Chapter 112
“Wonderful. Truly wonderful! Goodness, I’m glad I lived to see this. The king may not show it on his face, but I’m sure he’s pleased, too. Now, since you’ve been spared, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t waste your life and did as I say.”
As he spoke, Militariel glared at Kagami, trying to intimidate him. But the next moment—
“...Shut up.”
The instant those words reached Militariel’s ears, his vision went black.
Militariel couldn’t understand what had happened. Then he realized that Kagami had closed the distance in that instant and was now right in front of him.
“W-what did you do?”
“I... released my restrictions.”
“Restrictions? Oh... You mean the power Parna mentioned, the one that makes you stronger for a short time? But it’s useless against my Skill. My Skill reduces the stats of every enemy by as much as fifty percent—the power of ‘The One Loved by God.’ And when I stack the stat-lowering magic I cast on top of that, your power wouldn’t even reach Level 100...”
Militariel had gotten that far before the strange sight of Kagami made him break off, sweat beading on his forehead.
His Skill was active. He was still casting the spell that lowered physical abilities. And yet Kagami radiated such an oppressive fighting spirit that he didn’t seem weakened at all. Had Militariel ever seen anyone radiate such overwhelming power in the face of his own? No. Never.
He was certain of it. The figure standing right in front of him glared at him with an expression so full of rage it made his skin crawl, radiating a sinister fighting spirit from every inch of his body.
“Impossible... His power should be suppressed! Is this different from the restriction release Parna told me about? W-what did you do?!”
“It’s definitely lower. I can feel how sluggish my body is.”
“T-then why do you have that much power?! Lifting your restrictions should only multiply your original strength two or three times... If your base strength is low, it shouldn’t make much difference...!”
As Militariel continued speaking, his face twisted with panic. Kagami, who had been expressionless until then, broke into a fearless smile—
“Why do you think... I didn’t use this power until I was pushed this far?”
He said it in a way meant to intimidate him.
Militariel instinctively leapt backward, breaking into a cold sweat. If he tried to guess what Kagami meant based on what Parna had told him about the man’s power, there could only be one answer.
“You were using us... to grow stronger?”
“Looks like the experience points you gain from being at a disadvantage count even when you’re not fighting monsters or demons. It got pretty dangerous, and I didn’t expect to come so close to dying, but... now I can knock you flat.”
At that moment, sweat poured from Militariel’s entire body. He also realized that he had blacked out moments earlier, overcome by the sheer pressure of this man’s presence.
He had meant to intimidate Kagami, but he was the one being intimidated. The truth was painfully clear: Militariel was terrified of the man before him. He couldn’t help but fear the figure approaching step by step, radiating a whirlpool of power dark as pitch and wearing an expression too terrifying to meet eye to eye.
“You did the one thing you should never have done.”
As he spoke, Kagami took one step at a time toward Militariel, cornering him as he retreated.
“Do you have any idea how much the death of someone dear to you can affect the rest of your life? How much you struggle and suffer, trying to change the way you live because that person is gone... Do you know?”
As if speaking from personal experience, Kagami’s expression grew harsher and his oppressive presence intensified with every step closer—so much so that it felt as though the air itself was trembling.
“It would be one thing if that death had happened naturally. But Parna’s was different. She suffered because of the lies you made up. Do you understand? You threw Parna’s life off course.”
Before he knew it, Militariel’s legs were trembling. A terrifying presence was closing in, and he wanted to flee at once. But the barrier left him nowhere to run. He glanced toward the king, hoping for help, but the king, too, seemed caught off guard by the unexpected turn of events and remained frozen, his expression tense.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Militariel fired every offensive spell at his disposal at Kagami in rapid succession. But a priest like Militariel had few attack spells, and none of them worked. Kagami kept walking toward him, taking the magic head-on.
“In the end... it’s all because you’re so fixated on defeating the Demon King and so desperate to send the strong to the next stage, isn’t it? That’s why Parna came to hate demons, Kururu and Rex were brainwashed, and demons ended up oppressed in this world.”
“T-that’s all there is to it! The king thinks about this world more than anyone...!”
“Don’t give me that... You’re saying it’s all justified just because of one goal, even if it makes so many people suffer?”
Then Kagami clenched his fist tightly and slowly, powerfully, raised it—
“I will never accept that.”
He shouted, swinging his fist past Militariel’s face.
At that instant, despite not being struck, Militariel was hurled into the barrier along the wall beside him by the shock wave from Kagami’s fist.
It happened in an instant. Despite Kagami’s stats being drastically reduced, he had sent a man flying with nothing but the force of a punch that hadn’t even landed. Everyone who witnessed it stared in shock.
Perhaps unable to withstand the impact of the collision and the damage from bouncing off the barrier, Militariel let out a pained scream, lost consciousness, and crumpled to the floor.