Demon Sword Master of the Holy Sword Academy - Volume 2 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

THE PRINCESS’S ARRIVAL

It took a full hour to finish transcribing the books.

Leonis left the library wearing the most innocent face he could manage after having created copies of ancient tomes. Now he wanted nothing more than to find a nice quiet corner to begin his reading.

Upon leaving the building, Leonis pulled out a small device given to him by the academy. When he tapped on the screen, the terminal sensed the faint mana in his fingertips and activated. He wasn’t quite used to operating this machine yet, but it was quite the convenient little thing. By sliding his finger across the screen, he scrolled through a digital copy of his academy curriculum.

Hmm. So I have a classroom lecture on group tactics theory next…

Having commanded armies in the past as a Dark Lord, such a lecture seemed quite promising to Leonis. Understanding how human tactics had changed over the last millennium was useful. On top of that, a student’s lecture attendance was closely monitored. If Leonis ever skipped a class, Riselia was sure to learn of it and get angry with him.

“…I suppose I can always read the books later,” Leonis whispered to himself.

Just as he turned to make for the classroom ward, however…

“Ah, there he is! Leoooo!”

“M-Millet, don’t shout…”

Leonis heard the high-pitched voices of several children calling after him.

“…?”

Doing an about-face, he saw a girl who looked to be five or six years old running toward him across the park lawn. The child had a lively face, her hazelnut hair was in pigtails, and she wore a short skirt.

Who’s that?

Suspicious, Leonis looked around and spied two other children following the girl. One of them was a gangly, bespectacled boy who looked to be the same age, while the other was a slightly older girl. The oldest of the three had slender, doll-like limbs and shoulder-length black hair. Moreover, Leonis actually knew who she was.

On the day of the Void Stampede, he’d met her when he visited Phrenia’s orphanage. She’d been the oldest child there.

Tessera, I believe? Leonis recalled.

She’d proven herself to be quite a brave child, for she’d dared to ask Leonis to protect Riselia after witnessing a sliver of his terrifying power. If Tessera was here, then the other kids with her were likely from the orphanage as well.

What could they be doing here?

Part of Excalibur Academy’s premises were open to the public. While there was a strict identity check necessary to enter the sections of the academy used by the students, the cafeteria and exercise facilities adjacent to the park were available for anyone.

The orphanage was a long a walk from the academy, though. It was one thing if they could use a vehicle, but Leonis couldn’t imagine children making such a long trip on foot.

“Haah, haah… I finally found you…,” Millet said, gasping for air as she came to a stop in front of Leonis.

Soon after, the other two caught up to her. Clearly, they’d been looking for him, though Leonis could only guess at the reason.

“Ah… Hmm, err…!” Tessera tried to say something from her spot behind the younger girl.

“…?” Leonis cocked his head.

“C’mon, Tessera, you’ve got something to give to Leonis, right?” Millet urged, lightly pushing Tessera forward.

“Y-yeah…” Tessera stepped closer and looked up at Leonis as if steeling her nerves. “I… Leonis… I… Have this…”

She held out a small bag.

“…What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s, erm, a thank-you gift.”

“…A thank-you gift?”

“Yes. Thank you so, so much for protecting the orphanage!” Tessera offered the little satchel to Leonis and bobbed her head in a bow.

“I saw you from the window. You were awesome!” Millet said excitedly. “You took out those Voids one after another!”

“I—I saw it, too. B-but I was a little scared…,” the bespectacled boy added.

“Linze, you’re being rude to Leo!” Millet chided, landing a small, bouncy punch on his head.

“I didn’t do anything you should be thankful for…” Leonis shook his head. “Protecting people is a Holy Swordsman’s duty.” Leonis had rather nonchalantly just said something he didn’t believe in the slightest. Truth be told, he’d only protected the orphanage on a whim. If it hadn’t been a place Riselia—his minion—held so dear, he wouldn’t have even considered doing something that risked exposing his identity to protect it.

“I, erm, hope you like sweets…,” Tessera stammered with a flustered expression.

“Thank you, Tessera.” Leonis accepted the gift. Instantly, he caught the pleasant smell of cookies.

“Y-you remembered…my name,” Tessera whispered in a voice so meek Leonis couldn’t hear it, and her cheeks turned rosy.

While a little misshapen, the cookies had clearly been otherwise well made. Leonis took a bite out of one. It tasted a touch too sweet for him, but that was likely just a matter of preference.

“It’s good. Just the right kind of sweet,” Leonis commented, offering his honest opinion.

“…R-really? Th-that’s good.” Tessera smiled bashfully.

“Hey, Leo, Tessera picked out the best cookies from a batch she baked for you!” Millet told him excitedly.

“…M-Millet!” Linze poked her in the ribs.

“Hmm, you came all this way just to give this to me?” Leonis asked.

“That’s right!” Millet said, puffing out her chest as though to boast for some reason.

“Ah, erm, that’s not all we came here for, um…,” Tessera muttered hastily.

“We came to see the Hyperion at the port!” Linze exclaimed with glittering eyes.

Hyperion… If Leonis recalled correctly, it was the name of the ship the princess was set to arrive on for her visit.

“Y-yes, and while we were here, we wondered how you were doing, so…,” Tessera added timidly.

“You’re interested in warships?” Leonis inquired.

“Yeah!” Linze said excitedly. “It’s the capital’s newest vessel. A battleship made for anti-Void combat! It’s got the first magic catapult loaded onto it, and—”

“There’s gonna be a parade welcoming the princess near the ship,” Tessera added hurriedly.

…So that’s why.

Putting aside Linze’s barrage of jargon, Millet and Tessera had come to visit the princess.

“Tessera wanted to invite you to come with us,” Millet said cheerily.

“I-if you don’t mind…,” Tessera amended, her words petering out.

Hmm…

Phrenia was likely far too busy running the orphanage to escort a few of them to a parade. That said, the children were clearly eager to walk around town on their own, so Leonis decided it befit him as a Holy Swordsman to escort them.

In all honesty, the parade didn’t interest Leonis in the slightest. When he was the Undead King, he was worshipped and celebrated by a number of assorted heretical cults throughout the land. Such idolization quickly grew unpleasant, though, so he’d abolished them.

I admit this world’s royalty and warships do pique my interest, however, Leonis thought, hiding an evil smile.

Setting aside the unlikelihood that Leonis would have a chance to meet with any member of the royal family, researching one of this age’s cutting-edge weapons wasn’t a bad use of his time. Attending on his own could arouse suspicion, but with the children following him, no one was likely to raise an eyebrow.

“Sure.” Leonis nodded.

Tessera whispered a small “Yay!” Attending the festivities meant Leonis would be skipping his lectures for the day, but that was fine. Riselia was less likely to get mad at him for doing something for the kids from the orphanage.

Why am I even concerned about a minion getting mad at me?

“Then let’s go! Forward march!” Millet theatrically swung a branch she’d picked up somewhere and started walking toward the port.

“…Where did Leo go off to?”

Having finished her lectures in the classroom ward, Riselia looked around for the boy but couldn’t find him anywhere.

I thought it’d be nice to have lunch together…

Leonis’s group tactics lecture should’ve been in the same building as Riselia’s class. She tried calling his communication device, but there was no reply. Leonis had mentioned going to the library that morning, so Riselia wondered if perhaps he was still there. Unfortunately, there was no sign of him in that building, either. Leonis was the only ten-year-old Holy Swordsman in the academy, so Riselia had thought he’d stand out and be easy to spot.

I hope no one kidnapped him or something… Riselia was suddenly struck by a rather odd thought.

It was no secret that a lot of the girls around the academy thought Leonis was very cute. Riselia wouldn’t have been surprised to learn a classmate had decided to snatch him away.

Leonis Magnus. A mysterious boy found sealed in an ancient ruin. Outwardly, he appeared to be an adorable child, but his true identity was that of an ancient mage who’d turned Riselia into his vampire minion. He fought not with a Holy Sword but by using the power of ancient sorcery and a Demon Sword. Those strange abilities had saved Riselia from the massive Void Lord who had kidnapped her, leaving no trace of the monstrous tree-thing behind when Leonis was finished.

At times, he was incredibly mature, but there were other moments when he acted like a boy his age… For some reason, Riselia found she just couldn’t leave him alone. No matter how strong he was, she saw him no differently than how she viewed the children at the orphanage.

Maybe he’s having lunch on his own? Considering that possibility, Riselia headed toward the cafeteria when something else caught her attention.

“…Hmm?”

Riselia spotted one of her teammates squatting beneath the building’s staircase. The girl’s brilliant blue hair was cut in a shoulder-length, boyish style, and her piercing blue eyes were quite breathtaking.

She didn’t wear the academy’s uniform but was instead clad in traditional garb from Sakura Orchid. Normally, that would have, of course, been a violation of academy regulations, but a special exception had been made in this girl’s case.

She was a skilled swordswoman who, despite being a first-year, held the record for slaying large-type Voids. Her name was Sakuya Sieglinde, and she was sitting in front of a large, black lump.

“…Sakuya?” Riselia called out to her friend.

“Mm? Oh, Riselia…” Sakuya turned to look at her senior classmate and bowed her head in greeting.

Getting a closer look, Riselia realized the black lump Sakuya was squatting by was actually a very large dog.

“Hmm, where did this guy come from?” Riselia asked, furrowing her brow.

“Seems he wandered onto the academy’s premises. I thought he looked hungry, so I decided to feed him,” Sakuya explained, tearing a bun she’d gotten from the cafeteria and presenting it to the black dog. He sniffed it a few times before helping himself.

“He’s…a bit large for a stray.” Riselia descended the staircase and eyed the dog carefully.

Something gave her the feeling she’d seen this animal before, but exactly where and when eluded her.

“Do you think he’s someone’s pet?” Riselia wondered aloud.

“Probably. I can’t see him being a stray. He gives off a certain noble aura,” Sakuya agreed.

“Now that you mention it, I guess he kind of does.”

The large beast’s fur was as black and sleek as the ebon of night.

“It looks similar to a breed of blood wolf, but…” Riselia crouched toward the dog and cocked her head.

A blood wolf was a species created as a result of genetic engineering, a mixture of a large-breed dog and a dire wolf. They were mostly used as military hounds. There was an upperclassman with a Holy Sword capable of controlling packs of dogs. Riselia wondered if perhaps this animal belonged to them.

“We should probably report this to the bureau,” Riselia declared.

“Right…” Sakuya nodded, placing a hand on the dog’s head. “Until we find his owner, I shall christen him with a name. He will be Fluffymaru the Black.”

The black dog growled in apparent dissatisfaction.

“He doesn’t seem to like it,” Riselia pointed out.

“…Mm. Really? I think it’s a fine name.”

“You can’t just name random dogs you find outside, Sakuya,” Riselia chided as she rose to her feet. “By the way, have you seen Leo?”

“Oh, the kid? Haven’t seen him around here,” Sakuya replied.

“Oh…” Riselia sighed. “Where could he have gone to?”

“Miss Riselia, aren’t you being a bit overprotective? He’s a Holy Swordsman in his own right.”

“Overprotective…? Y-you think…?” Riselia considered Sakuya’s observation.

It was then that her device let out a beeping alert to inform her she’d received a new message.

“…Ah, Leo?!” Immediately, Riselia’s voice grew happier, at which Sakuya simply shrugged.

Leonis arrived at the seventh block of the naval port. He hadn’t walked there of course, instead making use of the linear rail that ran under and across the Assault Garden. Had it been just Leonis, he could’ve used his sorcery to move across the city through the shadows, but taking three other people along for the ride was impossible.

Some of the linear rail network had been destroyed by Arakael Degradios, the one who’d long ago fused with the Holy Tree. While main supply routes had been hurriedly restored, less important railways were still under repair. Heavy machinery was being used to clear out flooded underground sectors.

“This was my first time riding the linear rail,” Tessera said from her spot next to Leonis.

“Really?” he asked.

“I don’t leave the refugee sector often…”

Twenty minutes or so later, the self-propelled magical technology train had reached the port station. The four children took an elevator to the surface, where their eyes were instantly greeted by the blue sky and a number of weapon factories lined along the harbor.

“That’s the seventh factory! That’s where they produce anti-Void tactical weapons!” Linze continued to offer excited commentary.

“Leo doesn’t care about that,” Millet scolded him.

“Th-that’s not true. Right?”

“No, I think it’s fascinating,” Leonis assured him.

He already knew from Blackas’s report that the Assault Garden had such foundries, but seeing them with his own eyes conveyed their scale all the more.

This is larger than the famed Tyrant King of Indores’s Treasury, Leonis thought as he walked toward the naval port.

“Th-that over there… Amazing, it’s the real thing!” Linze exclaimed, pointing at the harbor. A massive castle was moored where the young boy had indicated.

So that’s Hyperion…

Leonis was left speechless at the sight of the vessel. It couldn’t have been more different from how he’d first pictured it.

It makes the Wild Hunt look like a dinghy by comparison…

The Wild Hunt was a massive warship built to resemble an undead dragon. During Leonis’s reign as the Undead King, it had struck terror into the hearts of the human kingdom’s soldiers. Appearing from the fog with countless undead warriors aboard, the mighty boat had been a fearsome sight to behold.

However, the sheer scale of the floating fortress that now bobbed before Leonis’s eyes rivaled the size of the Dragon Lord Veira’s mobile fortress.

“The Hyperion is the sister vessel of the Endymion, and it’s equipped with a Void-probing system. It’s even capable of sailing in open seas!” Linze detailed proudly.

Millet and Tessera stood frozen in place, clearly in awe at the dignified visage of the ship.

…I would like at least two battleships of this size once I’ve reformed the Demon Lords’ Armies, Leonis thought. This ship must be mine at all costs.

The plaza that looked out on the harbor was alive with a large crowd of people. Food stands had been set up, and an orchestra was performing in the nearby park.

“Something smells nice,” Tessera said cheerfully.

Mature as she may have been, Tessera was still an eight-year-old girl. Apparently, someone was grilling fish caught in the nearby waters.

“I don’t have a lot of money, though…,” Millet said dejectedly.

“Me neither…,” Linze joined in.

“Don’t worry, I got a lot of allowance,” Tessera said, producing a card with a very older-sister-like air about her.

“Are you sure, Tessera?” Millet asked.

“Yeah, I helped out a lot around the orphanage,” she replied.

Before she could say or do anything else, however, Leonis took hold of Tessera’s hand.

“Leo?” she asked in confusion.

“Let me pay for it,” he insisted. He took out his terminal, which also functioned as a credit card.

“Really?!” Millet exclaimed with sparkling eyes.

“Huh?! No, you don’t have to…” Tessera shrank back modestly.

“A child needn’t be so reserved,” Leonis declared.

“But, Leonis, you’re a kid, too…,” Tessera retorted diffidently.

Leonis cleared his throat awkwardly. “I am a Holy Swordsman, so I’m not quite as pressed for money.”

The truth was he would’ve been far more financially secure if the hoard of Reidoa gold coins stored in the vault kept in his shadow were accepted as currency. Unfortunately, such things were no longer in circulation, making them little more than worthless trinkets.

“Four fish skewers, please. Some juice for each of us, too,” Leonis told the stall owner.

“Put your terminal here, please,” instructed the man running the stand.

“Like this?” Leonis asked, bashing the terminals together lightly.

“No, not like that,” the man corrected, frowning with exasperation. Tessera smiled and gently giggled at the scene.

“Thank you, Leo…”

With their food and drinks, the four of them sat on a bench in the plaza. The fish’s skin was crispy from being cooked over coals, giving it a rather appealing taste. Tessera and the two younger children happily stuffed their cheeks.

Leonis suddenly looked down at his terminal. When he’d paid with credit earlier, he noticed he’d received a number of messages. He thought Riselia was mad with him for skipping a lecture, but they were all concernedly asking where he was.

…That was wrong of me. Leonis groaned to himself. I should at least get her a gift to apologize.

“Hey, look at that…” Millet got to her feet after finishing her skewer.

She pointed to the plaza ahead, where a group of Holy Swordsmen were holding a public performance.

“Let’s go see!” Millet proclaimed, grabbing Linze by the arm and running toward the plaza.

“Ah, wait…!” Tessera stood up hurriedly. “Ah, I’m sorry, I have to go after them…”

“Go ahead,” Leonis said with a nod. “I’ll stay here and look around some of the shops until you get back.”

“See you later!” Tessera bowed to Leonis and took off after the two younger children.

Leonis watched her hurry away before whispering an incantation. “Come forth, my servant of the shadows.”

A black mist appeared out of thin air and silently clung to Tessera. This was a third-order spell called Raz Vua. Leonis had a Shadow Demon tail Tessera. These moderately powerful demons were traditionally set in the center of underground labyrinths. Hopefully, it would keep Tessera and the other children safe from any suspicious people who might do something to them.

…Am I being overprotective? Leonis wondered as he got to his feet.

Now alone, Leonis set out to find a gift to present to his minion. Unfortunately, he had absolutely atrocious taste when it came to this sort of thing.

As a show of appreciation, he’d once given Shary the highest class of assassination dagger, the Death Butterfly’s Dagger, Refisca. To his surprise, the maid only got angry at him about the present. “You just don’t get it at all, Master!” she’d complained. Even so, the dagger did have a powerful curse on it, and Shary still used it often.

Leonis wandered around, stopping before a stall run by an old man smoking a pipe. The shop was selling silver ornaments.

“Can you show me your wares?” Leonis asked.

“Mm?” The old man opened one eye.

He initially seemed disappointed to see a child but, noticing Leonis’s Excalibur Academy uniform, quickly changed his mind.

“Oh, hello. Are you looking for something?”

Leonis bent down, examining the items lined up on the carpet. He saw rings, earrings, bracelets, and other trinkets girls liked to wear.

They’re made of silver… No mithril, though.

Leonis activated his mystic eyes of appraisal, whereupon a few rings lit up in his field of vision. These weren’t true mystic eyes, of course, but an artificial effect afforded to his normal eyes via sorcery. Leonis picked up one bracelet that gleamed under his enhanced vision.

“What can you tell me about this item?”

“You’ve got quite the discerning eye for such a young man. That one was made by the elves in the special ward.”

“Oh, is that right…? Wait, did you just say ‘elves’?” Leonis asked in return. “There are elves in this city?”

“You’ve never seen an elf before?” The old man looked at him with a dubious expression.

“Ah, no, I’m a refugee who only recently came to this city…” Leonis uttered a vague lie.

“A refugee… I see.”

…So it’s not just the spirits. The elves are still alive, too, Leonis thought.

The elves were a race of highly intelligent humanoids with vast magical aptitude, making them capable of powerful sorcery. The elves of the Spirit Forest had worshipped the Holy Tree and opposed Leonis’s undead legions, but the dark elves of the Everdark Forest had, at one time, been allies.

“Well, you’ll find plenty of demis living in the sixth ward, the special demi-human protection ward,” the old man said.

Leonis inquired further about the history of demi-humans. Apparently, sixty-four years ago, the demi-humans were driven to near extinction due to the Void invasion. In addition to elves, demi-humans included werewolves, lionmen, other beastmen races and dvergrs.

Demi-humans couldn’t manifest Holy Swords to combat the Voids, so many of their kind had little choice but to join the Human Integration Project and migrate to the Assault Gardens.

“That brought no small amount of friction between peoples, though. I’ve heard there are terrorist attacks by radical cells in the capital…”

So it’s no different from how things were a thousand years ago. Leonis felt chagrined.

Even with a common enemy bearing down on them, the people of this world still engaged in infighting. When Leonis had fought against the human kingdom, he’d made deliberate use of this lack of cooperation to divide and conquer.

Leonis decided on a small, silverwork cat accessory, tipping a little extra as thanks for all the information. Riselia wasn’t the type to dress up often, but there were many sundries in her room with cat designs on them. Something like this was likely preferable to a bracelet in that regard.

While the object itself wasn’t enchanted in any way, Leonis could place some death sorcery on it if he truly needed to. Making it a mythology-class or legend-class item probably wasn’t possible, but he could at least turn it into a hero-class protective amulet.

Still, it’s surprising to think the elves have survived after all this time…

As long-lived as the elven people were, Leonis doubted any still alive remembered his native era. It was nevertheless worth a try to ask and see what they did know, however.

I should look for the Everdark Forest.

Most of the demi-humans had apparently been integrated into the human empire, but Leonis couldn’t imagine the proud, haughty dark elf tribe submitting to mankind. If his hunch was right, they would make an excellent asset to his own forces.

Negotiating with them will be difficult in this form. Perhaps I should let Blackas handle it…

As he considered that option, Leonis looked around for Tessera, when…

Isn’t that…?

The figure of a familiar girl standing among the throngs of people caught Leonis’s eye. It was a blond, pigtailed girl clad in the academy’s uniform—Regina. She was flanked on either side by a boy, each of whom was also in an academy uniform. The two young men seemed to be arguing over something.

What is she doing here? Leonis wondered. Using his small, boyish physique to quickly slip through the crowd, he approached the little group.

“Let go of me, please,” Regina insisted with visible annoyance.

“C’mon, you don’t want to be all alone, right? Let’s hang out,” one of the boys said, reaching for her shoulder.

“No!” Regina brushed off his hand with a swing of her arm.

Hmph, they’re trying to hit on her, Leonis inferred.

Objectively speaking, Regina Mercedes was a near-unrivaled beauty. Riselia was just as pretty but gave off a certain icy feel, one that was, in fact, quite removed from her actual personality. In contrast, Regina appeared much more easygoing, defenseless, and friendly toward everyone. A girl like her walking around this crowded place all on her own was bound to attract unwanted attention.

It really has nothing to do with me… Leonis made to turn around but then froze in place. He did owe Regina for helping him at the library that morning. Not repaying a debt would mar Leonis’s dignity as a Dark Lord.

“Hey, misters, what are you doing?” Leonis asked with the voice of an innocent boy as he approached the three of them.

“…Is that you, kid?!” Regina’s jasper eyes widened in shock.

“Huh? He’s wearing the academy’s uniform…?” one of the boys observed skeptically.

“Oh, I’ve heard of him. That’s the brat the incompetent little princess picked up,” the other said mockingly.

The “incompetent little princess” likely meant Riselia. It apparently wasn’t well-known that she’d awakened to the power of her Holy Sword yet.

It takes quite a bit of gall to stand before a Dark Lord and insult his favored minion…

“Listen, kiddo, how about pissing off for a while? We’re gonna play with this girl here.”

“What?! That’s not true! Stop making stuff up!” Regina spat angrily.

“I’m sorry, but I’m her escort…,” Leonis said, looking up at the two older boys. “My apologies, misters, but could you disappear?”

“…What did you just say to us, you brat?!” The boys’ faces filled with anger.

The next moment, however, their expressions stiffened as if freezing over.

“…Ah, aaaah, aaaaaahh…! Aaah…!”

“Wh-what the…? What the hell is this kid…?!”

The two started shivering and quaking as large, wet stains began spreading across their pants.

“…What’s wrong?” Leonis asked in a whisper.

“E-eek!”

“M-m-monster…!”

The boys took off screaming, fleeing the plaza as fast as their legs could carry them.

Hmm. I was only trying to frighten them a bit.

Leonis had let the tiniest fraction of his Aura of Death slip out. This energy the Undead King cloaked himself in was capable of inflicting a number of assorted maladies, depending on the severity of exposure. Effects included panic, confusion, paralysis, petrification, and even instant death.

Having been exposed to just a portion of that aura had caused the troublesome boys to lapse into a state of momentary panic.

Be grateful that I am a magnanimous Dark Lord, Leonis thought as he watched the two who’d been giving Regina a hard time flee for their lives.

Any other Dark Lord would have quite literally wiped them off the face of the world. Then again, perhaps the biggest reason Leonis hadn’t obliterated them was because it felt like it would’ve been a waste of energy.

“Um, what just happened?” a perplexed Regina asked.

“Who knows?” Leonis played dumb, though Regina seemed unconvinced.

“Anyway, what’re you doing here, kid?” she inquired.

“Well, you see…” Leonis recounted the particulars of how he’d wound up at the parade.

“Hmm, so you took a girl from the orphanage here. You smooth operator, you.” Regina poked his cheek.

“Don’t tease me,” Leonis said, exasperated.

“Lady Selia’s worried about you, you know,” Regina added.

“…I imagine she is,” Leonis replied, shrugging his shoulders. “And what are you doing here, Miss Regina?” It struck Leonis as odd that she would come alone.

“…Aaaaah, w-well, you see…,” Regina started, looking in a random direction. “Hey, kid, how about I buy you some candy? Or maybe you want to rub my chest?”

…She just dodged the question! Blatantly!

Following that exchange, Regina bought Leonis some ice cream from one of the stalls. It was the stretchy sort that Shary had mentioned in a previous report. He’d entrusted the maid with investigating the city, but half her report had ended up being about food.

With Shary on his mind, Leonis decided to buy her a long and narrow type of doughnut called a churro. She had served him faithfully for the last thousand years, so he thought she deserved some kind of reward. He placed a fixation spell on the sweet so it wouldn’t go cold and threw it into his shadow for safekeeping.

“Is there anything else you wanna eat, kid?” Regina asked.

“No, actually it’s almost time I meet up with Tessera and the others…”

That’s when it happened.

All at once, the sound of orchestral trumpets filled the air. Regina looked up toward the deck of the Hyperion. A girl had stepped out, accompanied by royal guards. She wore a brilliant white dress that shimmered in the sunlight. Her golden hair was done up behind her head. While this girl could only have been a year or two older than Leonis, it was clear, even at a distance, she was a real beauty.

“…Oh, c’mon!”

A crowd had gathered in the plaza, and Regina, who was relatively short, had to jump up and down to get a good view of the deck. Her pigtails and large breasts bounced along with her, forcing Leonis to look away awkwardly.

“So that girl’s the fourth princess of the empire?” Leonis inquired.

“Yeah, that’s Princess Altiria Ray O’ltriese. She’s a leading reformist among the members of the royal family. Despite being only twelve years old, she’s very dependable and hardworking.” Regina’s description almost sounded like bragging. Curiously, her fists were clenched.

“You seem very well informed on the subject,” Leonis observed.

“N-no, I’m not,” Regina said, turning red for some reason. “That’s, uh, common knowledge. Yeah, everyone knows that stuff…”

She then turned her gaze back toward the Hyperion’s deck. As the princess waved toward the masses, Regina returned the gesture.

“Sh-she’s so cute…,” Regina muttered with a sigh.

“She certainly is,” Leonis agreed.

Though if anyone’s cute here, it’s you, Leonis thought, though he decided it best to keep such a thought to himself. The way Regina looked at that twelve-year-old princess almost felt like…

Altiria pinched up the hems of her dress and bowed, much to the audible delight of the crowd.

“Good day, one and all,” the princess said.

No sooner had the words left the girl’s lips than…

“…?” Leonis immediately sensed something was off. The air grew tense, and the world seemed to creak. It was a disconcerting presence that felt entirely too familiar to the Dark Lord.

Crack, crack.

The sound of widening fractures running through reality rang out in a chorus all around them. Regina had clearly noticed it, too, and cast a hurried look at Leonis.

“Miss Regina…”

“I know!” she replied, a nervous edge in her voice.

Crack, craaaaaaaaaaaack!

Countless tears erupted from seemingly nowhere. Distorted masses tore through the folds, emanating a foreboding miasma that filled the plaza.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

A scream rang out.

“What’s going on here?!” Princess Altiria cried from the Hyperion’s deck.

Innumerable fractures carved themselves into the air around them with a sound reminiscent of shattering glass. It was the same sort of phenomenon that had been seen throughout the city the day of the Stampede. This was the appearance of a Void colony.

Tentacles wreathed in foul fumes slithered from the cracks in space. Altiria knew, of course, this was an indicator of a Void outbreak, but this was the first time the twelve-year-old princess had seen the creatures in person.

“These are…Voids…!” she exclaimed.

“Your Highness, it’s dangerous. You must evacuate into the ship!” The royal guard’s Holy Swordsmen surrounded the princess to protect her.

Voids had only appeared in the city, but there was still the danger of the Hyperion being attacked.

“Understood.” The princess nodded and turned her eyes to the plaza.

Everyone who’d so eagerly gathered to greet her had fallen into a state of panic. Some were even frozen with terror.

“What about the underground shelters?” Altiria asked.

One of the royal guards began to explain, “The recent Stampede has left a few of them inoperable, but—”

“Then have them evacuate to the ship,” Altiria insisted firmly, cutting him off.

Being an anti-Void battleship, there was no safer place than the Hyperion itself.

“Y-Your Highness…,” another royal guard tried to protest.

“Please hurry!” Altiria implored her men.

“Understood, Your Highness. We’ll open the hangars at once,” the knight captain declared, immediately barking orders into his communication device. “This way, please, Your Highness. Over here…”

“All right,” she agreed.

“The royal guard’s knights are to escape while escorting Her Highness. First unit, escort the civilians. Third and fourth units, deploy and eradicate the monsters!”

Altiria started running, flanked by her royal guard.

Bang, bang, bang!

The sounds of bombardment shook the air. Flashes of light burst in the sky, blowing away the Voids that had so suddenly appeared.

…Who’s that?

Altiria found herself looking back to see where the shots had come from. Standing atop one of the plaza’s buildings was a blond girl, her pigtails flapping in the wind. She was picking off the Voids that had appeared on the surface. It was, in all likelihood, one of Excalibur Academy’s Holy Swordsmen.

The sight of this brave girl left a lasting impression on Altiria.

Screams rang out from every which way. People were running for their lives in a mad frenzy. With the Stampede having been mere days ago, the reaction was more than understandable.

There’s twelve… No, thirteen small-sized Voids. And their numbers are growing… Leonis remained unfazed as he calmly analyzed the situation.

Tears in space were forming not only in the plaza but also around the ship. Voids sporting disgusting tentacles and garbed in gray vapors slinked from the gaps.

They look kind of like aquatic demons…

Voids retained some physical similarities to the creatures Leonis knew from his era. He wasn’t as knowledgeable, but if he had to give these many-armed Voids a name, he’d call them kraken class…

“…Holy Sword, Activate—Drag Howl!” Quickly grasping the situation, Regina materialized her cannon-type Holy Sword on her shoulder. “I’ll blow you to bits!”

Bang! Bang!

She fired at once, unleashing burning fireballs that reduced two Voids to dust.

“These things are sea devil class!” Regina called out to Leonis, wiping the sweat off her forehead. “They’ve been seen in the northern ocean, near Yonheim, the Fifth Assault Garden! Listen, kid, I’ll handle this place. You go help the civilians evacuate.”

Regina stood with her back turned to Leonis, glaring at the empty holes that continued spitting out more Voids as she spoke. Unaware of Leonis’s hidden power, Regina’s plan was likely to take the full brunt of the invading force on her own to provide Leonis with a chance to escape.

Leonis’s sorcery could likely reduce all the Voids to ashes in the blink of an eye, but he couldn’t allow such a large crowd of people to bear witness to his powers. More than anything else, though, he was worried about Tessera and the other two. The children of Phrenia’s orphanage were subjects under his protection, second only to his minion.

“Understood. Be careful, Miss Regina!”

“You too, kid,” Regina replied with a cheerful tone, perhaps hoping it would reassure Leonis.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The air quivered as cannon blasts sounded again and again. Leonis summoned the Staff of Sealed Sins from his shadow.

A mana barrier and accuracy augmentation. That much should be sufficient.

Leonis cast as many supportive spells as he could on Regina without her noticing and ran into the plaza. He conjured a gravitational field spell as he sprinted along, and he soon happened upon Tessera, Millet, and Linze.

The kids were all still safe, and Leonis had to praise their quick thinking. Though they’d run off in a panic like the rest of the crowd, the kids had stuck together and hidden in the shadow of a building.

“Are you all right?” Leonis asked as he approached them.

“Leo…” A frightened Tessera raised her face and gave a firm nod.

Millet and Linze shivered as they sat huddled together.

“Try to stay calm. Take the two of them and get away from here.”

“A-all right!” Tessera nodded again, clenching her fists tightly.

The Shadow Demon Leonis had left to guard Tessera would keep her safe. Unfortunately, he heard the sound of something cracking behind him. It was another fracture in space.

“Farga!” Leonis wheeled around and unleashed an explosive spell that blew the Void to bits.

Millet and Linze shrank away in fear at the sound of the blast.

“This way!” Tessera took the hands of the younger children and pulled them to their feet.

Creak, crrraaack…

What’s this now? Leonis wondered.

A massive fissure ran across the clear, blue sky.

Crack, crrreeeaak, craaash…!

Wrenching the large tear open from the inside, something began to emerge. It was a massive, chambered nautilus-like creature with giant pincerlike arms and countless writhing tentacles. Its length ran about half that of the destroyers moored in the harbor.

“…Is that a kraken? No, a giant crab?” Leonis pondered aloud.

He’d never seen such a creature before, but the demonic oceans had always been the domain of Rivaiz Deep Sea. Leonis’s knowledge of underwater monsters was limited at best.

A monster of that sort may well have existed in the past…

The gigantic Void expelled a miasma as it sloshed ahead, swinging its great pincers down on the buildings in its way.

Booooooooooom!

A thundering rumble sounded as the structures crumbled into large clouds of dust and debris, forming mountains of wreckage.

Bang! Bang, bang!

From within one cloud of grit, Regina unleashed powerful blasts into the enemy. Unfortunately, while her firepower was capable of wiping out ogre-class Voids with ease, her shots were promptly repelled by this Void’s sturdy shell.

A third-order spell can’t hope to burn something of this caliber, Leonis concluded calmly.

In his current body, Leonis’s mana was a far cry from what it’d been in his heyday. Of course, if he used a spell of the ninth order or above—sorcery considered to be on a tactical level—he could easily blow the Void apart, shell and all. The trouble was that it would expose him as a Dark Lord right in front of the imperial army.

To say nothing of drawing my Demon Sword, Leonis mused, gripping the Staff of Sealed Sins tightly.

Currently, Leonis couldn’t completely control his Demon Sword, Dáinsleif. Failure to rein in its power could mean the destruction of the entire port.

“Second unit, surround the large target!”

“Other units, prioritize evacuation of civilians!”

A contingent of Holy Swordsmen took the field and surrounded the massive Void. These were the knights of the empire, and their movements were organized and practiced. Even with their numbers, however, downing such a towering and mighty Void was sure to be no easy task.

Leonis turned his eyes to the harbor. Many people were hurrying up a ramp to the Hyperion. The knights handily defeated the sea devil–class Voids, but if the large Void was to turn its attention toward the escaping civilians, there would undoubtedly be countless casualties.

The blade of the Demon Sword vibrated slightly, sealed as it was within Leonis’s staff. Upon defeating Arakael of the Six Heroes, Leonis had declared the Seventh Assault Garden to be a part of his kingdom, much as the Realm of Shadows was. A Dark Lord couldn’t stand by and let his subjects die. Dáinsleif, a Demon Sword granted by the Goddess of Rebellion, wouldn’t tolerate it, either.

“Miss Regina,” Leonis started.

“…Huh? Kid?”

Leonis used a telepathy spell to transmit his voice to Regina’s communication device. While jamming caused by the Void muffled the sound, it still came through.

“I’ll restrain it. Fire at its unarmored sections with everything you have.”

“How are you going to stop it, exactly?”

“Just leave it to me.”

There was a brief moment where Regina said nothing.

“—Roger that. Maximum firepower, right?” she eventually replied.

Leonis leaped into the air with levitation magic and landed on the roof of a weapons factory. Activating his mystic eyes, he used a spell called Weakness Discernment to identify structural flaws in the building located directly next to the colossal Void.

“One, two, three… Hmm, knocking out a total of eight spots should do it.”

Leonis produced eight balls of light from the tip of his staff. These spheres were a rearranged version of the second-order spell Farga. He swung the staff down, firing each of the globes at load-bearing points in the building.

“Break!”

The exploding spells all activated at once.

Ka-booooom!

Leonis’s magic did the trick, sending the giant building plummeting toward the large Void.

A physical attack that makes use of an extremely large mass. Even its sturdy shell can’t withstand a force that intense, Leonis reasoned.

At the sight of the collapsing structure, the nearby Holy Swordsmen all quickly made their escape.

They’re not my subjects, so it hardly matters what happens to them.

As planned, the titanic Void was crushed under the building, writhing beneath the weight of the wreckage.

“Eat this! Drag Blast!”

With a rumbling sound, Regina loosed the most powerful shot she could muster!

Unfortunately…

“Grrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” the Void bellowed, and a shimmering light gathered in its tentacled mouth cavity.

What?!

A burning bolt lanced from the beast’s maw, swallowing up Regina’s blast and boring a hole right through the center of the building on which she was standing.

“Miss Regina!”

Immediately, the structure began to falter, its center fusing and melting from the heat of the shot that had so thoroughly run it through. Having lost her footing, Regina tumbled from a fifty-meter height.

Can I make it?!

Leonis aimed his staff at Regina and hurriedly started chanting a gravity control spell. At that moment, a small vehicle plunged into the shower of rubble and dust.

What’s that? Leonis thought.

Silver hair danced in the wind. The girl riding the vehicle kicked off against it and jumped up. The machine was left behind to accelerate on its own, blowing sparks into the air in its wake. As she climbed into the air, the silver-haired girl caught hold of Regina in her arms.

Abandoned, the vehicle crashed into the rubble, bursting with a loud explosion. Landing back on the ground with Regina in her arms was none other than Riselia, Leonis’s minion. Slowly, she let Regina down.

“Phew, that was dangerous…”

“Aaaah, L-Lady Selia, what are you doing here?!”

Leonis heard the conversation through Regina’s communication device.

“Erm… Leo said he was here, so…”

It was only then that Leonis recalled he had sent a message detailing as much to Riselia.

“…Whoa. You’re pretty overprotective.”

“I-I’m not… W-wait, that doesn’t matter right now!” Riselia cried.

Leonis turned to look at the giant Void.

“Raaaaaaaaaaa….!”

Already the creature was pushing itself free from the building that had landed on top of it.

To think a mere chambered nautilus could have such power… Leonis clicked his tongue.

The bolt of light the giant monster had released hadn’t been a spell. It was a power unique to its kind, not unlike a dragon’s breath attack.

“Lady Selia, I’m gonna fire another full-power shot. Buy me the time to charge it, okay?”

“All right. Activate—Bloody Sword!”

Particles of light gathered in Riselia’s hand, manifesting a Holy Sword that shone with a silver glow.

Kraka-booooooooooooom!

The monstrous Void’s giant pincer arms swung down on the ground, splitting the earth in two and sending up a fountain of dust and debris.

Riselia evaded the destructive blow with dance-like steps, however.

“Hyaaah!”

Her sword became a silvery flash as it was thrust into one of the arm’s joints with deadly accuracy. This was the skillful swordplay of a knight, as deadly as it was elegant. The Holy Swordsmen fighting around Riselia eyed her with surprise.

Not finished, Riselia then rapidly kicked off the ground, launching another high-speed slash at the same point she’d stabbed just a moment before. A polluted miasma sprayed into the air like blood splatter.

I suppose nothing can compare with the experience a real battlefield provides. Leonis found himself mentally applauding his minion. He was proud.

Riselia’s movements were a world apart from when she’d fought his skeletons. The same could be said for when she’d caught Regina earlier. She’d mastered the act of tempering the mana in her body and then unleashing it in explosive bursts.

A frail human body wouldn’t have been able to withstand the strain of such incredible feats, but Riselia Ray Crystalia was a vampire of the highest order, a Vampire Queen.

A sharp, blinding slash cut through the gray vapors billowing from the Void. The empire’s Holy Swordsmen had joined Riselia in the fight, unleashing a furious flurry of blows. Despite their finest efforts, however, they lacked the power needed for a decisive finishing strike that would break through the Void’s mighty defenses.

That proved to not be an issue for long, though.

“Lady Selia, I’m ready! Preparing to fire!” Regina’s voice rang out.

“Everyone, get down!” Riselia exclaimed.

Hearing this, the nearby Holy Swordsmen immediately cleared the area. At the same time, a burning flash of light, the same shining, destructive force that had overtaken Regina’s attack before, began forming inside the Void’s mouth.

Simultaneously, a dagger of darkness zoomed through the air. The blade, which had been launched from a great distance, cut through the Void’s tentacles and bored into its maw. The sudden shock must have thrown the creature off balance, because its heat blast misfired, creating a large explosion.

“…”

Leonis, who had been looking down, turned and saw the shadow of a small girl standing atop a building in the distance. She bowed swiftly and melted into the shadows. With the Void’s attack thwarted…

“I’ll blow you awaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Drag Blast!”

Regina fired her powerful shot. A round of seething plasma burned through the sea devil–class Voids that stood in its way and impacted with the larger Void head-on.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!

A surge of air signaled a brilliant burst that momentarily blinded all who beheld it.

So this is the power of a Holy Sword pushed to its limits.

Such force rivaled one of Leonis’s fifth-order spells, the Demonic Thunder Shell, Buras Zamd, in sheer firepower. The Void was annihilated, leaving only its steaming carapace behind.

“Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah! We did it!” the Holy Swordsmen cheered.

Regina fell to her knees. Evidently, she’d exhausted her strength. Her Holy Sword, Drag Howl, dissipated into flecks of light.

All that remained now was to take care of the lingering smaller Voids. The Holy Swordsmen who’d helped citizens get to safety had returned and were ready to join the fight, too.

“…Hmm.”

As the sound of battle cries and clashing weapons rang out around him, Leonis turned his attention to the sea. Using his mystic eyes, he gazed into the water.

I knew it. It’s still alive.

Seizing the moment when everyone had been blinded and deafened by the explosion, the creature had discarded its shell and escaped underwater with a speed one would never have imagined possible for its massive form. Leonis was likely the only one to have noticed. What’s more, it seemed to have begun healing itself underwater.

“I should finish it off,” Leonis whispered with a shrug. “It can’t hope to escape a Dark Lord’s wrath.”

Leonis formed a gravity sphere around himself and melted into the shadow beneath him. Crossing through a shadow corridor, he appeared near the Void swimming through the water. Leonis floated up, manipulating the gravity of the water around him. Curiously, the Void drew back slightly at the sight.

“Oh? I thought you were a monster bereft of intelligence, but it seems you’re capable of fear,” Leonis said, looking down from within his gravity sphere at the mass of writhing tentacles.

He had no personal grudge against this monster, of course, and yet…

“You dared to threaten my kingdom, and you must be punished for that,” Leonis announced as the jewel sitting at the tip of his Staff of Sealed Sins gave off an ominous blue glow. “This is my thanks for serving as a practice partner for my minion. I shall grant you a painless death.”

Leonis casted a tactical-class, eighth-order spell known as Earth Tremor Impact. Countless jagged spires of rock rose up from the ocean floor, mercilessly piercing the massive Void’s body. The stone slashed and crushed until not a trace of the monster remained.

Those evacuated had crowded into the Hyperion’s hangar. The people huddled together in fear as the sounds of battle and destruction echoed from outside the walls.

A fear of Voids had already become instinctive for humans. Those frightful creatures were apex predators, and humans were their preferred prey. Among the masses who teetered on the brink of panic, however, there were individuals biding their time, waiting for the right chance to present itself.

“Did that woman really summon Voids?”

“Can’t be. That’s…impossible…”

“Huh, was it just a coincidence?”

“…It… It might be the goddess’s prophecy…”

“The prophecy, huh? That sounds even less likely.”

“Be quiet, you idiots…”

A giant beastman spoke in a hushed growl from beneath a hood hanging low over his face. It was Bastea Colossuf, leader of the Sovereign Wolves. He and his men had taken advantage of the confusion and snuck on board the Hyperion.

It’s almost anticlimactic when things go this smoothly…

The imperial army had a duty to protect civilians during a Void attack, so joining the fleeing masses to infiltrate the ship had been exceedingly easy. Still, Bastea couldn’t help but wonder whether Sharnak really had summoned the Voids or had merely predicted they would be there.

The timing had been just a little too convenient. If this really had all been Sharnak’s doing…

Hmph, damn witch…, Bastea silently cursed.

Joined by two others, Bastea left the room and walked down a corridor. The next block on the ship was one the civilians weren’t allowed to enter.

“Hey, you there. What are you doing here?” A sentry stopped the group to interrogate them.

He clutched a rifle in his hand, a kind of artificial Holy Sword developed in the Assault Garden.

“Hmm? Wait, you’re beastmen? Take off your hoods and show me your faces,” the guard demanded.

“Sure thing…”

The next moment, the beastman’s claws flashed like blades. Blood splashed into the air, and the guard screamed as he fell to the floor, dying.

“Heh-heh. That’s not a bad look.”

Gerðr Honzak the werewolf pressed a knife to the downed man’s neck. The weapon was called Face Thief, a Demon Sword granted to him by Sharnak.

“I’ll be honest, I’d have preferred a Holy Swordsman’s face,” Gerðr admitted.

“You can get one of those later. Activate,” Bastea said as he began chanting.

A sword clad in flames appeared in the beastman’s hand. He swung the blade, spraying crimson fire that consumed the corpse and any blood left behind. Gerðr, who had taken the sentry’s face, was able to use the facial recognition system to open a nearby partition gate.

“All righty, what now?” the werewolf asked flippantly.

“We…open a shadow gate with…sorcery…and call our comrades…here…,” their third member, an old elf, answered.

“Sorcery, eh? I hear you elves use some weird curses…,” Gerðr remarked, eyeing the oldest member of the trio suspiciously.

While the secrets of sorcery had been forgotten by most, they were still known to the elves.

“Hurry up. We need to finish this before the Holy Swordsmen finish off the Voids,” Bastea insisted as they advanced down the corridor.