I Was Mistaken as a Great War Commander-Chapter 163

Daniel had hoped to keep Johannes alive long enough to extract insider intelligence—but it was a meaningless effort.

Johannes, ignorant of Lucy’s true identity, couldn’t possibly grasp Daniel’s real intentions.

“You still don’t understand me. If I intended to surrender, I wouldn’t have drawn my sword.”

Steeling his resolve not to retreat, Johannes inhaled the mana in the air.

As he took a deep breath, rotating the mana stored in his body, he lowered his stance.

Left foot forward, upper body leaning down, his sword hand tilted at an angle.

At the ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) very moment Lucy confirmed Johannes was going to strike, she drew the dagger strapped to her waist—

Bang!

Johannes slammed into the ground and instantly closed the distance.

My target is Daniel Steiner...!

He planned to finish it in a single blow, before the man could activate that petty trick called neuro-acceleration.

With all the experience he’d amassed, severing the head of someone at this range was child’s play for Johannes.

Besides, no matter how skilled Daniel was with his neuro-acceleration ability, Johannes was convinced he wouldn’t react in time.

“Leaving yourself open in front of me... That was your fatal mistake.”

Just as he gripped the hilt and prepared to swing—

A faint silhouette flickered into place in front of Daniel Steiner.

Johannes realized something had gone wrong—but it was too late to pull back his sword.

Clang!

His blade clashed not with Daniel’s neck, but with a dagger, sending up a spray of sparks.

Only then did Johannes see clearly—

Lucy Emilia, standing before him, red eyes flashing.

“...!”

Shocked, but acting faster than thought, Johannes’s body moved before his mind could catch up.

Calculating the slope of their locked blades, he twisted his sword forward to thrust—

Whoosh—

But the tip of his blade merely grazed a few strands of Lucy’s hair.

Daniel had already stepped back the moment Lucy intervened, and the sword cut through nothing but empty air.

Johannes attempted to pull back his sword—but Lucy’s dagger was faster.

As he instinctively jerked his head back, a silver arc flashed before his eyes.

His pupils quivered, fingertips trembled.

Like a man staring down a beast, Johannes was overwhelmed by a surge of fear and leapt back.

Tap! He landed on the ground, cold sweat dripping down as he clutched his neck.

Still attached...

Had the cut gone a little deeper, his head would’ve been gone.

The realization sent a chill rippling down his spine.

Swallowing dryly, Johannes glanced at Lucy, who now stood watching him, dagger in hand.

“You’ve got the eyes of a killer. I just stared death in the face and you didn’t even flinch. How many people have you killed?”

Lucy didn’t respond.

As if it wasn’t worth answering.

“I can’t believe it. There’s no way someone your age should have that kind of skill. What’s even more disturbing...”

Johannes’s gaze shifted to Daniel.

“Colonel Daniel Steiner. You act like you already knew what she was capable of. This isn’t a normal relationship. Just what the hell is she—”

Thud! Johannes suddenly shut his mouth as the air around him turned heavy.

This wasn’t some illusion.

He could feel the air itself pressing down on his body.

A gravity field...?

Had one been formed inside the Celestial Hall in mere seconds?

And by a single person...?

The impossibility was staggering—but there was no time to be stunned.

Lucy was already charging toward him.

Johannes, instinctively sensing this clash would decide everything, began to rotate the mana inside him at explosive speed.

Breaking free from the gravity suppressing his body, he took a stance and waited.

She must believe the gravity she cast has slowed my movement.

If he could exploit that misunderstanding—even once—he could seize the upper hand.

Resolving himself, Johannes feigned struggle under the increased gravity.

And Lucy was charging straight toward him, just as he’d hoped.

Not yet.

Gripping the hilt tightly, he waited for the right moment.

The very instant she entered close range—Johannes unleashed a furious slash.

His body, strengthened to its limit, drove the sword in a howling arc meant to tear Lucy apart.

He saw it—her body split diagonally, blood erupting in vivid detail.

But... there was no resistance. None of that distinct sensation of slicing through human flesh.

Ah.

It was the moment Johannes realized he’d lost.

Shkkk—

With a searing pain, the arm holding his sword was severed clean off.

Blood sprayed as it hit the floor, and Lucy’s afterimage dissolved like a heat haze.

As he turned his gaze—she was no longer in front of him.

She was beside him.

Still holding that bloodstained dagger.

Only then did Johannes understand everything.

An illusion...!

The moment their eyes met, he had been trapped in an illusion and struck at a phantom.

Biting down hard to endure the pain, Johannes managed to speak.

“...What are you?”

For Johannes, who had trained for decades to reach his current mastery, Lucy Emilia was nothing short of a monster that far exceeded the realm of human.

“A monster... grh—! wearing a human face...!”

His eyes were bloodshot, burning red.

Gritting his teeth, Johannes glared at Lucy—only to turn his head sharply at the clicking sound of boots on stone.

Daniel Steiner was approaching, a revolver drawn from inside his coat.

Still panting, Johannes instinctively stumbled backward, shouting hoarsely.

“Colonel Daniel Steiner! Tell me—what is this woman? You must know! Why the hell were you hiding a monster like her?!”

It was a plea spat with blood, but Daniel saw no need to answer.

He simply kept walking, the steady rhythm of his boots echoing ominously.

To Johannes, Daniel’s approach felt indistinguishable from the approach of death itself. He staggered backward, breath ragged—and then, his foot caught.

He tripped and collapsed.

Daniel came to a stop in front of him and raised the revolver.

The muzzle was pointed directly at Johannes’s head.

“I believe I already told you: if you value your life, throw down your weapon and surrender.”

“Daniel... Steiner...”

“It was you, Johannes, who discarded your life so thoughtlessly. The result of your own choice—don’t blame anyone else.”

Even as his consciousness blurred with pain, Johannes managed to stir up his rage.

“Don’t think killing me will be the end! History will judge you!”

He wasn’t wrong.

“Yes. This event will go down as one of the pivotal moments in Imperial history. But you seem to forget something—history is written by the victors.”

Johannes’s eyes widened.

“You, Johannes, will go down in the records as the incompetent Commander of the Royal Guard who betrayed the Emperor. Even a thousand years from now, the people of the Empire will remember you—alongside Belvar, leader of the collaborators—as the worst traitor of all.”

Daniel Steiner knew.

He knew that this—this was what men obsessed with honor feared most.

“Goodbye... traitor Johannes Kunz.”

Johannes opened his mouth in a dumbfounded daze, then let out a roar of pure rage—but it never lasted.

Bang—

The bullet pierced Johannes’s forehead dead center.

With fury still etched on his face, he collapsed with a thud, blood pooling beneath him.

At the same time, the door to the Celestial Hall burst open, and grenadier troops rushed in.

They had heard the gunshot, even through the thick doors.

“Commander! Are you—”

The grenadiers who’d come in out of concern for Daniel Steiner froze in stunned silence.

Because what they saw was Johannes, Commander of the Royal Guard, lying dead in front of Daniel Steiner.

“Commander Steiner... killed the Royal Guard’s leader...” “I heard he was strong, but...” “Dear god.”

Naturally, they assumed it was Daniel who had fought Johannes, not Lucy.

Each soldier muttered their thoughts under their breath.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—the distance was enough that Daniel couldn’t hear them.

“Adjutant.”

At his call, Lucy lowered her head in a slight bow.

“Yes, Commander.”

“I’ll proceed alone from here. You’re to take command in my stead and lead the troops—arrest all collaborators remaining in the palace.”

“As you command.”

With her answer, Daniel gave a brief nod and turned toward the exit of the Celestial Hall.

The door that Johannes Kunz had defended with his life—opened at Daniel’s mere gesture, without resistance.

****

The highest floor of the Imperial Palace.

Bang—

A gunshot echoed from the floor below, making the Royal Guards stationed in the hallway flinch.

They all knew Johannes carried a sword, not a gun.

Which meant—if a shot had been fired, the Commander had likely fallen.

Clueless as to what was happening, the Royal Guards stood silent, tension thick in the air—until Daniel Steiner appeared at the top of the stairs.

“...”

“...”

“...”

Blood stained his coat, but the golden insignia of the State Command and the Imperial Cross medal gleamed brightly, radiating an overwhelming pressure.

Daniel looked over the Royal Guards assembled in the hall, then walked past without saying a word.

Normally, the Royal Guards should have stopped him.

But they couldn’t.

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They only stepped aside, bowing their heads, as though he were their direct superior.

Passing through the path they cleared for him, Daniel finally reached the door to the Golden Sanctum, where Selvia was imprisoned.

Two officers stood before the door—but neither could meet Daniel’s gaze.

Staring coldly at them, Daniel slowly opened his mouth.

“Open the door.”

He turned his eyes toward the space beyond, imagining Selvia waiting within.

“I’ll see with my own eyes that Her Majesty the Empress is safe.”