so many years is like this."
"It doesn't matter, we can pick it up once we're safe."
"Of course."
The king turned to his people and the kobolds.
"Everyone, get ready. We will protect our home."
"But I am also aware of the size of the enemy, so we will not only defend ourselves, but we will also prepare to flee to the human kingdom."
Although many disagreed, they understood that the situation was so dire that the least bad outcome was their best option.
Then, they saw a huge shadow.
"The three-headed dragon!"
"The direction it's going... it can't be!"
Emperor Dragon Eizen was flying over them, heading toward the mountain where the dragons' current nest lay.
◇◇◇
Kurono and Rei were fighting against Leomelion's most loyal subordinates, two elves named Ottar and Lessar.
The elf with long hair was Ottar, while the one with short hair was Lessar.
Rei faced the one with long hair, thinking he was the weakest, while Kurono faced the one with short hair because he was shorter.
Both made the wrong choices.
Both enemies were powerful.
Lessar threw daggers that could slice through the pillars of the place like butter.
Meanwhile, Ottar used a staff and cast powerful spells.
Despite being together and their powers divided, the situation was bad for them.
(Why can't I use my power to the fullest?)
It was what both of them thought as they dodged the enemy's attacks.
Rei threw a fireball at Ottar, but he used his magic, and the fireball was absorbed.
Lessar threw his seemingly endless daggers, and Kurono cast a shield on himself since no matter if he used air or water magic, the daggers pierced and embedded into his body.
Both fell behind a table and regrouped to come up with a strategy.
"Rei, how do we defeat them?"
"...I have no idea."
"Those idiots are strong, but we must be stronger."
Rei looked at his hand, watching as small lights moved away from it.
"There's also this. I don't understand what's going on, but since I started using magical attacks, my magical power has been fading."
"Really?"
"Don't you feel it?"
"Honestly, no. But it's true that I can't do anything other than cast shields because when I try to conjure an attack, it takes too long..."
"Ah!"
"What happened?"
After hearing Kurono shout, Rei reacted, startled.
"I think I know the reason we're losing. Rei, listen carefully."
The enemies were waiting for them to leave their hiding spot.
"Why don't we attack them?"
"Because we're analyzing whether they'll be useful or not."
"Remember what His Majesty said. He would go check if the plan was almost ready, and if any intruders came, we'd have to hold them off and bring them to him to use as energy."
"His Majesty has some weird plans."
"But we serve him faithfully because thanks to him, parasites like us have a reason to live."
"Ah, time's up."
"So you were recovering energy in your staff."
"...They're out now."
Rei and Kurono came out from hiding, staring at their adversaries.
"Rei, do what I told you."
"I know."
Both launched into the attack, but Ottar and Lessar didn't really care whether their plan worked or not.
Once again, Ottar cast a spell, and Lessar threw his daggers; nothing was different from usual, except that they didn't do the same thing as before.
Rei used a shield to block the attack, unlike Kurono, who let the daggers pierce him. Both enemies were surprised.
"Rei, now!"
"Okay!"
The reason they had failed before was because, since they shared the same magical power, they couldn't launch the same attack.
Every time they were apart, they used different attacks.
But now that they fought together, they could see their attacks and plan their order to avoid interfering with each other.
Rei launched a fireball while Kurono used a cutting wind spell.
Ottar covered himself with a shield, but his companion didn't, as he didn't know how to use magic.
Ottar created a shield for him, showing that his magic was weak when used for more than one person.
Since Kurono had the body of a monster, he didn't need to use a spell; instead, he used his physical strength and delivered a powerful punch to Lessar, sending him flying.
Meanwhile, Ottar was left stunned, and Rei sent a bunch of ice shards that pierced him due to his shield being weakened.
And so, both adversaries were easily defeated.
"We... did it."
"In the end, it was all your fault, Kuro."
"My fault?"
"Yes, for not letting me make a plan."
"Hah? Who's the idiot that says 'strike first, ask later,' huh?"
"That's you."
"You're a..."
Applause
Both heard strange applause in the room coming from behind them.
They turned around and saw a figure that hadn't been there before.
"That was interesting, you managed to defeat my right and left hands. How scary, humans are scary, mommy, protect me."
"Or did you think I'd say something stupid like that?"
Both boys stared at the strange pale-blue figure.
Rei approached and passed his hand through the figure's body.
"Kuro, this is fun, come and try it."
"Sure."
Suddenly, both started playing with the transparent body, and the man was starting to get angry.
"Enough! Are you children?"
"Of course not. I'm an adult."
Rei said while trying to draw a booger on the hologram with a pencil.
"Enough of this, I suppose I should introduce myself so you understand your situation."
"I am the king of this country, Leo--"
His sentence was cut off halfway when Rei heard he was the king of the place and decapitated him.
The hologram immediately regenerated.
"How rude. That's why you're a monkey, a monkey with evil eyebrows."
"Ugh. They're talking about my eyebrows again."
"You're Leomelion, right?"
Kurono asked, staring at him intently.
"That's right. I'm Leomelion, and you two are rats who snuck into my house."
"It's a shame I'm not there to teach you a lesson myself, but right now I'm busy."
Leomelion mocked the two boys, as if what he saw wasn't a threat to him.
"Oh, yeah?"
"Tell me where you are, I'll kick your ass so many times that you'll beg for mercy."
Rei shouted angrily while pounding his fists.
Leomelion laughed at them.
"No matter what you do, if you want to come, come."
"I'm at the World Tree place. But I think you should go home instead, because that annoying dragon is going to kill that golden dragon."
"How do you know!?"
Both boys reacted, intrigued.
"I've already deactivated the barrier, now humans can enter too."
"It will be a feast for my plan. So decide, who's going to fight that dragon and who's coming for me?"
"It's not like there's a difference, hahaha."
With a mocking laugh, pointing at them, Leomelion cut the call.
Both looked out the window and confirmed that he wasn't lying.
The barrier had broken.
"This is bad, Rei."
"I know."
"I'll go for the stupid elf, and you'll go for the dragon."
"Yeah... Wait a minute!"
Kurono stopped Rei by pulling the collar of his shirt, choking him in the process.
"Why do I have to go after the dragon?"
"I want to go after the real boss of the place, and that's the stupid elf."
"Hah?"
"Why do you want to interrupt my promise?"
"I told Rose I'd bring her uncle's head, you don't have to do it."
"I have my reasons. Besides, Rei, you said that dragon owed you one."
"...That's a different thing."
Both moved away from each other and put their hands behind their backs.
"There's only one way to solve this."
They threw their hands out to play a game.
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
The epic duel happened at the most inopportune moment.
◇◇◇
On the outskirts of the elf village, certain characters were present.
One of them was Bret, sighing.
"Why is this happening to me?"
Next to him were Sigurd and Kuzaha, looking at the map.
"This is the place."
"Can you repeat what we're doing here?"
"The task you must complete is to demolish some underground pillars, this will help delay the place."
"Everyone is doing something, you humans must do something too."
Kuzaha gave the prince a threatening glance, and Jienma by his side indicated that they should go to their place.
"Boss, we need to get ready too."
"Don't worry. We'll all help."
"Hmph. I'm not expecting anything from you anyway."
Before leaving, Kuzaha glanced at Bret.
"Do you really think these humans will do anything?"
"If they betray us, I wouldn't be surprised."
"Don't worry. We'll prove our worth. A promise is a promise."
Hearing Bret say that, Kuzaha felt a strange sensation and left.
But why did Bret say that?
It was because, seeing Kuzaha talking to the prince, Bret was thinking of a response to defend him, but it was too late and he said it without thinking.
Now that he realized what he had said, a sense of embarrassment overcame him.
"Bret, let's go. Sieg and the others are busy, we need to do our part."
"Okay."
They entered the cave that connected to the outside.
There were markings on the walls, and the map indicated where to tear down. They placed a magical stone that would act as a bomb, freezing the area once it collapsed.
The reason why Sieg and no one else was with Sigurd is because they had another mission and thus went off to fulfill their role.
Checking the markings on the walls, Sigurd checked their position.
"Bret, don't wander off. This place seems to have unmarked areas. The map is probably outdated, and we need to be careful not to get separated."
"Did you hear me?"
When he turned around, Bret was no longer there.
"It can't be!"
◇◇◇
Sieghart and Fionn were at a strategic point where they could observe who was approaching.
Their goal was to stop any enemy that came near, in order to buy time for everyone to escape.
Fionn sighed.
"Commander Hogan, can I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Why are we doing this?"
"They are not part of the kingdom. I won't be prejudiced about being a different race or non-humans, but they don't belong to the kingdom, so we don't owe them our help."
Sieg sighed in disappointment.
"Fionn, didn't your father teach you about humility?"
"No. I mean, yes!"
"My father did teach me humility, it was actually my mother."
"But what does that have to do with this?"
"Everything. Listen to me carefully, it doesn't matter who they are, as long as they are not an enemy. If someone asks for help, would you just stand by and do nothing?"
"Think about it, if the situation were reversed, wouldn't you want someone to help you?"
"Life is too short to waste questioning silly things about what is right or wrong. The important thing is to do what you believe is right."
"We could abandon them, true, but putting aside the prince's objective, these people are asking for help."
"Could you sleep knowing someone asked for help and you refused out of prejudice?"
"…!"
Fionn understood his words and reflected.
"I'm so sorry. I said something foolish."
"You didn't. You made a valid point. But what makes us human is our actions in extending a hand to others."
(That's right. Humans extend a hand… while I couldn't take the hand I promised to protect.)
Once again, the feeling of letting his wife die deeply overwhelmed him.
At that moment, he felt a strange pain in his chest.
He collapsed, and Fionn lifted him up.
"Commander Hogan, are you alright?"
"Of course, it's just..."
"I knew I recognized that voice from somewhere."
"Well, I didn't expect to see you here."
Two figures emerged from the forest, it was Neinhart and Orcus.
"Well, what a nice party this is."
Meanwhile, Enzo arrived from the other side.
"It seems like the Republic and the Kingdom have allied."
"The kingdom?"
Enzo asked, confused.
"The old man lying down there is nothing less than a threat to the empire."
"Years ago, he killed Davernoch, a saint of the sword from back then."
"He was our companion, and now we want revenge."
"Well, we also want the resources of the elves."
"Sounds good for my people from the empire, but then we have three common enemies."
Fionn drew his spear, and Enzo drew his sword.
Meanwhile, Orcus and Neinhart aimed at a weakened Sieg.
"This couldn't happen at a worse time."
◇◇◇
A man was communicating with his allies via a transmitter.
"Respond, we almost found the elves' hideout, we saw some of them fleeing."
"Respond."
The communicator echoed from a man who was cut in two on the ground.
He was not the only one; all the men were split in half.
Who had carried out this massacre?
______________
The fanservice is for Eli, who has little screen time.
https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/8490299