Chapter 86
Well, wait—huh? A bunch of information suddenly came at me, and my head feels like it's about to explode.
"This makes no sense. So what are we supposed to do?"
The Margrave seemed just as unable to understand as I was, but he simply brushed it aside.
That decisiveness was the very essence of a warrior. It was true that we didn't have time to stand around thinking about every little thing right now.
"The annulment has not taken effect yet. Er, our top priority is to destroy the Mediator here."
"—Margrave! Get up!"
I saw the Mediator slowly rise in the darkness over there.
"So I just need to beat the hell out of it, right?"
"Er, yes, precisely."
"Good—then let's fight together a little longer, boy."
I nodded.
That was my intention from the start.
"Now then..."
The Margrave glanced over his shoulder.
Standing there was the stunned Holy King.
"Wake up, Grenjeed!!!!!!"
His shout shook the Holy King like a wave of sound.
"Don't let one or two mistakes bring you to your knees!! You're the one at the top of this country, aren't you?!"
It was so loud that I covered my ears, but light was returning to the Holy King's eyes.
"I'm... this country's..."
A single tear rolled down his cheek.
The Holy King wiped his eyes with his fist.
"Don't call me by that old name..."
"That's because you've gone and forgotten your past."
So Grenjeed was the name the Holy King had used in the past. Upon ascending to the throne, a Holy King lost his name.
The Margrave had been his friend even back then.
"I am the Holy King."
"That's right. You are the Holy King."
"I will lead this country."
"That's right. You are this country's leader."
Until then, I may have been mistaken about the man called the Holy King.
I had seen only his human, broad-minded side—the side of him that doted on Kurvshrat-sama, the side of him that was a "good father."
But what about the Holy King standing before me now?
"—El, how do we kill that monster?"
If the Mediator was pure darkness, then the atmosphere surrounding the Holy King—his killing intent—was the darkness of humanity's original sin: the arrogant haughtiness of a ruler who would balk at no transgression, a bloodstained path of conquest that trampled down everything standing in its way.
The aura, like concentrated negative emotions, overwhelmed me despite myself.
"Take this."
El-san offered him a small, old knife.
"Drive it into the Mediator's body."
"Understood. Let's go, Margrave—and you too, boy."
It seemed I had been included in the headcount without question.
"I'll make that monster regret picking a fight with this country."
The revived Holy King was overwhelming. He charged the Mediator without hesitation and, rather than swing the knife, unleashed a barrage of punches. The Mediator was clearly wary of the knife, so the punches landed with almost comical ease.
Then he seized the golden staff lying on the ground, swung it one-handed, and drove it into the Mediator's body, sending the Mediator flying with its body bent into a sharp angle.
'Nuaaah!'
Countless arms sprouted from the Mediator's fallen body and came at the Holy King, but he evaded them all with nimble steps that belied his huge frame. Several attacks gouged the ground and cracked the floor.
In the meantime, the Margrave shouted.
"Holy King's Knights! You lot are useless here! Help evacuate the nobles!"
"B-but—"
"You fool, do as you're told!"
The Holy King's Knights were moving sluggishly. The First Squad was supposed to be made up of elites, but perhaps the fallen Knight Commander lying over there, apparently already dead, had shaken them. In any case, they seemed unable to keep up with the Holy King, who was so razor-sharp that I found myself thinking, "Is this really the country's leader? Not some top-class fighter?"
"Margrave! Just going to watch today?!"
"—Hmph. What nonsense."
Provoked by the Holy King, the Margrave joined the battle between the Holy King and the Mediator.
"Graaah!!"
"Fwoooaaah!!"
U-uh, wow... The Mediator was getting beaten up between these two hulking men so badly that I almost felt sorry for it. With these two, they might even hold their own against a dragon.
"!"
At that moment, 【All Creation】 detected magic swelling within the darkness.
"The counterattack's coming!!"
The Holy King and the Margrave immediately backed away from the Mediator—and just after that, countless black spikes unfolded with a bang, like the quills of a sea urchin.
'The people of this lowly, fragile world... Don't get cocky!!'
The spikes were fired in every direction. The Holy King spun his staff and knocked them away, while the Margrave cut them down with his treasured sword. I leaped in front of the nobles who were still evacuating and used 【Wind Magic】 to deflect the spikes so they wouldn't hit.
At a glance, it seemed Count Slyries had taken the young lady with him.
'The covenant has already been annulled. There is no turning back!!'
"No, it hasn't been annulled. You were just about to declare it annulled when that boy opened a hole here. This place is now part of our world. It is no longer the 'middle ground' between this world and the hidden world."
'N-n, nn, nnn...!!'
"And as a matter of fact, you've lost the 'covenant's binding' and are suffering under our attacks."
'Nnngh!!'
"Get back to the hidden world already!"
The Holy King stepped forward and brought his staff down—at that moment,
'Do not treat the covenant lightly.'
The Mediator's hands seized the staff. The gold was steadily being devoured by blackness.
"Holy King—be careful! It may still have something hidden!"
"Don't worry. This ends it!!"
Just when I thought they were locked in a stalemate, the Holy King slipped sideways and drove the knife into the Mediator's chest.
'Gnuu...'
"Die, damn you!!"
The knife emitted a white flash and tore through the Mediator's darkness.
The air trembled, and the ground shook.
I thought I'd defeated it—but 【All Creation】 was making a negative observation, one that differed from what appearances suggested.
"Your Majesty, get away!"
"Huh? This guy's about to die—"
"Just do it!!"
I slammed into the Holy King with 【Sprint Technique】 and knocked him aside with a tackle.
As the two of us went tumbling across the ground,
"You little... You've got some nerve, knocking me down."
"Get down!!"
I grabbed the still-raring Holy King by the head and forced him down against the ground.
'Darkness, open the gate. Light, open the way.'
As though unable to withstand the light, the Mediator's body broke into tiny fragments that burned like scraps of paper and vanished into midair. At the same time, a black mass like a fireball swirled within its body.
The mass spun at tremendous speed, whirring as though preparing to fire.
"Ah—"
The target was the rearmost group of nobles trying to evacuate. 【All Creation】 analyzed that the mass was aimed at them as they fled, driven onward by the Holy King's Knights.
At the dome's exit stood not only the Holy King's Knights, but also guards who had arrived late.
(Mimino-san—)
For an instant, I thought my eyes had deceived me.
Lelenoa-san was helping direct the evacuation, too. What would happen if that mass hit them? According to 【All Creation】, it was a mass with an extraordinarily high energy level.
Human bodies would be blown to smithereens.
"Tch!!"
I ran from that awkward position.
The black mass shot out—
—I must protect all of us.
The young lady's order was, "Protect everyone."
Why did I have to remember that now, of all times?!
"Raaaaaaaaah!!"
I wasn't fast enough. I instinctively used 【Support Magic】 to boost my speed. I slammed the stone in my hand into the side of the black mass.
It happened in an instant.
The stone scraped against it with a grating sound, sparks flying, and even that appeared in slow motion.
The stone cracked and shattered.
It couldn't stop the black mass.
Even so—the direction it was heading changed.
The mass flew about ten meters to the side of where the nobles were gathered, easily pierced through the dome, and sent a circular shock wave spreading out to destroy it, while also blasting nearby knights away.
The mass shot out of the Holy Palace, gouged through trees, kicked up clouds of dust, and reached the "Wall One" dividing the Holy Palace from the First Holy District.
It effortlessly pierced even that, gouged through the central staircase of the Holy King's Assembly—the largest building in the First Holy District—and plowed straight through it. It collided with the "Wall Two"—and at that moment, its energy surged explosively, sending it flying spectacularly outward.
"Wh-what is that...?"
A boom and a tremor reached us.
The Holy King stared down the straight path along which the mass had passed.
No trace of the Mediator remained—only young Louis lay there, cold and still.
Darkness receded from the top of the dome, and within mere seconds, the surroundings brightened.
"Is it over...?"
"—No."
What my 【Enhanced Vision】 was picking up was the rising presence of darkness.
"It seems there's still more to come."