My entire body felt like it had been beaten black and blue.
Blood gushed from my shoulder and forehead, and my insides churned as if someone had stirred them up. It felt like I had crossed a river with no return.
A ragged breath and a violent cough burst from me at the same time. The metallic taste of blood lingered unpleasantly in my mouth.
“…Haa, ha…”
I forced my blurry vision to focus and pried open my stiff, frozen fingers.
But the bloodstained dagger that should have fallen to the ground vanished in a burst of light the moment Nox took his last breath. It seemed that the magic he had manifested had disappeared along with his death.
‘Then… have the mutated beasts stopped as well?’
I roughly wiped the blood still flowing over my eyelids and staggered to my feet.
For a moment, my gaze lingered on Nox, staining the white snow crimson, before I resolutely turned away.
There was no need for sympathy. He had tried to kill me. More than that, he was the cause of this war. I had no reason to feel misplaced guilt, nor did I have the time to mourn.
“…Kyle is still on the battlefield.”
The one I had to protect was still out there. Gritting my teeth, I dragged my feet forward.
If only I had something to ride…
“Lord Shu!”
Just as the thought crossed my mind, I heard James’ voice from behind.
He, too, was a mess as he approached me. A sword in his right hand, reins gripped in his left.
“Pfft.”
“…”
“Pft, ahaha. Puhah, haha…”
Even knowing this wasn’t the time for it, I couldn’t help but let out a weak, breathless laugh.
This situation was too absurd, too gratifying, too infuriating, too joyous, too sorrowful, too strange, and too ridiculous all at once. My emotions, jumbled beyond recognition, simply spilled out in laughter.
James’ expression was much the same. Even so, he remained as composed as possible as he handed me the reins.
“You wouldn’t listen even if I told you to wait somewhere safe, would you?”
Still smiling faintly, I answered,
“The safest place is by His Highness’ side.”
“That’s true. Nowhere in the North is safer than next to Prince Kyle.”
“…”
“Please, take care of him.”
As I mounted the horse, James spoke again.
“It may be presumptuous of me to say this… but His Highness always looked happiest when he was with you, Lord Shu.”
“Sir James.”
“He was alone for far too long. Driven to this frozen land, he finally found a place to settle. We could ease his solitude, but we could never make him smile like that.”
“…”
“You did what no one else in this territory could. So please…”
Something in James’ earnest gaze struck a chord in me. Clutching the reins tighter, I swallowed against the sudden lump in my throat.
My whole body ached, but the sting in my eyes was the clearest sensation of all.
“Stay by His Highness’ side.”
Looking down at James, I made a vow—both to him and to myself.
“Yes.”
No matter what happened, no matter what it took.
“I will protect him.”
Without fail.
***
The bitter, merciless wind howled through the night.
Under the darkness blanketing the battlefield, Kyle Blake tore forward like a man possessed.
Each time his arm slashed through the air, snowflakes, the biting winter wind, and the bodies of those foolish enough to stand in his way were all cut down.
Kyle held no malice toward those who surrendered. Those who cast aside their weapons and knelt were swiftly taken away by the Northern soldiers. The torture of war prisoners was strictly forbidden.
But those who remained as enemies—he did not let them live.
His blade cut through their throats with precise, merciless efficiency, and he didn’t spare so much as a glance at the fallen.
There was no room for sympathy toward those who threw their lives away on someone else’s orders.
Because the person he was truly worried about was elsewhere.
“I don’t have time for senseless bloodshed.”
Kyle extended his sword. The long blade flared with a crimson light, burning like fire.
Standing amid the chaos, Lorenz turned to face Kyle. The lifeless, apathetic look in his green eyes had vanished entirely. His armor, too, was already half-drenched in blood.
“Yeah. I knew you’d make it this far.”
Lorenz’s eyes gleamed with a sinister light, like a beast that had finally found its chance. Kyle had seen that look before—often in the eyes of those raised in the imperial capital.
“I don’t have to keep up appearances anymore.”
“Weren’t you the one ranting about treason?”
Lorenz swung his sword in a wide arc. The blood of the North splattered across the snow in a chaotic mess. Kyle instinctively frowned, knowing all too well where that still-warm blood had come from.
“That was just a small price—like moving a chess piece.”
The emperor responded with arrogant indifference.
“This is the last time I’ll have to pay such a cheap price. Once I seize eternal life, I won’t have to answer to anyone.”
Because in eternity, everything else becomes insignificant.
Kyle understood what Lorenz meant, but at the same time, he couldn’t fathom his reasoning. What meaning could there possibly be in an immortality where all purpose and value were forgotten? In the end, he would only become a slave to his own desires.
“I should’ve killed you back then.”
Lorenz muttered in a low voice. Kyle responded just as flatly, without the slightest trace of amusement.
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Lorenz’s black-stained blade clashed violently with Kyle’s sword, which burned with a crimson glow.
Neither man backed down. Their strikes were relentless, each aiming only to claim the other’s life, with no regard for injury.
Kyle could see the cunning deeply ingrained in Lorenz’s swordsmanship.
He was nothing like Belial. While Belial had flaunted his abilities and ambition openly in an attempt to overcome his status as a second son, Lorenz had always hidden his claws, waiting for the right moment to strike.
He knew he lacked exceptional talent, so rather than confronting his opponents head-on, he bided his time, searching for an opening to slit their throats.
But Kyle had no intention of dying so easily.
He wanted to survive. And now, he had someone to survive with.
He had met the one person who could make him happy, and he wanted to make that person happy in return.
Clang!
The metallic clash of their blades rang out like a dying scream. Soldiers, overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of the duel, instinctively retreated. Their faces had gone pale, as if sickened by what they were witnessing.
Kyle gripped his sword tightly and lunged. In this moment, he felt no pain—only the furious pounding of his heart, the surge of magic burning within him, and the absolute will to survive.
His black boots dug into the frozen ground. He pressed forward, slashing horizontally. The snow didn’t even have time to melt before it was shattered into fine dust. A devastating arc of sword energy tore a deep gash across Lorenz’s shoulder.
But Lorenz wasn’t one to go down easily. Wearing an eerily expressionless face, he retaliated with a speed that was almost impossible to track, his blade thrusting forward like a stake driving into the earth.
His sword pierced through the very spot where Kyle’s head had been just moments ago.
At that instant, someone leapt off a horse and shouted.
“Your Highness!”
Kyle turned sharply at the voice. It wasn’t just Shu’s arrival that surprised him.
Someone else was on the horse.
A figure completely out of place in this battlefield—a woman who had once chosen seclusion just to survive. Her green eyes, now filled with hostility, gleamed in the dim light.
“Sen!”
As Sen charged ahead, Shu tossed something to her—a small, dark object that looked like a seed.
“Hey, you bastard of an emperor.”
Shu flashed a grin. Even in this dire moment, he wore the expression of someone who had found the answer to everything.
Sen clenched the tiny chocolate in her fist. Unconsciously, her grip tightened, slightly crushing the delicate treat.
As she galloped forward, Shu’s words resurfaced in her mind.
“Remember this, Sen. Even this time… I chose you.”
She still didn’t fully understand what he meant.
But at the very least, she knew one thing—this was her moment.
Ever since Belial had met his fate, not a single day had passed without Sen cursing Lorenz.
She had nurtured her love for Belial alongside her thirst for vengeance, sharpening that hatred into a blade she could wield.
And today, finally, was the day she could bring that blade down.
Just before she placed the sunflower seed chocolate in her mouth, Sen turned back on impulse.
Shu looked resolute.
“Hey, Shu.”
Sen’s dry lips parted slightly.
“You love this place more than anyone, don’t you?”
The sweetness spread across her tongue.
A system window—one that was invisible to everyone but her—appeared before her eyes.
[Freeze Tag! Sunflower Seed Chocolate | 5% Miracle Consumption | Stops time for 1 minute.]
In an instant, as if by magic, the world stopped.
In that perfect stillness, Sen stood alone.
For the first time, she felt like the true protagonist of this story.
A protagonist whose tale was being watched with deep affection, one destined to claim a happy ending, no matter what.
Stepping forward, she trampled over blood, dirt, ice, shattered snowflakes, corpses, and swords.
Her pale, unwavering hands gripped Lorenz’s frozen fingers and wrenched his sword away from him.
In this frozen world, the only sound was the quiet, steady breath she took in, filling her lungs with the crisp, frigid air.
“Lorenz.”
Nothing in this world lasts forever.
And that’s precisely why people fight so fiercely to live.
No one was truly at fault—not in Sen’s eyes.
Desire had clashed against desire, and the greater desire had simply won.
“You’ll never own this land, not even in death.”
One minute.
More than enough time to settle an old score.
Die lorenz!!! muahahahahah!!!