The Decurion moved as if leaving afterimages behind—a speed impossible to track with the naked eye. The difference in raw combat power was overwhelming. The Rabbit Mask’s hoverboard shattered in a single blow, and the Tiger Mask—was smashed aside and flung out of the fight, unable to endure even a few exchanges.
“Tsk. I was hoping to make this into a good story.”
Eagle Mask sneered as he surveyed the condition of those who had once been his comrades.
“Filthy traitor bastard.”
Rabbit Mask—Senshi—spat the words. At that instant, the Decurion turned toward her. Eagle Mask raised a hand to stop him.
“It’s understandable you’d think that,” he said, “but no, Senshi. This isn’t defection. It’s betrayal born of necessity—and a choice made after careful consideration.”
“I’m serious.”
Eagle Mask looked up at the molten mana-veins of Gigantes rumbling behind them. A red glow cast strange shadows across his mask.
“In the end, our goal is the same. You seem to believe Gigantes must be destroyed for your cause to be fulfilled—but that’s wrong. It’s a misconception.”
He slowly turned his gaze toward the fallen Tiger Mask.
“We’ve been preparing for the greater cause far longer than you.”
Tiger Mask trembled as he forced himself upright, gasping for breath.
“Yes—far deeper, from a far damper place than you ever imagined. So don’t awaken yet. What you desire will be achieved. One way or another.”
Eagle Mask placed a hand on the Decurion’s armor. It was scorching hot from the constantly charged, high-density mana—but he didn’t flinch.
“This man will become an imperial hero who repelled the rebels. And at the same time, the Empire will excise the cancer called Gigantes. A perfect scenario.”
Tiger Mask raised his sword with a hollow laugh.
“Well, Tiger Mask… unfortunately, you brought this on yourself. You rejected my method.”
“So you planned this from the start.”
Tiger Mask shook his head.
“A revolution needs the people’s support, and a revolution must embrace the people. We needed to give them the strength to rise. I should’ve conveyed this notion—and Gigantes must be destroyed as a symbol against the imperial regime.”
From inside the helmet came the Decurion’s emotionless voice:
> “I’ll just kill them.”
“Sure. Kill them. Straightforward enough.”
The moment Eagle Mask finished speaking, the Decurion began drawing mana into his plated armor.
At that moment—
A silent flash descended from above.
***
Swoosh!
Like a bird leaving its ledge, I leapt and plunged downward. Gravity seized my entire being, granting me a fleeting sense of freedom.
A vertical shaft—four hundred meters deep.
I descended into darkness and heat. Turbulent winds lashed about, yet my body sank calmly, as if suspended in a vacuum.
I focused on a single point and released mana.
Time seemed to slow. Silvery mana particles clung to my body, forming a transparent membrane beneath my feet. I seized the current and listened. There was no rupture—only silence. Even that moment was quiet. Events were as tranquil as moonlight.
And then—
Once more, I propelled my magic into the air. My speed had already transcended physical limits.
Within the frozen flow of time, I found my target.
The floor of Gigantes. The Decurion, dawdling in complacency, had lost all sense of caution.
He sensed instinctive danger and raised his head—but it was already too late.
A silver flash speared straight down. The elegantly descending blade severed both helmet and neck in one stroke. The mana armor was cleanly sliced apart. Feeling the chill, Eagle Mask turned toward the corpse. My momentum did not stop. I carried the flow forward, raised my sword again, and cleaved through Eagle Mask as well.
Two dull thuds—two heads struck the ground almost simultaneously.
A heavy silence filled the underground chamber.
The revolutionaries stared at me in shock. I scanned them. A few were still alive, but most were beyond saving. There was no need to finish them off—sending them away with Gigantes would suffice.
Just as the relatively unharmed Rabbit Mask was about to question my identity—
Thump.
The sensor reacted.
I turned sharply.
Creak—crack—thud.
The Decurion’s corpse twisted grotesquely and staggered back to its feet. Black vapor leaked from the severed neck, and the headless body groped blindly for direction.
This was Ezenheim’s true form.
I tightened my grip on the sword.
No—it charged like a beast.
It was only a punch, but the impact hit harder than a cannon shell. Even blocking with my sword, my body was hurled backward.
The monster pursued me relentlessly, the pressure mounting.
Bang!
I was forced fully on the defensive. The difference in raw power was extreme, and the headless corpse charged without regard for its own defense.
Kaaagh! Crack! Boom!
This was dangerous. If I was pushed to the wall, I would die. One misstep in breathing, and my body would be crushed.
As that thought burned through my mind—
“Maximum output!”
Rabbit Mask fired a wire. The creature’s body wavered slightly. Immediately after, she rushed low and slashed at its knee.
I used that opening to catch my breath.
Against a living being, that would’ve been a decisive blow—but it didn’t even flinch. It simply swung its arm and flung them both away.
But now I understood.
It wasn’t alive. It wasn’t even organic. The black steam escaping from the cut surfaces was clear proof. It was merely a machine, operating under forced mana activation of its vessel.
Which meant—once its mana ran out, it would stop.
There was no need to clash head-on.
I shifted my stance. I filled my lungs with clear air and stilled myself.
Huff…
I suppressed the boiling fighting spirit and forged cold reason at the tip of my blade.
Ebenholz’s mana pulsed through me.
Standing still, I drew invisible lines across the floor.
I recalled Freya’s words:
> The blade of the noble resides within elegant resolve.
Hoooo—!
It didn’t resort to brute force. Instead, it merely redirected the opponent’s energy gracefully—letting their strength flow without resistance—while I swung my blade wide to counterattack.
One extension of my sword branched out, dividing once, then twice. Silver trajectories bloomed like petals. There was no path through.
Then—
The headless monster charged again. Its armored fist thrust toward my chest, but I didn’t resist—only let my blade flow.
Slash.
My sword lightly carved across its body.
Slash.
I didn’t need deep cuts. Just openings for mana to leak.
Punch! Punch!
It kept charging like a monster, but couldn’t step even once inside my boundary. Like moonlight reflected on a lake, my blade quietly returned its violence.
Each time I shaved it, mana hissed as it escaped. Thighs, flank, wrists—every critical point slowed its movements visibly.
Soon, distorted sounds leaked from its torso. Like a puppet with its strings cut, its motion faltered midair.
I sheathed my sword. There was no need to cut further.
Clank.
The armor scraped its knees and toppled forward. I stared at the heap of scrap, then retrieved my blade.
The suppression was complete.
Silence settled.
“Are you part of the Revolutionary Corps?”
“….”
Tiger Mask struggled to lift his head. Beside him, Rabbit Mask lay unconscious; the rest of his comrades had already turned cold.
“Sorry,” the Tiger Mask said. “We failed.”
I checked his condition. Worse than the injuries from Ezenheim, he’d been exposed to severe mana toxins. His veins bulged blue, and blood foamed from his mouth with each breath. He was as good as dead.
“There’s nothing to apologize for.”
“Then I’ll create a reason to be sorry. Senshi—that Rabbit Mask—still has some fight left. Here.” He pressed a map into my hand. “There’s a map marking the location of the underground passage.”
The audacious Tiger Mask gripped my wrist weakly.
“Please… take Senshi with you.”
I looked at him for a moment, then pointed toward the glowing mana core.
“Do you want to destroy it?”
Gigantes’ heart—pulsing, alive, breathing red and blue light.
“I do.”
His eyes flared briefly.
“Why?”
“My father died here.”
He coughed blood.
“Because he submitted. Because he accepted everything that crushed him.”
He panted, recalling the distant past.
“He was beaten to death without resisting even once—right in front of his child.”
Rage welled in his voice.
Time watched over my soul. I still had a little time to speak with him.
“My father died because he submitted to his chains.”
I looked at him.
Tiger Mask’s grip on his weapon weakened.
“We have to fight endlessly. We must fight to the end. Acceptance is not an option; we must rage, and rage again.”
Even something as grand as destiny began with a single, very small wish.
Perhaps that was why it felt so precious.
“Even if we fail in the end, we have to burn until the very last moment. Otherwise, we just rot away slowly.”
I looked down at him, strangely moved.
“…Sorry. But we’re all bound by shackles. We can’t break free. We can’t even refuse them.”
I answered calmly and tossed a bomb onto his shoulder.
“Because the weight of those shackles accumulates.”
He instinctively caught it. The heavy weight made his expression—behind the cracked mask—subtly shift.
“Just as those traitors said, completely destroying Gigantes might actually benefit the Empire. It would be a chance to discard the old and fill it with something new.”
I lifted the unconscious Rabbit Mask onto my shoulder.
“But even so—if you still want to be angry—”
I turned back to him and pointed at the bomb in his arms.
“Then fulfill what you believe in.”
I left the choice to him.
As I turned to leave this frozen underground—
“Tell me your name.”
Tiger Mask had removed his mask. His face was smeared with blood and oil, but his eyes were clear—a perfectly ordinary young man.
“I’m Thomas Wagner. An employee at the Zeppeltron Printing House.”
A name and a job—an ordinary commoner. If this world functioned fairly, he would have become a successful man.
I stared at him for a moment, then brushed back my disguised hair. It fell back as blond.
“Maximilian.”
I told him my real name.
“Maximilian von Ebenholz.”
Thomas’s eyes widened—then he broke into a broad smile.
I quietly turned away.
I escaped through the revolutionaries’ underground passage to their hideout, cleverly concealed among the rocks. I set Rabbit Mask down.
When I removed her mask—
“…”
I laughed softly.
She was an editor from a rather well-known publishing house.
I’d thought she only wielded a pen—turns out she was something else entirely.
I laid her on a bed in the hideout. She, too, was poisoned by mana toxins, breathing roughly.
“I promised.”
I took out a super steam pack from my coat. A full dose would cause shock death, so I injected exactly one-fifth.
Her survival chance was about sixty percent.
The sudden surge in mana circulation would help expel the toxins.
If she survived, everything would already be over.
I left the hideout and climbed to the surface. From a distant hill, I looked back at Gigantes.
A veil of darkness covered it, blotting out the stars.
Then—a flash.
The sound came later.
Rumble!
The ground split apart. The collapse of Gigantes’ mana core shook the earth. Massive factories crumpled like paper and were swallowed whole.
Thomas Wagner perished with Gigantes.
A complete collapse.
I wondered what he had been thinking at the end.
He smiled when he heard my name. Perhaps he mistook me for a revolutionary—or for an even deeper comrade hidden in the shadows. Perhaps he believed his death was not in vain, that the cause would surely be fulfilled.
Either way—
Thomas Wagner was a man of conviction. A human worthy of respect. So I hoped he died in the way most beneficial to him.
Life is suffering. I hoped he escaped this hellish world and dreamed better dreams elsewhere.
“Let’s go.”
The workday may have ended—but I’d probably have to go to work again soon.
This time, as a knight of the Empire.
—
