Chapter 134: Kindred from the Days of Old I

War—
To be honest, Amy did not have much of a real sense of it.
Although he had known long before heading to the Upper District that the flames of war between Order and Chaos had reignited, and he had even personally participated in a brutal battle within the Temple of Hephaestus, in the end... his understanding of war was limited to that, limited to fragments in historical records, and to the hollow descriptions provided by knights.
Of true war, he knew almost nothing.
"Is the enemy the Chaos Cult?" Thus, his expression was far less heavy than that of his silver-haired, red-eyed friend, and beneath his grave demeanor, there even lurked a hint of eagerness. "Or is it the Dark Lords?"
But unexpectedly, Joshua simply shook his head.
"Hard to say."
He did not reach a conclusion, answering the youth's question while striding quickly toward the designated assembly point. "But the Chaos Cult is unlikely. According to the intelligence gathered, the Chaos Cult in Hermetica has completely vanished into this vast, void darkness before us—and if the enemy were merely the Dark Lords, it would not constitute a true war."
"That’s true." War is often associated with the grand, weighty term of "magnificence"; small-scale disputes can at best be called battles. "Then... who do you think the enemy might be?"
"I don't know," the heir of the Onions family shrugged. "But what is certain is that this is a major problem."
"Because it will be a war?"
"No, that's not it." Joshua replied calmly. "That is only one of the reasons, but what is more concerning is the return of the darkness."
"The return..." Amy chewed on this seemingly simple phrase. "Does that mean... the darkness has arrived more than once?"
The only time he had experienced it was when the Spark was extinguished.
"Yes, just now." Joshua raised an eyebrow. "What, you didn't know?"
"I was caught in an illusion previously," the youth did not shy away from the point. "I know nothing of what happened in the outside world."
"When was that?"
"After the Spark was extinguished."
Following the simple exchange, the silver-haired, red-eyed Scion of Glory frowned. The moment after the Spark was extinguished was a very subtle point in time; at that moment, almost everyone had fallen into an indescribable nightmare and passively endured immense mental pollution. It sounded as if... Amy had only just emerged from it.
This gave one pause.
However, he did not seem to be affected; at least, he had not displayed any signs of madness during their time together.
"I see, no wonder you didn't know what happened." Joshua did not press further, for he only needed to confirm the result; the process was unimportant to him. Besides, having personally experienced the insane and grotesque dreamscape, he knew very well that those absurd visions could not be explained in a few words. "In that case, I will briefly outline the situation for you."
From the extinguishing of the Spark to the arrival of Duke Galsworthy, to the activation of the Tri-City and the descent of the Golden City, and finally... this sudden darkness before them.
"There are two possibilities," the silver-haired, red-eyed Scion of Glory held up two fingers. "The first is that the Golden City hanging in the sky was shattered by some unfathomable power, and the second... is that we have happened upon an occupied zone where the enemy’s power is dominant, falling under the shadow of some behemoth."
A behemoth—
Not a gargantuan physical form, but a gargantuan power.
A power capable of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Tri-City, or even vaguely overshadowing it.
"Both possibilities sound quite dire," Amy sighed, having gained a somewhat clearer, though still hazy, understanding of the current situation. "The second possibility might be slightly better than the first, but for us, it is equally—no, even more—troublesome."
"Yes," Joshua agreed in a low voice. "Therefore, we should head to the assembly point as quickly as possible."
"True," this was a plan that could effectively increase their survival rate, and the youth had no reason to reject it. He frowned, however. "But before that, I think... we have a major problem."
"A major problem?" the silver-haired, red-eyed Scion of Glory asked, his hand inadvertently resting near the hilt of the sword at his waist.
"There is a sound," Amy could hear it—the hoarse, sharp guttural noises lingering in his ears, and the deep malice implied within them. "It looks like we’ll be busy for a while."
"Can you determine the number?"
"If I could, that would be great."
The two spoke as they adjusted their positioning, until... the dim street scene was crowded out by squirming shadows.
One, two, three...
The silhouettes of dark green, humanoid monsters flickered in the darkness.
"I can confirm it now," Amy paused, continuing his previous thought. "There are quite a lot of them."
"If you couldn't tell by now, you might as well go bang your head against a tree." The silver-haired, red-eyed Scion of Glory scoffed, then suppressed the shifting expressions on his face and said in a low voice, "We will break through to the front in a moment. While I don't think they pose much of a threat, this is no place to linger."
"We should at least finish off a batch first," the youth did not blindly agree, but offered his own perspective. "We need to make them hurt, or I suspect they will invite us to stay here with great enthusiasm—permanently."
"That is a terrible joke."
Joshua shook his head, and then, a longsword as bright as moonlight bathed the dim street in a snow-white glow.
—And crimson.
"Move."
Almost at the same time, Amy Ulysses also took action.
Suddenly, a wild wind whipped up his tattered trench coat from behind. The fire-patterned talisman dancing alongside him dispersed the darkness before him. Even though the dark green, fish-headed, human-bodied monsters were hideous and fierce, the youth charging through them was like a wolf among sheep, unstoppable. Wherever he went, bright red blood splattered everywhere like cheap ink in a stage play, announcing the withering of the flowers of life.
One, two, three—
After only a few seconds, this slaughter had reached its conclusion before it had truly begun.
After leaving behind dozens of their kin's corpses, the terrifying fish-headed monsters turned and fled, jumping and running away from the two unreasonable, bloodthirsty butchers behind them.
"Seventeen."
The silver-haired, red-eyed Scion of Glory swung his sword through the air, shaking off the blood.
"You lost this time," Amy was not one for formalities, sheathing his short sword, Darkblood, and glancing over the piled corpses. His expression remained calm. "Thirty-six. More than double yours."
"You really are something." Joshua did not question the credibility of this figure. Much could be seen from the battle that had just concluded—though it could hardly be called intense. At the very least, he was certain that his friend, who usually did not excel in combat, possessed peerless swordsmanship and a formidable combat instinct that seemed almost precognitive. "If time weren't so limited, I would really like to know what you’ve been through during this time."
"There will be time," Amy said.
"But not now," his silver-haired, red-eyed friend added, perfectly in sync.
Yes, not now.
The two shared this understanding—this was no place of benevolence. The enemies lurking in the darkness would never give up so easily. The mermen just now were clearly only the vanguard, or scouts searching for enemies. If they stubbornly resisted here without understanding the situation, being crushed to dust by the overwhelming force would be the only ending awaiting them.
So—
Retreat.
The enemy was at least a powerful entity capable of restraining the Tri-City system to some degree. Even if its strength did not rival the oceanic behemoth Leviathan that had nearly swallowed Hermetica, it was not far off; they were adversaries they could hardly contend with. In that case, precise and effective killing might deter the low-level mermen, who were little more than ordinary demons, but it would only serve to enrage the higher-level entities.
They were currently racing against time, banking on the reaction speed of the enemy.
This was a contest of speed; there was no time to delay.
However, in the end, the ones who lost this contest... were them.
At the edge of their vision, thousands of mermen stood in formation, clad in armor and weapons, waiting in readiness.
Like the most elite of armies, they did not make a single sound, merely watching them with their large, protruding, unblinking eyes—watching these two fools who had walked straight into the trap.
—They had been waiting for a long time.
"It looks like our luck is quite terrible," Joshua stopped, his gaze lingering slightly on the black-haired, black-eyed youth. "Is there any way out? Amy."
"We'll just have to play it by ear." Saying something no one could understand, Amy Ulysses slowed his pace. "I'll go hold them off in a moment, you break through first... and don't forget to spill plenty of blood."
"With you, I'll end up anemic sooner or later." Using the term he had learned from the youth, the Scion of Glory, who had abandoned his naivety during the war with the Chaos Cult, did not refuse outright, but glanced at his friend. "Can you hold out?"
"Please have a little more confidence in me," Amy curled his lips into a smile. "Even if you don't have confidence in me, please have a little more confidence in a sister-complex brother. I don't intend to let Yulia live in this world all alone."
"With that said, I am relieved," Joshua smiled.
"Then..." The black-haired, black-eyed youth began to sprint. "Get out of the way!"
His grumpy voice dissipated into the wind.
Then, he collided with the formation that was surging forward like a torrential flood.
And there, the crimson flower bloomed once more.