CHAPTER 2
THE ROAD TO THE ANCIENT KINGDOM
Chatres’s unit set out when the alien world’s sun was at its zenith. Regina and Chatres’s farewell was surprisingly brief. They both formally wished the other a safe trip and hugged briefly.
“Shouldn’t you have said more, Regina?” Riselia asked while her friend watched the Elysion Academy students leave.
“We can’t. If we act too close, people might find out the truth,” Regina answered with a sardonic smile couldn’t mask a hint of loneliness. “Besides, she made me a promise.”
“What promise?”
“She told me that, someday, she’ll definitely come and welcome me back into the family.” Regina turned around. The wind caught her pigtails, sending them dancing. “All right, kid. Let’s get going.”
“That reminds me. Where are we going, kid?” Sakuya asked.
“We’ll head straight north through the forest,” Leonis replied.
“And what’s there?”
“I don’t know…” Leonis shook his head. “It’s just a feeling. Something in my memory is calling me there.”
Despite the vague answer, Leonis had an explicit destination in mind. However, he had no idea if the place was actually there.
There’s always a chance my intuition is wrong.
Even if the place wasn’t there, that would bring him a step closer to deciphering the truth behind this Void world.
“Well, it’s not like we have a better lead to go off,” Sakuya remarked casually. “We may as well see how your hunch plays out.”
“Let’s head north, then,” Riselia said, stepping forward.
“Ah, wait.” Leonis grabbed Riselia’s sleeve to stop her. “Crossing the forest on foot will be difficult.”
Given his weakened state, a walk would tire him out in no time.
“Oh, you’re right. When I was with Arle, I didn’t have to worry about that,” Sakuya remarked.
“Did she cut a path through the forest?” Leonis asked.
“No, she used some elven power to slip through the forest unimpeded. It was quite wondrous.”
The elves’ Spirit Sorcery certainly has its uses.
Sadly, Leonis hadn’t mastered that type of magic. He could easily burn the forest down, but that would undoubtedly expose him as a Dark Lord.
And that means I can’t summon a skull dragon, either.
Leonis obviously didn’t wish to reveal his true identity to Sakuya and Regina, but he also thought it best not to act too conspicuous in general until he knew more about this world.
If he drew the attention of gigantic flying Voids, the fighting would be loud and flashy. This was the realm of the Swordmaster of the Six Heroes, who was a truly fierce enemy. Leonis had managed to defeat him during their last encounter, but that had only been with the help of Veira, the Dragon Lord, and Rivaiz, the Lord of the Seas. It had taken three Dark Lords just to match him.
“I could use my Drag Howl to blow the trees away,” Regina proposed.
Riselia was quick to reject that idea. “You shouldn’t. What if there’s a dormant Void Hive hidden nearby?”
“Then the only option is to walk,” Regina said. “Don’t worry, kid. We can take turns carrying you on our shoulders if you get tired.”
“Please don’t bring up embarrassing ideas like that again,” Leonis protested.
“We don’t have enough food or water for a long trip, though.” Riselia lifted her backpack to highlight the issue.
One of the students abducted from Elysion Academy had an infinite storage space Holy Sword and shared military rations with the others. The eighteenth platoon had been given enough for six days.
“I brought some emergency rations, too.” Sakuya retrieved a small flax bag from her sleeve.
“What are those?” Riselia questioned.
“Traditional Sakura Orchid ration balls. One should keep you up and running for two days. They’re very bitter, though, and they dry out the throat when you swallow them.”
Regina sighed with a troubled expression. “I think we should keep those as our last resort.”
“Not to worry,” Leonis said. “I have just the thing for this situation.”
Riselia cocked her head. “What do you mean?”
Leonis tapped the end of the Staff of Sealed Sins on his shadow. This made the darkness at his feet expand, and a big lump of metal emerged from the ground.
“Huh?!”
“…Wh-what’s this?!”
Riselia and Regina were both agape in disbelief. A battle vehicle had emerged from the Realm of Shadows. The anti-Void combat tank was commonly referred to as a Thunderbolt. It was reinforced with solid armor and a high-output reactor motor. A caterpillar track allowed it to drive across all manner of terrain, and a powerful autocannon sat atop its body, allowing it to damage any small, unarmored Voids. The vehicle was also equipped with food and a water tank for long expeditions, as well as a simple water purifier.
“L-Leo…where did you get this thing?” Riselia asked.
“I found it on the Third Assault Garden when we were there, and I stowed it for future use,” the Dark Lord explained quite placidly. “It seemed in working order, so I thought it’d be a waste to leave it there.”
“You stole a military weapon?!”
“Is that forbidden?”
“Yes! Extremely!” Riselia, straitlaced girl that she was, seemed liable to explode. “We have to return it!”
“Now, now, Lady Selia, we can always give it back later, right?” Regina tried to placate her. “Besides, everything on the Third Assault Garden was considered abandoned and lost, right?”
“W-well, yes, but… Hmm…”
The truth of the matter was that Leonis didn’t take this battle vehicle from the Third Assault Garden at all. Shary had used the Demon Wolf Pack to acquire it via illegal routes. Leonis had sent Shary to search the ruined Third Assault Garden for any viable aircraft or ground weapons, but anything that might have still functioned was wrecked during the battle with Tearis.
“Well, we might as well make the best of what we’ve got. But you have to return it when we get back!” Riselia chided, wagging a finger at Leonis.
“I never knew your Holy Sword’s power could hold something this big,” Regina said, marveling.
“E-erm, well, this is basically the most it can handle,” Leonis lied.
“Maybe you’ll be able to carry bigger things once your Holy Sword develops.” Regina sounded excited.
“Holy Swords that can store objects in other dimensions are valuable for supply transport. But in most cases, that’s all they’re good for,” Sakuya pointed out. “Holy Swords capable of multiple functions like yours are very rare.”
“R-really…?” Leonis muttered, hoping the conversation would move away from this subject soon.
“Can you drive vehicles, Leo?” Riselia asked.
“No…” Leonis shook his head awkwardly. “I think I can get it running, but I’m not confident I’ll do it right.”
He’d planned to have a skeleton handle that.
Riselia turned to Regina. “You have a military vehicle license, right?”
“Yes. I got one as part of my maid training. I don’t have much experience with anything this large, but I think I’ll manage.”
“We’re counting on you.”
“Leave it to me, Lady Selia!”
An upside-down fortress floated within endless emptiness. This was the Otherworldly Castle. It was no longer occupied by its original owner, the Devil of the Underworld, but by the goddess’s apostles, now reawakened as Voids.
The apostles were the speakers of their deity’s gospel. Their ranks were made of powerful retainers who had once served as core members of the Dark Lords’ Armies a thousand years ago.
In the halls of this castle, where heaven and earth were flipped, countless eyes flickered across the walls. These were top-class apostles who, while having awakened, were still sealed.
“Our comrade, Iris Void Priestess, successfully enacted the Void Shift. Albeit in an incomplete form.”
“Then the goddess’s prophecy was partially realized. However…”
“Scheherazade, the Queen of Shadows, failed to turn the Spirit King into a Void.”
The voices that intermingled endlessly echoed through the castle.
“What was the cause for its destruction?”
“There were insufficient Demon Swords to sacrifice. The Queen of Shadows failed.”
“The Spirit King was a target for seizure on the same level as the Dark Lords. This is another deviation from the prophecy.”
“The goddess’s prophecy is always correct. Deviations are merely misinterpretations of her words, nothing more.”
“Be that as it may…”
All the eyes swiveled to peer down at a white-haired young man standing in the center of the chamber.
“…It seems you weren’t able to control the Queen of Shadows, priest.”
“I can say nothing in my defense.” The young man hung his head, a serene smile on his face. Nefakess Reizaad had once served in the Dark Lords’ Armies. Now he was the thirteenth apostle, an agent of the Voids who’d infiltrated human society.
“We entrusted the D Project and the Pseudo-Goddess Creation plan to you. Do not disappoint us.”
“I won’t.”
The beings looking at him through those eyes were much more powerful than Nefakess. Lower-ranked apostles were all pawns for executing the will of the sealed high-ranked ones. The identity of the prophesized first apostle was still completely unknown.
“Fulfill the goddess’s prophecy to the letter. The day of reckoning is near.”
“The Void Shift will come to pass, and the door shall open.”
“In the ancient kingdom where the hero was born, the Void King shall awaken.”
This was one of the three hundred prophecies left behind by the goddess.
The ancient kingdom where the hero was born—the Rognas Kingdom. The great being slumbering there would awaken as a new Void.
However…
“The kingdom’s guardian impedes execution of that foretelling.”
“Indeed. It is a fruit that dangles so tantalizingly close but remains beyond our reach.”
“However, the time is upon us. The artificial goddess shall open the gates to the kingdom.”
“For the will of the goddess. For the world to be reborn in emptiness.”
As their voices echoed, the countless eyes vanished one by one.
“By your will, you grand departed souls,” Nefakess said.
All light died in the chamber, leaving it in darkness.
A simple altar surrounded by white walls stood before the young Nefakess. Beams of multicolored light shone in through the stained glass on the wall. This was the Human Church’s Grand Cathedral in Camelot’s Central Garden. It was one of the gates linking to the Otherworldly Castle in the Void world.
“The goddess’s prophecies.”
Nefakess stood slowly, wearing a crooked smile.
“This world already moves along a future that greatly differs from what she foresaw…”
When he turned, Nefakess saw a man sitting among the pews, an aged fellow with hawklike eyes.
“My apologies for the delay, Count Deinfraude.” Nefakess spread his arms. “Have you come to confess your sins?”
“And who would pardon them if I have? All those gods lost to the passage of time?” the old man answered without meeting the priest’s gaze. “There are no gods left in this world to pardon or punish. That I do not burn as we speak is proof enough.”
“Yes, that might be true.” Nefakess shrugged.
“—I killed my son,” the old man suddenly admitted.
“Finzel Phillet?”
“Yes. He was grievously wounded, but I could have easily used my power to resuscitate him. And I didn’t. I killed him. I killed him and used his soul, rotted by the emptiness, as sustenance.”
The old man spoke emotionlessly, dispassionately.
“It was a terrible sin. But it pales in comparison to other wrongs I have done and what I yet intend to do.”
“Indeed, if you were human, your deed would have been a grievous sin. But you are an apostle blessed by the goddess.”
“Yes, I am already a monster. The same kind you are.”
The old man rose from his chair and extended his hand to the priest. Particles of light began to gather before his palm, fashioning the contours of a human form.
“Ultimately, Finzel’s work toward the Pseudo-Goddess Creation did bear fruit.”
The contours of a beautiful winged girl became apparent on the luminous shape.
“An Artificial Elemental created from a fragment of the goddess’s soul—this is its complete form.”
“Glorious. I have nothing but respect for the tenacity of humans.”
“We’ve held up our side of the deal, Nefakess.”
“Yes. I know.” Nefakess nodded as he touched the girl-shaped Spirit. “Through the miracles of the goddess, I shall resurrect your wife, Philia Phillet.”
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
A gigantic mass of metal raced across the Spirit Forest. The caterpillar treads rolled over the ground while blades engineered with magical technology and set on the front of the vehicle tore through tree roots in its path easily.
The Thunderbolt vehicle was designed to have customizable configurations to handle Voids in urban and wild environments. The blades, which converted energy from its reactor into heat, were a piece of equipment Leonis had attached to the machine.
I only attached them because I thought they looked intimidating, but they’ve turned out to be quite useful, Leonis mused with satisfaction from his back seat in the vehicle.
Since they were forcing their way through the trees, the ride was understandably shaky.
“It’s been so long since I got to drive a large battle vehicle. It’s fun. ” Regina hummed to herself while working the controls.
The Thunderbolt’s steering system read the faint mana in the driver’s fingertips and moved accordingly.
It’s similar to the principles of controlling a golem, but it works regardless of the caster’s proficiency.
This era’s magical technology never ceased to surprise Leonis. As Alexios had told him a few days ago, this sudden development in magical technology was brought on by the same voice of the planet that granted humanity the power of the Holy Swords.
The voice of the planet, huh…?
Leonis’s thoughts began to wander.
“You’ve come to carry out your promise, Leonis.”
Her voice didn’t feel like a trick of his mind. He’d heard her once before, when he was caught by the Devil of the Underworld’s dimensional shift.
“You have come…my dear…child…
“You kept…your promise…”
That voice had guided him to the goddess altar hidden beneath the ruins of the Ironblood Castle, Gazoth Hell Beast’s stronghold.
Why did I hear the goddess’s voice from that altar when she was supposed to have reincarnated?
Leonis looked down at his left arm. The moment he’d touched that crystal altar, Void miasma had flowed from it, coiling around his arm. Ever since, he’d been unable to summon his Holy Sword.
“What’s wrong, Leo?” Riselia peered at his face from the seat next to his.
“Nothing. I’m just a bit groggy from the shaking…”
“Huh? Are you feeling sick?” Riselia rubbed his back.
“I’ll be fine. It’s not too bad.”
“It is shaking pretty hard. Just bear with it until we get out of the woods,” Regina said over her shoulder, hands still gripping the steering stick. Then she used the microphone to speak to Sakuya, who was sitting on the vehicle outside. “How are you doing, Sakuya?”
“No problem.”
Sakuya was seated in the vehicle’s cargo space, serving as a lookout for any Void ambushes that might come from the trees. She occupied herself by cleaning Raikirimaru’s blade.
“Is there even a point to polishing a Holy Sword?” Leonis asked Riselia.
“Hmm, probably not. It’s not like the blade would ever chip.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Perhaps it’s just a habit.
“The sun will set soon,” Riselia remarked.
Regina nodded. “Yeah, let’s try to get out of the woods before it dark.”
“Miss Finé must be worried sick about us…,” Riselia whispered. Her eyes drifted to the scenery through the reinforced glass window.
Her concern was understandable. Communication terminals didn’t function in the Void world. Once Chatres and her group made it back safely, they could tell the outside world that Leonis and the others were still on the other side of the Void tear, but that would take at least a day.
Having Elfiné around would make things considerably easier. As that thought crossed Leonis’s mind, Riselia turned around to face him with a smile.
“Oh, Leo, if you’re tired, you can rest for a bit.”
“I guess I am a bit sleepy,” Leonis admitted.
It was too early for bed, even for his ten-year-old body, but using Dáinsleif had taken a big toll on him, and he was reaching the limits of his endurance.
“Here you go.” Riselia patted her skirt.
“…?”
“You can use my lap as a pillow. Lie down.”
“N-no, I’m good!”
“Don’t be shy. C’mere.”
“Whoa!”
The vehicle suddenly shook hard, and Riselia used this chance to grab Leonis by the shoulders and pull him close. She placed his head on her legs and patted it.
“You better take this chance and relish Lady Selia’s thighs, kid,” Regina teased.
“Oh, Regina…” Riselia pouted. “Don’t mind her, Leo.”
“E-erm…,” Leonis muttered softly. His heart raced at the feel of her soft skin.
The sensation was so pleasant that he thought he really might fall asleep before long.
Ugh. This body really is incorrigible…, Leonis thought to himself, yielding to his exhaustion.
However, just as slumber was about to overtake him…
“Miss Regina, you should speed up,” Sakuya called from her seat in the cargo space.
“What’s wrong?”
“We’ve got enemies coming.”
A loud, rumbling thud filled Leonis’s ears, and the battle vehicle’s fuselage shook violently.
Thuuuuuuuuuuud!
“Ahh!” Regina exclaimed from the driver’s seat.
Riselia reflexively hugged Leonis, cradling his head.
“Leo, are you all right?!”
“Y-yes…,” Leonis muttered as his minion’s breasts squished against his face, making his heart race.
“Lady Selia, we’ve got multiple hostiles! How did they get the jump on us?!” Regina inspected the mana scale device on the vehicle’s dashboard.
Glancing out the window, Leonis spotted multiple black shadows moving.
“They look like medium-sized Voids, wyvern-class ones, I think.”
“■■■■■■■■!”
The swarm of wyvern-class Voids howled, breathing fireballs at the vehicle.
“Hang on tight, everyone!” Regina ordered. “This is gonna be a bumpy ride!”
The Thunderbolt’s reactor growled as the vehicle sped up. The caterpillar treads screeched while the blades cleaved through the forest foliage.
Thud, thud, thud-thud-thud!
The vehicle bounced, splashing mud into the air. Riselia held on to Leonis even more tightly.
“M-Miss Selia…”
“We’re completely surrounded,” came Sakuya’s voice from outside.
The girl from the Sakura Orchid stood calmly and resolutely atop the shaking battle vehicle. Raikirimaru’s powers of lightning magnetized her body, keeping her rooted to the metallic tank.
“We can’t just stay on the defensive!”
Regina removed the safety on the vehicle’s guns and pulled the trigger.
Ratatatatatatatatatatata!
The anti-Void autocannon fixed atop the combat vehicle roared, spraying sparks into the air. Unfortunately, the piercing ammo bounced off the Voids’ armorlike scales.
“Tsk… I guess conventional weaponry is useless against medium-sized Voids…”
“Regina, I’ll go out and handle them,” Riselia said.
“All right, Lady Selia!”
The roof of the combat vehicle opened like a convertible. Thick armor wasn’t particularly effective in serious anti-Void combat. This feature allowed Holy Swordsmen the means to deploy swiftly.
“Stay behind me, Leo.” Riselia stood from her seat. Her shining, argent hair billowed in the breeze.
This should make for a good chance to see how much my minion has grown.
Leonis obediently hid under the seat. It wouldn’t take much effort to deal with these small-fry enemies, but he wanted to conserve his mana after using Dáinsleif.
“Here they come, Miss Selia!” Sakuya shouted.
The wyvern-class Voids spread their malformed wings and glided through the air toward them.
“Like moths to the flame, as they say!”
Schwinggg!
As one of the Voids headed for Sakuya, Raikirimaru cleaved it in two. The bisected monster crashed into the trees past the tank.
“Holy Sword, Activate—Bloody Sword!”
Riselia’s Holy Sword shone a menacing crimson in the faint light.
“I’m counting on you, Miss Selia. I’m not that good at handling fliers.”
“I’ll take care of them!”
Riselia raised the Bloody Sword overhead.
“■■■■■■■■!”
She swung her blade down on one screeching Void swooping in on her.
“Windy Blood!”
Blades of blood laced with mana arced and split into countless scythes. The air trembled and whistled.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoooooooosh!
In a flash, the wyvern-class Voids’ wings were cut from their bodies, and the monsters fell to the ground.
“Projectiles? Miss Selia, I never knew you had techniques like this…,” Sakuya said, her eyes wide with surprise.
“It’s my first time trying it in real battle…” Riselia held up the Bloody Sword again. “Regulating the power is tricky, so I didn’t use it during the Holy Sword Dance Festival.”
The Voids that had been knocked into the ground quickly rose again. Normal living creatures would have been incapacitated after that attack, but Voids were more resilient. They opened their jaws so wide that they seemed liable to tear as the Voids prepared to loose more fireballs.
“Regina, dodge!”
“Lady Selia, could you not make impossible demands?!”
Indeed, evading with the combat vehicle’s limited mobility would be impossible.
I guess I should lend a hand, if only a little, Leonis reasoned to himself.
It would be sad to see the Thunderbolt destroyed after all the trouble he’d gone through to get it. Leonis leaned out of the back seat to start chanting a barrier spell. However, he never had the chance.
“By my will and blood, become a thousand blades!” a voice as clear as crystal chanted from somewhere above.
What?
Riselia’s silver hair shone faintly with mana and began to float.
“Merg Shar!”
Blood splattered on the soil became thorns, which sprang up and intercepted the burning spheres.
Kaboom!
The air shivered as the fireballs ruptured furiously.
She modified a second-order Realm of Death spell to work with her vampire blood manipulation powers?!
Leonis’s eyes widened in disbelief. His minion was fully awakening to her powers as a Vampire Queen, the strongest type of undead.
“Oh, what now?!” Regina cried out.
Thud!
The vehicle came to an abrupt stop, sending Leonis tumbling forward.
“Whoa!” Riselia toppled into the seat, having lost her balance.
“Miss Selia?!” Leonis tried to catch her, only for her to fall over him. “Wh-what just…?”
Leonis turned to look forward, and then he saw it. A four-armed humanoid Void stood blocking the battle vehicle’s path. It was easily five or six meltes tall, and its toned body appeared sculpted from rock. The giant caught the Thunderbolt’s magic technology blades, still red-hot with mana, in its bare hands and lifted the vehicle with ease.
“Wh-what’s it doing?!” Riselia exclaimed.
Leonis grimaced. “Don’t tell me—”
“Miss Selia, you need to get out of there now!” Sakuya said, using her lightning powers to leap away.
“Are you serious?!” Riselia cried in disbelief.
“■■■■■■■■!”
The giant Void howled and slammed the Thunderbolt into the ground.
“Leo?!”
Thud!
Sediment was blasted into the air. The gigantic mass of metal was flung up and then sank into the damp soil.
“Are you two all right…?” Riselia asked, holding Leonis and Regina by their collars.
“Yes, I’m fine…,” Leonis replied.
“I thought I was a goner…,” Regina muttered wearily.
The mana wings behind Riselia’s back vanished.
Ahhh! The Dark Lords’ Armies’ tank! It cost so much! Leonis mourned.
Shary was definitely going to chide him for this.
Curse you, you despicable worm!
Leonis let out a slight hint of bloodlust, and the Void, despite being apparently fearless, suddenly froze up.
“Ultimate Blade Technique—Crescent Moon Slash!”
Sakuya emerged from somewhere unseen. Her attack, crackling with lightning, lopped off one of the giant Void’s arms.
“Sakuya, watch out!” Riselia warned.
“…?!”
The severed arm bounced on the ground and moved in to attack Sakuya as though possessed of a mind of its own.
“Damn monsters!”
Sakuya leaped back to evade it. As she did, her sword moved again, this time tracing across the giant Void’s leg.
“Let’s see how well you can dance.”
“■■■■■■■■!”
While Sakuya brandished Raikirimaru, she skillfully deflected the Voids’ many attacks. Electricity popped and sparked, and as Sakuya moved quicker, she began to resemble lightning itself.
“Sakuya…” Riselia readied Bloody Sword and looked behind her. The wingless wyvern-class Voids were charging toward them, slithering like serpents. “Regina, handle that side!”
“You got it!” Regina answered with an indomitable smile. “Holy Sword, Activate—Dragon Slayer!”
Regina’s Holy Sword appeared in its cannon form. The muzzle of the weapon glowed with heat.
“Get smoooooked!”
Boooooom!
The high-firepower projectile hit the swarm of wyvern-class Voids crawling across the ground, engulfing them in a massive pillar of flame. Leonis judged the attack to have the power of the fourth-order Light terms of Leonis’s era; this attack was equal in power to the fourth-order spell Lightning Burst.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions and flashes eradicated the medium-sized Voids. Meanwhile, Riselia and Sakuya engaged the giant Void in combat with their swords.
“Hahhhhh!” Blades of blood converged at the tip of Riselia’s sword, forming a vortex. “Bloody Petal Spiral!”
The whirling razors stabbed at the giant Void’s body, gouging into its armored hide. It wasn’t enough to defeat it, though. This was an especially tough specimen, it seemed. The arms growing out of its back swung down to pummel Riselia.
“No you don’t.” In the blink of an eye, the gigantic limbs were sent flying. Electricity pulsed in the air with Sakuya’s slash. Whirling, her next attack brought the edge of her blade across the Void’s neck.
“It’s over!” Riselia charged forward, her body shining crimson, overflowing with a Vampire Queen’s mana.
“■■■■…■■■■!”
The Void’s final howl was nearly deafening. The Holy Sword sticking from its chest burst, sending scarlet blades raging through the monster’s insides. The Void’s gigantic form was blown to bits.
“Haah, haah, haah…” Riselia fell to her knees, trying to catch her breath.
This is more than I ever expected. Leonis smiled to himself, pleased with his minion’s surprising growth.
She’d defeated a giant-class Void without the True Ancestor’s Dress and created a variation on a second-order spell. She’d come far for one who’d only gained the power of the undead several months prior.
At her current strength, I can give her that item without any worries.
Something caught Leonis’s attention, and he looked up. A few wyvern-class Voids circled above, waiting for their prey to grow exhausted. Riselia and the others hadn’t noticed them yet.
“Filthy hyenas. I suppose I should sweep away the trash…”
Leonis lifted the Staff of Sealed Sins.
“Perish. Death Ine.”
He chanted a fourth-order instant death spell. Instantly, the swarm of wyvern-class Voids vanished silently into the emptiness, destroyed.
“Are you all right?” Leonis hurried over to Riselia’s side like nothing had happened.
“Yeah, I’m fine. What about you, Leo? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. But more importantly…” Leonis’s gaze went to the smashed Thunderbolt. “Is there any chance it can still run?”
The magic technology blades at the front of the vehicle had been crushed, and its armor plating was bent out of shape.
“It should still run. It’s an anti-Void military combat vehicle, after all,” Regina said, hurrying over.
“Leo, do you have a way to flip it over?” Riselia asked.
He hummed. “I can sink it into my shadow and summon it again.”
A gravity spell would do the trick, too, but Leonis preferred not to use more power than needed, given his condition. The Thunderbolt’s large fuselage plunged into shadow.
“The sun’s about to set. Let’s hurry,” Sakuya said as she dispelled Raikirimaru.
“Curses. Curses, curses, curses! Damn that monsterrrrrr!”
Black sludge slowly crawled through a shadow corridor that seemed to go on forever.
“Elmysteriga, the Spirit King! He took so many Demon Swords to reviiiiiive!”
The nasty howling voice reverberated against the walls, echoing menacingly.
It belonged to Scheherazade Shadow Queen, Queen of Shadows. She was the one who’d seized control of Elysion Academy and abducted its Holy Swordsmen. But her efforts had been in vain, for the Undead King defeated her and forced her into a shameful retreat. He’d broken through many traps she’d set and defeated the Spirit King, who was said to be powerful enough to match the Dark Lords.
With no option but to run, the Queen of Shadows had put every bit of her remaining power into fleeing from the Undead King.
“This isn’t over. If I bide my time, the chance to destroy him will present itself.”
She knew that the Undead King, Leonis Death Magnus, the man who’d usurped control of the Realm of Shadows from her, was masquerading as a child.
Scheherazade didn’t know why, but it was valuable information regardless.
I must report this information to the apostles.
The future was erring from the goddess’s prophecies. One foretold that the Dark Lords would return. The Undead King was supposed to be reborn as a Void in the ruins of Necrozoa. However, he’d been curiously absent from his resting place.
To think he’d already been revived…
An eye surfaced on the sludgy mass, burning with intense hatred. Although the Undead King’s power had diminished compared to a thousand years ago, he was still far too strong for the Queen of Shadows. Her only option was to escape and seek safety with the goddess’s apostles.
“Not even a Dark Lord would dare to chase me into my shadow.”
“True,” answered another voice from somewhere in the corridor. “My trusted friend shouldn’t have to dirty his hands with this.”
“What?!”
The dark sludge stopped in its tracks. A black wolf with glinting golden eyes stood farther down the corridor. Blackas Shadow Prince glared down at the sludge.
“You…you foul usurperrrrrrrr!”
The sludge’s eye writhed eerily, and a shadow blade shot from the mass. However, the black wolf parted his jaws and caught the attack.
“Don’t expect the same trick to work more than once.”
“Guh, ahhhh!”
Blackas crushed the shadow blade with his jaw and spat it out. The shards of the broken blade stabbed into the dark sludge, pinning it in place.
“Ahh, ahhhhhhhhhhh, c-curse yooooou!”
Scheherazade’s clash with Leonis had left her too weak to fight. The Queen of Shadows hurried away, hoping to find safety, but Blackas jumped after her and stomped on her squishy form.
“Stay still. I won’t kill you here. You will be brought before Lord Magnus.”
The sludge shuddered at the mention of the Undead King’s name.
“What was your plan, Scheherazade? What were you trying to achieve by attacking that human city?” Blackas demanded with a low growl.
“Ha-ha. You already know what I want. You stole my Realm of Shadows from me, and I would make it mine again.”
“That can’t be the only reason.”
Blackas’s fangs dug into the sludge.
“C-curse you… Usurpers… Damn yooooou…!”
The Queen of Shadows thrashed, trying to free herself, but Blackas kept her held in place.
“I’ll ask one more time. What are you and your allies after?”
“Heh-heh-heh… Heh…” Scheherazade’s mocking cackle filled the corridor. “No one…can escape the goddess’s voice…”
“What?”
It wasn’t an answer to Blackas’s question, but the Queen of Shadows didn’t seem interested in offering more. She writhed beneath his foot, muttering as though delirious.
“Not me, not humanity, not you—not even the Undead King can resist the goddess’s call. All shall be swallowed up by the emptiness, the gospel of the star… Gospel of the star, star, starstarstar…”
“…?!”
The Queen of Shadows wasn’t acting like herself any longer. The eye within the sludge blinked erratically. Her body boiled.
“Scheherazade, you—!”
The sizzling shadow coiled around Blackas’s front legs, threatening to swallow the black wolf.
Boooom!
Then suddenly, the shadow burst, engulfing all around it.
“The Queen of Shadows chose to end herself?” Blackas could scarcely believe it. Half his body had been destroyed, leaving him with only one front leg.
Blackas’s greatest nemesis—Scheherazade Shadow Queen—was gone without a trace.
“She was never one to consider dying with dignity, but…”
Did she fear the Undead King that much?
“The goddess’s call…”
Scheherazade’s final words still echoed through the corridor.
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