Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 51
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Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 51
16. Real Combat (2)
His father's order was to go out and die.
The Viscount Parma Young Master fiercely resisted, saying he absolutely could not follow that order.
At that, the Knight Captain, who was forcibly strapping equipment onto the Viscount Parma Young Master, let out a sigh and spoke.
"There's no need to despair like that. No matter how much Marquis Lawrence is a Grand Mage, in the end, a mage is still a mage. A Vanguard armed with Force equipment is a worthy opponent."
"D-do you call that comfort?"
"It's not comfort it's showing you Young Master a path to survive. Surely you don't intend to just sit here with your hands tied, hiding in a corner trembling like a coward until your head gets cut off?"
"What?"
"Either way, hiding here leads to only one result. You'll just become a sacrifice for revenge."
What he said wasn't wrong.
Whether he went out and died now or died here, the result was the same.
But the Knight Captain showed the Viscount Parma Young Master a faint glimmer of light an exit.
"But what if, by some chance, Young Master were to exploit the Vanguard's advantages and Marquis Lawrence's carelessness, and strike him down? What would happen then?"
"...."
"Marquis Lawrence has neither a wife nor an official heir, so at that very moment, the Domain War would end with our victory. In other words, Young Master would become the hero of the Viscounty. Do you understand?"
It was a tempting proposition.
However, the Viscount Parma Young Master was not foolish enough to be swept away by those words.
"Surely you don't think I'd just say yes to that? I'm being treated like a complete idiot!"
At that, the Knight Captain let out a dry laugh and nodded.
"I do know you're not that clever of a person."
"Knight Captain!"
"No need to shout I can hear you perfectly well. As I said before, what I mentioned was merely a 'one-in-a-million chance.' If Young Master wins against Marquis Lawrence, there's nothing better; and even if you die in the attempt, it would be an honorable death."
"What? An honorable death?"
"Yes. Dying miserably while cursed by everyone is incomparable to dying after stepping forward to defend your territory. I believe you understand which is the more noble act without me having to spell it out."
The Viscount Parma Young Master gnashed his teeth.
As his struggling subsided, the Knights quickly fitted the Vanguard Force equipment onto the Young Master, and once their goal was achieved, they hooked their arms through his from both sides to prevent him from fleeing.
"Let go. Before I kill you."
"Keugh!"
However, the Viscount Parma Young Master surged his Aura and flung the Knights off.
"Damn it all."
Then, unable to contain his fury, he huffed and puffed for a long while before chugging the whiskey on the table straight from the bottle.
The Knights tried to seize him again, but the Knight Captain held them back, telling them to let him be.
With his emotions soothed by alcohol, the Viscount Parma Young Master spoke with venomous eyes.
"Fine, I'll do it. I'll play the clown as you wish."
Strapping Force equipment onto someone with a troubled mind is a dangerous thing.
After all, the Viscount Parma Young Master might try to escape while fully armed with Vanguard gear.
"I will live. I'll kill that damned Adrian and survive, no matter what. And I won't let any of you off the hook."
But the Viscount Parma Young Master couldn't run.
The Knight Captain was already fully equipped with Vanguard gear, and all the personnel prepared to escort him were also Vanguards.
So the Viscount Parma Young Master gritted his teeth and decided to obediently follow behind the Knight Captain.
"If Young Master defeats Marquis Lawrence, I will gladly accept any punishment."
"Yes, that's how it should be."
Seeing the Viscount Parma Young Master brimming with killing intent, the Knights, including the Knight Captain, began to entertain the possibility of 'maybe.'
After all, it wasn't for nothing that the Vanguard with its overwhelming attack and defense was nicknamed the Mage Killer.
Even if Adrian was a Grand Mage, if he underestimated the Viscount Parma Young Master and let his guard down, there was plenty of room for a miracle.
However...
-KWAANG! KWAANG!
-Slicing! Shink! Skang!
The moment they saw Adrian and Arcia overwhelming the Viscounty's Vanguards all by themselves, their vain hopes shattered into dust and vanished.
"W-what is that?"
The female Knight carving through everything around her and the Mage blasting the Vanguards to pieces looked like a scene straight out of a movie utterly surreal.
"I-Impossible. What kind of mage is this!?"
"Gyaaah!"
"Stay back!"
Thanks to wearing Vanguard equipment, he was connected to the unit's communication network, and countless screams pierced the Viscount Parma Young Master's ears.
"What, is this a Grand Mage and an Aura Master?"
Mages were supposed to be prey for the Vanguard, and even Aura Masters with Force equipment could be handled easily if the Vanguard had enough numbers.
No, regardless of who said it, this was common knowledge everyone knew.
But seeing it in person, he realized that even that depended on who you were dealing with.
-Gulp....
The two people before his eyes were on an entirely different level of presence.
Even though dozens of blue beams of light (Force) were being fired continuously, none of them could break through Adrian and Arcia's defenses.
The moment a brief opening appeared or their coordination slipped, the pure-white Aura Blade and 6th Circle and 7th Circle spells would precisely strike positions that couldn't be avoided.
Even while fighting back-to-back, Adrian and Arcia moved like a single organic being, thoroughly covering each other's gaps as they cut down their enemies.
"H-Hey, Captain. You're joking, right? You expect me to go in there?"
"This is insane...."
Arcia's Aura Blade, further enhanced by the Force Sword, cleaved through everything in front of her.
Anything that lay in the path of her sword whether a building or a Vanguard was split in two and collapsed.
"Gyaaah! My hand!"
But the real problem was Adrian, not her.
The Grand Mage was at least manageable, or so he'd thought.
It was well known that mages, by nature, had strong attack power but suffered from a huge weakness the casting gap and sluggish movements in close combat.
But that common wisdom didn't apply to Adrian.
As if he were a martial artist, he dodged the Vanguard's attacks with nimble, minimal movements while casting, and repeatedly detonated grand spells at zero distance.
"Grrraaah!"
"M-Monster!"
Honestly, being cut in half and dying looked like the kinder fate.
Rather than being reduced to pulp by Adrian's hands.
In the end, the Viscount Parma's Vanguards lost all will to fight against just two people.
-KWAANG!
-SCREECH!
-RRRUUUMBLE!
And on top of that....
With numerical superiority, the three Sky Fortresses of the Marquis Lawrence's domain charged in simultaneously and rammed the Viscount Parma's Sky Fortress, sending it flying through the sky above the city.
A mass of a million tons, spraying molten sparks like lava, fell past the Viscount Parma Young Master's head, grazed the lord's castle, and crashed beyond the city's borders.
-KWAANG!
-RUMBLE RUMBLE!
Thanks to that, the world shook as if the end was coming.
And within that swaying backdrop.
"Well, well. Look who it is."
He found himself locking eyes with Adrian's icy blue pupils.
"Adrian."
Would even an apocalyptic landscape have felt more real than this?
The blood-soaked scene he witnessed for the first time in his life was more gruesome and shocking than he could have imagined.
"We surrender! We surrender!"
"P-Please spare us! I don't want to die!"
As the Vanguards of the Marquis Lawrence's domain arrived and surrounded them, the Vanguard members of the Viscount Parma laid down their Force Swords and surrendered.
"I thought you'd be hiding somewhere.... Surprising, Young Master Jeris Parma."
Thanks to that, Adrian was able to approach without any interference, wearing an innocent smile as he walked up to the Viscount Parma Young Master.
Arcia approached alongside him with a completely expressionless face, which made Adrian's smile seem all the more bizarre.
-Tap!
"Huh?"
But then, at that moment.
Someone shoved him from behind, and the Viscount Parma Young Master stumbled a step forward.
That closed the distance between them even further.
He turned his head to see the Knight Captain whose earlier triumphant attitude was nowhere to be found, replaced by utter terror biting his lip and staring at him, as if urging him to go on.
With that, the Viscount Parma Young Master shut his eyes tight and shouted boldly.
"Adrian Lawrence! I challenge you to a duel!"
It was a demand that any noble who valued honor would find impossible to ignore.
But Adrian was different from ordinary nobles.
"Ha, what is this lunatic saying?"
-Snap!
Adrian answered with a scoff and a flick of his fingers.
-SWISH!
Then, from the sky, a single black shadow streaked down like a brush drawing a line, grazing past the Viscount Parma Young Master's eyes.
"Huh?"
Not understanding what had happened, the Viscount Parma Young Master expressed confusion but then felt a searing heat on his left shoulder, and when he turned his gaze....
-SPURT!
He saw his shoulder spurting blood where his arm should have been.
He blinked blankly.
And then, as the wound registered, a tremendous pain flooded in and he let out a scream.
"Kyaaaah! I'm dying! Aaaah!"
A moment later, an eagle with enormous wings appeared behind Adrian.
It was a massive eagle whose wingspan easily exceeded two meters.
The eagle was holding a torn-off arm in its beak, with a Force Sword one of the Vanguard's pieces of equipment still tangled up in it, sheath and all.
"I took out a 70-trillion Lute installment plan to buy weapons this time, you know? I get the feeling I'll be able to pay it off pretty soon. Vanguard equipment is lying all over the place, and there's even a Sky Fortress rolling around in the backyard. Ah, and the highlight would be your family's treasure vault, right?"
"Guh! You don't mean...? For that purpose?"
"Killing two birds with one stone. I get revenge and make money at the same time."
As Adrian flicked his fingers again, the black eagle soared high into the sky and vanished.
Terrified that the eagle might attack again, the Viscount Parma Young Master fell flat on his rear.
Adrian walked up to him and tapped his cheek with the Magic Staff he was holding.
"Two ribs, one humerus, one carpal bone, one tarsal bone."
"Wh-What?"
"The bones you broke of mine."
"..."
"Of course, if it had just been fractures, I could have endured it. I have tremendous patience, after all. But you know it without me having to say it, right? You tormented me mentally far too much. Even I reached my breaking point."
A ghostly chill seeped into Arcia's normally expressionless face, and as she looked like she was about to draw her sword at any moment, Adrian held her back and spoke.
"You won't die comfortably."
"Hic, hic! Please, forgive me..."
Adrian grinned, and used healing magic on him since he had lost so much blood he'd gone pale.
Just enough to stop the bleeding, mind you.
Then he told his men to take good care of the Viscount Parma Young Master, and walked over to the Knight Captain, who was backing away.
"S-Shall I escort you to the lord's office?"
Adrian nodded at the Knight Captain's words.
"How kind of you."
"My apologies."
Had barely thirty minutes passed since the start of the battle?
And so, the battle against the Parma Viscounty came to an end.
* * *
"I didn't expect such an esteemed guest to be here."
'Count Elfried', the Bringham Empire's Intelligence Chief and a 7th Circle Grand Mage, who had slipped into the Parma Viscounty right before the battle began, narrowed her brow at the familiar voice and turned her head.
"If it isn't Her Grace Olivia Riverdale, the Duke of Riverdale."
Standing where her gaze landed was an unexpected heavyweight.
None other than the 2nd Duke Riverdale a core noble of the Kingdom of Lusias and a fellow Grand Mage.
"And you're Count Elfried, the Bringham Empire's Intelligence Chief, correct?"
Splendid blonde hair and bright yellow eyes.
The Duke Riverdale, whose appearance was just as dazzling as the color of her hair, possessed a beauty that anyone who didn't know her would mistake for a celebrity.
But the Count Elfried, with her black hair and red eyes, who stood facing her, was also so strikingly beautiful that the citizens passing by tilted their heads wondering if some filming was going on.
"Young ladies! A war might break out soon, so please take shelter ... Eek!"
A kindly middle-aged man tried to speak to the two of them, but let out a startled gasp as the two women vanished like ghosts.
"What a fine spot."
Count Elfried and Duke Riverdale had used Blink magic to relocate to the rooftop of a tall building.
-Zzzzing!
At that, the Sky Fortress above, having detected the magical energy, used a detection spell on them.
However, the Sky Fortress's detection spell registered the two as residents of the domain and returned to standby mode.
"Quite impressive."
"You as well."
The two praised each other for evading the Sky Fortress's surveillance, but soon narrowed their eyes in curiosity.
"Come to think of it, Marquis Lawrence is from your lineage, isn't he? Did you come to assist your fellow disciple?"
"Of course not. How could a foreign nation intervene in a Domain War? It would only bring disgrace upon my fellow disciple. I could at least make the excuse that I came to cheer, but what business does the Bringham Empire's Intelligence Chief have here?"
"I happened to take a personal interest after watching the news."
"Personal interest? Is that so?"
"Of course."
The Bringham Empire and the Kingdom of Lusias maintained a surface-level symbiotic relationship, but with such a wide stretch of shared border, they could turn into enemies at any moment.
Because of that, a tense standoff crackled between the two, sharp enough to spark.
"By any chance, did you come here in person to verify your suspicion that Marquis Lawrence might not actually be a fellow disciple of your sect?"
"Don't make baseless accusations. He is indeed our fellow disciple. Every piece of evidence Marquis Lawrence presented was genuine beyond a doubt."
A sharp inquiry.
In truth, Duke Olivia Riverdale did not fully and completely believe that Adrian was her father's disciple.
So she had come to observe the Domain War out of a mix of curiosity and suspicion.
But since she showed nothing on the surface, Count Elfried had no way of ascertaining the truth.
Then Duke Riverdale's counterattack began.
"The Kingdom of Rhinehearts and our Kingdom of Lusias are allied. If you're thinking of poaching Marquis Lawrence for the Empire, you'd best drop the idea. I can't just stand by and watch."
"As I said before, it's a personal interest. Of course, I can't deny that I'm also gathering information on the side."
Both of them, as if reading each other's minds, hit precisely on the crux of the matter.
"...."
"...."
But that only lasted a moment.
Knowing full well that interrogating and rebutting each other would never yield what either wanted, their standoff quickly lost its steam.
"Then let's just leave it at that."
"Agreed. Growling at each other will only wear us out for nothing."
A truce was declared, and the two merely remained aware of each other without exchanging a single word.
How much time passed like that?
-Zzzzt!
The two Grand Mages, sensitive to magical energy, felt spatial teleportation coordinates being encrypted across the Viscounty of Parma.
'Spatial Teleportation Interference Magic.'
It was an essential tool of the modern battlefield, used to hinder enemy ambushes and escapes.
And the moment this spell was cast meant...
The beginning of war.
"Over there?"
A moment later, from a distance beyond human sight, they spotted a fleet of massive flying saucers Sky Fortresses gradually approaching this city of the Viscounty of Parma.
"They're striking immediately, without granting even a moment's reprieve."
"No way... That's Marquis Lawrence?"
"Good gracious..."
"As favorable as the situation may be, to slip past even our own Vanguard and act on his own initiative that's far too reckless."
"The woman beside him must be his fiancée, Count Klein, the Aura Master."
With one foot precariously perched on a building's rooftop railing, the two used their clairvoyance magic and exchanged a conversation that wasn't quite a conversation, as if commentating live.
They had been growling at each other when they first met, but now they wore the same expression of concern over Adrian's recklessness.
But.
"Huh?"
"Haah..."
As they watched Adrian and Arcia alone break through the Viscounty's defense line and overwhelm the enemy's Vanguard units, Duke Riverdale and Count Elfried's faces stiffened.
"W-What is that?"
"...."
Adrian's combat style was, to put it kindly, revolutionary and to put it bluntly, heretical.
A mage engaging in melee combat something like that had never been seen or heard of.