Akatsuki Translations

At the rear, Al Baden, who was observing the battle situation with his adjutant and wife Keishia, was unable to hide his frustration at the reports of successive disadvantages.

“What is going on? Not a single proper report is coming in,” he grumbled.

Even as he complained, reports arrived that several Bright squads deployed from the right wing had been annihilated. Even within the range that could be visually confirmed, it was clear at a glance that their own army was at a disadvantage.

If the Bright squads were broken through and overwhelmed by numbers, the remaining infantry units would be at the mercy of the enemy. In fact, in previous battles, it was their own army that had driven the enemy into that situation and achieved victory. The current situation was the complete opposite of usual.

A Bright with a heavy bleeding wound on his shoulder appeared, dismounted his horse, and whispered something into Keishia’s ear. Keishia received the report with a bitter expression, nodded, and looked at Al.

“Your Excellency, the reconnaissance team has confirmed a considerable number of enemy Solid-class reinforcements,” she said.

“No way… They still had reserves?” Al exclaimed in disbelief.

Keishia nodded solemnly.

“There are also reports of units carrying unfamiliar military flags. It’s safe to assume they have received support from other countries.”

Al gritted his teeth as he listened to the report.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve warned the central command. They boasted that there was no need to fear a superficial alliance, but I’d like to show them this situation!”

As he shouted in anger, Al’s beloved horse, frightened, shook its head violently.

A messenger soldier ran up to deliver a new report. His face told them, without even asking, that it was not good news.

“The enemy’s vanguard has penetrated our army’s second line!”

It was a report suggesting that most of the chances of victory on this battlefield had been lost. The second line was the last wall protecting the third line, which housed the Crystaliers and the main camp. The fact that the enemy’s spear had entered there was also proof that the first line was in a state of annihilation and that a significant gap had already been created in terms of both numbers and strength.

Keishia uttered the words that Al had been trying to exclude from his mind.

“Your Excellency, please issue the order to retreat.”

Al glared at his adjutant.

“Don’t be ridiculous! We can still make it. I’ll gather the scattered Bright squads and personally lead them to break through the enemy lines. If we disrupt them from the inside, we can even push up the second and third lines and rain artillery fire deep into the enemy camp—”

Al stopped mid-sentence, faced with his wife’s deflated expression. The outcome that would be brought about by a desperate plan with no guarantee was more obvious than seeing fire.

“If the damage reaches the artillery units, not only New Moon Fortress but even the defense of Ode will be in jeopardy. Al, if we miss the timing to withdraw, our fate will be extinguished here…” Keishia pleaded, holding her stomach with a face on the verge of tears.

Seeing her appearance, Al Baden calmed his boiling blood, closed his eyes, and looked up at the sky.

“…Commence the retreat promptly. Have the third line take the lead, with the remaining Bright squads as escorts.”

Keishia responded with a pained expression to Al’s words, spoken with a bitter face as he clenched his back teeth.

“We will execute it immediately.”

*

Shara, on horseback, kicked the head of a Murakumo Bright as they passed each other, sending him falling from his horse to his death. She looked at his lifeless figure with dissatisfaction.

“No substance. Is this all?”

Her military boots, which had been pristine before the battle began, were now stained with blood, making their original color unrecognizable.

Ba Ryouki, who had been entrusted with the care of this resolute princess as her guardian, skillfully dodged the Crynetic Energy fired by the Murakumo Brights and closed the distance, piercing their bodies along with the hastily erected Forticrystals.

“Do not underestimate them. Their individual strengths are unknown until confronted,” he cautioned.

The Murakumo Brights, skilled in handling Crynetic Energy, were undoubtedly of high quality, but their primary role was long-range bombardment from a medium distance. For the Southern Army soldiers, who excelled in close combat, once they got close, they could achieve victory at a high rate. However, the Southern Stellar Knights, who possessed the ability to enhance their physical abilities, could create Forticrystals strong enough to block arrows but struggled to refine them to a level that could withstand the powerful strikes of skilled Brights. To compensate for this deficiency, Ba Ryouki bundled his elite troops into a thick vertical formation to disperse the enemy’s aim, while overwhelming the Murakumo Brights, who primarily employed a tactic of three-person teams, with sheer numbers.

The tide of battle was turning in favor of Coral. Already, it was not uncommon to see soldiers lined up in the first line of the Murakumo side abandoning their positions and fleeing in panic.

“Alright, we will continue—” Ba Ryouki began to give the next instruction but stopped mid-sentence when he noticed an unusual sight ahead.

While most units were in a state of annihilation and being pushed back, a single group on the enemy’s left wing had deeply penetrated the Coral side and was still advancing. At the forefront, a gray-haired, one-eyed man wielded his sword with unrestrained skill, sweeping away Stellar Knights and Warrior Monks, effortlessly unseating them as he charged forward. Seeing his exceptionally superior swordsmanship, Ba Ryouki caught his breath.

“A true master swordsman, without a doubt! Libi!” he called out to his accompanying nephew without turning around.

“Y-yes!” Libi responded.

As Ba Ryouki slowly turned to face them, Libi, Shara, and the other Stellar Knights shrank back in fear. The demonic smile that appeared on his aged face, baring his teeth with saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth, left not a trace of the dignity of the man renowned as the Sword Saint.

“I leave the rest to you. Focus on guerrilla tactics and hunt down the Brights,” Ba Ryouki said in a single breath before riding off alone.

“Did you see the face of the Sword Saint?” Shara asked in an unusually flat voice. Libi nodded in response.

“Yes… It’s the first time I’ve seen my uncle make such a face.”

“I’m envious. To think there’s someone who can make a man of his caliber look like a child,” Shara said in a daze, her face filled with admiration.

“Lady Shara, this is not the time for such talk,” Libi reminded her.

At a glance, it was clear that the tide of battle was in their favor, but the fight was still ongoing.

“I know. We will continue our advance and trample the enemy camp. Ignore the small fry and follow me!” Shara raised her fist on horseback and rode ahead. The Shanoan Stellar Knights responded and followed behind her.

“H-hey, you lot! Whose orders are you following?!” Libi, who was supposed to be leading the charge, was left behind and chased after them.

*

Shuou, still being pushed by a group driven by greed, relentlessly swung his sword at the enemy soldiers in front of him, unable to grasp the situation of his own army.

If they stayed huddled together, they would naturally become prey to the artillery fire. The group had suffered a considerable reduction in numbers due to the sporadic downpour of boulders, but they still diligently served their role as a wall of flesh. They cheered whenever Shuou slaughtered a Stellar Knight or Warrior Monk and swarmed the corpses.

Shuou had a feeling that the thickness of the enemy forces surrounding them was increasing with each passing moment.

Gradually, fewer enemies approached this bizarre group, led by a single man with a swarm following behind. Instead, soldiers positioned in a radial formation formed a wall with their spears, keeping their distance and obstructing their advance. From behind the human barrier, an elderly man who appeared to be a Stellar Knight suddenly emerged, leaping on his horse. As soon as he locked eyes with Shuou, he abandoned his horse and charged forward with swift feet, brandishing his longsword and valiantly announcing his name.

“I am Ba Ryouki! Let us duel!”

With bloodshot eyes wide open and a smile on his lips, his imposing presence caused Shuou’s companions behind him to retreat.

The old soldier, who had leaped in with a speed that didn’t allow for a blink, launched a strike that likely aimed for Shuou’s shoulder. Shuou tried to dodge it as usual by shifting his pivot foot, but his accumulated experience rang an alarm that it wouldn’t be enough. To compensate for the shortfall, Shuou placed his own sword as an obstacle in the trajectory of his opponent’s sword, creating a margin of safety. The impact of the opponent’s strike that collided a few moments later had a pressure that far exceeded his imagination.

“Tch—” Shuou felt a shock that made him think his sword had been shattered. The old soldier, who had quickly closed the distance, demonstrated a combination technique of thrusting and sweeping, and Shuou barely managed to defend against it by using his sword as a shield. The movement, sharpness, and heavy sensation emitted by the sword strikes—this old soldier’s swordsmanship was undoubtedly at the level of a master.

At this point, sweat began to drip from Shuou’s forehead for the first time.

After somehow parrying three sword strikes unleashed in an instant, the old soldier stepped back and exclaimed in an excited manner, “Well done… To have mastered such swordsmanship at a young age. What a stroke of luck, what a connection! At this age, can I still encounter such a formidable opponent?”

The old man was overjoyed by himself, but the dull sound of drums that cooled the heat of the moment transformed the atmosphere around them.

“A retreat… Damn, are you serious?” Sanji’s voice could be heard spitting those words from behind. Shuou realized that this sound, ringing twice at intervals, was the signal for a retreat.

The group that had been following Shuou in a lump was already completely surrounded, with spears pointed at them. If their allies had fled in this situation, it meant that they had been left behind in the middle of the enemy camp.

One by one, they threw down their weapons, indicating their surrender. The members of Borge’s unit and the 55th Squad, who had been caught up in the group, also dropped their weapons.

As Shuou watched more and more Stellar Knights and Warrior Monks joining the circle of people surrounding them, he also threw down the sword he held and the other one sheathed at his waist.

The old soldier watched the scene with a grim expression, and when he was eventually whispered some kind of report, his brows furrowed in anger.

“What did you say—” With an expression that seemed to be holding back something that had lost its outlet, the old soldier turned to Shuou and left a single sentence before mounting a horse that had been brought to him.

“Let’s call this duel a draw for now.”

The departing back of the aged warrior exuded the spirit of an exceptional martial artist. The gazes of the surrounding Coral soldiers, filled with reverence as they looked at him, proved that he was a special individual.

Shuou and his stranded companions had their hands tied behind their backs, losing their freedom.

Behind the path he had traversed lay scattered corpses with severed left wrists, like a flooded river. It was a sight that looked particularly miserable and defiled.

A look of exhaustion appeared on Shuou’s face as he gazed at the results he had brought about as if it were someone else’s affair.

Having reached a fruitless outcome, Shuou’s first battle came to a close.