The Sword and The Shadow

Playing Tough

Alissanda didn't respond. He merely clutched Lunaminous tight.

"Don't misunderstand," Angelista said as she raised her hand. "I have no intention of becoming your enemy. But as you've already seen, Nidhogg is dead and Leguna has pledged not to harm you. Well, while he might not be that reliable, I trust he can keep a promise. Don't you think things should come to an end? All you have to do now is to let them leave Melindor and you can continue being emperor and bring your people bliss and prosperity. What's not to like about that?"

"Leave?" Alissanda coldly smirked as neat footsteps sounded from afar. "Can he afford to?"

Row after row of soldiers appeared near the rubble. When Nidhogg died, Alissanda used a magic item to summon the whole imperial city guard. He had guessed Leguna was spent. While he couldn't take him on himself given how spent he was, Leguna definitely won't be able to escape if the city guard was there.

Leguna also noticed the soldiers and regulated his emotions. He stood up and looked at Alissanda emotionlessly.

"Another bucket of small fry to kill?" he asked.

"If you think you can…"

Leguna tried to form two longswords in his hands, but he blacked out for a moment. He had used up all his power in the fight with Nidhogg, and now, he was counting on pure will to live to remain conscious. There was no way he'd be able to use any more impetus.

Seeing Leguna's reaction, Alissanda smiled. He waved and the soldiers neatly encircled them.

"You…" Innilis was fuming with anger. She tried to use her magic to destroy those soldiers, but she reacted just like Leguna did.

"Save your energy for escaping, girl," Angelista said after she blinked to Leguna's side. Her eyes glowed silver and her fingers glowed. "To be honest, I think you owe me more than enough favors now. I guess I'll bet on you. If it really fails, then I suppose there's nothing I can do."

Even though they didn't know what Angelista was doing, it appeared that she was helping them. Leguna smiled and said, "Thank you."

"Forget it!" Alissanda leaped into the air like a god of slaughter and slashed at her energy shield. The blast from the impetus disrupted her dictation.

Having been interrupted mid dictation, she suffered a mana blowback and spat out a mouthful of blood. Her dark face paled somewhat.

"Are you alright?" Leguna asked as he quickly went to support her.

"Save it. I can stand more firmly than you!" She waved him away, but she still shook her head and said with discontent, "I thought you would use Lisana to threaten Alissanda and stop him from attacking. Who knew you'd just stand there and let him hit me? You're a useless teammate, you know that?"

"He knows I won't kill her. And, you're assuming threatening him with her life will work in the first place." Leguna smirked.

"You're right--" She shrugged. "--Then, I suppose I really have no other choice."

The moment she finished, a deafening roar could be heard. They turned to look and saw a two-handed-sword-wielding burly man and a voluptuous woman come their way.

"That's…" Leguna was stunned.

Not just Leguna, many of the soldiers in the plaza were taken aback too. Most of them were new recruits who were trained after the Tide of Death, so not many knew about the ferocious captain from the southern war ten years ago, Ironblood Greatbear Kurdak.

"Watch out for those two! Attack!" Alissanda was the first to react with an order.

However, Kurdak already charged behind the soldiers and mercilessly swung his greatsword towards the neck of a young soldier who hesitated to attack. He turned into a meat grinder and broke the troops' encirclement formation like a steel knife cutting tofu. Vera followed behind and quickly breached the encirclement to come to Leguna's side.

"Brat, you've been playing dead for ten whole years?" Kurdak said, giving Leguna's chest a nudge with his fist.

"Boss…" Leguna was so touched he couldn't find the words. After ten years, Kurdak looked more gruffy and aged. He had quite a lot of white facial hair and looked more like an ancient, old man.

Before Leguna could say anything, Kurdak gave him a bear hug. "Darn it, I was looking for you for ten years! If Innie wasn't arrested, would you have come? Where were you?!"

"I…" All he felt was the air in his lungs being squeezed out.

"Kurdak, Ley's dying," Vera reminded. Even though she wasn't as warm as him, her teary eyes showed Leguna all the concern she had for him. She was indeed the same elder sister he remembered.

"Oh…" Kurdak loosened his arms as Leguna's eyes rolled. He looked around and turned to Alissanda. Waving his giant sword, he said, "Long time no see. I suppose I should call you Your Imperial Majesty now."

"Leave now and I can pretend that this didn't happen," he said with a gloomy look. Even though the newcomers were far from enough from leaving with Leguna, he still had a bad sense of foreboding.

"You want to pretend this didn't happen?" Kurdak burst into laughter. "Sure! You can play make believe if you're so inclined. But it doesn't change that you framed my brother and killed my sister-in-law! You think I can pretend that didn't happen?"

Alissanda didn't admit or deny it.

"If you're dissatisfied, we can settle this with a duel."

"Boss, you can't beat him!" Leguna reminded. He could tell with a look that Kurdak was merely a 17th-stratum warrior. Even though Alissanda was worn, Kurdak was still far from his match.

"I know!" He swung his greatsword with one hand and caused a gust to build up. He turned back and said, "Can't you let me have my moment and play tough?"