Do Your Own Revolution

#153

“The remaining Republican soldiers have lost their will to fight.”

In the operations room.

A soldier who had been at the battlefield continued his report with a crisp salute.

“Major Rudeldorf, the highest-ranking survivor of the Republican forces, has conveyed their surrender on behalf of all Westraine defense forces.”

“Major? A mere battalion commander?”

Keiren’s face twisted upon hearing the messenger’s report.

“What about the other generals?”

“After our search, they all committed suicide. We’re currently entering the main city area to search additional military strongholds and buildings, but…”

Keiren let out a sigh after saying those words.

Running away.

Were they really such cowards who couldn’t even accept defeat?

“What about the other army groups that launched offensives?”

The Northern Army Group would have gone to Dalgrad, the port city connected to the Republic’s North Sea.

The Southern Army Group would have departed to conquer the Republic’s oil fields.

The messenger immediately responded to these words.

“The Northern Army Group has eliminated the resistance forces gathered at Dalgrad’s government building and completely occupied the city.”

“Hmm.”

“Additionally, they’ve captured three Westraine-class battleships docked at the northern military port.”

“What about the other warships?”

“They were all scuttled before our troops could reach them.”

Just as expected.

Keiren nodded and dropped his shoulders.

“We’ll need technicians to operate those ships. I’ll put out a search through the logistics staff. What about the south?”

“The Southern Army Group is in a similar situation, but the Republican forces set fire to the oil pipelines during their retreat. They’re requesting mage deployment for fire suppression, but…”

“We have reserve forces being transported from the mainland. I’ll redirect them south.”

After saying this, Keiren immediately systematized support missions for each army group and sent officers to deliver the orders.

“Not a single one of them surrenders quietly, do they?”

“But in the end, we still won.”

Receiving his fellow general’s words, Keiren looked at the map.

The Republic’s territory had completely fallen into Imperial domain, with Dalgrad in the north and the southern oil fields being the final pieces.

Looking at this, Keiren declared that whether the Secretary General surrendered or not, this war was over.

“In the end, this war concluded completely through the death of all enemies.”

The results of the war that lasted just over half a year were horrific.

Kalhyram Army casualties: 670,000.

Republic casualties excluding civilians: 3.7 million.

Including civilians: 12.7 million.

It was an incredibly fierce and simultaneously terrible war.

“But more important than that will be the post-war management.”

While the war was nearing its end, his work was just beginning.

They needed to rebuild the Republic’s territory devastated by monster contamination and incorporate it into Imperial domain.

For that, they would need to transfuse an enormous amount of resources.

‘The Imperial faction’s territories and the Emperor’s direct holdings alone cannot handle such massive material requirements. In other words…’

They would need the land and resources held by the magic nobles.

Keiren pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

‘We have sufficient military power.’

The unified Kalhyram Army had forces incomparable to the Knight Orders, and with the Special Magical Power Unit that absorbed the Magic Corps, they also had overwhelming numbers of mages.

However, problems still remained – the numerous high-ranking mages and heads of houses controlled by the Knight Orders.

Each possessing power equivalent to strategic weapons, they remained a headache for the Kalhyram Army.

‘Though we have Eugene as a powerful card, he can’t face all those seven stroke imprint mages alone.’

We have one, but they have at least seven.

It would be possible to surround territories with regular mages and defeat them one by one, but who knows how many people would die in the process.

‘And if the Kalhyram Army is weakened like that, we won’t be able to manage the Republican territory we worked so hard to obtain.’

The Republic’s vast lands and numerous population had become an obstacle binding the Kalhyram Army in itself.

‘Karl Buckenheim. So this is what that old man was aiming for.’

Unlike the Kalhyram Army tied down managing occupied territories, the magic nobles’ Knight Orders could operate freely anywhere, anytime.

Moreover, once the war with the Republic ended, using Kalhyram Army forces for war against magic nobles again would be burdensome.

The majority of the Kalhyram Army consisted of conscripts drafted from various regions.

They could be kept in place under the pretext of managing occupied territories, but if ordered to risk their lives fighting again, morale would hit rock bottom.

“To exterminate external enemies, we neglected internal ones. Is this the price for that?”

It was a desperate measure taken out of necessity to defeat the massive enemy that was the Republic.

Now his task would be a long, tedious battle.

To normalize the occupied Republican territories, make those lands the Emperor’s sphere of influence, and slowly build up power.

While defending against the magic nobles’ behind-the-scenes operations during that time and gradually making them obsolete.

Now that the massive enemy called the Republic was gone, the only threat remaining to us was monsters.

And those monsters could be handled by the Special Magical Power Unit alone.

‘That kind of thinking would be reasonable. However…’

Keiren couldn’t shake off his uneasy feeling.

“Is that really so?”

Keiren pondered.

‘Though I didn’t expect things to progress this smoothly, His Majesty the Emperor started this war because he was certain of victory.’

‘Given that, there’s no way His Majesty failed to predict this situation that would unfold after the war.’

He had made a deal with the Emperor.

In exchange for bringing down Buckenheim, he would become the Emperor’s warrior.

And when he was given full authority over the massive army that was the Kalhyram Army, the Emperor kept that promise.

He now had military power large enough to have a chance of victory even if fighting against not just Buckenheim, but all magic nobles.

‘If so, His Majesty’s plans couldn’t end here.’

The Republic was a massive enemy, but in the end, it was just an external threat to the Empire.

The Emperor himself would know better than anyone that the magic nobles were what truly needed reform.

‘Then just what does His Majesty plan to…’

While Keiren was lost in thought with his hand on his chin.

“Your Excellency.”

A soldier he had seen several times before quietly called out to Keiren as he approached.

A familiar face he had encountered many times.

An agent of the Imperial Intelligence Department.

“What is it?”

“News has arrived from the Imperial mainland.”

From the mainland?

As Keiren furrowed his brow, the Intelligence Department agent handed over well-organized documents and spoke.

“Civil war has broken out between magic noble factions. Count Raikard, head of one of the 12 Great Magic Houses… has been detained.”

Keiren’s expression hardened at the agent’s words.

Count Raikard was supporting the ‘Youth Faction’ nobles who were trying to reform the Round Table from within.

For such a person to be detained meant…

“So the Round Table is planning to make their move.”

If that’s the case, the Emperor is in the most danger right now.

Just as Keiren thought this and was about to speak.

“Wh-what?!”

“What is that?”

The officers gathered in the operations room began to stir.

They were looking at Westraine, the Republic’s final city and the target of this war’s occupation.

Keiren’s eyes widened as he looked in that direction.

“…!”

A red light rising from the center of the city.

That beam of light reaching to the ends of the sky was emitting a bizarre power unlike anything ever seen before.

***

Boom-!

With a thunderous sound, the Secretary General’s body was sent flying far away.

A strange mass of flesh joined like conjoined twins.

Though all the faces looked like the Secretary General’s, the body forms below the heads were clearly different.

One side was an unremarkable human body.

And the other side was a body with monster exoskeletons exposed throughout.

It must be his new body created using Arachne.

“Kuhack…! Kuu…!”

“I pretty much figured out what you were planning to do.”

I spoke while watching the Secretary General slowly rise.

“Your own body as the core, a monster body powered by mana cores, and my body possessing [Wings of Crimson]. You were planning to join these three together and fully merge them, weren’t you?”

The Secretary General’s will.

A monster body moved by mana cores.

And the magical power I had been cultivating all this time.

His aim must have been to steal these three things and make them complete.

‘Just thinking about it pisses me off. However…’

Though it was a revolting idea just to imagine, its effectiveness was undeniable at the same time.

A body that could command monsters and create them on its own.

My magic circuit embedded within, and monster mana cores to support it.

And three magic imprints marked on that body, along with human magic cast through them.

If these three things were all combined into one being, it would truly be no different from a god.

Just like Dr. Lavrenti’s nonsense.

“Ha… Haha…!”

While I was thinking this, the Secretary General looked at me with a laughing face.

“It would have been nice if you had quietly become one with me.”

“Fuck off.”

Become one by being buried in the flesh of a middle-aged man over fifty?

Ugh. Makes me want to puke.

I’d rather be eaten by Irene’s tentacle monster.

“But with this, I have obtained everything I wanted.”

“…”

After saying this, the Secretary General slowly raised both his hands.

Petrenko’s imprint marked on his left arm.

An unfamiliar seven stroke imprint marked on his chest.

And marked on his right arm…

[Wings of Crimson] as well.

“In the end, it has fallen into my hands.”

Saying this, the Secretary General slowly raised both arms.

“The imprint that made you a hero. The mark of a king. The essence of the human Eugene Lorentz. It has come into my possession.”

“…”

“Now only one thing remains. For all of these to combine with my will and achieve awakening!”

Wooooo—!

“With this, all preparations are complete.”

At the Secretary General’s command, the numerous monsters around him made incomprehensible cries while looking at him.

The Secretary General’s current body is the queen’s flesh created using Arachne.

They prioritize the orders of the newly created king over the queen who had lost her sense of self.

Crunch, crunch-!

Two bodies slowly merging together to take the form of one person.

Screech—!

Three magic imprints glowing with magical power.

“Finally… Finally I…!”

Relishing in that sense of omnipotence, the Secretary General released all the magical power gathered within him at once.

…

……

………

“…Huh?”

No changes occurred in the Secretary General’s completed body.

“Wh-what’s going on? I clearly had Wings of Crimson, the hero’s essence…! All the karma that person experienced…!”

The Secretary General examined various parts of his body, seemingly unable to grasp the situation.

But at that moment.

Of course it failed.

A voice spoke to the confused Secretary General.

The [Wings of Crimson] you stole was my magic imprint, not his.

“You…!”

What appeared behind the Secretary General was the translucent form of a human.

The failed magic imprint that was used and miserably defeated… that of the losing faction.

“…!”

The original owner of the seven stroke magic imprint [Wings of Crimson].

The protagonist of this game, ‘Eugene Lorentz’.

“Another personality? Then what’s in front of my eyes right now is…”

Just as the startled Secretary General said this.

Crack-!

A large crack appeared in the [Wings of Crimson] imprinted on his right arm.

Crackle, crackle.

The cracks spread and the imprint’s crystals fell away.

The Secretary General stared with wide eyes and a blank expression for a moment.

I did everything you asked, Black Witch.

Saying this, ‘Eugene’ slowly opened his mouth while looking at me.

With this, finally… it’s complete.

Whoosh-!

Space shook once.

The startup sound of the magic circuit activating.

Savoring the feeling of majestic magical power circling my entire body, I slowly raised my right arm.

Tss tss tss tss…!

This was originally where [Wings of Crimson] had been imprinted.

Where my original magic source that had overcome countless crises and changed countless futures had been imprinted.

And now, a new pattern was appearing on that right arm.

“Whew-“

As I exhaled, pure heat warmed the surrounding air.

What appeared on my right arm was a new imprint,

A single-stroke magic imprint slowly revealing itself, breaking through the seven stroke imprint.

Though it was a shape I had never seen before, I knew the name of that imprint.

[King of the Burning Constellation.]

Not Maximilien’s.

Not the protagonist ‘Eugene’s’.

It was my, Eugene’s magic imprint that had achieved awakening. (+)^[1]TLN: Again, here I could translate it as Yu-jin, not Eugene.

• 1. TLN: Again, here I could translate it as Yu-jin, not Eugene.

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