Chapter 328
But no matter how much they thought about it, they couldn't put their finger on what his scheme was. No matter what trick he used, turning the tide in the current situation was impossible.
‘It's also strange that the forces of the Tri-Alliance are nowhere to be seen. Where did they go?’
Suppressing their anxiety, the high command of the Four Kings' Castle shouted.
[All of you, use your full power!]
[They won't be able to last long anyway!!]
And so, the battle grew more intense.
Meanwhile, at that moment.
On a low mountain nearby, which overlooked the plains.
“……”
Christian stood with his arms crossed.
Christian had already arrived at the site of the pitched battle.
“Brother.”
Teren and Kashmir, who were beside him, wore anxious faces as they watched the Dark Alliance being pushed back.
But Chris shook his head.
“Not yet.”
He had to wait longer for the right time.
For the time when his move could create a more perfect result.
Little by little, time passed.
Below, the fierce battle continued.
The forces of the Dark Alliance, who had been holding on desperately, began to show signs of being overwhelmed.
It was a nerve-wracking sight.
So far, the losses were not great.
But if their formation were to break, a brutal massacre would follow.
It was then.
At the point when the magi of the Dark Alliance had reached their limit.
“Teren, contact my father and tell him to pull back the center of the formation.”
Teren’s eyes widened.
Doing so would cause the formation to collapse completely.
But Teren did not question it and relayed the message as is.
Soon, he could see the formation beginning to move.
It was an incomprehensible order, but Count Khazar had also trusted Christian and followed it.
The forces of the Four Kings' Castle began to dig into the center, and the formation of the Dark Alliance began to collapse.
And in that moment, Chris’s eyes flashed.
‘Now.’
The time had come.
“Kashmir, the signal.”
“Yes, understood!”
Kashmir unleashed the energy of the Flame of Ruin into the air with all his might, and the movement on the battlefield paused for a moment.
“It's the Grand Duke!!”
[Christian!! You fool! It's useless to show up now.]
The reactions of the two camps were starkly divided.
The Dark Alliance's side cheered enthusiastically as if they had seen hope, but the magi of the Four Kings' Castle let out a sneer.
Because the battle was as good as over.
However.
“Teren, Kashmir. Let us begin.”
Twelve coffins were placed around Chris.
As the coffins opened, the remains of the Twelve Saints were revealed.
The high command of the Four Kings' Castle, who were watching the scene from afar, frowned.
[What is he trying to do with that?]
[Could it be?]
A few.
There were those who noticed Chris’s intention and their eyes shot open.
[Impossible? Don't tell me he's trying to recreate the miracle the Twelve Saints performed?]
A long time ago.
The Twelve Saints had created a miracle and stopped the advance of the Four Kings' Castle.
But they soon shook their heads.
[The miracle of that time is impossible unless the Twelve Saints were to return to life.]
[What can he do with remains that have been dead for a long time?]
Those who had been inwardly anxious at Christian’s appearance let out sneers of relief.
Yes, this time, Christian was wrong.
Because it was an utterly ridiculous matter.
[Pay it no mind, kill the insects of the Dark Alliance!]
[Drag that Christian bastard over here, too!!]
But in the next moment, something astounding happened.
Wooooong.
As the Dark Demonic Energy flashed from Chris's hand, the remains of the Twelve Saints lying in the coffins began to rise, one by one.
It was necromancy!
[!!]
As the Twelve Saints took their positions around Chris, the magi of the Four Kings' Castle stirred.
[No, pay it no mind. Necromancy and the power of light are incompatible! Even if he moves their skeletal corpses as undead, they won't be able to do anything!]
He was right.
Even if a holy knight or a saint were to be commanded as an undead, they could not use the power of light they had in life at all.
However.
“My power is different from your lowly energy, you see.”
Chris twisted the corner of his mouth.
Simultaneously, his dark Domain of Dominion spread around him.
But its form was different from before.
In a world of deep, deep darkness, stars of various colors began to rise.
Deep green, red, purple, gold, ash-gray, and so on.
They were the hues that symbolized the numerous powers of darkness.
All kinds of powers of darkness shone as if they were worshiping the great darkness.
That wasn't all.
A brilliant star of light also rose up from within the darkness.
The light, too, was worshiping the darkness.
A majestic sight.
It was the moment that Chris's unique Domain of Dominion, the 'Dominion of Seven Colors', was revealed to the world for the first time.
It was a Domain of Dominion that placed everything in the world, even light, beneath its feet.
It also meant that Chris had finally reached the state of entering 8-Star.
“N-no way?”
“A Domain of Dominion like that?”
Everyone on the battlefield gulped.
The range of Chris’s Domain of Dominion was not wide.
In terms of level, he had only just entered 8-Star.
But the size of the domain was not what was important.
What was important was the ‘meaning’ that resided within it.
It was extraordinary at a single glance.
Just by looking at it, an irresistible awe welled up.
“Worship and submit to me.”
As he gestured, the Twelve Saints knelt before Christian.
Simultaneously, within the Domain of Dominion, the Dominion of Seven Colors, the star of light emitted a brilliant radiance.
As if worshiping a king.
Following that, an unbelievable miracle continued.
Paaaaaaah!
A brilliant light began to well up from the bodies of the Twelve Saints.
It was the authority of light that had remained in their skeletal remains!
The shock did not end there.
The great darkness grew even deeper.
As if receiving the worship of the light, the authority of the darkness grew stronger.
Within the suffocating darkness, the authority of light also began to grow more powerful.
This was the ability of the Dominion of Seven Colors.
It was to amplify the powers under its command through the great darkness.
On top of that, Chris took an additional measure. He had secretly shared the power of the Constellation inherent in his soul with the Twelve Saints.
Thanks to that, the Twelve Saints, though only for a brief moment, were able to wield a power comparable to when they were alive.
Chris stretched out his hand.
“Clear away those filthy things.”
A veil of darkness covered the Twelve Saints.
Under the protection of the great darkness, the remains of the Twelve Saints emitted a light that seemed ready to burst.
It was the miracle they had been granted by the Constellations in the past, the ‘Flood of Light’.
Paaaaaaah!
The light burst forth as if flooding and descended upon the army below the mountain.
[Kuaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!]
[Kiaaaaaaaaaaaak!!]
The Flood of Light was an authority that purified the impure beings that should not exist in the world.
In other words, it was a power that was fatal to wraiths, undead, and the like.
The impure beings that were swept away let out horrific screams.
Of course, the high-ranking wraiths and undead did not take a major blow.
However, the undead and wraiths of a lower rank were either completely annihilated or reverse-summoned.
Those of an intermediate rank or higher were not annihilated, but they took a considerable amount of damage.
In a large-scale war like this, it was a critical blow.
Furthermore, the Flood of Light did not just damage the undead army.
“Keoheok!!!”
“Aaaaaaaah!!!”
Here and there, the sorcerers of the Four Kings' Castle vomited a mouthful of blood and cried out in pain.
They were those who had made contracts with devils.
‘Because the Flood of Light also deals a blow to devil contractors.’
As if fire had met water.
He could see the energy of Gehenna that resided in the devil contractors boiling up.
Of course, it wasn't a fatal wound.
It was a blow that they could recover from given some time, but the problem was that they were in the middle of a fierce battle.
And as mentioned several times before, there were a great many devil worshipers in the Four Kings' Castle.
For so many of them to be temporarily unable to wield their full power was a fatal loss to their forces.
In a single moment, the tide of battle was reversed.
“Th-this…!”
“Summoners, fall back and assess the damage! Combat-type sorcerers, to the front!”
“The combat-type sorcerers have also exhausted their strength!”
“!!”
It was thanks to Chris deliberately stalling for time.
The power of the sorcerers who used offensive spells to break the defensive formation deployed by the Dark Alliance had already been exhausted, and thanks to that, the Four Kings' Castle fell into a helpless situation.
“All forces, retreat!!”
“Fall back and regroup!!”
But it was not easy.
Before starting this, Chris had deliberately made the center of his camp pull back.
Thanks to that, the forces of the Four Kings' Castle had dug into the center of the Dark Alliance and were now surrounded on both sides.
Above all, Chris had no intention of letting the Four Kings' Castle off so easily.
He had another move prepared.
‘It's about time they arrived.’
Just then, from beyond the horizon, a great sound began to echo.
It was the sound of something rapidly approaching.
The magi of the Four Kings' Castle’s eyes widened as if they would tear.
“Magical beasts! It's the Tri-Alliance!!”
They were the magical beasts commanded by the magi of the Magical Beast Demonic House.
On the backs of the magical beasts were also magi from the Ghost Sword and Illusion Demonic Houses.
The forces of the Tri-Alliance charged into the flank of the Four Kings' Castle, which was already in chaos.
“Kuaaaaaaaah!!”
They were not the only ones.
Kiiiiiaaaaaaak!
From the sky, magical beasts were flying in. As before, with magi from the Ghost Sword and Illusion Demonic Houses on their backs.
As the flying-type magical beasts attacked the center of the chaotic Four Kings' Castle, their ranks completely collapsed.
“Don't let them escape!”
“Kill them all!!”
“Kuaaaaaaaah!!!”
The magi of the Four Kings' Castle resisted, but because their ranks had collapsed, they were no match. The casualties began to mount.
[How dare you….]
The Castle Lord, Pliton, enraged, unleashed a ghastly gleam from his eyes.
Nordian let out a sneer.
“This is the power of my grandson.”
[!!]
“You should have had a good grandson yourself. Then again, your children were complete bastards. It can't be helped if the seed itself is flawed. Since you're a son of a bitch, your children are sons of a bitch, too.”
[You bastard….]
A chilling aura of death surged forward, but it was blocked by a flash of dark energy.
Nordian unleashed a ghastly gleam from his own eyes.
“You still don't get it. Unless you're despicably augmenting your power, you cannot defeat me.”
[!!]
Kwaaaaaang!!
The dark energy deployed by Nordian pushed back the white, deathly world of the Castle Lord, Pliton.
“Waaaaaaaaah!!”
“All hail Lord Nordian!!!”
At the sight of Nordian, the morale of the Dark Alliance’s magi soared, and they pushed against the Four Kings' Castle with even greater ferocity.
And then, the final nail was driven into the coffin.
It was Christian's entry into the battle.
“Christian!!”
Count Khazar’s voice rose.
“You've worked hard, Father.”
“Ha.”
Count Khazar looked as if he were overcome with emotion.
How much had he suffered mentally because of this crazy son of his?
There were countless things he wanted to say to him, but only a single sentence came out.
“…I'm just glad you returned safely.”
Yes.
He was a father.
Because what he had been more worried about than the failure of the operation was his son's safety.
For the first time in a long while, Christian felt a warmth spread through his chest and gave a smirk.
“Leave the rest to me now.”
Chris raised his sword high.
“I will not say much.”
In that moment, everyone’s gaze gathered on Chris.
“The time for victory has come. Kill them all.”
“Waaaaaaaaaaah!!”
“All hail the Grand Duke!!!”
And with that, everything was decided.
The Four Kings' Castle was completely defeated and routed, and the plains were dyed crimson with the blood shed by their magi.