Five Time Regressor Walks the King’s Path - Chapter 53
Chapter 53
No. 1 seemed to be playing the role of some sort of final boss for this Floor.
“I didn’t think I would lose all the Numbers to you.”
“Should’ve kept them on a tighter leash. That, or you should’ve trained them harder so they wouldn’t be weaker than me.”
No. 1 immediately attacked due to my provocation.
I suddenly remembered Cynthia and Chen. Thinking about how I’d have a proper fight after so long, I smiled as I countered his attack.
No. 1 swung his sword and unleashed a series of non-stop attacks.
At first, his sword colliding with mine felt like a small wave.
However, the wave didn’t stop. Instead it began to grow in size.
Supreme Evil Form—
Blood-Red Wave Technique.
Eventually, the wave grew so big that it swallowed up the entire world.
Just like that, his sword became a complete wave.
First Form—
Electro Epilepsy.
Lightning flashed high up into the sky.
It split the wave that engulfed the world and the ground was revealed at that spot.
[B-Rank skill, The Sword Path, is being activated.]
The color of my eyes bled into a deep yellow.
According to the skill, The Sword Path, I was able to detect all the attack routes of a sword. Seeing the wave break apart more and more, No. 1 couldn’t help but be surprised.
My sword skills had penetrated that display of his excellent swordsmanship.
Now it was my turn.
Second Form—
Lightning Death Blow.
Bolts of lightning attacked consecutively, targeting his shattered swordsmanship.
With the next series of attacks, it was No. 1’s turn to defend.
No. 1 clenched his teeth and continued to strike back.
However, my aura attribute was electricity.
Every time our attacks clashed against one another an electric current exploded. This was slowly chipping away at the aura shielding No. 1.
On top of that, I was gaining momentum.
No. 1 noticed that and struggled to use all his might to try and cut the flow of my swordsmanship
His next move arrived.
Like a waterfall crashing down as if it were a giant dragon, his sword slashed from top to bottom.
Supreme Evil Form—
Piercing Dragon Cataract.
The waterfall descending from the sky weighed down my sword.
As a result, my flow was interrupted. Finding his chance, No. 1 immediately wrapped his sword in aura.
With the aura wrapped around his sword, he sliced slowly through the air bringing about an unstoppable stillness.
Supreme Evil Form—
Transparent Encounter.
Raindrops fell in the silence.
Before I knew it, a mixture of blood and water slowly dripped from my chest as if it were raining.
However, despite initiating the attack, No. 1’s body was also cut along with the space surrounding him.
From the gash, lightning formed and soon engulfed the space.
Fifth Form—
Intangible Lightning Death.
As the lightning that consumed the space disappeared, he slowly collapsed with slanted marks littering his body.
I wiped off the blood on my chest and lowered my sword.
I didn’t hold back or anything since he was an opponent who had reached the level of a Grand Sword Master.
‘Roughly weaker than Chen but stronger than Cynthia.’
Reminiscing about the Sword Masters I’d met most recently, it was really a shame.
Although the skill was activated, this level of experience didn’t increase the level of The Sword Path.
‘I really want to meet someone at the Sword Emperor level.’
I clicked my tongue and slid the Heavenly Star Sword into the sheath at my waist. The bunch of people behind me who hadn’t fainted from my aura were all frozen and unable to move.
Even though they witnessed it firsthand, they still couldn’t believe the pride of the empire, the Six Bladeworks, had lost to a single person.
Click. Clack.
Then, in the midst of their bewilderment, Rush walked out.
He came to stand next to me before approaching the emperor.
The time for Gratia’s new history was here.
When Rush stood in front of the emperor, a man jumped out.
That person was Duke Rosiane.
He must’ve had more mental strength than I thought since he didn’t faint. He stood in front of Rush, looking about ten years older with sweat dripping down his face.
He feared my transcendent figure.
Tremble. Tremble.
He was trembling.
However, he blocked our path with strong volition. He showed that he wasn’t going to hand over the position of emperor to us.
A mad man could turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to his fears.
‘It’s just as I heard from No. 3.’
No. 3 told me something that Duke Rosiane had done in secret.
Rosiane did not desire 20 years of peace.
He believed that the empire could grow bigger and rule the world as the strongest nation.
Warmonger, 62 years of age. It was a nickname given to the man who witnessed 40 years of war.
* * *
[Rosiane, you have to protect the country. This country will someday become the best.]
[Rosiane, it’s war… again. Take a good look. War is a stepping stone. It’s the best pretext that allows us to devour other countries. Our empire has never lost a war. So one day, we’ll definitely become the best.]
[Our empire is superior. All the people of the empire are of a superior race. Remember Rosiane, our empire is a nation created to rule the world.]
Those were the words that Duke Rosiane had heard from his father since he was a boy.
To Duke Rosiane, the title of “Strongest Empire” was always true and right.
In fact, he always recalled his father’s words and believed they were correct as he watched country after country collapse in wars with their empire.
Just like that, 40 years had gone by.
In the wars he’d seen from the time he was barely older than a newborn to a middle-aged man, the empire never lost.
Until the newly-crowned emperor declared he would not wage further wars.
“Your Majesty! The empire is continuously reporting victories! Is it not clear that at this rate, we would swallow up all other countries and become the world’s first unified nation?”
“Rosiane, I’m aware. The army of the empire is greater than the armies of other countries. However, let’s look at the reality. People would continue to be used in wars, and they are not infinite. If wars continue on like this, the empire will eventually collapse.”
“What are you talking about? The empire would collapse? That can’t be! Our empire is always right. Isn’t it natural for the people to sacrifice themselves for the empire? All people of the empire would think so!”
“Please, Rosiane, come to your senses. Your ideas are too dangerous. Do you know what people call you? Warmonger, a warmonger. You’ve been consumed by war for far too long. It’s time to return to reality.”
Unlike the previous emperors who actively engaged in war, the emperor currently holding the crown was very much a pacifist.
He had given full support for the war before ascending to the throne.
However, once he’d risen to the throne, he swiftly changed his tune and began talking nonsense about stopping the war for the sake of the country.
Of course, he’d expected that there would be backlash for this, but the emperor was more meticulous than one might expect.
Without Rosiane or the other war-crazed nobles noticing, the emperor shared his ideas with the nobles exhausted from the wars. As a result, an abrupt truce was declared with their agreement.
The Warmonger, Rosiane, was against it until the very end. However, the decision was already set in stone.
In the end, they agreed on a truce but stubbornly insisted to leave the conscription system in place. The emperor agreed to it in order to calm down the hardliners.
And like that, the country had maintained peace for 20 years.
As peace continued on for two decades, the nobles who insisted on war slowly disappeared. In their place, though, new and greedy people emerged. Aristocrats who only selfishly cared for their own interests.
Individualism that neglected to think of the country began rapidly rising.
Rosiane was nauseated.
Originally, the money that went into the army served as a kickback for the aristocrats. The almighty army that was the pride of the empire was reduced to a trashy group targeted for labor exploitation.
Due to the stupidity of the aristocrats, the money that should’ve been invested into war was leaking out into the wrong hands.
Above all, he was fed up with all the aristocrats treating the army as slaves.
So he decided to change this rotten country.
And he got the chance to do so.
He found out about the existence of No. 1 at a drinking party that he happened to attend. Rosiane was able to confirm that his skills rivaled the Six Bladeworks.
A light bulb went off in Rosiane’s head, having formed a friendly relationship with man.
A method to start another war and make the rotting empire great again.
* * *
“Did you feel happy to have another chance at war after ruining the country?”
Rosiane trembled harder at Rush’s question.
However the light in his eyes remained.
“This country… This country will become the best! All preparations for the war have been completed! But you! You guys just had to show up!”
The duke was shedding tears of blood while grinding his teeth.
His mind, soiled by war, was not something anyone could fix.
“Are you planning to kill the emperor? If you kill the emperor, that’s treason. The man you brought, this Rush, will never be able to sit on the throne! Are you still intending to kill the emperor despite knowing that?!”
“I heard from No. 3 that No. 2 knows necromancy but disappeared a long time ago.”
When I opened my mouth, I saw the duke’s shoulder jump.
“It’s a fact that the emperor was truly sick. But he died earlier than you expected. As a result, the power struggle of the royal family happened much faster, and that struggle grew much bigger than you expected. They should’ve died one by one before the emperor did. As the power struggle began with the aristocrats, the situation of the royal family killing each other must’ve occurred. Still, you must’ve been fine until that point. After all, you were intending to make the country look chaotic and incite another country to invade after killing the imperial family off with your own hands.”
This empire had no pretext to start a war.
If he recklessly broke the peace and started a war, the whole world would have targeted them.
That was why Rosiane intentionally made loopholes for the other countries to induce war first.
But the results were more devastating than expected.
Perhaps it was because they may have taken care of the country, but were too loose on their children. The bloodline of the emperor had grown up arbitrarily in peace for 20 years. They bit and clawed at each other as soon as the emperor died, as if they’d been waiting for that moment.
The deadly struggle over the emperor’s throne continued, and when only the second prince was left, Rosiane ordered No. 1 to kill him. The final one belonging to the emperor’s bloodline. Even though the original plan had changed, he still did it.
However, the problem didn’t end there.
After the deaths of the imperial family, power struggles amongst the aristocrats continued and they began to try and take a bite out of the country in just two years.
Besides, the other countries weren’t fools.
Rosiane imagined that the other countries couldn’t help but wish to attack the empire first, but they made an alliance utilizing the experience and knowledge they gained from past wars.
To begin with, his plans had shattered when a bloody internal war broke out in the imperial family.
Originally, he intended to spread the news of the imperial family dying one after another. Rosiane would’ve acted like news of the country’s representative missing was top-secret information, and that should’ve drawn countries to hurriedly attack the empire.
However, the plan failed when the quarrel grew and a measly Information Guild got wind of that information.
Yet he didn’t admit his mistake and kept pushing on, which led to the current result.
