Demon Sword Master of the Holy Sword Academy - Volume 9 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

NETHER VOID

It was 16:00, Imperial Standard Time.

All the survivors from the different schools participating in the Holy Sword Dance Festival had successfully evacuated from the Eighth Assault Garden. Knights escorted them back to their lodgings. The Shangri-la Resort, where the eighteenth platoon was staying, opened its park as an evacuation zone for the capital’s civilians. The place was very much packed.

The knights had already cleaned up the smaller Voids rampaging through the streets, and there were no new ones appearing, but the general state was still one of confusion and chaos.

Not that I could fault anyone for feeling this way, Leonis thought, gazing out the window in his room in the Golden Rafter Hotel.

A massive tear in space had appeared over the Eighth Assault Garden. Up until now, the Voids’ tears disappeared given time, but this rip lingered.

“Lord Magnus.”

Leonis heard a voice behind him. After turning around, he saw a large black wolf emerge from under the refrigerator.

Leonis couldn’t help frowning. “Blackas, why are you coming out of there?”

Blackas Shadow Prince was a curse in animal form, but he never forgot the pride and elegance he carried while he was still a prince. Even if he was emerging from the shadows, coming out from under a refrigerator should have been beneath him…

“My apologies for the rude intrusion, Lord Magnus, but this is an emergency.”

“An emergency?”

“Yes. All of the shadow corridors built around the Seventh Assault Garden have been cut off.”

“…I see,” Leonis said after contemplating this news for a moment.

“Do you have any idea what might have caused it?” Blackas inquired, looking confused by Leonis’s composure.

“I might.” Leonis looked at the tear in the sky. “I can only speculate, but it’s probably due to that thing’s influence.”

“The Void tear.”

“Yes. I’ve been on the other side of that cleft.”

“What?!” Blackas’s ears twitched.

“Azra-Ael used the Azure Hold to travel between dimensions and was caught in—”

“Azra-Ael? The Devil of the Underworld has revived?” Blackas cut him off.

“So it would appear.” Leonis nodded, picked up a glass of juice, and sat down on a sofa. “It’ll be a long story, but I want you to listen. Honestly, I need to sort this out for myself, too.”

Blackas sat opposite the sofa.

“I joined forces with Veira to defeat the Lord of the Seas, Rivaiz Deep Sea. And soon after we did, he appeared on the battlefield, alongside the Azure Hold.”

Leonis recounted the recent events to Blackas.

Azra-Ael appeared in the form of Duke Crystalia, Riselia’s father, who was believed to have died on the Third Assault Garden. Using the power of an unknown Holy Sword, he dominated Rivaiz’s mind. Later, in the midst of battle, he used the Azure Hold’s dimensional travel capabilities, and Leonis was pulled along for the ride.

“…Dimensional travel? The Dragon Lord’s flying fortress can manage such a feat?” Blackas asked dubiously.

“Yes, Veira herself was unaware of that power. She said the Azure Hold was discovered by the ancient dragon elders.”

“Then it’s the same as Azra-Ael’s Otherworldly Castle?”

“In all likelihood… Regardless, I was caught in its dimensional travel and sent to another world.”

Leonis took a vigorous sip from his glass.

“It was a land with a bloodred sky. A place where the Voids ran rampant.”

“So those Void monsters are from that world you were flung to?”

“I’m sure of that. In that place, everything from the forests to the oceans was covered and polluted with Void miasma. What’s more, I found him there.”

“Him?”

“My teacher,” Leonis whispered in displeasure. “The Swordmaster of the Six Heroes.”

The Void Lord, Shardark Shin Ignis.

“When Shardark appeared in the Seventh Assault Garden, he emerged from a Void crack. His presence in that other world means it’s where the Voids come from.”

“I see.” Blackas gazed over at the tear in the sky.

“I believe the reason this tear lingers is because the Seventh Assault Garden and the capital were dimensionally shifted.”

“So the shadow corridors are disconnected because of the jump to the Void World,” Blackas concluded.

“Probably…” Leonis nodded. “But for some reason, the dimensional shift is incomplete. Had it been fully successful, we wouldn’t be seeing this tear. Instead, the area around the Imperial Capital would be swallowed up into the Void home world.”

Leonis didn’t know if this outcome was irregular or not.

“So if this is the result of an attempted dimensional shift, then why here?”

“I don’t know.”

Gates to other worlds didn’t open by coincidence. Someone must have done this intentionally. But how?

Was it through the power of Azra-Ael and the Azure Hold?

Could the Devil of the Underworld have been involved in this?

“We must investigate this tear further.”

Blackas got to his feet. “I will go inspect it, then.”

“No, you stay here. If this fissure is the aftereffect of a dimensional shift, it could be unstable. You might end up trapped on the other side if the tear closes. I’ll send a Shadow Demon to scout it out instead.”

No sooner had Leonis come to that decision than he heard the beep of a card key outside the room.

“Leo, I’m back.”

“Miss Selia?!” Leonis raised his voice in flustered reply as Blackas dove into the shadows under the sofa.

“Sorry, the report took longer than expected…,” Riselia said as she returned to the room and put her uniform jacket on the coat hanger.

The captains of all squads that had participated in the Holy Sword Dance Festival were called to the knight headquarters in the Central Garden to report what had happened.

“I got you the pudding you like on the way back, though.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Leonis stood from the sofa and started brewing tea for both of them.

“They said the Holy Sword Dance Festival will be postponed until the situation is resolved. The administrative bureau ordered all the units in the capital to head to Excalibur Academy for the time being.”

Riselia took a seat after retrieving cups and utensils from a shelf.

“Well, given the situation, the event being postponed doesn’t come as a surprise.” Leonis nodded as he soaked tea leaves in the pot. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it back in time for the match. I promised.”

“No, don’t be. You’re back safe and sound, and that’s enough for me.”

Riselia reached out and touched Leonis’s cheek.

“M-Miss Selia?”

“I was really…really worried about you.” Riselia’s ice-blue eyes wavered with apparent concern.

“It was only a few days…,” Leonis replied.

“Nngh. I—I mean, yes, but I was still worried!” Riselia puffed up her cheeks adorably.

And it was a very eventful few days, at that…

Leonis fought the Lord of the Seas, Rivaiz Deep Sea, and then encountered Azra-Ael before being sent to the Void home world.

Now, how do I tell her about that? Leonis frowned to himself. He was conflicted over how to explain to Riselia that her father, Duke Crystalia, was still alive. Worse yet, he was possessed by the Devil of the Underworld.

“What’s wrong, Leo?” Riselia inquired, sensing his hesitation.

Leonis shook his head. “Nothing.”

I shouldn’t tell her about that now.

He had no proof that her father was truly alive. It was possible the Devil of the Underworld was only possessing her father’s body, and that Duke Crystalia’s soul was long gone. Giving Riselia false hope would only hurt her.

“I heard you performed well in the Holy Sword Dance Festival.” Leonis elected to change the topic.

“H-huh? Oh, erm, yes…I guess we worked hard.” Riselia scratched her cheek bashfully. “The Holy Sword Dance Festival was postponed, but it turns out our accomplishments there do reflect on our ranking. We beat the ace of the Military Instruction School and put up a good fight against Princess Chatres. Our standing may rise considerably because of this.”

Riselia was usually modest, but this time she seemed quite pleased with the team’s performance. Leonis had seen the Eighteenth Platoon’s battles via the video archive, and once Riselia took off her shackles, her display was impressive. It was hard to believe that she’d struggled against Muselle Rhodes only a few months ago.

“It’s all thanks to your special training.” Leonis nodded in satisfaction. “Come to think of it, what kind of exercises did my body double have you do?”

“Huh?” Riselia visibly tensed at his question. “Hmm. Well, she was much harsher than you were… Like a tough drill sergeant…”

Riselia chuckled dryly, and she gazed vacantly into the distance.

Sh-she’s traumatized?! What kind of things did Shary subject her to? Leonis felt oddly anxious.

“B-but I am grateful to her. She made me much stronger!”

“I see. Well, that’s good.” Leonis cleared his throat. “I admit, I’m surprised. You were able to invoke the sorcery combat form of the True Ancestor’s Dress, Mode Queen Minerva.”

Its physical combat form was called Mode Scarlet Tyrant, while its sorcery-focused form was referred to as Mode Queen Minerva. The latter required a vast amount of mana and precise control of it. Both forms had positives and negatives, so one couldn’t say Queen Minerva was necessarily superior to the Scarlet Tyrant, but Queen Minerva certainly required more latent talent and training.

“The drill serg—I mean, your body double, trained me every day to control my mana. But I didn’t know it would help me transform the dress you gave me… Oh, right!” Riselia exclaimed in realization.

“What is it?”

“That spider lady you defeated, Leo… She knew about the dress.”

“Huh?” Leonis raised an eyebrow. “A Void knew about the True Ancestor’s Dress?”

“Yes. She asked me why I had it…”

“…”

Leonis placed a hand over his jaw and cocked his head.

If she knew about one of my treasures, was that woman possibly a survivor of the Dark Lords’ Armies?

Leonis didn’t recognize that spiderlike Void Lord. But Nefakess Reizaad had once been a minion of Azra-Ael, and then there was the evil priest called Zemein Vairel, who was a staff officer in the Dark Lords’ Armies. Former high-ranking members of the Dark Lords’ Armies were skulking about in the shadows of this era, aiding the Voids. Perhaps the spider was one of them.

“Did the Void say anything else, Miss Selia?”

“Hmm…” Riselia looked up at the ceiling, sifting through her memories. “I think she mentioned something about overwriting the world…?”

“Overwriting the world?”

What does that mean?

Was it related to the gigantic tear in the sky?

Did that Void cause the dimensional shift? Overwriting…

While Leonis was lost in thought, Riselia called out to him, her expression somewhat anxious.

“Say, Leo… Do you know anything about that Void?”

Leonis pursed his lips for a moment. But after concluding there was no point hiding the truth from Riselia, he changed his mind.

“Yes. I might have known her long ago.”

“Was she a minion of yours?”

“I don’t think so. If she was my minion, the seal would have reacted to her…”

The Seal of Dominion surfaced on the back of Leonis’s hand. When Leonis resurrected Riselia as a Vampire Queen, he was branded with this seal as proof of their contract. Riselia, too, had a Seal of Servitude on her thigh, forming a pair with Leonis’s seal. Up until now, Leonis had never used the seal’s power to force her to obey him.

“Since she knew about the dress, it’s possible she was one of my enemies, or perhaps a subordinate of theirs. I don’t know why or how she became a Void, but…” Leonis looked directly into Riselia’s ice-blue eyes. “Don’t worry. So long as I’m here, I will always keep you safe.”

“?!” Riselia face went red at once. But then, she clenched her fists on her lap. “N-no.”

“Huh?”

“Protecting you is my role. I’m your legal guardian, Leo…,” she said, then she suddenly hugged Leonis’s head.

“M-Miss Selia?!” Leonis’s face flushed as he felt her soft chest press against him. “I—I just let you drink my blood.”

“Yeah, but that’s not what I need right now. I’m balancing my Leo deficit.”

“Wh-what’s that?”

“It’s built up because I haven’t seen you in soooo long…”

Riselia’s whisper tickled Leonis’s earlobe. Her silvery hair brushed over his cheek. It had been days since he’d last felt his minion’s embrace…

Good grief. How incorrigible.

Leonis buried his face in her chest, still bashful.

“Just what’s going on here?” wondered an irritated Alexios Ray O’ltriese, younger brother of the emperor. He was in the Central Garden, heart of the Imperial Capital.

His terminal’s monitor displayed real-time footage of the Void tear in the skies of the Eighth Assault Garden. In the sixty-four years since the Void invasion began, something like this had never happened.

With a tear that big, we can’t rule out the possibility of a superdreadnought-class Void appearing.

If a swarm of such monsters invaded, the powers of humanity and the Holy Swords would not be enough.

And it will take at least ten days for the capital to escape this region of the ocean.

Unlike the Seventh Assault Garden, which was designed to be a mobile fortress meant for launching attacks, Camelot was much larger and slower for it. The Eighth Assault Garden was still under construction and lacked the capability to mobilize, and presently, the Seventh Assault Garden was coupled to the capital to have its mana furnace replaced.

“Edward, it may be too late for us.” Alexios slammed his fist against the table after invoking the name of his departed friend.

But then…

“Do you have a moment, Your Grace?” a woman’s voice called from the other side of the door.

Only one woman could enter Alexios’s room without an official request for an audience.

“It’s you. Good timing, come in.”

The door opened, and a woman in her midtwenties clad in a white coat entered. She had delicate facial features and sleek, pitch-black hair, which looked as if it had been spun from the night sky.

Clauvia Phillet. A daughter of the Phillet Company and a high-ranking researcher in the Sixth Assault Garden’s anti-Void research facility. Rumor had it that she was Alexios’s mistress, but of course that wasn’t true. If Alexios had to describe his relationship with Clauvia…

…Partners in crime, I’d say, he mused sardonically. Clauvia had heard the gossip of them being lovers, but shrugged it off with a hint of amusement.

“Shouldn’t you rest a little, Your Grace?” she asked. Alexios must have appeared exhausted.

“I’m afraid I haven’t the time for that right now. I’m a member of the royal family, after all.” He shrugged with a tired smile. “More importantly, what brings you here? I’m afraid I’m quite busy.”

“I know. I wanted to show you this…” Clauvia placed a data analysis terminal on the desk. Given that she’d come all the way here to deliver this, it definitely didn’t contain pictures of her pet cat.

“Do you recognize this?” she asked.

The terminal displayed countless lines of data.

“A mana furnace’s operation ratio?” Alexios said.

He’d studied in the Fourth Assault Garden’s Academia, which granted him some knowledge in the field of magical technology.

“Precisely, Your Grace. These numbers are the operation ratios for the Eighth Assault Garden’s two mana furnaces gathered right before the Holy Sword Dance Festival began.”

The numbers showed that the mana furnaces were hardly functioning, which was to be expected. The Eighth Assault Garden was still halfway through its construction, thus the furnaces’ output was minimal, providing what little energy was required to host the Holy Sword Dance Festival.

“So what of it?”

“Please wait a bit. Thirty minutes after the Holy Sword Dance Festival started…”

Alexios watched the screen, and suddenly, one mana furnace’s output spiked.

“Don’t tell me that…”

“Yes. The furnace’s dimensional shift mechanism activated.”

“…?!”

Alexios swallowed nervously. Very few people knew this, but mana furnace cores used the remnants of what were known as gods in the ancient world, beings gathered from across the continents. This meant that different furnaces carried different powers based on the god used as a core.

The Eighth Assault Garden’s mana furnace used the remnant of a devil capable of dimensional travel, granting the furnace limited dimensional shifting. Of course, the top brass of the empire—the Sage Council—weren’t interested in using this to invade the Void home world. Instead, they hoped to use this power to forcibly close Void tears.

“Did the mana furnace react to the Voids’ presence and go out of control?”

“It’s possible, but honestly, I don’t know.” Clauvia shook her head and shrugged. “I can only assume that, for whatever reason, the mana furnace’s dimensional shifting mechanism activated, causing part of the Void world to become exposed to our own. In other words…”

“If we activate the dimensional shifting mechanism again, we might close the tear?”

Clauvia nodded. “Theoretically speaking.”

“Very well. I will propose it to the Sage Council.” Alexios leaned against his chair’s backrest and stared up at the ceiling. “Still, there’s no guarantee that reigniting an unstable mana furnace will go well. And it’s possible that Voids will invade again when we try.”

The capital wouldn’t survive an even larger Stampede.

“Whatever our course of action, we need to speed up our plan.”

“You’re right…”

The D Project was the unofficial undertaking Alexios had inherited from his old friend Duke Crystalia. The plan was to suppress and harness the vast powers of the Dark Lords, who had once plunged the ancient world into terror, then wield those powers against the Voids via magical technology.

That was the outline of the plan, and on secret orders from Alexios, Clauvia’s team was combing through ruins around the world, hoping to exhume the Dark Lords.

Two months ago, they’d discovered the Dragon Lord sealed in the tundra. The Dragon Lord awakened, only to be corrupted by Voids and go berserk. As a result, the Dragon Lord was lost to them. Regardless, the event proved that the Dark Lords existed, something even Alexios had half doubted.

“Those that cast this world into chaos. To think that humanity must rely on them to survive…”

If they were to direct their power not at the Voids, but at mankind…

Then I’d be the greatest traitor to my species, Alexios thought sardonically.

“I have a report regarding the Dark Lords, by the way.”

“What?”

“About the so-called Dark Lord Zol Vadis.”

“Oh?”

The Dark Lord Zol Vadis was the leader of an anti-imperial activist organization on the Seventh Assault Garden. He’d integrated countless smaller underground cells and was rapidly building up his faction.

The research notes left behind by Duke Crystalia didn’t mention a Dark Lord called Zol Vadis, but the fact that this individual was aware the Dark Lords existed was puzzling.

After all, all mention of the Dark Lords and Six Heroes had been wiped from the history books.

Clauvia operated her terminal. “Look at this…”

The monitor switched to footage of the gigantic Void tear over the Eighth Assault Garden’s central sector, shortly after the Stampede began.

“Was this recorded by the festival’s spectator drones?”

“Yes. The drones near the site of the incident were destroyed when the Voids attacked, but a few stationed farther away managed to record footage.”

The video was quite low quality, likely due to the electrical disturbance caused by the Voids.

“?!”

While the footage played, Alexios swallowed nervously. His eyes were fixed on a figure clad in a skull mask who floated in midair. The figure brandished some kind of staff, eradicating buildings and disintegrating a swarm of Voids.

“What is this…?” Alexios whispered, staring at the monitor with rapt attention.

“According to the reports, that’s the Dark Lord Zol Vadis.”

“Of course.” Alexios nodded excitedly. “I’d heard that man wears a skull mask.”

An incredible thought crossed his mind. What if the person in this footage, Zol Vadis, really was a Dark Lord battling the Voids?

Could he be an ally?

“Oh, it’s Lady Selia and the kid!”

When Leonis and Riselia entered the meeting room, Regina, who was standing in the kitchenette in her maid’s uniform, turned to face them.

“What are you preparing, Regina?” Riselia asked.

“My special fruit sandwiches!”

There was already one sandwich sitting on the kitchen tray. It looked quite tasty and was full of strawberries, kiwis, peaches, banana slices, and oranges, topped off with fresh whipped cream.

“There’s time until dinner, so I thought these would make for a light snack during the meeting.”

“Thank you.”

Riselia saw that Regina wasn’t the only one to arrive before her and Leonis. Sakuya dozed on a sofa in the corner. She wore an eye mask.

“Sakuya? The meeting’s about to—”

“Heh-heh-heh. Taiyaki aren’t real fish, boy.” Sakuya uttered something strange in her sleep in response.

“What happened to Sakuya?” Riselia frowned and called out to Regina in the kitchen.

“She came over for a snack as soon as she returned to the hotel. And after eating a whole bunch, she zonked out on the sofa…”

“I see. She really overused her Holy Sword’s power fighting the Voids. We should let her rest,” Riselia said, placing a coat over Sakuya.

Leonis glanced at the sleeping girl. She must have used the mystic eye’s power.

The mystic eye he gave her had originally belonged to a devil, and its powers weren’t meant to be used by a human. Even Sakuya couldn’t employ it too much before it taxed her body.

“Lady Selia, kid, what do you want to drink?”

“I’ll have juice…,” Riselia said.

“Coffee.”

“With lots of sugar, right, kid?” Regina nodded as she placed the fruit sandwiches on the meeting room table. Leonis picked one up and bit into it. The soft bread and thick cream mixed with the sweet and moderate sourness of the fruit to form a harmony of flavors.

“It’s been a while since I last had your sweets, Miss Regina. You really are a master at the craft,” Leonis praised her sincerely as he picked up a second sandwich.

Leonis had eaten only military rations for the past few days. And while Rivaiz and Veira were satisfied with them, they hardly compared to Regina’s handiwork.

“A while?” Regina blinked curiously. “Kid, you’ve had my snacks just about every day. And you always took seconds.”

Drat!

Leonis remembered too late that Shary had been acting as his body double.

“Ah, erm, well…,” Leonis stammered.

“Sorry I’m late.” Elfiné opened the door with perfect timing.

“You look tired, Miss Finé,” Riselia remarked.

“The high-ranking knights made some pretty unreasonable demands…,” Elfiné said as she fixed her disheveled collar and sat beside Riselia.

“Well, that’s just how it goes. The information your Eye of the Witch provides is invaluable.”

Regina put a teapot on the table and took a chair across from Leonis.

The first topic was the Void tear.

“Were you able to learn anything?” Riselia asked.

Elfiné shook her head. “The capital’s intelligence bureau sent drones in to investigate, but none of them returned. Once they crossed through the tear, the Artificial Elementals controlling the drones all went haywire.”

“What about your Holy Sword?” Regina asked.

“I sent two Eye of the Witch orbs in to investigate, but they haven’t found anything useful yet. All I know is that the place on the other side of the rift is polluted with very thick Void miasma.”

“Have you seen any Voids in there?”

“Not yet. Probe-type Holy Swordsmen have set up a surveillance network around the tear, so if anything happens, they’ll report right away. But the problem is…” Elfiné’s expression turned severe as she spoke. “Apparently, there’s more than one fissure we have to worry about.”

“Huh? R-really?” Regina questioned, surprised.

“It’s true,” Riselia replied. “The administrative bureau’s report states that at least fourteen tears have been confirmed in the sea around the capital.”

“Seventeen. They’re growing in number…,” Elfiné corrected grimly. “They’re not as large as the one above the Eighth Assault Garden, but they’re still big enough for large-scale Voids to emerge. We’ll be sending in survey units to investigate those tears soon.”

“Survey units…,” Leonis whispered with a mixed expression.

Any normal military unit will be wiped out.

Leonis thought back to the superdreadnought-class aviating Void he saw in the other world. Rivaiz had effortlessly tore it to bits, but that creature did survive one of Leonis’s eighth-order spells. If a Void of that class were to attack, mankind’s current forces would be helpless to stop it.

“It’s a dangerous mission, of course, but the empire’s council and the administrative bureau see this as a golden opportunity to decipher the secrets of the Voids’ territory. We’ve been on the defensive until now, but this might be our chance to go on the offensive.”

“Will we be included as a survey unit?”

“Students are not subject to the order. Not at present, at least.”

“Either way, the eighteenth platoon is to report back to Excalibur Academy for the time being. The administrative bureau has handed down the order.” Riselia used her terminal to display the directive sent to her. “We’re to pack our things tomorrow morning and move out.”

“And I was just getting used to the kitchen here. What a shame…” Regina’s shoulders dropped in a show of disappointment.

“Ahhh, how splendid. A once-fallen kingdom, revived under the mantle of a grand queen.”

The young, white-haired priest spread his arms in a great gesture as he praised the queen sitting on her throne.

He was Nefakess Void Lord—the thirteenth apostle of the goddess.

Standing silently behind him was a blue-haired girl, clad in the white garb of the Sakura Orchid. These two messengers were visiting the Shadow Castle. This was the world beyond the Void cracks—the Nether Void. All the shadows that covered this forested area belonged to the queen.

“I tire of your self-aggrandizing, priest,” the queen seated on the throne growled in displeasure.

The Queen of the Realm of Shadows lacked a human form. She was an otherworldly mass of darkness that hovered over the throne. A set of eyes glared from the hovering shadow. This was all that remained of the beauty who’d ruled the Realm of Shadows with tyranny and terror one thousand years ago.

Behind the queen’s throne stood two girls clad in maid’s uniforms. Both were young, lovely maidens in appearance, but they weren’t human. They were a type of demon called shadowfolk, trained under the Septentrion organization to serve as assassins.

“More importantly, I hear that your invasion plan failed.” The queen’s voice rumbled through the room.

“Indeed, we failed to manifest a complete Void Shift, but the overwriting did temporarily succeed,” Nefakess replied. “The tear we opened should serve well when our goddess sorties her advance guard.”

“Hmph. Very well. I desire to reclaim the Realm of Shadows, the dominion usurped from me by that despicable black wolf.”

The rage building in the Queen of Shadows made her two maids tremble slightly.

“Incidentally, priest,” the queen added. “Was it a Holy Swordsman who dispatched the ninth Apostle?”

“We do not know who felled Lady Iris,” Nefakess replied, shaking his head. “However, she was still a major commander in the Dark Lords’ Armies. While the humans may have grown significantly stronger with the power of the Holy Swords, I cannot imagine they would be able to defeat her.”

“Then who did it? Was it the elf hero?”

“Arle Kirlesio? It’s hard to say. She does possess one of the Arc Seven, but when I fought her, she seemed to have lost much of her strength.”

“You can never know for certain. She was disciple to the Swordmaster of the Six Heroes.”

“True. I can’t rule out the possibility, but…” Nefakess trailed off and dropped his voice to a whisper. “There is another who troubles me, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm. Speak of them, then,” the queen said, seemingly interested.

“The Dark Lord—Zol Vadis.”

“Zol Vadis?” The queen repeated the name. “The Dark Lord of old, who fell to the Hero of the Holy Sword?”

That’s right.” Nefakess nodded, his expression not changing one bit. “Someone claiming to be a Dark Lord is hiding in the capital. It could be a pretender who’s usurped the title, of course, but no normal human knows the forgotten name Zol Vadis.”

“Indeed. Fascinating. However, the prophecy of the goddess made no mention of the ancient Dark Lord.”

“Quite true, Your Majesty. But there have already been multiple deviations from the prophecy. The Dragon Lord Veira was exhumed by the humans before the time was right for her revival, and the Undead King was missing from the ruins of Necrozoa. And what’s more, the strongest Dark Lord, Rivaiz Deep Sea, has gone missing as well…”

“If the goddess’s prophecy were flawless, the Void Shift would have been completed, and it wouldn’t be necessary to gather so many Demon Swords to awaken the one sealed in the Spirit Forest.” The Queen of Shadows laughed cynically. “There’s no helping it now, I suppose. I’ve already built a firm bridgehead to that other world. I will gather Demon Swords and go forth to strike down this Zol Vadis of yours.”

“Ohhh. How encouraging.” Nefakess bowed his head reverently.

The Queen of Shadows’ eyes glinted in a mystical light, and an image formed with sorcery appeared in the center of the hall.

“This is my kingdom’s bridgehead.” The image depicted the well-maintained garden of a white building as magnificent and fair as a palace. “The heart of the capital, and the crucible of sacrifices, where Holy Swords gather…”