Chapter 196: Toward the Land of Silence
After the messenger was carried out on a stretcher, barely conscious, not a single word passed through the training ground for a long while. The sound of guards readjusting their postures, the cries of birds and beasts—all of it vanished. The final words the messenger had left behind clung to the walls and pillars.
‘The south…… Has fallen.’
That single sentence tightened its grip around the throats of heroes who had crossed the line between life and death.
Helmut Barben kept his mouth shut, releasing only a low groan, while Adrian stood frozen in place, expression hardened. No one spoke. The atmosphere made it impossible to carelessly open one's mouth.
Sevi Belgrado stared in the direction the messenger had been taken, then let out a small sigh. The domain of the Master wavered faintly. As though reading its owner's heart, the texture of mana flickered with unease.
At that, the gazes of the 3 turned toward Calix.
Calix maintained a composure more steady than anyone else's, yet his eyes had sunk into an icy calm.
Great Chief Yoman of the desert had died in battle.
He understood full well what that meant.
"Adrian."
A single word. Yet with that single word, Adrian snapped back to his senses. At once, Calix's orders followed.
Not a request—a command.
"We need to convene a council."
"I'll move right away."
Soon the sound of footsteps rang out, and the inner fortress that had been sleeping deeply began to stir awake. The heavy air gradually returned to reality, but the tragedy of the south that had seeped into it would not be so easily erased.
The defeat of Kalahim signaled the collapse of the southern kingdom of Gardia, and hinted that a wicked army would begin its march northward.
Calix met eyes with Sevi, who had been watching him. The Master's face was unusually pale.
"……The hour of decisive battle draws near."
Calix drew a slow breath.
"Yes. And it is something that cannot be avoided."
That alone was an undeniable fact.
* * *
The council room was in disarray with those called in on short notice. Maps of the north, center, and south were spread across the table in a jumble. Nobles and knights, fortress commanders, the leadership of the Order, and the command of the Elvra resistance forces—all had rushed in from every direction, and each face was haggard.
When Calix entered, those already seated rose as one.
"Please be seated."
At his permission, everyone sat down simultaneously.
Not a single person questioned why they had been summoned, or voiced doubt. Every decision to be made from this point forward would be a choice that determined the survival of the continent.
Adrian was the first to speak.
"The situation on the southern front is nearly confirmed. The main forces of the Gardia Kingdom Army have collapsed; the surviving troops are scattering in flight toward the coastal regions."
"Communications?"
"Cut off. The single messenger who arrived earlier is all we have."
Tak—
Helmut Barben absently rapped the table.
"There's no way forces on the level of Kalahim would crumble so easily…… Exactly what kind of enemy did they face?"
That answer came from Yelayen.
"It was simply an existence that could not be countered with mana."
"An existence that cannot be countered with…… mana?"
"De Generitum. It possesses the power to erase mana. The wind, earth, and flow of light in the south—all of it would have been warped. The very laws that governed the region itself were thrown into disorder."
"……You speak as though you witnessed it yourself."
"I did not see it myself. But a close friend of mine saw it in my stead."
"The Wandering One…… You mean Kailo Felderwin?"
"That's right."
The commanders swallowed their breath.
Before long, Yelayen tapped the table lightly with his staff. Where he struck, blue mana seeped in as though a crack had formed on the map.
"Even so, there is no need for fear. You all remember the words of Legion Commander Drenv. 'At the end of the road, you shall behold the Corrupted Lord'. It simply turned out that those words were true."
At that, Royce stepped forward and asked,
"According to what the messenger told us…… Kalahim's forces crumbled the very moment he arrived."
"Yes, that's precisely the problem."
Yelayen's voice dropped low.
"It was not that he fought. He merely walked past. And yet, the path De Generitum walks is defiled."
"So that is why he is called the Corrupted Lord."
Marquis Ashapel added in a trembling voice,
"We cannot allow such an existence…… to advance all the way here to the north."
"Which is why we must prepare to march south."
Calix shared the same conviction. He continued in a low, even voice.
The gazes of those around him turned toward the young hero's face. Calix pressed a finger firmly onto the center of the southern region on the map before him.
"Their speed of advance is quite rapid. If left as is, they will surge northward in no time."
He added briefly,
"If we do not descend, we will merely be delaying the time until destruction."
The air in the council room cooled sharply.
Marik spoke, voice heavy,
"Then it's a full-army march south?"
Calix shook his head.
"No. There is something that must be done first."
The room stirred for a moment.
Ella was the first to ask,
"What do you need?"
Sier Lagrin looked at her face, then turned his eyes toward Calix. The woman's promise was the Order's promise.
Calix looked directly at Ella.
"Investigation. We need to find out exactly what happened in the south. How Great Chief Yoman died, and what kind of force engulfed the battlefield. Until we know that, we cannot advance toward victory."
Just as those around him were working through the meaning of his words, Adrian gave a brief summary,
"You're saying you'll go down yourself? As the vanguard."
"Yes."
The council room fell into momentary silence.
Helmut let out a hollow laugh.
"Is that…… reasonable? The south will have become a land of death. The Gardia Kingdom will be in complete chaos. And yet you intend to set foot into the middle of it?"
The people whispered of the helpless defeat of Kalahim's Master, Karp Zarim. The death of the Great Chief Yoman once again filled the room. At the very least, to them, mounting an expedition all the way to the south meant accompanying grave danger.
Above all, they could not accept the fact that Calix would leave his post. At present, he was the link that bound the north together. Not simply the command tower leading the allied forces, but the one governing the Mountain Rabbits, the Niboria Empire, and the Elvra forces alike.
Yet despite the opposition, Calix's voice became only calmer.
"We will, at some point, fight against him. In that case—"
He slowly pushed aside the map laid out on the table.
"We must first face the traces he has left behind."
Ella watched him for a moment, then gave a slow nod.
"I will go with you."
"Ella."
As Calix called her name in a low tone, she answered firmly,
"Without Divinity, our soldiers will crumble the moment they come into contact with the enemy's darkness. Without me, they won't hold. Isn't that right?"
"……"
Royce silently closed his eyes, and Basim answered by drumming his fingers against the shaft of his axe at his waist. Yelayen also planted his staff and rose to his feet with a start.
"I may not be of great help, but is there anyone better suited for conveying what the enemy truly is?"
Knights then stepped forward to volunteer for the vanguard, but Calix cut their requests off in a single stroke.
"All of you must protect the north and reorganize the army."
A brief look of dissatisfaction surfaced, but it quickly subsided. Around that point, Gregor made one final check,
"So when do we leave? We've got to eat first!"
Calix gave a small smile and readjusted his scabbard. If the south fell, the center would be at its doorstep. His mind was made up—it was time to set his body in motion once more.
* * *
When the meeting entered a brief recess, Calix slipped quietly outside. He would be leaving this place soon, and preparing for his absence was the task of those who remained.
Unlike the heat of the long deliberation inside, the air beyond the corridor was cold and dry. The moon swayed as though it might shatter between the clouds, and the wind carried the scent of dawn as it swept down across the battlements.
He gazed up at the sky in silence for a while. Though he showed nothing on the surface, even Calix found Yoman's death not quite real yet.
‘That was how steadfast a man he had been.’
"Calix."
Then, a soft, low voice reached him. He knew who it was without turning around.
Ella approached slowly and stood at his side. Her hair swayed in the wind, trailing a silver radiance. The 2 stood in silence for a time, and only the fog lying low beneath the battlements continued to move.
It was Ella who spoke first.
"Do you…… believe in fate?"
Calix did not answer. She seemed not to have expected one either; without waiting, she continued,
"I can feel a calling from the south."
Ella drew a slow breath, her two hands clasped together at chest height.
"It isn't darkness. A land where breath has gone out is desperately pleading for help. I know it's a strange thing to say, but there's no sign of presence. No anger, no fear, no life…… nothing at all. It's so completely empty that it only comes through all the more clearly."
Calix watched her in silence.
Ella seemed to be seeing something that even his Bloodline Ability could not perceive. Because Divinity and darkness were polar opposites, her words could not be dismissed. Her intuition would be more precise than anyone else's.
He quietly raised his hand.
"Your hand."
Ella hesitated briefly, but soon laid her palm over his.
Between the 2 of them, the aura of Divinity began to flow faintly. A warm current brushed across the backs of their hands, overlapping with chaos, and an invisible ripple spread through the air.
Calix felt the darkness dwelling within his Core recoil violently. His stomach churned, but in truth, he had wanted this.
The mana of darkness that had been still stirred and rose. The forms of the Draug and the wicked creatures scattered throughout the north flashed before his eyes. Next he saw Legion Commander Drenv fleeing toward the Land of Shadows, and finally—
"……De Generitum."
The tips of his fingers turned cold.
He beheld the darkness that had seized the southern continent. He had already expected it, yet by seeing it through the resonance of darkness, he hardened that possibility into certainty.
Calix murmured low,
"It is an existence of…… polar opposition to the Sacred Ground."
Ella gave a nod.
"Divinity is a force that flows to protect life. Darkness, by contrast, is a force that destroys and prepares for the next cycle."
"Then Divinity could be pushed back."
"Yes. If they clash…… one of the 2 will shatter."
The wind surged fiercely, and the battlements groaned. Ella watched Calix in his silence, then carefully began to speak,
"Are you alright?"
"……"
"You heard about Yoman's final moments. It was a brief acquaintance, but he was fond of you. And you respected him."
Calix's eyes closed.
The last moment Yoman had drawn breath—the scene the messenger had recounted in a trembling voice—rose before him vivid and clear.
"He was a true hero."
He released the words slowly.
"But…… even he was taken down without so much as lifting a hand. Master, forces, strategy…… none of it worked."
It was an inner truth he had never shown to anyone. To this, Ella did not lower her gaze; instead, she looked at him directly.
"That is precisely why we must grow stronger."
It was a simple and obvious thing to say.
Yet within it lay responsibility, fear, and resolve.
"Where there is will, there is a way."
Only then did Calix let a faint smile show.
"Yes, those are the right words."
He drew one steady breath, then looked down into the darkness below the battlements.
"I must prepare to depart."
As it had always been between them, no further words were needed.
And 4 days after that.
1,000 of the Mountain Rabbits' finest set out, marching toward the south.