My heart hammered against my ribs so hard it hurt.
It wasn’t because I was exhausted. It wasn't because I was afraid.
I couldn’t find a single word to describe this overwhelming emotion.
I was about to enter a battlefield where blood rained and lives were traded for lives. That reality drew closer with every passing second, bringing with it a tension I could barely articulate.
A lot of people were going to die.
Plumes of dust billowed as we marched forward, propelled by our own momentum. Normally, a person would have collapsed from the sheer pace, but the Crest wouldn’t allow it.
Fight. Fight.
As if a voice were whispering those words, power surged from the depths of my soul.
And then, finally, we reached an open expanse.
And there, it was waiting for us.
"So this... is war."
Dragonia and Arcadia were already locked in combat.
A massive hill sat at the center of the plains. The two armies were caught in a brutal cycle of seizing and losing that high ground. Another force was deployed on the hill’s left flank, while our unit seemed to be heading toward the right wing.
The Emerald Plains... true to their name, they had once been a vast prairie that shimmered with the color of jewels.
Now, however, the land was choked with blood and corpses.
The Dragonian right wing noticed our approach. A sound like a blowing conch shell echoed across the battlefield.
The Dragonian soldiers drew their steel.
Behind them, knights mounted on Emblem Horses bellowed orders as they formed their ranks.
We were going to collide.
"Damn it... huff, huff... damn it all!!"
"Are we really doing this? We're just... we're just going in?! Right now?!"
We didn’t stop.
There was no pause to catch our breath, no final speech to steel our nerves.
There were no tactics and no strategy. If we kept this pace, we would hit them head-on.
Beside me, Laphroaig-san cursed under his breath over and over again. Flare and the other five members of our squad stayed tightly bunched as we ran. The other squads were doing the same.
The infantrymen drew their swords.
The Dragonian infantry followed suit.
Then, from the rear, I heard Iricobert-san’s rallying cry.
Matching his timing, our own Knight Commander—Campari—let out a roar that shook the air.
"Third Army!! Charge the enemy’s right wing!!!!"
"Charge!!!!"
"Oooooohhhh!!!!"
Driven by that momentum, the Third Army under Iricobert-san’s command surged forward. Roughly ten thousand infantrymen raised their swords and their Crests as the two forces slammed together.
The Dragonian One-Star Knight Commander smiled as he issued his orders.
As the officer entrusted with this section of the front line, he had been warned by the Dragonian General that the Arcadians might attempt a reckless, desperate charge.
"Hahaha! Exactly as the Dragon King predicted! Those fools are charging like mindless beasts! And they’re already exhausted!"
He had been briefed on how to handle this. First, they would absorb the initial impact. The soldiers on the front line simply had to hold their ground; with their swords braced, their tired opponents would break against them.
His side was perfectly prepared. There was no way they could lose.
"Stain this prairie red with Arcadian blood!" he howled.
The Dragonian soldiers leveled their blades as instructed.
Seeing the wall of steel, the charging Arcadian infantrymen wore expressions of pure agony. The front line was charging toward certain death.
"Damn it... damn it!! I’m gonna die... I’m gonna die!! Why the hell am I in the front?!"
Laphroaig, our squad leader, was running desperately while streaks of tears and snot ran down his face.
The orders were for a total army charge. However, the enemy had anticipated us. They had formed a literal wall of Crest Swords, jutting out like spikes.
At this rate, we were just throwing ourselves into a meat grinder. The first wave would be stopped and impaled, and those behind them would be pushed forward by the crush of the army, unable to flee.
The front rank were sacrificial pawns. They were meant to die just to keep the momentum of the charge from stalling. Laphroaig realized that now.
"Damn it... damn it!! Leo!! Flare!! Get behind us, you two!! Move!! You’re just kids, for god's sake!! Damn it!!"
Laphroaig screamed at us through his sobs.
Laphroaig-san really is a good person, I thought.
"..."
That was why I ran past him.
And then... I accelerated.
I simply didn't want them to die.
"Huh? Wha—Wait!! Leo!! Where did that speed come from?! Wait!! Don’t go alone!! You’ll die!! Leo!!"
Faster and faster. In an instant, I hit my maximum speed—a velocity no one could hope to match.
It was Super Acceleration, a zero-to-a-hundred dash that mimicked the movements of the Great Hero I had seen before. I blew past everyone until I was at the very tip of the vanguard.
"What? He’s fast... but he’s just rushing to his grave! What can a single person do?! Kill that brat playing hero!"
Before anyone could react, I reached the Dragonian line and came to a dead stop.
The soldiers immediately lunged at me. I was so close that every one of them felt like they could reach out and touch me.
And yet, I was worlds away.
I dodged every blade. I could see everything.
I spotted a tiny gap in their formation, a hole opened by a soldier overextending his lunge. I didn't miss it. I dove in.
Because of my small stature, I was able to slip through the gap in a heartbeat. The soldiers and the knights alike lost track of me, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Like a cat slipping through a fence, I passed through the smallest of openings.
My target was the One-Star Knight Commander.
"He... he broke through?! K-Kill him!!!"
The Royal Guards swung their swords at me.
I ignored them, dodging with the smallest possible movements as I pressed forward. They were shaken. They were careless. They weren't prepared for someone to be in their face.
My instincts told me that when people panicked like this, their movements became predictable.
This was it. This was the moment for maximum speed.
I leaned forward until my chest was nearly touching the grass, staying as low as possible. From that posture, I kicked into high gear.
No one could stop me. I moved through the crowd at a reflexive speed.
And before he knew it...
"—?! A lone boy... impossible."
I was standing directly in front of the Knight Commander.
"Sorry, but I’m taking you down."
"You little brat!!!!"
I stood before the One-Star Knight Commander as he sat atop his Emblem Horse.
On paper, I was the one surrounded. And yet, it was the Dragonians who looked cornered.
Panicked, he slashed down at me.
I dodged.
He swung at empty air. When he looked up, I was already there.
"I think Liberto was a little stronger than you."
My sword bit deep, cutting the Knight Commander down.
A One-Star Knight—a veteran who had survived the grueling Knight Exam and the even more difficult One-Star Knight Commander Exam. A warrior whose strength was beyond question was cut down by a boy without a second thought.
The surrounding knights stood frozen, unable to process what had happened.
But they knew one thing: once the Master of the Crest was dead, the Knight Order lost its power.
BOOM!!!
"There's a massive opening right here!!! Push through!!!!"
A hole had been ripped into the ironclad wall.