Chapter 76
“M-My Lord!! Are you all right!? Damn it! Why are you in a place like this…!”
Why the Demon King, who should have been in the Demon King's Castle, was here didn't matter. His Majesty's condition was clearly abnormal.
So, disregarding the breach of decorum, she picked up the small figure in her arms.
His body was cold as ice.
“He- Hero…?”
“Pardon? The Hero… What do you mean…?”
A voice, bubbling up from that frail-looking body, quietly slipped out. Belcia pulled her liege closer and focused on the one word he had just uttered.
『Hero』
The natural enemy of every Demon King throughout history—a being who exterminated demons with the incomprehensible power bestowed by the Goddess. To them, the Hero was their sworn foe.
The fact that His Majesty had said that name meant it had to be connected to his current condition.
“Hhk, hhh…”
“…Your Majesty.”
Belcia saw her past self in the sight of her liege before her. She remembered the day humans had taken her horns, leaving her unable to use magic—the agonizing past when, having lost her purpose in life, she had writhed in unbearable pain.
But now, the situation had been completely turned on its head.
She didn't know why His Majesty, so proud and dignified, had appeared in this state. Nor did she know what had frightened him so badly that he was running away. But none of that mattered. It was a secretary's duty to accept her liege, no matter what he looked like.
“This time, I—”
Her words were cut off.
The culprit was the sound of footsteps coming from behind her, right behind her. More than one person was approaching, their steps utterly harmless and light.
The first to appear was an elf. That was a race one rarely encountered unless in Edelia—or rather, one could never meet them at all. And the figure who emerged right behind them was…
Black hair. Black eyes. And the Holy Sword.
“…So it was you. You're the Hero His Majesty mentioned.”
It was the Hero.
The one His Majesty had mentioned—or the one who had done this to His Majesty.
Had they pursued him to capture His Majesty again? At this point, she could hardly tell who was good and who was evil. The only thing that was clear was that they were her enemies.
Belcia immediately silenced the Hero's nonsense and took up a fighting stance. She couldn't back down now—not at this moment.
She wanted to invite His Majesty into the Mirror World and flee with him, but there was no way they would wait patiently until she was ready.
As expected, an arrow came flying straight at her.
An arrow shot with a chilling whistle.
It seemed to be aimed at His Majesty.
“How dare you…”
Belcia reflexively used 《Authority of the Reverse Side》. It was the power over the world's hidden side that His Majesty had bestowed upon her. He had taken pity on her after she lost the ability to use magic and personally granted her this power.
The effect of this authority was simple: entry into another reality where time was stopped, the ‘Mirror World,’ and the ability to retrieve objects from a subspace. The Mirror World itself could already be called a subspace, but she could also retrieve things she had stored there.
“Well then, farewell.”
Belcia opened her eyes in the Mirror World.
She immediately threw the knife in her hand at her enemies. To Belcia, it was moving at an ordinary speed, but to them, it would probably look as if she had teleported.
By the time they opened their eyes, they'd be riddled with knives. A blade would be lodged in their throat, and they'd slowly die. What would it feel like to have another hole to breathe through?
Seeing the elf smiling so innocently, convinced of victory, Belcia thought, It's over—
But then.
Clang—!
“!!!”
Something had gone wrong.
In this world where all things had stopped, a figure had appeared who could move and block her strike—a realm that even His Majesty the Demon King couldn't intrude upon at will.
“How can you…!”
“…I wonder.”
The Hero spoke in a calm, casual tone, as if it were nothing special.
Her surprise lasted only a moment before Belcia's expression twisted into a scowl. The thought of him daring to set his filthy foot in this world, a gift from His Majesty, filled her throat with anger and revulsion.
“Phew, it seems I made a mistake.”
Snap—!
She snapped her fingers and used her authority again. She didn't know what had happened, but she assumed she'd accidentally invited the Hero into the Mirror World.
Even if it made no sense logically, it was the only explanation she could come up with for this phenomenon.
“Then—”
“Now it's my turn.”
“!!!”
The Hero closed in on her in the blink of an eye.
The Holy Sword, shining brightly even in the dark night, swung toward Belcia. The blade came at her with a whoosh—
Belcia quickly dispelled the Mirror World and tossed the Demon King in her arms into the air. It was a desperate measure, but at least she would keep His Majesty from being hurt.
And when time resumed, ‘that’ would come flying.
Thwip—!
“Ugh…!”
“Huh!? Se-on—!”
Time stopped once more.
Then she stepped back.
“I should thank you for taking that hit for me.”
“…”
She'd evacuated His Majesty and turned the elf's attack back on her. Since she was familiar with this world, she could maintain the advantage no matter how many times the Hero intruded.
The Hero seemed to realize that, too.
He roughly yanked out the arrow stuck in him and took a deep breath.
Maybe it was her imagination, but his whole demeanor seemed to have changed a little…
“I was only trying to take you down easily. Looks like I underestimated you. Now I'll get serious.”
“What do you mean— Ugh…!”
Belcia collapsed before she could even ask her question.
It felt as though her airway had suddenly been blocked. It was like an invisible hand was squeezing her throat. Belcia glared at the Hero, overwhelmed by that unsettling sensation.
He looked as if he were clenching his fist at her from a distance.
Seeing him like that, the obvious culprit behind this bizarre phenomenon, Belcia desperately hurled her knives at him.
Shrrrrrrrring──!!!
“Hm!?”
Thousands of knives she pulled from her subspace.
Whoosh! Ping! Thud-thud-thud!!
The thousands of knives chose their own varied paths, like surging waves, filling the air with a riot of colors. And the most dangerous part was that, on this dark night, the weapons were almost impossible to see.
“Tch, I have to block those first!”
“Kahk! C-Cough…!”
When Se-on decided to deal with the knives first, Belcia finally managed to catch her breath. That mysterious power had been lifted. She quickly pulled herself together.
As if she would let him block those.
She had no intention of letting the Hero deal with them.
Belcia immediately reached for even more weapons,
“H-Huh…?”
but she couldn't pull them out.
No, the kni□es that should have been there were nowhere to be found.
She immediately turned to look at the sky, but the □ives that should have been rushing toward the Hero were nowhere to be seen. Not a single one.
What was going on? Had she left the kni□es behind while cleaning them? Where had the ones she'd just thrown gone…?
All she could sense was that there were lots of ‘something-or-others’ in her subspace, but she couldn't properly recognize what those somethings were. It felt as if she'd completely forgotten they existed. If she kept thinking, maybe she could remember—
“What, did you leave your weapons behind or something?”
“!!!”
The knives fell weakly to the ground, their control lost. That was what Se-on saw. Even as he walked over them lightly, Belcia didn't notice him.
[Perception Obstruction]
An ability that could be used to do something horrible and terrifying, depending on the user's intentions. This was his first time using it in battle, and it had worked remarkably well. Just the fact that he could throw his opponent into such confusion was enough.
Naturally, it came with restrictions.
[Target ‘Belcia’ is beginning to perceive the knives! The instant she notices them, you will incur a fatal ‘penalty’!]
“Dispel.”
“Ah, the knives! Why did I forget about them until just now…!”
There was a restriction: if anyone other than the person I'd allowed to notice the things affected by [Perception Obstruction] noticed them, I'd incur a penalty.
Using the ability this way would be dangerous from now on.
That was why he dispelled [Perception Obstruction] as soon as he reached Belcia. The moment she was cut by the Holy Sword, she'd notice him.
Se-on thought for a moment.
How could he incapacitate that demon? If this went on, it felt like it would never end. He couldn't even guess how many knives she had in that subspace, and if he kept using [Perception Obstruction], she was bound to catch on eventually. It had been a close call just now.
“…”
“…”
Belcia was wrestling with much the same problem.
That strange ability the Hero had been showing… She couldn't work out its limits, or whether he had other abilities still hidden away. It was an ominous unknown.
Rrrrrumble…
The two of them had now reached the same conclusion.
There was nowhere left to retreat, and no strength left to spare. They would throw everything they had into a single blow and take the enemy down.
“All right, then try to block this, too…!”
Belcia was the first to make a move.
Another ‘Mirror World’ spread over the Mirror World.
More precisely, she had spread across the Mirror World a subspace she'd stored away, filled with several million weapons.
Krrrraaaaaak───!!!
And so, countless shapes completely covered the sky.
The weapons filled the space until they collided with one another, and the horrible grinding of their blades filled the forest.
“What is this…?”
Se-on was momentarily overwhelmed by the astonishing sight.
If all those weapons swept toward him at once, he probably wouldn't even be left with a body. There were so many that he couldn't help thinking so.
“If that's how you're going to play it…”
If his opponent was going to fight with numbers, then he would just overwhelm her with power.
In fact, this was perfect.
What was Se-on's ability? It was the power to twist space and erase things into nothing. The moment those blades came flying, he could simply annihilate them all, just as he had against the Witch of Frost.
But the world was never so accommodating.
“…Huh?”
In the blink of an eye, Belcia's figure was flung backward in an arc. As the distance between them suddenly widened, Se-on was caught off guard—
[Target ‘Belcia’ has ended the Mirror World!]
What?
“Well then, farewell…!”
Kawooooooom───!!
Millions of knives suddenly appeared in the empty space of reality. As they appeared, the air molecules that had occupied the space began scattering in every direction—
Booooooom──!
“Ugh…! The sword!”
“Kyaah!”
A massive blast of air swallowed Se-on and the forest, turning the surroundings into chaos. It was as powerful as a giant clapping its hands right in front of them.
The trees in the forest snapped as if screaming, and the once-green grass was ripped away in one huge swath, exposing the dark red earth beneath.
Overwhelmed by the blast, the Holy Sword flew from his hand with a clang—! Riella, too, was still dazed as she was sent flying like a paper doll.
“Damn it…!”
Now he was left with nothing but his bare hands and no weapon.
The attack continued, as if it wouldn't let him rest. To make matters worse, the knives had become impossible even for Belcia to control. They rained down on them.
Shrrrrraaaack──!!
They were already right in front of him.
There was still a way. He couldn't block them, but he could escape. Without a Spatial Slash, there was no way to stop them, so he had no choice but to get out of there for now.
So under normal circumstances, he should have used [Time Stop] or done whatever it took to get away, but—
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!! My Lord!!”
A desperate scream rang in Se-on's ears.
Before fleeing, he glanced back for just a moment.
“Yubel…!”
Yubel was being swept up by the surging wind and lifted into the air. The knives were rushing straight toward her.
This was clearly Belcia's mistake.
She'd never imagined that the blast would sweep His Majesty away, too.
She'd been so caught up in the battle that she'd failed to pay attention to the most important person of all, His Majesty. At the end of the knives' paths, aimed at the Hero, the precious Demon King was just barely visible.
The moment those blades struck, His Majesty would writhe in horrible pain. Belcia, who had already moved away, had no way to stop them.
The knives' trajectories, set in motion in the Mirror World, would continue without pause even within the Mirror World—
“Nooooo──!!!!!”
[Target ‘Belcia’ is moving to the Mirror World!]
[Target ‘Belcia’ has ended the Mirror World!]
[Target ‘Belcia’ is moving to the Mirror World!]
[Target ‘Belcia’ has ended the Mirror World!]
[Target ‘Belcia’ is moving to the Mirror World!]
[Target ‘Belcia’ has ended the Mirror World…]
[Target ‘Belcia’ is moving to the Mirror World…]
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud───!!
…
.
.
.
.
“A-Aaaaaah, aaaaaah…!”
The knives, as expected, did not stop.
She'd suppressed the knives as much as she could, but she couldn't control them all. It was a desperate struggle that accomplished nothing.
As if mocking her, the knives kept rushing forward—
And in the end, they finally accomplished their goal.
“Cough…!”
“H-Hero…?”
The Demon King… the Hero was shielding her.
Probably to protect His Majesty.
[Objective: Disable ‘Belcia’ (1 time)]
.
.
.
[Failure.]