The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 27 – Pursuit (1)

Juan pulled himself together as he tried to figure out his current situation. While he did not feel anything strange from either the members of Order of the Blue Rose or Sina, he felt that there was something different about the man who stood in front of him. To be precise, he felt a familiar energy from the glass box in the man’s hands. He soon realized that whatever was inside that box was suppressing him.

“Ugh...” Juan groaned as the mana within his body thrashed around. Juan suppressed most of his mana in order to ensure that it did not consume any more of Talter’s blood. While Juan did not know what the item in the man’s possession was, he had a feeling that it was capable of controlling Talter’s mana, since his own mana wasn’t affected by it at all.

“You look like you’re in a lot of pain. This can’t be helped… after all, all that awaits a heretic who defies authority is suffering,” the pale man snickered.

Juan could only listen to him helplessly.

Sina stepped forward as she could not take it anymore. “Let’s not cross boundaries here, Sir Kato. Wasn’t your mission just to help me capture him?”

“Capture him? Ah, that’s correct. In fact, I was the one who did all the capturing while your knight order did absolutely nothing.” Kato sneered.

Sina wanted to argue that Kato did not do it using his own power, but using the power of His Majesty. However, she could not, as Kato was ranked higher than even a Templar.

Juan struggled to break out of the hold and stand up.

“Looks like I can’t let my guard down around you,” Kato smirked as he held up the glass box. Something inside the glass box shone even brighter, suppressing Juan. Only then did Juan realize what was inside the glass box.

‘The sheath of Talter’s sacrificial short sword!’?

When Juan killed Talter, he could not find the sacrificial short sword that the sheath belonged to. Magic had then been cast upon the sheath because that short sword was a good medium for Talter’s revival. That sheath was used to suppress and control Talter’s power, but Juan had no idea that it would one day be used to suppress him.

Since Talter’s mana had nowhere to go, it could only thrash around within his body, slowly ripping the inside of Juan’s body to shreds and starting to leak out from his stomach. This made Juan feel like he was about to explode.

t.ly/3iBfjkV.

Juan glared at Kato with bloodshot eyes, causing Kato to take a step back when their eyes met. Kato then held onto the short sword on his waist with a resolved look.

Seeing Kato head toward Juan, Sina quickly grabbed his arm and asked, “What are you trying to do?”

“...I’m trying to execute a heretic here,” Kato responded.

“...Our mission is to capture, not to execute,” Sina retorted.

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Kato sighed as he remembered what Sina was known for. Despite possessing exceptional skills, she had frequent quarrels with Priests and was thus kicked out of the capital due to her faith being called into question. If she had been more flexible, she would have been promoted to a Templar by now.

“Look, only Talter’s mana reacts to this sheath; not yours and certainly not mine. The power of His Majesty, the almighty Emperor that suppresses Talter’s mana as well as other similar mana, resonates with it. It’s something so delicate and complicated that only His Majesty could have done it. If this boy isn’t an apostle of Talter then he would not be suppressed by the magical seal of this sheath that was placed by His Majesty,” Kato clarified.

“To use that to justify execution...” Sina trailed off.

“Dame Sina, Bishop Rietto has given you a precious opportunity here. In fact, even greater powers are watching your every move. It’d be best if you watched what you say from now on.” Kato warned Sina as he glared at her with hostility.

Sina knew that Kato had tagged along with the intention to kill Juan from the start, and she also knew that authorities with more power than Bishop Rietto had given that order. But the thing that perplexed her was that she had no idea why the capital and its higher-ups were so interested in Juan.

Just then, Ossrey grabbed Sina’s arm and shook his head. He respected Sina and had thus decided to save her because he could not just stand by and allow her to go against the Inquisitor. Kato had a satisfied look and turned to Juan as Sina stood down helplessly.

“...Poor thing.” Kato mocked Juan, but his eyes widened when he saw Juan struggling to get up.

***

Juan listened carefully to their conversation as they quarreled, especially the part about how Talter’s mana was being suppressed. Juan had placed the magic seal on the sheath a long time ago, so he had almost forgotten about it, but the magic seal was made pretty sloppily due to the fact that he was new to magic at that time. The principle behind it was so simple that even him, in his current state, could replicate it.

Furthermore, Juan’s current body functioned almost in the same way as the magic seal on the sheath did. Pulling himself together, he used the mana in his body following this principle. Talter’s mana started to thrash around in response, but it did not matter since it was within Juan’s mana heart. As Juan compressed his mana intensely, Talter’s mana continued to thrash around even more violently.

“Ugh...” Juan groaned, vomiting blood as the mana tore Juan apart from within.

Juan’s plan was close to completion. He formed a thin layer of mana to engulf Talter’s mana and compress it. It soon resonated with Talter’s sheath.

‘It’s weakening.’?

But Kato did not notice the sheath trembling.

Juan felt the suppressive force weakening, and slowly pushed the power back into the sheath.

Kato turned around with the intention to finish Juan off, but Juan had already stood up halfway.

“...Poor thing.” Along with Juan’s words, Talter’s sheath exploded in Kato’s hands and its fragments pierced into Kato’s body. Kato’s hand, which had been holding Talter’s sheath, was nowhere to be seen.

“Arghhhh!” The pale face that snickered just moments ago was now bloodied in an instant, along with a shriek.

The members of the Order of the Blue Rose quickly pulled out their swords and hurriedly surrounded Juan, but Juan’s body continued to convulse violently.

‘This isn’t good,’?Juan thought as his body consumed another two drops of Talter’s blood. The mana that Juan had been using to suppress Talter’s mana was no longer there and he fought desperately to get it under control again.

At that moment, Sina and Juan flew forward and…

Clank!?

A metallic sound reverberated, and Sina felt as though she had just crashed into a huge cliff. Before she could get a grip on herself, she was flung to where the other knights were at.

“Ugh...!” Sina was unable to breathe. She felt as though she was being trampled by a horse even though it had just been one collision. A few of the knights rushed forward to help Sina. She looked at Juan, but Juan did not look normal at all.

Juan walked toward Kato as his breath turned red and glared at him with bloodshot eyes. Based on the power that sent Sina flying, Juan could easily get past the knights and kill Kato. He stopped and stumbled, while Kato continued screaming while looking at the empty spot where his hand used to be. While the Order of the Blue Rose hesitated, Juan took a few deep breaths and charged toward Kato.

“Stop him!” the knights rushed in front of Juan at Sina’s cry.

Thud—

A dull sound reverberated. This time around, no one got flung away like Sina did; that was just Juan’s short sword swinging weakly against another sword.

The once nervous knights were now confused. Juan seemed to be in excruciating pain whenever he moved. Sina soon realized that Juan was suppressing himself.

He had not lost his rationality. Juan did not swing his short sword even though he was convulsing. He was, in fact, trying his best to suppress Talter’s mana.

‘It would be easier to just kill them all,’?Juan thought to himself.

He wasn’t sure if killing one or two of them would help his situation, but he was certain that once he started killing them, Talter’s madness would go on a rampage. If he allowed that to happen, it would consume a lot of his strength and he could not afford to do that since he would not last long. Juan went on the defensive against the knights as he thought of his next step.

‘I’ll only kill him.’?

His target was Kato.

There was something about Kato that got on Juan’s nerves. It wasn’t simply because he was strong; there was a certain uneasiness that felt like insanity.

Juan slowly gathered his strength. He felt like he had to get rid of Kato now, or it would only come back to haunt him in the future.

“KILL THAT BASTARD RIGHT AWAY!”

The knights fumbled toward Juan upon Kato’s command. They gained confidence when they saw Juan back away, but Juan was able to barely dodge the flurry of attacks. As the knights managed to land a few scratches on Juan, they decided to attack more aggressively.

Sina suddenly felt uneasy, because Juan was not the type to go on defense, he would usually either try to slaughter everyone, or plan a counterattack after he escaped.

Unable to shake off the uneasiness creeping up, Sina grabbed her sword, stood up and tried to join the battle. However, she collapsed as she was still too weak.

Ossrey quickly rushed to support Sina and assured her, “Dame Sina, there’s no need for you to join in the fight, it seems the rest can take care of him.”

“...Fog,” Sina muttered.

“Pardon?” Ossrey asked.

“Why is there suddenly so much fog?” Sina mumbled as she saw a thin layer of fog that covered her hands.

Just at that moment, she remembered the bizarre story of the Ash Tower, about how it was actually made of fog and not walls. However, Sina had not seen the Ash Tower on her way here. A thought flashed through her mind and she shouted at the top of her voice, “PROTECT THE INQUISITOR!”

At Sina’s abrupt command, the knights turned to look at her, confused.

Juan grinned as the fog that laid low on the ground surged up with a flap of his gray cloak.

“W-What’s happening?!” The knights fumbled, taken aback. Although the fog was not thick, it was enough to cover their vision for a moment. Juan used Blink in that instant, and flew toward Kato swiftly like a snake in a straight line. Kato simply stared as the short sword’s tip flew toward him.

Thump.

Juan frowned. A dull sound rang—Ossrey had blocked Juan’s attack with his shield in the nick of time, jumping in front of Kato. Juan swung his short sword again, but instead of the shield breaking apart, only its top layer peeled off, revealing a crest. The crest represented the emperor, a white crow with red eyes engraved on it.

“A Templar... The White Crow Templar Order’s shield?” one of the knights mumbled in disbelief.

Juan tried to attack through the shield’s blindspot but an unseen dome of energy had enveloped Kato and Ossrey. Juan had no choice but to use Blink?again to escape the knights’ encirclement.

Fortunately, Juan didn’t have to worry about going berserk because Talter’s mana was fully consumed. Juan was able to breathe more easily when he became weaker after clashing with Ossrey’s shield. Ossrey’s shield seemed to have been imbued with a magic that could absorb strange energy.

‘It was my mana just now.’

Juan could feel what was called the ‘Grace’ imbued in the shield that Ossrey had equipped.

“Don’t just stand there! He’s getting away! Kill him immediately!” Kato screamed at the knights and they moved to surround Juan again. Juan gave up on trying to kill Kato and decided that there was no need for him to deal with them here.

“That’s an interesting toy, brat,” Juan uttered as he looked at Kato.

The knights were taken aback, as they had no idea who he was calling a brat, but Juan ignored them. He turned around and fled while the knights were distracted. A few tried to stop him, but Juan used Blink?once more, disappearing into the fog.