Chapter 36
The man with his back to the chapel’s main entrance,
had shadowy energy dripping from his body.
It was an aura that defiled the white chapel. The moment it touched the light of the altar and its sigils, it writhed.
Ssssss…!
-Drive back the monsters!
-Swordsmanship Department, move up—!
-Holy knights, form a defensive formation—!
-Damn it, even the Inquisitor’s own men have betrayed us?!
A flying monster passed behind Raul.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Shaaaah—!”
Amid the endless chaos,
he muttered like a madman.
“Everyone… is a heretic. So I have to set things right. The heretics throwing this world, ‘my world,’ into disorder….”
Only his eyes glowed red,
and he panted roughly.
A vile aura wafted from his breath.
It was energy from the Dark Realm.
“!”
The first to erupt in anger was Adrian. It was rare for him to be genuinely furious. His clenched fists trembled.
Adrian pointed at Raul and shouted.
“Raul—!”
“….”
“Have you truly… truly lost your mind? Have you forgotten where you’re supposed to stand—?! Have your hands been stained with blood, and have you even cast aside the sun in your heart—!!”
“Heh heh… Adrian. You’re mistaken.”
“What…?”
“There is always a shadow beneath the sun.”
Raul grinned. It was like a white fissure opening in the shadow.
“The Sun God does not punish shadows.”
“What…!”
“So now I’ll simply embrace my true desire….”
Raul reached out. He lifted the corners of his mouth as high as he could, trying to summon his ‘old smile.’ But he could no longer smile as he once had.
Inside that smile,
there was no pride left.
“Aria, come here. That boy is a fake. I’m your true bond. I’m the kind uncle who found you in the forest ten years ago and helped you become human again, remember?”
“Uncle Raul….”
“That’s right! I’m your uncle. I’ll become the true Hero of the Theocracy… and one day, the Theocracy’s only Sword Master, then come for you. You’re the Saintess, and I’m a holy knight! What a perfect pair, don’t you think?”
“….”
Aria only felt pity as she looked at him. She didn’t even feel disgust. At last, she could see what he really was.
“….”
-Who… are you…?
-Don’t worry, little one. Uncle will protect you.
Ten years ago.
There had been no desire in that smile.
“….”
The holy knight who had once smiled so brightly…
was now oozing filthy shadows.
‘The kind Sir Raul… Uncle… from back then is gone now.’
An utterly ugly fall.
It was a farewell to her childhood.
“….”
Aria had made up her mind.
That was why she didn’t go to Raul. She simply stood beside Arti, clutching a silver holy symbol in one hand as she prepared to fight.
Arti stood resolutely at her side, holding the blue Sacred Sword Danan in one hand.
Raul shouted.
“Aria! Are you going to leave me—?!”
“Yes. I will follow the path I have chosen.”
“You’re betraying me!”
“No. Our paths have simply diverged.”
“Aria—!!”
Adrian could bear it no longer and strode toward the Inquisitor. Each step radiated his seething fury.
“Raul—!! As a priest of the Sun, I must stop you!!”
“Shut up—!! Shut up, shut up—!!”
The wooden holy symbol in the Prayer Priest’s hand shone. Ten streaks of lightning blazed brilliantly and struck toward Raul. The Inquisitor, writhing with shadows, raised his sword and knocked every bolt aside.
KABOOM—!
The force of the blast shattered the chapel’s main entrance.
White rubble from the sacred chapel came tumbling in.
Arti shouted.
“Prayer Priest!”
With a thick cloud of dust behind him,
Raul charged forward and tried to thrust his sword at Adrian, who stood before him. It happened in an instant, like a black flash.
“Die—!!”
“…!”
Adrian did not fear death, even at the very end.
‘Has the time come….’
If this was the end,
he simply confessed to the Sun God
his sin of failing to recognize that apostate.
‘…Please, do not forgive me until the very end.’
But the apostate’s sword was stopped halfway.
Clang!
Sparks flew,
and a blue blade gleamed.
“?!”
It was Arti who had stopped Raul.
“Prayer Priest! Move back!”
“…Understood!”
Adrian retreated to the side of the Sun’s sacred altar.
It was a momentary burst of speed, muscles seeming to explode, fueled by the Sacred Sword’s accelerated healing. It felt as though he’d forced himself to stop a boulder rolling toward him.
Every muscle in his body screamed as it tore.
The hand gripping the sword had already broken and healed once. That was how recklessly Arti had executed the counterattack. But Raul’s sword was slowly pushing Arti back.
Rrrrgh—!
“Move aside…!”
“Guh…?!”
‘Is this the Ignition stage…?’
“You… You…! You’re taking my Aria away from me!!”
“The Saintess doesn’t belong to you—!!”
“Shut up. I’ll show you the Ignition stage…!”
“?!”
Raul’s sword glinted, emitting shadowy energy. The divine punishment that surged up like lightning traveled along the Sacred Sword and into Arti’s hand.
“Sacred Sword Technique… Divine Punishment!”
Crackle!
At that moment,
Arti felt a pain as if their nerves were burning away.
“Aaaagh—!”
“Hero—!”
Aria hurriedly raised her holy symbol and prayed. Adrian joined in beside her.
“O Sun! Grant the hero the will to overcome this pain—!”
“As the Sun God says, ‘Pain is the other side of life…!’”
Arti’s body glowed gold, and Arti barely managed to regain consciousness. But even that momentary opening was far too long.
“Too late!”
“!”
“Without the Sacred Sword, you’re nothing—!”
“?!”
Raul rushed in to knock the Sacred Sword away.
The two swords clashed once.
Like a snapping branch, the blue sword suddenly broke free and fell away, cutting futilely through the air… then slipping from Arti’s hand.
The difference in strength was overwhelming.
Clang—!
“Huh…?!”
The tip of Raul’s sword
slowly rushed into Arti’s field of vision.
-Die—! Heretic—!
“…!”
Was this it,
then…?
*
Far from the chapel.
The alleyways in the shopping district outside the academy were in chaos, too.
A man stumbled and fell in an alley. The usually ominous, open passage had been blocked off with barricades.
‘Damn it?! Why is there a barricade here…?!’
Clomp…
“?!”
The merchant looked behind him.
Just as expected, ‘that guy’ had caught up with him.
The holy knight running amok in his madness.
“Aah?! P-please, spare me!”
“….”
The merchant begged as he looked at the mad holy knight approaching him. A ‘black stake’ was embedded in the knight’s body, and shadowy energy streamed from him….
“P-please, I’ll give you money, just don’t kill me!”
“Commander Raul ordered me to cut down every heretic. Die.”
“Eek—?!”
The holy knight’s sword glinted ominously in the alley.
Clang!
A sword
blocked the blade that had been about to strike an innocent, helpless person.
The holy knight, rampaging with a black stake impaling him, flinched.
‘When…?!’
The one who had stopped him was a graceful girl glowing gold.
“!”
He couldn’t believe it.
A delicate girl had blocked his sword. Her blade was strangely both heavy and light. It was a contradiction, but the only way he could describe it.
The holy knight, who had reached the Fluid Realm,
could not understand her sword at all.
‘I… can’t pull my sword away…?’
The blocked blade rang out in anguish.
Tremble—
Lydia said icily,
“How disgraceful. Not one of you thought to wonder whether this was the wrong path. How could you fail to notice you’d crossed the line long ago?”
“…?!”
“That useless head of yours is no longer needed.”
“…What?”
“Die. You’re the last one.”
“T-the last one…?”
The holy knight’s sword, which had been locked against hers only a moment earlier, was lightly sent flying. At the same time, her elegant blade sliced through the air.
Shhk—!
He couldn’t understand
what had happened at all.
‘Why… all of a sudden… can’t I… move…?’
The holy knight fell silent, still holding his sword.
“….”
“….”
Lydia turned her back on him.
At the same time,
the holy knight’s head slowly fell.
Thud!
The apostate’s headless body crumpled to the ground.
Lydia walked on.
The merchant, still sprawled on the ground with his mouth hanging open, spoke.
“P-Princess?”
“Run to the central plaza in the shopping district. All the alleyways on this side are blocked.”
“Pardon…?”
“Can’t you see everyone gathered there like a fortress? You’ll be safe there. The Theology students will treat your wounds.”
“!”
Once a destination had been set in his confused mind, the merchant ran off astonishingly quickly. Even as he ran, he shouted loudly.
“Th-thank you, Your Highness!”
“…Call me Cadet Lydia.”
At that moment,
someone shouted from atop a building overlooking the alley.
It was Morgan.
[Scattering energy, blue wind, cut them down—!]
Like a storm passing through a narrow gorge,
a fierce wind roared.
Fwsh—!
Then bat-shaped monsters came tumbling down into the alley Lydia was walking through. Every one of them had been cleanly decapitated.
“….”
‘Even for a genius heroine, to wield that ridiculously difficult and unbearably boring magic so quickly and accurately….’
Admiring her inwardly,
Lydia immediately jumped.
Thump!
Her body shot upward in an instant.
And her eyes met Morgan’s on the rooftop.
“Lydia!”
“That was impressive.”
“…?”
“To cast magic so calmly in the middle of all this chaos….”
“Hmm, well… I’m a genius.”
Morgan calmly looked around. The shopping district was still in chaos. Countless civilians were fleeing from the danger.
“….”
-Kyaaaah—!
-Help me!
-Monsters!
The people fleeing in panic instinctively checked the alleyways and found them blocked. Then they gathered back toward the central plaza.
-It’s safe here…!
-We’re saved….
At the center of the shopping district plaza,
academy cadets were building a makeshift circular fortress. They were following the orders of the upperclassmen from the Swordsmanship Department.
“The Theology and Magic Department cadets, prepare to intercept and provide support from inside the fortress!”
“Yes! Understood, Sir Lucian!”
“Second- and third-year Swordsmanship cadets, form the front line! Those who’ve reached the Fluid Realm, follow me—! All Gallian nobles, draw your swords—!”
“Yes, Sir Lucian!”
Meanwhile, first-year Swordsmanship cadets ran around with the training assistants, rescuing people.
“All the helpless women, over here! I, Dominic de Montreux, will protect you!”
“Dominic’s playing knight! Surely none of you are so pathetic you’d let a woman outdo you—!”
“Why would you say that now?!”
It was pandemonium.
At the same time, to Morgan, the scene didn’t look all that different from an ordinary day. Her daily life had always been nothing but pain and chaos.
‘…Instructor Zach’s pretty sharp, too. He’s been patrolling regularly and made sure all the alleyways could be sealed off in an emergency. Even the people in a panic are quickly gathering at the central fortress.’
A security system of astonishing efficiency.
And yet, the instructor himself was nowhere to be seen.
Morgan tilted her head.
“…?”
“Morgan.”
“Hm?”
“Let’s get down now.”
“…Okay.”
Morgan let Lydia take her in her arms. Lydia gently lifted her up, and with a single leap, the two of them descended to the ground.
Tap!
Mave approached the two of them. Her black hair was a complete mess, soaked in monster blood.
“Lady Lydia! There you are.”
“Mm. I was intercepting the fallen holy knights.”
“Grr! Those despicable bastards…! They tried to massacre people under cover of the chaos…! They aren’t knights. Men like that!”
“Quite right. Mave, join me and help me intercept the monsters.”
“!”
At the just command,
Mave gave the salute of a knight.
Snap!
“Yes! It would be an honor—!”
Morgan, still nestled in Lydia’s arms, pouted. Then she quietly gripped Lydia’s collar.
“…Hmph. That ignorant Gallian knight.”
Even so, she seemed to understand that being beside Lydia was an honor. Of course she did.
Just as Lydia thought that,
an eerie roar sounded from one corner of the plaza.
[Gwoooar—!]
“!”
“!”
“!”
Mave’s expression slowly stiffened.
“….”
It was a familiar roar.
It was the skeletal rider who had defeated her.
“…No way?!”
Mave looked toward the source of the roar.
Beyond the plaza’s fortress,
in the distance, familiar blue ghostfire slowly appeared.
With ‘two’ black stakes embedded in it…
The skeletal rider was charging toward the plaza.
[Gwoooar—!]
Lydia looked at it and said calmly,
“That’s our target.”
“!”
“!”
*
“Hmm.”
Black Knight Zach pummeled the monsters gathered before him with his fists. Under his black iron fists, the monsters burst into flames and were reduced to ashes.
-Ember Swordsmanship, Afterglow of Inferno.
Thoom!
Crunch!
Wham!
“….”
The academy’s back garden had grown quiet.
Zach spoke to the old man hiding behind a tree in the garden.
“…Cardinal Albert. Come out. There are no more monsters.”
“Oh? Ohhh…! Instructor Zach! Thank you.”
“….”
Zach, his helmet pulled down over his head, was intimidating. But Cardinal Albert seemed genuinely relieved as he patted his chest and spoke.
“B-brother Raul suddenly shoved me and threatened me with his sword, so I fled here. W-what on earth is happening at the academy? Is the Saintess safe? Are all our cadets safe?”
“….”
The Black Knight did not answer.
He merely led the way in silence.
“…Follow me. Though things between us haven’t been pleasant, ‘for now,’ I’ll protect you.”
“Oh, thank you. Truly….”
Much obliged.
Zach…
“….”
A vile smile formed at the corner of Cardinal Albert’s mouth. The ignorant brute would now prove his innocence for him.
‘…Farewell, Brother Raul. For the cause of the Black Temple, I must continue my research into the black stakes here. So accept a meaningful death.’
The Saintess’s soul, too, which serves no purpose for my plans,
I’ll send it to your side someday.
“Heh heh….”
“….”
The Black Knight watched the old man from the corner of his eye.
“….”
To make sure he couldn’t escape.