“……So this fake is special.”
I was left speechless by the girl’s long-winded story.
I could hardly even meet her gaze. I could hardly even imagine that the affection I poured into my younger sister might have instilled a twisted affection in the girl.
Liya felt similarly.
The girl’s feet were kicking at Liya, but Liya chose silence over complaint. Only her faint groans and trickles of cold sweat represented her complex feelings.
Of course, the girl didn’t care about our reactions.
As if the past didn’t matter at all, her golden eyes were burning with enthusiasm for knowledge.
“She’s a special entity that can share my senses. But for some reason, since not long ago, this fake has started using some of my power… and the sense sharing has been cut off as a bonus.”
Hearing the girl’s words, a scene flashed in my mind.
Recently, the strength and agility Liya had been displaying without intention seemed to be borrowed power from the girl.
The girl seemed quite troubled by that fact.
“I want to ask Miltram, but he’s been dead for a long time… Well, it can’t be helped, right? I’ll just have to investigate on my own.”
That was the last interest the girl showed towards Liya.
Soon, the cheerful girl’s smile was directed at me.
“More importantly, isn’t it funny? This setup… it’s similar to my past, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
I couldn’t ignore the question from my abandoned younger sister, so I asked back.
The girl continued to smile brightly.
“I was bound like that too. I prayed to the sky, searched for my parents… but still, salvation never came. In fact, salvation is not something that happens by the hands of others.”
Step by step.
With each step the girl took, the smile at the corner of her mouth deepened. A cold flame flickered in her golden eyes.
It was truly a mix of affection and hatred.
The feelings the girl held towards me could only be defined that way.
She hated and despised me. Yet, on the other hand, she couldn’t shake off the desire to have me.
Because I was the only puzzle piece left to complete the life she had lost.
Isn’t it a funny sight?
“Only I can save myself… there’s no god. Despair, scream… now accept the truth, brother.”
“……Yulen is.”
It was another question that I barely managed to squeeze out.
I couldn’t think of anything to refute the girl’s words. I wouldn’t have known in the past.
I just had to not give up.
I could move forward without throwing anything away, even while forsaking myself.
It was an achievement made by a string of luck. But I thought that luck would last forever.
Unbeknownst to me, I didn’t realize how many orphans’ blood had been the price of that miracle.
So this question was merely a sort of flail.
“Where did Yulen go?”
“She went to find the Lady Virgin Saint.”
The short and straightforward answer was enough to cloud my vision.
“That woman is dangerous. If she finds out you’ve hidden away, she’ll do whatever it takes to find you. If the identity of the bloodline gets revealed, the Lady Virgin Saint would be in danger too, right? So my fellow partner went as a knight to protect you.”
“What are you planning to do…?”
“To imprison her, of course?”
The girl burst into laughter as if to say what a natural thing that was.
“Who would suspect a knight? While everyone is distracted, my partner will immediately disappear. And if chaos happens in the Holy Kingdom, ta-da!”
As the girl’s arms lifted high, she cheered.
“Our plans we prepared will begin one by one! Isn’t it great? How many hypocrites will scream…!”
I tightly closed my eyes.
I was wrong. I should have listened to the Lady Virgin Saint earlier.
I was blinded by the thought that Liya had been kidnapped. If I had approached more cautiously, knowing that Yulen was the traitor, I wouldn’t have been pushed to the edge like this.
I felt sorry for the Lady Virgin Saint.
And I doubted the existence of God.
Is this truly the end? Is there really no such thing as salvation?
The girl, wearing an expression filled with joy, took a step forward.
One step, two steps. Just before she came close to me.
A muffled sound erupted from something in my arms.
The girl’s brows narrowed slightly.
“……What is that sound?”
I was just as surprised. My gaze instinctively directed to my chest.
There, a bead was vibrating.
Just then, as my mind blanked, I was about to trace the origin of the bead.
Boom! A nearby explosion erupted.
It was a small sound, but this vibration rattled my eardrums. Everyone’s gaze, including mine, turned towards its source.
Something was coming from afar.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions grew closer. The speed was beyond imagination, and the girl had to mumble in a daze without even turning her head.
“An intruder? But how…? Isn’t it too fast? If a group entered, I would have noticed…!”
Humming.
The bead was increasingly screaming violently. With the explosions, the chamber began to shake as if an earthquake were occurring.
Dust fell from the ceiling, and just as the girl, unable to bear it any longer, turned her gaze.
Crack! A hazy electric current brushed past the heavy iron door.
Before the girl could react, a tremendous noise slammed into the air. The shockwave made clothing and hair flutter, and from beyond the violently pushed iron gate came the acrid smell of burnt flesh.
Kreeeek!
Ghhhr!
Faceless monsters, now charred, writhed and convulsed.
It was their last struggle just before death.
The breaths of the monsters, all their blood vessels and nerves burnt out, eventually ceased.
Even by that time, the girl stood still, showing no reaction. She merely frowned, staring forward in disbelief.
There stood a tall man.
Swish, thud.
A pitch-black rod floated in the void before falling.
From behind the thick fog, a blue glow flickered like ghostly fire.
“I came to see why there’s been no contact for a while…”
A voice worn away by emotion flowed out like a sigh.
The middle-aged man’s blue eyes began to scan those present, starting from me, then to the girl, Liya, and finally to Senior Elsi.
With his expressionless gaze, the man asked.
“Son-in-law. Just one question… is this also part of your peculiar tendencies?”
It was such an absurd question that I couldn’t even process a proper thought.
My answer was painfully simple.
“Are you insane?”
“Ah, I see…”
Swish, thud.
Once again, the pitch-black rod soaring through the air landed back in the man’s hands. The middle-aged man, eyes closed quietly, radiated a calmness akin to a sea before a storm.
Until then, the girl had been silent, but now her neck was taut with veins.
“Who the hell are you…!”
“In my mercenary days, I was also called ‘The Thunder God of the Battlefield.’”
At the unexpectedly calm tone, the girl’s body flinched.
The man’s eyelids gradually opened. The fierce light streaming from within signified one thing.
A person who has seen the edge of the truth.
Individuals who can alone overturn the war situation, manipulating the terrain.
“I returned to my clan, spent time within the organization suppressing my temper… then one day, a little brat lit the long-lost flame within my heart.”
The Archmage took a step forward.
The air shimmered like a mirage. It was a phenomenon where only high-density magical power could be seen.
With a glance, the blue eyes gestured at me.
“My son-in-law.”
It was a declaration made in a voice without a rise or fall. At that unexpected sound, the dazed girl burst into laughter.
“Pffft… Ha ha ha ha ha! This old fossil, what are you saying! Do you really think you can face me alone just because you’re an Archmage? What a delusion…!”
“Why would I have to face you alone?”
Just before the blood-red sun appeared in the void, it was Mr. Raymond’s retort.
The girl’s body trembled at the uncertainty of his intent.
And then, the whip of lightning tore the world in half.
The cracking sound threatened to deafen us. The whip descending from the sky, cutting the ground in two, was terrifying.
Of course, that did not apply to the girl.
With a clang, the blood-red whip that wrapped around her arm deflected the whip of lightning. The whip, unable to withstand the force, was sent upwards and shattered into pieces.
The girl laughed as if it were ridiculous.
“Ha! With magic like that…!”
But that composure didn’t last long.
Among the shards of the whipped lightning, a familiar blade emerged.
The weapons falling toward me were too familiar.
A sword and a hand axe.
I unleashed the aura I had secretly been gathering all at once.
Clang!
The steel restraining device shattered and scattered. Just before the girl could react, the sword and hand axe landed in my hands in succession.
And with them crossed in front of me, I adopted a defensive posture, ready for an offensive.
It was a perfect cooperative attack.
In an instant, with the tides of battle reversed, the girl stood there, stunned.
Only then did the Archmage burst into laughter.
“Cooperation is a tactic as well. Especially when fighting against mercenaries. Anyway…”
But that dry laugh was devoid of emotion.
The girl gritted her teeth, quickly raising the blood-red sun. Perhaps she was blocked just before achieving her goal, for the expression in her gaze was one of indignation.
A chilling tremor began to consume the space around us. The trembling sword and hand axe seemed to hint at the coming storm of lightning.
“Shall I begin to collect the price for taking my nephew?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, you old man…!”
Just after the voices of the two mighty ones intersected.
The world turned completely white.
