Glory?

As soon as I killed the giants, I charged at the man in the silver robe.

[Ghk! You ignorant fool! Did you think you could defeat me just because you got lucky and took down my servants?!]

“Yeah. You’re no trouble at all.”

The man’s face quickly turned red when I lightly provoked him.

Everyone’s so easy to provoke.

“You’re a coward who hides behind your summons. Scared now that you have to fight me yourself?”

[You ignorant fool…! How dare you provoke this ‘Glory’!]

“…Just to make sure, is your actual name Glory?”

[Hmph. You uncivilized fool.]

Right. There was no way his name was actually ‘Glory’…

[Even after I introduced myself, you failed to realize it. Your stupidity is unparalleled.]

“…”

What a lunatic.

I never thought his actual name would be ‘Glory.’ He kept going on about ‘Glory,’ so I thought that was just how he introduced himself.

“…Whatever. You’re going to die here anyway.”

[Keh-heh-heh… You think an ignorant fool like you can defeat me?!]

“Yeah.”

When I answered while taking a stance, Glory’s face scrunched up as if he thought I was ignoring him… It sounds weird when I put it that way.

Anyway, the man frowned for a moment, then burst into loud laughter and said,

[Keh-heh-heh-heh! I’ll make you pay for disrespecting this ‘Glory,’ you lowly fool! In my glorious Colosseum!]

-Piiing!

The man shouted, and my vision flashed white.

Immediately afterward, I felt the air around me change.

“This is… a colosseum?”

When my vision cleared, I saw a pure-white colosseum.

This place, filled with ominous divine power, seemed to be waiting for challengers.

[Well? What do you think of my Colosseum?]

“Did you… teleport me?”

[That’s right. I invited you to my Colosseum.]

Looks like a divine power.

Divine powers are a kind of superpower, like telekinesis or shooting fire.

Only these superpowers are enhanced to an absurd degree.

Take telekinesis, for example. It’s nothing special on its own.

There are even telekinesis spells, so there’s not much you can do with simple telekinesis.

But what if it’s a divine power related to telekinesis?

Then it’s a different story.

Normally, someone who can lift a large boulder with telekinesis magic would be praised as amazing, but with a divine power, you could lift an entire mountain instead of just a boulder.

And that’s not all. You could do pretty much anything you can do with telekinesis.

No, if you stretch the definition a little, you can even do things that normal telekinesis can’t.

Divine powers are complicated and vague, so the moment you believe, “I can do that with my divine power, too!” almost anything becomes possible.

I mean, telekinesis is the ability to move nearby objects without touching them, right?

What if ‘objects’ included molecules and atoms?

In theory, you could freeze the air around you, make it into a chunk of ice, and throw it.

That’s how ridiculously overpowered divine powers are.

And the fact that I, a Swordmaster, was dragged here without being able to resist means that ability is a divine power.

There’s no way ordinary magic could do that.

“What kind of divine power do you have?”

[That’s right. My divine power is to create warriors who fight gloriously. And those warriors live in this Colosseum. Fighting each other, and fighting, and fighting again!]

“Heh.”

So there was a chance his servants might suddenly pour out in droves.

My imagination wasn’t good enough to figure out exactly what he could do, but since it was a divine power, I’d need to be careful.

“That’s quite an impressive divine power.”

[Kah-ha-ha! Even an ignorant fool can understand the greatness of a divine power. It seems you have at least a modicum of intelligence.]

…This guy is so annoying.

[But I am ‘Glory.’ I invited you to this Colosseum to grant you the honor of dueling me.]

“A duel… You mean one-on-one?”

[That’s right.]

As he spoke, the man let out his aura.

He really was… incredibly powerful.

[I become several times stronger here. By absorbing the power of my servants, that is.]

What? So he didn’t bring me here to duel me; he brought me here to power himself up.

[What’s with that look?]

“Nothing.”

I was dumbfounded, but then I asked what I’d been curious about all along.

“All right, ‘Glory.’ Why did you suddenly attack? And what did you mean by false peace?”

[Ah, that. I suppose you ignorant fools wouldn’t know. Fine, I’ll explain.

You distort God’s words and claim that the current state of affairs is peace. That is unacceptable!

The peace God spoke of isn’t like this! What God desires is endless suffering and the final spark of life that emerges from it!

That is ‘true peace’!]

…What?

“You’re saying true peace is when the last flames of humanity burn in a world overflowing with suffering?”

[That’s right. You understood well for an ignorant fool. I’ll give you a special opportunity.]

As he said that, the man held out his hand to me.

[Take my hand and join our ‘Baekcheon Church.’ Then you shall find peace. And since you seem strong, I’ll grant you the special position of cardinal.]

He wanted me to believe in his religion, ‘Baekcheon Church.’ If I did, I would find peace—or, more likely, the ‘true peace’ they talked about.

“…Before that, why did you attack the Lua shopping district?”

[Ah, earlier. At first, I planned to attack the academy, but the expressions on those ignorant fools steeped in false peace were so disgusting. I couldn’t stand it, so I ended up attacking this place, a little distance from the academy, first. Well, it doesn’t really matter. The academy will be destroyed soon anyway.]

Over something as trivial as that… he attacked the Lua shopping district?

“…The academy?”

[That’s right. If I attacked it, I could deal a great blow to the ignorant masses. If the academy, right in the heart of the capital—the place they believe is safest—were destroyed, the ignorant masses would fall into chaos. Heh-heh. Isn’t that amusing?]

Madness gleamed in the man’s eyes as he laughed as if he were dying of amusement.

It was true that if the academy were attacked, the capital would be thrown into chaos.

And since the academy was where the talented youths of every nation gathered, it would also mean a loss of military strength.

“…So you were planning to attack the academy in order to bring about this ‘true peace’?”

[That’s right.]

Hah. If I hadn’t been there, the academy might’ve been destroyed.

[‘True peace’ will arrive soon enough. So stop resisting pointlessly and take my hand. Then you will live gloriously in ‘true peace’!]

The man’s hand was still held out to me.

…And?

“Do you think… I’d take that disgusting hand?”

I slapped away the hand the man had offered me.

“‘True peace,’ my ass. Peace means times like these, when no one has to worry about their life and there’s no fighting!”

In my previous life, my father wanted me to live for other people.

I tried to live up to my father’s expectations.

So that offer didn’t just completely disregard my beliefs—it forced beliefs on me that were the exact opposite.

But that wasn’t the only reason I was so angry.

“The academy has… my precious friends…!”

Ian. Arin.

The first real friends I’d made since being born into this world.

Unlike the trash who approached me to use me, these were real friends who expected nothing from me.

I couldn’t forgive him for trying to attack the academy where my friends were.

Sorry, Father. I guess I’m a selfish person.

More than the fact that he planned to plunge civilians into suffering, I was angrier that he’d almost put my friends in danger.

“How dare you… threaten my friends right in front of me. You’d better be ready!”

As I glared at the man, letting my killing intent pour out, ‘Glory’ faltered for a moment, apparently startled by it.

[…What does something like that matter?! What matters is ‘true peace’! You foolish, deluded man! Friendship is less than a speck beneath God!]

“Shut up.”

What you call a speck… weighs more to me than a mountain.

I did think it was strange that I was getting this angry for a friend I’d only just made.

We’d only known each other for a few days, after all.

Was I this furious because there was something broken inside me?

Or was it because, even in that short time, I could feel so plainly how sincere my friends were, how much they liked me?

Whatever the reason, the fact that they were precious to me wouldn’t change.

And I’m selfish, so I can never forgive anyone who tries to take away something precious to me.

I raised my sword and poured my conviction into it.

The will to cut down my enemy. The will to show him what I was capable of.

And as if responding to my will, my sword emitted a dazzling light and formed a massive blade of aura.

A pure-white sword, shining like snow.

I unleashed the Aura Blade, an ability exclusive to Swordmasters and something I’d been desperately trying not to use until now, and said to the man,

“Come at me. I’ll make you pay for running your mouth.”