The imperial court dug a canal that ran east to west through the heart of Solletarion to ensure the smooth transport of supplies, drawing in river water.
The depth was 5 meters and the width 100 meters, the floor and walls finished with magically hardened soil and sand to prevent the water from getting murky or leaking.
On the north side of the canal, there were three docks, and on the south side, three more. Valenciaunos stood at the central dock on the northern bank, the one closest to the imperial palace, feeling the night breeze.
It was the job of the Black Iron Knights to capture the fleeing casino managers, so he focused solely on his half-siblings.
There had been several mass escapes even before his return.
Though the starting points varied, the endings always converged.
The high nobles sought the bloodlines and inheritance rights of the great dukes, would harbor them, spread slander against Jeilliris, and Jeilliris would raise an army to defend her throne.
Thus, civil war would begin, and amidst the chaos, the magical realms and infiltrators would multiply exponentially, the kingdoms and republics of the continent would rebel against the empire, and only innocent lives would be lost…
Valenciaunos gazed at the starry sky and the cathedral across the canal, donning his uniform adorned with gold thread.
Autumn had arrived, the night breeze was cool.
He brushed back his tousled platinum hair, his golden, radiant eyes flashing as he scrutinized the main road.
“If you see anything resembling a carriage procession, you must dash to the imperial palace immediately.”
“Of course.”
The messengers bowed their heads.
While it was most advantageous to capture the moment the royal family departed the palace, the casino managers might not emerge if they did that.
Moreover, it was clear they were not fools and would possess a means of escape that could surely work at least once.
However, leaving the palace and exiting the capital were entirely different matters.
The night was deep, and the four gates were firmly closed.
Valenciaunos’s forty years of regret were profound, and he showed no sign of complacency.
‘If you can flee, then try to escape.’
He would end it all today.
“Lady Trentia.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“If I were to kill all my half-siblings today, would you try to stop me?”
There was none of the typical frivolity and delinquency in his voice.
It seemed he struggled with an incongruent dilemma between what was necessary and what was permissible.
The bold knight with red hair hesitated momentarily before responding.
“I told you not to make me think too much.”
“My apologies.”
“Blood carries rights and responsibilities. You’ve mentioned this yourself, haven’t you?”
“That’s true.”
“Given your late father had so many children, it was only a matter of time before a great purge would occur, regardless of who sat upon the throne.”
When there are many heirs to the inheritance rights, blood is always shed.
That was a timeless truth transcending eras and races.
He was born into that era, and whether to face the guilt that inevitably arose was his choice.
“…Thank you.”
He suddenly lifted his head.
In the distance, dozens of cargo carriages were approaching, lined up.
“Not a carriage, but cargo carriages? Quite clever. Were you planning to disguise yourselves as goods?”
The city had a nighttime curfew, but workers along the canal were permitted to work through the night as long as they left the city as soon as the sluice gates opened at dawn.
“Your Highness, a supply ship is coming from the west.”
Trentia whispered softly.
“That’s not our responsibility.”
Valenciaunos confidently turned his head, drawing his sword and dashing into the main street.
“Who goes there?”
The first carriage’s coachman, startled, hurriedly raised a slowing flag and tugged on the reins.
The following carriage’s coachman also raised the flag and pulled on the reins.
The coachman was about to curse but Trentia shouted first.
“A report has come in that you are transporting illegal goods. We will be conducting a brief inspection, so we ask for your cooperation.”
Her plate armor revealed her identity even in the midnight darkness.
“Of course.”
“But your Grace, what are you doing at this hour?”
The coachmen, panicking, dismounted and led her into the cargo compartment.
This was not a moment to irritate the knight, lest they be thrown into the canal along with the cargo.
The cargo compartment of the carriage was full of large wooden boxes and barrels.
Trentia frowned at the line of carriages stretching back behind her.
“Your Highness, if we inspect all of these, we might miss the royal family heading to another location.”
Valenciaunos nodded.
“Your words are indeed correct.”
“Then what do you propose to do?”
He called upon his mana and shouted.
“Flames that embrace gently!”
Flames erupted in the air, blazing brightly.
“If we burn everything down, wouldn’t someone come out?”
He declared as though announcing an eternal truth.
“Your Highness!”
“Your Highness…!”
“No! Not that!”
Trentia panicked, and the coachmen rushed to bow their heads before Valenciaunos.
However, he remained unfazed, asking instead.
“Which transport guild do you belong to? I see several carriages without guild insignia. Did you sneak into the procession under the cover of darkness?”
Hadrian spoke up.
They were merely illegal coachmen not belonging to any guild.
The coachmen’s eyes twitched.
Valenciaunos laughed heartily, covering the unmarked cargo carriage with flames.
With a whoosh, snap, the entire cargo compartment ignited.
“Damn it!”
The coachmen drew daggers from their clothes.
“How dare you! Who do you think you are to lift your head here!”
Trentia assisted them to bow again with her steel-gloved fist and iron-armored boot.
The burning cargo of the carriage began to rock and sway.
Trentia shouted to the messengers borrowed from the Chief of Police.
“Go!”
“!”
Five messengers raced down the midnight road.
“The royal family is escaping! The guards to the central dock!”
They screamed at the top of their lungs.
“What the…”
Guild-affiliated coachmen were left with dumbfounded expressions as they found themselves halted in the middle of the road at midnight.
* * *
From the flames, the royals tumbled out one by one.
Though covered in smoke and soot, recognizing their identities wasn’t difficult.
Hair of all colors and shining eyes, tall and with limbs crafted elegantly.
They bore the profound blood of the royal family at its pinnacle.
“Valenciaunos!”
“Clarence.”
The large royal man gritted his teeth and drew his sword.
His soot-streaked cheeks and his chest bare of jewels or gold appeared shabby.
Valenciaunos, adorned in rich gold and silver, charged ahead.
“The great dukes of the Crimson Crescent Palace plot to sell imperial secrets to foreign dignitaries alongside the mob of the red-light district…”
“I just wanted to live!”
Clang, clang, clang!
Swords clashed, sparks flared brightly.
“It is the Emperor’s command to arrest all for treason!”
“Get out of the way! You kin-slayer!”
Clang, clang!
Clarence was a stronger man with better stamina than Valenciaunos.
After all, there was a six-year age gap, and he had trained with swords longer.
While Valenciaunos had pre-return experience, the sheer volume of mana both possessed was not comparable.
However, in a fight, the underhanded often held the upper hand.
Thud!
He kicked below the knee, tangled their guards, and in such close proximity, thrust his knee up into Clarence’s stomach.
“Ugh!”
As Clarence staggered, Valenciaunos unleashed his uniquely delicate and merciless swordsmanship.
Swish!
The swiftly swung sword accurately grazed Clarence’s throat.
The blade dug in to the level of two fingertips, severing vessels, and crimson blood trickled down.
Valenciaunos rummaged through the fallen Clarence’s clothes.
A detailed map of the imperial palace emerged.
His guilt eased a shade, feeling bittersweet.
“Planning to sell out imperial secrets… It seems your pretense wasn’t just a name. This was your ransom.”
Valenciaunos turned to the approaching footsteps from the front.
“Arietta, do you have something like this too?”
She did not answer but drew a short sword, two fists long, from her clothes, slicing the air.
Swish!
Valenciaunos lowered his sword and stepped back.
Clang!
A sound of sparks rang out in the air as blood trickled from his cheek.
“The Wind Blade of the Shadowless Spear? Quite impressive.”
“My father overthrew the previous emperor, and my mother carried the blood of the Sylph.”
Swish, swish!
Sharp lines traced through the air, restricting Valenciaunos’s movements.
He realized that the attack aimed not to kill him but to clear a path.
“Now! Everyone run!”
“Let’s go!”
“This accursed capital’s end is nigh!”
Hearing Arietta’s shout, the royals sprinted towards the dock.
Some drew their swords, while others unleashed the magic they’d hidden until now, covering their escape.
Helena tried to catch up with Arietta, but—
“Let’s go!”
The blonde Lancea smiled, grabbing her hand and running out.
Valenciaunos, filled with rage, chanted an incantation.
“Piercing Flames!”
Lancea was struck by a spear-like flame from behind.
“You’re surprisingly careless.”
Taking advantage of that, Arietta aimed her Wind Blade at Valenciaunos.
Clang!
Trentia blocked the Wind Blade with her armored body.
Even the keen wind blade could not graze her armor.
“Lay down your sword. You know this armor is impervious to circles five and below.”
Arietta shrugged her shoulders.
“As a knight, you know there are moments you must not retreat even if you know you may lose.”
At that moment, a roar came from the dock.
The ships were almost arriving.
Did the casino managers gather all the old subordinates? Many large men armed with steel clubs and daggers could also be seen.
Valenciaunos shouted to Trentia.
“Lady Trentia, go deal with those men. I’ll handle Arietta.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Trentia launched herself forward as she hit the ground.
A red mana blade ignited gently along her sword.
Arietta hastily unleashed a stream of Wind Blades targeting her back, but Valenciaunos was already approaching her.
At that moment, Arietta twirled around to face Valenciaunos, smiling.
“Tear it apart!”
Kakakakakak!
The wind barrier whirled violently.
It was qualitatively different from Jin’s as an academy student.
Their power was enough to shred ordinary armor and bodies alike.
But what entered Arietta’s view was not Valenciaunos’s flesh but the flames surrounding her.
“What!”
She expressed panic with a sharp voice, quickly deducing what had transpired.
Valenciaunos had drawn the flames from the cargo carriage and pushed them into her wind barrier.
“Ugh!”
Suddenly encircled by flames, Arietta gritted her teeth and dispersed the wind barrier, just as Valenciaunos, sword raised, leapt forward.
Thud, and swish!
A chilling smile flickered across his lips before vanishing, as the swords of both swiftly crossed.
In those few seconds of silence, Arietta’s voice rose faintly.
“…You cherish your sister that much. A notorious kin-slayer.”
Valenciaunos responded in a serious voice.
“She gave me life twice. It would have been nice if you had cherished her as well.”
The way he referred to “her” momentarily shocked Arietta.
No one referred to Emperor Jeilliris in that manner.
Soon, even as she swayed, Arietta smiled weakly.
“I had a sister who cherished me like that too.”
Valenciaunos hesitated before asking.
“Was she of the Crown Prince faction?”
That faction stood in opposition to the faction belonging to Jeilliris, the First Prince.
“Yes.”
“What a pity.”
“Make sure to cherish your sister in the future. Since she is the one you chose, you must never regret it.”
“I’m still regretting not having made the choice before I died. The regret of having let you all live. Twisting and entwining for 40 long years.”
Arietta.
She was the one who inherited the count title in place of a cousin who would die in battle, a figure who had supported Justianus with funds and materials for decades from a substantial fief in the borderlands.
She answered in a dream-like voice.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Right. You don’t need to know.”
“I will be recorded as a traitor, won’t I? That would bring harm to my family.”
Arietta’s voice gradually weakened.
“No. His Majesty does not wish for conflict with the high nobles. You will die honorably and be cremated. No traces of a sword wound are to be left upon your bones.”
There was a sense of resolve in Valenciaunos’s voice.
He was ready to bear preventive accountability for events that had not yet occurred.
“I’m glad. It’s getting cold. Will you end this?”
“Willingly.”
* * *
“You filthy bandits! Stick out your necks and lie down right now!”
“Run!”
“We need to set sail quickly!”
“Hurry and get the royalty on board! We have to leave with them!”
“It’s too late! Argh!”
The knight of the Sword Expert clad in magical circuit-etched plate armor was a living catastrophe.
There was no one capable of matching even their sword with Trentia’s, let alone mixing blades.
The royals lost their swords and wrists, prayers were shattered, and their necks succumbed to the floor.
Though high-ranked royals with magic displayed fireballs and lightning arrows, Trentia’s armor easily deflected all these spells.
The managers watched, merely letting out hushed breaths.
“Lady Trentia!”
From the west, blue lightning sparked, and a voice they recognized called out.
Several knights clad in black armor and a wizard in a deep blue robe rushed along the path beside the canal.
“It’s the Black Iron Knights!”
One of the guards on the supply ship shouted.
“Manager, it’s our limit now. If they join, we won’t be able to hold them off.”
“I received news from the ones placed near the crocodile birds. Wyverns will be taking off soon from Wyvernfit. You must go!”
“Wyverns? Then it’s already too late! How are you supposed to dodge wyverns on a ship?!”
The present manager from the ‘future’ grabbed a nearby royal.
“Lancea! What’s going on? We’re all going to die!”
The tall royal man with long blonde hair shrugged, dramatically sighing.
“You were the one who said you’d help us escape, and you were the one who suggested we run together, and you insisted we come here. Who are you blaming?”
“Right now, we’re all going to die! If you hadn’t brought all the royals here from the start…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Lancea laughed wickedly.
He grabbed one of the royals standing next to him, pulling him close, and from his waist, pulled out a large syringe, jabbing it into the royal’s body.
“One by one, they are our precious shields.”
“Ugh!”
The royal injected with serum gripped his head and staggered.
The surrounding royals looked at Lancea in shock.
A bracelet in the shape of two intertwined tentacles gleamed in the moonlight, reflecting and vanishing.
“You.”
“Don’t tell me…?”
The nearby royals hesitated, stepping back.
Lancea grinned as he dragged the staggering royal’s nape towards the ship rail and threw him toward the dock.
Thump!
Thick tentacles of purple and green started to sprout from the royal’s body.
Lancea jested.
“Valenciaunos! Didn’t you say you’ve already caught one of these before?”
Valenciaunos, just stepping onto the dock, glared at Lancea on the ship’s railing.
“Catch another one!”
Lancea flashed a stop sign to Valenciaunos.
However, Valenciaunos clenched his face in despair.
Rather, he felt a sense of completeness that today’s finale would be perfected as he had envisioned.
He called back over his shoulder.
“Rudi! Shoot that bastard!”
Twang!
A single arrow cleaved through the night sky.
Lancea’s head burst like a watermelon.
![[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")