Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Zero - Volume 4 - Chapter 4

Chapter IV: Miledi Reisen’s True Mettle

That day, the battlefield was enveloped in a strange atmosphere. The earth trembled as 170,000 pairs of boots marched across the plains. Crazed shouts filled the air.

“Damn bastard!”

“Get off of me!”

The beastmen warriors faltered as they grappled with soldiers with bloodshot eyes. The federation’s troops charged the beastmen in groups of four, clinging to their targets with dogged resolve. They didn’t relent, even when they were stabbed through the heart or had their heads caved in. It was as if they didn’t feel any pain at all.

“No way, are they gonna sacrifice their allies aga—”

One of the beastmen said, panicking. While one soldier pinned him down, another group ran their spears through both of them, killing friend and foe alike. They let out a bestial howl as they thrust, seemingly not caring that they were killing an ally too.

“Gaaaah!?”

“Are you insa— Gwah!”

Spears lanced through the beastman from all sides.

“Ehit is with us!”

“There is no greater honor than martyrdom!”

Blood spilled from the skewered soldier’s mouth, but he smiled in satisfaction as he died. The other beastmen shivered in horror. In the last few fights, they’d seen a glimpse of how deep the Federation’s faith went. They’d been disgusted by the humans’ blind loyalty to Ehit, but they’d also felt pity for the deluded fools.

Before, even when their faith had taken precedence, the soldiers had still retained some semblance of humanity. They’d feared death and gotten angry when their comrades were slain. But now—

What the hell... What’s with these guys!? It’s like they’re not even human anymore! The human soldiers laughed as they died, even when it was their own comrades who were killing them.

“Outta my waaay!”

Just as the beastmen were about to break, Badd came leaping to their rescue. With one kick he scattered the Federation’s soldiers, and as he landed he spun in a circle, swinging his scythe in a giant indigo arc. As a Liberator, Badd was honor-bound not to kill the soldiers. So his slice drained the mana of every soldier it passed through rather than cutting them in half. The Federation troops collapsed to the floor in an unconscious heap. They could ignore pain, but not the physiological exhaustion that came with having no mana. A second later a portal opened up above the nearly-dead beastman, and restorative orange light poured down on him, instantly curing his lethal injuries.

“Gah! Thanks for the save, Badd-dono!”

“Don’t let your guard down! These guys are all even willing to blow themselves up to take you down. Be ready for anything!”

Cold sweat poured down Badd’s forehead. His usual calm demeanor was nowhere to be seen.

“Meiru’s burning through her mana fast! Even with Lyu’s help, she won’t last long, so try not to get hurt!”

“Gotcha! But these guys—”

Another wave of crazed soldiers charged recklessly toward the beastmen. The mist barrier was still active, but the federation simply had too many troops. Though they weren’t employing any strategy at all, just by charging blindly into the fog and attacking anything they saw they were able to push the battle lines back. Worse, it wasn’t just the Federation soldiers who’d thrown away all thoughts of self-preservation.

“Gaaaah!”

There was a loud thunderclap, and Valf suddenly hurtled into the clearing Badd was in. Blood spurted from numerous deep cuts, trailing in the air behind him. He made no move to soften his landing, and it looked like he was already unconscious.

“Goddamnit!”

Badd activated his body strengthening magic and jumped forward to catch Valf. There was a dry crackling noise, and a second later the beastman soldier Badd had saved from being skewered got decapitated. As did the dozen or so Federation soldiers that had been charging at them. Their heads sailed through the air like basketballs. Standing in the center of this carnage was Lilith. Lightning was covering every inch of her. She lowered her sword ominously at Badd.

“Plasma Thunder.”

Bolts of lightning shot out from her in every direction. The explosion of electricity was so bright it momentarily blinded Badd.

“Harvest it all— Egxess!”

Holding Valf in one hand, Badd spun his scythe to shield himself with the other. Egxess drained the mana from Lilith’s attack, neutralizing any bolts that came into contact with it. Lilith’s attack lasted only a few seconds. But those few seconds were more than enough to do some serious damage. By the time Badd could see again, there was nothing around him. The Federation soldiers and the beastmen had both been reduced to ash.

“Do your allies mean nothing to you? Guess I should have expected as much from the church.” Badd spat, his expression stiff. Lilith raised her head, looking up at him. There was a terrifying gleam in her eyes.

“I’m simply doing what needs to be done,” she muttered. If the fog made it impossible for her to aim her attacks, then the only solution was to obliterate everything in her vicinity. Her allies would receive the honor of martyrdom, while her enemies would receive the hammer of divine wrath.

“For the glory of God!”

This was Lilith Arkind’s true nature. However she was hardly unique, every Templar Knight was like this. There was another flash of light, and Lilith appeared behind Badd. She’d used electromagnetism to accelerate herself to superhuman speeds. Fortunately, Badd was used to dealing with superhumans.

“Egxess!”

He whirled around, his scythe leaving an indigo trail as he swung it at Lilith. Before the mana-eating blade could reach her, though, she disappeared in another flash. She reappeared a good distance away and incinerated another group of beastmen and Federation soldiers who were locked in combat around her. She continued jumping around the battlefield, killing everything she approached, regardless of whether it was friend or foe. As Badd, who was immune to the mist’s effects, chased her down, orange light poured down on the wolfman in his arms.

“Ngh, Badd! Sorry, I fucked up. Where’d that bitch go!?”

Badd held out a hand to silence Valf and activated the earring transmitter Artifact he’d received from Miledi.

“Lyu, get rid of the mist around Lilith!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah! She’s started blasting away indiscriminately. I’d rather her aim straight for me than have her hopping around randomly!”

“Very well. But be careful.”

A second later, the mist vanished in a 200-meter dome around Badd. Confused, the beastmen in the area all stopped moving for a second. While everyone was still getting their bearings, Badd sucked in a breath and shouted in a voice louder than Lilith’s thunder, “Retreat! I’ll take care of things here! Just don’t let any of the other knights come here!”

That was enough for the beastmen to realize that Lyutillis had created a dueling arena for Badd and Lilith.

The beastmen quickly disengaged from the Federation soldiers and started mobbing the Templar Knights around Lilith.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?”

But before they could tackle the knights some invisible force sent them all flying backward.

“Fugyaa!?”

At the same time, Sui flew into the clearing, blood spraying from her wounds. Valf hurriedly grabbed her before she could fall, and a portal appeared to rain orange light down on her.

“Jeez! What’s wrong with you, Valf-san!? You can’t just get beaten up and leave me to fend for myself! If you’re going to get cut down anyway, you should have at least been my meat shield! I thought I was gonna die back there!”

“Well sorry for leaving you alone, you worthless rabbit.”

Sui was surprisingly energetic for someone who had a hole in her stomach, even if it was being healed. Valf gave her a sarcastic apology, but he didn’t push the issue. There were bigger problems at hand.

“You dispelled the mist protecting you? Fools.”

Another knight stepped into the arena, his body hazy and indistinct. As he cleared the mist, his silhouette grew more solid, until he finally regained physical form. The newcomer was Zebal, the commander of the Templar Knights’ third division.

“Zebal... Get the knights out of here! I’m going to continue my indiscriminate charge! Send only Federation soldiers into this arena!”

“Roger!”

Zebal nodded and stretched his arms out in front of him. A second later they transformed into a colorless liquid and started absorbing nearby moisture. He spread his water tentacle-arms around the edge of the arena, creating a ring. Why are they only sacrificing Federation soldiers? Before the beastmen had time to even ask that question, Lilith resumed her lightning barrage.

“Oh no you don’t!”

“You’ll have to get through us first!”

“I hate thiiiiis! I wanna go hoooooooome!”

Badd blocked Lilith’s lightning with his scythe while Valf ducked low and charged toward Zebal. Amidst the confusion, Sui vanished.

Valf swiped at Zebal with his gauntleted claws. At the same time, he activated his special magic, Float Field. Losing one’s balance during a close-combat encounter was fatal, so Valf’s ability was one of the most powerful ones out there. Unfortunately, Zebal’s special magic was perfectly equipped to handle it. Right before Valf struck, he used Liquefaction to turn himself into water. As a liquid, he didn’t have to worry about his balance being affected. However, Valf hadn’t been expecting such a simple attack to work in the first place.

“Die, you fucker!”

“Tch. Not you again.”

Sui suddenly appeared next to Zebal and threw a flask at him. The green liquid contained within would easily dissolve into his aqueous form. Naturally, that liquid was poison. It was a very special toxin Sui had created by mixing poisons harvested from plants with poisons harvested from monsters. The venom was deadly enough to bring down an elephant. Though liquifying himself protected Zebal from physical attacks, his true atomic composition was still that of a regular human—meaning poison could still kill him. He instantly canceled his Liquefaction and dodged out of the way of the flask. But as he dodged, Valf’s claws came up to meet him. However, Zebal hadn’t reached the rank of third division commander by virtue of his magic alone. He was highly skilled with his daggers, and by combining his abilities with body strengthening magic, he was able to weather Valf’s onslaught. That being said, he had been pinned down by Valf and Sui’s combo attacks. “Get out of here, you guys! And make sure the Federation soldiers can’t get in here!” Valf shouted.

“R-Roger!”

As a result, Zebal was unable to fulfill his orders, and the beastmen were able to escape the duel arena.

“You’re not getting awaaaaaay!”

Lilith tried to chase after the retreating beastmen, but Badd easily blocked her path.

“Hold your horses!”

“Ngh, damned Knight Hunter! Stop getting in my way!”

Just as Lilith tried to activate her lightning acceleration, Badd sliced at her feet, forcing her to dodge backward. In that brief span of time, the beastmen had successfully completed their retreat. However, Lilith was determined to massacre as many beastmen as possible, and tried to jump into the fog.

“Sorry, but you’re not getting past here.”

“Curse you!”

But like before, Badd predicted her trajectory and swiped down at where she’d end up. He was reading her movements perfectly.

“How many times do you think we’ve fought over this past month? Only an idiot wouldn’t have your tells figured out by now.”

Whenever Lilith activated her superspeed, she had a habit of sending a single spark in the direction she intended to go. With the mist gone, she followed that trajectory perfectly, making it simple for Badd to read her.

“You haven’t won yet!”

Lilith snarled. It galled her to no end that Badd was good enough to keep her in check. But at the same time, Badd was frustrated that he couldn’t land a decisive blow on Lilith. The commander of the Templar Knights was still skilled enough to defend against any fatal attacks Badd might attempt. Moreover, Badd had his hands full making sure Lilith didn’t kill his allies.

See, this is why I tell everyone the Knight Hunter title’s just an exaggeration. Badd thought, a rueful smile appearing on his face. He couldn’t use any special magic, and his affinity for regular magic was mediocre at best. In that respect, Badd Virtus was as average as they come. But after going through years of hellish training and making it through dozens of battlefields, Badd had finally built up enough skill to fight on the same level as natural-born geniuses. If there was one thing he had confidence in, it was his own grit and ingenuity. Which was why—

“Vaaaaaaalf! I could use some help here!”

“So could I, you moron!”

He opted to switch targets. Lilith and Zebal had been so focused on their respective opponents, that they hadn’t considered the possibility that they’d have to face anyone else. So Badd and Valf swapped places to grab the upper hand.

“Wha—!?”

“Damned Knight Hunter!”

Valf’s Float Field successfully threw Lilith off-balance, while Badd’s scythe cut right through the liquid Zebal, stealing his mana. Naturally, Sui didn’t let this opportunity slip past her either.

“I hate overtime!”

“Ngh!”

Despite her complaining, Sui still reappeared next to Lilith and drove a poisoned dagger into her flank. Lilith and Zebal staggered backward, gravely wounded. But just as Badd and the others moved in to deal the decisive blow—

“Don’t underestimate me— Volt Blast!”

“Pure Mist!”

Lilith raised her sword into the air, calling down a storm of thunder and lightning that blinded and deafened Badd and the others.

“Valf, Sui!”

Badd twirled his scythe over his head to defend himself from the barrage of lightning. Egxess glowed indigo as its whirling blade ate up every bolt of lightning it touched. Soon enough, Valf and Sui came to hide underneath his umbrella of protection.

“What the heck? That poison should have killed her! What’s that gorilla lady made of!?”

Sui couldn’t believe Lilith had enough strength left to call down an attack this powerful. Between blasts of lightning, Badd caught a glimpse of what was restoring her strength. Both her and Zebal were guzzling down a pale blue liquid. Lilith’s ashen complexion became full of vitality again while Zebal’s numerous wounds vanished. Badd hadn’t expected them to use the legendary medicine the church gave out only to those of commander rank or higher, Ambrosia. Of course, Lilith and Zebal were livid over the fact that they’d been forced to waste one of their biggest trump cards here, but Badd and the others were getting truly desperate now. Everything they’d worked for until now had just been undone. Sui’s eyes were glazed over while Valf was grinding his teeth so hard they were cracking.

“Uwooooooooooooooh!”

“You’ve got this, Badd!”

“I’m sick of this! You better protect me with your life, Badd!”

Badd groaned as lightning rained down on him. Even with Egxess, he was having a hard time absorbing everything. If I can’t absorb it all, I’ll send some of it back at you!

“It’s reaping time— Egxess!”

Countless blades shot out from Egxess, offsetting Lilith’s lightning bolts. As he started pushing them back, Badd forced open a path toward Lilith.

“Valf!”

“Roger!”

Valf dashed through the narrow opening. But Zebal, who’d insulated himself by turning himself into pure water, moved to block his path.

“I won’t let you harm the commander.”

“Please just die already! You’re making my job harder!”

Sui leaped up in front of Zebal and slashed at him with her poisoned daggers. Zebal blocked with his own daggers, and there was a loud metallic screech as their weapons clashed. Valf took advantage of the brief opening to close the gap between him and Lilith. He launched a barrage of slashes at her, using Float Field to disorient her. But while that successfully stopped Lilith’s lightning storm, they weren’t out of the woods yet.

“Rwooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”

A litany of battle cries echoed through the arena. The Federation’s soldiers had finally broken their way in. There were so many of them they looked like a writhing swarm.

“Sorry, Captain Valf! But we can’t stop ’em!”

“They’re using their dead comrades’ corpses as battering rams to push through!”

“They won’t stop even when we crush their bones! It’s like they don’t feel any pain!”

The beastmen chased after the swarm of soldiers, but they were all covered in wounds. Moreover, no matter how many soldiers they cut down from behind, there were just too many federation troops pouring in. Within seconds, the hordes of Federation soldiers had reached Valf and the others’ battlefield.

“Get the Knight Hunter!” Lilith screamed.

“Damn bitch!” Valf shouted as he dodged the snake-like bolts of lightning Lilith shot at him. While Valf was occupied, the soldiers were all able to focus on Badd. Badd quickly reversed Egxess’ rotation and started hitting the soldiers with the flat side of his blade. The force of his blows was enough to knock his enemies unconscious, and if their supernatural resistance to pain let them endure that, the mana drain that came after caused them to collapse anyway. But then Lilith grabbed one of the soldiers to use as a meat shield and started advancing on Badd.

“You can’t kill these guys, can you!? You coward!”

“Shut up! What’s cowardly is what you’re doing!”

So this is why she only wanted to let Federation soldiers through. Knowing he couldn’t kill the soldiers, Badd dodged out of Lilith’s way. However, Lilith predicted his movements. She tossed her hostage aside and circled around him using her superhuman acceleration. Wreathing her blade in lightning, she slashed at Badd’s back.

Shit! Honestly, her slash wasn’t a huge threat. Badd could deflect it easily enough. But there was so much lightning shooting off her blade that some of the sparks ended up hitting Badd. Though they did no damage on their own, they caused his muscles to spasm for a split second. And in that second, Lilith unleashed a follow-up slash that he had no hope of dodging.

“Shaaaaaaaaaaa!”

But before her swing could land, Valf slid in between the two of them and slashed at Lilith’s legs. He scored only a glancing blow, but it was enough to slow Lilith down for a moment. And a moment was all Badd needed. He twirled around, slamming Egxess into the ground, and using the recoil to push him out of harm’s way. As he pulled Egxess back out of the earth, he sent a barrage of dirt Lilith’s way. Luckily for him, the dirt actually got into Lilith’s eyes, distracting her for a moment. At that moment, he sent countless blades of mana out of his scythe to render the surrounding Federation soldiers unconscious. Earning himself a brief moment of reprieve, Badd quickly caught his breath. Valf disengaged as well and came to stand beside him. Sui, as always, had vanished. She was likely waiting for another opportunity to strike. Keeping his attention focused on Lilith and Zebal, Badd muttered apologetically, “Sorry... I know I’m holding you guys back because of my dumb hang-ups.”

This was a war zone. Even if Badd wasn’t forcing his ideals on the other beastmen, it didn’t change the fact that by all rights he deserved to be ridiculed for his choice to not kill the Federation soldiers. However, Valf harrumphed dismissively and said, “Don’t call it a ‘hangup.’ That’s one of your treasured ideals, isn’t it? Then stick to it. I wouldn’t wanna fight alongside some scumbag who’d easily give up on what they believe in anyway.”

“I see...”

Badd’s lips curled up into a fearless smile. Valf smiled back at him. These two had completely different creeds and upbringings. But they respected each other enough to entrust their lives to one another. Even though they were human and beastman. This was exactly the kind of future the Liberators were fighting for.

“Blasphemous!”

“Your very existence is a blight upon this world!”

Lilith and Zebal were disgusted by the trust they saw between Badd and Valf. But Badd and Valf didn’t seem perturbed by their insults.

“Hey, Badd. If you’re stuck fighting these fools you won’t be able to hunt down those knights, will you? What good’s the famous Knight Hunter if he’s not killing knights?”

“Yeah, it really is pathetic. Especially since I came here to help you fight the church and all.”

The two of them bantered playfully. As expected, their easygoing attitude infuriated Lilith and Zebal. The two knights were determined to force Badd to his knees and make him beg for forgiveness. Unfortunately, the heretics they were facing were strong. Overwhelmingly so. They despised Badd and Valf, but what they despised even more was their own inability to eradicate these heretics. But that was about to change.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

Badd was the first to notice. The white mist above the dome seemed to be growing brighter. It was almost as if some glowing entity was passing through the sky above the mist. A second later, there was a thunderous explosion. Shockwaves rippled across the earth and sky. They came from the east.

“What the hell was that!?”

“Wait, don’t tell me—”

Badd, Valf, and all the other beastmens’ jaws dropped open. Meanwhile, Lilith just smiled.

“Looks like your time’s finally up. For Ehit!”

Now that they no longer had to worry about the Child of God’s safety, the church could bomb the Pale Forest without reserve. And that bombing had finally begun.

On the other side of the plains, Sim’s personal soldiers were locked in a fierce battle with the main force of the federation’s soldiers, who were being led by Detref himself. Like the soldiers Badd had faced, these troops also cared nothing for their lives and threw themselves wholeheartedly into suicidal charges. Roars and screams filled the battlefield as the beastmen desperately tried to hold back the tide of federation soldiers. However, two particular battle cries rang out louder than the rest.

“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Uwooooooooooooh!”

One of those two was Sim; the other was Detref. Both men stood nearly three meters tall and were armored in a wall of muscle. Every time they clashed, it felt like elephants ramming into each other. Detref’s weapon was a claymore that was nearly as tall as he was. It was so heavy that normal humans couldn’t even lift it, much less swing it around. Detref needed a huge dose of body strengthening magic to use it himself. Shockwaves strong enough to bowl people over rippled outward every time his sword clashed with Sim’s halberd.

“Haaaaah!”

Detref slashed diagonally downward at Sim. Sim swung his halberd up in response. Even with Lyutillis’ evolution magic, Sim’s arms wouldn’t be able to handle the impact, so he bolstered his block with Shock Wall as well. He redirected the majority of Detref’s force downward, into the ground, blunting the blow.

“Graaaah!”

As the ground cracked underneath Sim’s feet, he went on the offensive, swinging his halberd sideways. Even if Detref blocked Sim’s blow, he could use Shock Wall to transfer the impact into the king’s internal organs. However, Detref was no fool. It wasn’t a fluke that he’d survived on the battlefield for so long. With superhuman agility, he cartwheeled away, dodging the halberd by a hair’s breadth. While he was still upside-down, he also launched a counterattack. Sim blocked it with the halberd’s handle, but Detref slid his blade up the long pole, trying to cut Sim’s fingers off.

“Tch.”

Clicking his tongue, Sim let go of his weapon. Without his halberd, he had no way of blocking Detref’s next swing. Which was why he wasn’t planning to give Detref time to attack again. He launched himself forward, manipulating the impact of his foot leaving the ground and transferring its energy into his arm.

“Nnnngh!”

He punched Detref in the solar plexus, his fist sinking in deep. However, Detref was more flexible than one might assume from his heavy frame. He leaned back with the force of the blow, allowing himself to be blown away. That blunted the force of Sim’s punch, and he was able to land safely a short distance away.

“I’m surprised. You’re pretty good, human,” Sim said surprisingly softly as he picked up his halberd.

He wasn’t trying to insult Detref. Sim honestly was impressed by the king’s skills.

As this was the theater with the heaviest fighting, Lyutillis had already made sure the fog was as thick as possible here. Even in close combat, the human soldiers’ sense of direction and distance was being warped. And yet, Detref was able to execute complex acrobatic maneuvers flawlessly in this fog. The only way that was possible was if he was completing them on reflex, since the fog could only interfere with willful actions.

That meant that Detref had accumulated a truly massive amount of experience on the battlefield, allowing him to fight entirely instinctively. He’d reached martial enlightenment and could fight without thought. As insane as it was, he was able to nullify the fog’s disorienting effects as long as he was engaged in close combat.

“If you’re this strong, why didn’t you come to the front lines earlier?”

“Heh. Leaders of armies aren’t meant to fight on the front lines, you know,” Detref replied with a rueful smile. Unlike his crazed soldiers, he seemed in full command of his mental faculties.

“I knew it, you haven’t gone insane. But you’re having your insane soldiers kill themselves for victory...”

Sim couldn’t believe it. Are his men just pawns to him? Of course, Sim wasn’t foolish enough to show sympathy to the enemy soldiers. But as a warrior, he couldn’t believe someone walking down the same path as him could be so heartless.

Detref’s smile grew sad and he said, “The die has already been cast. This is... what god wishes for.”

At that moment, he just looked like a tired old man. Sim narrowed his eyes. The man in front of him was a pure-blooded warrior, just like him. Moreover, he was just like Badd. Despite possessing no special abilities of note, he’d trained himself up to the point where he could go toe to toe with talented geniuses. And yet, a man of his caliber had seemingly given up.

“You poor soul...”

“There’s no need to pity me. It’s surprisingly freeing, being released from my responsibilities.”

Detref thought back to the beautiful oracle he’d met that day. Her words, her demeanor, had changed him to a surprising degree. He was no longer commander of the Odion Federation’s army. He wasn’t even a king. Right now, he was just a simple soldier. Which was why he was willing to risk his life in this battle. As a soldier, as a warrior, it was his greatest wish to fight a worthy foe.

“Now take your stance, beastman general. I will defeat you and carve open a path for my comrades.”

“Very well. But first, at least tell me your name. Your strength deserves to be remembered.”

For a moment Detref wavered. He’d never expected a beastman, someone who was supposed to despise and disparage humans, to ask him for his name. But while it came as a surprise, Detref wasn’t offended by the question. In fact, he found he didn’t even hate this beastman. He thought back to the bishops who’d always disparaged beastmen and called them mongrel heretics during council meetings. While he hadn’t been as crass about it, his feelings for beastmen had been more or less the same. But now he was facing off against a beastman who sympathized with his plight and also respected his valor as a warrior. What a joke. My whole life up until now has been one big farce! To think I discriminated against beastmen simply for being beastmen. Strength, both of body and of mind, was what determined a true warrior. Paltry things like race didn’t matter at all. For the first time in decades, Detref could feel his blood start to boil. Pouring his passion into his words, he said, “Detref. My name is Detref Ernst. I am but a humble warrior.”

“Sim Gato. Commander of the republic’s armies.”

Detref and Sim smiled fearlessly at each other. The racial divide between the two of them no longer mattered. They fought not out of discrimination or hatred, but for their own ideals. Both men raised their treasured weapons high. Their bodies blazed with fighting spirit. But just as the two of them were about to clash—

“Purify everything— Divine Blaze.”

“Tear him to pieces, Vanadis!”

“Repent, sinners— Arrows of Atonement!”

A dome of fire spread out around the two combatants, clearing away the mist in a ten-meter radius around them. At the same time, a pure white wolf rushed at Sim from behind while a steel arrow came at him from the side. By the time he turned around, the wolf’s jaws were close enough to blot out everything else. He quickly raised his halberd to defend, but he was too late. The wolf’s jaws ripped through his flank, while the steel arrow pierced his left thigh. The arrow ripped right through his leg and shot through his right thigh as well, leaving a trail of blood as it flew past.

“Ngghh!”

While his halberd was keeping the wolf’s jaws from ripping out his flank entirely, the arrow’s damage caused his legs to give out. Unable to push the wolf back, he was sent flying as the wolf tossed its head. As he sailed through the air, Sim spotted his new enemies. A female knight wielding a magnificent bow—one of the Holy Templar Knights brigade commanders, Lelaie Argeson—and a man who was panting heavily—the vice commander of the Holy Templar Knights, Araym Orcman. Aside from those two, there was also the knight riding the giant white wolf. He had short, blue hair, narrow, slit-like eyes, and a scar on his cheek, and he looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was obviously one of the Paragons of Light, and he had a sturdy steel spear in his hands.

“Pay for your sins— Holy Lance!”

He thrust his spear forward with blistering speed. As he did, motes of light began to gather around the spear’s tip. This man, Godel Goth, was the vice-commander of the Paragons of Light. His affinity for light magic was exceptionally high, and his skills as a spearman were top-class. There was nothing his Holy Lance couldn’t pierce. Time seemed to slow for Sim as he watched the spear’s tip grow closer. He knew instinctively that Godel’s attack would kill him. He shivered as he watched his death draw closer.

“General!”

A lone arrow came out of the blue. It traveled just as fast as Lelaie’s had, and it pierced Sim’s shoulder, tearing through both flesh and bone. Though it dealt Sim a grievous wound, it forcibly moved him out of the lance’s trajectory, saving his life.

“Thanks, Nascis! You saved my life!” Sim shouted as he landed on his knees. Nascis Fluke, the elven 1000-man infantry captain, slowly lowered his bow, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

“All units, support the general! Squads one through three, focus your fire on the flame user, the bow user, and the spear user!”

Nascis swiftly barked out orders and started shooting his bow as fast as he could. With each shot, he fired a total of nine arrows. Each of those arrows were aimed perfectly at either Araym, Lelaie, or Godel’s vitals. Nascis’ skill was so godlike it might as well have been magic. The rest of his archers followed their captain’s example and started firing volley after volley. The other knights who weren’t being targeted by Nascis’ squad rushed the beastmen.

“Alright you louts, it’s time to show what you’re made of! Protect Nascis’ men with your lives!” an old dwarf shouted, his voice bellowing across the battlefield. Despite his age, he didn’t look the least bit frail. Though he was quite short, his muscles were a match for Detref and Sim. He was the commander of the beastmen’s heavy infantry, Gou Bacchus. Among his peers, he was known as the iron fortress for his sturdy defensive fighting style, and he, along with his men, quickly raised their tower shields to form a shield wall in front of Nascis’ archers. Most of the Celestial Flashes unleashed by the Templar Knights missed their mark entirely, but those that didn’t were stopped cold by Gou’s wall of steel. Meanwhile, other beastmen took care of the federation soldiers who were rushing in.

Seeing that Nascis’ squad couldn’t be dealt with right away, Araym was forced to focus his fire on shooting down arrows, while Lelaie fought back with her own archery. Godel used his wolf’s agility to dance out of the way of the barrage, using his spear to block any arrows that got too close. Even though all three of them were being pelted with hundreds of arrows a second, their superhuman skills allowed them to prevent even one from hitting. That being said, they were forced to remain entirely on the defensive, and so couldn’t focus on Sim.

Annoyed, Godel shouted, “Detref, what’re you doing!? Hurry up and kill that brute!”

At long last, Detref had found a worthy opponent. But just as he’d been preparing for the duel of his life, he’d been blindsided by the appearance of Araym and the others. Though their arrival hadn’t caught him totally by surprise, he’d been at a loss for what to do. Sighing, he watched as a deluge of orange light poured down on Sim, healing his wounds. The former king hefted his massive claymore onto his shoulder.

“Sorry, but that’s just how war is,” he said somewhat apologetically.

“Don’t sweat it. I know,” Sim replied casually, and Detref gave him a sad smile.

Yeah... This beastman’s definitely more human than any of the humans I’ve been around lately. He couldn’t even say that aloud to Sim, for fear of being branded a heretic. So he clamped down on his feelings and dashed forward. But before he could reach Sim, a flash of light illuminated the fog overhead.

Sim and Detref looked up in surprise, while Godel and the others jubilantly shouted, “Finally!”

A second later, an explosion loud enough to rupture eardrums resounded throughout the battlefield. Nascis and the other archers stopped shooting momentarily, utterly shocked.

In a pained voice, Sim shouted, “Wait, are they bombing the forest!?”

As he spoke, successive explosions rippled out from the forest. Thanks to their enhanced hearing, the beastmen were more or less able to pinpoint the location of the explosions. They knew the church was bombing the area around the Grand Tree.

“Impossible...are they attacking from outside the barrier’s range!? But that means they’re kilometers away...”

Judging by the flashes of light shooting overhead, Sim had deduced that the Paragons of Light were having their dragons fire at the Grand Tree from a distance, rather than dropping bombs from directly overhead. However, they wouldn’t be able to aim within the fog. A concentrated barrage would be impossible. If they were firing from within the fog, most of their attacks would land near the edge of the forest. Meaning they had to be firing from outside the fog’s effective radius. While the church had plenty of powerful knights, the only people capable of causing such destruction at such range should be Mulm and his dragon Adra’s breath. And the two of them were supposed to be fighting Miledi. There was no way Miledi would let them out of her sight long enough to allow them to start bombing. 

Let us rewind time to a few minutes before the bombing began. While the beastmen were struggling on the ground, Miledi was locked in a fierce duel in the air. As always, she was facing Laus, who was being supported by Mulm and Adra, as well as a number of Holy Templar Knights and Paragons of Light.

Their lineup’s a bit different today... They brought out less of their strong captains, but there’s twice as many of them now. Despite being in the middle of a life-and-death struggle with Laus, Miledi was still able to calmly analyze her situation. Like Badd, she’d asked Lyutillis to remove the fog around her to prevent the knights’ attacks from accidentally hitting other people. As a result, Laus didn’t need Araym’s Divine Blaze to keep the area clear, and Lelaie’s arrows weren’t as powerful as Mulm’s anyway, so she wouldn’t be missed. However, their absence only made Miledi more worried. As Laus and Miledi knocked each other away, Mulm fired a blisteringly fast barrage of arrows at her, forcing her to use gravity magic to strike them down.

“Oh my, it’s hard being this popular! Boys, boys, I know you’re all smitten with me, but you shouldn’t spend all your time pining after me!” Miledi taunted, provocatively raising her skirt. Naturally, she didn’t forget her ultra-annoying smile.

As expected, her taunts got a rise out of the knights, and they started shouting things like “Don’t get so full of yourself!” and “Laugh while you still can!” While I still can? What’s that supposed to mean? Do they have some plan to deal with me?

“You’re wide open,” Laus said flatly. Indeed, Miledi had let herself get distracted for a second too long. For the second time this month, Laus slipped around to her side and smashed her ribs with a well-placed hammerblow. As she flew through the air, a barrage of arrows chased after her. They rained down from above in a torrent so thick, it covered the sun. Mulm was probably thinking it’d be harder for Miledi to knock them all down with gravity if gravity was bringing them towards her. At the same time, two hundred dragons unleashed their breath attacks from below, cutting off her avenue of retreat. At the center was a ten-meter wide aurora of light— Adra’s breath.

“Don’t underestimate the power of a genius mage— Spatial Severance!”

The two orbs circling around Miledi wouldn’t be able to deflect everything. So she created another swirling vortex of gravity to absorb Adra’s aurora. It contained so much energy that it nearly ruptured her Spatial Severance, but it held. With the aurora gone, Miledi was free to fall toward the ground. As she did so, she used her remaining gravity spheres to either redirect or absorb any breath attacks or arrows that got too close. She then quickly reoriented herself as she spotted Laus chasing after her out of the corner of her eye. Using her transmitter earring, she contacted Meiru and shouted, “Meru-nee!”

“I’m already on it, Miledi-chan!”

Another volley of arrows, breath attacks, and a lone aurora beam shot toward her. Laus continued closing in on her, weaving through the barrage. The 300 Holy Templar Knights formed up in a ring around the edge of the arena, ensuring Miledi couldn’t try and escape into the fog. Miledi continued dodging the endless assault, trying to buy herself time until Meiru was ready. Seconds later, a gentle orange rain fell upon her, healing her battered body. As always, Meiru had Miledi’s back. However this time, Meiru’s healing came with a warning.

“Miledi-chan, try not to get more hurt! I kind of have my hands full right now!”

“What’s happening on the ground!?”

It was Lyutillis who answered. She’d been keeping an eye on the overall situation from Naiz’s portals, so she had a better grasp of things than Meiru.

“We’re being pushed back. Moreover, the battle lines are getting stretched to the north and the south. The enemy’s sending even their most wounded to attack us.”

“What...? Why would they...?”

“Our casualties are mounting. Most of our men aren’t able to retreat to Onee-sama’s field hospital in time.”

“No wonder Meru-nee’s having a hard time— Whoa!”

Miledi just barely avoided Laus’ next swing, then struck down his follow-up Soul Shock with a gravity wave. Much like Miledi, Laus was constantly being showered with healing magic from his allies to keep him in perfect shape. As Miledi attempted to re-establish her telepathic link with Meiru and the others, she launched a barrage of Celestial Flashes in all directions.

Though each of her thousand light shockwaves were small, they had as much power as a Celestial Flash unleashed by a Holy Templar Knight. The knights were both nonplussed and enraged. Their anger harmed their coordination, allowing Miledi to slip through the gaps in their attacks.

“Miledi-tan, I’m going to pull the battle lines back.”

“But won’t that mean the forest will take damage? Didn’t you say regenerating parts of the forest takes a ton of mana?”

“We have Onee-sama so that shouldn’t be as much of a problem. Though it irks me to grant them a foothold into the forest, I fear we have little choice right now.”

“Gotcha... Well, my job hasn’t changed at least! I just have to distract as many—”

“You’re far too careless,” Laus muttered, interrupting Miledi.

“Wha—!?”

Miledi hadn’t actually let her guard down. She’d been keeping an eye on Laus this whole time. In fact, she could still see him glaring at her a short distance away. And yet, that voice had come from behind her. Feeling goosebumps rising on her arms, Miledi turned around. As she did so, she felt an impact on her chest. A translucent Laus had just buried his palm into her ribs.

“Soul Purge!”

“Ah!?”

Miledi could hear Naiz and Lyutillis screaming something into her ear, but she couldn’t make the words out. All of her five senses felt like they’d been dampened. It was like she’d lost control of her own body. There was one thing she was sure of though. I-Is that me!? And that was that she was looking at her own body. Somehow, she was standing behind herself. She had no idea what was going on. However, she couldn’t move her body at all, meaning she was utterly defenseless. Panic spread through her and she desperately tried to move, but not only was she paralyzed, her magic had also been canceled too. Without her gravity magic, Miledi started falling.

“I finally caught you.”

The translucent Laus vanished while the real one came forward and bound Miledi’s limp body with chains of light. At the same time, chains of pure black mana bound Miledi’s other body, the one looking at the real her. This was the one that currently housed her consciousness, and it was translucent.

“Huh? What? How?”

Looking down, Miledi noticed her hands, feet, and body were all glowing a pale, sky-blue, and were partially see-through.

“Wh-What did you—!?”

“I separated your soul from your body,” Laus said gruffly, panting as he held the light chains in one hand and the dark chains in the other. The spirit magic Laus had used, Soul Purge, allowed him to force a person’s soul out of their body. He’d used Solid Specter to project his own soul behind Miledi, then used his real body as bait while his spirit closed in on her.

“But you never used a skill like this be—”

“I only just perfected it last night. Did you think I was just playing around for this past half month?”

Miledi gritted her teeth at that. She couldn’t believe how careless she’d been. But what hurt even more was the look in Laus’ eyes. He was disappointed in her. She’d told him she’d show him hope, that she’d prove he could live his life the way he wanted to, but then she’d gone and lost spectacularly. Of course she’d been one against many, and she’d started getting complacent because she was starting to get used to their movements, and she’d been a little distracted because the assault today had been out of the ordinary. There were plenty of factors that had contributed to her defeat, but in the end, they were all excuses. The fact of the matter was that Laus had taken advantage of those little openings she’d shown and thoroughly trounced her. Miledi desperately tried to return to her own body, but the black chains, which were likely another manner of spirit magic, held her fast. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Mulm and the other knights cheering as they approached Laus.

“What are you...”

...planning on doing to me? Before she could finish her thought, Laus looked south and said in a monotone voice, “It’s over. Your dream of a free world... only led to needless sacrifices.”

Miledi opened her mouth to argue, but when she saw what was coming from the south, her words died in her throat. A storm of meteors blew past Miledi and Laus, blasting a hole through the mist barrier protecting the forest. Upon closer inspection, Miledi realized the meteors were actually balls of glowing blue fire. Each one was easily ten meters in diameter, and Miledi suddenly understood that they were all Azure Blazes, the strongest fire spell.

But they weren’t ordinary Azure Blazes. An expert like Miledi could tell at a glance that each Azure Blaze had the mana of ten packed into one, and was wrapped in wind magic that helped guide the missiles over a long-range. There was only one place that raised mages strong enough to craft such spells.

“This is... the Grandort Empire’s doing!”

Miledi’s former homeland. As she’d once been a Grandort noble, she naturally knew what kind of siege magic its best mages were capable of.

“The other Liberators are protecting the queen, aren’t they? Meaning even if we burn the forest down, they’ll keep her safe.”

“Ngh... I see. Nacchan, you have to protect Lyu-chan!” Miledi’s ghostly body shouted. But as her earring was on her real body, naturally her pleas went unheard.

A second later, shockwaves rippled across the battlefield as the fireballs made impact. The explosions blew away the mist around the forest.

“Ngh! Gah! Miledi! Are you okay!? Say something! The enemy’s to the south! Can you hear me!?” Naiz shouted. He’d opened a portal next to Miledi to let his voice reach her directly. It seemed he’d blocked the first volley with his spatial barriers. The fog had been removed voluntarily by Lyutillis too, to help Miledi see where her foes were. Miledi directed her gaze far to the south and saw over a hundred airships arrayed in three vertical rows heading toward the forest. All of the airships were flying the Grandort Empire’s flags from their mainmasts. Their sails were engraved with massive magic circles, and those sails were all radiating light. These were the empire’s famous siege warships.

“Miledi!? Did he beat you!? What happened!?”

It was only after looking through the portal that Naiz realized what kind of state Miledi was in.

“Nacchan! Don’t worry about me, just keep the capital safe!”

Unfortunately, her words were much quieter in her spirit form, and Naiz couldn’t hear her. It was a struggle to even maintain her form, much less affect the physical world. If a person’s true power lies in their soul, then I should be able to do something, right!? Now’s the time to unlock your hidden potential, Miledi Reisen! But no matter how hard she struggled, no hidden wellspring of power gushed forth. While she did feel like there was some untapped well of power inside her, she didn’t seem able to access it. Fortunately, her expression conveyed what she wanted to say well enough, and Naiz momentarily gritted his teeth, unsure of what to do.

“So that’s where she is?” Laus muttered, sensing Lyutillis’ presence through the portal Naiz had opened. Realizing he was leaking info to the enemy, he quickly closed the gate.

“Good work, Laus. I knew you’d capture that heretic eventually! Allow me to bear witness as you pass divine judgment onto her!” Mulm said excitedly as he flew over to Laus.

He and the other knights looked at Miledi with a fanatical gleam in their eyes. One of the knights started chanting “Punish the heretic!” and the others soon picked it up. Laus manipulated the chains, raising Miledi’s spirit body and her real body until they were resting in front of him. She was being lifted up like a prisoner being brought to the gallows. Or in her case, a martyr being brought to the cross.

Laus and Miledi faced each other. From her peripheral vision, Miledi could see the airships readying a second volley.

“Do you have any last words?” Laus asked, his eyes devoid of emotion.

Miledi’s real body was slumped over, but her spirit resolutely met his gaze. Laus narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing her expression. Even though she was about to be killed, she seemed oddly composed. And though she was just a translucent ghost now, her sky-blue eyes were shimmering with more light than ever. She made her trademark annoying grin and said, “Nope, no last words.”

“Do you think I won’t kill you?”

“Oh I know you will,” Miledi said, shaking her head. Her grin settled into a composed smile.

The other knights watched on in indignation, incensed that this heretic wasn’t despairing.

“I’ve been prepared for death since the moment I started down this path.”

A shimmering earth-brown three-kilometer wide dome appeared around the Grand Tree, protecting that section of forest. Naiz had deployed his spatial barrier. Thanks to Lyutillis’ evolution magic, his barrier was large enough to protect not just the capital, but the surrounding villages as well. Miledi was confident he’d be able to block the next attack. And the next one, and the next one. She had absolute faith in her comrade.

“But I won’t die here. I’m sure of it.”

Taken aback, Laus gave her a questioning look. How can she be so sure?

“Why, you ask? Well, that’s obvious!”

Miledi’s annoying grin returned.

“Because I have the best friends in the world!”

A second later, there was a thunderous explosion, and about 40% of the empire’s airships got blown apart. Most of those that got hit looked like they were part of the flagship fleet too. The explosion shattered their masts, which were what cast the mage’s siege spells, as well as the magic engines located on the ships’ sterns. The damaged ships began to tilt as they fell to the ground. The explosion was followed up by a downburst of ice, snow, and moonlight-colored mana, which froze the remaining ships’ masts, disabling their weapons. Then, just to make completely sure the empire’s fleet was neutralized, a hailstorm of enchanted swords rained down on the ships. The frozen masts shattered to pieces, and the few ships who’d managed to escape the onslaught had their engines and sails petrified by a follow-up of homing blades. Once the dust had settled, only a scant twenty ships remained in the air. They managed to get off another volley, but there was no way such a small barrage would even crack Naiz’s barrier. As expected, the twenty or so fireballs fizzled out upon hitting the glimmering dome. While Laus, Mulm, and the other knights were still recovering from the shock of what they’d just seen, a portal opened up next to Miledi and Meiru hopped out of it.

“I’ll be taking my precious Miledi-chan back, thank you very much!”

“Ah!?”

A torrent of water appeared out of nowhere, sweeping the nearby knights away. At the same time, the current surrounded Laus and Miledi, trapping them inside. Water was Meiru’s element, and she reigned supreme wherever it could be found. Being underwater forced Laus to hold his breath and slowed his movements down, which prevented him from dodging Meiru’s whip attacks.

“Gah!”

Laus screamed in pain, releasing a few precious bubbles of air. With his breathing and concentration disrupted, his magic crumbled, and the chains binding Miledi’s body and soul disappeared.

“Miledi-chan, are you okay!?”

“I’m fine, I can move! Wait, I’m being sucked back!”

It appeared souls and bodies were attracted to each other like magnets. Though she wasn’t doing anything, Miledi’s soul was being pulled back to her body. Once the two overlapped, Meiru dispelled her water prison. She rode her current over to Miledi and scooped her up in her arms. Once she was out of the water Miledi coughed and opened her eyes.

“I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Thank you Meru-nee, I love you!”

“Yes yes, I love you too, Miledi-chan.”

Miledi floated up into the air, then put one hand on her hip and raised the other above her head, making her trademark pose. She then turned south and saw that the remaining few airships had been shot down by a storm of ice breath and enchanted weapons. Before all the airships could crash onto the ground, a giant golem appeared out of nowhere to gently lower them down. Many of the ones it couldn’t reach with its hands it caught with the numerous chains that shot out of its body. A hundred or so wyverns also came out of nowhere to catch the few remaining ships and slow their fall. Of course, the mages on the ships tried to fire at the wyverns and the golem, but the sudden change in the situation had left them disoriented. Their half-baked counterattacks didn’t even register to the two people who’d shot them down.

Flying in the air a short distance above the burning airships was a massive ice dragon, and standing atop that dragon’s back was a bespectacled youth in black clothes.

“Ahahhahahahaha! You guys are so late! I was getting sick of waiting!”

A flood of relief washed over Miledi. Her voice filled with emotion, she called out to her two comrades.

“O-kun! Van-chan!”

Despite the distance, her voice reached Oscar and Vandre. The two of them turned to her for a brief moment, then returned to cleaning up the empire’s aerial unit. Vandre’s breath was so powerful even the demon lord had been forced to evade it, so there was no chance the remaining airship squads could withstand it.

A few people tried to launch anti-air attacks against Vandre, but Oscar deployed his umbrella’s barrier, as well as the six Onyx Shield Artifacts he’d created by incorporating Naiz’s spatial magic and Miledi’s gravity magic. On top of that, he also rained down enchanted swords on anyone trying to attack them.

“Oscar Orcus and... a new ancient magic user? I see. So they weren’t here this whole time...”

The knights, which had finally escaped from Meiru’s current, surrounded Miledi and Meiru. Laus was to the girls’ right, while Mulm was to their left. Though most of the knights looked indignant, Laus’ tone was surprisingly calm as he glanced at the havoc Oscar and Vandre were wreaking.

“So what now? You wanna keep going? Just so you know, I’m in top shape now!” Miledi said with a wide grin. She shook her hips a little to taunt them. Technically, her job was to keep as many knights as possible bogged down here while Lyutillis retreated the battle lines, which was why she was being so provocative.

“Oh, Miledi-chan. You’ve gotten so much more confident after Oscar-kun came back. It’s amazing how much you’re like a third-rate thug who gets ahead of themselves once their boss shows up to help!”

“Bwahahahahaha! Praise me mo— Hang on, who’re you calling a thug?”

Miledi turned to glare at Meiru. The knights grew even more furious as their opponents joked around in front of them. They looked like they were about to lose it. Meiru looked for an opportunity to return to her post and help with the retreat while Miledi smiled fearlessly at the knights, waiting for round two to begin. However, it appeared there would be no round two.

“Ah...! Did you hear that, Mulm?”

“Bah, I despise being forced to wait, but I suppose we have no choice.”

Laus and Mulm exchanged glances, seemingly responding to some order they received.

“Retreat!” Laus boomed.

The other knights, all of whom had expected this to be the final battle where they used up everything they had, looked nonplussed. Normally, this would be where Miledi taunted them as she had back in Andika.

“Wait, you’re leaving?”

But even she was surprised by their sudden decision. Laus, who was bringing up the rearguard, said, “Got a problem with that?”

“Not really, but... what’re you scheming?”

Before Laus could reply, Naiz’s voice echoed in Miledi’s ear. According to him, even the crazed federation troops were retreating.

“Were the empire’s airships your trump card? Are you leaving because we beat them?”

“Who knows.”

“Grr... Damn baldy!”

Mulm and Adra stuck close to Laus, ready to defend against any attacks Miledi might throw at them while they retreated. Likewise, Meiru stood next to Miledi to guard her, her water whip at the ready. Miledi and Laus exchanged glances.

“I won’t disappoint you again,” Miledi said in a determined voice.

“...Next time, I’ll just kill you,” Laus replied coolly.

Both of them spoke in voices low enough that only the other could hear. After a few seconds, Laus turned on his heel and strode away. He wasn’t the least bit worried that Miledi might try to strike him from behind. For her part, Miledi observed Laus until he was finally obscured by the mist.

“Are you okay, Miledi-chan? You got all tingly and strange when that old man touched you, right?”

“Meru-nee, please don’t phrase it like that.”

Meiru’s choice of words made it sound like Laus was some kind of pervert. Miledi gave Meiru a pointed look, but the serious atmosphere Meiru had dispelled returned soon enough when she started thinking about today’s attack. Everything about it had been strange, but then the church had just retreated without putting so much as a dent into the forest. Sighing, Miledi looked southward. The few airships still airworthy were also retreating. The soldiers who’d been aboard the downed ships scurried out of the wreckages and beat a hasty retreat toward Agris. Vandre and Oscar watched silently as the soldiers left. Seeing as the empire’s mages had no intention to attack, Oscar stowed his Shadow Emperor and looked back at Miledi. But before he could say anything, Vandre swiped his tail at Oscar, swatting him off his back.

“Ah.”

“Oh my.”

The tail slap produced a very meaty thwack. At the same time Miledi and Meiru heard Vandre shout, “How long are you planning on staying on my back, you damned four-eyes!” in the distance. Miledi’s eyes glazed over while Meiru put her hands on her cheeks and watched with an entertained smile. Oscar naturally didn’t take the hit lying down, and he quickly used his Onyx Boots to jump up to Vandre’s eye level. Once he was there he flashed a beam of light from his glasses, momentarily blinding the dragon. While Vandre covered his eyes with his forelimbs and screamed “My eyeeeees!” Oscar took his umbrella and smacked Vandre over the head with it, sending Vandre flying. Oscar’s personal philosophy was to give back twice as much as he received, in all things. Of course from there things devolved into a slapfest.

“Die, you damned four-eyes!”

“Only if you die first, you oversized lizard!”

Miledi had expected ice breath and enchanted swords to be flying in every direction, but Vandre canceled his transformation and fought Oscar in close combat. The sounds of their weapons clashing could be heard all the way from where Miledi and Meiru were.

“Jeez, why are those two always like this! Stop fighting and pay attention to me already!”

Miledi rushed over to Oscar and Vandre so fast she left sonic booms in her wake. She’d been looking forward to their reunion for so long, and it had all been ruined because Oscar and Vandre kept fighting instead of talking to her. And so, to attract the two men’s attention, she hit them both with a Heavensfall. Meiru, on the other hand, stayed behind and put on the glasses Oscar had made for her to zoom in on the action. She watched as Miledi sent the two men careening to the ground, then hurtled after them and swept them both up in hugs with a smile on her face.

“Uwoooooh!? Badd!? What the heck are you doing!? Seriously, stop swinging that at me!”

“Shut up, you traitoooooor!”

“Traitor!? What’re you talking about!?”

“Don’t play dumb! Or is that just how you get your kicks, huh!? You better at least invite me to the wedding ceremony when you marry Mikaela, you lucky son of a bitch!”

“U-Umm, Mikaela and I aren’t—”

“A grown-ass man like you shouldn’t be blushing like thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!”

“Whoa!? What the hell, man! I just saved your hide from that crazy Templar Knight lady! Someone, stop Badd! This guy’s going on a jealous rampage!”

Miledi and the others suddenly heard that exchange through their earrings. It seemed Mikaela had guided Marshal to Badd’s aid during the fighting, and after Marshal saved Badd’s life, Badd attacked him in a jealous frenzy. As unfathomable as that situation was, apparently that was reality.

“Men just never grow up, do they,” Meiru muttered.

“Please don’t include me in that assessment,” Naiz said with an exasperated sigh.

“Onee-sama, this is exactly why women should marry women,” Lyutillis said excitedly.

Meiru ignored both of them and returned to the ground so she could punish Badd and start healing the wounded. Since everyone had switched their earrings to auto-transmit, Meiru could hear Miledi’s laughter as she exulted in her reunion with Oscar and Vandre. She smiled to herself as she set about healing everyone.

“You finally made it, Oscar, Van! I missed you guys!” Naiz shouted.

Now that Meiru had healed the wounded and the battle lines had been reorganized, the Liberators had all gathered in Lyutillis’ throne room. Tears welled up in his eyes as Naiz ran up to his two comrades. He completely ignored Lyutillis, who looked like she’d been about to give a speech, and hugged Oscar and Vandre as though he hadn’t seen them in decades.

“N-Naiz? What happened to you, man?”

“Oi. Since when were you such a sappy guy, Naiz?”

Oscar seemed confused, while Vandre looked at Naiz like he was a pervert. Naiz took a step back and said with a smile, “You have no idea how hard it was to look after Miledi and Meiru by myself.”

“......”

Oscar and Vandre exchanged glances. After a brief moment of silence, they nodded to each other and gently placed a hand on Naiz’s shoulders. They were both smiling kindly at him, their previous arguments forgotten.

“You did good, Naiz.”

“Be proud of yourself, Naiz. You’re a true hero.”

“Thank you, guys... Now that you’re here, maybe my heartburn will finally go away.”

The three men hugged in solidarity. Friendship between men was a truly beautiful thing.

“Did you hear that, Miledi-chan? That’s quite rude, wouldn’t you say?”

“Totally! You know, I had to take on all of the church’s best knights all by myself! Everyone should be praising me and calling me their angel! No, their goddess! What did I do to deserve this slander!?”

“I understand completely! Do you know how hard I worked healing all those people!? I even got a headache from using too much mana! Everyone should be licking my feet right now!”

It seemed the girls were not happy with Naiz’s portrayal of their actions. Oscar and the others turned toward Miledi and Meiru. After a few seconds of staring, they clapped each other on the shoulders again. The bonds between the guys had just grown even stronger.

“Man, that looks so nice. So that’s what true friendship between men is like. You know, I used to have someone I was that close with. But in the end, he picked hos over bros.”

“Oh shut up already! You’ve been whining for hours now! Act your age, you old geezer!”

“Say that to my face, you dick! Don’t think you’re better than me just cause you’ve got a wife now, Marshal!”

However, the bonds between these two men were... not growing stronger at least. If anything, it was Marshal and Mikaela’s bonds that were growing. While Badd was going off on his jealous rant, the two of them glanced surreptitiously at each other, blushed, then looked away.

“L-Like I said, she’s not my wife yet...”

“E-Exactly! Badd-san, I’m just Marshal-san’s...”

“Mikaela...”

“Marshal-san...”

“Gaaaaaah! Fuck this! Quit flirting in public, you horndogs! What are you, teenagers!?”

Miledi and the others all simultaneously thought, I can’t believe you’re willing to show this side of you in front of Lyutillis. You know, the girl you’ve fallen for. This is why you can never score.

“Ahem... Have you finished celebrating your reunion?” Parsha asked coldly. They were all technically in the presence of the queen right now.

At this point, most of the important members of the republic knew how close Lyutillis was to Miledi and the others, so they just smiled awkwardly. While they respected Lyutillis, they knew she didn’t want to interrupt the Liberators’ reunion, and honestly even they felt bad about breaking them apart. As a result, Parsha was the only one willing to move things along. Oscar was the first to notice her glare and he quickly straightened up.

“My apologies. It’s an honor to meet you, Your Majesty. I am Oscar Orcus, a member of the Liberators. The ancient magic I can use is creation magic. I am deeply grateful that you allowed us into this hallowed sanctuary.”

Oscar dropped to one knee and placed a hand over his breast as he introduced himself. But like Miledi, he didn’t lower his head and instead met Lyutillis’ gaze. Vandre also placed a hand over his chest, but he didn’t kneel. Instead, he just bowed and said, “Likewise. I am Vandre Schnee, another Liberator. My magic is metamorphosis magic. And while I have since abandoned my title, I am the half brother of the current demon lord, Rasul Alva Igdol. As the demon lord’s younger brother, I’m afraid I cannot bend the knee to you.”

Vandre knew he was probably overthinking things, but still, it would feel like tarnishing his brother’s reputation if he, a representative of the demon empire, knelt to the queen of the beastmen republic. Miledi and the others understood that, which was why they didn’t admonish him and just smiled.

However, while they doubted Lyutillis would be offended, they still shot a worried glance in her direction.

“My... The demon lord’s younger brother, you say? That explains a great deal. I was wondering why in your dragon form your scales were the color of a demon’s skin, but now I understand.”

Lyutillis smiled with all the grace and magnanimity of a wise queen and nodded to Vandre.

“Worry not. You two have both shown me the utmost courtesy.”

Oscar breathed a sigh of relief, while Vandre bowed silently.

“I am the republic’s queen, Lyutillis Haltina. The ancient magic I wield is evolution magic. It is an honor to meet both of you. And thank you so very much for eliminating the empire’s airships.”

“We’re Liberators.”

“Helping people is our job; we don’t need any thanks. I’m sure that’s what our leader would say too.”

Oscar and Vandre turned to Miledi. She puffed her chest out and smiled proudly. Seeing that, Lyutillis brought a hand to her mouth and chuckled elegantly. From that interaction alone, Oscar and Vandre surmised that Miledi and the queen had probably grown quite close already, which was both a relief and, in retrospect, par for the course for Miledi.

“Incidentally, how would you two prefer to be addressed?”

“Err, I’m sure just using our names like normal will be—”

“Should I call you O-kun-san, and Van-chan-san?”

“Where did that come from!?” Oscar and Vandre shouted simultaneously.

They were so in sync that the other beastmen started to wonder if Oscar and Vandre weren’t actually really close. Considering the regal and elegant Queen Lyutillis had suddenly transformed into a friendly airhead, their reaction was understandable. However, this was just the tip of the iceberg. Recently, Sim and the others had begun to learn just how much of an airhead Lyutillis actually was, and they knew what was coming next.

“Miledi-tan, it’s fine if I call them that, right?”

“Miledi...tan!?”

So you were behind this! I can’t believe you told a queen to call us that! Oscar and Vandre thought, rounding on their leader. They’d been expecting her to be wearing her usual smug grin, but to their surprise, Miledi looked a little hesitant. As if she truly wasn’t sure if she wanted to allow Lyutillis to use those nicknames. But then she grinned, making Oscar wonder if that earlier expression had just been his imagination.

“Hmm, well, since you’re using Nacchan-san for Nacchan, you might as well standardize it and call them Occhan-san and Van-chan-san.”

For some reason, Meiru smiled and muttered, “Oh my...” when she heard that, but Oscar and Vandre were too distracted by the bombshell Miledi had dropped to notice.

“Naiz...kun. Does the queen really call you Nacchan-san?”

“She does.”

“That’s fucked up, Naiz.”

“It is.”

Naiz looked off into the distance. He was trying his best to ignore the reality in front of him.

“Now now, Miledi-chan. Don’t you think making everyone’s nicknames the same is a little too plain?”

“Hey, Meiru. Don’t decide our nicknames based on how entertaining they are to you!”

Vandre tried to head Meiru off before she could make the situation any more convoluted, but if Meiru was that easy to stop then Naiz wouldn’t have had so much trouble.

“Hmm, yeah you’re right! In that case, how about you call O-kun the Fake Gentleman with Evil Glasses and Van-chan the Tsundere Prince? I think— Aaah!” Miledi screamed as Oscar shined a beam of light directly into her eyes while Vandre grabbed her face in an iron grip.

“Your Majesty. Please just call me Oscar, and this guy Van.”

Oscar’s glasses sparkled dangerously as he said that.

“But that’s so plain...” Lyutillis muttered, dejected. She’d been hoping to use nicknames to get closer to Oscar and Vandre, but they’d turned her down. However, Lyutillis wasn’t going to let this keep her down. As a former loner, her desire for new friends was greater than anything. Spotting a new opportunity, Lyutillis quickly changed targets. She looked behind Oscar and Vandre to Marshal and Mikaela, both of whom were kneeling silently.

“I’d like to hear more about you two. Specifically, about your love lives!”

Marshal and Mikaela both looked floored. They hadn’t expected the queen to even address them directly, much less ask about their relationship. It was even more unnerving because they weren’t actually going out yet. Incidentally, Badd’s eyes filled with jealousy the moment he heard Lyutillis address them. And while Lyutillis was very dense when it came to most things, she was surprisingly sharp at noticing Badd’s expressions.

“Oh my,” she murmured, blushing and bringing a hand to her mouth. “Badd-dono, that is quite an intense glare... Is this what a love triangle is like!?”

“Huh? Wait, hang on! I’m not—”

“I see Mikaela-dono is quite popular among the Liberators. To think there would be two men so desperate for her affections.”

“What!?”

“She certainly is a wonderful lady. I hope we can be friends, Mikaela-dono. Incidentally, would it be alright if I called you Mika-chan?”

“What!?”

Mikaela looked incredibly flustered. She’d never dealt with a queen before. Someone of her stature would normally never even be in the presence of a queen, much less talk to one. She’d expected to just stand quietly in the back while Miledi and the others did all the talking, but now she was the center of attention. Even the other beastmen were looking at her. Mikaela looked over at Miledi, silently pleading for her Leader to help her. Miledi gave Mikaela a confident nod that said, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this!”

“Hey, Mika-nee. Is it cool if I start calling you Mika-chan too then?”

That’s not the kind of help I was looking for! Mikaela thought, panicking.

“Oh, I suppose that would make Marshal Ma-chan wouldn’t it?” Meiru suggested innocently.

“Huh?” Marshal asked.

“What a splendid suggestion, Onee-sama!”

“WHAT!?”

Now Marshal was panicking too. Meanwhile, Oscar and Vandre were freaking out over the fact that the queen was calling Meiru onee-sama, and Badd was ready to kill Marshal over the fact that Lyutillis had given him a nickname before Badd. He seemed to have forgotten that it was he himself who’d told Lyutillis she couldn’t call him Ba-chan. In short, the throne room had fallen into chaos. Though Lyutillis was quite happy, since it seemed she could make quite a few new friends. Her facade of an elegant and regal queen had all but crumbled at this point. But while everyone knew she was a bit of an airhead, her masochistic side was still a secret from the other beastmen. Now even that truth threatened to reveal itself, and Parsha knew she had to take action.

“On second thought, I really do think you two need nicknames, Oscar-san, Van-san—”

“Your Majesty. We don’t have much time. You can deepen your bonds with everyone later, but for now please just use their names. I’m sure they’re fine with that too. Understood?” Parsha said, glowering.

Parsha could be surprisingly forceful when she wanted to. In fact, she was more queenly than Lyutillis—which was probably why the actual queen shrunk back in the face of her wrath. Parsha also glared at Miledi and Meiru, quieting them with a single cat-eyed look. She then went on to cow every other unruly child in the throne room until order had been restored. Finally, everyone began discussing casualty reports, the church’s movements, and the republic’s plan moving forward. It was during this meeting that Lyutillis explained her powers over the forest and the mist barrier to Oscar and Vandre. Once everyone had been caught up to speed, Miledi turned to Oscar and said, “So that’s the situation right now, O-kun. You said earlier that Shushu and the others didn’t come, but...”

“Yeah, it was just Marshal and Mikaela who could make it. The others are staying in the empire.”

The reason it had taken Oscar and Vandre a month and a half to make it to the Pale Forest was because along the way, they’d discovered that the Grandort Empire had been acting suspiciously. So they’d infiltrated the country and investigated. The reason half of the empire’s flagship fleet had just exploded when Oscar arrived was because they’d sabotaged those ships beforehand.

In truth, they’d planned on destroying the empire’s fleet before it even got a single volley off, but they’d been intercepted by the monsters the Paragons of Light kept on standby, and had needed to annihilate them before they could catch up to the airships.

Oscar’s investigation had unearthed that the airships were just the empire’s first wave, too, and that they would be sending an army by land for the second wave. Shushu, Tony, Abe, Margaretta, and the other Schnee clan members had all stayed behind to work together with the other Liberators in the region to sabotage that second wave. Moreover, Vandre had already successfully spread his familiars throughout the forest. Most of Batlam was also patrolling the forest, though Vandre was keeping his faithful butler’s core in his pocket.

“I see... Do you think Shushu and the others will be able to delay the empire’s army for long?”

Marshal stepped forward to answer.

“If they can’t, I’m sure they’ll at least send a messenger to let us know. We met Howzer along the way, so we’ve got a communication chain set up.”

“You met Howzer!? Does that mean he got everyone out of Agris safely?”

“Yep. We told him what was going on with us, and he said he’d link up with Shushu’s squad.”

Miledi smiled at the good news. After the information exchange between Liberators ended, Lyutillis took charge of the conversation once more.

“If the point of the federation’s reckless charge was to secure air superiority and allow the empire’s fleet to bombard us, then we can safely say their plan has failed... However, Miledi-tan...”

Though she was being serious now, it seemed she was going to keep using Miledi’s nickname. The contrast was kind of surreal. In truth when things were truly serious Lyutillis dropped the silly honorifics, but Oscar and the others weren’t aware of that yet. Lyutillis powered on, her expression and tone still serious.

“We now have all the pieces you said we’d need to succeed. So can you tell me what your plans are now, Miledi-tan?”

“Well...” Miledi said thoughtfully, though it was clear she’d already decided their next course of action ahead of time. She stepped forward and said, “Lyu-chan, I think we—”

“Lyu-chan!?”

“Shut up for a second, O-kun!”

This was a serious discussion, the time for jokes could come later. Miledi loudly cleared her throat and said, “Nacchan should keep guarding you, while we still need Meru-nee to take care of the wounded. But now O-kun and the others can join the front lines.”

There was no doubt that Laus Barn was slowly getting more fatigued. While it was worrying that he was developing new techniques even as he was being pushed back, now that Oscar was here, Miledi was sure they could beat him.

Meanwhile, Vandre would be able to take care of the Paragons of Light. In his dragon form, he was more than a match for Adra, and the monsters he’d created could easily overwhelm the Paragons of Light’s beasts. Plus, Marshal and Mikaela would be able to back up Badd in his battle against Lilith and the other Templar Knights.

“The faster we put an end to this war, the better. I think we should be the ones to strike this time. At the very least—”

Miledi sucked in a deep breath, imbuing her voice with as much vigor as possible.

“The Liberators will take the fight to them. It’s time we showed the world that the church’s power isn’t absolute.”

As silence fell over the throne room, Miledi turned back to Oscar and Vandre. Oscar casually adjusted his glasses while Vandre loosened his muffler.

“As you command, Leader.”

“We’ll follow you anywhere.”

Both of them smiled fearlessly at her. Badd and the others all nodded confidently at their leader as well.

Warmed by her comrades’ resolve, Miledi turned proudly back to Lyutillis. The elven queen smiled down at her and said, “Then we shall join you. The republic stands with the Liberators, now and forever. Let us crush the theocracy, smash their ideals, and bring the federation back to their senses.”

Lyutillis’ words reverberated throughout the room. None of the other beastmen objected. They were as committed as their queen.

“Tomorrow, this war ends. Leader of the Liberators, Miledi Reisen. We bind our fate to yours.”

“Thank you, queen of the republic, Lyutillis Haltina. We likewise bind our fate to yours.”

Lyutillis rose from her throne and stepped down from the dais it sat on. She held her hand out to Miledi, who rose to her feet and grabbed it. All of the beastmen clapped and cheered as elf and human publicly joined.

Once the audience was over, Miledi and the others decided to rest until the decisive battle. First, they all went back to their respective rooms to clean themselves up. Lyutillis wanted to hold another tea party with just the ancient magic users so she could let her true self out one last time before the fighting began. The plan was for everyone to gather at the usual spring after everyone had freshened up.

Oscar followed a catgirl maid to the spring, his glasses flashing with excitement as he took in the scenery. The maid was a bit put off by the light constantly reflecting off his glasses, but he ignored her and walked through the fog veil separating the spring from the rest of the forest.

“Hm? You got here fast, Miledi. Are you the only one?”

Oscar had expected the girls to take their time, but it seemed Miledi had been the first to arrive. Naiz and Vandre weren’t even ready yet.

“Mrrr, you’re late. I thought everyone was avoiding me or something! What if I’d gotten so sad I drowned myself!?”

As he drew closer, Oscar saw that Miledi had removed her socks and shoes, and was dipping her feet into the spring. It was obvious she’d just been enjoying the cool water, but it seemed she wanted to spin her actions as an attempted suicide. Seeing that—

“Haha, good one,” Oscar said with a laugh.

“Oi, Oscar. You think this is funny!?”

Please, it’s not like you’re sensitive enough to actually commit suicide over something like that... Oscar thought as Miledi glared at him. Annoyed, Miledi patted the ground next to her.

Oscar couldn’t ignore an order from his beloved leader, so he shrugged his shoulders and sat down beside her. He’d just taken a shower and didn’t want to get wet again, so he sat cross-legged instead of dipping his feet in the spring.

For a while, the two just sat there in companionable silence. Though they exchanged no words, the two found comfort in each other’s presence.

After some time, Miledi suddenly opened her mouth.

“Laus Barn really is the guy who saved Belle.”

“I see... Were you able to thank him?”

“Yep. I made him a promise, too.”

“Then I guess you better prove that Miledi Reisen won’t lose to anyone.”

“Yep.”

“And that nothing will stop her.”

“Yep.”

Oscar didn’t even need to ask to know what the promise had been. Nor did he have any intention of bringing up the fact that Laus was their enemy and that sympathizing with the enemy was dangerous. He had Miledi’s back no matter what.

Miledi happily bobbed her head from side to side, her ponytail swaying back and forth. She kicked at the water too, sending droplets flying through the air.

“Hey, stop that, Miledi. You’re getting water on my glasses.”

“Deal with it.”

“Now that’s just unfair.”

“Sorry, but that’s how it goes. I’m a pretty girl, and pretty girls are allowed to do whatever they want.”

“Apologize to all the pretty girls across the world for bringing down their reputation.”

Miledi was in surprisingly high spirits, considering she’d looked depressed a few minutes ago. Though Oscar had been with her enough that he was used to her moods switching at the drop of a hat.

This was nothing new. But at the same time, it felt oddly novel. This was his first time seeing her in a month-and-a-half, which was the longest time they’d been apart since they’d first met. Oscar had been worried that taking part in her first real war would have weighed down on Miledi, but fortunately, she seemed to be as chipper as ever. That came as a huge relief to Oscar.

Water splashed him in the face as he was lost in thought. There was enough of it that he knew this was no accident. Miledi had been aiming for him.

“What was that for, Miledi?” Oscar asked, his voice dangerously low. But for once, Miledi had a good reason for her pranks.

“I-It’s your fault for looking at me like that! You’re acting weird, O-kun!”

“Did you just call me a pervert? You’re gonna regret that.”

Oscar had interpreted “weird” to mean “perverted,” which from his perspective was a natural interpretation. And so, he didn’t realize that Miledi was actually flustered because she’d been captivated by the gentle look in his eyes.

“What, you wanna go? You’re just a wimpy O-kun!”

Pouting, Miledi twisted her body and kicked Oscar with her bare legs.

“Hey, stop that! You’re getting my clothes wet now!”

“This is your punishment, so just accept it!”

“Huh? Punishment for what?”

As they argued, Miledi continued kicking Oscar, occasionally dipping her feet back in the water to keep them wet. Since they were both sitting down, if Miledi raised her legs too high, Oscar would be able to see under her skirt. Though it looked like she either wasn’t aware of that or didn’t care. Oscar grabbed her leg mid-kick to make sure she didn’t raise it any higher.

“For coming too late,” Miledi replied. Oscar could tell she was referring to his arrival to the forest, not here to this spring.

“I already explained why I had to do that!”

“I don’t care.”

Now you’re just acting like a spoiled kid... Oscar frowned to himself, putting some force into his arms to keep Miledi from pulling her leg free. In general, a person’s leg strength was much greater than their arm strength, but Oscar was a grown man who’d trained his muscles, while Miledi was a teenage girl who fought exclusively with magic. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t escape Oscar’s grip.

“Dammit, O-kun, don’t think you’ve won just yet!”

“Fine, fine, my bad. Now go put your shoes on. The others’ll be here soon.”

As he said that, Oscar pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. Before Miledi could ask what it was for, he started wiping down her feet with it.

“Hey, wait, stop! I can dry myself off!”

“Really?” Oscar asked, not bothering to stop. If she really wanted to do it herself, he knew she’d just snatch the handkerchief from her. Since she didn’t, he kept going.

“F-Fine. If you wanna wipe my feet that badly, you can.”

“Mhm...”

“Man, beauties like me sure have it tough. Even when I tell people they don’t have to do anything for me, they just can’t help themselves. Ahhh, my beauty is a sin.”

“Yeah, it must be so hard for you.”

“I’m sorry, O-kun. I’m sorry I’m so charming!”

“Yep, you’re super charming alright.”

“......”

Miledi trailed off, unsure of what else to say. She looked away, a faint blush spreading up her cheeks.

“There, all done.”

“Mrrr...”

Oscar gave Miledi’s foot a friendly slap, and she let out a strange noise. Glaring at Oscar, she got to her feet so she could put her socks on. As she reached down to grab them, she noticed a small, black insect crawl out of one of her socks. A cockroach.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Screaming in pure terror, she backpedaled as fast as she could, running right into Oscar.

“O-kuuuuuuuuuuuun!”

“What? Hang on, calm—”

As a reminder, Oscar was sitting near the edge of the spring. There was only one place he could fall if someone bumped into him from behind. And due to that, Miledi and Oscar both tumbled into the water, causing a huge splash as they fell. Though this was the very edge of the spring, the water was still deep enough to come up to Miledi’s chest. So naturally, the two of them got soaked from head to toe when they fell in. Both of them got to their feet, coughing up water.

“Gah. Did I really make you that mad Miledi? Even then, this is still overkill!” Oscar shouted angrily. Still spluttering, Miledi pointed desperately toward her shoes. Her face was dripping water so it was hard to tell, but it looked like there were tears in her eyes.

“Th-That’s not it! I saw U-chan over there! You know, Uroboros, the writhing darkness!”

“Who the hell is that?”

“A cockroach!”

“You’ve started naming cockroaches!? Miledi, I think you’re more tired than you realize. Maybe you should go to sleep.”

“No, no, you’ve got it all wrong! U-chan’s not just any cockroach, he’s Lyu-chan’s best friend!”

“Now that’s just disrespectful! There’s no way a cockroach would be the queen’s best friend! The only way that would make sense was if she was some kind of weirdo!”

Someone moaned quietly on the other side of the fog, but Miledi and Oscar were too preoccupied to hear it.

“Oh yeah, I guess you won’t believe it until you see it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“A shocking truth you’ll learn about soon enough.”

“I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.”

Lyutillis wasn’t just a weirdo. She was a raging pervert. But with the way she acted in public, Miledi knew Oscar wouldn’t believe that until he saw it for himself. After all, even she thought it was ridiculous that the regal queen of a nation was actually a hopeless masochist.

“Anyway, stop spouting nonsense. Let’s get out of here and dry off. It looks like the cockroach is gone, so you’re safe.”

“Huh? Oh, you’re right. Maybe it wasn’t U-chan... I can’t really tell cockroaches apart.”

It was probably just a normal cockroach, actually... If it had been U-chan, it would have waved its feelers to apologize for surprising her. As traumatic as her first experience with cockroaches had been, Miledi knew she had to get used to them if she was going to be hanging out with Lyutillis. Sighing, she followed Oscar to the spring’s edge. As he raised his arms to pull himself out, she noticed a small accessory dangling out of his pocket.

“O-kun, that thing in your pocket is about to fall out.”

“Hm? Oh, whoops. That was close.”

Oscar delicately grabbed the accessory and took it out of his pocket. It was a necklace with a blue, diamond-shaped jewel hanging from it. It looked far too crude to be something Oscar himself had crafted.

Meaning... it has to be something he got from someone! Miledi thought.

“I figured it out. You got that from a girl, didn’t you? What poor girl did you swindle with your fake gentleman act?”

“Please stop assuming the worst of people.”

Grinning to herself, Miledi tried to push past Oscar and get out first. But before she could, Oscar grabbed her arm.

“Here, it’s for you.”

“Huh?”

Miledi blankly looked down at the necklace Oscar held out to her.

“I was gonna wait until everyone was here, but since you’ve already seen it, I might as well give it to you.”

“Ummm...”

Miledi gave Oscar a confused look and he smiled gently at her.

“It’s from Corrin and Ruth.”

“What?”

“It’s a good luck charm they made for you. They were worried, since you’re going to war and all. Corrin found the materials and Ruth transmuted them.”

The new village they’d moved to was in the mountains. There was plenty of ore to dig up there, and Corrin had stumbled across that blue stone when she’d been out exploring. Its hue had reminded her of Miledi’s eyes, so she’d asked for Ruth’s help to turn it into a charm for Miledi.

“I see... Those two... really...”

Miledi giggled happily to herself. Unlike the artifacts Oscar had made for her, this necklace had no special powers. But she was certain that the strong feelings packed into this diamond-shaped jewel would protect her.

“I’m really proud of those two. It turned out great, right?”

“Ahahaha, yep! This necklace is perfect! It’s even better than the stuff you make, O-kun!”

“I better step up my game, or they’ll leave me in the dust.”

The two of them smiled, thinking back on the kids waiting for them at home.

“Hey, O-kun. Can you put this on me?”

“Gladly.”

Miledi’s eyes sparkled with joy. Oscar turned so he was facing Miledi and took a step toward her. In order to fasten the necklace, he wrapped his arms around her neck, making it look like he was hugging her. Once he finished, he brought his arms back, but he didn’t step away.

“How do I look?” Miledi asked.

“You look great. It suits you perfectly.”

“Hehehe.”

The two of them stared into each other’s eyes, bathed in the faint light of the spring. Water dripped from their smiling faces, which were close enough that they were practically touching. The scene was so picturesque that were a famous artist here, they would no doubt want to capture this moment for all eternity with their brushes. Fortunately, there was someone around to capture this moment for all eternity, though not with a brush.

Snap!

“Hmmmmmm!?”

“What was that!?”

The two of them turned toward the direction of the sound and saw Meiru. She was wearing the glasses Oscar had made for her, which flashed and made a clicking noise every time she pressed a certain button on their frame. She was using the camera function to take a bunch of pictures of Oscar and Miledi. Standing next to her was a blushing Lyutillis. U-chan and Di-chan were resting on the elf’s shoulders. It seemed the cockroach Miledi had seen earlier was U-chan after all. Vandre was standing a short distance away, giving Lyutillis a look of utter disbelief. After a few seconds, he peeled his eyes away from her and turned to Oscar.

“Sorry, I couldn’t stop them,” he mouthed apologetically.

“That was so romantic, Miledi-chan! I’m so happy for you!”

“I’m happy for them too, Onee-sama! I knew they were in a relationship!”

From the sound of it, they’d been peeking on Oscar and Miledi from the very beginning. In fact, they’d probably purposely come late to give Oscar and Miledi some time alone.

Normally, Miledi or Oscar would have noticed them if they were this close, but Lyutillis had manipulated the fog to hide everyone’s presence. Naturally, the one who had come up with this devious scheme was Meiru. Miledi stared blankly at Meiru and the others for a good minute before she finally returned to her senses.

“I-It’s not what it looks like!” she shouted, using gravity magic to shoot toward Meiru and Lyutillis. She stretched her legs out, hitting them both in the stomach with her patented Double Miledi Kick.

The two women groaned in pain as they were sent flying across the clearing. They clutched their stomachs as they struggled to their feet.

“M-Miledi-chan... that really hurt. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Haaah... Haaah... I-I’ve never felt such wonderful pain before... I love you, Miledi-tan...”

As she landed, Miledi looked over her shoulder at Oscar and pointed at him. Completely ignoring the two women groaning in pain and/or pleasure, she smiled triumphantly and swept her hair back as she said, “O-kun, just because I’m the most beautiful girl on the planet, doesn’t mean you can make a move on me when everyone’s watching! Well, we all know you’re madly in love with me, so I guess it’s no big deal!”

“Oh, don’t worry. After seeing that annoying face of yours, there’s not a man in the world who’d make a move on you. That aside, did you break the queen or something?”

Oscar’s confusion was understandable. After all, she was panting excitedly after being kicked in the stomach. She was acting totally different from the majestic ruler Oscar had seen in the throne room.

“Oscar, listen up and listen well. Van, you too. This is extremely important.”

In a voice tinged with despair, Naiz explained, “Lyutillis, the queen of the republic... is a perverted masochist!”

“Thank you very much!” Lyutillis shouted.

“Worse, she’s a loner who’s only had bugs for friends most of her life, and a natural airhead. Also, her naming sense is as bad as yours, Oscar, but in a different way. Basically, she’s a failure of a queen.”

“What a glorious string of insults. Oh, no... I can’t hold the pleasure back anymore! Aaaaaaaaah!”

Twitching, Lyutillis arched her back as she climaxed.

I see what you mean, Naiz... Oscar thought to himself.

“I... wish I’d never learned the truth,” Vandre muttered. He couldn’t believe royalty like that existed.

Thank you for being a king I can respect, Brother. You’re the best ruler in the world... Vandre escaped into his memories to avoid looking at reality. Meanwhile, Oscar...

“Naiz, this is a present from Susha-chan and Yunfa-chan. They made a good luck charm for you.”

“Hm? O-Oh, thanks.”

...pretended as though he hadn’t heard anything. Seeing as they’d be traveling together from now on, he knew he’d have to face reality eventually, but this was too shocking a truth for Oscar to accept all at once. Naiz took the small box Oscar held out to him, holding it close to his heart.

“Ruth was the one who made the box, but the present inside is theirs. That being said, I have a message from Ruth about the contents.”

“What is it?”

“‘If you know what’s good for you, Naiz, you won’t look inside.’ That’s the message.”

Naiz looked gingerly down at the box. What the heck is inside...

“Also, maybe I was just seeing things, but it felt like Susha-chan and Yunfa-chan’s hair looked shorter after they—”

“Say no more!”

If Naiz learned any more about his present, he’d be too terrified to keep it. All he needed to know was that a token of the sisters’ feelings for him was contained within this box, nothing more.

Oscar and Naiz nodded to each other. At the same time, they lamented the fact that all the women in their life were crazy in one way or another. Just then, Oscar realized something. Miledi’s necklace was a perfectly normal gift. Corrin had naturally been thoughtful enough to make one for Meiru as well. On top of that, she was always looking after everyone in the village, and she kept smiling, even when things got tough. She was a kind girl, and though she was usually shy, she put her foot down when it mattered.

“Hold on a second. Is my sister actually an angel?”

“I would say so, at least.”

Of all the girls in the Liberators, only Corrin was normal. Oscar and Naiz nodded to each other, bonding over this realization. They felt as though they could hear Corrin’s voice cheering them on in the distance, saying, “Onii-chan, Naiz-oniisan! Don’t give up!”

After everyone settled down, the ancient magic user tea party officially began. Lyutillis tried to come up with nicknames for Oscar and Vandre as well, and the two of them refused with such vehemence that Lyutillis started panting again, grossing everyone out. It was a very boisterous, enjoyable tea party. Moments like these were what gave Miledi and the others the strength to keep fighting in this long, grueling war. Sadly, their respite was cut short all too soon.

“Ah!”

The six ancient magic users shouted simultaneously, stiffening up. An astronomically large pulse of mana rippled through the forest. The air crackled, the earth creaked, and all living creatures in the forest held their breath as the wave passed over them.

Miledi, Oscar, and Naiz all exchanged knowing looks, Meiru and Vandre broke out in a cold sweat, and Lyutillis shouted in a hysterical voice, “This can’t be real!”

She was looking toward the center of the capital, where the Grand Tree was. A second later, everyone’s vision cleared up. The barrier of fog, which had protected the beastmen and the Pale Forest for centuries, vanished in an instant. The Grand Tree worshiped by the beastmen was visible from even miles away. It was radiating a strange color of mana that looked to be every shade of the rainbow condensed into one. Though it couldn’t speak, it looked to Lyutillis like it was desperately trying to resist intrusion by some alien force. In her eyes, Uralt was screaming in pain.

Miledi, Oscar, and Naiz were the first to recover from their shock.

“O-kun, Nacchan! It’s her!”

“Yeah, no doubt about it.”

“But why did she go after the Grand Tree? Isn’t Lyu her target!?”

Their strained conversation snapped Meiru and the others out of their reverie. Clicking his tongue, Vandre looked westward. Batlam’s tiny core was sitting on his shoulder.

“According to Batlam, the mist’s been taken out everywhere. And it looks like the church just launched an all-out assault.”

The church had timed their attack perfectly. Miledi and the others were still freaking out. Fearing for the Grand Tree’s safety, Lyutillis started running toward it. But before she took more than a few steps, Meiru shouted, “Get a hold of yourselves, everyone! We’ve dealt with worse than this!”

Her sharp rebuke helped Miledi and the others regain their composure. Miledi gave Meiru a brief nod of gratitude, then turned to Lyutillis.

“Lyu-chan. When you said, ‘this can’t be real,’ what did you mean?”

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Lyutillis replied, “The Grand Tree is extremely sturdy. Even if you cut it in half, the mist barrier it maintains wouldn’t disappear.”

It would take a lot more than that to truly harm the tree. Given time, the destroyed parts would grow back too. And yet, something had done enough damage to the tree to destroy the mist barrier instantly.

“The only way to affect the mist barrier is to damage the Grand Tree’s core. But that core is hidden deep underground, protected by hundreds of layers of roots mixed with the hardest ore found in nature. It’s nigh impervious to both physical and magical attacks, and only the wielder of the staff is allowed to approach it.”

That could mean only one thing.

“So that’s where the apostle went, then?”

That Hearst was there. Miledi had no idea how she’d reached the center of the Grand Tree without either the tree or Lyutillis noticing, but no other explanation made sense. Just then, Craid came running over, his expression pale.

“Your Majesty!”

“I know. Where are Sim and the others?”

“They’ve gone to engage the enemy. Badd and his comrades are with them.”

“Very good. Tell Sim he’s in command of everyone while I’m gone. Craid, I want you and the rest of the royal guard to join his battalion as well.”

“Wha—!? But our job is to protect you, Your—!”

“The time for fighting defensively is over. Without the Grand Tree’s protection, we need to commit all of our forces if we wish to survive. As soon as I’ve resolved the issues with the tree, I will join the battlefield as well. Craid, I know you don’t like this, but I don’t have time for your arguments. This is a royal decree. Go, join Sim!”

“A-As you wish, Your Highness!”

Craid bowed low, resolved to carry out his master’s will.

“I leave the queen in your hands,” he said solemnly to Naiz, then ran off toward the west. Once he was gone, Lyutillis turned to Miledi. Miledi understood what she wanted to say immediately and nodded.

“O-kun, Van-chan, can you go help the beastmen?”

“You want to take on the apostle without us?”

“Without the fog barrier, they can’t stall the church on their own. Besides, I’m not planning on fighting her here. It’s too close to the Grand Tree. We’ll find some way to lure her outside, where you guys are.”

In order to do that, Miledi needed Naiz.

“Meru-nee, you come with me too.”

“Roger.”

“Lyu-chan, guide us there!”

“Understood. First, we need to go to the throne room.”

“Nacchan, time is of the essence. Teleport us there.”

“You got it.”

Everyone grabbed onto Naiz. Right before he teleported them away, Miledi turned to Oscar and Vandre.

“I’m counting on you two.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve got this.”

“We’ll be fine, worry about yourself.”

They smiled fearlessly at her, and the three of them bumped their fists together.

A second later, Miledi, Naiz, Meiru, and Lyutillis vanished. The moment they were gone, Vandre transformed. Oscar jumped onto his back, and the majestic ice dragon shot into the air. In the distance, the two of them could see the enemy army advancing like a turgid stream. Hundreds of black specks filled the sky above the advancing army. That was the Holy Templar Knights and the Paragons of Light.

On the other side, every one of the beastmen soldiers living in the forest ran out to meet them. Without the fog to protect them, they’d just be worn down by waves of magic if they stayed in the forest. And so, they instead opted to take the fight to the humans. Once the battle devolved into a melee, it’d be hard for the federation or the church to launch concentrated barrages of magic. But even if they succeeded in doing that, it would still be impossibly difficult to grasp victory. Simple strategies like that wouldn’t be very effective against the overwhelming might of the Holy Templar Knights or the Paragons of Light.

“Alright, Van. You’re up against some of the best beast tamers in the world. Think you can handle them?”

“Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m the strongest monster tamer in the world. What about you, think you can take the church’s strongest knights?”

“Please. They’re just the warm-up. The real fight’s going to be way tougher than anything you’ve ever faced.”

“Then we better get our warm-up done as fast as possible!”

“Don’t fuck up, you sham artist.”

“That’s my line, shitty four-eyes.”

The two men smiled at each other. Even in the face of the strongest army in the world, they didn’t stop bickering.

Vandre turned back to the opposing army and howled. In response, Uruluk and the other wyverns that he’d brought to the forest rose into the air. At the same time, a pack of giant silver wolves, led by Kuou, darted through the trees toward the oncoming human army.

Uruluk flew up until he was level with Vandre. The giant mass of slime resting on the wyvern’s back hopped over to Vandre’s back. Batlam’s core wriggled its way inside the slime mass, causing it to jiggle.

As they charged, the beastmen let out a resounding war cry. Despite the crisis they were in, their morale was higher than ever.

Oscar zoomed in on Laus Barn using his glasses’ magnification feature, then said in a voice as hard as steel, “We’ll show you the hope that Miledi promised.”

For Miledi’s sake, he wasn’t going to hold back.

The path to the Grand Tree’s core began in the throne room. But despite the rush they were in, Miledi and the others weren’t even able to reach it in one jump.

“Nnngh!?”

“Nacchan!?”

Looking up, Miledi saw the trunk of the Grand Tree rather than the throne she was expecting. They’d ended up at the base of the tree. Around her, beastmen were panicking because of what was happening to the tree.

Thinking he’d just slipped up, Naiz tried to teleport them again. However—

“I’m being blocked!”

“Ah... It’s probably the Grand Tree’s defense mechanism. I assume it’s repelling all external interference to protect itself.”

If the tree could repel even ancient magic, Miledi could see why Lyutillis had been so surprised that the apostle had made it past its defenses.

“This isn’t good... My powers are being severely restricted as well,” Lyutillis muttered.

She could influence the tree to some extent, but not deactivate its barriers. That showed just how critical a condition the Grand Tree was in. It was still radiating mana, and vibrating vigorously enough to shake the nearby earth. However, as the group watched, something even worse started to happen.

“Oh no... The Grand Tree’s leaves...”

The once vibrant leaves of the Grand Tree started falling from its branches. It was as if the entire tree was being drained of vitality. Its roots started to writhe, creating a localized earthquake. Everyone in the area screamed as they lost their balance and fell to the ground. This earthquake was far more severe than the mild rumblings that the tree had caused thus far. As the shaking grew worse, the tree began sinking into the ground. It sank slowly, but it was big enough to create cracks.

“Lyu-chan. Can you use the Guardian Rod to go directly to the core!?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Even the one chosen by the rod needed to follow the prescribed route to reach the core. For the rod was nothing more than the key to open the seal guarding the sole path.

“Gotcha. Let’s go, everyone!”

There was no time to lament their misfortune. After learning there was no other path, Miledi used her gravity magic to send everyone into the sky. She was careful to keep everyone a safe distance from the tree and avoid the bundles of falling leaves as she moved them toward the throne room.

“Your Majesty! Are you alright!?” Parsha shouted from the balcony on the throne room’s floor when she saw Lyutillis and the others flying up. The moment Miledi let them down on the balcony, Lyutillis started running toward the throne room. As she ran, she gave out orders as fast as possible.

“I’m fine, don’t worry. The Grand Tree’s core is being attacked. I won’t be able to deploy the fog barrier until the tree’s secure again. Parsha, I want you to evacuate the citizens while I’m dealing with the intruder!”

“I’ve already begun the evacuation. I was hoping you would be able to give a speech to calm the people, but it seems there’s no time for that. Should we abandon the capital?”

“You have full authority over how to handle the evacuation. I’ll be too busy fighting to lead. You serve as acting regent in my place.”

“Understood. Good luck out there, Lyu. Stay safe.”

“I will. You be careful too, Parsha.”

Parsha looked gently up at Lyutillis. It wasn’t the look a retainer would give her queen, but the one a grandmother would give her granddaughter. Then the moment passed, and Parsha turned on her heel and ran back outside. As she passed by the other Liberators, she gave them all a stern look. Protect Lyu for me.

Miledi and the others all nodded resolutely. As soon as they reached the throne room, Lyutillis brandished the Guardian Rod. The throne, which was made of the Grand Tree’s branches, started to unravel, transforming into a crest shaped like an upside-down tree. A second later, a hole appeared in the floor, with a spiral staircase leading downward. The hollow shaft supporting the staircase was so deep it was impossible to tell how far down it went.

“We’re running out of time. As long as you don’t do anything that affects the Grand Tree, you all can come. Miledi, if you’d be so kind.”

“You got it! Let’s go!”

Instead of using the staircase, Miledi and the others hopped into the shaft. As they neared the bottom, Miledi used gravity magic to slow everyone down, but Lyutillis didn’t want to waste time on a landing. While they were still in the air, she swung her rod again, and the floor opened up to reveal another hole. This process repeated itself five times. By the time they finally landed, the party was around 300 meters underground. They were in a small room whose walls, ceiling, and floor were made of black metal. The Grand Tree’s roots coiled all around the metal, creating an odd contrast of organic wood and cold ore.

“I recognize this metal... O-kun uses it all the time. This is azantium, isn’t it?”

“That’s the most durable ore in the world, right?”

“Yep. But there’s something off about the color... I think it’s got sealstone mixed in. I used to see it all the time when I lived in the Reisen manor. I’d recognize it anywhere.”

That explained how the wall protecting the Grand Tree’s core was resistant to both physical and magical means. The tree’s roots also seemed to hold a special power, and they were likely as tough as the metal they were wrapped around.

“Miledi-chan, Naiz-kun. She’s here,” Meiru whispered, cold sweat pouring down her forehead.

“I know,” Miledi replied. The wall directly in front of the party had the same upside-down tree crest carved into it. Waiting beyond that wall was a being so powerful her presence could be sensed through the numerous layers of sealstone separating them.

“Prepare yourselves, friends! It’s time!” Lyutillis shouted. Though it sounded more like she was trying to steel her resolve than bolster her friends. She hesitantly swung her rod down to unlock the seal protecting the core, and the azantium doors swung open with a deep rumble.

Silver light so bright it was blinding assailed the four ancient magic users. Though it was just light, it was dense enough to be palpable. A normal person would have been knocked out just from being exposed to that much power. Miledi and the others raised their arms to shield their eyes and walked into the storm of light. As they drew closer, Miledi once more laid eyes on her arch-nemesis.

“So you’ve come,” the silver-haired valkyrie said.

This was the church’s ultimate trump card, God’s Apostle. As always, her unparalleled beauty was marred by the lifelessness in her eyes. It made her look inhuman. She flapped her silver wings, causing her silver dress to flutter, and sliced her hand through the air. The light filling the room dispersed. With the light gone, everyone could get a clearer look at their surroundings.

They were in a smallish, dome-shaped room. The walls were made of the same azantium-sealstone alloy as the previous room, but the roots coiling around them were far thicker. They were also as black as the metal around them. It appeared those roots had absorbed the azantium-sealstone alloy, becoming even more durable. However, many of those roots had been scorched, severed, or otherwise damaged. Normally, they only parted for the wielder of the Guardian Rod, so the apostle had needed to force her way through.

At the center of the room was the Grand Tree’s core. It was cocooned by a conflux of roots, and a faint light was leaking out from it. From the gaps in the roots, Miledi and the others could see the core itself was a small sapling. Based on how weakly it was glowing, it was obviously severely injured. By blocking out all magic it had managed to erect a final fortress and protect itself from death, but only just.

Miledi looked behind the person responsible for this state of affairs and saw a small hole on the far wall.

“I see... So you snuck in here from underground. It’s an old trick, but no one ever pays attention to what’s beneath their feet. Still, I’m surprised no one noticed you, since you’d have to burrow for a dozen kilometers to reach this place from the plains... Oh, I see now. That’s why you had the army launch such a reckless assault.”

The valkyrie’s expression didn’t change, but her inhuman eyes seemed to be saying “indeed.” Miledi and the others had been too distracted by the fighting to notice her using her magic hundreds of meters underground. However, there was one thing that still didn’t make sense.

Lyutillis made a pained face as she looked at the debilitated sapling and muttered, “But the Grand Tree’s roots form an underground barrier around the capital. If any of those roots were damaged, I would have noticed right away.”

“Correct. Circumventing your alarm system was hardly an impossible task, but it did require a fair amount of effort.”

“Excuse me?”

The only way she could have evaded the Grand Tree’s detection was by weaving her way between the tree’s hundred thousand roots and using only the bare minimum amount of mana to dig. Such a feat was nigh impossible for even Lyutillis and her comrades, yet for the apostle, it had just been “a fair amount of effort.”

“How can anyone... possess this much power...”

Lyutillis shuddered involuntarily. No existing magic that she knew of, including ancient magic, was capable of what the apostle had done. Even Miledi and Naiz, who’d dueled the apostle before and knew just how strong she was, were speechless.

“This was my lord’s will. And so long as he wills it, nothing is impossible.”

The apostle raised her arm.

“There was one other thing my lord willed.”

Silver light began to gather in her palm.

“Miledi Reisen. He wishes to see if people will retain the will to resist after your death.”

Goosebumps rose on Naiz and Meiru’s arms. They thought back what they’d seen in the sealed room underneath Andika. The silver flash that had pierced the floor and ceiling. Back then, they’d thought that this apostle had just opened some secret passage leading to the sea to escape after awakening the Leviathan. But now, they weren’t so sure. What if instead, she’d just blasted through the entire island to create her own passage? If so, there was no surviving an attack like that. Just as they thought that, the apostle unleashed a silver bolt at Miledi.

“I won’t let you lay another finger on the Grand Tree! Spatial Severance!”

If Miledi dodged, the tree’s roots would suffer more damage. And so, Miledi opted to block the attack instead.

“No, Miledi-chan! You have to dodge!”

“Shit!”

There was an almost comedic popping noise as Miledi’s all-powerful gravity sphere burst apart like a bubble. A second later, the wall behind Miledi vanished. Naiz appeared out of thin air a short distance away, with Miledi tucked under one arm. He’d teleported in at the last second to save Miledi from total annihilation.

“Huh? What?”

“Miledi!”

However, he hadn’t succeeded completely. Looking down, Naiz realized Miledi’s entire left half was missing, with blood spurting out in great gouts from her torso. The apostle had used the new special magic she’d received from her god, Disintegration. The spell annihilated anything it came into contact with, whether that something was physical or magical. A single blast of it had been enough to nearly kill Miledi. As she looked down at what had happened to her, Miledi’s eyes rolled back into her head. Her body went limp as she lost consciousness, and her heartbeat began to slow. At that rate, she was dead in seconds.

“Meiru!” Naiz shouted desperately.

“I know!”

Naiz lowered Miledi into Meiru’s arms, and the dagon instantly started pouring restoration magic into her. While that was happening, Naiz teleported behind the apostle. He unsheathed his blade and wreathed it in spatial magic. Fueled by rage, he swung at the apostle’s neck. But just before his dimension-cutting scimitar reached its target—

“Ngh!?”

The apostle brought her wings up to protect herself. She suffused them with disintegration magic, offsetting the spatial barrier Naiz had applied to his sword. That caused Naiz to falter for a moment, which was a fatal mistake.

There was a soft whoosh as the apostle summoned her sword and swung it behind her. The sword sliced through both of Naiz’s arms, and the pain was so great that he nearly blacked out. However—

“I’m not done yet!” Naiz grit his teeth through the pain and lunged forward. If he could just touch her, he’d be able to teleport the apostle out of here. Of course, she knew that as well, and she swiftly tried to step out of the way.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Lyutillis hissed.

As this was her first time directly participating in battle, it had taken her a while to overcome her initial shock. But now she was finally back in action. She swung her staff down at the apostle, and a combination of magical glowing chains and brown tree roots coiled around her. Of course, the apostle’s disintegration magic destroyed both the physical roots and the magical chains of light, but they stopped her long enough for Naiz to reach her.

“Take care of Miledi,” he said to Meiru as he tackled the apostle. A second later, both of them were gone.

“Onee-sama! How’s Miledi!?”

“Quiet! I’m concentrating!”

Miledi’s missing left half was slowly beginning to regrow. Lyutillis could only watch, speechless, as Meiru concentrated harder than she ever had before. Though they’d only known each other for a month and a half, Lyutillis understood just how much Miledi meant to Meiru.

Meiru’s restoration magic could heal anyone, so long as they weren’t dead. But only if they weren’t dead. Had Naiz been even a second late, or if the shot had been aimed toward Miledi’s head instead of her torso, even Meiru wouldn’t have been able to heal her.

“Please, open your eyes Miledi-chan!”

It was obvious Meiru’s desperation and fear was affecting her focus. It pained Lyutillis to see Meiru so distraught. Fortunately, the two of them didn’t have to worry for very long.

“Haaah! Meru-nee? Lyu-chan? Are you guys okay?” Miledi gasped, opening her eyes.

“Oh, Miledi-chan! Good grief, I’m the one who should be asking you that!”

“Haha... You really are something else, Miledi-tan.”

Meiru hugged Miledi with tears in her eyes, while Lyutillis breathed a sigh of relief and smiled softly. Miledi gently patted Meiru’s head as she struggled to get her head out of her cleavage. Once she was free, she gasped and shouted, “Wait, Meru-nee! What happened to the apostle!? And where’s Nacchan!?”

She hurriedly glanced around the room. When she spotted Naiz’s arms lying on the ground, her face paled.

“He’s... Well, he’s not alright, but Naiz-kun did manage to teleport the apostle out of here.”

“But with those wounds, he—”

“Don’t worry, Oscar-kun and Van-kun should be over there too. I’m sure they’ll be able to hold out until we arrive.”

Having finally regained her composure, Meiru calmly explained the situation to Miledi. Right now, they had to focus on repairing the Grand Tree’s core. Until the fog barrier reappeared, the beastmen would be sitting ducks for the church’s mages. Casualties would continue to mount unless they could nurse the three back to health. Unfortunately, while Meiru’s analysis was logical, she’d missed one vital point.

“I’m afraid we cannot do that, Onee-sama,” Lyutillis interjected. Meiru and Miledi shot her questioning looks. With a resolute expression, she added, “Think about it. How much mana will you have to expend to restore the Grand Tree?”

“Well...”

The Grand Tree was continuing to sink, and its branches were still withering. Both of which meant its magic-repelling barrier was still in effect. Now that the apostle wasn’t actively attacking it, the tree had weakened its barrier somewhat, but Meiru would still need to use up almost all of her mana to break through its defenses and restore it to full strength.

“Now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I can say with confidence that a being like that apostle cannot be allowed to exist. We must destroy her. We have to prove to the world that we have the strength to overcome adversity of that level.”

Otherwise, the people would lose all will to resist god. They would despair, believing that they’d never win their freedom, no matter how much they struggled.

“If we are defeated here, then the Liberators will have no future. Onee-sama, you have to save your strength for the battle to come.”

“But Lyu-chan, at this rate, the tree will...” Miledi trailed off.

“Miledi-tan. The Grand Tree isn’t that weak. It can survive this. Which is why—”

“We should just focus on beating that creepy bitch to a pulp?” Meiru said with a smirk on her face.

Lyutillis nodded resolutely. As someone who was intimately linked to Uralt, it pained her to leave the sacred tree in such a wounded state. But in order to secure a future for her beastmen, she needed to fight. Seeing the determination in Lyutillis’ eyes, Miledi nodded.

“Gotcha. Let’s go, then. This time, we’re gonna beat that apostle,” she declared confidently.

The three girls nodded to each other and left the damaged core behind. The battle awaiting them would be the turning point of not just their lives, but the world as a whole.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield above ground—

“Gaaah!”

“Bwuh!?”

Oscar and Vandre somersaulted through the air, blood trailing behind them. Oscar used his Onyx Boots to reorient himself, while Vandre spread his wings and regained his balance. The two of them were covered from head to toe in wounds and panting heavily.

Without the fog, the scenery was clear for miles. There wasn’t even a stray cloud to hamper visibility. And so, the two of them could see quite clearly the barrage of silver feathers that was bearing down on them.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” Vandre roared.

“I don’t believe it! She’s even stronger than the last time we fought her!” Oscar screamed hysterically.

The two of them dove to either side, narrowly avoiding the feathers. As they dodged, Oscar pointed his umbrella upward and shot a Thunderlord’s Judgment at the apostle while Vandre unleashed his breath on her. The apostle just stood there, her wings spread wide.

A few minutes ago, Naiz had teleported onto the battlefield with her, which had led to both armies momentarily stopping in their tracks. The knights of the theocracy, the soldiers of the federation, and the mages of the empire had all been so awed by the appearance of the apostle in her combat dress that they’d just looked up to stare at her, their jaws hanging open. Meanwhile, Oscar and Vandre had been so shocked to see Naiz show up without his arms that they’d been unable to react right away, either. But now Naiz was on the ground, receiving emergency treatment from Batlam, and Oscar and Vandre were fighting for their lives.

“How futile.”

The apostle covered herself with her wings, imbuing them with her disintegration magic. Oscar and Vandre’s full-strength attacks dissipated harmlessly before the overwhelming might of the apostle’s special magic. The apostle then unfurled her wings and shot straight down toward them like a meteor.

“Van, cancel your transformation! In your dragon form, you’re just an easy target for her!”

“Tch, it pisses me off to hear that from you, but you’ve got a point.”

There was a brief flash of light, and Vandre returned to his human form. However, he kept his dragon wings, allowing him to maneuver in the sky. The two of them turned on the apostle, pincering her with perfect coordination. Oscar shot metal wires out from his gloves, while Vandre created a halberd out of ice that he thrust toward her. However, she simply used her dual swords to strike down both of their attacks. Then, with superhuman speed, she circled around behind Vandre.

“She’s so fast!” Vandre exclaimed, turning his head.

“You’re just slow,” the apostle replied flatly.

Vandre brought up the remnants of his ice halberd to block, but it wasn’t nearly enough to stop her swords. However, he did manage to deflect them just enough that they cut through his wings instead of cutting him in half. Screaming in pain, Vandre hurtled toward the ground. As the apostle looked disdainfully down at him, a barrage of enchanted daggers rained down on her. But with a single flap of her wings, she summoned a hundred silver feathers to shoot them down.

“Shi—!”

Before Oscar could launch another barrage, she flew up to him and swung her sword down. He hurriedly brought his umbrella up to block. His ultimate creation, made from multiple layers of the strongest metal in the world, was sturdy enough to avoid being bisected instantly by the apostle’s disintegration magic. However, it couldn’t absorb the entire impact of the blow. The umbrella’s canopy sunk inward, and Oscar felt his shoulder get dislocated.

Like Vandre, Oscar was sent hurtling toward the ground. This time, neither of them had the strength left to stop themselves in midair. They braced for impact, doing their best to mitigate the damage of the fall.

“Keep it together, Van, Oscar!” Naiz shouted, teleporting below them to catch them in midair. He was using Batlam’s tentacles as makeshift hands. The three of them still fell to the ground, but Naiz managed to dampen the impact enough that no one was hurt.

The apostle switched her grip on one of her swords and drew it back, like a throwing spear.

“W-We’ve gotta block it!” Oscar shouted, hurriedly deploying his umbrella’s Hallowed Ground. At the same time, Naiz created a spatial barrier while Vandre summoned a wall of ice. Silver sparks ran down the apostle’s sword as she poured an ungodly amount of disintegration magic into it. There was a thunderous boom as she threw it, and a second later, the sword crashed into the trifold barrier, raising a cloud of dust.

After a few seconds, the dust cleared, revealing a massive crater in the ground. It looked as though a meteor had landed.

Oscar, Naiz, and Vandre were facedown at the edge of the crater, trembling. They’d suffered enough damage that they couldn’t get to their feet right away. The soldiers on the battlefield, both human and beastmen, were still watching in awe. The overwhelming might of the apostle had made them forget all about fighting each other.

Oscar and Vandre had destroyed the empire’s entire fleet by themselves and had even been strong enough to overpower Laus and Mulm, as well as their knights. But now the two of them were lying on the ground, helpless.

She’s way too strong... the beastmen of the republic thought, trembling in despair.

How divine... the humans of the theocracy, federation, and empire thought, their devotion to god growing ever stronger.

“Oscar, Van, Naiz!” Badd shouted, running over to the three of them. Marshal and Sim followed after him. It was then that the soldiers on the church’s side finally began to move again. Assured of their victory, they charged toward the nonplussed beastmen.

“D-Don’t get any closer!” Oscar shouted. Sadly, it was too late. The apostle had already turned her attention to Badd and the others.

“My lord ordered me to eliminate Miledi Reisen, but spare the other ancient magic users. However...”

The apostle thought back to what her god had said to her just before sending her on this mission.

Will the other ancient magic users continue fighting for the future after losing their leader? Will the bonds Miledi Reisen has forged remain even after her death? It’s truly such an intriguing prospect. Let us see where this game takes us.

Cocking her head, she continued, “I have been given no orders regarding your survival.”

Miledi was still alive. The apostle had failed to kill her back under the tree. If she killed a few of Miledi’s close friends here, it might shake Miledi enough to make her easier to kill.

“Even if that isn’t the case, I have no reason to let you live.”

Honestly, the apostle couldn’t care less about Badd and the others. But she figured she might as well cull some of the fools who opposed her lord. That was the callous reasoning that led her to start gathering silver light above her.

When he saw her focusing her mana, Oscar started to panic. Meanwhile, Badd and the others stopped in their tracks, terrified. They could tell they were being targeted.

Seeing that light of death, Laus muttered, “I see you couldn’t resist the will of god after all, Miledi Reisen.”

There was a faint but unmistakable tinge of disappointment in his voice. He closed his eyes, unwilling to witness the moment Miledi’s dream died. But before the apostle could fire—

“Supeeeeeeer Milediiiiiiiii Kiiiiiiiiiiiick!”

A flash of sky-blue light shot down from the heavens. Miledi was moving so fast there was an opaque wall of air spreading out in front of her. She used gravity magic enhanced by Lyutillis’ evolution magic to speed herself up well past the speed of sound. Meiru was also casting restoration magic on her to keep her mana topped off. And there was also a highly compressed, full power Onyx Blast situated below her feet.

The apostle barely had time to get her sword up to block before Miledi hit her. There was a thunderous boom, and a massive shockwave rippled outward as the two collided. The light that was gathering above the apostle dispersed as she was sent flying. She slammed into the ground with such force that it created a second dust cloud, obscuring everyone’s vision.

The beastmen and the human soldiers were all stunned, but Oscar and the others just grinned. After all, that was how Miledi always made her entrance. Miledi hovered in midair and struck her usual pose, with one hand on her hip, one leg slightly raised, and the other hand making a peace sign.

“Everyone’s favorite beautiful genius mage, Miledi Reisen, is here!”

For the second time that day, the soldiers on both sides stopped what they were doing to stare. Miledi ignored the shock on everyone’s faces and winked playfully before pointing down at the dust cloud on the ground.

“Don’t act so high and mighty, you emotionless puppet! You’ve got nothing on us humans!” Miledi shouted, her haughty voice echoing across the plains.

It was then that the knights finally regained their wits. Cardinal Baran, who’d joined the battle to provide magical support from the rear, shouted “Lady Oracleeeeeee!”

A blast of silver light erupted from the dust cloud, clearing the debris. The apostle stood on the ground, completely unhurt. Even her clothes were unscathed. She calmly raised one hand, recalling the sword she’d thrown earlier. She then swung both her swords experimentally, sending a blast of wind shooting across the plains.

Miledi touched down on the ground across from her and said, “Hmph, look at you, trying to act all cool. Even if you show off how strong you are, it doesn’t change the fact that I knocked you out of the sky, you know? Hey, how does it feel? How does it feel being smacked to the ground even though you’re supposed to be an all-powerful apostle? You mad? You’re totally mad, aren’t you?”

She’d been on death’s door just a few minutes ago, but now she was taunting the apostle right before their decisive showdown. The apostle looked as emotionless as always, but the knights of the church were absolutely furious. Their oracle was Ehit’s representative, his avatar. No one was allowed to even suggest she could do any wrong, much less insult her like that.

“Chirp all you want. I will be shutting your mouth for good soon enough.”

“You say that, but how many times have you failed to kill me now, Hearst?”

The first time Miledi had escaped from her was four years ago, when she’d infiltrated the church. Then she’d survived their confrontation in the desert. Finally, she’d survived the apostle’s surprise attack back in the center of the Grand Tree. The third time was supposed to be the charm, but the apostle was already on attempt four.

Laus and the others looked confused by the name Miledi had brought out. For them, this was the first time hearing it. After all, the oracle had introduced herself to them as Ainz. As expected, the oracle corrected Miledi. But she didn’t give the name the knights were used to hearing.

“The servant who has come here today to kill Miledi Reisen is Ahat.”

“Ahat?”

Did she change her name or something? Miledi thought to herself. That was as far as the conversation got though. Because all of the church’s knights had started lining up behind Ahat.

First was the commander of the Holy Templar Knights, Laus Barn. With him were Araym and the other high-ranking members of the order. Then came the commander of the Paragons of Light, Mulm Allridge. With him were Godel and his strongest sacred beasts. Third to line up behind Ahat was the commander of the Templar Knights, Lilith Arkind. With her were Zebal and a few of her best Templar Knights. Next came Baran Distark, the theocracy’s most influential cardinal. With him were all the bishops under his command. And last, but not least, was the leader of the Odion Federation, Detref Ernst. With him were the federation’s strongest generals.

The empire’s mages and the federation’s remaining soldiers were also moving to surround Miledi and the others. But Miledi simply smiled and puffed her chest out. She was proud of the bonds she’d forged. Together with her comrades, she’d prove to everyone that they could defeat the world’s strongest army. That was how she’d show the world that there was still hope. That there was no need to give in to despair or resign oneself to a fate of servitude. While the church assembled behind Ahat, Miledi’s friends assembled next to her.

Oscar walked up next to Miledi, adjusting his glasses. Meiru came up on Miledi’s other side, grinning wickedly. Naiz followed after her, his arms now fully restored. Vandre came to stand on Oscar’s other side, his muffler flowing in the wind. Then came Badd, casually twirling his scythe as he smiled fearlessly at the knights. Next to him stood Marshal, his massive claymore resting on his shoulder. Finally, Lyutillis walked forward, glaring coolly at the invaders who’d dared to encroach upon her forest. Sim and the other beastmen generals trailed behind her.

Both sides had marshaled their strongest forces for this decisive showdown.

An unnatural silence fell across the plains as the two sides stared each other down. That was the calm before the storm. After a few seconds, Miledi floated up into the air. Ahat beat her wings and followed suit.

“For freedom—”

“For my lord—”

The two of them finally broke the silence. Miledi’s voice was burned with determination, while Ahat’s voice was a frozen, emotionless declaration. Warriors on both sides readied their weapons.

“God’s Apostle, Ahat... you’re going down.”

“Heretic Miledi Reisen... I will annihilate you.”

Ahat unleashed a barrage of silver feathers, and Miledi created a floating gravity sphere to redirect them. The battle had begun. Ahat’s redirected feathers flew up to the heavens, dyeing the sky silver. Miledi reversed her own gravity and shot up after them.

Naturally, Oscar and the others prepared to go after her, but before they could— “Ahat-sama has spoken! Do not let anyone interfere with her mission!” Baran shouted.

The apostle had claimed destroying Miledi Reisen was her mission. That meant this was a new oracle. Ehit’s wish was to remove Miledi from this world. In which case it was the church’s job to support her in fulfilling that wish. The war, and even their previous mission, was no longer relevant. At Baran’s command, the knights and soldiers all rushed at Oscar and the others to prevent them from assisting Miledi.

“Adra! Burn them to ash!”

Adra opened its maw and unleashed an aurora-colored blast of light at the Liberators. Naturally, Naiz deployed a spatial barrier to protect everyone, but Adra’s attack managed to slow the Liberators down. As the breath pounded futilely against Naiz’s barrier, Oscar glanced up at the sky. Just then, Miledi’s voice came through everyone’s earrings.

“Guys, I’ll be fine! Just don’t let any of those guys get in my way!”

“Wha—!? You want to duel the apostle alone!? That’s way too reckless!”

Ahat was far stronger than when they’d fought her in the desert. She’d been able to overpower Oscar and Vandre when they’d been fighting together.

Meiru and the others nodded in agreement with Oscar’s outburst, but Miledi just replied, “Don’t worry!”

Looking up, the Liberators could see countless blue and silver flashes shooting across the sky. Miledi was facing the strongest servant god possessed, but she was undaunted.

“I’ve gotta show everyone. I’ve gotta show the world!”

No one needed to ask what she was trying to show the world.

“I have to show them they do have the power to fight god!”

Of course that wasn’t all.

“And that they can live freely!”

Miledi would defeat Ahat, the living symbol of god’s power. And in doing so, she’d give people the hope to believe in a better future.

“I’m the leader of the Liberators. Which is why—”

“Which is why you have to fight alone?” Oscar interjected, sounding unconvinced. Naiz, Meiru, Vandre, and Lyutillis all seemed to be thinking the same thing.

However, before they could give her a piece of their mind, Miledi replied happily, “Which is why I want you to lend me your strength! Even if I have to fight alone, I won’t really be alone! Isn’t that right?”

Adra’s breath began to wane. Mulm seemed to have realized he’d never be able to break Naiz’s barrier. As the aurora faded, Oscar and the others could see Miledi and Ahat clashing high above them. Miledi was smiling fearlessly, her confidence unshaken.

Even when she was fighting alone, she wasn’t truly alone. Her comrades were still there by her side. But it sounded like she was saying that more to Ahat than to her friends, who already knew that. After all, it was Ahat who was alone.

Smiles spread across Oscar and the others’ faces. A second later, Adra’s breath vanished, and Laus and his knights charged toward the Liberators. With a smile to match Miledi’s, Naiz dispelled his barrier.

It was Lyutillis who struck the first blow.

“If this is the decisive battle, then there’s no need to hold back. Here I go. This is everything I can offer— Unlimited Overdrive!”

The evolution magic Lyutillis usually cast on her army wasn’t very powerful, since she had to spread it out over so many people. However, the spell she’d cast just now was her ultimate evolution spell, focused to empower only a single person.

“I can’t allow myself to be outdone here— Transient Infinity-Tenfold!”

Meiru cast her ultimate spell, which kept restoring something into the state it was in a second before indefinitely, but layered it ten times. That way, it wouldn’t disappear even if Ahat used disintegration magic on Miledi.

“Hmph, as if we’ll let our story end here. Batlam, lend her your strength!”

The slime butler saluted Vandre and began gathering its essence. This was the strongest monster Vandre had ever created, the one he’d spent over ten years perfecting.

“Naiz, help me out here. I’ll have Batlam deliver my presents to her.”

“Roger.”

With Naiz’s help, Oscar swiftly crafted any artifacts he believed might help Miledi and handed them to Batlam to deliver. The moment he was done, Naiz opened a portal to send Batlam to Miledi’s side. The moment the slime butler left, Laus and Lilith slammed into the Liberators’ formation. Oscar and the others scattered to avoid being hit by their attacks.

Battle cries from both sides shook the plains as the two sides clashed. Everyone realized this would be the last battle of the war, and they gave it their all without holding anything back. There were no fancy tactics or crafty stratagems involved. One side fought wholeheartedly for their god, while the other fought wholeheartedly for their right to freedom. As the battle grew chaotic, Lilith shot toward Lyutillis, sparks flying in her wake.

“Aaah, child of god! How I’ve longed to meet you!” she shouted in ecstasy. But despite her elation, she didn’t hesitate to swing her blade down on Lyutillis. Lyutillis wasn’t a frontline fighter by any means, and she stiffened up as Lilith’s sword bore down on her.

“Not on my watch!” Badd shouted, inserting himself between Lyutillis and Lilith. He swung his scythe, deflecting Lilith’s sword, then spun around and sent her flying with a roundhouse kick.

“Stop getting in my way, Knight Hunteeeeeeeeer!”

“Damnit, I thought you guys were trying to capture Lyu!? Why’re you attacking her now!?”

“Now that she’s been brainwashed by you heretics, the only way we can take her back is by chopping her limbs off! Besides, it’s only Ehit who can judge my actions! But even if it costs my life, I’ll do as he commanded!”

“Damn lunatic fanatics!”

Just then, a hail of arrows rained down on Badd from the side.

“Badd, now’s not the time to be complaining! Focus!”

Marshal suddenly appeared at Badd’s side to block the arrow storm. His body began to glow as he activated his special magic, Diamond Skin. True to his nickname “The Unbreakable Shield,” Marshal’s defenses were perfect.

“Grr, he’s tough,” Lelaie growled as she watched Marshal block her Arrows of Atonement.

“Rip them apart, Vanadis! Paragons of Light, charge! The child of god lacks the power to fight on her own. We can secure her with ease!”

Godel urged his sacred wolf, Vanadis, forward, leading his unit of knights on a headlong rush toward Lyutillis. His men scattered the beastmen warriors protecting her.

“My, it seems you’ve all quite underestimated me...” Lyutillis said as she glared coldly at the advancing Godel and his knights. A second later, her mana flared up, a huge, verdant green spiral that reached up to the heavens. Within that spiral danced numerous flowers and seeds of all kinds. Lyutillis waved her Guardian Rod like a conductor’s baton, looking as vibrant and ethereal as a fairy of the forest. For a moment, everyone watching her was captivated, regardless of whether they were friend or foe.

“Forest Revival.”

Lyutillis’ mana spread out in waves, and the plants fluttering within her mana stream spread out with it, dyeing the air and earth green. Suddenly, trees and ferns burst out of the ground, transforming the battlefield into a forest. This was one of the special spells granted to the guardian of the Grand Tree, Forest Revival. It allowed her to create a small replica of the Pale Forest wherever she was.

“Wha—!?”

“Vice-commander, we’re being split up!”

Though he was shocked, Godel kept enough presence of mind to dodge the tree that sprang up directly underneath him. Unfortunately, the knights behind him weren’t as nimble, so they got trapped in the undergrowth Lyutillis had created.

“Tch, I guess you’re not a child of god for nothing. That’s quite the spell—”

“Sorry, spearboy, but you don’t got time to chat.”

Godel’s begrudging praise was cut short as a shadow dropped from the trees toward him. The knight swiftly brought his spear up to block the gauntleted claws heading straight for his throat. Sparks flew as metal and metal clashed.

“Tch, one of the beastmen generals, huh?”

“The name’s Valf. No need to remember it, though, since you’ll be dying in a few minutes.”

“Big talk, for a filthy mongrel!”

As white mist began to spring up around the tiny woods Lyutillis had created, Valf and Godel pushed back and forth. Just as Godel was about to order Vanadis to strike, Valf used his Float Field. Rider and wolf both lost their balance as they tilted over to one side. While they struggled to regain their balance, a new threat appeared from the mist.

“Have a taste of the royal guards’ might.”

Craid leaped out of hiding and slashed at Vanadis. He easily cut through the wolf’s barrier of light and sliced its front paw off, causing Vanadis to howl in pain. Out of all the beastmen’s commanders, Craid was the only one who didn’t possess any special magic. However, his sword skills were so godlike that he was the one who’d been entrusted with the queen’s safety. Out of all the beastmen, he was the best swordsman. And that was why he was the commander of the royal guard. A standard barrier like the one protecting Vanadis was little more than paper to the fierce leopardman.

“Damn you!”

Godel whirled around, swinging his spear in a wide arc. His spear moved with blistering speed, but by the time he swung, Valf and Craid had already backed off. They leaped between the trees, their silhouettes barely visible in the thick fog. They struck at random intervals, from any and all directions, forcing Godel to stay on the defensive. Moreover, the trees and vines were also Godel’s foe, tripping up his wolf or lashing out at him from his blind spots. It was as if nature itself was baring its fangs at him.

Naturally, that was all Lyutillis’ doing. The other Paragons of Light were stuck in similar situations. They were learning just how dangerous beastmen could be when fighting on their home turf. Unfortunately, Lyutillis was only able to create a small patch of forest for them to fight in. It only spread three hundred meters out on all sides. People outside its radius, like Araym, were completely unaffected.

“I can burn a tiny grove like this in seconds,” he growled, shooting a burning sphere at the tiny forest. But obviously, there was someone there to stop him.

“Long time no see. Did you miss me?” Meiru smirked, sending a torrent of water at the flaming ball. There was a loud hiss as the flames were extinguished and the water turned to steam. Meiru then controlled the superheated steam and sent it into the gaps between the knights’ armor, scalding them.

“I still haven’t forgiven you for burning my ship. I hope you’re prepared to suffer.”

“That’s my line, bitch. I’ll make you pay for humiliating me back then!”

Araym and the other knights loosed battle cries, the pain from their burns forgotten. They charged at Meiru, who was sitting atop her arch of water.

Behind her, another fountain of water shot up from the forest. But this water wasn’t being controlled by Meiru. Zebal’s face appeared at the head of the fountain, his eyes full of hatred. Meiru’s restoration magic had caused him no end of grief this past month. Grinning wickedly, he rushed at Meiru’s unguarded back.

“Don’t go forgetting about me now,” Naiz taunted, popping out of nowhere.

“Wha—!? Gaaah!”

Zebal might have been safe from physical attacks in his liquid form, but nothing could protect him from spatial destruction. Naiz hit the knight with a Void Fissure, sending him flying. Thanks to his Liquefaction, the damage was amplified, and Zebal felt like his entire body was being ripped apart. As he slammed into the ground behind Araym, Zebal canceled his Liquefaction, coughing up blood.

“Oh my, Naiz-kun. You could have just left him to me, you know? Water is my element, remember?”

It seemed Meiru had been aware of Zebal from the start. Naiz just shrugged his shoulders in response. Just then, he heard a transmission from his earring.

“Naiz-san. The empire’s mages are attempting to cast a large-scale spell. Can you take care of them for us?”

It was Mikaela. She was keeping an eye on the entire battlefield with her Soul Sight, and since Naiz could be anywhere any time, he was the one she usually asked to take care of vital tasks. The two of them made for a frighteningly effective blitzkrieg combo.

“Roger. I’ll be right there.”

Naiz teleported over to the empire’s camp, throwing their mages into a panic. As Araym heard the mages in the rear start screaming in confusion, he gritted his teeth and turned to his subordinates.

“Tch, those empire fools are useless. What about the bishops, are they ready yet!?”

“I’m afraid they were discovered by an assassin unit and are trying to fend them off, sir.”

Naturally, that assassin unit belonged to Sui. Baran and his bishops had been planning to start their sacred chanting, which weakened their enemies and strengthened their allies, but Sui had sniffed them out once the battle had begun, and was currently taking out as many of the bishops as she could. The Holy Templar Knight who could use telepathy special magic was able to hear all of Sui’s ridiculous comments as she terrorized the bishops. “You fuckers better die quickly so I don’t have to work overtime!” “I’m sorry, that was a lie! I’ll betray my comrades, so please forgive meeeeee!” “That was just a lie, you moron, did you really believe that!?” It was almost impressive how easily she flip-flopped from gloating to groveling and back.

“What about the federation? What the hell is Detref doing!?”

“He’s currently locked in single combat with the beastmen’s leading general! His troops are stuck fighting the beastmen too!”

“The federation’s got way more troops, don’t they!? Have them send their reserves to us! If he can’t do that, then recall the platoon we sent to assist them!”

“We can’t! Their harpies are shooting down anyone who disengages from the melee! Unless we regain aerial superiority, we can’t call for reinforcements!”

“Fuck! What’s Mulm-sama doing!?”

Araym wanted to bring the federation soldiers over to use as shields, since he knew the Liberators couldn’t kill them. Right now, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get his Divine Blaze past Meiru’s aquatic defenses. Stamping his feet, he looked past the miniature forest, praying that Mulm would arrive to assist him.

Unfortunately for Araym, Mulm and Adra were locked in mortal combat with another dragon on the other side of the miniature forest. Adra’s aurora-colored breath clashed with Vandre’s icy silver breath.

“Tch! Knights, secure the space above him!”

“Uruluk! Don’t let them have aerial superiority!”

Mulm and the other knights wanted to rise higher so they could help Ahat, while Vandre and his wyverns were trying to keep the battle close to the ground. 200 dragons and 200 wyverns unleashed their breath attacks at each other as they vied for control of the skies. Both sides were evenly matched, and their attacks canceled each other out.

Mulm gritted his teeth in frustration as he watched Ahat and Miledi battle it out far above him. The sky was his territory, yet he couldn’t even help the oracle. He poured his anger into his bow, then fired an arrow at Vandre.

A streak of light trailed behind it as it shot through the air, looking like a condensed version of the holy dragons’ breath attacks. The arrow was aimed perfectly at Vandre’s eye. But Vandre created an ice shield in one of his claws and brought it up to deflect the arrow just before it hit.

“Ngh, so your martial skills remain unhindered even in your dragon form?”

Mulm had experienced Vandre’s skills firsthand during their brief battle before Naiz had teleported Ahat onto the scene. No matter what angle he’d fired from, Vandre had been able to deflect his arrows with ease. It seemed he was still capable of doing that while dueling with Adra in his dragon form. Mulm could fire as many arrows as he wanted, but Vandre would just deflect them with spears, swords, shields, and axes made of ice. Moreover—

“Kuou! Bring him down!”

Vandre’s silver wolf bounded through the air, heading straight for Mulm’s unguarded back. But Mulm dodged at the last second by sliding off of Adra’s back. As he fell, he unleashed another arrow. Kuou dodged the bolt with one of his special magics, Foresight. While he was at it, he also sunk his claws into Adra, scoring deep gouges on the dragon’s back. At the same time, he let out a fierce howl, activating another of his special magics, Frost Tempest. Pillars of ice shot out of his mouth, heading straight for Mulm.

“That thing has three special magics!?”

Kuou was one of Vandre’s strongest familiars. As a fellow beast tamer, Mulm couldn’t help but be awed by the difference in skill between him and Vandre.

Adra hurriedly cut off its breath attack and swooped down to grab Mulm before he hit the ground. The dragon then turned around and shot his breath at Kuou before he could go in for a follow-up attack. Kuou nimbly leaped out of the way, and the two sides put some distance between each other.

“I guess Laus is the only one who’ll be able to help the apostle...” Mulm muttered bitterly. He had no choice but to accept that the heretic he faced was too strong to push past.

“Nah, that’s not happening. Our shitty four-eyes is way stronger than he looks. Tch... Just talking about him pisses me off. One of these days, I’m gonna snap those dumb glasses of his in half!”

Kuou gave his master an exasperated look, while a short distance away a burst of golden mana illuminated the battlefield.

“Heh, is that his way of getting revenge? Figures a glasses-lover like him would do something so petty.”

Vandre looked over at where Laus and Oscar were fighting. Laus was on his own, but Oscar was surrounded by over a hundred of his Shadow Knights. Just like how Miledi had been forced to fight Laus alone while he was being backed up by his men, now Laus would have to fight Oscar and his knights alone.

“Then I suppose I’ll have to kill you and go to my oracle’s aid.”

“Try it if you can. I’ll show you who the real monster tamer is!”

Mulm’s sacred beasts and Vandre’s monsters clashed once more, sending ripples of pressure through the air.

A short distance away, Oscar and Laus faced off against each other.

“Sucks to be outnumbered, doesn’t it? Well if you want to just continue this staring contest, that’s fine with me too,” Oscar quipped, and Laus gave him a dubious look.

“You think dragging this out is to your advantage? Surely you understand the situation you’re in?”

“What, you think Miledi can’t beat your apostle?”

“That thing isn’t human. It’s just a machine Ehit created. A machine designed to bend history to his will.”

There’s no way she can fight against the inexorable will of god. No miracles will be happening today.

“She said she’ll win, so she’ll win. Miledi never goes back on her word.”

“You’re a fool.”

“Maybe. But you know, Laus Barn. I’d say you’re quite the fool too.”

“......”

After all, Laus had risked everything to save Belta’s life. If that wasn’t foolish, then Oscar didn’t know what was.

However, he just smiled gently and said, “Humans are made up of bonds. We make connections with each other, entrust those connections to those who come after us and slowly but surely push forward. I’m sure you know this, but Miledi Reisen is made up of bonds you helped forge.”

Just once, Laus had shown the tiniest bit of resistance when he’d helped Belta escape. That small act of resistance had connected with Miledi, and as a result she was now fighting for the fate of the world above them.

“She told you, didn’t she?”

“Told me what?”

“That she’d prove humans could fight against god.”

Laus frowned, his expression pained. But then he shook his head and glared at Oscar. The time for talk was over. It was too late to change his ways now. He’d committed to fighting for the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people. Up until now, he’d kept telling himself that was the right way to live. Oscar’s words alone wouldn’t be enough to change his mind. However—

As Laus raised his warhammer, Oscar shifted his center of gravity and adjusted his glasses. He raised his hand, and his hundred Shadow Knights drew their swords. They brought their swords to their chests in perfect sync, looking like a real order of knights. Oscar no longer needed metal wires to move them. They possessed a small measure of autonomy, and he only needed to give them verbal orders, or hand gestures, to control them. With Vandre’s help, Oscar had imbued his golems with both creation and metamorphosis magic, granting them a semblance of life.

The distant sounds of battle faded away as Oscar and Laus focused solely on the opponent before them.

“If you truly believe you can stop god’s will, then show me you have the power to do it, Oscar Orcus!”

“Fine. I’ll prove to you here and now that you should be standing on our side, Laus Barn!”

Though he no longer had a contingent of knights constantly healing him, Laus was still a formidable foe. He was willing to limit break to the max, while Oscar didn’t have the benefit of Lyutillis’ evolution magic, and he had to make sure to hold back and avoid killing Laus.

Guess I’ll have to push myself to the limit here... Oscar mused. He smiled fearlessly at Laus and confidently stepped forward. After all, he believed in Miledi’s victory more than anyone.

As for Miledi—

“Ngh! Gaaah! Aaaaaah!”

She was currently suffering from the effects of her own specialty, gravity. Normally, she just adjusted the direction gravity pulled her in to freefall freely through the sky, but against Ahat, that speed was too slow. And so, she’d opted to create multiple gravity spheres in the direction she wanted to fly, multiplying her speed tenfold.

However, even that wasn’t enough to shake off the apostle. Ahat was firing a continuous barrage of disintegration feathers at Miledi. Naturally, they all had homing properties. Moreover, they rushed at Miledi from all directions and angles.

Of course Miledi had both Spatial Severance and Heavensfall active constantly to keep the feathers at bay, but it wasn’t enough. The sheer number of feathers was enough to disintegrate her gravity magic. And as a result, she was forced to dodge by constantly braking, reversing her direction, and even rotating in place. The g-forces she was subjecting herself to were strong enough to crush her organs and cause her to black out. Such reckless movements would have normally killed her in just a few seconds, but thanks to the protection of Meiru and Lyutillis’ spells, she was still alive. Lyutillis’ evolution magic had strengthened her body to the limit, while Meiru’s restoration magic kept reverting any damage she did to herself. However—

“Perish.”

“Ah!”

Ahat was able to keep up with even those movements. That was how much of a monster she was. She flew behind Miledi, the light of the sun illuminating her outline. Miledi could tell from the shadow cast over her that the apostle had her swords raised. She spun like a top, barely avoiding the twin swords that sliced past either side of her. Before Miledi even had a chance to catch her breath, the swords came at her again, this time from either side.

“Don’t underestimate meeeeee!”

Miledi’s eyes were able to keep up with the inhuman speed of Ahat’s slashes thanks to the red-rimmed glasses Oscar had made for her. They enhanced her perception, allowing her to react in time. She held up her Angel’s Raiment to block the twin claymores. That artifact of Oscar’s had saved her life numerous times and was looking quite tattered. But despite how damaged it was, it still protected Miledi once again. The threads’ shock absorption prevented the swords from cleaving it in half, and the Diamond Skin enchantment on them protected the cloth from being disintegrated. Of course, in another few seconds, Ahat’s swords would cut through, but those seconds were all Miledi needed.

“Onyx Blast... Convergence!”

Miledi compressed a full-power Onyx Blast into a single point and fired it directly at Ahat.

Like Miledi had done a moment before, Ahat spun in place, dodging the attack. As she spun around, she swung her second claymore diagonally down at Miledi.

“Batyam-chan!”

Batlam seemed to have grown quite fond of the nickname Miledi had given him, and he eagerly wrapped himself around Miledi, focusing his slime where the swords would impact. Right before they did, he used his special magic to turn his slime into steel, creating a shield to deflect the blow. While he couldn’t completely redirect Ahat’s sword, he nevertheless managed to protect Miledi.

As Batlam returned to his slime form, Miledi saw Ahat spread her wings out. Panicking, Miledi hurriedly used gravity magic to force herself backward. Batlam hurriedly fused himself back with Miledi’s clothing to not get blown off and a barrage of feathers so dense it looked like a wall shot toward Miledi.

Realizing Miledi wouldn’t be able to get away in time, Batlam activated one of the artifacts Oscar had delivered to her, the Teleporting Chakram. The tiny ring split into four pieces and expanded until it was large enough to fit a person. Then, it deployed a shimmering teleportation gate. Miledi fell through and reappeared from the paired chakram floating behind Ahat.

“Vortex Blaze!”

Miledi compressed the strongest fire spell, Azure Blaze, into a small sphere using her Obsidian Vortex, concentrating its might into a single point. She then shot the burning blue ball at Ahat’s back.

“You’re wasting your time.”

Ahat turned around and raised a hand. A barrage of silver feathers shot out of her wings, obliterating Miledi’s full-power attack.

“Ah!”

Miledi dropped down to dodge the feather storm. However, the feathers then coalesced into a shimmering sword and swung down at her. She once again activated the Teleport Chakram to warp to safety. Cold sweat poured down her back as she reappeared far above the sword. She knew that attack had destroyed the other chakram. Oscar had sent her ten pairs, or twenty chakrams, and five of them had already been destroyed. It felt like she was slowly being backed into a corner.

“Haaah... Haaah... You were already crazy strong the last time we fought... It’s not fair that you get to grow even stronger.”

Miledi forced a smile, swallowing down the pain, impatience, and fear threatening to overwhelm her. Belta had taught her to smile, and so smile she would.

Grinning, Miledi taunted, “But you know, you’re still nowhere close to beating me! Don’t you think it’s about time you got serious? Oh, wait, don’t tell me this is the best you can do? Sorry! I know you’ve got a new power and all, but it’s not that big a deal, really. Plus, it feels like you’re relying on it way too much!”

Miledi did her best to sound as annoying as possible. Because that was what her savior, Belta, would have done.

“My lord was quite satisfied,” Ahat replied flatly. Still grinning, Miledi cocked her head.

“Eliminating his previous oracle led to quite an entertaining outcome.”

Miledi’s smile vanished.

“My lord loves people. They cower, betray each other, lose their way, go insane, suffer, cling to hope, and then fall into despair. Nothing brings him more joy than watching their struggles.”

Shut up. Don’t you dare say another word... Even if Ahat did read Miledi’s thoughts, she didn’t stop talking.

“I am God’s Apostle. An avatar of Ehit’s will. Thus, Miledi Reisen, it is my job to make you despair. Watching the hope the past oracle imparted unto you curdle into despair is what my lord wishes for. That is the pleasure he craves.”

No matter how much Miledi told herself to smile, she couldn’t help but glower.

That isn’t what Belta worked so hard for! She didn’t risk her life to teach me human emotion just to satisfy your sick fantasies!

As much as she wanted to shout that, she couldn’t. Because the spectacle before her had left her speechless.

“As you wish, I will go all out. For that will bring you greater despair.”

The entire world shook. An immense wave of pressure bore down on Miledi. Silver light enveloped Ahat, and the space around her began to warp. The mana was in such abundance that it palpably poured out of the apostle in droves. It was as if she’d just activated Laus’ Limit Break or Lyutillis’ Unlimited Overdrive.

“Dance like the puppet you are, Miledi Reisen.”

Ahat’s voice was coming from right beside Miledi. The Ahat in front of Miledi vanished, a mere afterimage. Turning around, Miledi saw Ahat standing next to her. She didn’t even see the apostle’s swords hit her.

“Agh!”

It was a miracle that she wasn’t cut in half. Thanks to the fact that she’d instinctively leaned back, Ahat’s swords had only taken her right arm. That being said, the pain was still great enough to blur Miledi’s vision, and blood spurted from the wound in great gouts. However, Miledi had no time to wait for the pain to subside. As Meiru’s Transient Infinity began to regenerate the missing limb, Miledi shot upward to put some distance between her and Ahat.

“First, I’ll rip that monster off of you.”

Unfortunately, Ahat was easily able to keep up with Miledi. Batlam hurriedly hardened himself to protect Miledi, but Ahat cut at him dozens of times in the span of a single second, shaving off a great deal of his slime.

“Batyam-chan!?”

Miledi flew this way and that, trying to shake Ahat off her tail. But even maneuvers that left her vomiting blood couldn’t throw the apostle off. Ahat flew next to Miledi and swung her sword so fast it was a mere blur, leaving afterimages in her wake. Determined to protect Miledi with his life, Batlam once again hardened himself around her.

“That’s enough, Batyam-chan! Go back to Van-chan!” Miledi shouted as she watched the poor slime get flayed to within an inch of his life. But Batlam shook his head, his resolve unwavering.

“So... that’s where the core is.”

Goosebumps rose on Miledi’s arms. Ahat was looking right at Miledi’s right armpit, where Batlam was hiding his core.

“Don’t you dare— Asura!”

Miledi created a high-density gravity field around her in an attempt to knock Ahat down. But Ahat didn’t fall. The apostle’s disintegration magic and the velocity of her flight combined could beat Miledi’s strongest spell. Ignoring the gravity surrounding her, Ahat swung her claymore horizontally.

“Ah!”

Miledi twisted her body just enough to protect Batlam’s core, but that resulted in her side being cut open. As the blow sent Miledi flying, Batlam’s core fell off her shirt. Batlam instantly transformed into a wyvern, but before he could return to Miledi’s side, a barrage of disintegration feathers hit him. Unable to maintain his form, Batlam reverted to a slime and began to fall. Barely any of his mass remained.

“Next, I’ll destroy those pesky artifacts of yours.”

As Miledi attempted to activate one of her chakrams to teleport to Batlam’s aid, Ahat flew over to the one she was planning on emerging from and destroyed it. Then, she unleashed another barrage of feathers and destroyed all of the other chakrams deployed at various points on the battlefield. While she was doing that, she shot back toward Miledi, brandishing her claymores.

“Why youuuuuu!”

Miledi summoned a hundred small metal spheres from the Treasure Trove Oscar had made for her. She used gravity magic to pull them all together, creating a makeshift shield. Unsurprisingly, Oscar’s multilayered super-dense balls were tough enough to block the twin swords. However, Ahat’s disintegration magic started slowly eating into the shield, meaning it wouldn’t hold for long.

Miledi immediately created two opposing gravitational fields. The spheres shot toward Ahat, while Miledi flew straight up, right into a rather large cloud. She was praying the low visibility and the barrage she’d just sent at Ahat would buy her a few seconds. Meanwhile, she gathered her mana for a large spell.

“Your petty tricks are meaningless.”

Ahat swung her sword with such force that the resulting gust blew the cloud away, then charged toward Miledi, bringing her swords down in a diagonal cross.

Miledi immediately brought up her Angel’s Raiment to block and started falling downward.

“Gaah!”

Unfortunately, the Angel’s Raiment had taken more abuse than it could handle, and it finally snapped. However, it did manage to redirect Ahat’s swords a little, so instead of cutting Miledi in three, they just left a deep, v-shaped cut on her torso.

Miledi desperately flew out of the way as blood spilled from the wound. Though she knew the wound would vanish a second later, the pain still brought tears to her eyes, blurring her vision. As a result, she noticed the feathers rushing toward her a second too late, and they slammed into her red-rimmed glasses before she could dodge. Thanks to their exceptional sturdiness, they didn’t break, but the feathers did knock them off her face. If they hadn’t been there she would have lost an eye, but fortunately, the feather just grazed past her temple instead.

While Meiru’s Transient Infinity healed that scratch as well, Ahat was being true to her word. With each attack, she destroyed one of the artifacts protecting Miledi.

“Onyx Blast... Meteor Shower!”

Miledi unleashed a hundred small gravity spheres at Ahat, but the apostle cut them all down.

She’s so strong! It’s not fair! But even so, I can’t afford to lose!

Spurred on by that one thought, Miledi continued to struggle. Again, she avoided the grim reaper’s scythe by a hair’s breadth, then launched a futile counterattack which failed to even scratch Ahat. The cycle repeated over and over, and Miledi lost all sense of time. She had no idea how long she’d been fighting for, nor where she even was. In fact, she wasn’t even sure which direction the ground was in anymore. Her breath came in pained gasps. Her whole body hurt, and her vision was dyed red. With each passing second, she lost more of her mana, bringing her closer to demise.

I’m scared...

A wave of negative emotions washed over her.

How... am I supposed to beat someone like that...

For the first time, Miledi’s resolve began to waver. The old, emotionless side of Miledi that had been all of her personality when she’d been part of the Reisen family reared its ugly head. This is what you get for trying to fight against an absolute being, you fool. Just give up and accept your death... it muttered coldly.

Normally, Miledi would never have entertained such thoughts, but right now she was well and truly cornered.

Ahat’s sword came down on Miledi again, slicing through her shoulder. This time, her wounds didn’t heal. Ahat had finally sliced through all the layers of Meiru’s spell. Fortunately, this wasn’t a lethal wound. However, it was still deep.

You can’t win... the cold, emotionless side of her whispered to her. But she instinctively backpedaled away from Ahat still. And as she did, a small, glowing blue stone floated up in front of her eyes.

“Ah—”

It was the charm Corrin and Ruth had poured their heart into making for her. The treasure Oscar had delivered to her. She quickly pulled her fractured consciousness together. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Ahat’s swords heading toward her neck from either side, like a guillotine.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Hm!?”

Miledi deployed a gravity field with her at the center, forcing Ahat back. Ahat’s eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but then she recovered and responded with a volley of disintegration feathers.

Ahat knew Miledi was on the ropes. She was sure this would end it. But to Ahat’s utter surprise, Miledi, who should have long since reached her limits, somehow dodged it. The feathers grazed her arms, creating a few small cuts, but that was all.

“Get it together, Miledi! Remember everything that’s gotten you this far!”

The light returned to Miledi’s eyes. Ahat shook her head in disbelief.

Why does she continue to fight when the battle is already decided? Her unsightly struggling only makes her look more pathetic. Fine. If she insists on fighting to the bitter end, then I shall simply have to show her the unsurmountable gap in our power. I have brought enough despair onto her. It’s time my lord reveled in watching her comrades despair instead.

Ahat fired another barrage of disintegration feathers at Miledi, but this time she dodged them with even more ease than the last volley. Confused, Ahat tried again.

“Hm? Four? No, six?”

The number of gravity spheres protecting Miledi had suddenly multiplied to six. And the number kept growing. The spheres either diverted or absorbed the feathers Ahat fired, and if they absorbed so much that they were destroyed, Miledi instantly recreated them. Realizing she would have to go for a direct attack, Ahat shot forward, leaving afterimages in her wake. The moment she swung her sword down, Miledi slid to the side, dodging out of the way. Ahat followed up with her second claymore, but even that one only barely managed to scratch Miledi. Miledi used the same strange sliding movement to get out of the way, while also diverting the sword’s trajectory with her gravity spheres.

It was then that Ahat noticed. Miledi was getting faster.

“Playtime’s over,” Ahat muttered. Though she wasn’t sure whether she was saying that to intimidate Miledi, or to convince herself that she still had the upper hand. A coldness crept over her emotionless expression, and silver mana surged from her in waves. Ahat chased Miledi down, slashing at her over and over and over. Within seconds, Miledi’s entire body was covered in cuts, and her clothes were soaked with blood. However—

She keeps avoiding me by a hair’s breadth!

Ahat was fighting with all her might. She was trying to end Miledi with each of her attacks, and yet Miledi kept escaping by the skin of her teeth. Moreover, despite the severity of her wounds, Miledi didn’t look like she was in pain at all. In fact, her expression was completely blank.

But it wasn’t emotionless, like Ahat’s usual expression was. It was more as if Miledi was on the cusp of achieving some kind of enlightenment. There was a deep, sky-blue light in her eyes, but she didn’t seem to be looking at Ahat. She didn’t seem to be looking at reality at all. There was something else reflected in her eyes, something she was trying to grasp. Her gaze was focused inward, toward something hidden deep within her.

Ahat trembled. Though she wasn’t supposed to possess any emotions, she couldn’t help but shiver when she looked into Miledi’s eyes.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

In an attempt to shake off the dread creeping up onto her, Ahat loosed a battle cry. She dashed forward, becoming a silver comet of death streaking toward Miledi. Despite Ahat’s ferocity, Miledi remained in her strange trance. She felt as though she was straddling the border between fantasy and reality. Her exhaustion and the severity of her plight had forced her brain into overdrive, allowing her to reach a state of absolute focus.

Time itself seemed to slow, and to Miledi’s ears, Ahat’s battle cry dragged on for far longer than it should have. As she faced her opponent, memories of her travels flashed through her mind.

She recalled fighting together with Oscar for the first time. Thanks to the huge amount of mana he’d lent her, she’d created a massive hole in the greenway. After that, she’d battled with Hearst in the desert, with Oscar and Naiz at her side. Then, when she’d kept Andika from sinking, she’d felt some deep, vast power residing within the world. They’d gone to the demon empire next, where Miledi had felt something stirring within her when her lightning had clashed with Rasul’s. Finally, when Laus had extracted her soul, she’d felt as though she’d gotten a glimpse of her true self.

No, not her true self, but rather the true nature of her powers. In a flash of inspiration, Miledi muttered, “Ah, I see... my magic...”

She was covered in cuts, had lost so much blood that it was a miracle she was still alive, and had almost no mana left. Yet Ahat could instinctively tell that she was stronger than ever. She knew she couldn’t allow Miledi to live for another second. But at the same time, she had no way of ending Miledi. Her attacks weren’t even grazing the Liberator anymore. Ahat could only watch helplessly as Miledi’s gravity control continued to grow stronger.

Over a dozen spheres were circling Miledi, and Ahat’s feathers could no longer disintegrate them. Miledi was darting around at supersonic speed, but her movements were as unpredictable and as smooth as a leaf in the wind. Moreover, Miledi was mitigating the g-forces acting upon her body by creating multiple gravity fields within her to absorb the force of her inertia. Her movements were flawless. This was something she could have achieved only by fully understanding the concept of gravity. Which meant she could now wield her power in new ways.

“This ends now!” Ahat shouted, her voice surprisingly shrill. She unleashed her most powerful disintegration blast yet, but Miledi was ready for it.

“Spatial Severance!”

Ahat’s eyes widened in surprise as her strongest attack was swallowed up with ease.

“Heavensfall!”

“Ngh!?”

This Heavensfall was leagues above the last one Ahat had dealt with. She was able to stay in the air by combating it with all of her mana, but only just. She didn’t have the strength to launch a counterattack in this state. Moreover, her altitude was slowly dropping. Ahat couldn’t fathom what was going on. She turned her gaze upward to glare at Miledi, and that was when she saw it...

A sky-blue sun. Miledi was shining with such overwhelming radiance that it felt as though she was illuminating the entire world.

“You’ll lend me your strength, right?” Miledi muttered.

Extremely dense tendrils of power gathered around her, making her dazzling radiance multiply tenfold. She was drawing power from the sky, the clouds, the air, the earth, and even the trees. The mana enveloping her was the mana of nature. Just as how rivers all flowed into the sea, power was flowing into her from all of nature. The mana spiraled around her, forming a miniature galaxy of light. One look at her was enough to make it clear who Miledi had asked for strength...

The planet itself. The planet was lending Miledi its power. Miledi’s gravity was drawing in the power of all nature. For the third time that day, the battle below came to a halt as everyone stared at Miledi. They all stared in awe at the dazzling sky-blue sun expanding above them.

Once she’d gathered enough power, Miledi announced, “I, Miledi Reisen, hereby declare...”

She pointed directly at Ahat. Ahat was still struggling under Miledi’s Heavensfall, and her expression twisted into something truly monstrous as she looked up at Miledi. However, she no longer had the strength to do anything more than glare. Miledi’s gravitational field had her pinned in place. A second later, a whirling black sphere of gravity formed where Ahat was standing, sky-blue sparks running down its length.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Screaming, Ahat struggled to break free. The gravity sphere, Miledi’s Black Hole Nova, was crushing her from the inside out. The power contained in this spell was miles above the attack Miledi had used to open a hole in the greenway. God’s Apostle, Ahat, locked eyes with Miledi Reisen, the Liberator. There was a brief pause.

“...checkmate,” Miledi finished.

In her mind, both God’s Apostle and the twisted world ended that day. Miledi made a fist, as if to crush Ahat, and the god she embodied, in her grasp. At the same time, her fist seemed to hang on to everything important to her.

Ahat’s end was surprisingly quiet. Silently, Miledi’s Black Hole Nova dispersed into nothingness.

“You damn monster...” Ahat whispered, as her body dispersed with it. The feathers she’d unleashed at the very end all fell slowly to the ground, sparkling brilliantly in the sun’s light.

“Belle... I did it. I won...”

I did good, didn’t I? Just as she thought that, Miledi’s strength finally gave out... and she started falling.

“Yeah, you did great, Miledi-chan.”

As her consciousness faded away, Miledi swore she heard Belta’s nostalgic voice.

Evening had arrived, and clouds darkened the skies of Elbard. A lone figure walked briskly through the alleys of the theocracy’s capital. It was Laus. He wore a loose robe with a deep hood that covered his face, and the warhammer strapped to his back was wrapped in cloth to make it less conspicuous. On top of that, he used spirit magic to hide his presence as much as possible. Though the city was bustling, no one so much as glanced his way. Granted, considering the current state of the capital, he probably could have gone unnoticed even if he hadn’t been trying.

After all, the nation’s knights had returned just this afternoon. Everyone was excited, thinking that they’d given the filthy beastmen the divine punishment they deserved. Moreover, they were all dying to get a look at this new child of god the knights had no doubt brought back with them.

None of the citizens knew. They had no idea that the knights had failed. Or that the very symbol of Ehit’s might, God’s Apostle, had been utterly destroyed.

As the commander of the Holy Templar Knights, Laus should have been in the main cathedral right now. But upon his return, he’d abandoned both his responsibilities and the lies he’d kept telling himself. Instead of returning with the other knights, he’d slipped away and was now racing to his family.

I have to hurry... Just as he thought that, his house came into view. Unwilling to use the front gate, Laus slipped around to the back.

“Who goes there? What business do you have with the Barn family!?”

As Laus approached the back gate, a young guard with ash-brown hair called out to him. He placed his hand on his sword’s hilt, his gaze stern.

“Reinheit, it’s me.”

“L-Laus-sama!? You’ve returned!? But why are you dressed like that?”

Laus removed his hood and the guard, one of the Barn family’s knights, Reinheit Ashe, looked at him in surprise. His shock was understandable. After all, the lord of the house was trying to sneak in through the back gate. Reinheit’s shout had alerted the other guards, and they were all running over now too. But Laus was in too much of a hurry to explain.

“Where are Sharm and the others? I don’t sense them inside the house.”

In fact, Laus couldn’t sense anyone inside the house. Not his son Sharm, not his wife Ricolis, not even his mother Debra. That was not a good omen. Laus began to worry that the others had caught onto his intentions, even though the knights had only just returned to the capital.

Unaware of Laus’ inner turmoil, Reinheit said lightly, “Oh, they all went to the cathedral.”

“The cathedral? What for?”

There were churches in the four corners of the city, but the northern one was the main cathedral and the headquarters of the church. It was also the closest church to Laus’ house.

“Ever since you departed for the front lines, they’ve been going every day to pray for your safety.”

“Sharm and the others have...I see...”

It made Laus happy that Sharm cared so much about him. That also helped Laus calm down somewhat. However, the bad feeling he’d had since returning home still remained. Guards would have gone with Sharm and the others, so he wasn’t worried they’d been attacked by muggers or anything like that. He was worried about something far more dangerous.

“Then I’ll go check up on them.”

“Huh? But they left quite a while ago. They’ll probably be back soon.”

Laus ignored Reinheit’s words and turned on his heel. But before he strode off, he looked back over his shoulder at the young knight.

“U-Umm, Laus-sama?”

Reinheit could tell something was going on with Laus. He didn’t know if it was because the commander had just returned from the front lines or what, but the hero he respected so much wasn’t acting normal.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Laus sucked in a huge breath and said, “Reinheit, come with me.”

“Huh? Oh, yes sir! Of course!”

Reinheit shot a worried glance back at the house’s other guards, unsure of whether he should leave the manor undefended. But they gestured for him to go with Laus, so he hurried after the lord of the house.

For a while, they walked in silence. But as time passed, Laus could tell Reinheit was finding it harder and harder to contain his curiosity. Smiling wryly, he led Reinheit into a deserted alleyway. This whole time they’d avoided crowded thoroughfares, and Reinheit was dying to know why Laus was sneaking around like this. For his part, Laus had no idea why he’d asked Reinheit to come with him. Getting the pure-hearted knight wrapped up in his affairs could ruin the poor boy’s life.

Curses... I need to calm down...

Laus couldn’t afford to make any more impulsive decisions. However, his instincts were telling him that sending Reinheit away would be a bad decision. So instead he said, “Reinheit, there’s something I need to ask you.”

“Anything, Laus-sama. What is it?”

“If... hypothetically speaking, Ehit asked you to offer your family up as a sacrifice, would you be able to do it?”

Laus could sense Reinheit’s gait faltering behind him. The knight’s soul was filled with confusion, unease, and hesitation. Laus smiled to himself. Any other knight would have answered instantly.

“I... well... I suppose if it would be... for the greater good?”

Reinheit’s faltering reply caused Laus’ smile to grow wider. Reinheit’s special magic, Pure Soul, allowed him to resist all unnatural influences on his psyche. The church’s brainwashing couldn’t affect him. But of course, he was too deep into the theocracy’s system to be willing to claim Ehit was wrong. His reply was something very fitting for a kind young man like him.

“Laus-sama. Did something good happen on this campaign?”

This time it was Laus’ turn to hesitate. He turned back to Reinheit, surprised.

“What makes you think that?”

“Well... I know this is presumptuous of me, but it feels like there’s more life in your eyes now.”

“More life in my eyes, you say? I see... So that’s how it looks to other people.”

Laus turned back to the road in front of him.

“Laus-sama?” Reinheit asked hesitantly, but there was no reply. His thoughts were already in the past. He was thinking back to the battle he’d witnessed a few days ago.

Shimmering silver feathers rained down from the heavens. Proof that the apostle, the symbol of Ehit’s might, had been defeated. All of the church’s soldiers looked up in abject disbelief. Laus was no exception. Defeating an apostle should have been impossible, yet Miledi had done just that.

She’d promised she’d show him hope, and she had delivered spectacularly. A surge of emotion welled up within Laus, and tears leaked from his eyes. He had no idea why he was crying, or that he was crying at all, for all of his attention was focused solely on the girl wreathed in a sky-blue aura. After a few seconds—

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

An ear-splitting scream of agony echoed through the battlefield. It was Mulm. He tore at his hair like a man possessed, his expression full of grief. The other bishops and knights of the church followed Mulm’s example, wailing in agony.

“Miledi Reiseeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!”

Mulm raised his bow and fired directly at Miledi. The vast amount of mana Miledi had been controlling before had dispersed, and she was currently falling helplessly to the ground.

“Oh no!” Laus shouted almost reflexively, but before he could lift a finger, Oscar acted.

“Naiz!” he shouted, running forward.

“On it!”

Naiz opened a portal directly below Miledi, and a second later, she was a few feet above Oscar. He caught her before she fell, and Meiru immediately ran over to heal her. As orange light suffused Miledi’s body, her numerous wounds began to vanish. But her eyes remained closed.

“Meiru, why won’t she wake up!?” Oscar shouted, panicking.

“Calm down. There’s nothing wrong with her body. She’s probably just mentally exhausted after absorbing so much power.”

Miledi’s breathing was steady, which reassured Oscar somewhat.

“Kill her! Kill that blasted heretic! You must destroy her, even if it costs you your lives!”

This time, lightning shot toward Oscar and Miledi. Lilith had poured all of her rage and hate into one big attack.

Seeing their leaders continue to fight inspired the remaining bishops and knights, and they whipped themselves up into a zealous fervor, shouting battle cries as they charged. Their courage then passed down to the federation and empire soldiers, who followed after them. But their charge was stopped short by Lyutillis.

“My brethren, rouse yourselves! We must protect Miledi Reisen at all costs! She cannot die here!”

A large tree rose out of the miniature forest, with Lyutillis standing atop it. Her clear voice rang across the battlefield, and her beastmen answered with a series of thunderous roars. Their yells were loud enough to drown out the crazed battle cries of the oncoming soldiers. Most of the beastmen had suffered grievous wounds from fighting outside the mist’s protection.

However, the knights of the theocracy were similarly injured. Meiru had already defeated Zebal, while Sui had successfully assassinated Baran, and Craid and Lyutillis had taken care of Godel and Vanadis. From that point on, it would be a battle of willpower and morale. The time had come to see whether bonds of friendship could overpower crazed religious devotion.

“Miledi needs rest. Let’s finish this up quickly, guys,” Oscar muttered, smiling gently at the girl in his arms. Meiru, Naiz, and Vandre all smiled as well, then turned to face the oncoming knights. But just before the decisive battle could begin, a huge curtain of light appeared in the space between the two armies. There was a tremendous boom as the light gouged the earth, creating a ditch to separate the two sides.

Looking up, Oscar and the others saw a lone airship flying above them. The ship’s sails adorned with the symbol of a shield surrounded by a shimmering halo. Mulm was so shocked to see that crest that he momentarily forgot his rage.

“Impossible... the Paladins are here? Was that light an attack from Longinus?” he muttered.

From the airship, a cold voice boomed, “This is an order from the commander of the Paladins, Darrion Kaus. Cease hostilities immediately.”

The knights faltered, flabbergasted by this incomprehensible order. However—

“This is Ehit’s will.”

The moment Darrion added that, they knew they had no choice but to comply. No matter how fiercely their rage burned, they couldn’t ignore an order from Ehit. Struggling to suppress his anger, Mulm turned to the Liberators and said, “Consider yourselves lucky... The next time we meet will be your last, Miledi Reisen! All units, retreat!”

Lilith and the other commanders followed Mulm’s example and gave the order for all of their troops to retreat. Naturally, the federation and the empire did the same. The church had started this war on a whim, and now it was ending it on one. It was completely unreasonable. Oscar and the others were confused by the sudden turn of events, but they weren’t just about to let the church escape like this. However, as Oscar and Lyutillis prepared to attack, Laus stepped forward.

“Don’t,” he said flatly, blocking the two Liberators’ path.

“Darrion Kaus possesses both the divine spear Longinus and the Holy Sword. Moreover, his order, the Paladins, possess abilities even I don’t know about.”

“Laus Barn. Are you...?”

To Oscar, it looked more like Laus was trying to warn them than to get in their way. When he gazed into Laus’ eyes, he was surprised by what he saw there. Laus was staring at Miledi. But his expression was unusually gentle. Normally, it looked like he was doing his best to kill his emotions, but now he was letting them rise to the surface. It felt as though he’d finally been freed from whatever shackles had bound him before. Oscar exchanged a quick glance with Meiru and the others, then turned back to Laus.

“Stay here with us, Laus Barn. I’m sure Miledi would—”

“Not another word!” Laus barked, his voice sharp. However, he wasn’t trying to reject Oscar’s invitation. He was just worried that Mulm and the others might overhear. They were still relatively close by. Before Oscar could say anything, Laus spoke directly to his soul.

“I have a family to protect. Which is why I have to return for now. Please tell Miledi that too.”

For a moment, Oscar was overwhelmed by the resolve in Laus’ gaze, but then he nodded.

“She upheld her end of the bargain, so of course, I plan to do the same. Once I’ve secured my family, I’ll return to join you.”

“I’ll let her know. I’m sure she’ll be overjoyed.”

The knights were a good distance from Oscar and Laus now. After making sure no one was watching him, Laus gave the Oscar, Naiz, Meiru, and Lyutillis a brief smile, then turned on his heel.

“We’ll meet again,” he whispered to each of their souls.

Oscar and the other stared at his back as he retreated to Agris with the other soldiers. Chances were the army wouldn’t stay in Agris long. There was always the chance that the republic would launch a counteroffensive in revenge, so they’d likely abandon the city. Especially since the empire and the theocracy would be pulling their soldiers out of the federation. This was the beastmen’s only chance to get revenge against the federation, and there were a lot of warriors who were itching to go after the retreating army.

“We protected our home, and we protected our comrades,” Lyutillis declared, her voice grabbing everyone’s attention. The forest faded around her, flower petals filling the air in her vicinity.

“We are no invaders, and we don’t fight for revenge. Never forget, we are proud beastmen of the Pale Forest!”

The warriors exchanged glances. Sim and the other commanders nodded, satisfied.

“Our war is over!” Lyutillis paused for a moment, sucking in a huge breath. Then, smiling, she shouted, “We’ve won!”

With that, she officially brought the war to a close. Naturally, all of the beastmen cheered. They’d achieved what they set out to do, and that was enough.

“Umm... Laus-sama? I’m sorry, did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

Reinheit’s apologetic voice brought Laus back to the present. Realizing he’d been spacing out for a few seconds now, he hurriedly apologized.

“Sorry, Reinheit, I was just reminiscing. You’re right, something good did happen during this campaign.”

“Now that I think about it, though, that was a stupid question. You won, so of course it would have been a good campaign.”

At that, Laus smiled wryly.

“Actually, we lost the war.”

“Huh? What?”

“They really did a number on us. Sheesh, that girl really is just too strong.”

Reinheit gave Laus a look of disbelief. He couldn’t believe that Laus had lost, but what surprised him even more was that Laus seemed happy about it. This was the first time Reinheit had seen Laus smile.

Thinking that this had to be some kind of joke, Reinheit smiled as well and replied playfully, “Let me guess, you lost the battle but won the war?”

“Huh? What gives you that idea?”

“Well, it’s just that for someone who lost, you look awfully happy. So you must have gained something in defeat, right?”

“I see... Well, I certainly did gain something.”

I see. I guess if you look at it that way, I certainly did win. After all, I got what I wanted the most... Laus nodded to himself, his smile growing brighter.

After a few more minutes of walking, the pair arrived at the cathedral. Laus suddenly realized this might be the last time he’d ever talk to Reinheit. He planned to take his family and flee the theocracy. Of course, that included his sons studying in the main cathedral too, not just Sharm, Debra, and Ricolis. Considering how pious Ricolis and the others were, he suspected they wouldn’t want to go with him. However, he didn’t have time to argue with them. For now, he’d get them out of the country, and then they could discuss things. If, even after his attempts at persuasion, they wanted to return to the theocracy, he wouldn’t stop them.

“Reinheit. No matter what happens, be sure to follow your heart. If, after you see what I’m about to do, you think I’m in the wrong, that’s fine too.”

“Laus-sama? What are you—?”

Laus stepped into the cathedral without replying. He made a beeline for where his son, his wife, and his mother would be praying, but then suddenly stopped short.

“I see you’ve finally arrived, Laus Barn.”

His breath caught in his throat and chills ran down his spine.

No, that’s not possible. I saw you die! No one could have survived that!

“How can you be here, God’s Apostle!?”

The apostle Miledi had killed stood before Laus. She was wearing nun’s robes and looking out of the cathedral’s stained glass windows.

“What a strange query. I have been here this whole time.”

“Impossible! I thought Miledi Reisen killed you!”

Reinheit looked confused by this exchange, but Laus had no time to explain.

The apostle cocked her head, her movements as mechanical as a doll’s, then muttered, “Oh. It was Ahat who died. I believe I introduced myself as Ainz.”

“This can’t be... No, wait. I understand now. You really are nothing more than a doll, aren’t—?”

“Allow me to divulge my true name to you. I am Hearst, the first of God’s Apostles.”

This has to be some kind of nightmare. Are you telling me these things are mass-produced? Laus stumbled backward, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

Seemingly unconcerned by his reaction, the apostle said, “Now then, Laus Barn. I realize you have only just returned from the battlefield, but there is something I would like you to do for me.”

Does she know I’m planning on betraying Ehit? Laus hadn’t done anything concrete to oppose the church yet. At best, he could be accused of putting off handing in his report to go visit home first. That was hardly a capital offense. But then, why was an apostle there, in a public location? If she was there to capture him, then he was in deep trouble.

Can I escape her and get my family out at the same time? Or should I pretend to act obedient for now? A thousand different plans whirled through Laus’ head.

He curled his sweaty palms into fists, and asked as calmly as he could, “And what would that be?”

“There is a poor child here who seems to be having a hard time receiving Ehit’s Blessing. Would you be so kind as to teach him the virtues of the church?”

Ehit’s Blessing referred to the magical brainwashing the church performed on some of its believers. Most people were usually convinced by the priests’ sermons, but a few still doubted the church’s values. Those were the ones who were given Ehit’s Blessing. Laus’ spirit magic was more than capable of brainwashing others. In fact, it was far more suited to it than darkness magic, or the special magic the higher-ranking bishops possessed. However, Laus doubted the apostle had been waiting here for him just to ask him to brainwash someone. Suddenly, Laus shivered. He had a very bad feeling about where this was going.

“Ehit wishes this from you,” the apostle added, her voice suddenly sounding very ominous. Laus didn’t want to hear what was coming next, but plugging his ears wasn’t an option.

“He wants to be sure of the allegiance of his pawns, so he can decide how next to manipulate the game board.”

Laus was too shaken to realize the significance of what the apostle had said.

“Get up and walk.”

“You’re a disgrace to the Barn family name!”

Two very familiar voices could be heard from the room beyond this one. And thanks to Laus’ magic, he recognized the souls they belonged to too.

The doors behind the cathedral altar opened with an ominous creaking noise. The first person to emerge from within was—

“Sharm!”

Laus’ beloved son. However, a pair of knights were dragging him in by the arms, and he was covered in bruises. His eyes were vacant, and his body was completely limp. Walking behind him were two boys Laus recognized very well.

“What...? What are you doing!?”

“What do you mean?”

“You sure ask some rather strange questions, Father.”

They were his two sons who had been taken by the church for training some years prior, Kaime and Selm. With them were Ricolis and Debra, as well as the commander of the Paladins, Darrion.

“Sharm’s finally been chosen to join the church’s ranks,” said twelve-year-old Kaime.

“He’s already eight. We were worried, since it was taking him much longer than everyone else, but then...” ten-year-old Selm trailed off. Though they weren’t much older than Sharm, neither of them sounded anything like children. Moreover, their features had changed drastically from what Laus remembered. They were both looking at Sharm with unbridled scorn.

“To think a member of the Barn family would try and resist Ehit’s Blessing... He’s brought shame to us all,” Debra spat.

Being invited to serve in the main cathedral was a great honor for citizens of the theocracy. Yet Sharm was trying to refuse this honor. Debra was so disappointed in him she looked ready to disown him on the spot. She was looking at Sharm like he was a heretic, not her grandson. In fact, it was obvious she was thinking of how best to dispose of him quietly before he could disgrace the Barn family’s name any further.

“Dear, please! You have to teach Sharm about the glory of Lord Ehit! I cannot believe any son of mine would attempt to resist Ehit’s Blessing!” Ricolis pleaded.

The fact that she wasn’t thinking about getting rid of Sharm proved she had some motherly love left in her at least. That being said, when Sharm weakly looked up at her and muttered, “Mo...ther...” she looked at him like he was some abhorrent slug and started beating him. It was hard to believe she was really his mother.

“Stop! That’s enough!” Laus shouted, clenching his fists so hard they started bleeding. He was so angry his vision was blurring. That wasn’t how family was supposed to treat each other. For so long, Laus had tried to love his wife, respect his mother, and care for his older sons. But right now, they were torturing their own flesh and blood, his youngest child. This was a scene straight out of a nightmare.

But at the same time, Laus realized this was his own fault. He was the head of the Barn family. Ricolis’ husband, Debra’s son, and Kaime and Selm’s father. If he’d truly loved his family, he should have resisted. He should have fought against the insanity of the church before it swallowed everything he cherished. As a husband, as a son, as a father, he should have been more open with his family. But instead, he’d resigned himself to his fate without even trying to correct their erroneous beliefs. Laus was furious, but his rage was directed primarily toward himself.

He wanted to grab Sharm and flee this instant, but if he left now, the rest of his family would be punished. Kaime and Selm were his heirs, so they’d probably be safe, but Ricolis and Debra had no value to the theocracy. What he really wanted to do was drag everyone out of there and start all over as a proper family. He was still clinging to the faint hope that if he showed Ricolis and the others the rest of the world, they’d be able to change their views. However, there was no way he could rescue everyone with Darrion and Hearst right there.

“If you would be so kind as to begin, Lord Barn,” Hearst urged in a cold, emotionless voice.

Darrion leaned against a nearby pillar and folded his arms, his eyes closed. Laus realized he had no choice but to use his spirit magic to brainwash Sharm into loving Ehit. He had to feign obedience and wait for an opportunity. Sharm’s brainwashing could be removed later, when he fled with his entire family. But while Laus understood that was the most logical course of action, his love for Sharm caused him to hesitate.

“I am afraid it has to be you. You see...”

Hearst walked over to Sharm, grabbed him by the hair, and lifted his head up. The moment her eyes locked with his—

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Sharm!”

“He resists even my magic.”

Sharm screamed again, desperately shaking his head. An eight-year-old boy was resisting an apostle’s brainwashing. Such a thing shouldn’t have been possible. Sharm possessed no special magic. However, he possessed something far stronger.

“Stop it. I’m Laus Barn’s son. Sharm... Barn. I don’t... want to change. Don’t lock me away. Don’t... kill me!”

Hearst’s brainwashing was trying to overwrite Sharm’s memories, and make him forget that he was Laus’ son. She was trying to bind Sharm with chains of faith, and destroy the part of his soul that made him who he was. To Sharm, allowing her magic to affect him would be the same as letting her kill him. As unbelievable as it seemed, at the tender age of eight, Sharm had enough pride in his identity to resist the will of god.

“Fa...ther...”

Sharm had grown up with his father as a role model. To Sharm, Laus was an invincible hero who loved him unconditionally, which was why even though the rest of his family was insulting him, even though rejecting Hearst’s magic was causing him more pain than he could bear, he continued to resist.

“Help me!”

Because he believed with all his heart that Laus would come to save him. In that instant, Laus made up his mind.

“Tier eight—”

The knights restraining Sharm, as well as Laus’ own family, looked at him in shock.

“Limit Breaaaaaaaaaaaak!”

There was an explosion of midnight-black mana, large enough to fill the entire room. A second later, a thunderous boom echoed as Hearst crashed through the stained-glass windows, her swords crossed defensively in front of her. Laus brought his hammer up for a follow-up attack, but Darrion stopped him with the butt of his divine spear. He blocked the blow with his hammer, then used Solid Specter to project his soul out of his body. Leaving his body behind, he sent his spirit after the two knights restraining Sharm. He hit both of them with Soul Purge, separating their souls from their bodies.

Darrion attempted to stab Laus’ body while it was still unoccupied, but Laus stalled him with a Soul Shock and reunited his flesh with his spirit. The moment he returned, Laus sent out chains of light to grab Sharm and pull him over, while keeping Darrion at bay with his hammer. Then, he leaped backward with enough force to crack the ground he’d been standing on. Once he’d put enough distance between him and Darrion, he cast Soul’s Repose on Sharm to heal his battered mind.

He’d accomplished all of that in the short span of three seconds.

“Ah... Fa...ther?”

“Yep, it’s me. I came here to save you.”

Sharm smiled weakly. Before he could say anything though, Hearst flew in through the shattered window, her habit replaced by the standard apostle battle garb. Ricolis and the others were completely captivated by the apostle’s appearance, seemingly forgetting what was going on around them. Darrion spared a single glance at the two knights lying unconscious on the ground, then shifted his spear to his off-hand and drew the Holy Sword belted to his waist. Laus sensed numerous powerful souls, likely other knights, rushing to the scene of the commotion.

“I’m sorry, Sharm.”

“Father?”

Sharm couldn’t understand why Laus was apologizing. He had no way of knowing that Laus was sorry he couldn’t save everyone and was going to have to abandon Sharm’s mother, grandmother, and brothers.

“Reinheit.”

Until that point, Reinheit had been too stunned to do anything more than watch blankly as events unfolded before him. But when Laus called his name, he regained his wits.

“I’m begging you. Please, keep my son safe.”

“Ah...”

Agreeing to Laus’ request would mean betraying the church. It would mean becoming a heretic. Laus knew his request was unreasonable. Reinheit was a Templar Knight. Normally, no Templar Knight would have accepted such a request.

For his part, Reinheit was still trying to piece together what was going on. He had no idea how things had ended up like this, or why Laus was doing what he was doing. But at that moment, Laus’ earlier words flashed through his mind.

“No matter what happens, be sure to follow your heart.”

“Celestial Flash!”

Reinheit drew his sword and swung it down. The flash of white light that shot out of it flew past Laus and headed straight for Darrion. At the same time, Laus flung his son backward and brought his hammer up to stop Hearst’s twin blades.

“Sharm-sama, we have to leave!”

“Huh? Ah, but what about Father!?”

Reinheit scooped Sharm up in one arm and ran for the exit.

“Sorry... No, that’s not right. Thank you, Reinheit,” Laus muttered as Reinheit ran past.

“Don’t die on me, Laus-sama!”

Laus started to apologize for making the entire world Reinheit’s enemy, but then he realized Reinheit had done this of his own free will, so he decided to thank him instead. Tears sprang to Reinheit’s eyes as he realized Laus was preparing to fight to the death, but he nevertheless continued running. Shockwaves of mana and explosions loud enough to rattle his eardrums assailed him from behind, but he didn’t look back.

“Father! Faaather!”

“Quiet! If someone finds us before we leave the capital, we’re dead!”

“But Father—”

“Your father is doing this to keep you safe! Please, Sharm-sama, stay quiet!”

Sharm fell quiet then, though he continued crying silently. Reinheit weaved through the capital’s back alleys, heading for the city gates.

As the sun finished setting and the moon began to rise, Sharm asked, “Reinheit... Why are you...?”

Among the knights that served Laus, Reinheit was the most amicable, which was why Sharm was decently good friends with him. In fact, he trusted the knight quite a bit. However, Sharm was wise enough to know that Reinheit’s decision to rescue him would have extreme repercussions for the young knight. Reinheit opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted before he could.

“Pierce him through— Longinus!”

“Gaaah!”

A spear of light pierced Reinheit’s stomach. The force of the impact sent him flying, and he crashed against the wall of a nearby building.

“Ngh... Commander Darrion...”

“You made a foolish choice, knight. No, not knight. Heretic.”

Unlike the other commanders of the Three Pillars of Radiance, Darrion Kaus wasn’t particularly tall or muscular. In fact, he looked quite unassuming. However, his looks belied his enormous strength.

Groaning in pain, Reinheit got to his feet and stepped protectively in front of Sharm, his sword drawn. It seemed Laus hadn’t been able to stall both Hearst and Darrion.

Looking bored, Darrion said, “That’s one of Barn’s heirs. He might prove useful in the future.”

“So what?”

“Hand him over. The special magic you possess is quite rare. If you’re willing to give the kid up, I’ll forgive this foolish act of rebellion.”

Darrion’s offer was surprisingly generous, considering how the church normally handled traitors. Darrion seemed to be hoping Reinheit’s actions stemmed from impulsive loyalty toward Laus, and that he was willing to reconsider. Trembling, Sharm looked worriedly up at Reinheit.

“I refuse.”

“Are you doing this out of loyalty to Laus Barn? He’s nothing more than a heretic now, so there’s no point in—”

“This has nothing to do with Laus-sama. I’m making this choice of my own free will.”

Sharm knew Reinheit was a good person, but he’d always thought the knight was a little unreliable. Even now, he could tell Reinheit was shivering in pain and fear. Yet—

“There’s a crying child begging for my help. What kind of knight would I be if I didn’t save him?”

For some strange reason—

“The god I believe in would never condone torturing a father and child like this! I don’t give a damn what your shitty beliefs are! Helping those in need is the creed that I, Reinheit Ashe, live by!”

In that moment, Reinheit looked just as dependable as Laus, the man Sharm idolized.

Unfortunately, resolve alone was worthless. And the gap in strength between Reinheit and Darrion was massive.

“How pathetic.”

With one stroke of his glowing spear, Darrion cut down Reinheit, ideals and all.

The young knight crumpled to the ground, blood spilling from the massive gash in his chest. A simple Templar Knight had no hope of matching the might of the commander of the Three Pillars of Radiance. Reinheit hadn’t even been able to buy time for Sharm to escape.

“Reinheit!?”

Sharm clung to the brave knight’s back, trying to will him back to his feet. But Darrion simply grabbed Sharm by the scruff of his neck and mercilessly yanked him away. Consciousness fading, Reinheit could only watch helplessly as Sharm was taken from him. With the amount of blood he was losing, he knew death was only moments away.

I have to... cast a healing spell and stop the bleeding. Then, I can sneak up on him from behind and... Move... Move, goddammit! Laus-sama entrusted me with Sharm-sama’s safety. This is my duty as a knight!

However, no matter how hard Reinheit wished for it, his body didn’t move. Even if he could have moved, he had no affinity for light magic and couldn’t cast healing spells. All he had was his special magic which allowed him to resist status effects.

Sharm struggled against Darrion’s grip, reaching out to Reinheit with tears in his eyes. Seeing the boy’s desperation, Reinheit began to cry as well. His own powerlessness sickened him. If only I had strength, if only I had talent. Then, I could fulfill my duty as a knight, as a human being, and protect—

“I want the power to save him!” he wailed.

I don’t care if it costs me my life, I just want to save this one child! God, if you’re watching me, please, lend me strength!

To Reinheit’s utter surprise, his wish was granted.

“What?”

But not by god. It was a sword that granted his wish. There was a blinding flash of light from the Holy Sword at Darrion’s waist. In an instant, the entire alleyway was illuminated with warm, white light. After a few seconds, the light subsided, and the glowing sword rose into the air of its own accord. It floated toward Reinheit, as though it was choosing a new master.

“Impossible... The Holy Sword can only be wielded by those who possess the traits of a hero...”

Emotion flitted across Darrion’s face for the first time since he’d arrived. He had no idea what had caused the Holy Sword to react to Reinheit. That was hardly surprising, since not even Reinheit knew.

The truth was, Reinheit’s Pure Soul did more than just prevent anything from influencing his psyche. It allowed him to become anything, so long as he willed it.

“Will you lend me your strength?” Reinheit asked hesitantly as he grasped the sword with a bloodstained hand. Another pulse of light rippled out from the Holy Sword, and Reinheit’s bleeding stopped. It seemed the sword had granted him the ability to use healing magic. And that wasn’t all. The moment he’d gripped the Holy Sword, he’d felt it. It was like the sword itself had told him he could do it now.

“Limit—”

“Impossible! Tch...”

Darrion callously tossed Sharm to the ground and raised his spear.

“Break!”

Reinheit’s strength multiplied exponentially. He shot toward Darrion, moving so fast he looked like nothing more than a streak of light. Darrion barely managed to get his spear up in time to block Reinheit’s first swing.

I can do this! the young knight though.

“Uwooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”

With a spirited shout, Reinheit slashed at Darrion over and over. Every time Longinus’ wielder and the new wielder of the Holy Sword clashed, shockwaves powerful enough to shake the nearby buildings rippled outward. However—

I can’t get past his guard! Even this newfound power wasn’t enough to overcome Darrion’s might. Moreover, Reinheit could feel the Holy Sword warning him that his Limit Break had a time limit. With how battered his body was, he wouldn’t even be able to keep his Limit Break up for another minute.

“It’s over,” Darrion declared.

The battle ended in an instant. Darrion slipped past Reinheit’s guard and stabbed him in the stomach.

“Oh, it’s over alright!” Reinheit howled.

He knew he couldn’t win, so Reinheit had been prepared to trade his life for Darrion’s from the very start. Before Darrion could pull his spear out, Reinheit grabbed his arm. Darrion’s eyes widened in surprise as realization washed over him... a second before Reinheit’s sword stabbed him in the heart.

The two warriors stared into each other’s eyes. Darrion’s face was twisted in pain, while Reinheit was smiling fearlessly. Then, the strength left both of their bodies and they fell backward at the same time. Longinus and the Holy Sword both clattered to the ground.

“Reinheit!” Sharm shouted, running over to his savior.

“Sharm-sama... You must run... Head east.”

“I-I can’t just leave you... Aaah, what do I do? The blood won’t stop!”

Reinheit reached out with a trembling hand and patted Sharm on the head.

“Listen to me. Your father... met someone... on the battlefield. That someone... changed him... which is why I’m sure that person will also... protect you...”

“B-But... how am I supposed to get there alone?”

“Pull yourself together! You’re Laus Barn’s, the strongest knight’s, son!”

“Ah...”

Sharm gulped, stunned by the intensity in Reinheit’s voice. But then, after a few seconds, he gritted his teeth and nodded. He silently wiped his tears, his eyes burning with resolve.

“I’m... going to leave you behind, Reinheit. I’ll go east by myself.”

Reinheit smiled, satisfied.

“Thank you, Reinheit. You’re as amazing a knight as Father.”

“I’m honored that... you think so, Sharm-sama.”

Sharm slowly rose to his feet.

“Huh?”

But when he turned around, he saw Darrion standing in his way. Even though he’d been pierced through the heart, the Paladins’ commander still had enough strength left to fight.

“Run, Sharm-sama!”

Reinheit crawled forward, reaching for his sword. Darrion glanced over at him, then grabbed his spear. He was going to finish Reinheit off before the young knight awakened any more new powers.

Sharm and Reinheit resolved themselves to their fate. That was all they could do. This was checkmate.

“This time, it really is the end.”

Darrion raised his spear high.

“Yeah, for you.”

A massive fist slammed into Darrion’s face. His skull caved in from the force of the blow, and he hit the wall behind him so hard it cracked. He was dead for sure. When they saw who had arrived, Sharm and Reinheit’s faces lit up in joy.

“Father!”

“Laus...sama...”

Panting, Laus lowered his fist and turned to look at the two of them. He was covered in blood, his left arm was missing, and he appeared to have lost his hammer. But he was alive. Sharm ran over to him and he hugged his son with one arm, then walked over to Reinheit and knelt next to him.

“Reinheit... Thank you. I owe you a huge debt.”

“I just... did what my heart told me.”

Laus cast a healing spell on Reinheit, bringing him back from the verge of death. Somehow or the other, he’d managed to shake the apostle. Sharm and Reinheit both looked like they wanted to say something to him, but before they could, Longinus floated into the air and flew off into the distance, distracting them.

“There’s no time to explain. We need to find somewhere to hide.”

The two of them nodded, knowing that wasn’t the time for questions. Sharm bent down to grab the Holy Sword and handed it to Reinheit. Laus looked momentarily surprised to see Reinheit wielding the sacred weapon, but then he nodded in understanding and smiled at the young knight.

Together, Laus and Sharm helped Reinheit to his feet. Leaning heavily against each other, the three of them staggered off into the night. Their one hope remained far to the east.

“We have to... find a way to get to her,” Laus muttered.