Your sword swung and struck the Death Knight, sending its body reeling back.
A large scar remained on its chest, but a muddy energy filled the wound, and before long, the scar disappeared as if nothing had happened.
You were neither surprised nor disappointed.
A boss with regenerative powers was quite common.
“Sir Knight…”
From behind, your apprentice called out to you, her voice filled with moisture.
It sounded like a weak child on the verge of tears, reminiscent of when you first met.
“When Father passed away, Mother said that it was surely an honorable fight. For our lord, for our kin, to uphold chivalry, he fought proudly and fell—she held back her tears and told us we must do our best. Older Brother too, desperately vowed to fill that void.”
There was anger. There was sorrow. Above all, there was great despair.
“But what if that’s not true? What if it wasn’t an honorable fight at all? What if we were just used in some dirty conspiracy? Then what do we—what can we…”
Your apprentice lamented.
The girl who had withstood even the harsh training you imposed was now crumbling under the weight of the past.
In your past self, you would have brushed off such words lightly, dismissing them without a second thought.
After all, it was just a story in a game.
A common tragedy just designed to give a reasonable narrative to the characters, not even worthy of proper appreciation.
But the current you found that to be impossible.
While you still thought that the death of enemies and their endless tales mattered little, you couldn’t disregard easily cutting off someone just because they were a comrade.
The stories of your comrades were something you couldn’t laugh off as merely a game.
If you acknowledged that this wasn’t a game, you would have to confront the harsh reality you were facing, but yet you didn’t.
Against the creeping anxiety within your heart, you laughed heartily.
Right now, it felt like you could do just that.
[“The Tin Knight” says that it’s rarer than expected for the world’s villain to simply be beaten up!]
[“The Tin Knight” says that even so, it’s quite common for him to feel relieved after smashing the villain!]
Cheerfully, frivolously, like a clown.
So that being serious and lamenting alongside such a guy felt utterly foolish.
[“The Tin Knight” says he’ll leave the true villain for later and insists this mid-boss should be left to him!]
[“The Tin Knight” says he’ll prepare a worthy opponent for his apprentice later, so just watch from behind!]
Your master never wavered, never trembled with anxiety, nor fell into serious anguish.
So, you could trust him without any burden and lean on him, just as he suggested to you.
《…■■■……!》
The vengeful Death Knight spoke in your direction.
It was certainly human language, but you couldn’t understand what was being said.
It sounded like layers of dialogues from many people overlapping and being played simultaneously.
Watching that scene before you, you pondered slightly.
The movements the Death Knight displayed resembled that of the knight Roni, who once asked you to rescue Adel.
Just by looking at Adel’s strange reaction, you realized that there was certainly something connecting this Death Knight to the Friedel Territory, where it fell.
That was a somewhat troublesome matter.
Although you were skilled in battle, your other specialties were not particularly exceptional.
The “Tin Knight’s” strategy indicated that there was something crucial at the core of the enemy, and cutting that would end the battle immediately, but you couldn’t help but think that such an ending was hardly the best.
Whoosh!
To cut to the chase, your musings turned out to be unnecessary.
A circle of blood formed, encasing the surrounding area.
Dorothea, with her hand-drawn dagger now returned to its sheath, shouted as if worried the figure would collapse any moment.
“Hey, tin can! Do whatever it takes to keep that guy inside that circle!”
You answered immediately.
[“The Tin Knight” welcomes any challenge!]
Feeling Sophia approaching to help Adel, you charged toward the Death Knight.
It seemed that the Death Knight attempted to escape, perhaps sensing the ominous energy surrounding the blood, but you had absolutely no intention of letting it get away.
Clang!
《─■■■■■!!》
[“The Tin Knight” proclaims you must play with me!]
***
“It’s a Death Knight, huh? Why didn’t I realize until we were this close?”
Dorothea frowned.
A powerful undead, standing alongside liches in notoriety.
Many necromancers desired it as a subordinate, but seeing one in person was incredibly rare due to the difficulty of its creation and command.
Of course, Dorothea was the exception.
She had multiple apprentices at her side, and could easily create one if she chose.
However, simply being present meant that the Death Knight emitted a terrifying debuff of curses and pressure, excluding it from Dorothea’s considerations, given her awareness of reputation.
And knowing how to make a Death Knight meant, conversely, that she also knew how to revert it back to its original state.
“Witch, that…”
“No need to strain yourself speaking. Just sit and wait. However, don’t drop the ritual. I can see the soul is in a bad state so it likely won’t last long after separation. We won’t have long to talk.”
Her voice was cold, but laced with warmth, and Adelheid quietly nodded.
Dorothea turned her gaze to Sophia.
“Sophia, can you wrap the separated souls in divine power?”
“You mean to protect them from obliteration? I’ll do my best.”
“Great, just hold out until the spell completes.”
With those final words, Dorothea closed her eyes.
As she began to chant in a hushed tone, the blood-formed barrier surrounding the two knights shifted.
Part of the barrier transformed into threads that reached out towards the Death Knight, clinging to its body.
The Death Knight tried to cut the threads away with annoyance, but the blood threads only momentarily distorted before they absolutely refused to break.
And shortly after, as if pulling a fish out of a lake, a darkened soul tore away from the Death Knight’s body along with the threads.
《─■■■! ■■!!》
The act seemed agonizing, as the Death Knight glowed and thrust its sword towards Dorothea.
Tentacles tainted by curses surged fiercely, trying to pierce through Dorothea’s body.
Dorothea neither opened her eyes, nor ceased her chant, nor tried to dodge.
Instead, the Tin Knight moved.
[“The Tin Knight” shouts that being distracted is a bad civilization!]
The Tin Knight’s sword sliced through the air multiple times.
Rough, practical swordsmanship far from elegance or beauty.
Yet, its effectiveness was absolute, as the black tentacles were ripped away in an instant.
The darkened soul, dragged out of the barrier, struggled desperately to escape, but as time passed, the black color that tinged the soul gradually faded, turning to white.
As Sophia brought her hands together in prayer, the light emanating from her gently embraced the soul.
When Dorothea’s necromancy clashed with Sophia’s holy magic in the same realm, the two forces surged as if rebelling, but Dorothea’s spilled blood acted as a buffer, allowing both to coexist without issue.
After a moment, yet another new crimson thread attached itself to the Death Knight’s body.
The Death Knight desperately swung its sword, trying to either escape the barrier or harm Dorothea’s party, but the Tin Knight thwarted all those attempts, firmly keeping the Death Knight in place.
《─■■■■!!》
Realizing it was impossible to escape if it couldn’t deal with the enemy in front of it, the Death Knight gave it its all and swung its sword.
The attacks from the Death Knight, which had devoured several top-tier magicians and absorbed their magic and souls, were powerful, and its skills, composed of elite knights, were outstanding.
Moreover, the Tin Knight had the additional constraint of not being able to knock the foe down.
Clang! Clang!
However, the Death Knight’s attacks could never reach the Tin Knight.
The fierce sword strikes would shatter even great boulders, yet they were effortlessly brushed aside as if they were but gentle breezes.
The mere presence there sent chills down people’s spines and poisoned them with its aura, but the Tin Knight’s metallic body suffered no harm at all.
Even magical attacks that manipulated curses and powers like appendages failed to faze the Tin Knight, who seemed to calmly counter all of them.
A punch would bend its arm, trying to widen the distance would get its feet stomped, and launching black tentacles from the body would be sent flying into the air before it could activate.
Overwhelming.
That one word sufficed to describe the prowess of the Tin Knight.
Every time a soul was extracted, the Death Knight screamed in agony.
Perhaps due to the diminishing souls at its core, the voice that once sounded like mere mumbling began shifting into something you could gradually understand.
《■Get■ away! Don’t interfere!》
《The lord’s command is, I must…!》
《As long as I can return, I will do whatever it takes!》
Adelheid unconsciously took a step forward.
She desperately held herself back from lunging towards the knight.
Because her master had told her to trust and rely on him.
Because her benefactor told her that this stage wasn’t meant for her.
Thus, she paused.
Instead, she widened her eyes.
To observe this fight, to engrave it in her heart.
The battle continued.
Countless souls detached from the Death Knight until at last only one remained.
The Death Knight, Friedel, cried out.
《Don’t stop me! I am! We must return home!!》
[“The Tin Knight” says that he doesn’t care and will not tolerate the one making his apprentice cry!]
Boom!
The Tin Knight’s fist landed hard on the Death Knight’s face.
As the falling Death Knight’s heart was extended toward the blood-red thread, it finally ended the last soul.
The body of the Death Knight dispersed like mist, and from its center, a single seed fell softly to the ground.
“Phew.”
Dorothea let out a deep sigh.
The Tin Knight, returning to her side, asked.
[“The Tin Knight” wonders if it’s all over!]
“For now… But indeed, the condition is bad. Even before it became a Death Knight, its soul was torn apart.”
With that condition, communicating properly would be almost impossible even if she purified it like usual, and Dorothea clicked her tongue.
As she had said, the souls were quietly convulsing and squirming, unable to move.
Even if Dorothea conjured a mouth through her necromancy, all the Death Knight could do was mumble aimlessly about ‘going back’.
For now, Sophia protected the souls with divine power, but that grace didn’t seem like it would last long.
Dorothea discreetly glanced at Adel.
She suspected she’d be wearing a death mask.
However, Adel’s expression was different than expected.
She held a calm yet dignified air about her.
Not as the youngest daughter of a territory to be protected, but as the rightful heir of Friedel.
“─Knights of Friedel.”
The souls shuddered in response.
The once wandering and muddled souls faintly regained their rationality.
Dorothea struck the ground with her staff, and the souls that had once resembled will-o’-the-wisps or wriggling insects morphed, regaining the semblance of human form.
One of the souls mumbled, staring blankly.
《Adel, Lady…》
Adel smiled gently.
“Yes, it’s me. The rightful lord of Friedel. Daughter of August von Lenart. Adelheid von Lenart.”
《Oh, ohh…!》
《We have returned, to Friedel, we have returned!》
《Ah, lord. We have succeeded!》
The souls trembled with joy.
With no tears flowing, they cried out in delight, knowing their efforts were not in vain.
《Please accept us, my lady.》
One of the knights split its own soul and placed it in the palm of Adelheid’s hand.
Though it was the memory of a knight, its form was highly unstable.
Since the knight’s soul had already been reduced to mere fragments, how could those memories even be whole?
So, others followed suit, splitting their souls as well.
Proposing that even a torn picture could be restored to its complete form if you gathered the pieces together.
Thus, even as they diminished the time they could remain in this world, they smiled without hesitation.
And so, a tiny orb of light took on a complete shape in Adelheid’s hand.
Gently wrapping it as if handling delicate glasswork, Adelheid suppressed her trembling voice and spoke.
“I have clearly received your message. From the depth of my heart, I thank you for your dedication and loyalty. Truly, you have all done well.”
The knights’ souls smiled.
As if rewarded by those words alone, they vanished with smiles, transforming into light.
When everyone had turned into a cluster of light, Adelheid lowered her head.
The other comrades silently gazed elsewhere.
For quite some time.
Until the water flowing down her cheeks subsided.
![[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come](https://i3.wp.com/darkmtl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1737407792-8993-TS-The-end-of-magical-girls-has-come.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come")
