Repeat Vice - The Villainous Noble Doesn't Want to Die, So He Swore to Not Die As One of The Four Heavenly Kings - Chapter 105: Destiny

Chapter 105: Destiny

A deafening roar echoed.

In the sky above the towering mountains to the north, an enormous number of discs appeared.

The countless discs had no wings to fly, and there was no magical reaction.

Despite this, the discs formed a formation and flew silently through the air.

And the pure white mountains began to turn black from above.

Something massive was descending from the mountain peaks.

Soon, alarms blared loudly from all over the foot of the mountain.

“Empire’s flying discs, and those are… a horde of ‘Machina Beasts’!?”

With his magic-imbued eyes, Eric saw far into the distance, hurriedly getting out of the hot spring to arm himself.

Machina Beasts—autonomous unmanned biological weapons created by the Empire, which usually patrol the border.

They come in various forms, including small animals, quadrupeds, birds, and even dragons.

They range in size from palm-sized to towering giants.

Their threat level is such that if a stray Machina Beast invades Steria territory, a small squad of knights would be dispatched.

What makes Machina Beasts terrifying is their durability and endurance.

They have tough exoskeletons that blades cannot easily penetrate, and since they are not living beings, they do not tire and continue moving as long as their power source lasts.

The larger ones are as powerful as disaster-level monsters, and combined with their superhuman durability and endurance, they are even more troublesome than dragon species.

Such Machina Beasts were swarming in numbers enough to cover the mountains.

And above them were countless flying discs.

The ground and sky were now filled with the Empire’s forces.

“They’ve really come, huh.”

Rinus smirked aggressively as Ivan approached him.

“What is the meaning of this, Rinus! Did you know about the Empire’s invasion!? Why didn’t you tell us sooner!”

“Even if you say that… I was only half-convinced myself. I didn’t know the exact time of the attack.”

“You should have told us as soon as you arrived! This is no time for drinking!”

“If I’m offered a drink, I’ll drink.”

Rinus shrugged.

Carlos quickly dressed and armed himself, following Eric out of the mansion.

“Is this really the time to argue! I’ll help Eric deal with the Machina Beasts on the ground. You two deal with the flying discs!”

Eric had already left the mansion with two White Phoenix Knights, and Carlos was about to follow when Rinus stopped him.

“Wait, Carlos.”

“What is it!? The situation is urgent—”

“You don’t have the strength you did in your prime. What can you do?”

“…! Th-that is…”

“In your old age, you’d be lucky to take down a dozen small ones or one large one. And how many Machina Beasts are there?”

“That… but still!”

Ignoring Carlos’s hesitation, Rinus looked at Gres.

“You go, Gres.”

“What? Me?”

Gres, who had been watching the Empire’s invasion as if it were someone else’s problem, was suddenly ordered by Rinus and was stunned.

“No, no, no, what are you saying, former master? My mission is to keep an eye on you. I can’t go.”

“Go, you fool. Didn’t Rudens tell you to bring me back by force if things got messy? Sending you here means he expected trouble.”

“Uh, well, that’s…”

Caught out, Gres looked away.

Rinus pointed with his thumb at the invading Empire forces in Steria territory.

“Look, the trouble we’ve been waiting for. Go handle it by force.”

“…I’m supposed to keep an eye on you.”

“Right. But if you don’t go, Carlos will. And Carlos will probably die. Doesn’t your mission include keeping Carlos alive?”

“Aaah…”

It does, Gres thought, looking up at the sky.

Gres sighed heavily.

“Fine… I’ll be back as soon as possible, so behave yourself.”

“Sure, I’ll do my best.”

Despite his words, Rinus looked ready for a fight, rolling his shoulders as he gazed at the countless discs in the sky.

Gres sighed again—then disappeared into mist.

“Alright, now the ground is taken care of. All that’s left is to take down those flies.”

Rinus, looking eager, donned his coat.

Ivan also equipped the armor brought by his servants.

“It’s fortunate we can rely on the second-in-command of the Dark Knights. But even so, with that number of Machina Beasts, it will be tough. I’ll go support on the ground.”

“What? No need. If Gres is going, he’ll manage.”

“What?”

Ivan frowned in disbelief.

“I can tell he’s strong, but there are at least ten thousand Machina Beasts. Can that youngster handle that?”

“Gres’s magic is suited for dealing with large numbers of enemies. As Rinus said, he’s more suitable for this than I am… as pathetic as it is.”

Carlos added, causing Ivan to shrug.

“If Carlos says so, then fine. My grandson Eric has gone too. And with this commotion, my son Adler will surely act.”

“Yeah, let the young ones handle the ground.”

Rinus summoned his dark scythe and aimed it at the countless discs.

“We old folks will deal with those. There are more Machina Beasts, but those discs are probably more troublesome. Or rather, the people on top of them.”

They could see figures on top of the discs.

Each disc carried an armed Empire soldier.

There were roughly a thousand of them.

Ivan grimaced.

“Soldiers, a thousand… a battalion. The Machina Beasts number over ten thousand… The Empire dares to invade without a declaration of war… It’s a clear violation of international law.”

“The Kingdom and the Empire were only in a truce. We never had an alliance. It’s a breach of the truce, though. This was bound to happen eventually. Well, fifty years is a long time.”

Rinus swung his scythe and unleashed a massive dark slash towards the battalion of discs.

The countless discs in formation, like a bird spreading its wings—crane wing formation.

Half of the left wing was swallowed by Rinus’s dark slash.

In one strike, nearly 400 discs were blown away, and the soldiers were thrown to the ground.

“As expected…”

Carlos’s praise was tinged with exasperation.

However, Rinus, looking at the falling soldiers, squinted.

“No, they’re not dead. I felt the impact, but…”

“…? But from that height, they shouldn’t survive.”

“Those who survived my dark scythe won’t die from a fall. Damn, quite a few have reached the ground… Well, Gres can handle it.”

Rinus muttered lightly, transforming into an otherworldly being, cloaked in darkness.

Rinus’s demonic transformation High-End—”Farmer’s Skull.”

He transformed into a grim reaper shrouded in abyssal rags and grabbed Carlos by the scruff of his neck.

“You’ll help too, Carlos.”

“Of course. But, I can’t fly… What do you plan to do?”

‘I’ll take you up there. After that, use the discs as footholds and do what you can.’

“That’s quite unreasonable… I thought you might be more considerate given you mentioned my old age earlier.”

‘There are 600 left. Your quota is 200 each. You know, just dropping them won’t do. Make sure to kill them.’

Rinus picked up Carlos, and his feet lifted gently off the ground.

Rinus glanced at Ivan.

‘You’re okay with that too, Ivan?’

“…You’re still the bossy one. Fine, 200 each it is.”

Ivan’s body was enveloped in light, transforming into an otherworldly form.

His muscular body turned into a rough, rock-like form.

He looked like a golem filled with light.

This was Ivan Idea Steria’s High-End demonization—’King of the Caverns.’

Ivan enlarged his rock-like right arm.

He extended his enormous arm and released a massive beam of light from his palm.

The beam pierced through the atmosphere, even piercing the clouds.

The discs scattered like spiderlings, but several that couldn’t evade were blown away.

‘Hmm, they avoided it well. But, how about this?’

Ivan swept the continuous beam of light sideways, wiping out nearly 100 discs.

More Empire soldiers fell.

Rinus yelled out.

‘Hey Ivan! I told you to kill them properly! Just knocking them down isn’t enough, I could do that alone in five minutes!’

‘Hmm, they survived that. These Empire soldiers are tough.’

‘Tough my ass. Great, 100 of them fell. You’ve increased the burden on the young ones…’

“If it’s about the burden, Rinus-sama, you dropped 400 of them yourself…”

Carlos glanced at the ground where the Empire soldiers had fallen with a complex expression.

Rinus snorted.

‘Hah, let’s just kill the Empire soldiers quickly and go help on the ground!’

Rinus, holding Carlos, flew towards the discs, reforming their broken formation.

Ivan watched Rinus fly away, then let out a small sigh.

‘I can’t fly, so… what should I use as a foothold?’

Ivan muttered contemplatively, aiming his enlarged palms at the ground—then exploded with light magic.

The resulting blast and shockwave blew away the mansion’s hot spring, and Ivan’s rocky giant body shot up through the flying debris.

Propelled by the explosion, Ivan flew after Rinus and Carlos, heading for the discs.

Black and white trails streaked towards the numerous discs floating in the night sky.

＊

During the past war with the Empire, there were three Kingdom nobles feared by the Empire soldiers.

The most feared and dreadful demon—’Dark Reaper’ Rinus, whose encounter meant death.

The merciless demon who, drenched in blood, slaughtered even the fleeing ones—’Red Demon God’ Carlos, feared even more than the ‘Dark Reaper.’

And the greatest barrier at the border, the steadfast defender of the Steria—’White Demon God’ Ivan.

During that time, the Empire, with its overwhelming scientific technology, had the advantage.

The Empire controlled the airspace with aircraft and had set their attack range over the entire Kingdom.

However, the one who stopped all invasions from the land was ‘White Demon God’ Ivan.

In the meantime, the Kingdom minimized air raid damage with protective magic, and ‘Dark Reaper’ Rinus and ‘Red Demon God’ Carlos invaded the Empire, causing immense damage.

Ultimately, the Empire conceded, and a truce agreement was signed.

Even after retiring from active duty and aging, Rinus, Carlos, and Ivan remained unforgettable enemies for the Empire.

After half a century since the war, even with generational changes, they were unavoidable enemies.

Who could have predicted that these three would be in the Steria territory at the border on the very day the Empire launched its invasion?

The total number of aerial battalions was in the thousands.

The left wing of their crane wing formation was suddenly obliterated by a torrent of darkness.

The Empire soldiers, cyborgs enhanced by Empire science, were not fragile enough to die from a single magic attack.

There were no fatalities.

However, a significant number of Empire soldiers were dropped to the ground.

Soon after, a beam of magic light pierced and swept through the right wing.

Half of the thousand-strong aerial battalion was reduced, with no casualties but significant losses.

Standing on the notably larger disc at the center of the crane wing formation, a man in a black military uniform with an eye patch over his right eye—Commander Azami of the aerial battalion—quietly assessed the damage.

“Magic so powerful that the electromagnetic barrier is ineffective—darkness and light systems. It reminds me of the nightmare from fifty years ago.”

Despite mentioning fifty years ago, Azami’s skin looked youthful, not showing any signs of half a century’s passage.

He appeared to be in his twenties or thirties.

A disc pulled up next to Azami’s large disc.

The man aboard, a young man in a black military uniform with a cap pulled low over his eyes—Lieutenant Commander Suiren—peered sharply at Azami.

“Half of the aerial battalion has been dropped. Orders, sir.”

“Those who fell should change their objective to ground base suppression. We will continue our mission to control the airspace.”

Azami answered calmly.

His orders were instantly transmitted in real-time to all the aerial soldiers via radio.

Suiren quietly tapped twice behind his ear with his finger.

This gesture indicated he wanted to have a private conversation.

Azami responded by cutting off the radio transmission.

“What is it, Lieutenant Commander Suiren?”

“…Lindou also fell in the previous attack.”

Azami frowned at Suiren’s words.

That troublemaker had fallen?

“…Understood. You go down too.”

“Are you sure?”

“No problem. I can handle airspace control alone. Keep an eye on Lindou, so he doesn’t cause unnecessary civilian casualties.”

“Naturally. But… are you sure you want me to go down?”

“Stop repeating yourself.”

Azami frowned at Suiren’s persistence.

Suiren sighed, looked in a certain direction.

It was towards the black and white trails approaching them.

The meter attached to Suiren’s armband’s needle was in the danger zone, pointing to red.

It measured the concentration of magical elements in the air.

Developed by the Empire, it indicated the danger level of magic users.

Red was the maximum value.

It was meant to be used at close range, but even from a considerable distance, the needle was already maxed out.

The approaching magic users’ danger level was unimaginable.

“I’ve never seen a reaction like this even in a high-level dungeon. Are you really okay?”

Despite Suiren’s words, Azami remained unfazed.

He silently glared at the approaching black and white magic—a vengeful look, tracing his right eye patch.

“…No problem. I know those people. I could never forget them—though I didn’t expect to encounter them so soon.”

With a hint of madness in his eyes, Suiren narrowed his eyes at Azami.

“…Is this personal vengeance?”

“No, it’s not something as mild as personal vengeance. This is… national vengeance.”

Azami’s aura exuded murderous intent.

Suiren sighed, thinking it was personal vengeance, but said, “Understood…” and backed off.

“Good luck.”

Suiren said just that, descending without waiting for a response.

The air was chaotic, but on the ground, the Kingdom knights were blocking the descent of the Machina Beasts everywhere.

And, a white smoke-like substance was engulfing them.

The white smoke was gradually expanding its range.

“Is that fog… no, a smokescreen? I have a bad feeling about this…”

Suiren’s eyes were drawn to the mysterious smoke.