Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Story
North Calendar Year 536, Winter.
The gloomy sky was thick with acrid smoke. Faint magical fluctuations lingered, and the air reeked of the stench of blood and the nauseating smell of decay.
Saint Noyes, the once formidable fortress standing at the edge of human territory, was now nothing more than a pile of rubble.
Xu Bai stood atop the high city walls, overlooking the retreating demon legions that had besieged Saint Noyes. His blood-splattered face was expressionless.
Another wave of attack had ended, and the demonic army had been repelled once more.
But the price…
Xu Bai lowered his head slightly, gazing at the scattered, twisted, and dismembered corpses of demonic soldiers strewn across the ground below.
Surrounded by the pile of corpses stood a tall suit of armor, resolute as a statue.
The knight inside was dead, but even in his final moments, he had shown no sign of retreat, wielding his weapon against the swarming demons until his last breath.
His armor, battered and broken from days of fierce fighting, barely clung to his wounded body. Blood seeped through hastily applied bandages, now dried and stiff.
“Rayne…”
During the enemy’s previous charge, Rayne had leaped from the wall, sacrificing himself to hold back the enemy. Even in death, his body remained upright.
Xu Bai raised his head slightly, his gaze shifting towards the watchtower nestled against the city wall.
Atop the watchtower, a tall, slender figure was faintly visible. Leaning against the narrow top, she clutched a nearly destroyed heavy magic cannon, lifeless.
Below the watchtower, a dense mass of decaying demon corpses lay piled up, their expressions frozen in their final moments of ferocious attack.
Even as death approached, she had maintained her firing stance, unleashing a barrage of fire upon the incoming demons.
“Even Victoria is dead…”
Xu Bai’s eyes flickered before he lowered his head.
…Just as he had foreseen.
His comrades, all members of the “Sharp Assault” squad, had perished here. Saint Noyes, once a border fortress, had become their cage and their tomb.
“This wasn’t how it was supposed to end…”
Xu Bai closed his eyes slowly, sighing.
The “Sharp Assault” squad, a special operations team of the Border Guard’s vanguard regiment, had operated as a secret imperial unit behind enemy lines, maintaining the long front at the border alongside the imperial cavalry stationed at Saint Noyes.
Just a few days ago, as usual, the Sharp Assault squad had ventured deep into demon territory on a raiding mission to disrupt the demon army’s march.
Unexpectedly, after numerous arduous battles and successfully completing their mission, they returned to find Saint Noyes deserted. Supplies and weapons were gone.
While the Sharp Assault squad had risked their lives to divert the demon army’s forces, the garrison at Saint Noyes had retreated.
It was clearly a premeditated withdrawal.
Faced with the infamous “Nightmare” demon legion, the Imperial Knights had chosen to abandon the fortress and fall back to the next line of defense.
Abandoned along with them was Xu Bai’s Sharp Assault squad.
No one remembered this secretive unit. Due to the nature of their missions, the Sharp Assault squad wasn’t even officially recorded in the military archives.
In other words, Xu Bai and his team were trapped in Saint Noyes, forgotten by all.
“Captain, come down. Don’t look anymore. You can’t bear it.”
A familiar, gentle voice came from behind him, tinged with worry.
Xu Bai remained silent, his face darkening.
Neily looked at him with heartache. She was the only medic in the Sharp Assault squad and had been like a sister to Xu Bai for as long as he could remember.
She knew that despite his reserved nature, Xu Bai deeply valued his comrades.
“Bai, don’t blame yourself. You’ve done your best.”
As she had done when he was a child, Neily gently stroked Xu Bai’s hair, speaking softly.
She no longer addressed him as “Captain,” but used his old nickname.
“But I still couldn’t bring them home…”
Xu Bai trailed off, looking up at the darkening sky.
A light rain began to fall, evenly sprinkling Saint Noyes, but it couldn’t wash away the thin layer of smoke hanging over the ruins.
Seeing Xu Bai’s grief, Neily opened her mouth as if to speak, but remained silent.
The low rumble of hooves echoed again, drawing closer.
Seemingly aware that the defending knights were all but annihilated, the demon army, after a brief respite, slowly advanced towards Saint Noyes.
“They’re coming again.”
Xu Bai looked at the vast, dark mass of the demon army below the wall, then turned to Neily, speaking calmly, “It’s time… Sister Neily, I’m sorry, I have to go first.”
“Bai…”
Neily called out, her expression complex, a mixture of conflict and struggle.
But Xu Bai didn’t notice Neily’s unusual behavior. Without hesitation, he pulled away from her, drew his longsword, and walked slowly towards the wall, whispering,
“If we meet again in the next life, I hope… I can call you Sister Neily again…”
Before Neily could react, Xu Bai had reached the wall and leaped.
He wouldn’t wait passively for death. Facing certain doom, he launched one final charge.
Even if he was alone.
Watching Xu Bai’s receding figure, Neily’s mind flashed with a buried memory. Tears glistened in her eyes as her conflicted expression hardened into resolve.
“Maybe this is wrong, but I won’t regret it…”
“Kill!!!”
A deafening roar erupted as the demons recognized the lone human commander charging towards them.
A deluge of spells and countless blades rained down on Xu Bai.
But he didn’t evade, continuing his charge towards the demon leader at the center of the legion, his longsword carving a bloody path.
The demon leader watched with amusement, arms crossed, making no move to intervene, even as Xu Bai closed to within a hundred meters.
But this distance was an insurmountable chasm for Xu Bai.
Under the relentless onslaught, Xu Bai finally succumbed, collapsing slowly. But in his last moment, he flung his longsword, chipping the demon leader’s armor.
The demon leader looked down at his damaged shoulder armor, slightly surprised. He spoke in a deep voice,
“Impressive, human knight. I admire your courage. Unfortunately, the disparity in power cannot be overcome by bravery. Regrettably, we have won.”
Xu Bai twitched his lips, offering no reply. The vibrant red of the blood on his face faded to a pale white.
Even on the brink of death, Xu Bai remained fearless, a flicker of memory in his eyes as he murmured,
“Rayne, Victoria, Lockner, Qin Su…”
“Though a little late, I’m still coming to join you.”
…
…
“No, Bai.”
After an unknown amount of time, or perhaps in an instant, Xu Bai heard a familiar, gentle voice and slowly opened his eyes. “…Sister Neily?”
He was startled by his own voice. It sounded… strangely delicate.
But upon seeing the figure before him, his heart clenched, forgetting his strange transformation. He spoke in disbelief, “You… are you Sister Neily?”
“Good, Bai, you still remember me.”
The mangled figure spoke in the voice Xu Bai knew best, yet now dreaded the most.
“How could this be…”
In Xu Bai’s memory, Neily always wore a pristine smile. Now, she was nearly unrecognizable, her body disintegrating.
A blinding white light enveloped everything, punctuated by the agonizing screams of demons and the horrifying sound of flesh vaporizing.
Xu Bai even saw the once invincible demon leader writhing in agony within the white light…
“Don’t worry, Bai, Sister Neily won’t let you die,” Neily raised a hand, gently stroking Xu Bai’s hair, her voice soft. “But as the ‘key,’ my mission ends here.”
“Sister Neily, what’s wrong? Why are you like this?”
Panic seized Xu Bai. He instinctively reached for Neily, but her body began to disintegrate even faster, fading into a translucent, ethereal form.
“What… what’s happening?”
Xu Bai recoiled, but Neily’s condition seemed irreversible.
Neily didn’t seem to mind. She simply smiled gently, her gaze shifting downwards. Her clear eyes reflected a small, white figure, two brilliant golden points flickering like flames within it.
“So beautiful,” Neily murmured, her lips curving into a smile. She spread her hand, letting Xu Bai’s floor-length silver hair slip through her fingers. “Just as beautiful as always…”
“Sister Neily…”
Xu Bai now understood. Although Neily had somehow turned the tide, she was fading away along with the demons, leaving him as the sole survivor.
Tears streamed down Xu Bai’s face, evaporating before they could reach the ground.
Neily stretched out her arms, her fading form embracing Xu Bai. She whispered,
“Bai, go far away from here. Do what you want to do. Sister Neily… is content.”
Her voice trailed off as she dissolved into a wisp of smoke. The white light intensified, engulfing Saint Noyes, sparing only Xu Bai, who stood with outstretched arms, unable to embrace the memory of his sister, alone in the blinding light.
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