While Luna is rummaging through the classified documents in the hidden room, Owl, Raios, and Curse take the official shortest route and arrive at the deepest level of the Leonard Theocracy——the ‘Chamber of Reincarnation.’
It is an unsettling place.
A vast space large enough to swallow a whole city, the ground covered in eerie magic formations, more than a hundred clay dolls affixed to the walls, and a great altar erected at the far end.
Through the strange air hanging over the Chamber of Reincarnation, a high ringing clang echoes——clang, clang.
“Now then……is that the ‘monster’ Curse was talking about?”
In the direction of Owl’s gaze, a bird beastman is energetically swinging a pickaxe, silently digging his way through the wall.
As it happens, this man alone built this entire vast underground labyrinth.
“Hm……visitors. That’s unusual.”
The beastman drives the pickaxe into the ground and turns around.
In that instant, a shock runs through all three of them.
“Th-that can’t be……. Are you possibly……”
“The legendary Saint’s party——’Great Swordsman’ Zel-sama……!?”
“Why is a hero from three hundred years ago in a place like this!? And he’s still alive……!?”
“Hm, you know who I am.”
Zel Zezed, three hundred years of age and more, two meters tall.
White feathers covering his body, large crimson eyes, a sharply pointed beak——a white raven beastman of extraordinary rarity, dressed in distinctive traditional garb.
“Hmm……white uniforms with silver cross markings……kingdom Holy Knights, I’d say.”
From minimal information, Zel accurately identifies Owl and the others.
“I’ll ask you directly. What is your purpose? What brought you all the way down here?”
In response to the question, Owl answers as representative.
“As you’ve surmised, we are kingdom Holy Knights. Today we came to investigate, having heard that the Leonard Theocracy’s remnants were making some strange movements. If their plans prove to be of an evil nature, we intend to put a stop to them before they can be carried out.”
“……I see. That’s inconvenient.”
Zel murmurs this with a complicated expression, in a voice that betrays no emotion——
“I bear you no grudge. But all of this is for the Saint’s sake. Don’t take it personally.”
——and slowly draws the twin swords at his hip.
Whatever circumstances Zel finds himself in remains unclear——but his cooperation with the Theocracy is obvious from the situation before them.
With the other side drawing their swords, Owl and the others have no choice but to meet them.
“Great Swordsman Zel-sama……. I read your tales of heroism many times as a child. Your figure……you have declined considerably.”
“Now that you are past your prime, aged as you are——we may just be able to beat you.”
“No no no no, let’s not, let’s absolutely not! The opponent is a legendary hero, there’s no way we can win!”
Owl and Raios’s assessments were half right and half wrong.
Having been given almost no food and forced to dig through hard rock without rest for over a hundred years——Zel’s condition is at the worst it has ever been.
His steel-like muscles are worn thin, his once beautiful white feathers have grown dull, and his body is one size smaller than it used to be.
Age, malnutrition, poor condition——not a trace of his former self remains.
By any reasonable standard, Owl and the others should have this won.
But against a warrior from three hundred years ago, reason is a cheap measuring stick.
“Phew……it has been a while since I’ve fought.”
Zel exhales softly——and takes a quiet guard with the twin swords.
In the next instant, a tremendous ‘pressure’ is released.
(Wh-what an overwhelming presence……)
(This is the legendary Saint’s party……!)
(Abababababa……)
Owl and the others raise their guard to its highest level and shift their weight deeply backward, ready to respond to whatever attack comes.
“What’s the matter? You won’t come?”
“[Everyone]: ……”
At those words, Owl and the others take one step back.
“Really……don’t keep an old bird waiting.”
In an instant, Zel’s form vanishes into a blur——
“——Raios, behind you!”
Only Owl reacts to the speed, and shouts a warning——Raios spins around on reflex.
“Ha!“
“Kgh!?”
Against the descending twin blades, he raises his sword horizontally to defend.
“‘Exorcism Sword Rogrea’……a member of the Reinhart family?”
“You know this sword……!?”
Raios asks, holding against Zel’s tremendous power.
“Yes. A supreme masterwork holding sacred power. The first wielder used this very blade to pile up the bodies of demons——but you are still green.”
The moment Zel pours magical energy into his twin swords, the exorcism sword Rogrea shatters into pieces.
“What!?”
“The sword has no ‘spirit’ running through it. Start over from basic practice swings.”
A sharp front kick follows immediately——
“Gfh.“
——Raios takes it full on and goes flying backward, slamming his back into the wall.
“Raios……!”
“Oh no, the sword’s broken again! What is going on with that thing!? Is it a knockoff or something!?”
“Hah, hah……shut up……!”
Raios, blood flowing from his brow, kicks off the rubble and quickly returns to the front line.
“Can you keep going?”
“This much is nothing. More importantly——could I borrow a weapon?”
“Yes, use this. Better than nothing.”
Owl activates his divine gift [Weapon Synthesis] and hands over a simple sword forged from magical energy.
“I’ll hold the front line, so Raios, match your movements to mine. Curse, back support as you are.”
Owl gives precise instructions, and Raios and Curse nod in silence.
How much time passes after that.
“Hnnn!“
“Ha!“
Zel and Owl clash swords fiercely, Raios weaves strikes into the gaps, and Curse devotes himself to support with various magics.
(Phew……my body won’t move the way I want it to. Age is not something to desire.)
(Even with ten divine gifts running simultaneously, I can’t push through……! This is genuinely strong. This is what the legendary Saint’s party’s power looks like……!)
(Hah, hah……if it weren’t three-on-one, we’d have been killed long ago……! This power lightly exceeds Wise Burdahorn……!)
(This is bad……the raw ability gap is slowly pushing us back……! At this rate we’re running out of road……!)
In the middle of a fierce, breathless exchange of blades——
“Hnnn!“
“Ha!“
Their full-force strikes collide——and Zel and Owl both leap far backward.
“Not bad, for someone young.”
“You move rather well yourself, considering your age.”
Both shift their weight to the front foot and prepare to throw themselves into another desperate clash——when a massive boulder standing at the far end of the Chamber of Reincarnation splits apart with a deep, rumbling groan, and from within emerges a man dressed in an elaborate ceremonial robe.
He is the fifteenth founder of the Leonard Theocracy, Leonard, age fifty-three.
165 centimeters, an obese figure storing generous fat around the midsection.
His pale lavender hair is long, slicked straight back.
A sinister face dominated by a large hawkish nose, holding in his hands a baleful bishop’s staff.
Leonard enters with ten high-ranking mage attendants and a large number of personal soldiers——heavy infantry——in tow, and takes his seat on the throne atop the altar.
“……Leonard……. Why have you come to the front lines? It’s dangerous here. Fall back.”
In response to Zel’s statement, Leonard gives a small wave of his left hand.
“Hmhm, it doesn’t matter now……time-buying is done. It was enough.”
“What do you mean?”
“It has just been ‘completed,’ you see——the lifelong wish of my lineage……!”
“——Surely you don’t mean……!”
“Oh, I do mean exactly that! The forbidden spell our Leonard family has burned for across three hundred years——<Necromantic Reincarnation>! It has borne fruit, here and now!”
Leonard proclaims this triumphantly, and Zel’s body trembles with exaltation.
“Then at last, my wish——the ‘reincarnation of the Saint’ has been accomplished……!?”
“Indeed. Zel, you have worked well until this day. With this, your life’s desire too shall……come true, or so you’d……think……”
Leonard shakes his shoulders, presses a hand over his mouth——and as if he simply cannot contain it any longer, doubles over holding his sides.
“Pff——hahahaha……hah, HAHAHAHA……!”
He lets out a laugh that rings up to the heavens, and his subordinates, as if drawn in, begin to snicker as well.
“You……what is so funny!”
“Hah, hah……can you blame me? Unable to see it, even now at this point……a magnificent fool! A masterpiece! So a beastman’s head really is this empty……!”
“What did you say!?”
A dangerous color enters Zel’s eyes——and Leonard, getting ahead of it, raises one hand smoothly.
“Calm down, don’t rush. Now then……let me think. ‘Good news’ and ‘bad news’——which would you like to hear first?”
“Stop stalling and speak!”
“Hmhm, very well. Then let’s start with the good news. As I mentioned a moment ago, the forbidden spell <Necromantic Reincarnation> is complete, and accordingly, the ‘Ritual of Reincarnation’ is to be performed from this moment. That is the good news.”
Leonard wears a slimy, gloating smile as he looks down at the uneasy Zel below him.
“As for the bad news……. Regrettably, the soul to be reincarnated is not the Saint’s. What we are calling back is the soul of the ‘Most Powerful Great Demon’——the one who three hundred years ago plunged this world to the depths of terror!”
“What!? You said that was not what this was——you broke your promise!”
Against the furious Zel, Leonard rises from his throne with both arms spread wide.
“Bwahaha, you were deceived! Digging holes like a broken record for three hundred years……what an empty, wasted life!”
He cannot stop.
“To begin with, ‘Saint reincarnation’ is impossible! The foundation of magic is equivalent exchange! There exists nothing in this world equivalent to that monster’s soul! And even if there were, there is no way humanity’s meager lot could prepare it! Can you not understand something this simple——how inferior a species the beastman truly is……!”
Leonard claps his hands gleefully and mocks the beastman’s sincerity.
“……I see. So that’s how it was, after all……”
Zel is no fool.
He understands intellectually that calling the Saint’s soul back from the underworld would require an astronomical quantity of magical energy——that the Saint’s reincarnation is impossible.
But having lost the Saint, his absolute pillar of the heart——he had grasped at straws, entrusting a last thin thread of hope to a possibility that did not exist.
Three hundred years ago——the first Leonard came to Zel and proposed ‘a certain contract.’
[W-would that truly be possible……? The Saint’s reincarnation is possible……!?]
To the question from a young Zel, the first Leonard gives a nod.
[Yes. Once this new magic is complete, I can call her soul back to the present world. ——However, inventing magic is difficult work. It requires enormous funds, endless time, a skilled mage, and above all, ‘military force’ to protect the nation……you understand?]
[……You want me to work under you?]
[How efficient. If you provide the labor, our Leonard Theocracy will guarantee the Saint’s resurrection. Oh, speaking of that——I heard this through the grapevine, but for a beastman, a ‘promise’ carries special meaning, doesn’t it?]
The first Leonard was implicitly saying ‘this promise is subject to the beastman’s conventions.’
[……Tell me once more. If this magic——<Necromantic Reincarnation>——is completed, you can bring the Saint back?]
[Correct.]
[Can you swear this on your ancestral spirits?]
[Yes, I so swear.]
[……Understood. Until the day the new magic is complete and the Saint’s reincarnation is achieved——I will be your hands and feet.]
From then until the present day——three hundred years——the diligent Zel worked as Leonard’s hands and feet without a single complaint, quietly honoring the promise he had made.
But his suffering would never be rewarded.
In the end, it was nothing more than a base and wicked human toying with the guileless purity of a beastman.
In the midst of Leonard and his people’s mocking laughter, Zel turns back to Owl and the others.
“Unnamed Holy Knights……forgive me. I caused you trouble.”
Having offered an honest apology, he turns a sharp gaze on Leonard.
“But be at ease. I intend to buy you enough time to escape.”
“No……Zel-sama, please escape together with us!”
“Your body cannot take this, not against such numbers……!”
“Come on, never mind what, let’s just get out of here already!”
To the proposals from all three, Zel gives a small shake of his head.
“With the Saint gone, and the hope of reincarnation now crushed……I have no more purpose in living. So run——leave the ‘ghost from three hundred years ago’ here.”
Zel says this and takes a great stride forward——Leonard’s eyes go wide.
“Hm, you’re coming at me? In that decrepit body, without a proper meal in ages——you intend to face our Theocracy’s thousand proud heavy infantry?”
“If I don’t punch that detestable face of yours, I won’t be able to die in peace.”
Zel grins boldly and takes a quiet guard with the twin swords.
“The Saint’s foremost sword——Zel Zezed. Forward.”
In the next instant he breaks into an explosive sprint and slashes into the front ranks.
“Gh!?”
“Gha……”
“Ngh!?”
The honed twin-sword technique carves accurately into vital points.
“D-damn you……!”
“Don’t get carried away!”
“Die for us!”
The heavy infantry fight back with everything they have——but.
“——Slow.”
“[Everyone]: What!?”
Their slashes cut empty air.
Zel moves like an eagle soaring in the sky and strikes like a hawk hunting prey.
And in less than a single minute, the hundred soldiers standing at the front line have fallen.
“Come now, at this rate you’ll never take this old bird’s head?”
(In that aged body, what speed……!)
(This is the legendary Saint’s party……!)
(N-no good……I can’t see us winning……)
Leonard’s personal soldiers are completely overwhelmed.
In the dying elder before them, they saw the phantom of the Great Swordsman.
“Now then……the warm-up is over.”
Zel breaks into a run again and falls upon the next group.
“[Everyone]: GWAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa……!”
In the midst of the soldiers’ harrowing screams, Leonard slams his fist against the throne.
“Wh-what useless fools……! What are you doing against one half-dead beastman!? ——You there, support them!”
On Leonard’s orders, his high-ranking mage attendants all chant enhancement magic at once.
“[Everyone]: ——<Total Ability Enhancement>!”
In that instant, the soldiers’ physical strength increases dramatically.
Simultaneously——
“Gnnh!?”
——Zel drives his blade into a soldier’s forearm——only for it to stick fast, the movement sealed by muscle swollen with magic.
His feet stop for just one moment, and the enemy does not miss it.
“[Everyone]: Die for usssss!”
“Gh, ha……!”
Sword, spear, axe——countless weapons are driven into his back.
“Haha! There we go! Well done!”
Leonard cheers——but that judgment comes slightly too soon.
“——<Blood-Blade Feathers: Violent Gale>!”
Zel deploys his innate magic: blood flying from his wounds becomes countless tiny blades, shredding through the soldiers.
<Blood-Blade Feathers>——an innate magic that transforms his own blood and feathers into blades, wielded freely.
“Damn it, filthy beastman, what kind of vitality is this……!”
“Hah, hah……I’m not……finished yet……!”
After that, Zel becomes a demon running through the battlefield.
“HAAAAaaaaa……!”
His every sword stroke grows sharper the more he swings, and his speed gains momentum the more he runs.
Throwing himself into battle, color returned to faded experience, and he grew stronger as if reclaiming the figure of his former self.
And now——
“This is——the end!”
“Y-you……monster……!”
The last soldier crumbles and falls.
Great Swordsman Zel Zezed alone cuts down a thousand heavy infantry.
All that remains is the founder Leonard and his ten mage attendants.
“G-good God, this is what the legendary Saint’s party is capable of……”
“He wasn’t fighting us at full strength……!?”
“Three hundred years ago, they were all monsters……!”
Owl, Raios, and Curse hold their breath as the blood-soaked Zel slowly climbs the altar steps.
“Hah, hah……! Leo……nard……. Three hundred years you deceived me……!”
“Hii, hiiiiiii……!”
“——Die.”
Zel’s all-out descending slash——is blocked by an ‘invisible wall.’
“What is this……!? Why won’t my sword pass through……!?”
“Heh, haha……. HAHAHAHA……! Too bad, you fool!”
Leonard, convinced of his victory, lets out a high laugh.
And at his chest——an old necklace radiating a sacred light.
“Could that be……!?”
“Yes——a ‘Sacred Relic’ holding the Saint’s blessing! This necklace reacts to its wearer’s moment of peril and instantly deploys an absolutely invincible barrier! Too bad, Zel? Your pathetic little strikes cannot break through this defense!”
“Kgh……”
If only Zel had not aged.
If only Zel had been given proper food.
If only Zel’s condition had been at its best.
He would have cut this barrier down without a second thought.
But the weakened man he is now no longer has that power.
“Bwahahaha, behold! The Saint’s power is absolute!”
Leonard grips the necklace tightly and pours his own magical energy into it.
In the next instant, the barrier expands at tremendous speed——
“Gh, ha……!”
——Zel, slammed by the invisible wall, goes flying far backward.
“……Hah, hah……!”
He tries to rise, but his legs will not obey.
(This is……my blood……)
Dark red blood seeps slowly from the many sword wounds carved into his body, forming a large pool at his feet.
His limbs have no feeling, his vision flickers, and his lungs will not hold air.
This is, beyond any doubt, over.
Leonard, seated on his throne, looks down at the half-dead Zel and deliberates.
“Still, that monstrous strength……it would be a waste to lose it here. What do you say, Zel? Would you consider serving me one more time?”
The Sacred Relic in his possession activates automatically to protect its wearer, regardless of their will.
As long as this necklace exists, even if Zel were to turn against him, it would pose no great threat.
And so Leonard desires the strength of the beastman Zel Zezed.
“Ha, don’t be absurd. I am Zel Zezed, the Saint’s sword! If it comes to serving a fool like you——I would rather die here!”
A proud beastman does not switch allegiances.
To the master they have chosen, they offer absolute loyalty and dedicate their entire life to following them.
“Very well. Then die.”
The moment Leonard snaps his fingers——
“[Everyone]: ——<Hellfire>!”
More than a hundred crimson flames converge on Zel.
“[Everyone]: Zel-sama……!”
Owl, Raios, and Curse cry out something like a scream, and crimson fire fills the entire field of vision——a flash of memories crosses Zel’s mind.
[……Saint-sama, you should reconsider. There’s not a single good reason to add an albino individual like me to your party.]
[Hmm, I like you though. Zel’s red eyes and white feathers, they’re really cool.]
[Here we are, Saint-sama——tonight’s dinner is Naarf pork and Nueni herb roast.]
[Mmmm, delicious! Zel’s cooking is the best in the world!]
[Saint-sama. I swear here, to be your spear and your shield, and to offer you eternal loyalty until the moment this life ends——]
[Thank you, Zel. I’m counting on you.]
Of the three hundred and some years lived, what comes to mind is only those few short months spent with his master.
(Ah……Saint-sama……. If only I could hear your voice, one last time——)
In that instant, scorching, explosive flame fills the world entire.
A direct hit from every one.
Hellfire tramples through Zel’s body.
The smell of charring spreads through the area, and when the smoke clears——there is Zel, collapsed lifelessly, suffering near-fatal wounds.
Chipped beak, burned and blistered wings, feathers charred black——barely still breathing, but just barely. The flame of life hangs by a thread.
Great Swordsman Zel Zezed’s life will be extinguished before long.
“Heh heh heh……HAHAHAHAHA……! The legendary Saint’s party, the Great Swordsman Zel Zezed——reduced to this, it’s a pitiful sight! Look at him, like a charred skewer! Bony, not even worth eating!”
Leonard’s mocking laughter rings out, and his mage attendants join in.
In the midst of an air so ugly it turns the stomach——suddenly, a sacred wind sweeps through.
“——<Holy Dragon’s Breath>.”
A divine act——an ‘extreme-tier spell’ unfurls, and as if time itself is rewinding, Zel’s body begins to regenerate.
“……Wh-what on earth……is this……?”
The massive plate armor passes directly beside him as he stares in stunned silence.
“——A magnificent loyalty, Aries.”
“……!”
In that instant, a shock like a lightning strike runs through Zel, and from behind dried eyes, a single tear falls.
A warm voice, like sunlight, overflowing with compassion.
And more than anything——the name the armor had spoken was Zel’s true name, given to him by his ancestral spirits.
Only one person in the world knows it——the master to whom he had pledged absolute loyalty.
(That can’t be……impossible……)
The Saint had died.
He had spent three hundred long years slowly coming to swallow that fact.
And yet, his eyes, his ears, his feathers——his own soul was crying out that this was her.
“……Luna……-sama……?”
The plate armor turns back slightly, and beneath the helm, smiles softly.
“Hm……that plate armor. That must be ‘Silver,’ the Proxy of the Saint, if the rumors are to be believed.”
“……”
Luna, burning with quiet anger, says nothing in reply——and simply walks straight toward Leonard. Leonard, for his part, does not try to stop her.
“Brace yourself.”
Standing directly in front of Leonard, Luna slowly winds back her right arm.
“Bwahaha, you fool! We have a Sacred Relic, you know! And a supreme one at that, holding the Saint’s very blessing——”
In the next instant——
“Huh……what, blaggh!?”
The absolutely invincible barrier shatters into pieces, and an iron fist drives through Leonard’s face.
“Blgh, bpf, ghh……!”
He rolls across the ground, slamming his body against it again and again, tumbling far backward.
The barrier having served as a cushion spares him instant death——but Leonard suffers near-fatal injuries, and the Sacred Relic necklace cracks apart into fragments.
“[Everyone]: ……Huh……?”
The mage attendants’ jaws drop, and confusion takes over the Chamber of Reincarnation.
And understandably so.
The Saint’s barrier, which had boasted ‘absolute invincibility,’ had been smashed open with ridiculous ease by nothing more than a single fist.
“He……he actually did it……!”
“He punched the Saint’s Sacred Relic……into pieces……!?”
“What kind of insane strength……!”
Owl, Raios, and Curse are left without words, and in the eerie silence that descends, the villainess turns eyes as cold as ice.
“A divine message has just been received from the Saint. ——Every last one of you is going straight to hell.”