"Huff, huff, huff...!"
Vlad, panting heavily, looked at the King of Conquerors, who was covered in wounds, with a sinister expression. He pressed hard on his dislocated shoulder.
Crack!
Stimulated by the intense pain, Vlad's expression became even more sinister.
"Hahaha! King of Romania! Come! Let this surging war reach its peak!"
The King of Conquerors didn't care about Vlad's expression at all, showing his spirit to Vlad as always, even though the King of Conquerors understood that the Vlad before him was actually a monster wearing Vlad III's skin.
"Die!"
An inhuman howl erupted from Vlad's mouth. His newly reset right hand, accompanied by falling blood, pointed directly at the King of Conquerors.
Blood-red spikes quickly emerged beneath the King of Conquerors' feet, seemingly wanting to impale his body.
"Hahaha!"
The King of Conquerors laughed loudly. Facing the countless emerging spikes, he moved his legs, stepping on the sword ki between the spikes. Wielding his Greek short sword, he acted like a bulldozer, forcefully smashing a path through the spikes to arrive before Vlad and strike down with his sword.
"That's it! That's a King! Hahahaha!"
Completely caught off guard, Vlad struggled to block the strike with his left hand. However, the collision between flesh and blade cost Vlad dearly; a wound appeared on his left forearm, nearly cutting through the bone.
"Aargh!"
A tragic cry of pain came from Vlad's mouth, the intense agony twisting his face to the extreme.
The King of Conquerors' right hand kept pressing the sword down while his left hand tightly gripped Vlad's right hand. Then, he delivered a heavy headbutt to Vlad's forehead, locking their heads together.
Feeling the fresh heart beating in his chest, the King of Conquerors wore a joyful smile. Looking at the target he wanted to conquer, trample, and destroy, he let out a roar of satisfaction!
"Alala!"
Finally, Vlad's right arm could no longer bear the burden and was torn from his body by the King of Conquerors' short sword. Simultaneously, the King of Conquerors took the opportunity to plunge the short sword deep into Vlad's heart near his right ribs.
"Splash!"
As the King of Conquerors pulled out the short sword and took a step back, a large spray of blood erupted from Vlad's wound, staining the battlefield red.
"What a heart-pounding war! Don't you think?"
Vlad vomited a large mouthful of blood containing fragmented tissue. Weakly kneeling on one knee, he looked up, his eyes revealing a hint of humanity.
"Yes, a surging battle! King of Conquerors! But next, you'll have to face another version of me! I really don't want to see that form again! Ahhhhh!"
Along with Vlad's scream, the monster—perhaps better called the Ghost King—discarded its outer skin, discarded Vlad's honor as a Heroic Spirit, and discarded its humanity to reveal its original appearance before the King of Conquerors.
"Roar!"
The Ghost King swung its remaining massive left claw and opened its bloody maw to let out a heart-wrenching roar at the King of Conquerors.
Looking at the Ghost King before him, the King of Conquerors' eyes were filled with regret.
"How pitiful, this form. My apologies! I failed to kill you in your previous state!"
"Bang!"
Separated by only a step, the Ghost King and the King of Conquerors engaged in a fierce brawl.
Relying on his size advantage, the King of Conquerors successfully took the lead in the collision.
Casting aside his short sword, the King of Conquerors used Pankration techniques from ancient Greece. Taking advantage of the Ghost King's stumble, he instantly grabbed the Ghost King around the waist. Simultaneously, he locked the Ghost King's left arm and head with his legs and began to squat down with all his might.
With his jaw pinned by the King of Conquerors' strong thigh muscles and his left arm locked, the Ghost King struggled incessantly, his knees slamming into the King of Conquerors' chest in an attempt to make him let go.
But at the same time, the King of Conquerors' continuous downward force began to exert massive tearing pressure on the Ghost King's neck and left arm, causing the Ghost King to let out painful shrieks.
"Crack, crack, crack!"
The sound of bones breaking echoed continuously. Even with several ribs already shattered, the King of Conquerors still held the Ghost King in a tight lock, his face flushed and veins bulging as he forced himself into a squat.
"Gah... gah... gah..."
Mouthful after mouthful of blood foam overflowed from the Ghost King's mouth. The torn skin and muscles of its left arm gushed blood, staining the King of Conquerors' lower body red. An overly tenacious vitality kept the already extremely weak Ghost King alive, though it only suffered greater pain.
Suffocating, tearing, agonizing—with all the bones in its neck snapped and its trachea and esophagus torn into several segments, the Ghost King twitched slightly, closed its eyes, and completely lost consciousness.
The King of Conquerors slowly released the unconscious Ghost King and collapsed onto the ground nearby, breathing heavily. After a while, having recovered some strength, the King of Conquerors slowly stood up, picked up the short sword he had discarded earlier, and turned back to stand beside the Ghost King.
"Cough~ Thank you for letting me experience a battlefield I haven't seen in a long time. Farewell!"
As the King of Conquerors swung his sword down, the Ghost King shed its distorted form and turned back into Vlad. Then, Vlad smiled and said "thank you" to the King of Conquerors before dissolving into a mass of spirit particles and vanishing from the world.
Having already noticed the situation here, Mordred, who had been staying on the periphery to help the King of Conquerors clear the battlefield, walked over to the wounded and coughing King of Conquerors. Leaning on Excalibur, she said with a smile:
"Big guy, you look like a mess!"
"Cough cough, yeah, a bone probably punctured my lung! It's a bit hard to breathe~ cough..."
"Mr. Alexander, please don't move!"
Seeing the King of Conquerors' wretched state, Lily, who had followed Mordred to his side, hurriedly knelt down in concern to support him. She leaned avalon against the King of Conquerors, attempting to use its power to heal him.
"Fujimaru, please contact Illya and ask her to use her magical energy to treat Mr. Alexander!"
"Oh! Okay!"
Looking at the battlefield which was nearing its end, Mordred thrust Excalibur into the ground and sat down beside the King of Conquerors, leaning against the spine of the sword.
"Was he a good opponent?"
The King of Conquerors laughed, thinking of the Vlad from just now, and patted Mordred's shoulder.
"He was indeed a fine king. Even being summoned as a monster, he still maintained the dignity of a king. It's just a pity I couldn't fight him when he was truly a king!"
"That really is a pity. But if you encounter his kingly side again next time, you have to leave him to me! A king should be suppressed by a rebel like me!"
The King of Conquerors reached out toward the sky and clenched his fist.
"That won't do! He is a target of conquest chosen by me, Iskandar, the King of Conquerors. There's no room for negotiation on this!"
Mordred curled her lip at the heroic King of Conquerors and slapped him hard on the back, making him cough repeatedly.
"I'm the Rebellious Knight! You're also my target, big guy, so I don't care if you allow it or not. If it comes down to it, I'll just fight you too, hahahahaha!"
At that moment, a small white hand grabbed Mordred's ear and pulled it slightly.
"Mordred! Mr. Alexander is injured, watch it!"
Looking at the slightly annoyed Lily, Mordred shrunk her neck, looking completely submissive—not a bit of the Rebellious Knight's demeanor remained.
Mash looked at Mordred and said with a smile to Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had just finished communicating with Illya:
"Senpai, Miss Lily seems to have gotten used to being Mordred's mother~!"
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