The land, once thick with trees, had burned black. It was so empty now that it was hard to believe there had ever been trees there. The scorched ground radiated heat. Even through his boots he could feel the heat of the charred earth. When he stepped on it, the ash crumbled underfoot, releasing the smell of burning.

Burke walked on, brushing away the swirling ash with a wave of his hand.

Despite walking so openly through the area, the relics floating in a line above him – as if drawn along an invisible path – showed no reaction.

As Ethan had suspected, these relics were clearly controlled by the Crown Prince. If they were moving automatically, they would have attacked them long ago.

The reason he and Enkan were moving so openly was to find the Crown Prince. If he sensed them approaching, the relics he controlled would react.

If the other side wanted to make a deal, they wouldn’t act recklessly just because we were approaching.

It was just as Burke took another step forward.

Boom!

A clap of thunder that had rumbled across the land suddenly focused on one spot. Burke and Enkan, who had been moving in the opposite direction, immediately turned and ran.

“D*mn it, I told him to shoot a flare!”

From what Burke had seen, Ethan was cautious in battle, but had a fiery temper outside of it.

And now, could someone like that really remain calm in the face of the bastard who had kidnapped his wife and laid hands on her?

Obviously not. He must have rushed in without a second thought.

‘But it’s different now.’

Just as Ansley and Sasha were there for him, Ethan now had a place to return to as well.

“The relics are moving.”

At Enkan’s words, Burke lifted his head—and saw the relics that had been floating in the air.

All at once, the relics, each bearing a brightly glowing ring above their heads, turned their heads in the same direction.

The sight of identical, human-like forms moving in perfect unison was more chilling than he’d expected.

Burke pushed off the ground with strength in his legs. There was no time to think about conserving energy—not when the relics were all heading toward the same place.

Running beside him, Enkan shot a quick glance his way. It was obvious who the relics were targeting in this situation.

“Excuse me for a moment.” 

“What?” 

Before Burke could answer, Enkan grabbed him and tucked him under his arm. 

It was exactly the same way he usually carried Colton around. 

Burke went pale as he remembered the sight of him dragging his subordinate like that. 

And just as he’d feared, Enkan took off at full speed. 

Even as his vision swam wildly, Burke forced himself to concentrate and watch the movement of the relics. 

It wasn’t as fast as when they first arrived, but considering the range of the attack, even this slower pace was more than enough. 

How the hell were they going to beat these things? 

One blow had split the forest in two – and there were dozens of them capable of such an attack. 

Were all ancient relics like that?

They said a single ancient relic was worth a lifetime of living – and it wasn’t a lie.

It was then that Burke’s eye was caught by a beam of light falling downwards.

Suddenly, the relics stopped moving and their glowing forms began to fade.

As if their power had been drained, their limbs sagged loosely and they began to descend in height.

“What the…!”

“Ancient humans…”

“What?”

“That light just now.”

It was an unhelpful answer in its own way. Were all Randals like that?

Burke frowned, then his eyes suddenly widened.

“That was If just now?”

The light that had fallen in the direction of where Ethan was – the woman who had descended towards that spot.

Burke hadn’t seen a trace of human form, but if Ethan, a fellow Randall, said so, there was no reason to doubt it. His eyesight would be just as sharp.

They called her an ancient human, but the If he had seen was nothing more than a helpless child.

Even if she had created things like magic nullifiers or healing potions, he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, so it never really registered with him.

Given what he’d already seen, Burke couldn’t help the way he felt.

Whenever she was given food, she would run straight to Ethan. Whatever she did, she’d tell him every little detail. She didn’t even know the difference between food and toys.

Watching her, Ethan’s most frequent words were “Don’t do that”, “Don’t eat that” – his behaviour was more that of a guardian than a lover.

With only this side of her, how could anyone worship her as an ancient human?

But just for that moment – things were different.

“Wait!”

Burke quickly slipped out from under Enkan’s arm and threw a punch at the man standing over Ethan, crushing him underfoot. He didn’t have time to think about who his opponent was.

Enkan, who had rushed over immediately, quickly checked Ethan’s condition. Half of his side had been blown off.

Anyone could see that in his current state – barely able to breathe – recovery seemed hopeless.

“D*mn, he’s lost too much blood.”

Burke frowned as he looked at the blood splattering around them. The only way to stop the bleeding was to keep the wound small, and with so much flesh torn away it would be pointless to try. He’d be dead before the wound had a chance to rot.

The only silver lining was that some of it had been cauterised, stopping some of the bleeding.

“I can save him.”

If sobbed loudly, muttering to herself.

Burke caught her faint voice and gave a nod.

Hadn’t she built devices of that level—and even recreated Ethan’s severed arm?

“The part that’s gone is too much. Can he even survive this?”
“She said there’s a way.”

If took hold of Ethan’s unconscious arm.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, she raised her fingers and drew a line across his right arm—

And the arm crumbled like a sandcastle.

“What the… now what is that supposed to be…?”

What the—

Before the sentence could even finish forming in his mind, the broken fragments began crawling up Ethan’s torso, rebuilding his torn side.

“…Holy crap.”

This was even possible?

Burke stared, mouth agape, at Ethan’s rapidly healing wound.

“Ugh…”

A groan from behind snapped Burke back to his senses. That bastard just…!

“D*mn, why don’t you move…!”

Turning quickly, Burke saw the Crown Prince – his face swollen and battered – clutching something.

It would have been better if he had used the distraction to escape.

He straightened his back with a twisted grin.

And without warning, he swung his spear.

Thud.

“Aaagh!”

The long spear pierced Edwin’s leg in an instant.

As he screamed and thrashed, a square box flew out of his hand.

“Aha, so this is the device that controls the relics?”

Without giving him a chance to respond, Burke stomped on the control device.

Crunch.

Under the weight of his boot, the device shattered into pieces in no time.

“What do you think you’re doing, you lowborn bastard?”

“I mean, I’m a lowborn bastard – but that’s kind of nice to hear.”

Who was it who just got knocked down by this so-called lowborn?

In the end, it all came down to relics.

They had lost because of one relic, and now they were winning because of another.

Granted, this side had something more than an ancient relic – they had an ancient human.

But if victory and defeat were to be decided by such things, what was the point of fighting at all?

Feeling a mixture of emptiness and frustration, Burke grabbed the sh*ft of the spear and twisted it.

“Gaaah!”

Edwin screamed as his flesh twisted in pain.

His oh-so-great magic was useless now – without mana, it was nothing.

And to think that humans considered it precious.

A royal without mana was worth less than a commoner.

Burke’s lips curled into a twisted smile at the sight of him unable to put up the slightest resistance after a single stab.

He had fought desperately to protect his family.

And these were the people who held their lives in their hands? It was almost unbelievable.

At that moment, a hand landed on Burke’s shoulder. It was Enkan’s.

“The t*rture can wait. First we have to move him.”

With a tilt of his chin, Enkan gestured towards Ethan, who was still lying on the ground.

“I wouldn’t call it t*rture. Just letting off a little steam.”

Clucking his tongue, Burke turned away. There was still much to be done – starting with the relics that were still falling.

The relics, now without light, dangled as they slowly descended.

It wouldn’t have been surprising if they had just fallen straight to the ground, but the fact that they descended so slowly was almost impressive.

Once on the ground, the relics collapsed like puppets whose strings had been cut.

Their joints were falling apart, the once mighty relics shattering far too easily for something that had launched such devastating attacks.

Burke glanced over.

It was obvious this was If’s doing – she was still sobbing in front of Ethan – but in her current state it didn’t look like they’d get any clear answers from her.

“…Let’s go back for now.”

And take that guy with us, too.

Burke sighed as he looked at the Crown Prince, who had finally passed out from the pain.

***

“And nothing much happened after that. The beasts had only run here out of fear from the initial attack, so they quickly calmed down and fled in the opposite direction. Some of the defensive walls were damaged by the relics, but we repaired them as soon as the beasts retreated.”

“I see.”

“But that’s not the end of it. There’s no way something like this relic exists as a one-off.”

Ethan frowned at Burke’s speculation.

He was right – if they had discovered an ancient ruin, it was unlikely that there was only one such relic.

And there was still the unanswered question of how the Crown Prince had been able to control the ancient relics so freely.

“And now that the Crown Prince has been captured, the Imperial Palace will definitely make a move. According to Enkan, the Emperor is in a near-hypnotic state, so there’s a chance that other royals will get involved.

Whatever the outcome of the battle, Rigo was now effectively holding the Crown Prince hostage.

It was only natural that nobles – and even other members of the royal family – would intervene.

He had prepared for this from the start, but it was going to be quite a headache.

“First, we need to extract some information from that Crown Prince bastard.”

Burke’s eyes lit up at the words.