CHAPTER 4
BATTLE OF THE DIVINE TREE
Turning back the clock from Veldora’s arrival…
I set up a Spatial Transport over to the former Eurazania to stop Milim’s rampage. The area where Velzard’s ice and snow were blowing was too hard to see in for me to head there directly. Anticipating this, I set myself down some distance away. From there, I made a beeline for the site, following the signs. Milim and Velzard were supposed to be clashing with each other, so I approached with caution.
But it wasn’t quite what I was imagining. In fact, it was worse.
“Tch! You came sooner than I thought. But it’s too late. Milim! Use your power to shatter the sacred tree in our way!”
Milim and Velzard weren’t the only ones there; Feldway had joined them. But in fact, he felt so different I wasn’t sure it really was Feldway. He just had this overwhelming presence—way past what Michael had. I wasn’t sure if I could win in a serious fight any longer. For some reason, he was giving orders to Milim like he was her boss.
Milim, I saw, had undergone some pretty loony changes. It was too indistinct in the video feed, but up close, she was beyond ominous. On her back was a pair of jet-black wings. A single red horn had sprouted from her forehead, shining a rainbow of colors in the light. The rest of her skin, except for her face, was covered with hard, shining dragon scales that sported mysterious patterns and dull, shifting colors.
I wondered if this was the “berserk” form of Milim—and at the same time, I sensed a power from her that almost made me tremble. Milim, the demon lord who had become an incarnation of absolute destruction, was truly worthy of being called the Destroyer.
But why was she being ordered around? What in the world was going on?
This is due to Regalia Dominion, part of the ultimate skill Michael, Lord of Justice. It seems Feldway has succeeded in controlling Milim.
Huh? Wait a minute. So we got Milim running amok and being this total menace, and Feldway’s using her as a pawn?! That’s, like, beyond awful.
Fortunately, it doesn’t feel like he is in complete control. Even with Feldway devoting his full Computational Domain skill to controlling Milim, it seems he can only issue simple commands.
No, uh, that’s still bad enough! The only real luck I had so far was that he didn’t order her to kill me.
Feldway sure didn’t look happy to see us, but he had no intention of fighting. He didn’t care about us at all, in fact. He just gave the order to Milim and left.
His rule over Milim was likely too unstable for him to focus on anything else. Or perhaps he wanted to prioritize the destruction of the sacred tree.
Was it impossible for Feldway’s enthralling power to revoke an order once it had been given, then? It sounded quite feasible. Just thinking about Milim seriously trying to kill me gave me the shivers. I should be glad it didn’t come to that, but I never thought it would come to this, either.
It was completely unexpected. Being in this runaway state, she must have lost her ability to resist him…
I knew Feldway also had this kind of controlling skill, but I didn’t even consider the possibility he’d use it on Milim. I couldn’t blame Ciel alone for overlooking that. I mean, I was sure Milim had all kinds of resistances against this hypnosis. She told me all the time that stuff didn’t work on her. If she hadn’t been in this berserk state, I doubt Feldway ever would’ve succeeded.
And that was exactly what he was aiming for, wasn’t he?
If they made Milim go berserk, the world would be in danger of ending. But they then removed that concern via Regalia Dominion. It was quite a risky gamble.
Ciel’s being so vague about this, I suppose the strategy had little chance of success. Frankly, it would have been crazy to go through with it.
But if that was the case, there was no point in worrying about the “why” of it. What about the “sacred tree” Feldway set as Milim’s goal?
This is a divine tree that protects the capital of the Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion. It is a tree so large it can hold a giant city. It also seems to play the role of stabilizing the magicules in this world, preventing natural disasters.
Ciel answered me clearly and concisely. It was as knowledgeable and dependable as ever, but what it had just told me couldn’t be overlooked.
I’d never been to Thalion, but its capital was in a tree? Neat…but that wasn’t the point. I only had a vague image of it, but if the capital was built atop a tree, it’d be a disaster if the tree was destroyed, right? We had no choice but to stop it. And if we couldn’t…well, we’d have to buy enough time to evacuate the residents or else a catastrophe was sure to ensue.
“Whoa, whoa, this is sure a pain in the ass, huh?”
Guy was talking like this was someone else’s problem. I really wished he could contribute a little more. We weren’t talking about writing an essay for class or whatever.
“…What, you got a problem with me?” he snapped.
“No, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”
I wanted to complain that I didn’t need him reading my aura like that, but better to avoid ruffling any more feathers. I kept my mouth shut because I needed him to do his best for me there. But Guy didn’t sound too grateful about that.
“That bastard Feldway,” he grumbled. “He’s just as treacherous as ever.”
“Oh?”
“I mean…well, letting you talk me into joining you turned out to be the correct answer, y’know?”
That made sense to me. If Guy had been too busy looking out for an attack from Ivalage to come, all might’ve been lost right there and then. Guy was going to handle Velzard while I tackled Milim, but if it were just me, well…
Ahh, but who cares about hypotheticals? No time to loiter around any longer. Milim had started to move.
Guy naturally stepped in front of Velzard. As he did, I tried to inform Ellie before pursuing Milim, but for some reason, I couldn’t get through on my cell phone. I guessed she was busy…which wasn’t a good sign. So with no other choice, I followed Milim while contacting Benimaru.
While connecting my Thought Communication to Benimaru, I desperately tried to catch up and attack Milim to get her attention. But she just shrugged me off. I wasn’t trying to go all out on her, but I thought that was still a pretty powerful attack.
Ahh, no time to whine. Milim had just let out a roar, setting off this weird kind of power. I’m guessing the vibrations of her scream broke all the molecular bonds in the target’s body or something. I managed to escape it, but the shock wave alone made a river below us dry out.
I thought it was too risky to mess with Milim. But if things continued as they were, the collapse of Thalion was imminent. As I wondered what the hell I was going to do about this, I felt my Thought Communication link up with Benimaru.
The probability of success is low, but I have come up with a plan.
There was no more time to hesitate. I was flying a few dozen times the speed of sound, and we were very close to reaching Thalion. No matter how low the chance of success was, I had no choice but to bet everything on Ciel. It was the same thing I always did, really, but so be it.
Despite my qualms, I informed Benimaru of the situation and ordered him to carry out the plan Ciel had described to me.
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