We advanced steadily along the mountain path.
The journey was uneventful, but just as the maps had indicated, the road was a narrow passage flanked by towering walls of rock. It was less of a path and more of a single-track gorge.
As expected, Odixian lookouts were stationed on the heights above, watching our every move. It was exactly as Osiris-san had warned—a surprise attack was impossible. Even if we had brought an army of ten thousand, the enemy would have simply matched our numbers.
However, we were only a thousand strong.
Given our small numbers, the enemy was content to meet us head-on.
Deskis-senpai moved up to walk beside me.
"Leo, I’ve heard the plan from Lord Osiris. My arrival changed the details slightly, but your role and Flare’s are still incredibly dangerous."
"Yeah, I know. But you’re putting yourself in just as much danger, Deskis-senpai."
"Heh, that’s exactly why my blood is pumping. Isn't it the same for you?"
"I don't know... I’m not sure if 'thrilled' is the word I’d use."
I stared at the palm of my hand and squeezed it into a tight fist.
"I have to make this work. If I don't, everyone who followed me here will die. And if we fail... Flare and I won't be coming back either."
"True enough."
We marched on for a while longer.
Eventually, an encampment flying the banners of Odixia came into view. As if they had been counting the minutes until our arrival, their soldiers already had their blades drawn, watching us with cold intensity.
I took a deep, steadying breath and steeled my resolve.
Then, I held my breath and masked my presence.
"My name is Deskis Chocolate! I am the Unit Commander of this army!"
Deskis stepped forward, positioning himself ahead of the entire line.
"I commend the courage you show in standing against me! Oh, soldiers of Odixia! I have no desire for needless bloodshed! Why don't we settle this right here, in a duel to decide the victor?!"
His voice was clear and resonant, but the Odixians didn't offer a word in response.
However, a ripple of agitation spread through their ranks. They knew Deskis; he had been a thorn in their side in this region for nearly five years. They knew of his overwhelming strength.
"You fool! Why would we agree to a duel when we have the advantage of numbers?! Die, Deskis! Volley!"
The Knight Commander leading the vanguard ignored the challenge entirely. At his command, the knights readied their weapons and unleashed a rain of steel.
"Hmph... I suppose it can't be helped, then. In that case! All units, charge!"
On that narrow, single-track road, the force of two thousand collided with the force of one thousand.
Despite the high walls, the path was over a hundred meters wide. The knights in the front lines clashed with a roar of iron. Men killed and were killed in turn, the numbers on both sides beginning to dwindle.
"Nuaaaah! Hahahaha! It’s been too long since I was on a proper battlefield! This is the best!"
"Gah! Kill him! Kill that man and this will be over in an instant!"
Deskis was a whirlwind of destruction. He unleashed his talents without restraint, cutting down more men than anyone could count.
Watching the carnage from the rear was the Unit Commander in charge of the two thousand Odixian knights. He was a Two-Star Knight, a Master who shared the power of his Crest with nearly a thousand subordinates.
"Lord Kaizel. Deskis is running rampant."
"I see him. That man has made me taste bitterness more times than I care to remember."
His name was Kaizel. A veteran in his mid-thirties, he had survived countless battles. While he possessed no flashy, singular talent, his vast experience made him one of Odixia’s most reliable commanders.
"Swarm him! Do not engage him one-on-one! Use our numerical advantage and take his head, no matter what!"
"Yes, sir!"
The eyes of every knight, Kaizel included, were fixed solely on Deskis.
The Odixian soldiers looked upon him with something bordering on dread. He was a youth not yet twenty, but when he had first appeared five years ago as a mere corporal, he had slain a One-Star Knight Commander in his very first battle. He had entered the Academy as a scholarship student, taken the Knight Commander Exam within a year, and achieved that legendary feat immediately after.
Osiris had recognized his potential instantly, passing him for the One-Star rank on the spot. Deskis had spent five years under Osiris’s tutelage, steadily growing in power until his promotion to Two-Star. In Arcadia, he was respected as perhaps the strongest knight of his generation.
Word of his prowess had even reached Odixia. On the Valhalla front, the name Deskis Chocolate carried the same weight as a Three-Star Knight.
"I'm getting hyyyyyyped!"
"Why are you stripping?!"
"Because it's hooooot!"
Deskis tore off his upper armor, demanding everyone's attention. Casting aside all pretense of defense, he plunged deeper into the enemy lines. He was flamboyant, conspicuous, and impossible to ignore. Every Odixian eye was glued to him.
Even so, the gap in numbers was too large to bridge through martial skill alone. Even if Deskis did the work of a hundred men, the enemy still held a thousand-man lead.
Thirty minutes had passed since the onset of the battle. Piles of corpses were beginning to obstruct the path.
In the middle of the chaotic, blood-soaked melee, it happened.
"Die!"
"Guh?!"
A blade struck Deskis squarely in the back.
Blood sprayed in a flamboyant arc, and Deskis dropped to his knees. For a heartbeat, it felt as though time itself had stopped.
"Impossible... that I... cough... I wanted to die submerged in a sea of chocolate..."
Deskis collapsed face-first into the dirt.
"W-Whoaaaaa!"
"I don't know who got him, but incredible work!"
"Finish him! Take Deskis's head!"
The fervor of the Odixian knights reached a fever pitch. Arcadian soldiers rushed in to recover Deskis’s body, but their battle line shattered in an instant.
"Retreat! Protect Lord Deskis!" the Arcadians screamed in panic.
Kaizel watched the scene and let out a triumphant laugh.
"Good! Excellent! Pursue them! Deskis’s head is the only thing that matters! Do not let them escape with it!"
There is no easier prey than an enemy's retreating back.
Leaving only a small guard of twenty elite knights behind, Kaizel ordered his remaining two thousand men to begin the pursuit. Driven by adrenaline and the prospect of ending a five-year grudge, the Odixian soldiers surged forward, thinking of nothing but slaughtering the survivors.
"Phew... It's over. They relied far too much on a single man. For someone claiming to be of the Five Star Swords, Osiris is pathetic. There was no way they could overturn these numbers in a head-on clash."
Kaizel looked out over the field. His men were climbing over mounds of dead to strike down the fleeing Arcadians. The air was filled with the sounds of pursuit and the screams of the dying.
Arcadia fled. Odixia chased.
How many had died already? A hundred? Two hundred? It was exactly as they had anticipated.
It was all part of the plan.
And yet...
"Hm? You men, what are you doing? Join the pur—!?"
Kaizel stopped mid-sentence.
He realized that a few dozen men who were supposed to be pursuing the enemy had remained behind. They wore Odixian armor, but they were facing him.
"I think... that's enough, right? Flare."
"Yeah. That's plenty. You really did well holding back, Leo. Good job."
"It can't be... you were hiding in the ranks?! Fall back! Return to me!"
Kaizel screamed the order, but the distance was already too great. Even if his army noticed, they wouldn't make it back in time.
The boy who, more than anyone else, wished for no one to die, reached up and removed his helmet. He unleashed everything he had been suppressing.
"—!?"
A surge of sword aura erupted from him, so powerful it was physically stifling. It was a cold, sharp pressure that made the surrounding knights lose the will to fight instinctively.
It was an aura that rivaled the legendary Five Star Swords or the champions of the great nations.
Caught in the direct path of that aura—laced now with a simmering wrath—Kaizel understood the truth.
He realized that he was going to die here.