Chapter 84
A dark night by the lakeshore.
In the darkness, where even the stars had vanished, everything around them—peaceful until just hours ago—was being torn apart. The battle that had begun on the bridge had carried on all the way here.
The ones fighting were the Bishop of Destruction, Arti, and Aria.
“!”
Arti hurriedly retreated.
He gripped a wooden holy relic in his left hand, while blue lightning crackled around his right. But he couldn’t possibly face the charging bishop head-on.
Crackle!
‘Damn, I never expected him to come straight at me the moment my holy power weakened…!’
Instinct like a beast’s.
Had he instinctively targeted the moment his opponent weakened?
Panic welled up despite himself.
“Guh?!”
“Bearer of the Holy Sword! I won’t let you escape—!”
The man in the black robe thrust out his fist.
It was grotesquely huge. His clenched fist alone was about the size of an adult man’s torso. Just swinging it made a sound like an explosion.
A deafening boom that seemed to make the surroundings heave.
Kaboom—!
The fist grew larger and larger, transforming into something like a bull.
The enormous fist destroyed everything it passed. Rocks and trees, even debris torn up from the ground. Everything within a ten-meter radius crumbled to dust whenever it struck that fist.
The momentum of a monster from myth.
Whenever he swung his fist,
rocks shattered,
trees snapped,
and the ground overturned.
Crunch!
Crunch!
Crunch!
Destroying everything in its path,
the black robe traced a straight line.
A gale formed wherever his fist was aimed,
and everything crumbled wherever his robe swept past.
Crunch!
Crunch!
Crunch!
He shouted.
“Diiiiie—!”
The black-robed man, the Bishop of ‘Destruction,’ charged with his fist thrust forward. The chariot of destruction was chasing after the boy who wielded the Holy Sword. The baleful gleam of his eyes burst vividly in the darkness.
Crunch!
Crunch!
Crunch!
In Arti’s eyes,
he looked like a black storm.
But it didn’t look like certain death.
Because a flash of silver was chasing him from the side. The Holy Sword was with her now. And she was rapidly closing in.
This is what I’m betting on.
“…!”
‘Aria!’
Arti stopped running away, caught his breath for a moment, then gripped the holy relic in his left hand tightly. He drew up the holy power he had left and chanted a sacred spell.
“O Sun! Grant your steadfast servant unflagging vigor and courage—!”
Crackle!
Blue lightning crackled,
and the sacred spell took effect.
Through that blue radiance,
the Bishop of Destruction approached.
“It’s useless! Even if you cast a support spell now, you won’t be able to dodge! A mere fragment of the great Lord of Destruction’s power cannot be stopped by something like that!”
“…!”
He attacked Arti’s head from point-blank range.
The massive fist came crashing toward him, destroying everything around it. The farther it advanced, the more apocalyptic its momentum became. It was truly the destructive authority granted to a worshipper of ‘Destruction.’
Rumble—!
To Arti, the fist seemed to be approaching in slow motion. It held such immense power that he couldn’t take in its overwhelming presence as it gradually grew larger.
He sucked in a breath.
“Guh?!”
Rumble—!
The fist drew closer.
Slowly
little by little
forward
At last….
Rumble—!
The wind generated by that fist
made his ears ring painfully.
Even a glancing blow would smash his head to pieces.
But that didn’t happen.
A silver-haired girl who had raced over in a flash stepped in front of Arti. Blue lightning and golden radiance enveloped her entire body.
Crackle!
At that light,
the Bishop of Destruction flinched.
“!”
‘Damn, she’s already caught up?!’
In the brief moment he hesitated,
“Hah—!”
Aria let out a battle cry and hurled the Holy Sword. Its blue blade spun through the air, flying like a disc wreathed in a chillingly sharp aura. Its tip was aimed at the Bishop of Destruction’s outstretched arm.
No….
His shoulder!
The Holy Sword, released from Aria’s hand, swooped down on the bishop.
Shrring—!
“Hnnngh—!”
The bishop forcibly changed the trajectory of his outstretched fist. Carrying through with the momentum of his attack, he spun his whole body around once. His entire body creaked with the strain.
But he dodged it.
The thrown Holy Sword passed by in vain.
Shrring—!
The blue blade, still vivid in the darkness, rode its momentum and fell far away onto the ground. The force contained in it had been so great that it struck the stone floor with a dull sound and sank into it.
The Bishop of Destruction spun through the air. His black robe twisted like a vortex. Like a black storm, he thrust out his enormous fist once more.
Rumble—!
“I’ll take you both out at once—!”
He shouted and thrust it forward.
That was all.
And yet the storm of destruction swept over them once more.
KABOOM—!
“!”
Aria didn’t dodge it. Even with that fist before her, making all the surrounding air tremble, her eyes remained utterly calm. Determination filled her cold silver eyes.
‘Fate is will…!’
Repeating those words to herself,
she thrust out her own fist.
“Haaaah!”
Aria and the Bishop of Destruction.
The two thrust their fists toward each other.
A girl’s
and a fiend’s
enormous
and tiny
two fists collided.
KABOOOM—!
The two fists collided with a tremendous boom.
A light flashed, driving even the darkness back for an instant.
The ground shook,
dirt flew,
and wind howled.
Crunch!
Crunch!
Crunch!
Their fists were incomparable in size.
It looked as if one side would be crushed into a horrific mess at any moment. Like a boulder colliding with a tuft of fluff.
But….
The Bishop of Destruction was aghast.
“?!”
She wasn’t being pushed back.
“W-what…?! This is absurd…!”
“Haaaaah!”
Aria summoned every ounce of strength, veins bulging on her forehead. Blue and golden lightning kept leaping from her shoulders and neck, like steam escaping an overheated kettle.
Crackle!
Crackle!
But even in that state, she didn’t give ground. Blood welled on her small, delicate fist, blazing alongside the blue light of the Holy Sword. A flash shimmered in her silver hair.
At something that should have been impossible,
the Bishop of Destruction gasped.
“What the hell?! Who are you?! I thought they called you a saintess! What is this power?! Why are you sharing the Holy Sword—?!”
“Haaaaah—!”
Aria couldn’t answer.
Just maintaining this stalemate was exhausting. To thrust out her fist and stop that enormous fist for even a moment, she had to squeeze out every last bit of her strength.
But thanks to that, she could stop it.
The fist of destruction that had charged endlessly forward.
She murmured inwardly.
‘Arti, now…!’
And just as she’d hoped,
the voice of the boy who had somehow reclaimed the Holy Sword rang out.
[Holy Sword…!]
“?!”
The Bishop of Destruction hurriedly turned his head.
Arti had firmly grasped the Holy Sword Danan, which had flown far away. And for that fleeting moment, he gathered strength throughout his body once more.
Thoom!
Strength forcibly drawn up.
He bit down hard enough to split his lip.
“….”
Grit…!
Along with the blood gathered at the corner of his mouth,
he roared and thrust forward with all his might.
[Manifest—!]
“Damn it, what the hell?!”
Just as the Bishop of Destruction hurriedly tried to pull back his fist and defend himself, Aria also withdrew the fist she had thrust out. Then she pulled a holy cloth from her bosom and recited an incantation.
“O Sun—!”
Rumble—!
A dazzling light flashed from the Holy Sword.
Golden light blazed from the holy cloth.
The two miraculous powers unleashed by the boy and girl intertwined like a vortex, becoming a pillar of light. It was a destructive flash that made one’s body tingle just by standing before it.
Before it,
the Bishop of Destruction murmured hollowly.
“So it’s already complete….”
‘Why didn’t Bishop Albert report this to the main temple…?’
With that question,
he was struck head-on by the oncoming pillar of light. Like a sandcastle worn away by raging waves, everything—including his black robe—burned and vanished.
*
The dark sewer.
Two people were running through it.
“Hah!”
Mave thrust out the lion shield.
The iron lion opened its scarred mouth and unleashed a massive shock wave. Like a giant clapping its hands, an invisible force swept out from the shield in a wave.
Thoom—!
“Gah?!”
The shock wave struck the last bishop, who had been running away with his back turned. He had hidden among the shadows until the very end, targeting Carla amid the cadets, only to be stopped by Lydia and Mave.
The nameless bishop bounced off the floor.
And the moment he bounced up and hung in the air….
A sword pierced his abdomen as he fell.
Thunk—!
“Ugh…!”
He trembled. Then he struggled to raise his head.
His eyes met a pair of icy blue eyes. Her golden hair fluttered in the breeze. She gripped her sword tightly and gazed down at him with haughty eyes.
Lydia said,
“You’re the last one. I didn’t expect you to keep looking for an opening until the very end instead of simply running away. Perhaps each bishop-level member has their own specialty.”
“H-how can this be….”
With that hollow murmur,
a faint, campfire-like glow ignited at the tip of her sword. The ember, formed from mana, warped the body transformed by Dark Realm mana.
Sizzle—!
“G-gyaaaagh…!”
He writhed in agony.
But soon his whole body crumbled under the mana, like dried-up firewood. After burning away completely, he shattered into pieces, leaving nothing but ash.
Crumble…!
Mave sighed as she watched. She had been on edge all night, never knowing when another attack might come, and was utterly exhausted.
“Phew…. Is that the last of them?”
“It is.”
“They were easier than I expected. The ones who appeared during the Hero Exam seemed rather difficult to deal with.”
“….”
Lydia murmured inwardly.
“….”
‘They only seemed easy because our gear and experience have improved. If the ones who appeared back then were grunts, these were at least commanders.’
But she didn’t bother saying so.
She was a little tired herself.
“…Let’s head back.”
“Yes.”
The two emerged from the sewer.
Before their eyes,
they saw the dawn slowly rising in the distance.
The scenery before them gradually came into focus.
Cadets were gathered in a huddle in front of the academy’s main gate, unable to relax. Among them, Morgan stood waiting with arms crossed, while Carla sat with a vacant expression….
Far beyond the bridge, Aria and Arti were limping across. The wrecked far shore of the lake was also gradually coming into view.
Lucian, a third-year cadet from the noble track who had been gathering the Swordsmanship Department cadets and arranging a defensive formation, turned and silently nodded at Lydia and Mave as they approached.
“…It’s over.”
“Yes.”
At those words,
the cadets around them lowered their heads. The battle that had gone on all night had finally come to an end. They closed their eyes and took a brief rest.
The Kingdom and the Republic,
the Swordsmanship Department and the Magic Department.
Those who had been suspecting and fighting one another until recently
now leaned against one another, too exhausted to stay on their feet.
“….”
“….”
“….”
Then they murmured,
“What was all that about?”
Surprisingly, it was Lydia who answered.
“You’ll find out soon enough. They’ll tell you.”
“Y-Your Highness…?”
“Call me Lydia.”
“Ah, yes…. But who do you mean by ‘they’?”
Lydia jerked her chin toward the other side of the bridge. The cadets’ eyes turned that way. Arti and Aria, who had been limping over, also turned their heads.
Far across the bridge,
two carriages were approaching with the first light of dawn.
The cadets whispered among themselves.
“C-carriages…?”
“Who are they?”
“They show up after everything’s over?”
“….”
Lydia could make out the emblem on their flags.
The Kingdom and the Republic.
People sent by the two countries.
“….”
The timing was…
far too perfect.