“His Highness Rinal. No, it would be Her Highness, Princess Rinal. I intend to place her on the throne, no matter what. Will you not help me?”

For decades, the Agnis Kingdom had stood as a bastion of power on the Astral Continent. Hundreds of retainers had sworn fealty to the Balconis royal family, and now their loyalty was shifting to Rinal, the sole heir. It was the natural order of things.

However, the revelation that Rinal was a princess changed everything. A ruling queen was an unacceptable concept on the continent. Kondric must have known this when he chose to raise her as a boy. If her true gender were revealed, the nobles would turn on her in an instant, and rebellion would surely follow.

‘Now I understand why Kondric never introduced Rinal to the political or social circles,’ Hendrick realized.

Rinal had been a ghost, raised within the castle walls, meeting only a select few retainers and attended by hand-picked maids.

“On the day Queen Rinolin died,” Deis had explained, “she entrusted Rinal to King Kondric. You know the fate of a princess: to be married off to foreign royalty to forge alliances. Kondric must have rejected that fate for her, especially since Princess Rinal so strongly resembled her mother. His attachment was… profound.”

To raise a princess as a prince was an immense risk, but thanks to Deis’s tireless efforts, the secret had been kept.

“King Kondric always cherished His Highness,” Deis continued. “As his only child, it was inevitable. His death must have been a devastating blow. The problem now, as you said, is getting Her Highness out of Baltricia to plan for the future. I haven’t told Kubic any of this, but for some reason, I feel I can trust you.”

“For someone who trusts me, you seem quite anxious,” Hendrick had observed. “Why me?”

“You have long been Her Highness’s tutor in magic. You may be too dense to have noticed, but she relies on you a great deal, Hendrick. To the point of developing feelings for you as a woman.”

So that was the reason for the ‘Affection’ in her status window. Deis was asking him to become Rinal’s guardian after their escape. But Hendrick had no choice but to refuse.

“That’s impossible. Unfortunately, your telling me this was a mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

“Now that I know His Highness is actually a princess, the plan must change.”

“Explain yourself. What are you talking about?”

“In this escape, I intend to sacrifice my life. You will be the only one to escape with Her Highness. Kubic will serve as a decoy with me.”

The Kantime army didn’t know what Rinal looked like. They had tried to get information from Pleiana, but he had narrowly prevented it. Heires would undoubtedly capture and kill everyone involved in any diversion. For her, the mission was simple: kill Rinal. It was a predictable, ruthless logic. Therefore, they had to use Rinal’s gender to their advantage.

“You mean… disguise Her Highness as a maid?!”

“And you will disguise yourself as a Kantime soldier. The victor takes everything from the vanquished, does he not? The moment they capture the castle, the maids will be raped and treated as spoils of war. You will use that chaos to lead Her Highness away.”

“That woman, Heires, will surely inspect the maids herself! How are we supposed to get past that?”

“You must inform Her Highness in advance. The shame and humiliation are a price she must be willing to pay. If she can endure that moment, the rest will be easy.”

The revised plan was simple and brutal. First, Kubic and the Alons Knight Order would create a diversion at the left hill road, while other units would feign escape attempts at different locations. They would use decoys disguised as Rinal to sell the ruse, while Hendrick himself broke through the underground passage. This would force Heires to split her forces to cover every route.

“Hmm…! Is that all? At this rate, Her Highness and I will never escape.”

“It would be disappointing if that were all,” Hendrick had said with a cold smile. “The plan truly begins the moment the enemy forces in the underground passage discover me.”

Once he was spotted, he would signal the Alons Knight Order and all other fleeing units to change course and converge on the sewer exit. Heires, unable to find Rinal anywhere else, would automatically assume the prince was with Hendrick in the underground passage.

“You intend to draw all their scattered forces to the third gate.”

“Precisely. There, Kubic and I will fight to the death to buy you time. The enemy’s main camp will be left vulnerable. You will use that opening to take Her Highness and flee through the first gate. Even if you’re discovered, do not stop. Just run. I will hold them off from behind.”

“…For a great mage dedicated to wisdom, you seem to know a great deal about warfare.”

“It’s simple, really. In a siege, we would have had to face their entire 100,000-strong army. But fighting inside the city limits their space. They cannot concentrate all their firepower. We will use that to our advantage.”

And so, the moment Deis revealed the truth, the plan for Rinal’s escape was truly born.

—

[Deis Brotanian has killed Pommel of the Kantime Kingdom’s army.]

[Deis Brotanian has killed Jejen of the Kantime Kingdom’s army.]

[Deis Brotanian has killed Minadu of the Kantime Kingdom’s army.]

It seemed Deis had reached the Kantime camp, as soldiers were now dying by his hand. ‘Now he’ll have Rinal put on the enemy’s armor and escape,’ Hendrick thought. ‘First, I need to deal with that eye.’

The Eye of Darkness still hovered in the sky. Having drawn tens of thousands of enemy soldiers to his position, he could not allow Rinal’s escape to be seen.

“It’s time for you to die, Hendrick Prois!” Kailis shrieked from above.

“I think not!” Hendrick roared back.

Dark magic and pure mana clashed in mid-air. His opponent was the dark sorcerer Kailis, one of Kantime’s key assets, the very man who had been thwarting his area-of-effect spells from the start.

[Chains of Magic has been cast.]

[Ice Buster has been cast.]

[Elemental Counter has been cast.]

[Remaining Mana: 32%]

His mana was draining rapidly. Hendrick parried the dark spells while scanning the battlefield.

“Vice-commander of the Dark Knights, is it? Your swordsmanship is pathetic!” Kubic bellowed.

“It’s absurd that you’re called the kingdom’s greatest knight! Haaargh!” Lapyuda retorted.

“You son of a bitch!”

The Alons Knights were locked in a furious melee with the Dark Knights, with Kubic and Lapyuda clashing at its epicenter. The other Agnis soldiers were cutting down dark mages and enemy troops as they pushed forward, but a relentless tide of reinforcements poured in to meet them.

‘At this rate, we’ll be wiped out before long!’

Hendrik had lured in enough of the Kantime Kingdom’s army, but he still needed to buy more time. His eyes glinted as he prepared to cast a spell on the soldiers swarming the street. Just then, a spear imbued with dark magic flew from the opposite direction.

With a sickening thud, it struck home.

“Guh!”

“How dare you look away while fighting me,” Kailis snarled. “For an archmage, your judgment is sorely lacking, Hendrik Frois!”

“A scratch like this is nothing,” Hendrik growled.

“What?!”

The dark spear was lodged deep in his abdomen, but Hendrik couldn’t stop casting. Ignoring the bleeding, he painstakingly invoked a tornado.

[You have cast Tornado.]

[A massive whirlwind sweeps through the designated area.]

[Remaining Mana: 15%]

An immense whirlwind tore through the entire street. The soldiers who had been confronting the deserters were instantly swept into the air, dying in droves.

[Coldrim of the Kantime Kingdom Army has died.]

[Dark Knight Loguden has died.]

[Black Mage Jeronium has died.]

It was a tornado cast using a staggering seventeen percent of his mana. With its amplified power, thousands of casualties were inevitable.

“You damn wizard!” Kailis roared in fury and focused his Dark Sky Strike.

Without any thought of dodging, Hendrik cast Rune Blade.

Sparks of energy crackled in the air.

“Heh. How do you like that? Now that you’ve been hit by the Dark Sky Strike, you can’t cast any spells on me!”

“I wasn’t aiming for you anyway!” Hendrik snarled.

The Rune Blades that had materialized in the air shot toward the Eye of Darkness. Panicked, Kailis turned his head, but it was too late. Dozens of blades had already pierced the massive eye.

[The Eye of Darkness has been destroyed.]

[Surveillance over the capital, Baltricia, has vanished.]

[The vision shared with Heires has been severed.]

With that, the shared vision was cut off. Hendrik fought to hold onto his fading consciousness as he checked his condition. Only fifteen percent of his mana remained. Having taken a direct hit from both the Dark Spear and the Dark Sky Strike, his body was a wreck.

‘Not yet! Not yet.’

He could taste the metallic tang of blood, but he couldn’t stop now. Gasping for breath, Hendrik tried to cast another spell. At that moment, a red message appeared before him.

[Heires and the Black Mages are pursuing Deis and Rinal.]

Somehow, Deis and Rinal were being chased by Heires while trying to escape the city. Hendrik gritted his teeth and shouted to Kubic, “I’m counting on you here, Kubic!”

“Don’t mind me! I intend to see this through to the end!”

“What a shame.”

“Don’t make me laugh!”

Kubic was now fighting Lapyuda alongside dozens of Dark Knights. Though he put up a desperate fight with his dazzling swordsmanship, death was unavoidable. Hendrik nodded and cast a short-distance teleport.

‘Damn it. To let him get away like this!’ Having lost Hendrik, Kailis ground his teeth and glared at Kubic. At this point, he had to at least kill the kingdom’s greatest knight. He cast another Dark Sky Strike, attacking Kubic, but the knight simply took the spell head-on and let out a roar.

“Come at me, all of you! You won’t take a single step past this point! I, Kubic Alons, the greatest knight of the Agnis Kingdom, will be your opponent—!”

—

[You have cast Short-Distance Teleport.]

[You have moved to Nolven Street within the capital, Baltricia.]

[Short-Distance Teleport uses remaining: 0/3]

His surroundings resolved into Nolven Street. He could no longer use Short-Distance Teleport. Hendrik dragged his staggering body forward. Up ahead, he could see two figures being chased by Black Mages.

“Hendrik!”

“Y-You?!”

It was Deis and Rinal. They were stunned to see the blood-soaked mage.

“Don’t stop,” Hendrik rasped. “Keep running. Leave the rearguard to me.”

“…I will never forget your sacrifice.”

“He-Hendrik. Hendrik!”

“Now, go. You have a long way to go, Your Highness!”

The two of them ran past him. Left alone, Hendrik—no, Taehyun—curled his lips into a smirk as he faced Heires.

“You can’t pass. Construction is about to begin.”

“D-Damn it! Pleiana, stop his spellcasting, quickly!”

Mana began to surge violently. Pleiana shot forward and pierced Hendrik’s heart. But even as he coughed up blood, he didn’t stop casting.

“Agh. I’ve won this mission.”

“N-No!”

The surroundings began to freeze. It was a wide-area spell that used every last drop of his remaining mana: Permafrost, a spell that would freeze the entire street solid.

[You have cast Permafrost.]

[The street around the caster begins to freeze.]

[Remaining Mana: 0%]

His mana was now at zero, his heart pierced by Pleiana’s hand. Death was certain, but Nolven Street was already blocked by pillars of ice.

[Rinal Balconis has successfully escaped the capital, Baltricia.]

[You have completed the second mission objective.]

[The victor of the 4th Faction War is the Resistance.]

At last, Rinal escaped the capital with Deis. The mission was a victory for Hendrik—that is, for the Resistance. Taehyun’s and Mihye’s forms were then transported back to the colosseum.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep