Luna, subjected to an affront against human dignity, is trembling with barely-held-back tears.
(……I want to tear that dark history into shreds right this instant……)
Driven by a tremendous urge to destroy, but stopping herself at the last possible moment.
What flashes through her mind is Sarko’s words from earlier——
[What is displayed here is a copy. The originals are kept under strict security in the innermost part of the kingdom and are still being deciphered to this day.]
Tearing up the Red Book here and now would mean absolutely nothing.
Unless she does something about the root cause——her own handwritten personal fiction——copies can be made endlessly, forever.
To erase her own dark history, she would need to locate where the original is kept and strike at the source.
(……This is unambiguous bullying, and it has crossed a line. Humanity is unforgivable……at this point I have no mercy left……)
Just as Luna clenches her fist——a tremendous roar sounds, and the entire museum shakes.
“Whoa!?”
“Luna-sama!”
“What on earth is happening!?”
As the visitors, Luna’s group among them, are thrown into panic, the sound of frantic footsteps comes thundering closer.
“——Emergency announcement! This area is currently under attack by hostile demons!”
“The Holy Knight forces will now conduct evacuation guidance!”
“Everyone please remain calm and follow us!”
Luna and the others follow the Holy Knights’ instructions and make their way through the emergency corridor toward the exit.
Stepping out of the museum——they find a transformed city before them.
(……Terrible……)
Flames rise from the once-beautiful streets. The paved roads are torn up. Screams echo from all directions.
Above the city——a woman who appears to be a demon, with wings, wears an evil smile.
“I am Wise Burdahorn, ‘Proxy of the Saint’! I’ve come to deliver the Saint’s message to you foolish humans!”
Wise Burdahorn, appearing to be in her early twenties.
Height one hundred and seventy centimeters, an androgynous build, ivory-colored long hair tied back in a ponytail.
Black gossamer wings sprout from her back; a black heart marking sits below her right eye; and from each of her palms, jet-black eyeballs roll around uneasily.
She wears a tattered black silk top and form-fitting black trousers.
“How dare you——what ‘Proxy of the Saint’……!”
“A demon of your ilk daring to claim the Saint’s name!”
“Get out of human lands this instant……!”
One after another, voices of condemnation rise from the citizens of the city.
“My, my, what lively rabble……. Save your worthless drivel for after you’ve seen this——Silver Bloom!”
The instant Wise extends her right hand toward the ground, a silver-white flash is released, and a portion of the city explodes.
“[Citizens]: Screaming——!?”
The roar and the screams ring out, and the people go pale——but not with fear of the magic’s overwhelming power.
This magic carries a ‘special meaning’ beyond the destruction of the city.
“Th-that can’t be……is that……!”
“The Saint’s magic……Silver Bloom!?”
Silver Bloom is a magic said to have been used by the Saint, its usage and method of learning having been lost to the Saint Eradication Movement.
In the modern era, those capable of using Silver Bloom are limited to the Saint and a vanishingly small number of individuals close to the Saint——this fact shakes the people’s hearts deeply.
Wise, for her part, curls her lips in satisfaction.
“Heh, see? I told you, didn’t I? I’m the Proxy of the Saint! This Silver Bloom magic was taught to me by her restless spirit, still suffering, unable to find peace!”
She sweeps her right hand wide, unleashing Silver Bloom across a broad area——explosions trace the arc of her swing, and screams fill the air.
“Come on, don’t make such sad sounds. You get to die by your beloved Saint’s magic, don’t you? Show a little more gratitude!”
Wearing a deeply unpleasant smile, Wise uses Silver Bloom as if putting on a performance, destroying the city one piece at a time.
And then——a young Holy Knight cuts across the sky.
“——Suimei Style: Haze Cleave!”
The blue sword-flash released slides accurately toward Wise’s neck.
But——
“Ooh, close call.”
She beats her gossamer wings and dodges in midair with practiced ease——then furrows her brow.
“Hmm……not a face in my wanted files. Who are you? Not a Swordmaster, clearly.”
The Holy Knight floating in the air with gives a small snort and raises the Demon-Slaying Sword Rogrea to center guard.
“Hmph. You thought I’d introduce myself to a filthy demon?”
His name is Raios Reinhardt.
His Third Holy Knight Platoon, coincidentally on patrol in the area, had sensed an anomalous magical reaction and rushed to the scene——where they discovered a blasphemer claiming to be the Proxy of the Saint.
“I don’t know how you got in here——but you die here!”
Just as he settles into combat stance, a voice from the ground calls for him to stop.
“No, Raios, you can’t! Even for you, this is reckless! Going after a demon while you’re still a student——that’s insane!”
“Platoon Leader Raios, this one is too dangerous. Let’s wait for your father——the Swordmaster——to arrive!”
“At least wait until reinforcements from central come……!”
His platoon members desperately try to hold him back, but Raios shakes his head.
“Father is fighting right now on the northern front! Reinforcements from central will take considerable time! If we wait idly for them to arrive, how many citizens will die in the meantime!”
The Kingdom of Elgia deploys its ‘core forces,’ led by the Swordmaster, to the capital’s defense and border security.
As a result, this city on the outskirts of the capital has only a bare minimum of Holy Knights stationed, and they are fully occupied with rescue operations and evacuation guidance.
In other words, right now, the only ones capable of engaging Wise are Raios’s Third Platoon.
“Damn it……I really don’t want to die in a place like this……”
The frivolous brown-haired man serving as deputy platoon leader mutters this as he draws his sword——and seeing that, the other platoon members each make their own decision to fight.
“[Platoon]: ——!”
The Third Platoon rises into the air and takes battle formation.
Watching this calmly, Wise gives a round of slow applause.
“Whoo, impressive! ‘How many citizens will die in the meantime!’——love it!”
She mocks with a laugh, using provocative words to goad Raios——but he receives it coolly and gives instructions to his platoon.
“The enemy is a demon; there’s no telling what powers she’s hiding. Before she can pull anything strange, encircle her in the three-dimensional formation and finish this in one go!”
“[Platoon]: Yes!”
The Holy Knights spread wide and take positions surrounding Wise.
“Hey now, what do you think you’re doing? A bunch of big sword-wielding men encircling a single woman……. ……Ah, right. I bet this is how the Saint felt, that day.”
“[Knights]: ……!”
Those words cut deep into Raios and his men’s wounds.
“Three hundred years have passed and humans haven’t changed at all. You’re going to do the same thing again, aren’t you, when the Saint reincarnates? Use her like a rag until there’s nothing left, pin everything on her, then burn her alive. ——Who are the real monsters, humans or demons?”
Wise’s thick, clinging psychological attack.
A congealed mass of malice, it digs without mercy into the taboo humanity least wishes to be confronted with.
Unable to endure it, one Holy Knight breaks rank and charges recklessly on his own.
“You……you don’t know a damn thing about how we feel, saying whatever you want——!”
“Stop, don’t take the bait!”
Raios’s warning goes unheard——and Wise’s demonic hand drives through the Holy Knight’s abdomen.
“Ga, hah……!”
“One down!”
With a light flick of her hand, the Holy Knight drops lifelessly as a doll.
“Scary, scary. Get a little too close to the truth and you immediately resort to violence.”
Wise wears a smirking, unpleasant smile and licks the blood from her hand.
“[Knights]: ……!”
The Holy Knights are fighting to keep emotion from their faces——but.
(Damn……damn it all……)
(We, our ancestors……what a sin we carried……)
(Saint-sama……Saint-sama……)
The relentless psychological attack has gotten deep under their skin.
(This is bad, we’re completely on her terms……)
Making that judgment, Raios raises his voice.
“Don’t give her a moment’s ear! She is no Proxy of the Saint, nothing of the sort! She’s a smooth-tongued fraud! We are the Saint’s sword and shield! Think of nothing else——cut down the demon before us!”
He rallies his men and pushes for a decisive move.
“——Three-dimensional encirclement, go!”
“[Platoon]: Yes!”
Raios’s platoon charges all at once, attacking Wise from every direction.
But——
“Haha, too slow, too slow!”
She evades the incoming sword-flashes with minimal movement and drives sharp blows into each of them as they pass.
“Guh……!”
“Damn it……!”
“Kuh……!”
Holy Knights go down one by one.
“Haha! Come on, is that all you’ve got!?”
Wise is simply strong.
In magic, of course, but also in physical combat and raw strength, she far surpasses Raios and his men.
The basic ‘specs’ between humans and demons are too different.
Watching the Holy Knights fall one after another, the citizens drop to their knees and offer desperate prayers.
“Saint-sama, please……!”
“Save us once more……!”
“Please, grant salvation to humanity……!”
People clasp their hands together and plead for the Saint’s salvation.
But it is far too late for that now.
The Saint died——no, they had killed her with their own hands.
While people offer their futile prayers——Raios shouts out at the top of his lungs.
“——Do not pray! Prove your own worth!”
Pressing a relentless offensive against Wise, he screams from the depths of his soul.
“The Saint saves only those who struggle and suffer and still cry out for life! Praying alone changes nothing, can change nothing! Unless we show that we are beings worth saving, the Saint will not return……!”
House Reinhardt has a history of more than three hundred years.
Its founder, the first Reinhardt, was one of the very few royals and nobles who had opposed the Saint’s execution.
[You are wrong! The Saint has performed miracle after miracle and guided us! The wars plaguing this age are the result of humanity’s own foolish misgovernance, and none of it can be laid at the Saint’s feet! And yet……you would place all blame on her? Enough of this farce!]
The first Reinhardt had been right. It was a perfect argument that left no room for rebuttal.
But in that era, when the hearts of people had rotted, whether something was right or wrong didn’t matter.
People sought an outlet.
The famine, disease, and poverty wrought by war——the directionless, stifling negativity saturating a closed-off and suffocating world.
They needed a clear-cut ‘villain’ onto whom they could dump the sediment of accumulated misery.
The royals and nobles assigned that role to the Saint, spreading fabricated stories of her villainy across the land.
It spread through the world instantly, and the swelling public opinion became a runaway righteous fury that drove the Saint to her death.
After the Saint’s execution, the first Reinhardt was stripped of his duke’s title and imprisoned in an underground dungeon.
There he wrote a memoir, which has been passed down to each heir of House Reinhardt to the present day.
On his tenth birthday, Raios received the first Reinhardt’s memoir from his father, the family head.
It described the day of the execution in vivid detail——and the pages that followed were filled with hatred for foolish humanity, apologies to the Saint, self-directed abuse for his own powerlessness, and after that, nothing but words of regret and penance.
(Just before the execution, the Saint said nothing. She had given up entirely on humanity’s hopelessness. The Saint died. We killed her with these hands……)
Raios’s grip on his sword tightens of its own accord.
(The Saint despaired of humanity. She thought us beyond saving, thought us no longer worth saving. ——That is precisely why, right now, I must show her——must prove it! Human strength! Humanity’s progress! That people have changed! That is the only way to atone for the original sin……!)
Responding to Raios’s passionate resolve, the Demon-Slaying Sword Rogrea blazes with light.
“——Suimei Style: Mist Cleave!”
“Ggh……!”
A sword wound opens across Wise’s skin, and a line of fresh blood runs down.
The first damage that has landed on her in this entire fight.
“He cut Wise!”
“That’s Raios-san for you!”
“We can win, we can win……!”
The Holy Knights’ morale surges all at once.
“You’re an annoying little pest, scurrying around like that. (He does have speed——but he’s still human, fragile at the core. One Silver Bloom and it’s over……!)”
“Hmph, you’re sluggish. (Classic heavy-firepower type, our mobility advantage is clear. As long as I watch those black eyeballs in the palms——the Silver Bloom launch points——the attack trajectories are readable. I can push through……!)”
After that, both push their respective strengths against each other.
“Haaaaaaah——!”
Raios relentlessly closes the distance and presses close-quarters combat using his speed advantage.
“Just drop dead already……!”
Wise accepts damage and swings for kill-in-one devastating blows with sheer firepower.
The balanced scales slowly began to tip——toward Raios.
(This little bastard keeps getting faster……!)
What has made the difference is the Demon-Slaying Sword Rogrea.
This blade passed down through the Reinhardt family for generations grants boons to the pure of heart and exacts punishment on the corrupt.
“Kgh……so annoying already……!”
Wise flings both arms wildly, scattering Silver Bloom in all directions.
“Gugh……!”
Raios is forced to jump back, escaping the randomly scattered silver flashes.
With distance between them, Wise beats her gossamer wings and rockets high into the open sky.
“Are you running!?”
“Idiot, who’s running. This is a position shift.”
Saying this, she raises her right hand smoothly above her head.
“——Silver Bloom.”
But no silver flash is fired.
Like cupping water in the palm, silver light gathers into Wise’s right hand.
“Fool. I’ve already read that technique. Because it’s controlled through the palms, the movements are monotone and readable. No matter how much you power it up, it means nothing if it doesn’t land.”
“Heh, shallow. Whether it lands depends on the direction it’s aimed, doesn’t it?”
“What?”
The moment Raios’s eyes narrow——Wise points her glowing right hand downward.
“Right beneath you right now, a crowd of humans is praying like idiots. If you dodge this, a whole lot of those common folk die, don’t they……!”
“You……that’s cowardly!”
“Oh come now, who’s the coward here? You all ganged up on the Saint, framed her as a villain, and burned her alive. You’re the demons.“
“……!”
Hit by Wise’s verbal assault, Raios bites his lower lip.
And all the while, the magical energy gathered into her right hand continues to swell.
“Now then, let’s see how a kind-hearted Holy Knight handles this!”
What is released is a colossal silver flash threatening to fill the entire sky.
The Silver Bloom Wise unleashes is, literally, beyond all classification in its power.
“It’s……over……”
“There’s nothing we can do about an attack this massive……!”
“Saint-sama, please grant us salvation……!”
Every person present sinks to the bottom of despair——but——
“A demon……don’t underestimate humans.”
——Raios alone has not given up.
He plays his trump card here.
“Divine gift activate——【Limit Break】!”
In an instant, Raios’s magical energy swells enormously.
Divine gift 【Limit Break】. For an extremely limited time of one minute, it grants power far beyond one’s own limits.
However, the moment the divine gift expires, the backlash leaves one barely able to move.
When using this, the opponent must be finished off within the one-minute window, without fail.
“——Suimei Style: Cascade Blade!”
The Demon-Slaying Sword Rogrea blazes, and the incoming Silver Bloom is bisected.
Even Wise blinks in genuine surprise.
“Well, well……I’m actually impressed. You have a divine gift. (The total magical energy has gone to absurd levels. For a simple enhancement-type divine gift, the swing is too large. A ‘conditional super-boost’ type……?)”
“Now——let’s see, shall we——!”
Raios, for whom even a tenth of a second is precious, pushes to maximum output and closes on Wise.
“Hah!”
The Demon-Slaying Sword traces arc after arc——
“Ggh……!”
——and dull pain runs through Wise’s body.
She is unable to keep up with Raios’s hyperspeed movement and is now entirely on the defensive.
(Damn it all……is this what I’ve been reduced to……)
She redirects the magical energy she had been using for Silver Bloom to hardening her skin and is barely, barely holding on——but there’s no telling how long that will last.
“Haaaaaaaaa——!”
Eyes bloodshot, muscles tearing, searing pain lashing every inch of his body——Raios keeps swinging his sword, shaving away at the enemy’s hardened skin.
“You——get off me!”
Wise can’t take it anymore and swings both arms in wild abandon, releasing a scattered Silver Bloom the same way as before.
But——Raios doesn’t stop.
“Suimei Style: Vortex Split!”
Arms and legs scorched by Silver Bloom, and still he presses with a fiercer attack.
(*This guy……is he *insane!?)
A tiny, tiny tremor of fear in Wise’s heart.
A mind rusted by fear, caught between two choices——’defend’ or ‘evade’——and the fatal hesitation that creates.
“——Suimei Style: Twin Rising Flash!”
Two blazing sword-flashes tear across the sky, and Wise’s arms go flying in opposite directions.
“You little……brat……!”
Before him opens an unguarded centerline——a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
(The Silver Bloom launch points——both eyeballs in the arms are destroyed! There’s no counterattack!)
Judging this to be the deciding moment, Raios pours every last scrap of magical energy into the Demon-Slaying Sword.
“This ends here! Suimei Style ultimate technique——”
Just as he moves to deliver the finishing blow——a malicious flower blooms.
“——Too bad!”
Wise opens her mouth wide, and there inside it: a jet-black eyeball, a Silver Bloom launch point.
“What!? (A hidden trump card. No time to dodge……my divine gift is about to run out. This blow has to finish her……!)”
“All that effort, for nothing!”
Wise’s face twists hideously, and the world turns blinding white.
“Ga, hah——!”
Taking the ultra-high-powered Silver Bloom full-on, Raios slams into the clock tower far behind him and buries himself in the outer wall.
“Phew……that was needlessly exhausting. Divine gift 【Limit Break】——for an extremely short period, grants power far exceeding the user’s own limits, roughly? Even a small fry like that gets reasonably strong, which goes to show just how frightening divine gifts are.”
Saying this, Wise activates a mid-tier healing spell——instantly regrowing her lost arms and restoring all of her stamina in one go.
(She could use healing magic too……)
Raios sank into despair.
Given that the damage he had staked his life on inflicting had been undone in an instant——that was only natural.
(What a monster. How many cards does she have……?)
An eyeball in the mouth, mid-tier healing magic——she might still be hiding other trump cards.
Between Raios and Wise, even with his divine gift, there was a gap in power simply too vast to bridge.
“Heh, the Saint’s restless spirit is pleased too, you know? Another detestable human dying for her……!”
Wise takes aim at Raios embedded in the outer wall with her right hand——loading Silver Bloom with enormous magical energy.
“Kgh……!”
As the attack of certain death bears down on him, Raios cannot move.
The backlash of divine gift 【Limit Break】 has made his body refuse to obey.
(Am I……going to end here……?)
The literal end of his limits.
This is the ceiling of Raios Reinhardt as he stands today.
Confronted with an inescapable ‘death,’ he slowly closes his eyes——and bites down on his powerlessness.
He had swung his sword more than anyone.
He had trained his body harder than anyone.
He had been stricter with himself than anyone.
Rain, sun, thunder——when others were playing, when others were resting, when others were sleeping in——he had done nothing but train, relentlessly.
All of it was for one purpose——for the Saint he reveres above all else.
But that effort will all come to nothing now.
Before the ‘genuine monster’ that is Wise Burdahorn, every bit of effort he has ever made is utterly, completely meaningless.
A single tear runs down Raios’s face.
(……Saint-sama, I am sorry……)
The next instant——a silver-white flower blooms in full, and a tremendous explosion erupts.
“Ahahaha, 【Limit Break】, was it? Go on then, try breaking through it! The limit called death……!”
Wise’s laughter echoes——and a gentle, sun-warmed scent drifts through the air.
(……Saint……sama……?)
Through a flickering field of vision, what Raios catches sight of is——a plate armor so massive he has to look up at it.
“——Nameless Holy Knight. That was a magnificent fight.”
Standing there was a mysterious adventurer clad head to toe in armor.