TNRSF 01

A lump of blood surged up.

The holy sword of the Order that had pierced straight through my heart.

It was a fatal wound. I couldn’t survive.

“This is the end. Akimond.”

“Yeah. It’s over.”

While the allied forces gathered and slammed into the defensive line, a small elite unit infiltrated to eliminate me.

I had anticipated it and built layered defenses, but this man broke through all of them and struck me down.

It was my complete defeat.

“All because of a single knight…. My revenge turning into nothing.”

“It wasn’t something I did alone.”

A resolute voice cut off my lament.

The knight who had planted the holy sword in my heart, Berkel Leinrant.

The leader of the Northern Knight Order who had endured against me alone for two months.

And now, the Duke of Leinrant, praised as a hero across the entire continent.

“That’s right, Akimond! It was the will of the alliance that defeated you! The human will that gathered in one place…!”

“Shut up-!”

I spat out my voice along with the blood.

At the deep, resonant shout, the knight who had been babbling behind Berkel’s back flinched and stepped away.

“Do you think…. Do you think I don’t know you people!?”

I imagined the looks of relief they would have at my death.

Emperor Meldir, Archmage Arcan, and even Pope Prahan.

Just imagining it made nausea rise up.

“For their own benefit, they’ll do anything! Trample anything! Devour anything! That’s what humans are!”

I roared like a beast.

A deep-rooted distrust and hatred toward humanity.

That was the source of the necromancer who swept across the continent, me, Akimond.

“Duke Leinrant, you know it too, don’t you!?”

When I spoke of his territory with a sneer, Berkel clenched his teeth.

“When a plague spread through the North, those bastards just stood by with their hands behind their backs and watched! Only when a blade was pressed to their own throats did they start yapping about alliances and continental peace!”

“W-What?!”

“This bastard, with that mouth of his…!”

As I exposed the alliance’s disgrace, the enraged knights rushed at me, but Berkel blocked them.

The great plague that covered the entire North.

Amid the indifference of neighboring nations, twenty million people lost their lives, and they had now become my army.

Among them were also the people of Berkel’s homeland, the territory of Leinrant.

“Yeah. That was the spark of this war.”

I forcibly held onto my legs as they tried to give out.

At least for now.

At least as long as my will remained, I would never kneel.

“The Round Table of Five Kings? An alliance for peace? Ha! I guarantee it! It won’t even last a year before it falls apart!”

My body staggered as I spat out my final shout.

Watching me like that, Berkel opened his mouth as if answering my last scream.

“You’re right. With the public enemy Akimond gone, the alliance will soon lose its strength.”

A single line acknowledging their own shame.

My blood-crusted lips curved.

The sight of them accepting those who had turned away from others’ misfortune as comrades was utterly laughable.

“Knowing that, you chose to be their dog? Why?”

I truly felt pity.

Berkel.

If he hadn’t appeared, I really could have wiped out the continent.

“To leave my existence for the children.”

But when I heard his answer, I could no longer mock him.

“What… did you say?”

With a stiffened face, I asked again.

“To turn my life and my decisions into a symbol, and leave them in history.”

I looked at Berkel, having forgotten what to say.

The knight’s eyes, shining clear and bright, reflected my appearance.

A dark, ugly, corrupted figure.

“And if you leave that behind…. what happens then?”

When I asked, Berkel spoke in a low voice.

“It gives birth to a new hero. The next generation’s Berkel Leinrant.”

“Ha……!”

I was dumbfounded.

A northern knight who had arrived here bearing pain like mine.

But the ideology he held was the complete opposite of my twisted one.

Thud!

The body that had endured to the very end finally collapsed.

Not only my strength, but even my heart had been defeated.

“Strike.”

“…….”

With a drained voice, I raised my thumb and pointed at my neck.

“I won’t die from a wound like this. You have to cut off my head and make sure to end my breathing.”

After hearing my words, Berkel discarded the holy sword in his right hand and drew his own blade.

“Berkel, right now…!”

“If you draw the holy sword, that…!”

His comrades seemed to be shouting something behind him, but I couldn’t hear them.

“For this much, I’m grateful. Akimond.”

At the small voice meant only for me, I lifted my head.

The sword raised over his shoulder was aimed at my head.

“Because by your death, the North will never collapse again.”

With that single line as the last thing I heard, my vision spun.

My severed head fell away, and the cheers of the knights filled the ice fortress.

This was the end of the great war that lasted ten years.

The final end of the continent’s public enemy, Necromancer Akimond.

—

…Or so I thought it was the end.

“Oh my? Head maid! The young master’s mouth is moving!”

“Is that true? Where, where!”

The moment I opened my eyes, what appeared was a dazzling room.

The woman soothing me was a wet nurse, and the woman holding me seemed to be the head maid.

“Young master, look over here and try saying ‘Mama~’! It’s the Duchess!”

The wet nurse shaking my body held a picture in front of me.

A portrait of a beautiful woman.

Judging by her bearing, she seemed to be of high status, dressed in a splendid gown.

“Say it, young master! Mama! Mama~!”

“Uh…. Ma…!”

Looking at it, I forced my voice out with all my strength.

“Gatekeepers of darkness and minions, and soldiers! I, Akimond, call upon you, so heed my command!”