Dictator From Outer Space

There was no need for further conversation.

The stage was set and there were plenty of spectators.

The actor might not be ready to perform, but he would make him do it anyway.

By the most violent means possible.

Leobold contacted Arma.

“Arma, overdrive mode.”

He didn’t have to communicate with her, but Leobold always liked to verify that he was sane when he made important decisions.

He didn’t just come up with random roadmaps to change Astera, he carefully decided them after fierce discussions with her.

Arma performed various medical checks and diagnosed that Leobold was normal.

“The limiter of the ether heart is released. Entering overdrive mode.”

The moment the black knight’s greatsword turned golden.

When he fought against Count Lantis, he had scattered ether all over the place, but now there was no such phenomenon.

It was proof that he could perfectly control ether.

Tirendell’s face hardened as he saw the brilliant ether blade.

“Ether blade… As expected, you had a hidden trick up your sleeve. I don’t know where you got such power, but…”

Leobold didn’t say anything more and rushed towards him.

The ground sank as if it was about to collapse, and the black knight, who was over eight meters tall, approached the elven knight.

‘He’s fast!’

It was too late to avoid it.

Tirendell didn’t try to dodge, but instead transformed the living metal on his left arm into a shield and blocked his front.

And as soon as the golden greatsword touched the shield, he threw his body back.

He never thought he could stop it in the first place.

His desperate move was effective, as the greatsword split the living metal shield in two and cut through the air.

Tirendell tried to take advantage of his recovery and charge at him, but his eyes widened.

His vision was filled with gold.

He sensed death, but he barely managed to dodge by instinct.

Clang!

The ether blade shattered the right arm and shoulder of the Belial-class Goliath and flew back.

The impact was so strong that even the main body fell back and rolled over.

He had rendered a Belial-class Goliath combat ineffective in one blow.

“Kuh!”

Tirendell spat out a stifled groan as he felt a severe shock throughout his body.

Even if he was a trained knight, even if he was riding a Goliath, rolling like this was too much for him.

He endured the pain and got up.

With a Belial-class Goliath that had lost one arm, it was impossible to properly respond.

The only possibility was to enter close combat and use his weight advantage.

He might have less output from his core than him, but if he charged with this much weight, he wouldn’t be able to shake him off easily.

But what greeted Tirendell as he got up was a huge fist from the Goliath.

‘Damn… Did he anticipate my counterattack too?’

Tirendell grumbled as he saw the Goliath’s fist enlarge in his sight.

Boom! Bang!

A barrage of punches flew in and the Belial-class Goliath was beaten up badly.

The armor plates that were hit by the fists inevitably caved in and parts fell off.

It was not a simple punch with ether in it, it was a force that could not be imagined.

He clenched his teeth and tried to fly away again, but his remaining arm was grabbed by Leobold.

His fist turned into a spike and aimed for the abdominal armor plate where Tirendell was located.

‘It’s over…’

He closed his eyes and heard thumping sounds in his ears.

Familiar footsteps, familiar shouts.

“Lord Tirendell!”

“We’ll help you!”

The royal guards ran to save him.

Of course, Tirendell was despised by most elves for his situation.

But there were some elven knights who admired and followed his excellent martial arts skills.

They threw dozens of spears at Leobold.

They were not as powerful as Tirendell’s, but they were still hard to ignore.

But Leobold did not dodge or use his ability.

He used psychokinesis to spread out the spears that were rushing at him in midair.

“Ugh!”

“How is this possible!”

The royal guards were so surprised that they stopped running. It was such a feat that even Tirendell had to be amazed by this ability.

‘How can he do something like this?’

Even if he had the ability of a sword dancer, it was not easy to stop projectiles thrown by others in midair. 

He had to completely suppress their ether. 

That meant that Leobold’s ether sensitivity was superior to ten elven knights combined. 

Tirendell could not accept that.

“There can’t be a human who can do such a thing!”

But the events unfolding before his eyes were undeniable reality and he could not look away from them.

The black knight who stopped the spears tilted his head and then attacked Tirendell again while still holding the Belial-class Goliath.

He didn’t bother to push him away and give him a chance to counterattack.

Bang! Bang!

His head was twisted in one blow and he flew back in the second.

The joint of the arm that was holding him made a strange noise and finally snapped.

The magic circle was destroyed by the shock.

Thanks to that, Tirendell’s Goliath lost both arms.

Anyone could see that he was combat ineffective, but Leobold did not stop his attack.

He seemed to want to kill Tirendell in this opportunity and that enraged the elven knights.

“You bastard! Act like a knight if you are one!”

“Lord Tirendell never treated his enemies like that!”

Ten Goliaths charged at him at once.

But they had forgotten about the spears that were still floating in the air.

The spearheads spun around and flew in all directions.

Papapapa―

Surprisingly, the spears moved as if they were alive and attacked the elven knights. 

They blocked their advance and sometimes cut off their retreat. 

And the spearheads wriggled and split into hundreds of spikes. 

Ten spears turned into hundreds of daggers. 

Even Tirendell, who had become immune to most things, opened his mouth wide at this sight.

‘This can’t be possible!’

Transforming living metal with ether responsiveness was possible for a skilled elven knight.

But it was impossible to separate living metal that had already fixed its shape without touching it.

That impossible thing was happening right in front of them.

“Ugh…”

The elven knights realized how Leopold had faced thousands of shadow elves.

He had hundreds of slaughter weapons, so what was so hard about killing thousands?

Tirendell felt the fear of death.

It was something he had never experienced in his nearly 200 years of life.

‘He’s fast and strong. Was the champion of the Great War this powerful?’

Still, he didn’t let go of the counterattack.

He took advantage of the moment when the opponent’s attention was away from him and kicked the black knight’s abdomen with his legs.

The armor plate fell off, but it created some distance.

Leopold knew that, but pretended not to.

It was because he would be in trouble if he died here.

‘He has at least some skill.’

It meant that he had the basics to be able to survive in front of an overwhelming strongman.

As the distance between the two Goliaths widened, not only the guards who had hesitated, but also the nearby Goliaths sensed the opportunity and rushed in.

Leopold retrieved the greatsword that had fallen on the ground and pointed it at them.

“Come on. I’ll kill you all.”

Tirendell didn’t want to die yet, but he didn’t care about the ordinary elves.

The black knight with a greatsword jumped into the Belial-class Goliaths and looked like a wolf attacking a flock of sheep.

One Goliath was cut in half with its shield in one blow, and the second attack sent the Goliath’s arm flying into the air.

It would have been more resistant if he had cut paper instead.

Leopold silently swung his greatsword, and every time he did, a Goliath was smashed.

The elven knights who couldn’t stand it chose to block him with a barrage of bullets.

If they attacked him all at once and eliminated his physical space, he would have no choice but to surrender.

But that proved to be impossible soon enough.

Hundreds of spikes that were waiting in the air rushed at the elven knights.

The Goliaths blocked the spikes with their shields, but they had to retreat from the impact that made a loud noise.

It was impossible to ignore the spikes and rush at Leopold.

That was because dozens of spikes were spinning around him and pushing away the Goliaths.

Each spike contained ether, so it was suicidal to charge at a Goliath, and even the shields couldn’t last long.

Dozens of Goliaths were pushed back, and Leopold expanded his ether blade to the maximum.

Light spread from the greatsword and soared to the end of the sky.

It was too big a sword for a mere Goliath to have.

The elven knights stared blankly at it while being hit by the spikes.

“Oh, Eilidh…”

“Is that an ether blade…”

The giant sword of light engulfed them.

***

Countess Croitz couldn’t believe her eyes.

Leopold was surrounded by dozens of Goliaths and defeated them one by one.

He even moved something like iron nails while fighting them!

‘Is this what the elves call a sword dancer? But that level of power is…’

And when a sword of light soared to the end of the sky, she opened her mouth wide.

That sword of light tore through the air, shattered dozens of Goliaths in an instant, and finally ripped apart the ground.

Boom!

A huge explosion occurred when ether collided, and hundreds of meters in radius flew away at once.

When the dust cloud disappeared, all that remained were the gruesome remains of dozens of Goliaths and a cracked earth.

Everyone stopped fighting at the shocking sight.

Countess Croitz finally realized it.

Leopold didn’t kill the monster by luck or thanks to his last opponent.

He simply crushed the monster with his pure skill.

The imperial nobles had been arguing over nothing until now because they couldn’t come up with that simple answer.

‘This is not human power…’

She was fascinated by Leopold’s power.

Were the champions of dragons who fought in the past Great War this powerful?

She didn’t know how he got such power, but one thing was certain.

This man with unbelievable combat power was her companion.

Countess Croitz raised her sword high and shouted.

“Look at Count Vandus from Bagran’s struggle! He is bringing us victory!”

“Wow!”

The momentum of the allied forces, which had been pushed back miserably, surged up in an instant.

The elven knights also saw that sight and couldn’t decide whether to continue fighting or not.

They seemed to have lost their way of dealing with the situation they had never seen before.

When the situation reached this point, Tirendell decided to retreat.

It was meaningless to continue resisting after losing 10% of his power in one blow.

He switched to a spare Goliath with the help of his subordinates and contacted his homeland.

The person who barely answered was one of the three ministers of the empire, Kelodian.

“Your Excellency. I wish to retreat urgently.”

“That’s strange. You’re Tirendell, and you have to retreat? What’s the situation like?”

“Our prediction was wrong. Count Vandus is not human. He destroyed dozens of Goliaths with one strike of his ether blade. It’s pointless to continue fighting, it’s only a meaningless sacrifice.”

“So you’re saying you’re going to tuck your tail and run? The reputation of the strongest swordsman of the empire has fallen to the ground.”

He sneered, but Tirendell was willing to endure any insult.

Even at this moment, the black knight was smashing elven knights wherever he went.

“This is not a war, but a one-sided massacre, I want to emphasize that, Your Excellency.”

“That’s the result you brought about. You haven’t forgotten who’s the commander of this war, have you?”

“I’m not trying to evade responsibility, Your Excellency! My subordinates are dying right now!”

Kelodian was silent.

The situation was clearly difficult, and it didn’t seem feasible to continue fighting.

Someone would have to take responsibility, but that was something to think about after the troops had safely retreated.

But he couldn’t just retreat like this.

Not far away, there was a branch of Yggdrasil.

‘He can’t leave the branch behind and retreat. If they analyze it, our plan could be exposed.’

Kelodian decided to activate Meteor Strike and blow up the nearby area after some thought.

Tirendell would go crazy when he found out the truth, but it didn’t matter much.

“Fine. But I need some time to report to His Majesty. Hold on a little longer.”

Since when did the minister report to the emperor?

Unlike Zaium, Elvrande didn’t give much power to the emperor.

Most of the authority was shared by the parliament and the three ministers, and the royal family only had some insignificant ceremonies.

But Tirendell didn’t question it much.

“Hurry up.”

‘What a rude bastard.’

Kelodian bit his lip and took his hand off the communicator. 

He contacted the parliament.

The councilor of the elders of the parliament groaned when he heard the situation.

“That’s amazing. His power is that great. Did the intelligence agency have no clue?”

“He was on the blacklist, but not to this extent…”

“So we have to choose between the branch of Yggdrasil and Tirendell.”

Of course, the conclusion would be to preserve the branch of Yggdrasil.

They could make as many knights as Tirendell.

No, they would soon be able to summon the beings from the Great War.

They agreed that they had to somehow deal with Count Vandus this time.

“He’s a dangerous man. He used an ether blade. Maybe the rumor that he’s a hero from another world is true.”

“It doesn’t matter who he is. We have to kill him by other means since Tirendell failed.”

“Then how about Meteor Strike…”

“Hmm…”

The councilor hesitated.

Activating Meteor Strike could provoke Zaium’s nerves.

If they both activated Meteor Strike, Elvrande wouldn’t be safe either.

They had some defensive measures, but they hadn’t tested them yet, so they were suspicious.

“It’s not for the imperial capital, right? It’s just for destroying a small kingdom on the border. Would Zaium care?”

“Many imperial nobles, including Countess Croitz, are mobilized, but it’s not worth trading with the imperial capital. They have to back down if we go strong.”

And there was no clear authority to activate Meteor Strike.

It was not something that a mere heir could decide in the absence of the emperor.

“Then let’s do it. Wait a minute. I’ll consult with the councilors.”

Meaningless time passed.

Kelodian tried to ignore the communicator connected to Tirendell blinking.

And then he got a call from the parliament.

“We’ll allow it. Activate Meteor Strike and sweep away our enemy of peace.”

The Meteor Strike magic circle was activated.

A stream of ether shot up from the tower of magic in Medea, the capital city.

The ether that reached space interfered with the asteroid belt formed around Terra and Mare, and finally succeeded in detaching a small rock.

The gravity radar of Settler detected it.

「Master, Elvrande has activated Meteor Strike.」

‘They finally did it. When will it fall?’

「Calculating… It will land on the battlefield in 37 minutes and 15 seconds. The power is close to 3 megatons in TNT equivalent.」

Considering that the hafnium missile that blew up the black magic research center a while ago was 200 kilotons, it was a considerable power.

‘They picked a big one. They’re planning to sweep away their allies too.’

「They must have been desperate to keep the branch of Yggdrasil.」

‘There must be something there. Then we have to take it. How’s Zion?’

「He’s regaining consciousness. He’ll be ready soon.」

Leopold originally planned to end this war with the intervention of Blue Dragon.

His goal was to gain honor and reduce Elvrande’s influence, not to boost the morale of the allied forces.

If Barak Crown Prince got carried away by a small victory and pushed for a full-scale war, it would be annoying, so he needed to cut it off properly.

His plan was to send Zion and inflict some damage, so they would have no choice but to retreat.

But Elvrande went too far and changed the situation.

‘Change its orbit. The target is the outskirts of Medea where government offices are concentrated.’

「Activating gravity crane.」

The orbit of the meteorite that was rushing towards Terra was slightly bent.

The distance was so far that bending the orbit slightly made it deviate thousands of km from its intended landing site.

Since the landing site was on the outskirts of Medea, it was expected to cause enormous damage, but there was no guarantee that it would happen.

‘Let’s see how well the elves can stop Meteor Strike.’

「I sent Zion. He has an ion thruster, so he’ll arrive at the battlefield in about 10 minutes.」

‘Then I’ll clean up here.’

Elvrande’s army was pushed back miserably by one blow of Ether Blade that destroyed 10% of Elven Knight’s power.

They were ahead in individual skills, so their formation didn’t collapse, but they couldn’t stop the momentum of the allied forces.

And soon after, Blue Dragon appeared on the battlefield.

Both armies were terrified by his huge body.

“Dragon! A dragon has appeared!”

“Why is he here…?”

“Don’t be afraid! He ran away from our airship bombardment!”

Zion tried to stop, but he crashed to the ground because he wasn’t used to the ion thruster.

―Squeak!

His huge body scraped the ground and several Goliaths that couldn’t avoid it were horribly torn apart.

“What, what is it?”

“The dragon failed to land?”

Everyone was confused, but Zion got up and screamed.

―Bow down before Blue Dragon!

It didn’t help his dignity, but when the enhanced Lightning Breath poured out, everyone was busy avoiding it.

A normal breath could make a Goliath incapacitated in one blow, but this was an enhanced version.

Several Goliaths were smashed in one shot, and Zion was intoxicated by his power and entered the barrage of bullets.

He attacked indiscriminately regardless of affiliation, and a few Goliaths were knocked out.

―Hahaha! Worship Zion!

“…His name was Zion.”

Tirendell clenched his teeth as he looked up at him.

Count Vandus was one thing, but he didn’t see any chance of winning.

Meanwhile, one of the staff who was tracking the ether near Elvrande discovered an unexpected fact.

“That’s strange. There shouldn’t be any ether like this.”

There should have been no ether in the sky above Medea, but it was faintly observed.

And as time passed, the amount of observation increased.

The staff who found this strange reported it to his superior, and soon it reached the director of the intelligence agency.

He didn’t know what it meant until he realized that the ether wave was the same as when Meteor Strike was activated, and he was horrified.

“The humans are crazy!”

“B-but there was no ether observed in Zaium’s sky!”

“Then who activated it!”

The intelligence agency was turned upside down, and the relevant report reached Kelodian.

He opened the window and looked up at the sky with a telescope.

Something was twinkling in the distance.

“N-no way…”

Kelodian suddenly remembered that he had approved the activation of Meteor Strike.

But why was it coming here?