Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 198

Quickblade (1)After the break ended, the Minister of Finance contacted Kairus.

The time had come. Nora had already parted ways in order to carry out what she had to do.

As Kairus gazed up at the spring sky, he found himself unable to think of anything else, so that was the thought that crossed his mind.

It was time to move. Kairus’s first destination had already been decided.

[Azure Order of Knights Quickblade Dallas Ozley]

After confirming the location guarded by the Azure Order of Knights, Kairus clicked his tongue. It was not because he knew Dallas Ozley, but because he knew the place he had to go to confront him.

“Rezantin.”

A city that had no resistance to crime because it had been a sterile chamber. The city once guarded by the Captain of the Scarlet Leaf Order was now guarded by the Captain of the Azure Order of Knights.

“The battle gear from the museum must have all been distributed by now, right?”

“Probably. It’s a real combat situation, after all.”

It had been an act of terrorism with blatant malice. Fires had broken out in 181 imperial administrative facilities. Arson attempts had occurred in even more locations, but only that many had succeeded.

The telephone lines connecting calls had been cut, and the telegraph system used for sending telegrams had its limitations.

It was impossible to exchange large amounts of information in a short time. Not everyone could decipher the signals of the telegrams that had arrived.

Radio frequencies were a limited resource, so they were being shared between the Order of Knights and the Imperial Army.

Which meant the civilian sector had descended into chaos.

“Let’s go.”

Kairus lifted his bag. Irena was already inside it.

“We might have to travel across the Empire several times in a single day.”

That meant he would not be able to be considerate toward Irena during the flight. He had to fly at a terrifying speed and at a high altitude to avoid being discovered.

“I know. I can endure it.”

“Alright.”

Kairus’s words had noticeably decreased, and Irena was fully aware of it.

It was not an easy task, but it was something he desperately wanted to accomplish. Irena fully understood Kairus’s actions.

“There must be a lot of knights.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

In any case, they would not even allow Kairus to approach. Kairus soared into the sky and accelerated. Inside the bag, Irena desperately held on.

‘This is… way too intense!’

While enduring the flight without complaint, Irena screamed inwardly. She understood that Kairus must not slow down his flying speed.

She did not want to distract him by letting out unnecessary groans.

The funny thing was that Kairus was not even flying at full speed right now. He was deliberately reducing his speed to allow Irena to endure it.

The flight continued in silent consideration. At the end of the journey, Rezantin City came into view.

“I don’t see a single civilian.”

Everyone was probably following the military’s instructions and remaining inside their residences. Perhaps because it was still like a sterile chamber, they followed orders from above extremely well.

There was no belief that if they stayed still, the security forces and the army would take care of everything.

If an announcement were issued in Bennett City telling people not to come out because it was dangerous, everyone would pack their belongings and try to flee the city. It was a city that had no concept of trust in public authority.

“Well, whether that was the right choice will soon be revealed.”

The remnants of a ruined house were about to test the Empire’s sword and shield.

“Prepare yourself.”

At Kairus’s words, Irena steadied her mind despite trembling from hypothermia, her faint breathing barely audible.

There was no option now to land somewhere far away, warm up, and then enter battle.

Kairus’s body shot toward the center of the city like an arrow. The result was a direct hit.

Spiderweb-like cracks spread across the city plaza where Kairus landed.

“Ugh… ngh.”

Irena crawled out of the bag.

“It looks like we have a little time. Is there anything you’d like to ask for?”

“M-My shoulders… could you massage them a bit?”

Kairus obediently placed his hands on Irena’s shoulders and loosened her stiff body, which had tensed from the awkward posture.

As he did so, a wall of people surged in from all directions.

“Looks like we came to the right place.”

“Yeah. The Imperial Army and the Azure Order of Knights.”

It was obvious just from their uniforms. And they knew very well that these people did not come with goodwill.

“Irena Kellogg. Daughter of a traitor.”

A weary voice exhaled along with cigarette smoke. As if the smoke itself were poison, people quickly parted to the sides.

A man stood there with his hair slicked back with pomade.

Aside from a single estoc held in his hand, he wore no other weapons.

“How does it feel to fall from the daughter of the Minister of Finance to a rebel?”

“Well, it’s just… whatever.”

Kairus threw a joke toward Irena. For some change of heart, he spoke much more than he had just moments ago.

Dallas Ozley then spoke to Kairus.

“Kairus Featherwing. So you stand together with the daughter of a traitor. Even after the Sun of the Empire graciously absolved your family of its false charges.”

“What, do I look like an ungrateful bastard to you?”

Pointing his estoc at Kairus, Dallas spoke.

“No. I merely think that since your family was destined for extermination anyway, His Majesty’s insight merely hastened it by six years.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than, with the roar of a turbine, Kairus accelerated.

In an instant, Kairus broke the sound barrier and swung his sword, but it did not reach Dallas’s body.

For a moment, his agile evasion made it seem as though his body had split into three or four images.

“Keep dodging, Quickblade.”

“If you’re worth the effort.”

Knights and soldiers who had been slowly approaching seized the opportunity but were blown away by the shockwave.

Anticipating Kairus’s charge, Irena had already moved slightly outside the shockwave’s range.

“Fall back. There’s nothing you can do anyway.”

Dallas Ozley, having evaded the attack, issued orders to the soldiers and knights.

“Irena.”

“No problem.”

Unlike Dallas, who pulled his allies back, Kairus did not withdraw Irena to the rear.

“You intend to fight while dragging baggage along? You must be underestimating me.”

Watching the movements of Kairus and Irena, Dallas spoke with a mocking tone. With Irena’s skill, she would normally be nothing more than a hindrance to Kairus.

Ordinarily, that would be a correct judgment.

“A hindrance?”

Such common sense did not apply to Irena. She moved first. Dallas watched her charge forward with an incredulous expression.

Moments later, Kairus also dashed forward.

“?”

From Dallas’s perspective, he naturally had to evade Kairus’s attack. The instant he avoided it, a sharp sting brushed across his cheek.

A few drops of blood fell to the ground. It was a wound inflicted by Irena’s blade as it grazed him.

“What’s this? That’s nothing special. No wonder people say the Azure Order is inferior to the Scarlet Leaf Order.”

Irena spoke toward Dallas as if teasing him.

“You bitch.”

It was something no sane person would ever say to a knight captain. But what did it matter? Irena was now the daughter of a traitor.

“Are you busy right now?”

Kairus’s voice came from beside him. Dallas Ozley immediately moved his sword.

Quickblade.

Dozens of thrusts poured forth in the blink of an eye, targeting Kairus like a torrential downpour.

‘Now it’s my turn to move.’

Irena had already anticipated that Kairus would draw Dallas’s attention with his attack. That was why she had remained standing still.

Now she would fall back.

Kairus blocked and evaded the attacks unleashed by Dallas Ozley.

Before that movement could even be carried out, Irena already knew. Dallas Ozley was facing Kairus with his full strength.

Kairus, too, confronted Dallas with everything he had. Their exchanged assaults raged like a storm of torrential rain, allowing no one else to approach.

Walls shattered, floor tiles were torn apart, and explosions erupted in all directions.

There was no one who could participate in the clash between the two.

“…!?”

But Irena could intervene. By predicting Kairus’s movements in advance, she could also anticipate what Dallas would do.

She grasped the exact moment and position to slip in and strike a decisive blow that Dallas would not be able to avoid.

“You… damn bastards!”

Dallas failed to evade Irena’s attack. Once again, his body was wounded. It was a trivial cut, like one made by paper.

The problem was that he had been wounded at all.

“So you’re supposed to be an expert at not getting hit. Doesn’t seem like it. Maybe you’re just getting old.”

Kairus sneered.

It was an absurd situation. That Irena, using nothing particularly remarkable in terms of battle gear, had succeeded in intervening in this fight.

Calling it a coincidence was impossible—it was already the second time.

And that coincidence began to repeat to the point where it could no longer be called a coincidence, the count already surpassing ten times.

‘Did they practice coordinating their moves together?’

But that was not something achievable through effort alone. Nor could this be considered mere coordination.

At times, Irena moved first.

Yet at other times, Kairus moved first. As if two bodies were being controlled by a single mind, the movements of Irena and Kairus were unbelievably organic.

‘This is…’

He could not attack Irena. The moment he tried, Kairus would sense it instantly and exploit the opening, launching a relentless assault.

Yet he could not focus solely on Kairus either. Irena would slip through the gap, leave a wound, and withdraw.

‘Perhaps…’

For a brief moment, Dallas thought that his life might end here.

“Here… of all places?”

At that moment, a single droplet fell from the tip of his sword with a soft plop.

Irena stepped back. Not because she had seen the falling droplet, but because she had predicted Kairus’s retreat.

‘Whenever I evade, it must always be behind Kairus.’

Soon after, Kairus also withdrew.

At the timing Irena had predicted, to the very spot she had anticipated—the place where she had already positioned herself.

Naturally, the Quickblade could not reach Irena.

“Is your sword so weak that it weeps in sorrow for being wielded by you?”

Once again, a droplet fell from the tip of the estoc. The periodic falling of the droplets felt ominous.

Through the tiny droplet, the figure of Dallas Ozley seemed to be reflected.

“Damn it.”

From that minuscule droplet, Dallas Ozley leapt out and thrust his sword toward Kairus. A whole human figure had emerged from within the droplet.

Dallas Ozley himself still stood in his original place.

‘Does his image leap out from the droplets dripping off his sword?’

It was ambiguous. There was no way that such a limited ability was the entirety of the battle gear used continuously by a knight captain…

At that moment, Dallas Ozley tossed the water bottle in his hand into the air. Countless droplets scattered in all directions.

And from every single droplet, the figure of Dallas Ozley sprang forth.

“You bastard, resorting to tricks.”

Regardless of the source, as long as it was water, it worked. At the same time as thinking he would have been in serious trouble if he had tried to take the easy route by using Cloud Seizing Art, Kairus swung his sword in a wide arc.

As the droplets scattered in the air burst apart, the figures that had emerged from them also exploded. If the droplets could not maintain a stable state, the forms could not be maintained either.

‘Good. At least I know how to deal with it.’

Kairus spoke to Irena, who stood behind him.

“You can keep going, right?”

“No problem. I won’t be frightened by something like this.”

Irena gave Kairus a firm reply.

“Watch out for the water. You don’t need to worry about blood.”

If he could have used it with other liquids, he would have done so when Irena first wounded him.

It could only emerge from water. The image likely had to be reflected as well, and the form of the droplet had to remain stable enough to hold his reflection.

Having quickly finished his analysis, Kairus clashed once more with Dallas, who let droplets fall steadily from the tip of his sword.