My Students Regret It After I Retired

74 – Stories Unfold

Enas had a habit. She’d dream of Leos during the early hours and then be unable to fall asleep again. Each time, Enas would go out for a walk. It was one day when Enas saw something she shouldn’t have.

“W-why are you doing this to your fellow soldiers!”

“Who said you’re my fellow soldier?”

“Aren’t we all comrades of the Imperial Sword, the Emperor’s direct unit…”

“We have no need for a thing like you in the Imperial Sword. You are trash who cling on so desperately to suck dry money, and have no ability. You are a bug without any value.”

“Commander Zerukan, please, please spare my life…!”

* * *

*Drip… drip… drip…*

With a horrifying sound, the man’s body began to sink into the ground. Though untouched, the way his flesh crumbled was bizarre and terrifying.

“Commander Zerukan, isn’t this going too far? He was told to keep quiet for the time being.”

“The Lord will forgive it. The Lord said to fill the Imperial Sword Order with those who are superior in martial prowess. That b*stard was just trash who got in here through connections, not skills. He’s the opposite of what the Lord commanded.”

“Quiet. What if someone overhears?”

“They already are. Someone’s listening to us.”

Zerukan slowly walked towards Enas. The man’s intensely strong aura froze Enas in place, making him unable to even think about running away. Zerukan walked slowly closer, and then swung his blade.

– *Thwack!*

With that swing, a field mouse was instantly cleaved in two and killed.

“Must have been my imagination. Maybe using my powers too much lately has messed with my detection. I could have sworn it was a human presence.”

“You need to limit your use of powers. I am also saving my abilities for the day of reckoning, not wasting them on unnecessary things.”

“Yes, you’re right, Paken. I too must prepare, so that I may respond immediately when He calls upon me.”

Zerukan paused, then spoke.

“How many of our people are in the Imperial Sword Order?”

“The total number is about a thousand, with over twenty belonging to the Celestial Assembly.”

“Recruit more. The Lord has said there will soon be a great conflict.”

“With both the Imperial Sword Order and us, isn’t that enough? Do we really need more?”

“His words are absolute. What is to happen will happen, and what He commands must be done.”

“Understood. As you know, the members of the Celestial Assembly are quite diverse… I will do my best to fill the ranks.”

“Good. Now, let’s be on our way.”

Enas didn’t move from his spot for a long time after the men had left. He was afraid that if he went outside, they would discover him.

“Innate ability…? To kill someone from a distance without using an artifact…”

He didn’t know what it was, but it was definitely a dangerous power. Enas etched it into his mind that day. The name of the Imperial Swordsmen and the Celestial Assembly. And this power called innate ability.

Not long after, he heard the news that the Imperial Swordsmen, the Emperor’s direct unit, would be joining as reinforcements. Over a thousand men. Among them, there would definitely be dozens of members of the Celestial Assembly. If they were all wielding different innate abilities, even Leos wouldn’t be able to handle it. Not the Imperial Swordsmen, but the dozens of Celestial Assembly members.

Thinking that, Enas began his preparations. He strapped bombs all over his body that he could detonate instantly, and if anything went wrong, he would draw attention by blowing himself up, to buy Leos time to escape.

*

As Enas told Leos all the information, Leos’ eyes began to narrow. He didn’t need to confirm its truth. If it were a lie, it was impossible for Enas to be talking about the Celestial Assembly like this.

Keltazar’s expression visibly crumbled as he listened to the story. He shook his head and muttered.

“They had planted guys from outside within the Imperial Swordsmen, who guard His Majesty more closely than anyone? That can’t be. It can’t be… How dare they… How dare they do such a thing!”

Keltazar was genuinely furious, despite his broken body. Leos left Keltazar and asked Enas.

“Why are you telling me all this? If you hadn’t said anything, I might have been defeated while fighting them? Did you think I could win against them? So now, you’re trying to confess and beg for your life?”

Enas shook his head, tears streaming down his face.

“That’s not it. We always, we could talk about things like this casually, right? That dangerous things are dangerous, and you shouldn’t do things you shouldn’t do. We’d help each other if we could, right?”

“Not anymore.”

“I wanted to end it like this, at least for the last time. I wanted to at least finish things like we used to. So I wouldn’t regret it as much.”

After hearing Enas’ words, Leos looked around. Enas had said that they were already surrounded. The only place they could flee was the direction Keltazar had come from, but heading that way would mean entering the Imperial Palace anyway. There would be even more soldiers than a thousand guarding the palace. He pondered what to do.

‘If it were just a thousand knights, I could handle them without a problem, I could win. But if there are twenty or more Celestial Assembly members, things are different.’

If he knew their innate abilities one by one, maybe, but fighting them with no information was no different than suicide.

[Sword Demon’s Soul]

[You can now wield 5 swords at the same time. From now on, the swords you wield are imbued with a soul.]

[WARNING: You can only use five swords simultaneously. The number of swords you can use will increase as your abilities strengthen.]

Even with the awakened sword-demon spirit ability allowing him to wield five swords, facing twenty members of the Celestial Assembly at once was a heavy burden. Especially now, with Heresia and Benedict behind him. No matter how he looked at it, retreating at this point was the right choice rather than facing the enemies head-on.

‘After all, I killed all the Shadow Order members.’

In this fight, he had killed every member of the Imperial Shadow Order except for the one in front of him, Keltazar. All that remained at the scene were his former disciples, Enas and Syrna, so there were no other forces left for the time being.

It was a truly remarkable victory. He had accomplished the feat of completely annihilating one of the core organizations that supported the Empire.

‘But Veline wasn’t there.’

Unfortunately, Veline wasn’t here for some reason. Leos didn’t care much. Now that the fence of the Shadow Order was gone, she was nothing.

“Tell me, Enas. What do we need to do to all get out of here alive? Do you think they’ll react if we use Keltazar as a hostage?”

“No. They won’t react at all. The Imperial Sword Guard doesn’t care about or compromise with anything except the Emperor. That’s how they’re trained.”

“Then, what’s the way we can survive?”

Leos asked Enas. The reason was simple. Whether it was a lie or the truth, Enas, who belonged to the enemy, was the only one who could give him an answer. Torturing Keltazar would only result in his death and not a single word. Syrna had reacted as if she didn’t know much when the Celestial Assembly and the Imperial Sword Guard were mentioned, so he had no choice but to rely on Enas.

“I’ll draw their attention while you escape.”

“They won’t be stopped by just you alone.”

“I know.”

Enas said that and showed the bombs hidden in his chest pocket. It was a tremendous amount of artifacts that could blow away the entire surroundings.

“They’re explosive artifacts. The more life force you put into them, the stronger their power becomes, right? You know about that, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“When the enemies arrive, I’ll run straight towards them and detonate, pouring out all of my life force. If I detonate it in the lower area with lots of rocks and sand, it’ll create a huge sandstorm momentarily. With your five swords and skills, Leos-nim, you should be able to use that situation to escape.”

Syrna, who had been watching from the side, couldn’t say a word and just lowered her head.

– Syrna-nim, after meeting Leos-nim, please just watch whatever I do without saying anything. That’s a promise.

– …Okay.

I was holding back what I wanted to say to Leos, to keep my promise to Enas. Because if I jumped in too, I felt like I’d be interfering with the time Enas had been waiting and waiting for. And beyond that, I didn’t have the face to. Unlike Enas, I hadn’t tried to do anything proactive since Leos was locked up.

My heart ached so much. The tangled, knotted relationships, the time that would never come back, it was all so agonizing. But still, the clock of reality ticked on.

“The Imperial Swords are coming.”

Figures moving stealthily in the distance began to be picked up, one by one. They were trying to approach as quietly as possible, but with a force of a thousand, there was no hiding their movement.

“When the explosion goes off, run north-west. Just run. When the sandstorm covers everything, that’s your chance.”

Enas said that and started running towards the ground. She shouted.

“Everyone, don’t come any closer yet! There are hostages here!”

Preparing to pour her life force into the detonator, she began to approach the Imperial Swords even closer. Beside her, Bendict asked Leos.

“Brother, you’re not going to regret this?”

“Regret what.”

“If I know you, brother, you’ll definitely regret this.”

“Why would I? They’re the ones who didn’t trust me.”

“Still, you’ll regret it. At one point, you truly cared for your disciples.”

“No. I won’t regret it.”

“Brother, let’s say I was a traitor and tried to kill you. You’d surely kill me with your own hands. Would you not grieve doing it? Just because I was a traitor? The moment you found out, would all the time we’ve spent together until now become meaningless?”

If Bendict really was a traitor, I’d kill him, yes, but I wouldn’t be able to say I wouldn’t grieve. To Leos, Bendict and Herisia were his pillars, pure and simple.

Leos knew what Bendict was trying to say.

The feelings of true affection from the past remained as memories. Those moments, those disciples, were still alive and breathing in Leos’s memories. More than anything, the image of his happy self back then, still lingered in Leos’s mind.

“If you command it, I will go and get her.”

“How can you? You know nothing about the Celestial Assembly. It’s better if Enas draws their attention while we escape.”

“Do you really think we can escape them with such a cheap trick?”

Bendict’s eyes grew heavy. He asked Leos again.

“Do you truly believe we can escape safely if she self-destructs? Are you truly sure you’ll have no regrets even if you die? If so, I won’t do anything.”

Leos bit his lip hard, then spoke to Bendict.

“Bring her. For now… we need someone who knows the inside information well.”

Bendict answered with a bright smile.

“Understood, Brother… I have a question, Brother. What would you do if I had intentionally approached you?”

“I’d be disappointed. If you tried to kill me, I’d kill you too.”

“What if I changed my mind later? If I changed my mind and really wanted to side with you?”

“I’d consider it.”

“…That’s enough.”

As if that was enough, Bendict began to gather strength in his feet.

“Brother, I sincerely respected and relied on you. Please, just know that.”

Having finished speaking, Bendict started to gather his power. The same energy he’d felt when throwing stones previously swirled around his feet for a moment, then was released in an instant.

-WHOOSH!

With the eruption of massive power, Bendict’s figure vanished.

“Ability…?”

Keltazar, who had been watching from the side, muttered, and Leos’ eyes began to waver.

[The Heavenly Assembly exists everywhere.]

The Heavenly Assembly’s words echoed in his mind. But Leos stubbornly shook them off.

“I’m going. To protect Bendict.”

“Leos. Maybe Bendict is…”

Rakart beside him started to speak, but Leos cut him off.

“If we leave Bendict alone like this, he’ll die.”

“…”

Rakart reluctantly drew his sword, saying,

“We’ll have to ask him ourselves later what happened. Alright, I’ll listen to you for now. Assault Squad, charge toward Bendict!”

Leos also raised his five-bladed sword into the air.

The intertwined threads began to tangle. But one thing was certain, once this incident was over, everything would be over.

Cut or unravel, the end would ultimately be one or the other.