The moon sets.
I remember Jorge's gaze, staggering without strength, aimless and lost.
Even the cries of the weeping prostitutes and the smell of fish chunks falling on his head.
The man who destroyed my home left without even looking back.
Yes. I brought that man here.
"God."
A familiar man was seen through the gap opened by the knights.
A man whose behavior was a mess, but the sword he held still gleamed.
"You've finally made it here, rookie."
Godin, whom I finally saw up close, smiled faintly.
Like that time he introduced himself with a false name.
However, unlike before, the sword he was raising pointed directly at himself.
"State your name. Knight of Gaidar."
"…What?"
A man who is now a knight, not a boy from an alley.
Toward the blue moon he was finally looking at, Vlad uttered the words he had held for so long.
"Your name. Tell me. Right in front of me now."
The anger he had harbored for so long, which had now turned into a desire, was coming to light.
I want your true name, not the false name from that day.
Now that we face each other on equal terms, I am probably the one who deserves to hear those words from you.
"Yes, I suppose so."
Godin nodded as if understanding everything upon seeing Vlad's eyes filled with a strange desire.
Though it was a brief meeting, I liked this side of him.
It would have been good if I had taken him with me back then.
"I am Godin of Gaidar."
"Vlad of Soara."
The true name that I can finally hear from his mouth.
Upon hearing that name, Vlad clenched his fists tightly.
Finally, it has come. To this point.
The man who once seemed as distant as the moon in the sky is now standing before me.
"You said a knight would only accept a fair price, didn't you, Godin?"
Now, the two individuals face each other with true names, not as the boy from the alley and the false knight.
After exchanging names, Godin and Vlad closed their left eye simultaneously, as if making a vow.
"I have something I have yet to receive from you."
A destroyed home never returns to its former state.
So today, I will destroy the moon.
I will kill you, Godin.
Because that would be my fair price for that day.
***
Kwaaaang!
In the midst of the battlefield where countless knights face each other.
However, there was a space where the most spectacular clash occurred.
It was a place where an explosive blue color and a color similar to that white color faced each other.
'That's fast!'
Speed beyond prediction.
It was clearly a very simple route, but Vlad's attack was fast enough to surprise Godin.
"Huaaaap!"
The suppression of momentum was spectacular.
And never let go of the momentum you have gained.
As the voice instructed, Vlad managed to attack first and began running towards Godin, shaking off the initiative he had gained to his liking.
"You covered him again."
Numerous numbers are hidden in the fluid steps taken, but the sword's cut is simple and clear.
A sword with clear intentions, unlike his unpredictable movements.
A truly contradictory existence.
There are no longer any traces of harsh past experiences.
"…!"
He could see Godin's world from his closed left eye.
Where is he looking and what is he aiming at?
'Now!'
And even where it's empty.
The sharp vision learned from the Imperial Sword was showing the way to a space where the blue moonlight couldn't reach.
Go go go go!
"Agh!"
Run without hesitation because you are confident.
The residual images of the Aura exploded loudly with him.
Everyone here was fighting for life or death, but it was still a light that made it impossible to look back.
"I told you then."
"…!"
What he holds is a black tooth and what he looks at is a beast.
Two swords making a loud crunch.
In the blue eyes that were so close, a strange madness began to bloom that no human could dare to embrace.
"I will definitely kill you!"
Vlad's cry was as if he were shouting, "Look at me."
There was a sound in front of Godin that he could no longer ignore.
"Die!"
I was out of breath due to my exhausted body, but the steps I took were light.
Because the opponent he faced was Godin, Vlad was able to focus on the battle by diving into a deeper world than ever before.
So much so that he doesn't even realize that the light forming at the tip of his sword is gradually changing from blue to another color.
Kwaang-! Burst! Burst!
Wild sparks flew between the sword containing the stars and the sword where the moonlight remained.
A blond knight who doesn't hesitate to burn in fire.
The world he wished for, hoped for, and truly desired to reach is now before me.
"This is it! You child!"
"Don't call me child!"
When I look back now, the things left behind are just traces.
From the name given by the true priest to the sword he currently holds, everything came from traces of someone else.
"You can't even call me a child."
Among them, one of the most deeply engraved marks.
It was a scar and the most painful memory that was rooted in Vlad's world.
"Because now we're facing each other."
"…!"
A rose's smile. The child's home.
There were bright red roses in full bloom there.
I remember Burleigh's neck turning and Jorge's gaze trembling with helplessness.
"I couldn't do anything back then."
A clear shape began to spread from Vlad's sword.
The world that was only inside me is outside the world.
Now, in a way that anyone can recognize.
With that, his left eye began to slowly open.
"Not now."
There was a ray of aura flowing like a tear through the world that I could finally see with my own eyes.
Golden yellow.
The color was a bright golden color that the child had retained since birth.
------!
Knights fighting in their own battlefields.
And Peter, watching from afar, couldn't help but widen his eyes when he saw the ray of light.
Golden waves began to curve around the tip of the sword as it swung widely.
"Avoid!"
"Everyone bow your head!"
Vlad's world began to materialize above the world he found completely.
Beautiful yet sharp waves.
It was a wave like the scene when the moonlight spread.
I'm here.
I, Vlad of Soara, come for you.
My world, now firmly established, stretches towards the moon, which is you.
"Ugh!"
Facing the golden waves unfolding, the world called Godin began to bloom with bright red blood and a single rose.
It was the same wave as mine, but the color was clearly different.
"Hahahah!"
Although he found him as an enemy, Godin laughed as he looked at the young world following him.
Although it was not my intention, I felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction seeing the world grow alongside me.
"It's a shame we met as enemies."
Godin said he was disappointed and a blue aura began to form at the tip of his sword.
The blue moonlight, which was like the beginning of the story, was as lamentable as back then.
***
On the battlefield, once filled with cries, now only silence reigns.
The spilled blood mixes with broken spears, sticky.
"Ah, ah..."
It was so sticky that Vlad couldn't even lift his head, so all he could do was kneel and breathe deeply.
Even though the cold blade of the sword was touching his neck at this moment.
"But, boy. Didn't I tell you back then?"
Despite being told not to call him a "rookie," Godin kept calling him a "rookie."
That was to be expected.
I lost to him.
"I told you to check where you are before moving forward."
A lesson was taught to the boy running in the darkness of Soara.
Don't panic and take your time.
From where you are now and how to move forward.
"Only then will we take the right direction... right?"
Instead of going fast, we must find the right direction.
Only then will you not stray like you do now.
"Cough."
A thread of dark red blood ran down the blade touching Vlad's neck.
The bright red blood that had slowly flowed down the sword descended slowly down Vlad's neck and reached his cold fingers.
"Still for you... Only up to the name. Rookie."
Like the tip of a sword waving, Godin's words gradually faded away.
Before Godin's words were completely consumed by darkness, Vlad quickly raised his head and looked at the man in front of him.
"…"
Before we knew it, Bayezid's knights were surrounding Godin.
The swords stuck throughout Godin's body blocked each of his movements as they reached Vlad's neck.
Among them, the sword piercing through his heart bore an emblem that only the head of Bayezid could use.
"...Welcome. Rookie."
The moon above the sky falls.
By the swords of others, not mine.
"Welcome to the world of knights."
Thump-
Bright red blood began to spurt from the wounds of the swords that were slowly being pulled out.
Godin is slowly crumbling as the blood flows.
However, as he looked at Vlad, his face showed no pain or anger, only a faint smile.
It was a smile that only a winner could wear.
"…I lost. Godin of Gaidar."
Although he couldn't hear what he was saying now, Vlad still said the last words he had to say as a knight.
The blue moon that he hated but admired.
Looking at the moon that he wanted to reach so much, but couldn't overcome, Vlad simply bowed his head again.
The winner is above and the loser is below.
And now, the blue moon, which I can no longer challenge, is eternally above me.
So Vlad could only whisper silently to the moon that had fallen to the earth.
***
"Count! Count!"
"…"
A knight of the guard shouting loudly beside him.
However, despite his shouts, Sigmund simply stood silently with a somber expression on his face.
He had a helpless expression as if something had gone, leaving behind an expression of emptiness.
"You have to escape now! The gates of Deirmar have been opened behind us!"
Indeed, as he said, soldiers were slowly emerging from behind Gaidar.
Hainal's army finally gathered their troops and opened the castle gate.
The way they escaped along with the young dark-eyed man was as brutal as what they had gone through so far.
"…Take care of my son. He is now the second most valuable thing after me."
"All right. Count!"
The battle is lost, but the war is not over yet.
Since the war was not decided in one battle, Sigmund had to promise the next.
"…Damn."
In a battlefield where countless cries echoed, Sigmund silently looked towards the hill above.
The eagle flag clearly fluttered proudly just a moment ago, but it stopped before I knew it.
It seemed that the burden was too heavy to rely on that single flag for everything.
"Everyone retreat! Survive on your own somehow!"
This battle has been lost.
Life is a series of uncertainties, but I never expected it to be like this.
"My bones ache."
However, what bothers Sigmund more than a defeat is his knight, who has now been defeated.
Although he may not have been loyal, the Blue Moon Knight clearly had the same dream.
I was able to climb up here because I was with him.
"Count!"
"…Let's go."
You didn't need permission to enter, but you had to leave behind many things when you left.
That was Peter's request, and now Sigmund had to hide miserably to avoid risking his life.
The resentment and curses of countless soldiers coming from behind.
Beside Sigmund, who was leaving them behind in a hurry, there was only a ragged army of less than 100 people.
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