Juggernaut is a special device bestowed upon a chieftain by Golden Mirror. It’s a unique tool that only a chieftain can fully wield, crafted from the start to function exclusively with their abilities, enabling limitless functionality when used by the right person.

But as the king of humans, even a human tool like this falls within my reach.

I clenched my fist. Locket’s wing exploded instantly, not from an external attack, but from an internal eruption that twisted and ravaged his body’s structure. The explosion was so intense it created a storm, and being caught at such close range dealt a severe blow to Locket.

“Gaaah…!”

“Now’s the time!”

With Locket thrown off balance, this was the perfect opportunity for the Regressor, who had been ready to strike. He swept Tianying across Jizan. Sparks fly when metal clashes with metal, but when earth meets sky, lightning strikes. With an ominous charge more menacing than mere static, the Regressor shouted.

“Heaven-Earth Sword Strike, Reverse Thunder!”

Lightning surged from the ground, shooting skyward. The bolt, searching for a destination in the heavens, found its mark amidst airborne fragments of metal—a poor soul burdened with iron all over his body. Though stunned, the lightning cared nothing for the plight of mortals.

The lightning cascaded over the iron, branching into thousands of arcs that engulfed Locket. Overwhelmed by searing pain, Locket screamed as the current coursed through his entire body.

“Aaaaagh!”

But it wasn’t enough to end him. Even lightning has a way of taking the easier path, avoiding the hard road when possible. Most of the current climbed along the Juggernaut’s metal, sparing Locket’s body from the full brunt of the attack.

Either way, the battle was over. Locket, weakened by explosions and lightning, was in no condition to continue fighting.

“Lord Locket! Are you alright?!”

One of Locket’s subordinates came flying over. The fight had gone on so long that it had drawn the attention of many, and it wasn’t surprising that Locket’s men finally approached, unable to stand idly by any longer.

“Lord Locket! This way!”

A winged subordinate swooped beneath Locket, catching him as he fell. Nearly dragged down by the Juggernaut’s weight, she barely managed to stabilize him as he restarted his thrusters. She asked, worried.

“Are you alright?”

“Ugh… Call… the Winged Drake Unit…”

The ‘subordinate’ answered resolutely.

“Don’t worry! They’re all waiting!”

“Not just waiting… Bring them here… and kill them all!”

As Locket snapped in frustration, his ‘subordinate’ grimaced.

“Well, that might be difficult.”

“Are you scared?! Have you forgotten your lives are in my hands? This is an order! Attack immediately… or I’ll blow up your thrusters…!”

“My point is—”

“What?!”

Just as Locket’s face contorted with rage at his ‘subordinate’s hesitation, something sharp and cold slid into his body. So stealthy and precise was the attack that he didn’t notice until the blade was already cutting through him.

Only after realizing something was wrong did he gasp silently in shock. The ‘subordinate’ spoke with a lazy voice.

“Because they’re all on the other side of the river, the one you can’t return from. How would I call back the dead?”

Suddenly, the ‘subordinate’ revealed her true face—it was Hilde. Locket’s eyes widened at the unexpected sight.

An explosion erupted as Locket detonated his whole body, flinging Hilde away. Even as a master of martial arts, without solid footing, she couldn’t brace against the reaction, and both were sent flying in opposite directions.

Locket spiraled down, slamming into the ground with a loud crash. Before he could even compose himself, he lifted his cloak, revealing the spot where the blade had briefly rested—a place now oozing bright red blood.

“Kuh…! Cough! Cough!”

A short distance away, Hilde landed lightly, twirling her blood-stained blade and muttering to herself.

“Hmm~. No wonder the blade didn’t go in smoothly~.”

Seeing Locket’s back, now exposed beneath his cloak and Juggernaut, she commented further. Locket’s back was hunched. When hidden under his cloak and Juggernaut, it looked as if he wore a backpack, but it was actually a deformity in his abdomen. Despite Hilde’s killing intent, he had barely survived.

But ‘barely’ was only temporary.

“Locket, the Flame Chieftain. Known as the fiercest strike force in the Heat Nation, your Winged Drake unit even serves as the Golden Palace’s messengers, right? According to my information, the Winged Drake Unit was a tough one to handle without Historia. I didn’t expect to deal with it here. Lucky for me~.”

Hilde turned to me with an innocent smile.

“So, I can kill him now, right, Father?”

“Wait a moment.”

“Oh? Again? Is there something else you want to check?”

The Regressor promptly strode over and jammed Tianying into Locket’s wing. To ensure he couldn’t get back up, the Regressor stood firmly on Tianying and demanded with an imposing tone.

“Last chance. Tell me the location of the Golden Palace.”

“Cough…! You bastards…!”

“If you’re the Golden Palace’s messenger, you must know where it is now and what form it’s in. If you want to live, spill it. I’ll spare your life.”

“Huff…huff… You’d know that much…? For the Military Nation to know… even after killing their own king... How could you know this…?”

Locket laughed bitterly, as if resigned, then, coughing up blood, began to speak in broken fragments.

“…Fine… I’ll tell you…”

‘I’ve lost everything—my forces, my reputation, my wealth, even my Juggernaut. There’s no reason left to live… and those bastards wouldn’t keep me alive anyway. So…’

He mumbled something under his breath, unintelligible to the Regressor who grew frustrated and moved closer.

“What did you say? Speak clearly.”

As the Regressor leaned in, Hilde followed, prepared to finish him if needed. But that was precisely what Locket wanted.

He unleashed his unique magic. His Juggernaut, the Winged Drake, was made from alchemical steel crafted by Golden Mirror himself. No matter how fiercely Locket burned or detonated it, it was an indestructible alloy, allowing him to fly indefinitely.

But in the end, even that immortality could serve as fuel for one final explosion.

“You… will die….”

“What?”

Locket raised his blood-soaked arm. His remaining power surged through his arm and into the Juggernaut. Though the metal crafted by Golden Mirror was transcendently resilient, as a chieftain, he could alter its structure.

From an immortal metal to a mortal one. Enough to incinerate his enemies in an instant.

“With this legacy granted by Golden Mirror… I’ll take you down with me!”

Locket shouted as he activated his unique magic in full. It was too late to react. The final explosion, powerful enough to obliterate everything within a few hundred meters, was about to consume the Regressor and Hilde...

However—

“What do you think you’re doing?”

The Regressor muttered indifferently.

Celestial Recoil didn’t activate. The defensive energy etched into his body didn’t signal any danger.

Because, in fact, there was none.

“Wha… why…?”

Locket looked down at his Juggernaut, now losing its shine. His final trump card, the legacy bestowed upon him by Golden Mirror, was rusting away before his very eyes.

Only metal could fuel the explosion, but corroded, degraded metal lost that capability. Metal without worth couldn’t be used, not even by a chieftain.

“Ver…digris…!”

Clink, clink.

The sound of slow, deliberate hoofbeats echoed through the barren earth. Peru, atop Aurea, approached Locket. Facing her cold gaze, Locket shouted furiously.

“Why…?! Why are you stopping me, Verdigris?!”

Peru spoke slowly.

“…You were going to self-destruct.”

“These people… they should have died here! Then that land would be ours…! So why?! Why turn my Juggernaut to rust…?!”

“…Same. Your fire, my verdigris. Same. Both ruin the Juggernaut.”

‘…And if both end in the same result, with a Juggernaut gone from this world…’

Peru murmured softly.

“…Fewer deaths… are better.”

Peru’s avoidance of combat isn’t due to a lack of ability. Her power destroys value, so she avoids conflict. But when faced with an act of pure destruction, sacrificing everything without leaving anything behind, even Verdigris would stop it.

The Juggernaut ceased to function. Realizing that his masterpiece was failing, Locket let out a howl.

“Don’t mock me!!! You should know… our desires…! You… stole our second homeland…!”

“Yes~. We heard you.”

Slice.

His shout was cut short as if severed by a blade. Moments later, Locket’s head tilted to the side. Even in death, Flame Chieftain Locket, who’d raged against the Military Nation, the Regressor, and Peru until his last breath, passed away with an expression of deep resentment on his face.

A final mark was made in a soot-stained book. From a short distance away, I silently bid him farewell.

Farewell, Lord Locket, a man who burned like a fire until his very last breath.

When I lifted my head after paying my respects, I saw Hilde hiding her blade behind her back, offering an awkward smile to the Regressor and Peru.

“Please, don’t look at me like that~. I was merely taking on the dirty work that no one else could stomach. Could we really have left him alive? I think I deserve a pat on the back!”

Feigning innocence... She had planned to kill him from the beginning.

And to be honest, I was the one who played the biggest role in neutralizing Locket, even if it went unrecognized. They say not to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, but isn’t it too much to work this hard without any acknowledgment?

Sighing inwardly, I called out to Azi before things grew even more awkward.

“Azi.”

“You did great, woof!”

“…I didn’t call you over for praise.”