Merun stood above the western gate with his hand casually tapping the steel wall.
Nobody noticed him. His presence had been suppressed so thoroughly that the Martial Apprentices rushing along the battlements passed beneath him without so much as a glance.
From where he stood, the entire western courtyard stretched out below him, shattered ground and retreating fighters surrounding the lone Britannian spearman at its center.
Merun watched him for several seconds.
"They aren't doing too bad... Considering that dude is clearly a Squire."
The spearman was hiding it well.
Every movement was carefully restrained near the upper limit of what a peak Martial Apprentice might conceivably achieve. His thrusts were powerful without becoming blatantly impossible and his footwork remained grounded enough to resemble Apprentice-level maneuvering.
It would probably fool almost everyone here... if Merun wasn't here.
Britannia actually had a Squire Knight in waiting all this time?
A Martial Squire possessed a Martial Body. That single transformation created a gap so enormous that an ordinary Squire could wade through an army of Martial Apprentices and keep going.
Even the greatest Martial Apprentice could never properly contend with the weakest Squire in a straightforward battle.
The human body simply had a ceiling, which had long been broken by the Martial Body.
Which made the sight below surprisingly impressive.
Mikan and Yoshimoto were actually stalling him.
Yoshimoto stayed close whenever he could, refusing to let the spearman settle into the comfortable distance his weapon needed. Compressed bursts of air disrupted long thrusts before they could fully extend, while short, brutal exchanges forced the Britannian to repeatedly reset his footing.
The Grade Ten looked terrible.
His dougi was soaked with sweat, his breathing ragged as fresh blood slowly stained the bandages around his ribs. Even so, Yoshimoto kept forcing himself forward. He didn't need to carry the entire fight alone anymore.
Mikan made sure of that.
She barely touched the ground. Ki carried her smoothly through the air, letting her rise, drop, stop, and change direction without relying on walls, trees, or anchored threads for momentum, to the confusion of the spearman.
Merun's mouth slowly curled upward as he easily read the thought of the spearman.
He was probably thinking: How can a Martial Apprentice sky-walk like a Martial Squire?
She'd gotten good in just a week.
That's my sister.
I knew she could do it.
The Britannian spearman thrust toward Yoshimoto's throat.
Yoshimoto twisted away and fired compressed air against the shaft, forcing it several inches off course. Before the spearman could recover, a Portia thread spun around the weapon and violently pulled from above.
His eyes flicked upward as Mikan was already there.
Three daggers flashed from her hand.
The spearman snapped his weapon around.
CLANG!
The first dagger surprisingly had so much power that it struck hard enough to shove his spear aside.
The second dagger came from another angle, forcing him to brace with both hands before redirecting it. The third passed harmlessly beside his head.
At least, it seemed to. Until Mikan curled one finger.
The Portia thread attached to the dagger snapped, changing the direction of the dagger behind him and whipped back toward his ribs.
The spearman sensed the change and twisted.
But it was too late.
SHHK!
The dagger carved across his side.
A thin spray of blood followed it.
Merun's eyebrows rose. "Oh?"
The wound was shallow, hardly even a proper injury.
But Mikan Furutsu, still a Martial Apprentice, had managed to draw blood from a Martial Squire. With a weapon, too!
It seems the two still believe he's a Martial Apprentice as they fought with intent to win.
The spearman himself showed traces of shock in his face.
Yoshimoto saw the opening and drove forward, compressed wind gathering around his arms as he hammered at the Britannian's sides. Mikan remained dynamically shifting above them, threads pulling at the spear while daggers attacked from angles Yoshimoto's pressure forced open.
For several exchanges, they actually made the spearman give ground.
Merun tilted his head.
Rui and Kane had fought him in a similar way.
One fighter demanded the opponent's direct attention while the other made every surrounding angle dangerous. The techniques were completely different, but the principle was the same.
The Britannian had finally stopped looking amused.
Mikan descended from behind him and drove another reinforced dagger toward the gap beneath his shoulder.
The spearman turned, this time, his spear moved differently.
For a single instant, his restraint disappeared. The spear accelerated far beyond anything an Apprentice should have been capable of following.
Mikan's eyes widened.
SHNK!
"AAAAGH!"
The spearhead punched cleanly through her shoulder as blood burst from her back.
Her body jerked violently in the air before her flight collapsed, leaving her hanging awkwardly from the weapon as pain tore through her concentration.
"Mikan!" Yoshimoto roared.
He rushed forward.
Compressed air twisted around his fist as he planted his feet and drove upward with everything his battered body had left.
"YOU BASTARD!"
His uppercut landed squarely beneath the spearman's jaw.
BAM!
The ground cracked.
A violent burst of compressed air exploded upward around them.
The Britannian's head shifted slightly... but that was all.
Yoshimoto's eyes widened as the spearman slowly looked down at him.
Then the butt of the spear moved.
THOOM!
It slammed into Yoshimoto's chest.
The Grade Ten disappeared from where he stood, blasted backward through two Sekigaharan fighters before crashing hard into the earth dozens of meters away.
He rolled twice and stopped.
His eyes rolled far back in his head as he did not rise.
The Britannian returned his attention to Mikan.
She still hung from the spear, one hand gripping the shaft while blood poured steadily down her arm.
He pulled it free.
"NGH!"
Mikan collapsed onto the ground and immediately clutched the ruined shoulder, gritting her teeth as blood soaked through her fingers.
The spearman stared down at her.
"...Unlucky warrior."
His voice remained calm.
The act was finished.
Everyone close enough to witness the exchange understood that something was wrong now. No Martial Apprentice could shrug off Yoshimoto's full-strength uppercut.
Not even Sir Kay Pendragon.
The Britannian looked around at the frozen Sekigaharans.
"It was dishonorable enough for me to come here in the first place."
His grip tightened around the spear.
"Sadly, now that my hand has been revealed, none of you are permitted to leave this place alive."
Mikan looked up.
The spearpoint descended toward her eye.
Then the spearman felt it.
His body reacted before thought could follow, twisting the spear sideways.
KRAAAANG!
A fist smashed into the shaft.
The impact bent his arms and drove his boots through the dirt, carving two trenches across the courtyard before he finally stopped.
His eyes widened.
This power...
A man stood between him and Mikan.
He wore a plain dark dougi with no visible clan crest. Long black hair had been tied neatly behind his head, while a sleek mask covered most of his face.
Only his eyes remained visible.
Blood-red.
The newcomer's hand shot forward.
The Britannian's instincts screamed.
He immediately twisted his spear between them and retreated, narrowly slipping away before the masked man's fingers could close around his arm.
They separated by several meters.
The spearman lowered his stance.
"You..."
His eyes narrowed.
"They sent one as well?"
The masked Martial Artist settled into a simple fighting stance.
"...It seems they were right to send me."
His gaze dropped briefly, to the girl with the Orange hair.
"Are you all right?"
He blinked.
The ground where Mikan had been lying was empty.
"...Huh? When did she leave?"
Finding an opportunity, the spearman rushed forward.
BOOM!
Their collision shook the western courtyard.
.
.
.
Mikan suddenly reappeared inside the fortress infirmary.
"NGH!"
Her knees buckled from the abrupt movement, but a large hand caught her around the waist before she hit the floor.
"Easy."
"Merun?!" Mikan blurted as he eased her onto the bed and pressed one palm over the wound in her shoulder. Warm Ki spread into the torn muscle while she drank the potion he handed her, but this time she was unusually quiet.
She didn't complain about the pain or curse under her breath. She just stared down at her own hand, replaying the fight in her head.
Merun noticed immediately. He had given her a week to train, and while she had managed to defeat Sir Kay with ease, it seems she felt bad losing in a two-on-one against some unnamed Britannian spearman.
Worse, she hadn't even seen the spear move before it punched through her shoulder.
"You were doing really well, Mikan," Merun said, breaking the silence. "Your Ki control was phenomenal. Though using Ki on three daggers and Portia at the same time was taxing, wasn't it?"
Mikan hesitated before giving a small nod. "...Yeah."
Her gaze lowered again as her fingers tightened around the empty potion bottle. "I'm sorry for losing, Merun."
Merun blinked, then smiled. "What if I told you he was at the Squire Realm? Would that make you feel better?"
Mikan's head snapped up as though she'd been struck. "What?! Don't bullshit me!"
"It's true!" Merun pointed at her proudly with one finger. "And you still had enough power to scratch him. A Martial Body, Mikan. Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is? A Martial Apprentice hurting a Squire is practically unheard of."
She stared at him, still dumbstruck.
Merun's grin widened. "That, my sister, is why Ki is important."
Mikan looked down at her palm again, but another thought quickly pushed through the shock. "Wait. Why did Britannia bring a Squire in the first place? Aren't they afraid of starting a war?"
Merun shrugged while keeping the healing flow steady. "It's actually a much bigger problem near the dungeon core. That's where the roots are, and where the dungeon actually starts reacting to higher Realms hard enough to risk destroying itself. Out here, this far away, there isn't anything exposing them. A Squire can suppress himself, pretend he's an Apprentice, and deny it afterward."
Mikan's expression flattened. "That's stupid."
"Hey, I'm doing it too." Merun adjusted his palm slightly over her shoulder. "Besides, Britannia isn't the only one cheating. Sekigahara sent a Squire too. Looks like our new guy already broke through Britannia's supply-route blockade, so reinforcements should finally start getting through. Neither side can expose the other without admitting they broke the pact themselves, so they'll probably both keep quiet."
Mikan blinked. "Wait... the man who saved me was a Squire too?"
"Yep."
Her eyes widened as the pieces finally clicked together. That explained how he'd intercepted the spearman so easily and pulled her out of certain death. "So that's how..."
BOOM
Another distant explosion rolled through the fortress as Merun's eyes narrowed slightly.
Everything finally made sense. The original story had never mentioned Martial Squires participating in the siege because Rui had never known about them. Kandria probably hadn't either. Both Sekigahara and Britannia had secretly deployed Squires, and once the two hidden fighters discovered each other, neither country could expose the other without revealing its own violation.
That explained how the siege had lasted for weeks despite Sekigahara's miserable position. His future knowledge hadn't been wrong after all.
It had simply been incomplete.
Merun quietly exhaled, far more relieved than he wanted to admit.
Mikan, meanwhile, slowly opened her hand and stared at her palm. For a brief moment, she had stood against a Martial Squire and actually made him bleed.
Her eyes sharpened.
"This... this is what Ki can do?"
Another distant impact shook dust from the infirmary ceiling.
Merun listened for a moment as he laughed softly.
Mikan narrowed her eyes.
"What?"
"I might know him."
She immediately sat up.
"Really? Who?"
Merun pushed her back down by the shoulder.
"He's saved Big sis Ichigo before."
"What?!"
Merun smiled toward the distant fighting.
"I'll introduce you after this."
Mikan stared at him.
"What do you mean he saved Big sis Ichigo?!"
Merun ignored her.
Thanks again, Yujin Kai.
.
.
.
The spearman's spear swept across at neck height, forcing Yujin beneath the blade before stepping directly into the spearman's reach. His left hand caught the shaft near the spearman's grip while his right shot toward the Knight's elbow, threatening to lock the entire arm before the spear could be recovered.
The spearman reacted quickly, releasing one hand and twisting his shoulder with the pressure before Yujin could properly secure the joint. The spear spun around his body and forced enough space between them for Griflet to retreat several paces.
Around them, both armies seemed to forget the battle for a moment. Sekigaharans clustered behind the broken walls and shattered fortifications while the withdrawing Britannians slowed just enough to look back.
Even wounded Martial Apprentices forced themselves upright to watch. Nobody dared interfere now that two unknown monsters had stepped onto the field, and every eye remained fixed on them to see which one would walk away.
Yujin calmly lowered his hands. The Britannian was clearly a newly ascended Squire. His Martial Body was powerful enough to crush any Apprentice on this battlefield, yet there were small hesitations in the way he handled someone who could actually match his physicality.
He still relied heavily on the advantages that becoming a Squire had suddenly given him, advantages that disappeared the moment he faced another Squire.
The spearman lowered his spear. "You fight well."
When Yujin said nothing, the Britannian narrowed his eyes. "At least give me the name of the man standing in my way."
Yujin considered him for a moment. "Yujin."
No family name.
The spearman seemed to understand the courtesy. "Griflet."
Neither asked for more.
The two moved again. Griflet thrust first, but Yujin slipped outside the spearpoint and caught the weapon beneath his forearm. His other hand immediately seized Griflet's wrist, and a short rotation of his hips dragged the Knight forward before he could recover his balance. Griflet's boots left the ground as Yujin nearly planted him headfirst into the courtyard.
At the last possible moment, Griflet twisted his torso, drove one knee against Yujin's ribs, and used the recoil to tear himself free. He landed awkwardly several meters away and immediately brought his spear back between them, his breathing already heavier while Yujin remained almost annoyingly relaxed.
Griflet understood now. The masked man was stronger than him, and by a considerable margin. Every time Yujin caught hold of him, the fight seemed moments away from ending.
A grip reached his wrist, his shoulder became trapped, or his balance suddenly disappeared beneath him, yet somehow Griflet always found a narrow escape before the hold became decisive.
At first, he thought he was surviving through instinct.
After the fourth time, he stopped believing that.
Yujin was letting him go.
"You dare go easy on me?" Griflet growled.
Yujin tilted his head. "No."
"Then fight!"
Griflet exploded forward, his spear becoming a blur as it thrust repeatedly toward Yujin's chest and throat. The masked Squire slipped around each attack with minimal movement. One spearpoint tore through his sleeve while another passed close enough to his mask that the pressure stirred loose strands of black hair, yet none of them touched flesh.
Yujin stepped inside again. His hand slapped the spear aside, his shoulder crashed into Griflet's chest, and both arms wrapped around the Britannian's upper body before he could pull away. The ground vanished beneath Griflet's feet.
BOOM!
His back struck the earth hard enough to crater the courtyard, drawing a collective gasp from both armies.
For a heartbeat, everyone watching thought it was over, but Griflet violently bridged his hips and drove both legs against Yujin's torso. Yujin released him and drifted backward rather than resisting, allowing the Britannian to roll back to his feet.
Again, Griflet had escaped.
And again, Yujin had allowed it.
Griflet's grip tightened around his spear as realization finally settled in. "You're stalling?"
Yujin's silence answered him.
The Britannian glanced toward the fortress interior. That idiot commander of his, Sir Kay was somewhere inside, captured and bound after losing to a woman Britannia had barely accounted for.
Griflet had expected his intervention to become necessary because of Yoshimoto, perhaps even because of the armored Wall his commanders had spent days trying to defeat. Instead, some orange-haired girl had taken Kay alive in a handful of exchanges.
That enormous armored bastard hadn't appeared anywhere during the battle.
Where had he disappeared off to?
Griflet's eyes shifted briefly toward the western gate.
Yujin moved.
Griflet barely raised his spear in time.
CLANG!
A palm struck the shaft and nearly tore it from his grip. Yujin immediately stepped closer, hooked one leg behind Griflet's knee, and reached for his shoulder.
Griflet abandoned the contest entirely, twisting away before launching himself backward with everything he had.
This time, he didn't stop.
Yujin watched him retreat across the broken battlefield. Griflet landed near the edge of Britannia's withdrawing formations and looked back once, reading the message in the masked man's posture perfectly.
If he came closer again, Yujin would catch him.
Griflet was inexperienced, but he wasn't stupid.
He raised his spear and withdrew.
Only then did both armies seem to breathe again.
The Britannians resumed their retreat in tense silence, many glancing over their shoulders toward the masked man who had driven their hidden trump card away. On the other side, the Sekigaharans remained still for several seconds before murmurs began spreading rapidly through the line.
"..."
Yujin watched Griflet disappear beyond the withdrawing formations and sighed. "Good."
The last thing he wanted was to seriously injure another Squire here. His mission was already dangerous enough.
Yujin reached toward the collar of his dark dougi and relaxed the strange energy flowing through his body. The faint pressure surrounding him changed for only a moment before vanishing again under the effects of his Shadow Dragon Energy—no, KI.
That technique was the reason he had been chosen in the first place, allowing him to suppress the presence of the Squire realm far more effectively and convincingly than an ordinary Squire and slip among Apprentices without immediately exposing himself.
It made him useful.
Perhaps too useful.
Mangusu had pulled more than a few strings to get the mission approved. The Sekigaharan consortium had been reluctant to risk violating the Severian Pact, but the continued humiliation of the fortress had gradually weakened their objections. Even normally neutral clan heads had eventually consented, including the Matriarch of the Kinzoku Clan.
Sekigahara simply could not allow Britannia to strangle one of its fortress positions indefinitely.
So they sent Yujin.
Quietly and unofficially.
If word spread that Sekigahara had deliberately deployed a Martial Squire into an Apprentice campaign, every nation participating in the Severian Pact could turn hostile toward them at once. The political consequences would be disastrous if foreign powers concluded that Sekigahara intended to ignore the Realm restrictions whenever it became convenient.
Fortunately, Britannia had apparently made the exact same gamble.
That changed everything.
Griflet couldn't expose Yujin without exposing himself, and Sekigahara couldn't accuse Britannia without inviting the same accusation in return. Both nations now had every reason to forget that either Squire had ever stepped onto this battlefield.
Convenient.
Yujin still didn't relax completely. Mangusu had chosen him for another reason as well. If everything went well, the Oni Clan gained influence by quietly taking credit for rescuing a vital Sekigaharan position. If everything went badly, Yujin would almost certainly become the scapegoat.
A reckless young heir who disobeyed orders, infiltrated the campaign seeking glory, and endangered an international treaty through his own stupidity.
Mangusu would condemn him publicly if necessary. Exile him if that wasn't enough. If foreign pressure became severe enough, Yujin suspected the clan might even hand him over to be executed.
He clicked his tongue.
"How pathetic."
He wasn't sure whether he meant Mangusu or himself for agreeing to come.
Still, that wasn't his only task.
Yujin watched the distant Britannian formations disappear beyond the battlefield before reaching into his dougi and pulling out a sleek metallic device. A certain Sage had asked him to collect whatever readings he could during the campaign, and with a new master having taken him in as a student not long ago, Yujin had found himself increasingly entangled with the Beggar Sect.
Apparently learning this Ki came with favors.
He placed the device against the side of his head, and a thin lens slid over one eye with a quiet hum.
BEEP.
Numbers flickered rapidly across the display before locking onto the retreating spearman.
[GRIFLET: 1,010 - LOWEST-TIER MARTIAL SQUIRE]
Yujin stared at the reading for a moment, still amazed.
Apparently the Beggar Sect had already found ways to measure one's power.
"Just a weakling."
He tucked it back into his dougi and turned toward the fortress.
By the time Yujin reached the western gate, a crowd had already gathered. Sekigaharan Martial Apprentices stepped aside to let him through, staring with open admiration despite having no idea who he actually was.
Several slapped fists against their chests while others shouted praise from the damaged battlements, congratulating the unknown Martial Artist who had somehow stalled Britannia's monstrous peak Apprentice spearman and forced him to retreat.
"Well fought!"
"You held that bastard off!"
"Where the hell have you been hiding?!"
Yujin scratched the back of his head beneath his tied black hair and laughed awkwardly. "I got lost in the jungle!"
There was a short silence before laughter broke out around the gate.
One Martial Apprentice shouted that he must have been lost for half the damn campaign, while another demanded to know what sort of jungle turned people into monsters like him. Yujin laughed along with them as he walked inside, waving off the praise with an embarrassed hand.
Only one group remained quiet.
The Oni Clan Martial Apprentices standing near the inner wall hadn't laughed at all. A few had gone visibly pale the moment they saw him, their eyes lingering on the familiar blood-red gaze behind his mask.
Yujin looked toward them once.
The Oni Apprentices immediately lowered their eyes and said nothing.
Yujin's warm smile never changed as he turned back toward the others and scratched his head again.
"I really should start carrying a map! haha!"