What… did he just say...?
Ignoring Leon's rambling, I couldn't miss Ancestor's words as simple sarcasm at all. Imitation...? I fixed my gaze on Fei, and...
I found his complexion paling, his body trembling and his eyes showed something I never expected from someone like him.
It was... fear. He's scared...? How could he be...?
"I commend you for being able to break through the golems - your lesser brethren to reach this place. However... that does not mean I allow you to take any step further in this garden." Ancestor said, almost growling.
The spirit glared at Fei, who flinched like a child being scolded by his parent. I could even see Ancestor's aura turning pure red of rage...
"W-wait! Hold on! You attacked me all of a sudden and suddenly you insulted Fei?! How much of a jerk can you be?!!" I shouted.
But the spirit didn't budge. Without looking at me, and without pointing away the golden-white sword off Fei's direction, he started.
"I apologize if I am acting beyond my boundary, but I cannot condone This Thing's presence in our home, beloved Warlord."
Agh! You just HAD to blurt that out even though I intended to keep my true identity as a secret?! Oy!
"What do you mean by 'This Thing'...?! It's as if...!"
"Because this one you are bonded with is simply That...! It is not a living being, much less a blessed creation!!"
Wha...?! I looked at Fei and he bit his lips, casting his gaze down. Wh-why...?!
I... I don't get... it... what's with this...? Not a living... being...? And neither a creation...?
In the midst of the heavy atmosphere, the Old Spirit snarled as if trying to curse. "Not even once have I forgotten... That ugly appearance you imitated... Our Queen's power soiled by your creator's desires... Even that core of yours, created by fusing numerous dead souls including our brethren's...! I CAN NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!"
He roared. The voice ingrained inside of me, inside of everyone who was present in this Garden of Spirits. By then, I heard wails. I heard whispers as orbs of light gathered around me, surrounding me.
[Don't touch her, you filthy abomination!!] A voice, one I recognized as Vier's rang out.
[You denied your fate only to embrace it back... You are unfit to protect her happiness!!] Zwei exclaimed.
[Give back mother, you monster!! Why can't you just die already?!] Ein cursed.
Wha-what's wrong with you all...?! How can you say such thing!? Even though... even though Fei isn't...
"........"
...what... what's with that... face...? Why are you... looking at me as if you heard it all...? And why are... you... showing that expression again...?
"...Fe...i...?" I murmured, realizing something that I shouldn't have thought. Something that I feared the most.
What if... what if he...
"...I'm sorry... Charlotte. I'm so sorry..."
He said. Then he turned towards Ancestor, his pure white sword glowing with eerie radiance. He wiped off that guilt in his gaze. He erased all of his emotions... and returning back all of his impression into that one time.
Into the time he became a weapon.
"You have found out." Fei said in a tone resembling a robot. Mechanical, inorganic and full of lies. "Then there is no word left to say... or do you wish to know your eraser's identity?"
Ancestor cackled. For some reasons, he laughed. With that face. Like a broken... person.
"Do you think I have forgotten...?" He said upon stopping his laughter. "You are a weapon. An artificial construct crafted solely to become strong. Powerful enough to slay Gods. You are a failure that could never become Arsnaia, built by the hands of a blighted human!"
Fei replied indifferently. "Indeed I am. I am but a Homunculus. I do not have a soul. I do not have flesh, bone or blood inherited by beings such as parents. I do not have purpose nor future to fight for other than to reach completion. The same could be said to my entire lineage. To the Royal Family. To the entirety of Raumia."
Fei then raised his sword – the one he called as Lagnaris up.
"I am Vagnalos of Vanity. The 7th Lagnaris Mechanism that wishes to be full. To become anything rather than nothing. As such - I shall abide my directive protocol... and devour your soul."
In response, Ancestor brought his weapon up. In the same manner. In the same timing. In a way that seemed to make the Vagnalos before him as his impostor.
"No you will not. Your end is here... and I shall make sure to destroy all of you!!"
Then - the two vanished.
"Wha?!"
*BOOM!* An explosion followed by sliced wind burst out behind me. I was blown away along with the other spirits but I caught a glimpse of golden and white dancing in the storms before vanishing yet again.
*BOOM!!* Yet another explosion set off near me. I yelped as my eardrums felt as if they were going to bleed at any moment.
Then I sensed tiny presences around me. I was enveloped by warm light before and the... extreme equivalent of sonic booms stopped damaging my ears. A pure white ball sending out dust of light suddenly blocked my vision.
[Quick! Run away, quick! Father is angered!!] Ein shouted.
Eh? B-but...!
[Go! We can't let our last hope to vanish!! Escape from this ruin!!] Next, Zwei yelled and I felt my limbs being dragged by the spirits.
"H-hey?! Wait...! I... I still...!!"
Even though I struggled to not get carried away, I sensed more presence approaching us. And it's fast?! Who...
"You're mine!!" A flash of red flew down to us. That... Isn't that—
"No you won't!!" Another red flashed by but this time, I recognized...
*BOOM!* Uwah! Another explosion! Stop it with that groundbreaking epic clash already!
As I was nearly shaken off the ground, I realized I was freer than before and I looked ahead.
"Leon!" I exasperated as the redheaded sibling of mine grunted, gauntlets blocking a massive claymore wielded by Eliza.
"Tch...! A nuisance!!" The Royal Princess cursed.
"The pest is you, filthy whore!" Leon rebuked then threw the woman away with a mighty swing.
But as expected of Fei's sibling, she rebounded and recovered in moments. Almost like a certain black monster lying below the sink...
"Oy, you small fries!" Leon suddenly shouted.
I heard the spirits cowering. Huh? Why...?
"You better not do anything weird to her or you'll be my dinner. Understood...?"
Uwah, he's on Demon-mode at full throttle... Scary!
[Y-YES SIR! NOW OFF WE GOOO!!]
"Ah-eh?! Hey! Stop it, you all...! Leon, you bastaaaaaaaarrrddd!!"
My half-demon of a little brother snorted as he shook his head while I was being taken away as if put in a phalanx running backward.
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-Leonhardt’s POV-
"Tch. The Fragment escaped... oh well. I can just use you as a substitute then."
"......a doll can only do this much huh."
The one before my eyes – the ‘Imitation’ clad in human skin distorted her expression upon my remark.
"Ah? What did you just say, you impure creature?" She asked, implying that she knows of my constitution.
I scoffed. No wonder why I dislike Him. So the entire Royal Family consisted of these Homunculus, a type of magical construct similar to golem but unlike them in a sense. Why I hated them was actually quite simple.
Homunculus have no souls. They are merely dolls created by combining flesh and blood of corpses, molding them back to create an ‘Artificial Life’. Before they are activated, the empty vessels were given the Essences of dead souls as the cores sustaining their fake life. While only magical race such as demons or elves are capable of controlling Soul Essence, these ‘Vagnalos’ probably relied on tools.
“Ah, so that’s the rumored Lagnaris… The soul reaping Sinned Swords.” I muttered out of reflex for remembering a certain rumor in Daemonia but my opponent seemed to take it in an entirely different meaning.
"…you DO want to die that much huh? Fine then. This Lagnaris will devour you whole, Halfling."
I exhaled. "For a rag doll such as you, my circumstance is far better. You're nothing but a tool. An object. You're not even worth of being pitied."
Relics… Incomplete ancient artifacts best described to give power in exchange of a part of the wielder’s souls, used by artificial constructs that can never become humans nor can they have genuine ‘life’. Truly, both of them are nonsense of the finesse class I cannot help but to sneer in disdain.
Even my natural hatred that came from my demonic bloodline didn’t stop from irritating me. It was ordering me to eliminate this Homunculus since us descendants of Blaze detested all that were skewed off their original paths. Regardless, my objective remained the same.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
“If you don’t wish to die, step aside now, pest.”
End this farce and pull my idiotic sister out of this clown troupe.
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"Agh!" I fell flat as the spirits screamed in exhaustion.
Owowowww... never. Again. I won't. Experience that. Ever again...
"Ugh... now where is... huh?" I looked around and...
How can this be?! Since when was I outside the dungeon!? I didn't even notice! I looked behind me and... the spirits are all lining up as if blocking the entrance...
No. They're doing that huh? A meat barricade... not that they have any flesh.
All I could do was staring at them for a while. Then, as the gears clicked inside my head, I sighed, all kind of emotional burst I had evaporating into the air.
"Y'know... even if you do that, I'm more than what you can handle right...?" I scratched my head.
[Even so - it's not right. You're supposed to be with us... not with That—]
I raised a hand to interrupt Neun.
"Stop it. If you call Fei like that again, even I won't stand idly."
I was greeted with silence. Looks like they understood... right?
Sitting down cross-legged, I stared up at the sky. Let's see... I better sort things out.
Fei's origin. So that's why he called himself that. A monster... might not be the wrong thing to describe him.
Ancestor's wrath. It's connected with previous generation... possibly with Raumia's first king. No wonder I smelled something was fishy when I observed the Sword of Light.
Then... me. My soul is probably the biggest treat for Fei's Lagnaris. So to protect me, he chose to simply stay away from me as much as he could. Ah, maybe his other siblings thought of me differently. No wonder I felt REALLY uncomfortable with Eliza...
But... something's missing.
"Hey. Can I ask something...?" I stared at the spirits. "Was your mother... a Fragment?"
The spirits... or rather, Ein nodded.
[She was... but she's not the same as you...]
Ah. So my case is not special. Looks like other than me, there are people whose souls were torn into shreds. Even so... the Vagnalos must've been harvesting them all.
Uh... I don't really get what he meant by becoming complete but...
Looks like I found the culprit, Iris. Thankfully, the date is off so it was probably Fei's father that killed you. But to think my other self was killed by my knight's parent... What kind of sick joke is this?
"If fate dictates all of my life, then I'd really like to file a complaint to Vainticel..." I pursed my lips as I tapped the temple of my head. "Really. I don't even think I understand half of what they just said."
Mh…. thinking like this doesn't befit me at all. Even so, I have to do something by my own if I want to get my problems cleared. Hence...
"Is there anything that I can do to change your mind?" I stood up and patted my skirts.
Ow. The wound on my back stings...
[No! We don't want to lose another family!!]
"But at this rate, someone will die. Also, my little brother is down there."
[Even so, you can't! What if you die and suffer the same fate?!]
...what...?
"Suffer the same fate...?" I repeated, slowly processing the words into information. "...will I become a Warlord if I died...?"
The spirits all flinched. This scene and reaction...
"...so I can huh? No wonder I always pulled off those stunts." I tiredly muttered in realization.
Damn it. So that's why... as long as I'm at near-death, I could do everything much, much more than I was supposed to be able to do. Even defeating Bravzgaim and snapping Fei back to sanity...
Should I say I exceeded my limit, or should I say I awakened to my true strength? Hmh... I can't say sacrificing my own life as a form of power-up so...
"Limit Break... huh?" I raised my hands and stared at them. That's an appropriate name for a big move like that.
At the very least, it's far more powerful if I stacked Reinforce with it—
*BOOM!*
"Whoa?!" I gasped as the ground shook heavily as if it was bombed.
The earth cracked and some places were leveled to the point of crumbling into holes, or spiking upward like an erupting volcanic mountain. The frequencies of the tremors increased along with the number of distortion in the landscape.
"Wh-What... just what kind of battle are they duking in below...?!"
This is just ridiculous...! But then again, I shouldn't be surprised by magical cataclysms now. Vladimir did invade a Divine Beast's monarchy with necromancy snakes and lizardmen... and he even summoned giant serpents!
If so - what am I supposed to do...? Just when I was racking my brain for an answer, my aura tingled and I felt as if a centipede ran down my spine.
"......!" I turned around, looking at the distant horizon.
More specifically, I was glaring at the direction we traveled from, and I - for some reasons, drew out Gram.
[...this is...] Ein muttered. What a coincidence, looks like we sensed the same thing.
And the thing was appearing at the distance in form of a cloud of dust expanding to the left and right. The dust gathered in piles, increasing in size and length to show the density of the source... Also its number.
"You all, hide! Now!!"
My urgent shout reached the spirits and they instantly dove back into the ruin's entrance before melding in with the darkness and surrounding. As the tremor became rhythmical like war drums, shadowy figures became outlined in the clouds of dust.
War steeds... I narrowed my eyes as I glimpsed the iron plates decorating the tough horses usually ridden by cavalry units. Some of them carried flags to show their allegiance so I don't think they're some look-alike bandits or black ops.
But... I can't help feeling something is wrong. So I stabbed Gram to the ground in front of me and adjusted my aura as much as I needed to.
One of the cavalry separated and hastened while the rest slowed. Before long, a knight in full silver armor arrived in my vicinity. The steed whined as it pounded the ground before completely stopping.
"That uniform... are you a student?" A male voice rang out.
Hm...? It's kind of heavy and brisk, but it's quite casual. I don't even think he's older than me but maybe he treats people depending on their circumstances.
"Yes, I am." I nodded down. Since I'm a noble as well, I don't really need to bow down. "May I know who am I speaking to?"
The knight dropped off the war steed, his armor clanking together. Ho… full armor and a cross-shaped sword. Ah, a lance and a shield are on the steed. He's well-equipped.
"Pardon my rudeness. I am the Royal Knight of the 1st Order, Richard Orleans. In accordance to a report given by the Royal Princess Eliza Sanctum Raumia, an army is immobilized to assist her highness."
Assist? Royal Knight? Report...?
I narrowed my eyes and to be honest? I don't need much time to know why. If I were like before when I didn't know what I was, I'd have panicked.
But with Iris' assimilation, I also gained her wisdom. It enabled me to understand several things including politic, interpersonal relationships... and lies. Yes, I can tell if people are hiding something from me.
My parents. Takeru. Leon. Lily. Anise and Alia. Even Fei. Almost everyone seems to know me more than I do, thus hiding the facts away. So of course...
"...and for what urgency does her highness need with your assistance, Sir Orleans?" I asked further.
"I'm sorry but that is confidential. Our mobilization is but an oddity and exclusively known only to the Royal Court." The knight reasoned.
Ah, ah. I know you'll pull that trick. Did you think I won't notice since you're wearing full-body armor?
"I am the Oratoria of the Seventh Prince, Charlotte Augmund. As a direct vassal of his highness, am I not qualified to know?" I announced.
Right then and there, the knight held his breath.
"O-Oratoria...?! You are..."
"If you don't believe me, at least you know what his title is, no?" I smirked. "Vagnalos of 'Vanity'."
Oho ho... I knew that name meant much to you lots. Now then, either this knight will step down and away, or...
"If so - in accordance to the royal decree... Lady Charlotte Augmund, we are to escort you back to Raumia for 'protection' under the direct order from her highness Eliza Sanctum Raumia."
Who am I kidding to? As if the lady luck will ever smile at me!
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A/N: It's... done! And Charlotte just have to deal with an army on the get-go! Ha!! What the heck!? How sadistic am I!?