Chapter 747: Dave

“Take my hand,” his younger brother said.

“There, there you are.”

His voice was so weak it sounded like it might fade away at any moment. The only thing Unbent Knee could do was hold his hand tightly instead of replying.

“Hehe… I’m… I’m glad… I thought… you were too… busy to come.”

Unbent Knee stayed silent.

Although he had sworn a vow of silence, the truth was that there was nothing for him to say.

As his younger brother had said, he had never been able to truly be there. He was always caught up with the Red Ones’ fight for their rights… or rather, he used that as an excuse to stay away.

He hated himself for it.

“Do… you remember, brother? Our old home?”

A dump on the outskirts of First Step.

That was where Unbent Knee and his brother had lived.

All it had was poverty, discrimination, crime, disease, and the alcoholic.

Their father was one of those alcoholics.

“We used to play there a lot… it was fun, wasn’t it?”

No, it had never been fun.

It had been a place of misery, nothing more. Their father’s violence was all that greeted them there.

The only reason he’d played with his brother was because there was nothing else to do. If he hadn’t, he might have gone mad.

The proof of it was that as soon as their father died and the chief took him in, giving him an opportunity to do something else, he had immediately lost interest in his brother.

Learning black magic and fighting for the independence of the Red Ones had seemed so much more valuable.

Surely, it was better than wasting time with his brother, who he thought was useless.

He hated himself for it.

“It’s strange, but I remember everything so clearly now… the chief, strong Lily, old Ten Fingers, and Laughing Mouth.”

His brother recalled their memories with those people.

Memories of the chief who had taken care of them, the chief’s daughter Lily who had led their people, Ten Fingers who had been skilled with his hands, and Laughing Mouth who, alongside Unbent Knee, had played the role of their elder brother.

But now none of that mattered anymore.

All of them had either died in the Red Ones’ struggle for freedom or during the ritual to summon the devil.

Now, he and his brother were the only ones left. Just the two of them.

He hated himself for it.

“Heh heh… It’s funny, isn’t it? I was always the fool. Always the idiot. Couldn’t remember stuff from just a few days ago…”

His brother suddenly started laughing.

He wasn’t wrong. Unbent Knee’s brother had always been the fool.

Not a complete idiot, but he had a strangely bad memory, wasn’t good with work, and had no talent for black magic.

It was only because he had Unbent Knee as his brother that the tribe had kept him around.

As a result, he had always been slightly annoying to the others, and even to Unbent Knee himself. Even if he’d come looking for him out of concern, Unbent Knee had ignored and pushed him away.

‘Brother! Are you al-’

The last time was before the devil summoning ritual. His brother had come to him, worried, but Unbent Knee had shoved him aside without a word.

Recalling that memory now, Unbent Knee was filled with hatred for the world again.

If only his tongue had been free back then, if only he’d spoken to him. Now it was too late. Why had it been so hard?

“…”

Now all he could do was hold his brother’s hand.

He couldn’t even manage to say, ‘It’s okay,’ or ‘I love you.’ He hated himself.

“I wish… I could’ve been like this earlier. Then… I could’ve helped the others… and you… a lot more.”

He hated himself. He hated himself. Unbent Knee hated himself for everything.

He hated being tricked by Eternal Child Fen into summoning the devil, the destruction of his tribe, the moment his struggle for freedom had been disturbed, and the fact that now, he couldn’t speak even if he wanted to. He hated everything.

He hated it so much that he no longer knew what he hated.

He just hated it all. He wished everything would burn. Everything, including himself.

Did those feelings reach his brother through the grip of his hand? His brother spoke in a voice far more serious than any he’d ever used in life.

“Brother… it’s okay. You can do it now. I’ve done everything I wanted to. Talking… talking with you. Hehe… so, brother, it’s okay. I don’t hate you.”

“…”

“It’s something that has to be done, right? Revenge… You have to leave proof that we were here, don’t you?”

“…”

“So it’s okay. Really… you can do it.”

For the first time, his younger brother, who had always been shy and scared, gave him permission.

In the whirlpool of hatred, anger, and guilt, Unbent Knee felt something snap inside him.

He let go of his brother’s hand and reached for his neck.

He hated everything.

Squeeze…

The bed beneath his brother slowly creaked under the pressure, and guttural choking sounds echoed as he squeezed.

He hated everything.

Each time he squeezed harder, he muttered words from his silent lips.

He hated everything.

For a time that seemed to go on forever.

He hated everything.

***

Roooaaaar━━!!!

A giant dragon covered in blood-red flames soared through the darkened sky, belching fire everywhere.

Ironically, the dragon’s wild flames burned away the darkness, bringing light to the blackened heavens.

However, the flames were soon swallowed back by the darkness, but the dragon didn’t stop its assault on the dark sky.

Roooaaaar━━!!!

“How… is this possible…”

One of the Holy Knights watching muttered in disbelief.

It made sense. The dragon, once a symbol of destruction, had certainly earned that reputation.

It had once been a living disaster, taking countless lives, which was why it had been hunted down by the Archive.

Even though it had been extinct for many years, it was still seen as a symbol of chaos and evil, a fact that reflected the fear it had inspired.

And yet now, this dragon was fighting to burn away the darkness that had consumed the city, casting light on the madness surrounding them.

It was a sight that left the Holy Knights, raised on the teachings of the Holy Emperor’s Palace, in a state of confusion.

“We don’t know what’s happening, but it’s not a bad thing.”

Of course, confusion and negativity didn’t always go hand in hand.

Confusion just meant things were mixed up and chaotic. It wasn’t necessarily bad or good.

In fact, some of the Holy Knights were starting to think positively.

After all, when Prince Albert’s radio broadcast was transmitted, the dragon appeared in the sky, and the madness that gripped the city began to fade.

The madness that had driven people to slaughter orphans and prostitutes at random, and even led some to attack the Holy Knights inside their headquarters.

If this dragon could put an end to that madness and free the city from it, then surely it wasn’t such a bad thing.

“Y-yeah! It’s not bad at all!”

“I’ve checked the streets, and the orphan hunts have stopped. People are evacuating too.”

“Evacuating? To where?!”

The Holy Knights, recovering from their confusion, began to assess the situation.

Things hadn’t fully stabilized, but overall, everyone felt it was an improvement over before.

Everyone except one person.

That person was none other than Joanna, who had come to the Holy Knight’s headquarters to offer support but got trapped there due to the chaos.

“…”

Unlike the other Holy Knights, Joanna looked even paler after seeing the flaming dragon burning through the darkness.

Even paler than when people had been hunting down women and children in the streets.

It made sense. She knew exactly who was controlling that dragon. And if the dragon was here, it meant that person had arrived in the Capital, and the thing she feared the most was about to happen.

‘Can you face the truth?’

The memory of her conversation with The Burned One resurfaced.

The conversation that had happened after Oliver fainted while trying to save First Step, when he spoke to the devil.

As the devil’s voice echoed in her mind, Joanna staggered.

Seeing her unsteady, the Holy Knights rushed to support her.

“Are you alright, Lady Joanna?”

They referred to her as ‘Lady Joanna’ out of respect. Joanna had asked them to call her that.

At first, they had called her with titles like Rescuer, Saint, and Child of the Angels, but after her request, they had agreed to address her simply as Lady Joanna. Though right now, titles were far from the real issue.

More pressing was the situation at hand and the fact that Oliver had arrived.

Things couldn’t get any worse.

She had expected this, but now it was happening far sooner than she had anticipated. On top of that, the one person she had hoped wouldn’t come… had come.

Once again, she remembered her conversation with The Burned One… the harsh truth.

As the memory surfaced, her headache returned, but a fear even greater than the headache surged up within her.

“Lady Joanna?…”

Hearing the worried voices around her, Joanna responded.

“What’s going on outside?”

“The city has mostly calmed down for now. The senseless killings have stopped, and everyone is being led to safety.”

“Led? By who?”

Joanna asked in disbelief. Who could possibly lead people in this chaos?

“Unbelievable as it sounds, the Kel Rebels are using fire-based teleportation magic to evacuate people.”

The Holy Knight replied, sounding as shocked as Joanna felt.

It was understandable. Anyone who knew even a little about the history between Northland and the United Kingdom’s Kel Rebels would feel the same.

Seeing was believing, and yet even after seeing it himself, he could hardly believe it.

But it was happening. Fortunately for Joanna, she hadn’t witnessed it, so she could accept it more easily by hearing about it.

“I see. That’s good.”

“Y-yes…”

The Holy Knight answered in a voice filled with shame.

It should have been the Holy Knights who took charge of the situation, yet they hadn’t. In fact, they had been so ineffective that they had even feared attack from their own citizens.

However, the most humiliating part was when they had stopped Joanna from going outside to help, doing so for fear of losing the last flicker of hope.

The Holy Knights from the Capital and her personal retinue had all begged her not to go, risking their lives to stop her.

Still, no one regretted their decision.

The fact that they had been so clueless about the Royal Family’s conspiracy with Puppet and had been unable to deal with it was certainly embarrassing, but Joanna’s safety was the far greater concern.

If even she were to fall, the Pater Church would be finished.

For that reason, the Holy Knight was about to suggest something to Joanna.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to use the fire-based teleportation magic the Kel Rebels were using to escape the Capital.

They didn’t want her, the Child of the Angels, to fight here amongst disaster but rather wanted her to flee, securing her safety.

Yet, before the Holy Knight could make his suggestion, Joanna spoke first.

“We need to go to the Royal Palace.”

“What?!”

“Now is the perfect time. The people are evacuating, the chaotic citizens are gone, and the streets are clear. This means fewer innocent people will be caught in the crossfire. It’s the best time to strike.”

“That may be true, but…”

The Holy Knight from the United Kingdom branch strongly objected.

With Holy Power gone, Joanna was the only proof the Pater Church had that they hadn’t been abandoned by God.

If something happened to her, the longest-enduring religion in human history might truly fall for the first time.

That would mean all the effort the past knights had devoted to the Church would have been for nothing.

Such a thought filled him with a sense of futility, the kind that chilled him to the bone.

Despite feeling this, he attempted to object. Yet, it was clearly no easy task.

The look in Joanna’s eyes was resolute. It was as if she had found a reason she simply couldn’t ignore.

“Hurgh! Huuurgh-!”

As Joanna and the Holy Knight stared each other down, another knight coughed up blood, nearly vomiting.

The sight of blood was shocking, so they rushed over, but another knight quickly explained.

“Don’t worry. It’s not blood.”

“Then what?”

“Hurk… The water… it’s turned to blood. He just spat that out.”

“Water turned to blood?”

Joanna recalled hearing something similar before.

At that moment, frogs began to pour out from the spilt bottles of bloodied water.

Not just from bottles, but from cups, bathtubs, ponds, and even fountains… frogs erupted, covering the ground.

As the frogs filled the scene, Joanna spoke.

“Do you still think I should stay out of this?”

The Holy Knight had no response.