Admiral Julius Schneider was, by no means, weak.

There was a reason he held the title of Admiral despite the existence of figures like Iridelle Vermillion and Roman Neuschwan within the navy.

His position had never been handed to him on a silver platter, nor had it been a matter of circumstance. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

It was something he had secured through an unbroken record of excellence.

Julius Schneider had never known loss.

Not once had his career been stained, not even in his earliest years.

So when a blade was pressed against his throat, when his men fell around him before they could even comprehend what was happening, when their deaths came so swiftly that their families would never know the moment they were gone, Julius Schneider did not feel fear.

He felt anger.

Rage surged through his chest, and in that instant, his stigmata activated.

———!

Darkness erupted outward, spreading like shadows. The force of it pushed against the surroundings, distorting the air itself as Margaret Illenia was forced to recoil.

Franz, however, did not move. He remained exactly where he stood with his blade still poised.

A madman.

That was Julius’ first thought. But even so, he was not without understanding. Franz Barielle Aetherion possessed an ability that allowed him to multiply himself, to exist in more than one place at once. It was not an unreasonable conclusion to draw.

Perhaps the real Franz had never been in Zyphran to begin with.

"You bastard!"

Shadows surged around his figure. In the next instant, Julius Schneider moved. He lashed out at Franz with overwhelming force.

Julius possessed a rare constitution with the Umbra affinity. It granted him control over shadows, allowing him to shape and manipulate them as extensions of his own will.

But that alone did not define his strength.

Layered atop it was his stigmata.

It allowed him to interfere with magic at its most fundamental level, to grasp and manipulate the very particles that composed it.

With that, he could not only strengthen his own attacks but also tamper with the spells of others, disrupting them, altering them, or bending them entirely to his advantage.

On the battlefield, this translated into absolute dominance.

Within his range, there were no blind spots or any room for error. Everything that fell under his influence became subject to his control, as if the entirety of the battlefield itself had become an extension of his authority.

Franz brought his blade down in a decisive motion.

The shadows reacted at once. They coiled and surged upward, morphing into jagged spikes that pierced through his flesh. The result was immediate, yet Julius already knew.

It had done nothing.

There was no proper way to deal with Franz. That alone was what made him terrifying. No matter how overwhelming the force, the outcome remained unchanged. At best, Julius could only reduce the number of clones present within Zyphran.

That was the only viable approach.

With that in mind, his figure blurred, dissolving into shadow as it surged across the battlefield. He shifted his target, abandoning Franz, and redirected his focus toward Margaret.

She was the only tangible presence.

At the very least, if she were eliminated, it would deal a significant blow to Vanitas Astrea.

The shadows lunged. They converged from all directions, aiming to impale her in a single strike. But in the next instant, Margaret moved.

Her blade cut through the air once.

———!

That was all it took. The shadows did not merely break. They dissolved, as if their very existence had been disturbed at its core as the force of her strike cut through them.

"...!"

Julius’ eyes widened.

Never in his life had he witnessed something like that. A simple blade cutting through his magic, not dispersing it, not deflecting it, but severing it entirely.

It defied logic. It should not have been possible.

A monster.

That was the only word that came to mind, the only conclusion he could arrive at as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen.

What were they feeding these new generations?

Julius moved, his shadows surging forward as they expanded outward in an attempt to swallow Margaret whole. They spread across the battlefield in waves, pressing in from every direction as he gave chase and maintaining constant pressure.

However, each attempt failed to achieve its intended result.

Margaret responded to every attack in the same manner. She cut through them. The shadows did not resist, nor did they hold their form. They were severed, as if they had no substance at all, rendering his efforts ineffective.

As long as she held that blade, his attacks could not reach her in any meaningful way.

It was an unfavorable situation.

Even so, Julius did not retreat. He continued to advance, maintaining his assault with the understanding that a single opening would be enough.

"Admiral!"

The call reached him from a distance.

Julius glanced toward the source and noted the arrival of reinforcements.

A group composed of Bundesritter navymen and Aetherion Knights had moved to support him. Their presence aligned with the broader objective.

The request had originated from Aetherion’s own knights, after all, and their intent had been clear from the beginning.

Both the Emperor and Vanitas Astrea were to be eliminated.

This outcome reflected the state of Aetherion itself.

The population had already turned against the Emperor. Even those within his inner circle, knights who had once sworn loyalty, had chosen to act against him.

The reinforcements moved to surround Margaret in a coordinated formation.

Before they could complete the move, one of the Aetherion knights turned on the others. The individual revealed himself to be another clone of Franz, confirming the continued presence of his duplicates within the battlefield.

The situation remained unstable.

With Margaret and Franz acting in tandem, the engagement continued to present a significant challenge.

"These fucking mind games!"

The situation had gone far beyond what could be considered a standard engagement, and every passing moment only reinforced how abnormal the battlefield had become.

He was not facing opponents that could be dealt with through conventional means.

One was an existence capable of cutting through concepts themselves, rendering any form of attack meaningless the moment it approached her. The other functioned like an immortal entity that could not be put down, no matter how many times it was struck.

There was no clear method to overcome either of them.

Julius clenched his jaw as he searched for a solution, yet none presented itself.

How were they supposed to deal with this?

———!

Magic surged from every direction, converging on Margaret in a coordinated assault intended to overwhelm her and leave little room for escape.

Margaret avoided them without difficulty. She moved immediately, breaking away from the encirclement and heading straight into the nearby trees.

Her speed was sufficient to disengage before the attacks could fully close in, allowing her to maintain distance from the main force.

Franz did not interfere. He remained in place and reacted with a laugh, shaking his head as he observed the exchange.

Julius responded without delay. He extended his magic and contained Franz within it, removing him from immediate concern.

With that addressed, he redirected his focus toward Margaret and pursued her, maintaining offensive pressure as he advanced toward the forest.

The situation shifted again shortly after.

Julius registered the screams originating from behind his position.

When he turned to assess the source, he observed that Franz was present once more. This clone had already infiltrated the Bundesritter’s magic division and was systematically eliminating personnel.

The pattern became clear.

Franz’s ability to manifest multiple instances of himself was not limited to a small number. The scale of replication exceeded Julius’ initial assumptions, rendering standard containment measures ineffective.

The realization followed immediately.

There was no clear count.

And that was the problem.

Julius understood the situation for what it was. The enemy was not operating within limits that could be measured or anticipated.

Every assumption he had made about scale and control had already been overturned, leaving him with no reliable way to contain the battlefield.

They were being toyed with.

The level of disruption being caused was disproportionate to the number of individuals involved.

With only two opponents, the situation had already escalated beyond what his forces could stabilize. Their movements dictated the flow of the battle, forcing constant adjustments that yielded no lasting advantage.

"Illenia!"

"I will not apologize for this, Admiral Schneider. Even if I abandon the chivalric code I once lived by, my blade belongs to one man and one man alone."

"If you stop this, I can guarantee your survival!" Julius said. "But you should already know this. The Emperor cannot be saved!"

"And what of Vanitas?"

Julius hesitated for a second before answering.

"That... remains open for discussion."

There was still room to salvage this. If he could bring Margaret Illenia over to his side, then this engagement would not be a complete loss.

From what he had observed, she was not unreasonable. There was logic in her actions and a structure he could appeal to.

And more than that, there was a connection.

Illenia.

Julius was not unfamiliar with her name. No one in his generation would be. The Illenia name was not something easily dismissed to those who actually knew it.

The only problem was her absolute loyalty to Vanitas Astrea.

A loyalty that bordered on insanity.

"Then there is nothing left to discuss," Margaret said. "As long as your weapons remain aimed at him, I will respond in kind."

"We can spare him! We will spare him!"

Margaret’s expression did not change.

"You expect me to believe that?"

At that moment, something in Margaret’s tone shifted. It dropped, turning colder, as if whatever restraint she had been holding onto had finally been cast aside.

"And spare him... You truly don’t understand."

"...."

"You are in no position to spare him," she said. "Not when you stand before someone far greater than yourself."

———!

A flash of steel cut through the space.

Julius reacted instantly, his body recoiling as the force behind her strike drove him back. The blade passed close enough to his body to leave no room for doubt. Had he been even a millisecond slower, it would have cut straight through him.

"To believe that Vanitas Astrea stands beneath your heel, to think you are the one who decides whether he lives or dies..."

There was anger in her tone.

"...That is the greatest insult you could offer me."