Chapter 7

Before riding out, Leonhardt sat atop his horse, gazing up at the sky lost in thought. He had long since abandoned the habit of praying every morning, but facing an impending battle was a different matter entirely.

Let no one be hurt, and let no child suffer from sickness or hunger. Bestow your mercy so that everything unfolds in the right direction…

Closing his eyes in prayer for a brief moment, Leonhardt looked straight ahead once more. Leaving behind the biting, bone-chilling gales, his heart fluttered with complex emotions at the thought of stepping foot upon his homeland—a place that remained in his mind like a faded memory.

The entity Leonhardt prayed to wasn’t God, nor was it Kelles; it was himself.

If there was one truth he had learned from living with Kelles, it was that God did not answer prayers. Having realized that everything depended solely on his own actions, that prayer had now become a quiet vow to himself.

If there was something he wished to achieve, he simply had to claim it with his own two hands. Just like Kelles, who had waited a thousand years and finally seized its intact physical body.

Are you nervous?

“I’d be lying if I said no.”

Leonhardt looked at Kelles, who had approached his side at some point. The monster was exceptionally skilled at transformation magic; while it lived with him, it took on a form that looked like a chimera of various beasts, but it made an exception when engaging in outward activities. The massive figure of a man composed entirely of black flames exuded a deeply ominous aura.

However, Leonhardt wasn’t bothered by its appearance. He knew full well now that such things were ultimately nothing more than useless shells.

“…But I have no doubt that everything will turn out well.”

He meant every word. Leaning toward Kelles, Leonhardt pressed a brief kiss to its blazing jaw before pulling back.

You’ve grown quite coquettish. You were already a seductress before, but it seems I’ll have to fuck you senseless as a reward.

“…I’ll tolerate any other joke, but I’ll decline on the battlefield. You can do whatever you want once this is all over.”

Always so stiff.

A low mutter—You can’t hide your knight origins—brushed past his ear, carried on the wind. Leonhardt clicked his tongue softly, scolding it to act with a little more dignity, but Kelles, as always, let it go in one ear and out the other.

“Haa… Seriously. No, wait, that’s not it. Sorcerers are just like that originally.”

Searching his memories for how sorcerers typically behaved on the battlefield, Leonhardt shook his head. Every single one of them had a streak of eccentricity. It was simply absurd that monsters were no exception.

“……”

Leonhardt looked behind him. The figures mounted on the horses were all monsters. Though their sizes and shapes varied wildly, the elites—excluding the orcs—shared one common trait: they were all children he had birthed.

“…We shall cross the mountain range and head south. And we shall achieve our deepest desires.”

His voice, ringing clear in the cool air, seemed to have regained almost all of its former majesty. In truth, after dedicating himself to the monster, Leonhardt’s body had stopped aging, leaving him in a state of half-monsterization. Standing at the vanguard of the monster army, he had, at some point, returned perfectly to the figure of a knight commander.

Raising his sword high, Leonhardt shouted into the open air.

“All forces, charge!”

The thunderous sound of hooves striking the earth rang out fiercely. The monster legion began their stampede southward, heading straight for the warm kingdom that Leonhardt had once loved so dearly.

Riding alongside Leonhardt, Kelles leisurely surveyed their surroundings. It had promised not to invade the human realm on the condition of claiming this adorable man entirely for itself. Planning this campaign had been purely Leonhardt’s will, and he had taken it upon himself to lead from the front.

In short, the one invading the humans was the monster Knight Commander Leonhardt, not the sorcerer Kelles.

Somehow, I feel like I’m being thoroughly dominated.

Kelles muttered the passing thought as it spurred its horse forward. Leonhardt was gentler with the young than Kelles was, but in some aspects, he was incredibly strict. He was particularly exacting when it came to their training and studies, and the same held true when marrying off their fully grown children. Thanks to him, the poor monsters hadn’t been able to slack off even once and had all been forged into formidable warriors, leaving Kelles unsure whether to laugh or not.

Well, I fully intend to fuck him raw once this is all over.

To an ancient being, time was limitless, and it lacked for nothing. Kelles was already pondering exactly how it should ravish Leonhardt—wondering if taking him on horseback would be fun—as its impure gaze swept over the man’s back.

In truth, it harbored no particular feelings toward Leonhardt’s homeland. It was merely participating in the retribution because Leonhardt had wished for it so earnestly, and because it looked rather amusing.

Of course, if the man were to ever find himself at a disadvantage, Kelles would gladly bypass the agreement with the humans in any way possible to assist him wholeheartedly. However, it seemed highly unlikely that this meticulous knight commander would ever botch the job.

The diligent horses, taking after their master, carried the monster knight commander across mountains and rivers. The blue-eyed monster knight commander was genuinely, fiercely anticipating the impending clash.

***

“Huff… urgh… Hold your ground, everyone…!” the aging man bellowed, his knuckles white around his sword hilt. Wounded knights lay strewn about him, painting a stark picture of their imminent defeat.

“Do you truly have the luxury to worry about others? It seems I am being underestimated.” A deep, resonant voice echoed from within the dark metal helmet. This unidentified monster, capable of speaking the human tongue, displayed devastating swordsmanship. Every blow crushed the very air; it was no exaggeration to say that anything his blade grazed was pulverized into dust.

While the lesser monsters were formidable enough, the beastly knight commander leading the vanguard proved exceptionally lethal. Despite possessing an immortal body that regenerated from every lethal thrust, he exhibited a terrifying intellect and masterful swordsmanship rarely seen in mindless beasts. Furthermore, divine power simply slid off his dark armor without leaving a scorch mark, rendering their traditional anti-monster tactics useless. It baffled the mind why such an apocalyptic creature had remained hidden until now, only to emerge and decimate their ranks.

“Damn it… damn it!” Clang! The ear-splitting shriek of clashing steel pierced the battlefield. What made this particular monster so unsettling was the uncanny familiarity of his technique—his swordsmanship mirrored the kingdom’s orthodox forms far too closely. He fought exactly like a veteran trained within the Royal Knights, yet a demonic energy wreathed his entire body, making it impossible to mistake him for a holy knight and throwing his opponents into confusion.

Clang, clang!

As the brutal exchange dragged on, Alec’s stamina drained away. He was no longer a young man in his prime, and the heavy burden of the knights under his command weighed down his exhausted shoulders. He ached to check if his subordinates had survived the onslaught, but merely surviving the sinister knight who had cleaved straight into the heart of the kingdom required every ounce of his dwindling focus.

“Ugh… gasp…!” Overpowered by sheer brute force, Alec lost his grip on his sword and crashed onto the blood-soaked stones. The uninvited conqueror closed the distance with the heavy, rhythmic clanking of dark armor, leveling the tip of his bloodied blade at Alec’s throat.

“Ha… haha. I’ve lost all face as the Holy Knight Commander… to be defeated by a mere monster knight.” Sensing his impending execution, Alec squeezed his eyes shut. However, instead of the swift decapitation he expected, an unexpected voice struck his ears.

“Is that how I taught you, Alec?”

“W-what? You…” The unidentified knight slowly pushed up his visor, revealing an impossibly familiar face. Those unmistakably vivid blue eyes, the thick, dark eyebrows paired with gently drooping outer corners. Down to the stray strands of hair falling across his forehead, the creature looked exactly as if he had swallowed the Leonhardt from Alec’s memories whole.

“D-don’t be ridiculous… He passed away. You bastard are just…”

“…”

A fleeting trace of bitterness flickered through Leonhardt’s eyes at Alec’s stammering denial. Decades had passed; it was only natural for them to believe he had perished in the harsh north. Yet, hearing Alec still refer to him with such deep reverence—especially after casting such cold, heartless glares during their final parting—sent a strange, painful twinge through his chest.

“I told you it isn’t over until it’s truly over,” Leonhardt murmured. “And I explicitly ordered you to trust only what you see with your own eyes.”

“What… what are you? How can a monster…” Alec bit his trembling lip, unable to finish his sentence. This creature spoke with the exact same cadence as his father figure, delivering the same habitual scoldings to plunge his mind into chaos. The moment he looked upon Leonhardt’s face, all the painful memories he had fought so desperately to bury flooded back.

“A monster… Well, let’s just say that I am.” Leonhardt didn’t bother offering a lengthy explanation. Alec, who had now aged to match Leonhardt’s former years, had grown into a proper Knight Commander, and his subordinates seemed to follow him with genuine loyalty. However, Leonhardt found himself oddly dissatisfied by the glaring openings in their defenses. The knight order’s overall prowess had severely degraded compared to when he managed them, and the battle had ended far too easily.

Those piercing, glacial blue eyes gazed down at the aging commander. Leonhardt still harbored resentment toward him, but the burning hatred of the past had cooled into something lesser. In fact, he found the man rather pathetic. Seeing Alec suffocating under that rigid Holy Knight uniform, bearing the crushing weight of countless responsibilities just as Leonhardt once had, stirred a surprising twinge of pity.

Alec wasn’t a child born of his own flesh and blood—unlike the monstrous offspring who had just handed him this sweeping victory—but Leonhardt had watched him grow since childhood. Severing decades of lingering affection proved difficult. Releasing a heavy sigh, Leonhardt raised his sword.

“Haa…”

Clang!

The monster knight slammed his blade down, embedding it deep into the stone floor mere inches from Alec’s face.

“Holy Knight Commander Alec was defeated by me and died,” Leonhardt declared, his voice flat. “Let’s end the stories of the past right here.”

Boiling with unquenchable vengeance simply didn’t suit his nature. Considering how he had cursed Kelles to the deepest pits of hell, only to end up tangled in an intimate, flesh-bonding relationship with him, this lukewarmness was probably just a core part of his innate personality.

Stepping over the fallen Alec, Leonhardt turned toward his monstrous children, commanding them in a guttural language only they could comprehend.

[Are you certain no one was killed?]

[Yes, Father. Not a single life was lost.]

[Good.]

Considering the extreme ferocity of the invasion, the actual occupation was remarkably gentle. Leonhardt remained a fiercely kind parent to his children, strictly forbidding them from harming women or children. His bloodstained blade pointed exclusively at the warmongering patriarchs who had instigated the conflict and banished him to the frozen fringes of the north.

Staring silently at Alec’s trembling form for a moment, Leonhardt finally issued the decree to his sons.

[Then, choose whichever holy knights you desire. Take your pick.]

Having fully embraced his monstrous existence, trivial concepts like human moral codes no longer concerned him. His sole priority was the flourishing prosperity of his lineage, and holy knights possessed the perfect physical constitution for bearing monster offspring.

“W-what…! What the hell did you just say to them?!” Seized violently by a monster’s massive, calloused hand, Alec thrashed wildly, desperately gathering raw divine power into his palm. However, Leonhardt’s descendants—creatures raised on the milk of holy knights—didn’t feel the slightest prickle from the blinding burst of holy light.

The firstborn son, born of the union between Kelles and Leonhardt, hoisted Alec over his broad shoulder like a sack of grain.

[I will claim this one. His duel against you was deeply impressive, Father.]

[…Well, he doesn’t have a terrible personality, so he’ll treat you well enough,] Leonhardt noted, his tone unhurried. [Though it will certainly take some time.]

“You bastards will be punished! There’s a limit to how much you can insult him—mph, mmph!” Alec’s furious screams were muffled as a heavy hand clamped over his mouth.

[He’s spirited,] the eldest son chuckled. [I like how sturdy he is.]

[His divine power won’t be an issue, but watch out for his kicks and punches,] Leonhardt warned. [Alec’s fists were notoriously heavy back in the day.]

Though considering the man’s advanced age, Leonhardt figured that reputation might belong entirely to the past. Trusting his son to handle the rest, he swept his gaze across the ruined courtyard, watching his monstrous legion eagerly claim their human spoils of war. He spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd, mixed with hopelessly green recruits he had never seen before.

Regardless of their past, every single one of them was about to be liberated—liberated from their foolish, blinding faith.

Leaving the pandemonium of the crumbling palace behind, Leonhardt turned his steps toward where Kelles waited. Considering he had just condemned men who were already fathers—and men who were meant to become fathers—into serving as breeding wives for his monstrous brood, his footsteps were remarkably light.

-The End-