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CHAPTER 206: THE COLLAPSE OF THE REVOLUTION

CHAPTER 206: THE COLLAPSE OF THE REVOLUTION

~ Fernando’s Point of View ~

「You were running out of time, Ruzarc.」

「It was only because a certain troublesome brother of mine has given me all kinds of work alongside the way. It was hard even to get here on time.」

「Hmph, I can see that you are still as prickly as ever.」

Ruzarc appeared alone in the throne room just at the appointed time.

In this situation, where the people could be said to be held hostage somewhere around here, he probably could not ignore what I said even if he knew it was a trap. Well, it was a natural and expected result, considering Ruzarc’s personality.

And now that I have come this far, my plan was practically as good as complete.

It was really hard to create the current situation.

Unfortunately enough, not everything went according to plans, and most of all, the arrival of the Black Bolt in the royal capital forced us to make major changes to our previous strategy, and we often had to deal with things on the fly and play many others purely by ear.

It was like walking on especially thin ice, and one wrong step here would have caused everything to fall apart. But even so, I controlled all the circumstances and created the current situation that I desired the most.

Now, all that was left for me to do was to kill Ruzarc right here and right now, and the revolution would be complete.

I stood up from the throne and looked around. I have made various preparations for this day, but my own fighting ability has not improved that much, as unfortunate as that might be. No matter how hard I tried, I would never be able to win against Ruzarc in a direct confrontation. That’s why I have stationed four Special Ops members in this room. I had no intention of fighting Ruzarc one-on-one.

…… The point is, I just wanted to win no matter what I had to do in order to accomplish my goal.

「Now then, Ruzarc. I’m sorry to be so quick and abrupt about it, but…… You will die here.」

「Do you really think that I will be defeated so easily? I still think I am way stronger than you.」

「Ah, but you see, this is not exactly a fight between brothers, it’s a war. There’s no way I was going to challenge you to a fair one-on-one fight, now wouldn’t you agree?」

As I said this and gave the signal, the two Special Ops members appeared and drew their bows at Ruzarc.

「Yeah, I thought so…… But I can’t let myself get beaten, either! And for you to think that it would only take two of those guys!」

Two arrows flew straight towards Ruzarc, but he rolled to the side to avoid them and readied his sword.

A pretty good move, if I say so myself. But his back was now wide open. The match was as good as over.

The other two Special Ops members who were still hiding closed in on Ruzarc from his blind spot and plunged their knives into his back.

I could not see very well from here, but…… the blades thrusted at that timing and angle must have pierced Ruzarc’s heart for sure.

「Well, well, that ended rather abruptly. Even someone like you could not handle four Special Ops members at the same time, could you?」

「Damn it!? Not in a place like this…… Huh? It… it doesn’t hurt at all!?」

「…… What?」

Something was seriously wrong……

Ruzarc, who should have been stabbed right through the heart, did not seem to be bleeding at all, and there was no sign of him collapsing anytime soon. The four Special Ops members who should have attacked him were frozen in their attacking positions, unable to move, as if time around them had stopped.

However, even Ruzarc himself seemed perplexed by the situation.

「What on earth…… What’s going on!?」

「It’s just as Aun-sama…… It’s just as he said. Oh well, I guess it cannot be helped, huh?」

As I frantically tried to sort out the situation, unable to keep up with it, I suddenly heard a woman’s voice coming from somewhere and a woman with long black hair with white mesh mixed in it suddenly appeared from Ruzarc’s shadow.

Based on what she was saying, she was most likely a member of “Seiha”. So the priority right now should be to attack……

「Leave Ruzarc be for now! You four! Kill that woman, now!!」

「I am really sorry, but…… You guys just won’t be able to do that.」

With that being said, the woman crossed her arms in front of her chest, and the bodies of the four Special Ops members were then chopped into pieces, splattering blood and chunks of flesh everywhere around them, staining the carpeted floor deep crimson.

Extending from the woman’s hand were several thin threads that have been run through with blood and reflected the light eerily. Until this happened, I had not even seen the threads being there……

「What the hell is this…… Who the hell are you!?」

「I am Mare of the Star Overlord. Aun-sama told me not to get in the way if it was going to be a fair one-on-one fight, but……」

「Once again…… It’s all the Thunder Emperor’s doing again!!」

「From here on out…… I promise that I won’t get in the way. You will settle this conflict between the two of you on your own.」

「I see, so Aun…… Aun really helped me out all the time…… Now then, brother? Shall we settle this once and for all?」

「…… Damn it!」

「The situation has turned around in an instant. You need to accept your new situation.」

No, not yet! I still have the bomb I planted in the Forbidden Library in advance!

The fact that Ruzarc was here meant that the bomb had not been defused yet. Considering the time, there was no way that he could defuse the bomb in the arena and then deal with the bomb in the Forbidden Library!

If that thing explodes, I will probably die here, too, but…… My name and ideas will be firmly planted in this country forever.

「Well, too bad for you, Ruzarc! I still have one bomb left! If I press this switch, in about thirty seconds you will all be buried alive along with this castle!!」

「Stop it! What’s the point of doing all that!?」

「It’s useless to try and stop me now!!!」

If I don’t press the detonation switch right away, that woman called Mare might take action!

Having made that decision, I pressed the detonation switch without hesitation.

「Hahahaha!! This completes the revolution!!」

「Damn it……!!」

「I am afraid that you can’t possibly do anything else in the time that remains! All you can do now is to regret making me take things so far and making matters so serious!」

However, even in this hopeless situation, the light of hope has not yet disappeared from Ruzarc’s eyes.

「Tsk, I really don’t like the look in those eyes of yours……」

「I will never give up! Not even in the last second!」

「Then die with that hope in your heart!」

It was almost time! Soon there will be an explosion and a rumbling sound strong enough to collapse the entire castle!

「Kuhahaha! It’s time! This explosion is the beginning of a revolution…… Huh?」

The thirty seconds it was supposed to take for the explosion to occur had already passed. And yet there was no sound of the ground rumbling or the explosion taking place.

「W-What the……!? Why is there no explosion……!?」

The bomb I made was supposed to be perfect. I could say that with certainty that I did not make even the slightest mistake in making it.

…… Then why!? Why wasn’t it exploding!?

「Aun, it looks like you managed to make it in time…… I’m really glad……」

「…… Nhg!? You bastards!! What have you done with my precious bombs —— NGAAH!?」

In my confusion, I tried to lash out at my brother, but after receiving a heavy blow to the back of my head, my thoughts suddenly became disorganized and succumbed to the void.

Then, realizing that my consciousness was gradually fading away, I tried to put all of my strength into my body, but contrary to my intentions, all of my strength had already left it.

「Damn… it all…… to hell……」

— What on earth happened in those last few minutes that I did not know about……?