Harmony War

Chapter V - The Shard of Order

June 27th, 701

Valtr did not flinch as the sun started rising in the old capital's castle; he was able to appreciate the sun to its full capacity, despite being a bloodsucker himself. His hand remained on the hilt of his rapier, awaiting his next orders.

His King was still resting after his test against Alina. While the bloodkin was happy to have an ally, Remi was so introverted that the idea of teaming up with anyone made his skin crawl - they were untrustworthy, pathetic, blinded fools. At least, that was his excuse.

In reality, Valtr was aware of the real reason his King did not like allies. His fear of them did not make him any less of a King, of course: the fear was completely founded.

He could see it in Remi's eyes. The burning sting of betrayal, still lingering after many years, developing in the loss of trust.

Yes. Valtr knew such an emotion very well.

As the door to the tower to his left opened, Valtr turned his gaze towards his King, who had just walked out of it.

Remi made his way out of the rooftop and onto the bridge Valtr was on, overlooking the sunrise.

"Ah! 'Ti's a beautiful morning, My King." He bowed respectfully as Remj stopped walking, before straightening again. "'Tis' truly good to see such a fine man have his rest!"

The wind ruffled both of their red hair.

Expressionless, Remi held up his left hand, close to his face. "Since a few days ago, my spies have reported something problematic, regarding the Queen of the Sun. It means our strategy will have to shift from this point forwards, now that we have gained an ally that can be our magical backup."

"Oh? And this problematic information would be~? Whatever it is, My King, I assure you, we will overcome it sur-"

RIIIIIIIP.

Drip, drip, drip.

RIIIIIIIIIP!!!

Valtr simply stared in shock.

For that was all the bloodkin could do, upon witnessing his King slowly pulling out his own nervous system, from the tip of his left wrist to the end of his shoulder, pulling downwards with his bare fingers, blood spilling everywhere.

In other words, his King was killing himself.

"Wh... What?"

As he finished pulling out a quarter of his nervous system, Remi started collapsing.

"What the FUCK are you doing!?"

Valtr instantly rushed to his side, shouting and swearing at him. He kept demanding an answer, holding Remi's weakening body in his arms. The latter's damaged arm went limp, as he started coughing up blood.

However, Remi pushed his General off of him, standing up straight. Surprisingly, he kept speaking in a composed and elegant manner, as if nothing was wrong, despite his condition.

"Estelle has a Shard of Order. I assume you had an Order Avatar in your world, correct? A Shard of Order is a separated piece of an Order Avatar. It has the properties of not only making people go insane, but it also can cancel any magic. Uhlan's sword is a sword entirely made of one of these Shards. Therefore, I cannot continue using magic in this war. I must prepare my body and make it used to having no magical energy flow through it, so it is ready to only unleash my physical capabilities and my soulcraft."

Remi stared straight into Valtr's eyes, as the sun rose fully, covering the entire castle in beautiful yellow sunshine.

The King of the Underworld held up his right arm once again. "For magi, magical energy travels through the nerves of the soul: magical nerves. They run in parallel with the physical body's nervous system, so if one system is destroyed, the other is destroyed as well. Additionally, use of magic is not necessary for me to win the war. I've had much experience over many futures and alternate realities, taking many weapons and tools with me along the way. Technology is more efficient than magecraft, anyway."