Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 15 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Those Who Refuse to Give Up

“Why won’t it collapse...?”

Harrison groaned at the unexpected development. Still, as expected of a man of his station, he wasn’t terribly agitated. He already seemed to be searching for the cause behind it.

“Is the Dimensional Cornerstone not taking commands? No, that’s not it. This is more like...”

“Sir Harrison? Is something the matter?” one of the knights asked. “Don’t tell me there’s a problem with the Dimensional Cornerstone...”

“No. It’s working normally.”

“So why...?”

“But it’s not moving. It’s as if there’s interference...”

Hearing Harrison’s words, the room was astir. They all exchanged looks and started talking among themselves.

“Interference? Is such a thing possible?”

“Hang on. The Dimensional Cornerstone is a special magic tool that created this whole world.”

“That’s right. So long as it’s manipulating the world itself, it should be impossible to interfere with it unless you use similar magic...”

What Harrison was trying to do was essentially use the world itself to crush his enemies. There was no way of resisting that. It was a surefire trap. As such, everyone in the room was incapable of understanding—with one exception.

“Similar magic? Don’t tell me...” Katou Mana muttered, her heart full of hope. She knew of another magic capable of creating worlds, after all. “Majima-senpai!”

Once aware of this, she could see a white mist dyeing the magic image on the floor.

◆◆◆

“What...is this?”

Kaneki Mikihiko’s eyes shot open as he looked up at the ceiling. It wasn’t collapsing. Before he knew it, a white mist had gradually covered the ceiling. There was obviously no way such a thing could support the falling rocks. By all rights, it shouldn’t have. However, the mist was preventing the ceiling from collapsing. It was even repairing the cracks. He couldn’t help but stare in wonder.

“T-Takahiro? A-Are you doing that?”

“Yeah.”

Salvia was wrapped in mist behind Majima Takahiro. The fog created by the two of them was growing denser, filling up the vast room.

“I intended to do this from the very beginning,” Takahiro said. “That’s why I had Salvia get things ready while I was fighting you.”

“Ready? For what?” Mikihiko asked.

“Ready to interfere with the Dimensional Cornerstone’s control over this world it created. It was theoretically possible, after all.”

Immediately after being forcefully teleported to this place, the Misty Lodge was rendered unusable. The Dimensional Cornerstone’s magic, which created this fabricated world, had interfered with the Misty Lodge’s original nature. That was why they’d adjusted it so that it didn’t interfere, allowing them to activate the magic mist.

What they were doing now was the opposite. By pushing the interference to the max, they prevented the other side from using their magic. If one side could create interference for the other, then the inverse was naturally possible too.

Still, if the interference was inadequate, their resistance would be easily crushed. However, Majima Takahiro now possessed something to make this possible.

“I wasn’t sure how much I could do, though,” he said.

“No, as you are now, you can do it, my dear,” Salvia said, stroking his cheek.

Her touch was both affectionate and sorrowful. In exchange for the loss within his inside world, something only she had seen, the boy had taken his magic to the next stage. This was the power of creation.

He didn’t have enough mana to make a whole world from scratch, but all he had to do here was manipulate an already-existing world. He just needed a certain level of strength and a greater level of skill at controlling the world than his opponent. And in terms of control, Majima Takahiro’s Misty Lodge far surpassed Harrison’s Dimensional Cornerstone.

“I get it now. That’s what that was...” Mikihiko muttered.

He recalled what happened during his Aerial Knights’ charge. At the time, his approximately 250 weapons had nearly come to a simultaneous stop. In all likelihood, Majima Takahiro had already taken partial control of this world. By manipulating space, he’d indirectly stopped the swarm of weapons.

“Ha ha... That’s nuts.”

During the battle, Kaneki Mikihiko had felt how little affinity he had for fighting his best friend, but this was on a whole other plane. From the perspective of Harrison, who was trying to manipulate this world, it was as though an unknown, lethal virus had made its way in.

“I would’ve liked a bit more time, but there’s no helping it at this point.” Accompanied by the woman of mist, Majima Takahiro weaved his mana, then declared with determination, “I’m taking control of this world.”

His influence spread out into the space around him. He started by controlling the nearby area. The shaking settled down and the ceiling was restored to perfect condition. With that, their lives were no longer in danger. Next, he expanded his zone of influence. There was pretty much no resistance. That stood to reason. How could anyone prepare against a threat they’d never imagined?

At the same time, using the Misty Lodge’s perception, he expanded his senses into the hijacked world. His consciousness spread through the labyrinth like a breeze through an empty field.

“Found you,” Takahiro said, locating his objective. “Harrison Addington.”

His senses positively identified the knight, wrapped in a solemn atmosphere. The threads of corruption Takahiro had woven had now reached all the way to the core of this world—the Dimensional Cornerstone. After coming so far, it would only take a little more for him to achieve full control. And as he carefully stretched out his threads to finish the task...

“Not yet.”

He heard a man’s voice filled with unshakable conviction. In the next instant, the scales that should’ve tipped back toward victory were overturned.

◆ ◆ ◆

What exactly did it mean to be the marshal of the Holy Order? This was the organization that prided itself on having the greatest military force in the world and an unrivaled history. As such, the one who served as its head needed to be someone with the strength to carry everything the organization had built up over the ages on their back. From a certain perspective, Harrison Addington could be said to be standing at the summit of all people in this world. That was why this wasn’t over yet.

“What...?”

What happened next could only be described as unreasonable. The threads Majima Takahiro was stretching out to take control of the world began to be torn apart by brute strength. It was impossible.

Magic’s intensity came from the user’s skill in manipulating mana and the magnitude of mana being used. On that point, Majima Takahiro’s manipulation of the Misty Lodge was an exception among exceptions. Rather than say this was a technique related to the use of magic, it was more accurate to attribute it to his affinity with Salvia, who was the magic itself. That was to say nothing of how difficult it was to use the Dimensional Cornerstone. There was a gulf in their abilities to manipulate mana. So what was it that the boy felt just now?

“This can’t be...”

He knew what it was. It was an oppressive and massive amount of mana. This was the most unreasonable of powers. It was surely enough to even save the world. No, maybe it had even surpassed that.

“Harrison...!”

The boy felt chills as he yelled, and the tremors that had once calmed down started again.

◆ ◆ ◆

“No way...”

Katou Mana couldn’t believe what she was seeing. A dreadful amount of mana was surging out of Harrison’s body. She was capable of using mana, even if only for healing magic, so she understood how abnormal this was.

The amount was entirely unprecedented. This was well within the realm of a visitor, or even beyond that. It was grand in simple terms of volume, not strength, but it would still take several exploration team members to be able to oppose this.

“What on earth...?”

“Perfect sync...” Elena answered. “Through devoted study, training body and mind and conforming one’s soul to be like that of a past savior, it’s possible to manifest the power of said savior. That is perfect sync.”

“And you’re saying that applies to Harrison?”

“No,” Elena said, shaking her head.

“Huh?”

“That’s wrong. It’s different. He’s on an entirely different level.” Her denial wasn’t meant to avoid an overestimation of the marshal. Quite the opposite, in fact. “To avoid disrespect, it is formally acknowledged as perfect sync, but in truth, it’s different. Sir Harrison Addington is the one and only man to have ever surpassed a great savior of the past.”

“Wha...?”

Katou Mana was speechless. How could that be? It was impossible. It couldn’t be allowed. She felt that on instinct.

No.

Nevertheless, her insight overrode her instinct. It was possible. In contrast to visitors, who spent the early half of their lives in their own worlds, the people who lived here enlisted themselves to serve in battle from the very beginning. The beloved of blessed blood were descendants of visitors, so when they approached the quality of the originals, it was more than possible for some to even surpass said originals.

Even so, it had to be impossible. Even if it could theoretically happen, the state of the world refuted it. After all, they revered visitors as their saviors here. Even to this day, visitors were treated with the utmost importance. If there truly was someone so influential, someone who had surpassed a visitor, then there would be no need to place such importance on visitors.

It was weird. It was impossible. In that instant, Katou Mana felt a fathomless chill. It was as though she’d just swallowed something indigestible.

This was something she’d felt for a long time. Something about this world had always seemed strange, and what was in front of her now was the source of that dissonance. That was what her intuition was telling her.

Were saviors really that necessary to this world to begin with? She did of course understand their validity as tremendous fighters to add to the front lines. Their existence had been a necessity to keep humanity from falling to ruin since antiquity.

But the world had grown and developed. As it was now, they had an established civilization and military force. The Maclaurin Provincial Army, which had fought a close battle against Majima Takahiro’s party, was a prime example of that.

Inevitably, this would lower the relative value of saviors. This wasn’t good or bad. It was simply a fact. In accordance with the world’s development, what was once essential loses relevance. This could be said to be a certainty with the passage of time.

Harrison Addington was a symbol, a crystallization of history’s essence. He’d been created by gathering a great many of blessed blood and providing them with an environment that allowed their talents to flourish.

On the other hand, this world still continued to place great importance on saviors. Why was that?

The man known as Harrison Addington was far too incomprehensible and illogical, enough that Katou Mana thought it was inevitable that his leverage would change the situation drastically. On the other side of the magic image, the collapsing ceiling that had previously grown calm was threatening the boys once again.

“That’s Sir Harrison for you!”

The knights of the Holy Order grew excited, whereas Katou Mana turned pale. There was no way to win against a man like this. Harrison Addington possessed a quality that made her believe so. It was as if his victory was a certainty now.

“Sir Harrison...?”

However, everyone realized that the situation wasn’t so simple. That was because Harrison maintained his stern expression.

“So you can still withstand this, Majima Takahiro?”

There was an air of surprise in his voice. The tremors were intense, yet the room inside the image wasn’t collapsing. Harrison definitely had a major advantage, but the boy was still resisting. It was clear from the continuous stream of mana coming from Harrison that a fierce battle for control was still ongoing.

“Majima Takahiro. How utterly persistent.”

The boy hadn’t given up. Despite being torn apart by such unreasonable power, the threads of corrosion still held fast. A second of laxity meant getting crushed, but despite that overwhelming pressure, he still maintained his focus and continued doing what had to be done. He was even keeping an eye open for an opportunity to counterattack. His figure made Katou Mana feel like he was a hero out of a fairytale, challenging a dragon with nothing but a sword.

“Perhaps people like you are what we should call true saviors,” Harrison said, his thoughts still obscure to her. “How unfortunate.”

She sensed true emotion behind his words, but that didn’t change anything.

“I must kill you.”

He spoke with determination. Seeing this, Katou Mana realized her misunderstanding. Harrison hadn’t become an enemy out of simple hatred or physiological revulsion. There was a will of steel inside him. Much like Majima Takahiro, he possessed firm conviction.

In that case, there would never be an opening to launch a counterattack. Harrison Addington wouldn’t allow his focus to relax like that. At this rate, things were hopeless.

Katou Mana felt as if she were thrown into utter darkness. She had no allies here. The only one who might’ve been one was Elena, but she was on the verge of death. Katou Mana had to do something on her own.

But she had no power. All her weapons and tools had been taken from her. Even if she’d had them, she wouldn’t be able to do anything. It was impossible to talk Harrison down. Getting him to bend his unshakable will would be like trying to persuade Majima Takahiro to kill his own servants. It was unthinkable.

She was stuck here and couldn’t do anything. After pouring all her focus into thinking about it, she came to that cruel conclusion. She felt despair creep all the way to her extremities. She wasn’t capable of overturning the situation.

So will you just sit here and do nothing?

In that instant, heat suddenly filled her body. The depths of her soul refused to accept this. On the other side of the image, the boy she loved was still struggling. In that case, she couldn’t surrender either. This fiery emotion inside her burned away all fear and despair. She still hadn’t given up.