Death Knight (3)
Clanggg—!
Rudel's sword and mine tangled together as they collided.
'The opening strike is a thrust. If I predict the follow-up after the point attack…!'
Krrrk—?!
At the same time I twisted aside Rudel's thrusting blade, I stepped in and counterthrust.
— Hooh, to think a necromancer could use swordsmanship at this level!
Rudel's voice rang out, sounding genuinely impressed by the unexpected display.
I had already witnessed the battles between Delline and Dunkel, as well as the fight between Heinkel and Garrison before that.
The principles and applications behind the techniques they used had already been organized in my mind.
All that remained was using them in real combat and learning how to chain them together.
Clang—!
Rudel's sword slammed against my thrusting blade and knocked it upward.
My front was left completely exposed.
As though he had seized victory, Rudel's black sword shot toward my chest.
'Just a little more like this…!'
But even this situation was part of the blueprint I had intended.
Just as I had done in my duel with Delline, I planned to seize his rear at the decisive moment and suppress him.
'Now!'
The instant the blade was about to pierce my shoulder—
I kicked off the ground and twisted my body in the opposite direction.
It was Delline's footwork, the technique of slipping into the opponent's guard and taking their back.
— Not so fast!
But at the very moment I moved to strike after taking his rear—
Thump!
A sharp sting shot through the corner of my vision.
'He didn't get caught from behind. He let me take it on purpose!'
The conclusion formed instantly, and I redirected my sword path to guard my flank.
It was pure defensive instinct screaming through my body.
Kuwaaaang—!
And unfortunately, that instinct was correct.
"Ghhhhh—!"
What I thought was a frontal exchange suddenly became a side attack.
He had controlled two sword trajectories almost simultaneously.
"Huff…! Huff…!"
The extreme tension rapidly drained my stamina.
'If I'd known it would be like this, I should've trained my endurance like Delline kept nagging me to.'
Thinking of Delline, who never seemed to tire, I hurriedly steadied my breathing.
— …To block a second strike without a body capable of wielding mana. Remarkable talent.
But Rudel also seemed surprised that I had defended against it.
Holding his chin with his free hand, he evaluated me openly.
— Those movements aren't from Heinkel. You've been influenced far more by the Red Chariot side.
Rudel muttered while watching me.
What Delline had shown me were the fundamentals of Leinrant swordsmanship.
Techniques refined by studying Dunkel's movements.
'Unlike with Delline, I can't even get my teeth into him.'
Watching him now, it struck me all over again.
Rudel Leinrant.
A man who once held the title of the continent's strongest knight.
Worthy of that reputation, he had analyzed all of my swordsmanship within those brief exchanges.
"I didn't think my limits would be exposed this quickly."
Finally stabilizing my breathing, I adjusted my stance once more.
— Hah, now what is this?
The first stance I had taken after revealing every technique available to me.
Seeing it, Rudel muttered in disbelief.
"You've seen this stance somewhere before, haven't you?"
The stance of Rudel's that I had imitated before we crossed blades.
When I assumed it once again, the smile on Rudel's face deepened.
— Your bluffing is excessive. Simply seeing it once isn't enough to master it.
Smiling at Rudel, I answered,
"Well, it didn't seem like such a difficult sword art."
A provocation meant to conceal my exhaustion.
But hearing it, Rudel merely lowered his stance with amusement and glared at me.
— You certainly talk boldly.
And the very next instant—
Kiiiiirik—!
In a flash, Rudel appeared behind me and swung his sword.
I had already given up trying to follow him with my eyes.
All I could do was swing a beat ahead through instinct and prediction.
'The sword path is a horizontal slash—direction, the flank!'
I began controlling the incoming trajectory with my own blade.
To my eyes, Rudel's attack was coming from behind.
But the direction my instincts warned me about was somewhere else entirely.
'The first strike is a feint. Predict the most natural follow-up from there…!'
Even while seeing the blade approach from behind, my sword path swung sideways instead.
And the next moment—
Clang—!
My upward side slash struck away the black sword Rudel was wielding.
— Astonishing! To think you broke the Phantom Sword after seeing it only once…!
Rudel's spirit spoke as our blades met.
Phantom Sword.
The signature swordsmanship of the Sixth Duke, Rudel Leinrant.
And because of the sheer complexity of its forms, it had become an almost abandoned technique in modern times.
— So the worst necromancer who once sought to devour the continent has now mastered the sword as well?
With those words, Rudel knocked away the blade locked against his.
Clang!
Both of us retreated several steps, creating a brief lull in the fight.
But the victor was already obvious.
"Huff…! Huff…!"
I looked ready to collapse at any moment, gasping for breath,
while Rudel's spirit remained completely unharmed, without the slightest sign of exhaustion.
"The amount of mana contained in your spirit body… shouldn't be any different from an ordinary knight's…!"
— Never underestimate the efficiency of Northern swordsmanship.
The knights of the North created the greatest results with the smallest amount of mana.
'So he's planning to drag this into a war of attrition with that absurd swordsmanship…'
Feeling its terrifying effectiveness anew, I dropped down onto the ground.
"Fuuu!"
Watching me, Rudel relaxed his attacking stance and asked,
— Archimond… do you truly intend to rebuild Leinrant?
"Would I be doing all this otherwise?"
The moment I answered, the black smoke surrounding Rudel flickered uneasily.
— Had it not been for Duke Berkel, the founding patriarch, you would have devoured the entire continent.
"That's true enough."
As I gave a brief acknowledgment, Rudel questioned me again.
— Then how can someone like you speak so calmly about helping the family of your mortal enemy?
What he directed at me was not hostility, but pure curiosity.
He was already one of the dead.
Normally, there would be neither reason nor desire for him to discuss the meaning of my life.
— How can you cast aside your attachment to your own life so easily?
And yet, there was only one reason he was asking me this.
'He regrets it.'
How many years had I spent handling the dead as a necromancer?
Though his face was hidden behind smoke, I could tell just by hearing his voice.
'Simply sending his soul on isn't enough. I need to untangle the knot buried in his heart.'
Having reached that conclusion, I spoke to Rudel.
"Because I saw hope."
— Hope?
The great plague that swept across the North.
But what drove twenty million Northerners to their deaths was not the plague itself, but the indifference of other humans.
'If the Northerners collapse, we can send in troops and expand our territory.'
Watching people die beneath those cold calculations, I came to despise humanity and hate the world itself.
I gave bodies and weapons to the resentful spirits who shared the same feelings as me.
I forged those spirits into an undead army numbering in the millions and swept across the continent.
"I saw someone who suffered the same pain as me make the exact opposite choice."
'A new hero will be born. The next generation's Berkel Leinrant.'
Recalling the words he had spoken before his death, I used my sword as a cane and pushed myself upright.
"I thought I'd be able to die in peace thanks to that, but things turned out like this instead. So now I've got to do something."
Rudel remained silent for a moment, as though digesting my words.
"The terms of the contract haven't changed. If you help me, you'll be able to fulfill your wish and pass on peacefully."
I spoke to him once again.
"Choose, Rudel Leinrant. Will you come with me, or remain here and become a wraith?"
How much time passed after those words?
— I cannot believe meeting you here was mere coincidence.
Slowly nodding to himself, Rudel approached me.
— I, Rudel Leinrant, accept your contract.
A short declaration.
The moment his consent was given, a contract seal appeared beneath Rudel's feet.
Crackle—!
"Damn, this is taking forever."
Releasing demonic energy, I wrote my name into the contract seal beneath us.
Rudel also stretched out his hand and inscribed his own name into the seal using his mana.
"This isn't a subjugation contract—it's a mutual contract. Of course it'll take longer."
I explained the structure of the contract seal beneath Rudel's feet.
Unlike a subjugation contract, where the caster completely binds the soul,
a mutual contract preserves the soul's will.
Handling a pure soul without forcibly subjugating it consumed far greater stamina.
'Even if I squeeze my demonic energy to the limit, I can only properly summon him once. And the contract duration will last, at most, a month.'
Ordinarily, this type of contract was the height of inefficiency.
And yet there was only one reason I insisted on using it.
Because it preserved as much of his strength as possible—the strength of the Empire's strongest knight.
'Rather than leading a swarm of mediocre undead, it's better to wield power comparable to Heinkel's, even if only once.'
The place I would eventually head to was the center of the branch family's power.
In a situation where I could already control skeletons easily enough, adding more mediocre undead served no real purpose.
— The pain will be considerable. Are you certain you can handle it?
Hearing Rudel's words made me let out a hollow laugh.
Klein's still-young body was not suited to accepting a soul of Rudel's caliber.
— Perhaps it would be better to alter the contract seal at least a little—
"No."
Ironically, the soul entering the contract was the one worrying about the caster.
But I firmly rejected his suggestion.
"I'm already turning my own ancestor into a Death Knight. If I use a subjugation contract on top of that, then I'd really be a villain."
— Hah. So you are self-aware, at least?
Rudel asked in disbelief.
'If he saw his father's soul bound in a subjugation contract, I'd probably be burned at the stake on the spot…'
While I thought that inwardly, Rudel stretched out his hand and began the contract incantation.
— I declare: the dead, Rudel Leinrant, entrusts his resentment and wish to the guide.
The one who began the contract was the dead themselves.
Runes engraved into the contract seal rose into the air and began wrapping around Rudel's body.
— I declare: the guide, Archimond, shall inherit the resentment and wish of the dead.
Next, the runes of the dead that Rudel had inscribed rose into the air and approached the back of my hand, slowly sinking into it.
— Until his wish is fulfilled, the guide Archimond shall illuminate his path.
Crzzzzz—!
The rune engraved into the back of my hand burned red-hot, and pain like searing fire spread through my entire body.
As I endured it, Rudel stretched out his hand and recited the final contract verse.
— Until his wish is fulfilled, the dead Rudel Leinrant shall become his sword.
Kiiiiing—!
With a harsh mechanical hum, the floating rune shot directly into Rudel's spirit body.
At the same time, the contract seal vanished, and the surroundings fell silent as though darkness itself had swallowed the world.
"Fuuu…"
Letting out a deep sigh, I stared at the place where the contract seal had been.
Clank. Clank.
The sound of armor made from spirit matter colliding together.
As though responding to that sound, the moon hidden behind the clouds revealed itself once more.
— What will you do if you're already this exhausted after a single contract, Archimond?
The voice of the dead, overflowing with demonic energy, called out to me.
"…Call me Klein from now on. If we're careless, we'll get exposed."
I answered him while forcibly holding my heavy eyelids open.
Black armor softly gleaming beneath the moonlight, black smoke flowing endlessly from it.
Even through my fading consciousness, which felt ready to collapse at any moment, a satisfied smile spread across my face.
"For my first creation… it turned out pretty well."
Standing before my wavering vision was a knight clad in black armor.
A Death Knight forged from the Duke of Leinrant himself.