The overwhelming power gap left the two remaining rebel guards protecting Princess Suzanna well aware of their defeat, yet the person had not delivered a killing blow.
The plan to send the Princess to Black Rock City had failed even before it started.
What surprised Mika the most was that Suzanna, even after regaining her freedom, wasn’t particularly happy.
This would only ensure the grinder of the army and the sect kept moving forward.
With what could they hold them back? The East Sea desperados who had come to carve up the nation’s interests?
Her eyelids lowered as she thanked the two, then looked up at the intensifying sandstorm, as if it revealed Mulong’s future fate.
It almost broke Mika’s heart, those Aran people were such dogs. Wait... wasn’t he also Aran? But that didn’t count; he belonged to the Akatsuki rebels.
And Magnus was absolutely impotent.
"I’ve seen many knights, but most are just fame-seekers striving for ranks and titles. You are one of the rare true knights who fully deserve the title of Royal Knight. I must go."
To Magnus, there was no princess, only the sword, and the people to be cut down.
He clasped his hands together and blew the horse-call whistle. The black horse, Zhao Yue, galloped towards him from afar.
Suzanna personally bandaged Mika’s shoulder wound.
Whether the ten defeated soldiers were traitors was hard to judge. The Aran Lion Army was invincible, executing orders to end the national crisis.
If they were just cowards, why would they have fought Magnus to the death earlier?
They had staunchly decided but failed to even be traitors. Now in defeat, they felt deep shame, their eyes hollow like an empty whirlpool, as though their souls had been drained.
"Let’s return to the Kelor Highlands."
After finishing bandaging Mika’s wound, Suzanna said somewhat helplessly.
Mika could read her mind; the Emperor was probably a singer. Turning a fine princess into such a broken, compassionate wreck was truly damnable.
"Kelor Highlands... aren’t safe. Santilla wants to hand you over to Aran, returning makes no difference. We should head to Drifting City and find Liszt."
Mika suggested. Considering Liszt’s caliber, the Earl bowed to him. That place was the safest. Besides the last two who boarded the ship, there were Ox, General Fen had personally led the expedition, even the Emperor would take a slap before leaving.
Suzanna simply smiled bitterly. Even if Black Sail won, it would either sell the nation to Aran or Black Sail. Choosing the former was perhaps better.
Mika thought the princess was uneasy.
"I’m just a doctor, but you don’t understand what kind of people those guys are. Chief Marcus of the Old Aran Witch Hunting Secret Department: killed. The pillar of the Aran Energy Department, Joshua: killed. We even chopped off Doringger, the East Sea overlord. The highest officer on Crocodile Island is just an auxiliary to the army. The Emperor makes enemies everywhere; anti-imperialists and sects are internal troubles, the Four Great Powers are external threats. They won’t invest much military force in Mulong. The railway will be completed eventually, but by then, Aran would have to pay taxes to resolve disputes here, to reclaim your throne, eliminate the puppet government, and restore national sovereignty for lasting peace."
Mika thought for a while, though it was harsh to Wolman, the truth hurt, "Otherwise, Mulong will become another Great Wetland, with Aran people as first-class citizens."
A flicker of insignificant hope seemed to reignite in Suzanna, and she stood dazed for a moment.
The black horse, Zhao Yue, had already reached Magnus, but he did not mount it. He captured a keyword.
Regarding that snowy day.
Magnus couldn’t forget the blind, metal-chinned Demon Swordsman. He adopted the name from a recommendation letter.
He didn’t know his last name or who his father was, lost to the decades of change.
"Marcus, the same Marcus from the Witch Hunting Secret Department?"
"You know this person? It took quite an effort to kill him."
Mika naturally didn’t know Marcus was resurrected, mainly because such a thing didn’t exist.
Magnus didn’t know either. That person was now younger than him, that stunned him.
It felt like the mystical connections of fate.
Was heaven showing him the full picture before his death?
Even Magnus felt a bit scared. Zote, also skilled with blades, could he be faster?
"It’s really ... can I ask about the origins,"
Magnus felt complicated. That person was unforgivable but also a benefactor. Life indeed communicated some truths.
Should he eliminate Liszt? The desperado who disrespected the princess in the clinic had a broken knife; everything seemed to make sense.
It was just a message. Marcus was finished, and it was time to test if his ultimate slash could surpass Zote’s.
Magnus, helping Mika avoid this calamity, Mika felt less guarded against him. Despite his heroic entrance’s annoying nature, his handling of things was impressive, polar opposite to the Heaven Port dog pirates. He was a real MAN, truly a shadow warrior!
As Mika was about to recount his secret port experiences and confrontation with Marcus.
"Bad news, a sandstorm is coming."
The Chiliarch saw the darkened sky at the Boneyard’s edge, the wind picking up.
Magnus felt the wind growing stronger, assuming it was normal, but then it increased endlessly.
"Quickly hide, find a cave."
Mika, unfamiliar with such incidents, had never been in the desert, where water was scarce.
"Do you want to be buried alive? Protect the princess..."
Before the Chiliarch finished, the fast-approaching wave covered the far horizon, advancing miles in breaths, not a small storm as he thought.
The Boneyard was a restricted area for a reason. Although they were on the edge, they were within the forbidden range.
Such rare, massive sandstorms, what timing to encounter one now.
No matter how strong, people were helpless against nature.
Magnus mounted Zhao Yue; he couldn’t perish here, with more important tasks ahead.
"Can you outrun the wind?"
Though the Chiliarch said so, he didn’t know how to counter it.
Mika wanted to speak.
But the sandstorm’s unbelievable speed and the Wind Erosion Rock Towers quickly thinning, brought darkness in a blink.
"Cover your head with cloth or clothing, or you’ll choke. Find shelter, it’s the only way! There’s no other option!" Get full chapters from novｅlfire.net
The Chiliarch shouted, it was indeed the best solution.
Everyone followed suit.
Being a princess, Suzanna had never set foot in a place like the Boneyard. Facing imminent death, she panicked.
Mika took off his coat, covered her head, and hurriedly found shelter under a giant rock.
The raging sandstorm swallowed them, enveloping everything in darkness, the fierce wind pained their eardrums.