“The wind feels pleasant.”
Ky Kiske, the First King of the United Kingdoms of Illyria, mumbled to himself as he lay on his back in a massive crater in the ground.
The sizes of the various other craters scattered around the vicinity told of the intensity of the furious battle that had just occurred.
“…Sure does.”
Sol, who was laying on his back right next to Ky, replied with a sigh. The mad thirst for blood that had been present in him earlier had already subsided.
“Did you see how that sorcerer was dealt with?”
Ky asked, turning towards Sol. After a moment's delay, Sol answered.
“Not a clue.”
Motionless, Ky stared at Sol's face in profile. Feeling his gaze, Sol closed his eyes, then continued speaking.
“Well, whatever, it paid off. I had the king on my side.”
Ky looked up towards the sky, smiling.
It would soon be time to return to their roosts. A single bird flew through the sky far above them.
“The ground's a good bed, free for anyone to appreciate.”
Sol muttered, watching the soaring bird.
“It's been a long time since I've been able to relax on a bed this nice, shoulder-to-shoulder with someone.”
Now it was Sol, wearing an expression of bewilderment, who turned to face Ky.
“During the retreat at the Battle of Rome. Don't you remember?”
Sol's expression did not change.
The retreat from Rome during the war.
On that gruesome battlefield mankind was forced to fight the fiercest and bloodiest battles in the long and horrific Crusade against the Gears. The final line of defense was broken by the Gear army, and the Sacred Order of Holy Knights called a retreat back to the city. However, the Gear's offensive did not stop, and the knights were running out of time to decide whether to abandon the city or not.
The most elite knights of the Holy Order quite literally put their lives on the line in a desperate exchange of defense and retreat in order to save the remaining citizens who had been unable to escape Rome.
One by one, members of the Holy Order were slaughtered before the endless army of Gears — which stretched out beyond the horizon — or were incapacitated and removed from the front lines. Then, just as the Gears' vanguard was closing in on the gates of Rome, a “monster” suddenly appeared from nowhere.
The monster fought back, creating a massive blaze in an upswung arc, and exterminated members of the Gear's army in quick succession.
A sudden and unexpected reinforcement. Knights of the Holy Order watched on helplessly, trembling in fear at the monster's overwhelming violence and mayhem.
The first to regain composure was the knights' commander, Ky.
“This is our chance! Pull yourselves together!”
With dignity, the command echoed over the battlefield.
“Hraah!” A battle cry rang out as knights of the Holy Order regained their strength, responding to the voice.
“Strike only the Gears in your way! Chasing fleeing Gears is unnecessary!”
The Holy Order knights' morale and discipline were restored. Under Ky's command, they began their counterattack.
How much time had elapsed? Already the amount of surviving Gears in the area had been reduced to nothing.
Charred Gear corpses lay scattered around, smoke rising from what remained of their embers.
“Is it… over..?”
Ky sheathed his sword. His movements were graceful, yet fatigue nonetheless burdened his face. The surviving knights of the group tensely surveyed the situation before shouts of “We did it!" and “We won!” unanimously spread among them; then, spent, they slumped to the ground. Everyone was completely exhausted.
“Eric, take a moment to catch your breath, then check on the others and report back to me.”
“Yessir.”
Ky's instructions to his subordinates were brief. He then surveyed his surroundings. Several hundred meters far off in the distance, he spotted the shadowy silhouette.
Calmly, gently, Ky approached. The kneeling figure was not the monster from before, but a familiar sight, dressed in a similar uniform as Ky — a man formerly of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights.
“…Sol.”
“…Hey, kid. I'm savoring the afterglow. Keep it down.”
The strain of battle on his body must have been great. Sol sprawled out on his back, shoulders heaving as he breathed heavily.
In listening to his words, Ky quietly laid down on the ground next to Sol, shoulder-to-shoulder.
Though, “shoulder-to-shoulder” may not be the appropriate expression. The distance between them was a few meters. But there was far more than distance between the two of them in those days.
"Six members of our group survived, including myself… I'm certain of—“
Sol interrupted Ky, his words sprinkled with sarcasm.
“Your memory's sharp as always, as expected of the commander.”
“Don't poke fun at me. I couldn't forget what I saw during the Crusades even if I wanted to. Can you?
“…Don't be so sure.”
Words that were neither admission or dismissal. Was it really possible to forget such hard-fought battles?
“For me, those memories are against a few decades at best. For you, it's just another memory in two hundred years of memories, is that it?
Ky hesitated. The prototype Gear, Sol Badguy, had lived a long time, thrown to the cruel mercy of fate. Even if their first-hand experiences were the same, how differently did Sol and Ky himself look back on it?
A curt response. But it didn't bother Ky. Once again, Ky wondered to himself.
Will I, like Sol, be able to live for as long a time among others?
If I could, would I, too, see myself differently than I do now? How long would I be able to remain as I am right now, in this moment?
“I've asked this before, Sol. What will you do after you've settled things with That Man?”
“Where the hell did that come from?”
Sol replied to Ky's sudden question, annoyed.
“Win or lose, it's been your driving force for living and it will soon be gone. I'm genuinely curious to know what your reason to live will become in the long run.”
Ky spoke softly, but his tone was serious. After a few moments, Sol understood the true meaning of Ky's question. Releasing a breath, Sol continued slowly, choosing his words carefully.
“To be honest, I don't know. But something will change… It has to.”
It seemed to be a statement of reaffirmed determination to Ky.
“Well, what about you, kid?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Universal Will, the ringleader behind all this, has been taken down. But the cross humanity bears is a heavy one.”
“Yeah. Even so, I won't change. I'll keep moving forward one step at a time.”
Sol stared up at the empty sky. He remembered the first time he and Ky met.
Ten or so years ago was when I first ran into this guy. A troublesome kid who talked about immature ideals and tried to pick fights with me at every opportunity. Still, people change in a short amount of time. They grow up. Even now he still retains some immaturity, but he's got heart. He's become more open-minded, I feel. But what about me?
“Coexisting with Gears?”
“Yeah, that's the first big step.”
“In that case, you're just in time.”
Sol rose and turned to face Ky.
“There's something I need to return to you.”
“Return to me?”
Ky was at a loss for a moment, not understanding the underlying meaning. However, he soon figured it out.
“Speak of the devil…”
A blond-haired young man rushed towards the two at incredible speed. An impossible, explosively fast, speed.
“Father~! Old man~!”
It was Ky's son, Sin, who had been raised by Sol.
“Hey, what the hell's all this~?!”
Sin shouted wildly when he saw the devastation all around him.
He surveyed the area as he approached Ky and Sol, now at a much slower pace.
“Man, what is… Looks like you did a little treasure hunting. Hey, Sol.”
“…It's not…”
“What is… All this?!”
Sin looked around restlessly.
“So, did you dig up anything good?”
It seemed to him they had. Sol and Ky exchanged glances.
“Nothing, unfortunately. Anyway, what's wrong?”
Ky responded while standing up, brushing dirt off his trousers.
“Mom said dinner's almost done and to pick you up.”
“Ah, sorry, I didn't realize what time it was already.”
Twilight had arrived without notice. Ky squinted at the red sun shining on the horizon. In a few more hours, the curtain of night would be drawn.
“Sin, you should head back first. Tell your mom we'll be home soon.”
“Okay, you got it!”
As soon as he replied, Sin was running off again. After a few dozen meters, he slammed on the brakes.
“If you're too slow, I'll eat your food first! You'll go without dinner~!”
His voice echoed through the clear sky. Then, without a moment's pause, he was running again.
The two watched their son's back as he disappeared in the distance.
“He grew up to be a good, upstanding, kid.”
Ky pulled his slender longsword, Magnolia Éclair II, out of the ground and put it on his belt. His expression was bright and cheerful.
“…He sure did.”
Ky held out his right hand.
“Cut it out, I didn't make him that way.”
Ky smiled wryly. Then, as if suddenly remembering, he turned his gaze back to the seriousness of the conversation.
“Sol. There's just one thing I want to be sure about.”
“The Universal Will has been defeated. The threat to humanity is gone.”
“Yeah.”
“Then The Original, who created the Universal Will, is…”
“…”
Sol's expression hardened as he tightened his grip on the Junkyard Dog, which was wedged in the ground, before he slowly pulled it up.
The muscles in his right arm tensed.
“Guess the party ain't over yet, huh…”
“Yeah.”
After Ky's short response, Sol started to slowly walk away. Ky followed. After a few steps, Sol came to a stand still.
“Huh?”
“Eric made a lot of noise about 'the god of war, it's the god of war!' Jimmy was glad to live to see his wife and kid again.
Don't know about the other guys. Never saw their faces before.”
Sol said this, then walked away again without looking back.
Ky stared at Sol's retreating figure for a while, his mouth slightly agape.
On The Story's Chronology
This story uses 「団長」 for Ky's rank in the Battle of Rome flashback section, which is generally localized as “commander,” but Ky was not yet a commander by the Battle of Rome in 2173, he was appointed commander sometime after the battle later that year. The appropriate word for “captain” would have been 「隊長」.
However, some details later on in this story give the impression that the Battle of Rome may have gone on for a lot longer than originally thought, namely the line mentioning Sol as being a “a man formerly of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights.” It's possible this story takes place both after Ky gets promoted and after Sol steals Fireseal while leaving the Holy Order.
Several early materials, such as the 10th Memorial Book (2009), mention Sol leaving the Holy Order in 2172, with the Battle of Rome still happening in 2173. The Guilty Gear Bible (1998) doesn't mention the Battle of Rome, but does also mention Sol leaving in 2172. The year Sol joined the Order has consistently been 2172. It seems to be that Xrd's timeline and GG World were the first time Sol was listed as leaving the Order in 2173, meaning the previous chronology was retconned with Xrd. It's possible they realized having Sol be in the Holy Order for only a few short months caused too many snags in the story.
Unfortunately, the Battle of Rome, Sol leaving the Holy Order, and Ky being promoted to commander are still too vaguely outlined to know for sure whether the above short story is retconning past lore or simply getting it wrong. Ken Miyauchi, Guilty Gear Strive's producer, said the stories were newly written for the Xrd Series Official Artworks book in-house by Arc System Works staff. It may be that the authors were given outdated lore documents.
These notes are not meant to confirm one way or another whether this story is chronologically inaccurate or whether it's retconning past lore. I just spent too much time researching dates and needed to staple my findings on to the end of this.
