Do Your Own Revolution

#047.

‘Well then, won’t you join me in turning the empire upside down?!’

‘It’s revolution! Breaking free from the rule of magic nobles and the imperial family!’

‘Westraine? Ha! They’re nothing but vermin in a parliament full of old nobles, thinking only of oppressing citizens! Cooperate with such people?! Absolutely not!’

‘Remember this, Vark. Revolution must be achieved by our hands alone. Only a revolution won through our own blood can save this empire!’

‘Now, now, look at this part in the book I wrote……’

His head was hazy.

The auditory hallucinations of long-dead friends continued to disturb his mind.

When had it become like this?

Was it when his severed tendons regrew? Or was it when Randall visited him in prison?

Feeling confused and unable to comprehend, Vark tried desperately to hold onto his blurry vision.

“Criminal, Vark Ur…! You have… the Emperor’s carriage…! And… the funeral of the Empire’s hero El… Lord Lupeon Elcidore…!”

The ringing in his ears made it impossible to properly distinguish even the voice right in front of him.

In the midst of this, what he remembered was that today was the execution date for him and his comrades.

And with Randall’s signal, the rescue operation would begin.

“For these crimes, the Empire sentences you to death…!”

Shut up.

While trying to hold onto his consciousness with the thought of enduring just a little longer, that damned magistrate’s voice kept pounding in his head.

No, what made Vark angry wasn’t just the judge’s voice.

Vark slightly raised his head and saw the numerous enemies watching him.

The many nobles jeering, sneering, and mocking him.

Seeing their faces made Vark recall events from the distant past he had forgotten.

‘I’m sorry… I’m sorry…! Please, please just spare my life…!’

‘Hahaha! Hey butler! Did you see?! That bastard values his life so much?!’

His sister, used and discarded as a plaything by a lower noble.

His father, beaten to death on the street for raising his voice against a noble.

Himself, face in the dirt begging for his life from the noble who was the root of all these events, and that noble’s sneering gaze. That look…!

Yes. That was why he had created the Revolutionary Army with Maximilien.

To become a mage in the Revolutionary Army and tear all the detestable nobles to pieces.

For his father and sister who had died miserably as their entertainment!

Hadn’t he lived his entire life for just that purpose?

Wasn’t that the purpose and reason for existence of Vark Urgon, the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army!

That was when a red flare shot up into the sky.

The crowd gathered at the execution ground began to murmur, and black smoke started rising from outside.

“What… Where… Explosion…!”

“Airships are rising…! We need to evacuate the spectators…!”

“The Revolutionary Army…!”

People thrown into chaos.

The sound of anti-aircraft guns ringing in his ears.

And the airships slowly rising into the sky, with numerous comrades jumping down from them!

‘They’re here.’

The rescue operation had begun.

He would be able to join the Revolutionary Army again and kill more nobles.

He bit and crushed the magic bullet in his mouth.

Magical power flowed into his broken magic circuit and darkened magic imprint, and vitality began to surge throughout his body.

His comrades participating in the operation were defending the airship and waiting for him, so he needed to move quickly too.

Having made his decision, Vark stood up and took a step…

…and had to reassess what was happening when he saw the grotesque mass of flesh that emerged instead of his foot.

“Huh?”

No, it wasn’t just his foot.

Dozens of tentacles bursting through and sprouting from his arms.

His stomach endlessly vomiting blood and filth, and teeth constantly sprouting there. Eyes. And other miscellaneous organs.

Something had gone wrong.

As he thought this, Vark’s gaze fell on the center where his comrades were gathered.

“Br-Brother Randall. What… What is that? Uncle Vark has… become a mon-monster…!”

Claude, who had turned pale looking at him.

And Randall Dean Clark standing guard beside him.

“I don’t know… I have no idea…! What on earth did they do to Vark…!”

He was putting on an expression of genuine fear, as if he truly knew nothing.

When there could only be one reason he could think of for why his body had become like this…!

“Ah, aah…! Aaagh…!”

His original thoughts disappeared, and extreme hunger and rage filled his mind.

The traces of the human called Vark Urgon were erased, and the consciousness of an unknown monster began to take over his twisted body.

‘Vark Urgon. You stupid bastard, do you know what you’ve just done?’

The last thing Vark recalled was the words of the unfamiliar young man who had blocked his path.

‘You just sold the entire Revolutionary Army organization to Westraine.’

The sharp rebuke from a boy he had never met before.

When Vark recalled this at the last moment, he was overcome with endless despair.

By the time he understood all the cause and effect relationships, it was already far too late.

“Gwraaaaaaah—!”

The grotesquely distorted monster roared in the middle of the execution ground.

In that twisted body, there was no longer any trace of the human called Vark Urgon.

***

“Kyaaaaaah?!”

“Mon-monster! It’s a monster!”

“What the hell is going on?! A monster in the middle of the imperial capital… Aaaagh?!”

When the main culprit of the emperor assassination attempt who was about to be executed transformed into a monster in the blink of an eye, the execution ground full of people turned into a hellscape mixed with screams and shouts.

No, Vark wasn’t the only one who had transformed into a monster.

The Revolutionary Army members who had been on the execution ground with him.

They, too, had mutated into monsters and began killing the nobles who had come to watch the execution indiscriminately.

“This is insane. What the hell is happening right now?!”

As if unable to process everything happening at once, Keiren’s face contorted.

“It reminds me of the assassination incident from two years ago.”

“That was better than this. At least back then we didn’t have monsters appearing in the middle of the imperial capital!”

Hmm. Given how he’s talking, his mind seems intact.

While speaking, I immediately deployed a barrier to block a monster that was charging toward Keiren.

“Ugh!”

The force was enough to shake a barrier created with a four-stroke magic imprint.

Considering this was just a simple body slam, it was truly astounding.

‘Obviously. In the original story, direct fights with monsters didn’t happen until at least the mid-to-late chapters.’

Overwhelming strength from their massive bodies, and durability that couldn’t even be scratched by small arms like rifles.

A core that emitted magical power rivaling that of a knight, and blood vessels filled with magical power instead of blood.

This was mankind’s greatest calamity that appeared along with the Great Rupture – monsters.

‘But the real reason monsters are dangerous isn’t simply because they’re strong.’

Thinking this, I looked at the ground with a troubled expression.

The imperial capital’s ground, paved with quality soil, was being dyed black.

“Gu-gugh?!”

“Can’t… breathe…!”

At the center of this bizarre transformation was Vark, who had mutated into a monster.

The poison and pollutants spreading from him had begun to slowly eat away at the air and ground.

“At this rate, this place will become a massive gas chamber.”

“Then we need to subdue it somehow before that happens. If that monster manages to hide in the sewers, it could mean the end of the entire capital. Over there!”

Keiren who called me pointed to a location.

Standing where Keiren pointed were Magic Corps officers who were hesitating without taking any proper measures despite the appearance of monsters.

“What are you all doing?!”

Keiren who ran over there shouted at one of the Magic Corps officers who still hadn’t grasped the situation.

“In a situation where monsters have appeared, you’re doing nothing! Who’s the commander here?!”

“Lieutenant General Keiren?!”

“E-Even if you’re a general, the imperial army has no authority to command the Magic Corps! This is the Magic Corps’ operation zone, so please evacuate quickly…!”

“You stupid bastards-!”

At the outburst of Keiren who was seasoned in battlefield life, the Magic Corps officers’ backs straightened.

“You call yourselves officers, yet you’re playing politics in this situation!? When monsters are killing people, what does jurisdiction matter!? Huh?!”

“We-we’re sorry…!”

“If you have time to stand around dazed, quickly form ranks and evacuate the citizens. Got it?!”

“Y-Yes-!”

Having established dominance, Keiren began giving various orders to the Magic Corps officers with all too familiar attitude.

“First platoon, establish defensive positions on the main route and evacuate citizens. Fifth, seventh, and twelfth platoons handle the rebels who jumped from the airships. If you coordinate with the guard, you can hold!”

“U-Understood…!”

“What about the Knight Order?”

“They’ve just entered the scene.”

As I said this, my gaze was directed toward the center of the contaminated venue.

“Pierce through.”

Spears of various colors pushed back a monster that was jumping between evacuating people.

Guarding the evacuation route was magic noble tenth seat, Count Gior Drexler.

Soon after, the Blue Lance Knight Order under his command was creating hundreds of magical power spears to bind the monsters.

“This is absurd. To turn people into monsters overnight, are the rebels capable of even this?”

“If they were, the empire would have become a monster field long ago. Looking at their reactions, this seems to be something even they didn’t expect.”

The old man who stepped forward while answering thus was magic noble second seat, Margrave Gloucester.

“Gloucester’s magic. A rare sight indeed.”

“What can we do? We can’t let the imperial capital become a monster field.”

Wearing traditional attire different from the imperial style, he activated the magic imprint engraved on his hand to create circular thorny bushes.

The ‘Empire’s Pioneer’ who was unmatched in the field of contamination purification.

When it met the magically grown thorny bushes, the contamination eating away at the venue stopped moving.

“Is that Gloucester?”

“Perfect timing. Carlos!”

“Yes, head of the family.”

As they confirmed the contamination was no longer spreading, other magic nobles who had been observing the situation began joining in one by one.

The beam shot by Duke Nachtval completely incinerated one of the monsters.

The hammer of Carlos, heir to Buckenheim, crushed a monster’s massive body.

With the magic nobles and their knights joining in, most of the monsters were being dealt with.

However, Keiren was looking at them with troubled eyes.

“They sure showed up quickly. If they had joined just 5 minutes earlier, half of those corpses would still be alive.”

Looking at the corpses scattered around the execution ground, Keiren ground his teeth.

But unlike Keiren, my interest lay elsewhere.

‘So I have to defeat things like that.’

Watching the magic nobles’ battle, I thought.

The overwhelming magical power emitted by seven-stroke magic imprints, and their precise coordination without the slightest interference.

The magic nobles were stronger than I thought, and more unified.

Then could I, even after completing my growth, defeat them?

I was the only one with a seven-stroke imprint, while they had twelve people.

‘If I could fight them one by one it might be possible, but it’s impossible in the current state. Then……’

I turned my gaze to look outside the venue where evacuation was in full swing.

“To turn our comrades into monsters! What the hell did you do, you filthy nobles!”

“Damn, the rebels…!”

“They’re in league with the monsters! Don’t let them inside!”

“Stop spouting nonsense-!”

With the sound of explosion, the Magic Corps’ formation collapsed.

Throwing away the spent magic bullet casing, Claude and the Revolutionary Army approached with blazing eyes.

Seeing their determination to try again despite repeated failures, a satisfied smile appeared on my face.

If I can’t win by fighting…

I can make them fight each other, can’t I?