Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 373

“Ten days? Are you really sure it will only take ten days?” Ilia asked, her voice tight. “Please, Your Majesty, don’t make it sound better than it is just to give me hope if it’s not true.”

[I don’t understand. What are you saying, Your Holiness?] came the reply.

“Oh! Forgive me, Your Majesty,” Ilia quickly said. “I said the wrong thing again. Thank you so much for your help.”

[…She sounds very stressed.] the voice thought.

“I am… I am sorry,” Ilia whispered.

Ilia’s head was pounding. She quickly ended the call and pulled off the Sententia, the Judge. “Ugh!” Pain shot through her head, and the room spun. She stumbled, grabbing her head to stay standing. The Judge, heavy and cold, slipped from her fingers. *Clunk.* It bounced and rolled, *rattle rattle*, across the floor. Ilia gasped for breath, her head throbbing. After a moment, she opened her eyes and stared at the holy object lying on the floor.

This was the Sententia, the Judge – a holy object from the Nine Gods. It was supposed to bring wisdom, its ancient name even meant wisdom. But now, looking at it, Ilia felt only disgust. She was glad no one had seen her secret call, but she couldn’t even make herself touch the Judge. Her vision swam with tears. She sank to her knees and began to cry, deep, heart-wrenching sobs. “Why? Why are you doing this to me?” she choked out, burying her face in her hands.

Ever since she got the Sententia, even her usual prayers had become hard. The moment she put her hands together to pray, she felt her mind sinking, lost in a cold, blue light. This blue light from Amun had always been comforting, but now it terrified her. And the messages she heard… they were terrible.

– *Red eyes… kill… enemy of God.*

This message came to her again and again since she started using the Sententia and became more sensitive to it. The words were broken, not a full sentence, but the meaning was clear. It was telling her to kill Logan, the king. Logan, who had helped her and the Holy Kingdom when they were in danger.

This message and how strange she felt were destroying her faith. At first, she thought she could just not use the Judge. But things were getting worse, and she was the leader of the Holy Kingdom. She couldn’t just ignore this important symbol. And strangely, even when she tried to leave it off, she would find it back on her head. Like just now, when she was talking to the king. Now, the holy object felt like something evil. “Why are you doing this to me?” she cried again. She was so afraid of being swallowed up by it, even with her strong faith. And the message… it was telling her to betray and kill the person who had helped them so much. Hadn’t she just been acting strangely and making the king uncomfortable during their call? She even felt like she wanted to refuse his help, even though he was offering amazing help.

“No!” Ilia cried out. “If God is good, he wouldn’t want this! Something is wrong… Those people… Yes, those bad people must have done something to me.” She said it loudly, trying to convince herself. Tracy’s face flashed in her mind – people who used dark magic to control minds. But if Tracy could control her, why would she be suffering like this? Deep down, a small voice of reason told her the truth she didn’t want to hear: *My God wants the king dead. He wants it so much he doesn’t care about the Holy Kingdom.* She shivered at this cold thought. Without thinking, she put her hands together to pray, like she always did. *I must not listen. I must not.* She had told herself this so many times, but the thought stayed. She didn’t want to believe that her faith, everything she had believed in, was falling apart. Her faith had always protected her from fear. *Yes. This time will be the same.* Her strong faith pushed away her doubts. “Oh, Lord, who is kind and loves everyone…” She started to pray. After a long prayer, Ilia picked up the Judge, the thing she had thrown away, and put it back on her head. Her face was empty. Then, strange words came out of her mouth, words she didn’t understand. “Not… much… left… Ziv… rick.” Her blue eyes looked darker, and the black part in the middle seemed to change shape, like a snake’s eyes. Then, a moment later, “No!!” Ilia screamed, throwing the Judge away again. Her face was full of horror. She hugged herself, her arms shaking hard, and tears ran down her pale face. In the heart of the Holy Kingdom, the mind of its leader was breaking. Luckily, no one saw it happen.

Meanwhile, far away from Ilia’s turmoil, the war everyone had expected began. Just as predicted, the Empire attacked first. Five huge armies, the Western 7th Legions, surrounded the city of Noviens from every side. The size of the army was terrifying, enough to make anyone feel deep fear.

“How many?” someone whispered.

“Too many to count,” another voice replied, shaking.

“This is it then… This is the end,” a third person groaned.

It wasn’t just the huge number of soldiers. Everyone knew one Imperial Legion was already very strong, with about 50,000 soldiers, including a thousand knights and many trained fighters. But this… this was different.

“Look at the front!” someone shouted. “Is that… knight armor? Are all of them knights?”

“No way… that can’t be right,” another stammered. “The Empire can’t have *that* many…”

“What is going on?!”

People who knew anything about the Empire’s army were even more terrified. The soldiers in front wore shining silver armor, each with the symbol of a gold dragon. They rode huge warhorses, their armor gleaming in the sun. Knights. In just one army, there seemed to be over 3,000 knights – warriors who were like super-strong heroes compared to normal people. And there were *five* armies. Fifteen thousand knights surrounding the Holy City. Even if you gathered all the Holy Knights from everywhere, it would be less than this.

“Why are there so many knights?!” Harmon said, his voice tight with fear. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

“The Empire must have brought knights from everywhere, not just from the West,” someone said. “Otherwise…”

“…There was a rumor the main Imperial army was moving too. Maybe these knights are from there?”

“But… how can there be so many?”

“Isn’t that just bluster?”

Line Harper, his assistant, spoke with worry, her voice tight. Her words were thin, like a shield against the sight before them, desperately hoping the endless ranks of soldiers were just an illusion, a cruel trick of the light.

The problem was, Harman desperately wanted to believe it too.

‘I wish it was just a trick.’

If they really were all knights, the Empire would have more than fifty thousand!

But Harman’s gut feeling said this show of force was real, not just talk.

“Damn it all.”

A shiver ran down his spine.

Everyone knew even before that one Imperial army group could easily take over a small country. The Empire had eight of these groups just in the East, and seven in the West.

They really were the strongest nation. And that was without even thinking about their main army. No one knew how that army was set up, except for the Imperial Guard Knights. Everyone knew the Emperor’s family controlled them directly.

‘Over fifty thousand knights, you’ve got to be kidding… But if it’s true.’

They could form entire legions of knights.

Of course, even if they weren’t all strong, it was still not smart to use knights like that. But just thinking about so many knights made him shiver.

“What about the Paladins called to the Holy City?”

“There were more than eight thousand a few days ago. Because the Empire is busy fighting in other places, that’s almost all the Paladins they could send.”

People thought the war was only in Noviens, but that wasn’t true. Roads to Noviens were blocked everywhere in the Empire. Temple soldiers were fighting the Empire in many different places.

‘Logan, right? If he hadn’t warned us, even this would have been hard.’

Ordering everyone to gather as soon as they heard the news was really smart.

“What about Lord Stefan?”

“Good news, he got here yesterday. All three leaders under you are ready and waiting.”

Harman’s mind raced.

Almost one hundred thousand Holy soldiers, eight thousand Paladins, three people with special holy powers, and him. Plus, they had the strong Holy Magic Wall that would cover Noviens when war came.

It was true to say they had gathered every soldier they could.

But thinking about two hundred and fifty thousand enemy soldiers, fifteen thousand knights, Sword Spirits, and at least five super-powerful people made him very afraid.

In the end, he had only one choice.

“…Hold out for as long as possible. Issue that order to the entire army.”

“Hold out? That’s it?” Line Harper asked, her voice still trembling slightly. Harman met her gaze, a flicker of something like desperation in his eyes. “There has to be. The Holy Maiden… she’s seen it. A change will come.”

“Really?” Line Harper’s face, pale moments before, bloomed with a sudden, fragile hope.

The people in the Holy City had gone through many terrible things. To keep them from losing hope, Harman had said that the Holy Maiden Ilia had a holy vision and would solve their problems.

It was a lie, but the Holy Maiden had said her holy messages were getting clearer since she became the leader. So, Harman didn’t feel too bad about lying. And now, he could clearly see it was working.

– Hold out! And we will win!

– The Holy Maiden said so!

– Waaah!

No, the reaction wasn’t just seen; it was huge.

Watching them, Harman thought about Ilia using Sententia. The new Pope showed off her holy power, which was so strong she seemed like a holy messenger from old stories.

‘The Holy Maiden really needs to get a real holy message this time.’

Harman bit his lip, looked away from his assistant’s hopeful eyes, and looked at the enemy outside the East Gate.

The enemy was still far away, but now Harman saw someone he knew was very dangerous. It was Tris Hornsby, the best swordsman in the land. He had burned part of the main temple to the ground in a quick fight, and everyone in the Holy City remembered him.

“Good.”

The commander of the Imperial army surrounding the Holy City smiled. He felt how strong his army was.

“Just by changing how we choose soldiers, we’ve become this strong in ten years. In another ten years, we can probably take over the world with only half of our army. Don’t you think?”

“Yes, Master.”

Isn’t that also because of Prince Baros?

Jerome stopped himself from saying what he thought. Right now, talking about Prince Baros in the Empire was almost forbidden.

Also, Jerome had even lost his noble title because of Prince Baros. So, he really couldn’t say those things. Now, he was just the leader of the army to defeat the Holy Nation, and a knight to protect the Sword Spirit.

But that curt reply seemed to please his master.

“Look, I can see the scared face of that Holy Sword fighter. Jerome, and you others. You remember what I told you, right?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!” When Jerome answered, the four knights next to him also answered at the same time, like they were one person.

‘Like dolls. Creepy bastards.’

But he couldn’t show such a reaction.

They were the Emperor’s family’s secret weapon. They got power from the Sword Spirit and the Gale. The Emperor said they could even catch Cassel, the Magic Tower Master, who was called the Serpent Who Swallowed Truth.

For now, just…

“Once I weaken the Holy Sword’s power…”

“We will finish him off.”

“…We will deal with what happens after.” He changed his answer a little so they wouldn’t think he was like them. That was all he could show.

“Good. The army leaders will fight the Paladin leaders. The only thing we need to worry about is Noviens’ Holy Magic Wall…” The Sword Spirit looked towards a mage who looked a bit like Jerome, but with a more serious face. The mage smiled.

“Let me and the magic group take care of that.”

“Okay, Galen. I trust you.” Tris nodded and kicked his horse to move faster, going to the front of the army.

– You rude people who ignored the Emperor’s great kindness… “Egon, move back.”

“Ah, Your Excellency.” Egon Miller, the leader of the Western 1st Army, who had been yelling at the walls of Noviens, stopped his long speech when Tris said just one word and quickly moved back.

Then, the Sword Spirit took out his favorite sword.

“By order of the Emperor!” A short sentence that was like a shorter version of Egon’s long war speech.

“All troops. Seize the Holy City!”

With that cry, the war began.