Fruition

It was almost like magic.

A single sentence.

A single sentence from a single young man, who was no chieftain or anything of the sort, had completely transformed the atmosphere of the council hall.

"… Do you have any proof that you received those words from that personage?"

In an atmosphere where everyone felt as though they were walking on thin ice, the first to speak up was the elf chieftain.

"Hm? Ah, you mean proof of what Ilya said? Uhh… this tool's connected to her, so wouldn't it be quicker to just ask her to say it again right here?"

"That's right. If that would suit you."

Apparently he wasn't very good at thinking things through.

When he turned to the other youth standing beside him for agreement, the other nodded as if it were nothing and turned back to the chieftain for permission.

But that was the worst possible option, an act tantamount to noosing one's own neck, and the chieftain, who was well aware of this, swiftly said "No" and shook his head.

"There's no need for that."

"Knowing about the matter of the council hall is itself proof that it was him."

To his magnanimous reply, the other chieftains too raised their voices in dignified agreement.

But on closer observation, one would notice that their voices trembled ever so slightly, and that their gazes wavered.

Indeed, while the spiky-haired youth Chris was idly going "Ah, is that so" beside them, the other youth Eric briefly raised the corners of his mouth.

"Uhm, so then, we're all going to cooperate, right?"

It was something someone had to say, but it also carried the implication of "who'll take the initiative," and in one sense Chris had read the room, while in another sense he hadn't. Such was his peculiar charm.

Naturally, the chieftains, who wanted to avoid rekindling any pointless conflict and incurring Ilya's displeasure, seized on this opportunity and piled on with their own remarks.

"… Then, that settles the placements."

"Personnel selection will be left to each chieftain. However, ensure that the message that joint battle is our unanimous decision is thoroughly disseminated."

"That goes for you too."

The teasing remark thrown in like a side-thrust was answered with laughter.

Just a few hours earlier, that very exchange would have soured the atmosphere between them. But perhaps as a lucky consequence of their having lost the leeway for posturing, it instead came across as the easy banter of close acquaintances.

And precisely because they had been contesting for supremacy, that very rivalry had been their shackle; given that they were originally representatives of their respective tribes, it was only natural that, once those shackles came off, their competent sides would come to the fore.

"… They look okay?"

That remains to be seen.

The one who answered Selena's mutter as she watched the conference was the great spirit perched on her shoulder in lizard form, Salamander. There was something pointed in his tone, and just as she was about to ask what he really meant—

"Pardon the intrusion!!"

"What is it?"

To the civil official who had practically dived into the room, the answer came back like a shriek.

"The target has begun advancing toward this council hall!"

"What about the diversion unit?"

"Apparently, ever since the advance began, it has been completely ignoring everything except interceptions…!"

There was no mistaking it: their plan to play for time so they could go on the offensive all at once had been read.

But why, just one step short…

The Salamander muttered, as if reading the question that surfaced in everyone's mind.

That thing's sensitive to your emotions… especially anger, sorrow, and envy. If they vanish all at once, it gets suspicious. It's not amused.

Not everyone, but those who could hear the spirit's voice groaned.

To think that their own blunder would have repercussions in such an unexpected place.

Unaware of all that, Chris returned his gaze from the civil official to the chieftains.

"How long will the council hall's barrier hold?"

"This place is the linchpin of the federation. Nothing can break through… So long as it's just an evil god, anyway."

The chieftain corrected himself with halting words, no doubt because he realized Chris and the others had heard from Ilya that it had been broken once before.

They hadn't actually heard the details, but it was fortunate he hadn't put on needless airs and had made his judgment based on the facts.

"I see. Then we'll somehow buy you time."

"In the meantime, please get ready."

Treating the voices that tried to stop them as though they hadn't been heard, Chris and the others left the room.

As they walked quickly toward the outside, Chris turned to Eric.

"I heard the gist of how it moves, but the number that gathers when the big one comes isn't fixed, right?"

"Apparently."

"So if not very many show up, maybe we should let them go?"

After a brief hesitation, Eric said "No" and rejected that idea.

"It doesn't matter how many there are."

If they could shave the numbers down all at once, fine, but the point was to make it hesitate.

He didn't have time to say so before Chris had gone "Got it!" and run on ahead.

Eric glanced sidelong, but Selena, standing there, made no move to follow him.

"What is it?"

"No, I just thought for sure you'd go with him."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

When Eric, seeing Selena's wide smile, only shrugged in response, she too let out a small sigh.

"He went on ahead so the big bolt of lightning aimed at this place won't miss, right? If I go too and throw off its aim, that'd be a problem."

"Ah, yeah. That's right."

His halting reply made her look at him quizzically, but before she could press him on it, they reached the entrance hall.

Chris, who had already run out, had caught sight of the existence drifting through the distant sky.

"!"

It was coming.

His intuition was correct. Several orbs flew toward the council hall and scattered lightning around it.

But thanks to the barrier protecting the council hall, it took no damage. Only the surrounding town was scorched.

That alone was enough reason for Chris to snap. But today, he was different.

(Calm down, calm down, calm down…!)

There were no casualties among non-combatants.

Fields could be tilled again. Houses could be rebuilt.

He told himself that.

This wasn't an opponent he could beat by lashing out on impulse. For Chris and his comrades, the fight with the evil god was one they would have to face sooner or later. He couldn't afford to blunder and give himself an excuse to give up.

"… Here it comes!"

Perhaps fed up that the barrier didn't budge for repeated lightning strikes, five orbs began to circle vertically in front of the serpent.

Drawing only the hilt of his sword, Chris pushed his left side forward and took his stance.

"— Now!!"

He thrust his left hand out, drawing back the right that gripped the sword.

"— Saint Sword —"

In time with his declaration, a torrent of light converged into the blade.

From rapier to sword.

From sword to longsword.

From longsword to greatsword.

The bundle of light grew larger in the blink of an eye,

"— Transcendent Single Thruuust!!"

And was fired forth at the serpent.

!!

Beyond the lightning unfolding before its eyes, the serpent had glimpsed another kind of light.

It was correct in reflexively rising from its position.

The bundle of unleashed lightning and the bundle of light collided.

But that was only for an instant.

The light swallowed the lightning, and even the orbs that had been forming the bundle were burned away.

… Mere humans.

Chris could not make out the voice.

But sensing the killing intent radiating from the serpent, Chris realized that the first condition had been met.

Immediately after, he leapt sideways.

As if to confirm his earlier prediction, lightning flashed and pierced the spot Chris had just been standing on.

The lightning guided by the serpent was fixed as a phenomenon, but in exchange its speed and destructive power had been increased.

Each time Chris dodged, more scorched, blackened scars were added to the town.

The very act of continuing to dodge was already abnormal, and there was no guarantee that it would keep working.

"— Come, Raika."

Several summoning circles appeared, and what emerged were deer of a make different from ordinary beasts.

Within their translucent antlers, pale blue light ran along the interior, and similar flashes flickered on their hooves, which bore tufts of white fur at the ankles.

Gentle in temperament, they discharged electricity when they sensed danger.

They had the habit of striking targets recognized as enemies with lightning, then fleeing while the target was paralyzed.

"I want all of you to run around and lead the lightning away."

When Eric stroked the deer that came nuzzling up to him and gave them their instructions, eventually they snorted as if pumping themselves up and scattered.

Along the way, lightning summoned by one of the deer rained down on it, but it ran off without reacting at all.

The reinforced lightning had been a worry, but it seemed there was no problem, and he breathed a small sigh of relief.

(That said, this is just a stopgap.)

He summoned another monster.

The amorphous creature that floated through the air also had lightning running through it, just like the deer.

He moved it overhead and focused on the movements of the serpent and the orbs.

What he could do, since he was inferior to the other two in pure combat ability, was to analyze the situation more precisely and raise their odds of victory.

And then Selena, too, began to move.

"Here we go, Sala!"

Understood!

In sync with the affirmation, the Salamander that had leapt from her shoulder shifted instantly from lizard to humanoid form.

Burning red hair, crimson eyes.

The reason he had taken to wearing the visage of a beautiful woman with a ferocious smile was not solely because his contractor had asked him to, saying "the balance is better that way."

Selena and the Salamander joined their left hands together and overlaid their voices.

""'Possession: Houma!'""

The instant they did, a pillar of fire rose up and enveloped them both.

How petty.

Its haughty manner unchanged. But the fact that it struck without seeing the outcome through betrayed its impatience.

The lightning it loosed sped toward the pillar of fire at a speed the eye could not follow,

"'Not gonna work!'"

And was caught up in the unfurling waves of fire and scattered into mist.

The pillar of flame dissolved, and in the rippling heat haze stood a fire giant.

More precisely, it was a humanoid blaze with massive limbs, with Selena at its core.

"'Hora: Dust-Ash!'"

Fwoosh. A scattered cloud of ash dyed everyone's vision white.

The offensive power of this technique lay in being poisonous if inhaled, but it was lukewarm against the evil god,

How pitiable.

And was easily scattered with a single beat of its wings.

But it had not been in vain.

"'Hora: Piercing Strike!!'"

!!

What loomed in was a massive flame-clad spear-hand thrust. The distance, almost nose to nose.

It hadn't been an attack. It was a feint.

By the time the realization came, it was too late, and the flames that pierced one wing burned into its body.

Gahh!

The serpent twisted in pain, then lashed out like a giant whip and bore down on Selena.

"'Whoa, that was close! Crap, I screwed up!! I should've grabbed it!!'"

She barely managed to dodge it, but as she immediately regretted her choice, she failed to fully evade the orb-lightning that flew in a beat later, and part of her flame limbs were chipped away.

That regenerated almost at once, but in the meantime the serpent had put distance between them.

"'So injuring its wings doesn't affect its flight at all, huh…'"

Things really didn't go as planned.

Selena reset her stance and shifted to intercepting the orbs while watching for an opening in the serpent's guard.

Perhaps reading her intentions, the orbs feinted toward an attack stance only to scatter, dodging Selena's enveloping flames.

When several began to circle to attack from outside the flames' range, they too broke apart upon sensing Chris's light.

As for the serpent itself, simple lightning attacks had almost no effect, yet it wasn't foolish enough to carelessly close the distance.

Mere humans… mere humans!!

But its irritation at the way things weren't going its way kept mounting.

Just four. Four lone enemies were running it ragged.

Lowly beings, toyed with by its sublime self, made to bend the knee, made to bow their heads and perish.

That was what humans were. That was what they had been… up until just a little while ago.

Gah!?

A sudden pain ran across its back.

When it looked behind, there were human figures concealed in the shadows of houses.

When it strained its eyes around the area, there were not just one or two.

It had been surrounded by a great mass of humans.

"As expected of the federation's warriors. They're fast. Selena!"

To Eric's voice, Selena returned a nod and dismissed the flames forming the giant.

Necessary as it had been to overturn their disadvantage in raw firepower, possession states drained both body and soul severely and were poorly suited to drawn-out fights.

"Fueeeh～, this really is tough."

Stay focused.

"Yeah, I know."

Smacking both her cheeks to refocus, she circulated her own ki to recover from fatigue while staying alert to her surroundings.

But for a while afterward, she did not need to commit herself solely to evasion.

Those who instead toyed with the orbs darting in all directions, driving them into corners.

In contrast, the serpent, unable to lock onto its targets thanks to the coordination between the ground and airborne forces, allowed attack after attack to land, and even from the sidelines its movements had clearly lost precision to irritation.

"Amazing…"

So Selena murmured. The federation warriors' movements were that polished.

The previous battle had been like a desperate suicide charge without regard for the gap in force.

It was only natural that the present battle, in which they had set aside their greed, formed a united front, shared information, and arranged formations of the right people in the right places, would unfold as a wholly different fight.

(With this…!)

We can do it.

It was no wonder that someone, sensing the difference in feel from the previous fight, would let that thought slip in.

But it, by its very nature, was sensitive to human emotion.

Naturally, the serpent sensed the hope that had kindled within them.

And then,

Don't get cocky, you lower lifeforms!!

Its tone abruptly shifted.

At the same time, above the serpent, an eye appeared that gazed down at the world below, rending open the very sky.

And the change didn't end there.

A seasoned warrior, who had been quietly and methodically lining up his shot on an orb, undeterred by the change.

He swung down his greatsword on the orb where the speed and trajectory he had locked onto overlapped, scoring the fourth kill.

Or so it should have been.

"What!?"

An acceleration unlike any before. That alone would have been one thing.

The orb wreathed itself in lightning, channeled it down the sword and into the warrior… then withdrew.

Enduring the foul smell of his own scorched body and the pain, what reflected in the warrior's eyes was the orb's shape: a bird.

"… A lightning bird…!?"

And not just one.

Every single orb had transformed into a lightning bird.

The warriors found themselves toyed with again, but Selena, paying them no mind, shouted out.

"Chris! Slice that eye!"

"What!?"

"I've got a bad feeling! Hurry!"

Sparing no time to reply, Chris poured power into his sword of light.

A torrent of light formed a massive blade.

"Saint Sword — Transcendent Rending Slash!!"

The swung blade tore the eye that peered down from the sky, but it failed to sever it, and the rift closed up again.

"Even Chris couldn't do it!?"

Those are the Twin Eyes of Enthrallment.

While leaving the lightning birds to Selena, the Salamander, who had returned to lizard form and was watching from her back, muttered the words.

"What is that!?"

The demonic power to enslave spirits not under one's management. It won't work on me, of course, but if that thing uses it, a considerable number of spirits will fall under its control.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner!?"

I wasn't sure. Forgive me.

Although he said that, Selena vaguely understood that the bad feeling she had sensed earlier had been a kind of warning passing through their contract bond.

And the fact that he was now disclosing the ability's name meant that it fell within the scope of his advice. Judging this, she asked again.

"What does 'Twin Eyes' mean?"

It means two eyes. With the first eye, it places its target under control; with the opening of the second, it manipulates it.

"That's bad, right!?"

Quite bad.

If spirits of every attribute were placed under enthrallment, every spirit-art mage would be neutralized, while conversely the serpent would be able to wield spirit arts of all attributes.

Speed, force, defense, interference… attribute strengths and weaknesses applied not only to magic, but to spirit arts as well. No matter how skilled the mage, by exploiting those one could seize the initiative.

In the case of the serpent, by leveraging the poor matchup of some water-type and earth-type spells, defense had been possible, and they had also worked the serpent's lack of persistence into their tactics to maintain the upper hand.

But now, those weaknesses would vanish.

"Eric!"

"It's fine, I heard. I'll pass it on to Chris too!"

"Please! 'Houma!!'"

That was all she confirmed, then Selena once again joined hands with the Salamander, who returned to humanoid form.

You bastards again!!

It had to use its full strength against those beneath it.

With its pride wounded, the serpent bared its fangs without trying to hide its anger.

While dodging the incoming birds, Selena drew closer to the serpent.

Now that they had become birds, their speed and the trickiness of not being directly tangible had increased, but with a body of flame that was no problem.

If anything, if they came charging in, she could destroy the orb-cores in a mutual-strike trade and simply replenish the missing flame portions, putting her at an advantage.

What she had to be careful of was attacks against Selena herself at the core.

Watching for the serpent's own attacks while staying wary of the birds' movements…

Selena, below!!

"!!"

By the time she noticed it was already too late, and Selena felt her body tilt. Her legs had been carved away.

She realized as much when she registered the lightning crawling along the ground, surging in one after another.

She'd been so focused above that her vigilance below had slackened.

Tch… shut them down!!

The serpent-like creeping lightning was burned away by the firewall the Salamander threw up.

But in exchange, the replenishment of her legs was delayed. The fire giant couldn't stand back up properly.

Burn yourself out where you stand!!

Directly overhead, birds began to circle.

Lightning extended between the birds, weaving a magic circle.

Generation of a lightning strike faster than the orbs.

"Selena!!"

Even with the sword of light, intercepting it at that speed was a gamble.

On top of that, even now the eye directly overhead was slowly but surely opening.

Which to aim at.

To save the whole, target the eye? To save her ally, target the birds?

"Aim for the eye!!"

"!!"

At the voice of his other comrade, Chris cast off his hesitation.

Guaaah!!

A scream rose from the serpent as the sword of light tore not only the eye but also a wing.

Meanwhile, Selena had taken a guarding stance with both arms, knowing it was useless…

(Eh!?)

And witnessed the circling birds get blown away as though batted aside.

Arrows of magic.

Tracing their trajectory on that hunch, what she found there was a group of elves.

"We can tell that these little ones are more threatening, but ignoring us is just too cold, you know."

"No, we'd be the ones in trouble if you focused on us."

The elves who had shot down the birds scattered again.

(Right…)

(That's right.)

Selena and Chris reconsidered.

Or rather, reaffirmed would be more accurate.

They themselves had known from the start.

"We can't beat it by ourselves."

"That's why everyone fights together."

Joining their strength together, through human power.

As if to embody that resolve, the sword's light and the flames cloaking her shone brighter.

"Good news for you two."

It was Eric's voice arriving.

"I've figured out how the birds move. Not completely, but I think we can make plenty of openings."

""Explain, quick!""

The response came back almost in unison.

Despite being on roughly the opposite side of the field from him, the way the two were perfectly in sync drew a smile from Eric.

"Alright, here's the plan…"

The same explanation he'd given them, he conveyed to the other tribes as well.

And then Eric's strategy began.

What…? You damn humans!!

Sensing something off about the humans' movements, the serpent loosed lightning while cursing them.

It managed to scorch several, but not enough to kill them, and what appeared before the irritated serpent was once again a fire giant.

You bastards again!!

It loosed lightning as though venting its frustration, and the birds that absorbed it grew larger as they rushed at the giant.

Several were repelled by the mages, but the rest all closed in on the giant and tore at both its arms with their expanded wings.

But that, too, was quickly restored.

It wanted to wipe them all out together, but there was one decisive difference from before: because Chris was at the giant's side, if it carelessly concentrated them all there, the birds would be wiped out instead.

Damn it… damn it, damn it, damn it!!

Losing patience with a battle that refused to go its way, the serpent went half-mad and scattered lightning everywhere.

The lightning scorched the town, burned the forest, strung up threads of lightning between itself and the birds, and burned through everything between.

"— Transcendent Mightiest"

!?

A voice had abruptly come from behind.

The serpent whirled around in clear shock, and saw a torrent of light that had blazed up all at once.

"Saint Sword: Heaven Faaaaang!!"

Gyaaaaaaaa!!

The sword of light tore through its body just as light poured down from the heavens to burn it, and the serpent crashed to earth shrieking its dying scream.

Perhaps because the damage was beyond what it could control, the orbs, having lost their bird forms, also crashed down.

And Chris's withdrawal and the simultaneous deluge of ranged magic and the like were in lockstep.

"Cast it!!"

Timing the moment, the elves surrounded the serpent's head.

In time with their chant, geometric arrays unfolded, weaving lattices of every color.

A sealing art passed down among elves since the age of gods.

More than the effect itself, Selena was held transfixed by the particles that rose shimmering from the array, even as she maintained battle stance and asked the youth standing beside her: Eric, who wore Chris's appearance.

Her voice, perhaps from tension, felt somehow hard.

"'… That serpent really didn't notice, huh.'"

"This appearance, you mean? Or that Chris had been closing in?"

Before she could finish, the appearance of Chris flickered out like dispersing mist and reverted to Eric's.

It was a flame illusion based on the mirage phenomenon; it could be discerned at a touch, but from a distance it was hard to notice.

"'Hmm… both, I guess.'"

"It probably didn't realize the fake was a fake because it was panicking. Once it spotted Selena and Chris together, it didn't show any sign of paying attention to anything else, either."

By making it look as though the two threats, Chris and Selena, were operating together, the aim had been to focus its attention there.

It had been deceived by the all-encompassing movement of the orbs and the birds, but in truth, those had been precisely targeted only in the forward direction.

In other words, the orbs and birds were operated by the serpent itself, and attacks toward the rear, where the serpent couldn't visually confirm, were essentially shots in the dark.

From the behavior of the Raika, which automatically attacked anything alive that registered as hostile, Eric had hazarded the guess that it would be something like that, but the truth of the matter didn't really matter at this point.

So long as it produced an opening to take the serpent down, that was good enough.

"'But not being able to see what's around you… that was a pretty big gamble, wasn't it?'"

"Not really. Look, even when Selena fell, it didn't notice the elves closing in either."

To Eric, who had been watching the whole picture from above, that tendency had been obvious.

"'I see… ah… is it… over?'"

"… Looks like it."

The light converged, and what remained was a green sphere.

Perhaps because it had lost its head, which had been its core, the serpent's lower body had long since dispersed,

"The evil god has been sealed here! It is our victory!!"

A cry of triumph echoed in time with the declaration.

Selena dispelled her Possession.

Together with Eric, she broke into a run toward Chris, who was swinging a blade-less sword.

 

*

 

The Filéalemis Empress-State.

To eliminate the plant monster said to cover one-eighth of the country's territory, the Guild and the army had agreed to coordinate the subjugation.

That said, it was simply impossible to operate the Guild, which valued individuality, and the army, which valued discipline, in the same way after a day or two of working together.

And it wouldn't do to carelessly create points of friction, nor would it do to give either side the advantage.

The result was that the Guild and the army each advanced from the east and west to flank the enemy.

The enemy was a plant.

The basic approach was burning by fire or freezing by ice.

Weapon attacks and wind and earth magic took on the role of escorting those who specialized in fire and water magic.

Building around these tactics, they had deployed an attack in depth.

Turning to their advantage the plant's habit of growing explosively when humans approached, they had deliberately advanced in several waves, and several days after combat began, they had reached a point a single day's march from rendezvous.

"— Draws."

The drawn slash cleaved a swath of advancing plants in two.

Not stopping to watch, Gabriel sprang upward.

The next instant a wall of earth thrust up beneath him, and he used it as a foothold to pull away.

Sensing the flames flying in behind him to burn the plants, he kept cutting down the new ones closing in.

"Never gets old to watch…"

"Hmm-hmm. Our Gabriel really is something!"

To the murmured remark, Pasha puffed out her chest, but no one dared tease her for it.

There was an "endearing" quality to it, sure, but more than anything else they had no leeway to spare.

"…! There's just no end to them!!"

"But we're almost there. We just have to push through!"

In place of the actively-fighting Gabriel, the guild members who had taken over escorting Pasha moved sharply.

That was thanks to Pasha's reinforcement enchantments, although only the three escorts had been given the buffs.

There were the issues of duration and the mana cost of buffing everyone. And above all, since the present state of affairs was favorable to them even without buffs, there had been no need.

"Hey, am I imagining things? It feels like we're making slower progress than yesterday…"

"It's the fourth day. Fatigue's bound to be catching up."

"There's that too, but…"

As she spoke, the female guild member carrying Pasha on her shoulder looked around the area.

"… The plants are getting bigger, aren't they?"

When she pointed it out, everyone, Pasha included, agreed.

"… The great spirit said there's a root source too, right? Doesn't that mean we're getting close to it?"

"Ahh, that would make sense."

Accepting that, they each let out a small breath at the approaching end.

Smooth as their advance had been while maintaining the upper hand, casualties had not been few.

There were those who had been swallowed and crushed by plants, and not a few who had died from inhaling the scattered poison.

Hardened though guild members were, used to living shoulder-to-shoulder with death, their hearts had not dulled to the point of immediately accepting their comrades' deaths.

"!"

"We're pretty close, huh!"

The light flashing in the sky overhead was the periodic signal used by the Guild and the army to confirm each other's positions.

There was lingering anxiety about coordinating with the army, but as long as they didn't change their basic approach they should be fine.

That kind of air filled the area.

"Ah."

Pasha was about to call out at the sight of Gabriel returning to her field of view… when it happened.

Gabriel had leapt. And his body was swallowed by a plant.

"Gab-kun!?"

"What was that speed!?"

Immediately, a fan-like, thorned portion burst open, and Gabriel emerged from inside.

When Pasha started to rush over without thinking, he gestured her to stop with his hand and headed back in himself.

In the meantime he kept intercepting, but the issue was the plants' speed and movement.

"Wh-what's with these things?!"

"Suddenly getting stronger like that…!!"

Beneath the roar of magic, angry shouts and screams could be heard.

Feeling the situation worsen on his skin, Gabriel regrouped with Pasha.

"Gab-kun, you okay!?"

"Yeah. They got faster all of a sudden and it caught me off guard, but I'm fine."

Even as they exchanged words, neither slackened their attacks.

But the plants' movements had grown so violent that they could not stop swinging long enough to talk.

That wasn't all.

"These things… their movements are getting better…!"

What the man meant by "movements" was coordination.

"It's like, we're fighting wolf-types now!"

"Except none of them are even close in size!!"

Even though it was a plant colony, the way of fighting had shifted from each trunk attacking individually to pincer movements and combination attacks: the movements of an organized force.

The plants had grown larger, their movements more agile, and their attack methods more varied.

Looking around, the front line that had visibly been pushing forward was now visibly being pushed back.

The sound of magic spells dropped, and voices laced with negative emotion grew.

In the eyes of the men struggling not to be swallowed by the massive carnivorous-plant-type monstrosities, what dwelt was fear.

Desperately chanting magic, the eyes that looked at the wave of plants closing in were dyed with despair.

The situation had completely changed. There was no leeway left for holding back.

"Gnome, are we almost to the root?"

Indeed.

Pon. The little man who popped up from the earth and onto Gabriel's shoulder confirmed it.

If so, there was nothing to hesitate over.

"Let's do this, Pasha."

"… Yeah."

Sensing her inner reluctance, Gabriel gave her a smile of encouragement, and she returned one. Even so…

"Aw, geez!"

Pasha shouted as though venting frustration.

"I really wanted Onee-chan to see this first! If I use it in front of all these people, she's definitely going to find out, Ilya-onee-chan!!"

Still, "not using it" wasn't an option.

"Gab-kun, please!"

"Got it. Gnome."

Acknowledged.

The moment Gnome consented, pon! Something popped out of the ground.

(A stone?)

There was someone who muttered as much on seeing its material, but to be precise, it was a stone tablet.

The stone tablet with a single piece chipped off floated lightly through the air, and finally came to rest in front of Pasha.

Touching the tablet, which was about her own height, Pasha chanted.

"Unto the king, I beseech—"

The pattern engraved on the tablet shone,

"but I'll skip the rest! Limit Release!"

A blinding flash burst out, and an instant later Pasha's transformation was complete.

Her height now reached Gabriel's shoulder.

Her features had matured to match her age, and the pair of them, side by side, looked like a handsome young man and beautiful young woman.

Limit Release.

It was a time-limited higher-tier evolution permitted only to those acknowledged by the Spirit Monarch.

"You're going to get a good taste of a fairiel's power!"

In response to her voice, several magic circles drew themselves in the air.

But those circles were drawn directly above the very guild members and soldiers who had been their allies.

"Wh-what are you…!?"

The voice that tried to question her was checked by Gabriel's outstretched hand.

And above his head as well, the same circles drew themselves.

Not an attack?

Even as people inferred as much, a second green circle layered over, then a third red, and the rings stacked one after another until they overlapped without any gap, forming a sphere encased in geometric patterns.

As though to stop it, the plants' assault grew more intense.

But, unable to pass through Gabriel's swordstrokes, they were cut to pieces and perished.

And finally the sphere shone with white light.

"— Ros-Dea!"

The spheres rained down like dripping droplets, sinking into the bodies of Gabriel and the others, and disappeared.

And Gabriel, who had always been in motion, made the effect plain.

(Faster!?)

That wasn't all. His body moved smoothly and more powerfully than before; plants were severed even outside the reach of his blade, and burned wherever the blade touched them.

He saw through the relentless press of plants and the attacks that wove fact and feint as though they had a will of their own, and his battōjutsu cleanly dispatched them, every one.

All of this was witnessed by those present.

(Reinforcement and enchantment on everyone!? … And to this degree!?)

But with this…

The light that had nearly faded from their eyes rekindled.

As the cleanup of severed plants and the resumption of intercept actions began, Pasha remained alone, motionless.

What stretched into her vision were the hateful plants.

In her fairy state, she could only have affected what was visible to her, but now was different.

"You're not getting away, not a single one of you! Non-Filēs!"

Pasha's mana caught hold of her targets and permeated through them.

In sync with that, she layered on a chant, and what was born was a gray veil flickering across the sky.

It overlapped with a purple veil, and a rust-colored veil, and finally the veil that came to cover the heavens turned black, darker than the night's darkness.

"— Remora-Mors! And for good measure, Vox Non-Grata!"

The veil descended, and where it touched the plants, those parts vanished.

In places it sank through the ground; not the whole plant mass, but a considerable swath of it had been hit, just as she had aimed.

And the effect was tremendous.

Their movements grew sluggish, and the binding strength of the vines and carnivorous types weakened.

Above all, the proliferation of the plants and the frequency and volume of the poisons and acids they scattered visibly thinned. The effects of resistance- and vitality-reduction.

"Gnome!"

Acknowledged!

Boom. The earth trembled.

Not once, not twice.

Amid the repeated thunderous tremors, Gabriel and the few in the air cleared away the exposed plants.

And by the time only a tenth of the plants remained,

A particularly large tremor split the earth, and…

(An explosion!? No!)

The people realized that it hadn't burst. It was the aftershock of something underground being pushed up.

What appeared then was the root source connecting all the plants… probably.

The plants around it were too many, too vast, too far, for them to grasp its full form. As they remembered that the battle so far had been only the tip of the iceberg, they were ready to drop to their knees…

"All right, here we gooo!"

"Hit 'em with everything we've got!"

"We're paying back every grudge we owe!"

Or rather, no one was.

They had irregular comrades by their sides.

A user of arts who lifted the team's overall capabilities as high as they could go and reduced enemies' abilities to an entertaining degree.

A great spirit whose mere presence as an ally was meaningful, and whose explanation was already unnecessary.

And another, beyond them.

"Pasha, Gnome. Support, please."

"Got it!"

I will keep track of the time limit. Don't push yourself too hard.

To the great spirit's words, Gabriel nodded with an out-of-place gentle smile, then bit down on his own arm.

What slid down his peristaltic throat was his own blood.

By re-ingesting the oni blood that flowed through his oni-kin body, he could bring his physical ability closer to the demon god's.

"… Gh…"

His face contorted at the boiling heat that seemed to flare through his entire body.

Perhaps reading that as an opening, the plants surged in.

Not only those that had been exposed from the start, but unfamiliar plants that had been laid bare as well.

The first wave was cleaved aside by battōjutsu, but the second and third waves came too quickly to fully meet, more an avalanche than a wave, and it swallowed him.

But suddenly, the plants ballooned outward, then burst.

At their center stood Gabriel, fist thrust upward, frozen mid-pose.

There was no falter in his stance that suggested a mortal wound, but blood was streaming from his fist and arm.

"Altsum-Crat!"

As if she had anticipated this, Pasha's chant completed, and a gentle circle of light shone down on Gabriel.

Though the light still lingered, Gabriel had already broken into a run.

What Pasha spoke from her lips was not a word to chide him but the chant of another spell.

Gabriel simply tore straight forward.

If something flew at him, he punched it and it burst apart; even huge stalks that tried to bar his path, he hurled aside as though they were cotton.

But each time, blood spurted from his body, and at times it twisted, or broke.

"Matrix-Crat!"

Layered circles enveloped Gabriel's body, and eventually became an invisible sphere around him.

A healing spell that, as long as the spell's effect lasted, would perpetually repair him.

Bastard of the demon god though he was, as an oni-kin he was no god.

The closer he drew to the demon god, the greater the corresponding load on his body, and once it exceeded his limit, that translated into injury.

The reason he had resorted to this double-edged sword of self-doping was that, as long as the enemy could draw mana and life force from the ground, a long fight was unconditionally to their disadvantage. He had judged that, with the conditions arranged as they were now, this was the time to commit to a short, decisive engagement.

"Attack!"

Snapped back to themselves by Pasha's voice, the people resumed their attacks.

Pasha's reinforcement and the enemy's weakening, Gnome's support, and Gabriel's near-demonization.

That alone might not be enough.

It was because he had judged so that, with the enemy exposed above ground and everyone able to attack at once, an offensive in the current circumstances was the best option.

Fire burned, ice froze, blades of wind and steel cut.

The repeated assaults pushed back the weakened plants' regeneration and proliferation, and…

"!"

Eventually Gabriel spotted an existence whose atmosphere differed from the plants up to that point.

It was a spore split into four parts.

Its sheer size was abnormal in itself, but the four faces, one floating on each lobe, declared just how abnormal that spore was.

Oh deeear, we've been spotted～? Kya ha ha ha ha ha!

Nothing to laugh about, you damn moron! Argh, every single one of you is useless!

Ahh… yeah, we shouldn't have come to a place like this, we're done for…

Yeah yeah! It's been ages since we were out somewhere bright, so coming was worth it after all!

Each face said whatever it pleased, with no coordination at all.

To call this the main body of plants that had displayed such organized movement was rather unsettling.

"You four are this plant's main body?"

And so Gabriel asked.

Correct correct very correct! Kya ha ha ha ha!

Ah!? Can't ya tell just by lookin', dumbass!

Ahh, it's been so long since I've had a conversation! I'm so looking forward to this!

We're already done for, everyone, at least let me—

"— Draws."

… At least let me finish what I was saying.

That huuurts, you damn moron! Why's a sword cuttin' through a barrier, you piece of trash!! You basta—!

Cleaved in two by battōjutsu, which also severed mana effects, two of the faces were crushed.

He kicked aside a plant closing from his blind spot, then followed with another single slash.

The main body had no combat ability of its own, apparently; the counterattacks came only from the plants extending around it.

"Gnome, if I just keep cutting like this, will it be all right?"

… No. It seems we were too slow.

"Eh?"

In the very moment he was about to voice his question, Gabriel was struck by a light shock.

And his vision was dyed green.

"This is…"

Their "residue", as it were.

It was clearer to Pasha and the others, watching from outside, than to Gabriel at the center.

The enormous plant had completely ceased moving and showed no sign of starting up again. As someone raised a triumphant cheer, joy and victory cries spread.

And amid that, a green-and-brown object that had burst outward fell softly into Pasha's hands.

"This is… a spore?"

"Probably should burn it just in case, huh."

"A-ah, yeah."

The flame of a nearby mage burned the spore.

At the center, Gabriel swung his sword at the spot where the main body had been, just to be safe, but there was no resistance.

"… Does that mean it got away?"

That it does.

Whether the main body had hidden among the spores, or whether each spore could become a main body, Gnome did not know.

But finding a place where it could take root was difficult, and even if it did luck into reaching one quickly, recklessly devouring would only tighten the noose around its own neck.

It will be quite a while before it can revive. First, we should dispose of these ugly things… ah, the time limit is up.

"Eh? Ah…"

Like a marionette with its strings cut, Gabriel crumpled to the ground.

It was the reaction from approaching the demon god. His fatigue had reached its limit, and Gabriel's body refused to obey him at all anymore.

Staying here is too dangerous. Here.

Small Gnomes popped up out of the ground one after another, and together hoisted Gabriel up.

While the regular Gnome guarded them, the smaller ones carried Gabriel along, chanting "Heave-ho, heave-ho."

That carefree picture drew smiles all around.

"Gab-kun!"

"Ahh, Pasha. Glad you're okay."

"Gab-kun's also okay-ish! Recovering you, now… aauuah～…"

It seemed her time limit had run out too. Pon. She shrank back down and dropped lightly atop Gabriel.

The two of them, fawning over each other in spite of being at their limits, made the surroundings sag in a different sense.

But the very fact that they were free to do that was proof that the battle had been decided.

Everyone sensed as much, and the tension drained out of them, consciously and unconsciously alike.

A deep sorrow for the comrades they had lost, and the sense of relief at having survived a long, harsh battle.

For the aftermath of such a great battle, a strange stillness wrapped the place.

 

*

 

The seas far east of Akradist's mainland.

Atop the ice that covered the sea's surface, a great many people moved about.

Even the best course of action carries some sacrifice, hm.

The voice that rumbled low belonged to the massive crab.

But no one was there who could hear it.

"Don't slack on your attacks! Massive as it is, if we can knock out its legs we have a chance of winning!!"

""""Oohh!!""""

Manipulating the water clinging to the soles of their feet to skim across the ice faster than running, the sailor guild members darted about. Many took to the air as well. Those who lacked the means of high-speed movement, mostly soldiers and other combatants, relied on countermeasures to predicted attacks.

They were Akradist's finest, selected to remove the cause of the sea's freezing.

Showing a measure of strength, then. Best, I judge. If they retreat, fine. If they come at me, then that too, well.

A sound like the rumbling of the earth, and eight arms began to move.

True to the intelligence they had gathered, when the four thick claws opened, arrows of ice were generated with a series of cracks and pops.

Owing to their sheer size, the trajectories were easy to read. Those skimming the ice and those soaring through the sky began evasive maneuvers; those slower in speed layered barriers and shifted into defensive stances.

And then it fired.

Faster than such a giant body should be capable of, and precisely because of that size, the range one had to evade was wide.

But since they had been able to know about it in advance:

Using their speed to evade, taking the hits on barriers.

But that was all they could do.

"How can it be… this much…!"

If they didn't commit to evasion they couldn't dodge it, and attack wasn't an option. With the first impact, every barrier was stripped away; from the second on, the trampling began.

They hadn't been underestimating it.

It was only that their estimate had been too generous.

The result: many lives were scattered, and red stains spread across the shattered ice.

"Tch…!"

In the icy hell, a single guild member gnashed his teeth at his own helplessness.

The name given him for his Orbwight arena run, during which he wielded a demon-sword nothing could block: Tristan of the Demon Sword.

A demon-sword that could cut through any shield or blade meant nothing against such overwhelming mass.

He had managed to evade it with the hastily-learned water-surface movement spell, but the damage only mounted.

(If only I could close the distance…!)

He could carve open even that thick shell.

But it wasn't going to be that easy.

The thick claws that loosed long-range attacks moved slightly slow, while the slender claw arms apparently handled direct close-quarters intercepts, and their speed was correspondingly fast.

And "slender" was only relative to the other set's thickness.

He wanted to strike back at the moment of attack, but evading had to come first, and he couldn't carry through with what he intended.

Still, he had no intention of being killed sitting here.

"!"

He wasn't the only one with that will.

It was an act akin to throwing pebbles at a mountain, but they could draw its attention.

As though to declare that, from above, several flame-spears were hurled at the crab.

Thanks to their effort, more of the claws were directed skyward, and on the ice, recovery and the reformation of formations finally began.

And Tristan, with the others' diversion paying off, broke into its range.

"Hah!"

His demon-sword slashed at the legs that towered like walls.

The blow couldn't bite the way it cut armor or shields, but it did carve in a wound that could not be ignored.

(I can do this…!)

That was when it happened.

A slender claw was raised.

The mages, thinking it was an intercept aimed at those soaring above, opened up the distance.

That prediction was, in a sense, correct, and at the same time wrong.

"Wha!?"

"Whoa!?"

They reflexively went into evasive action, but ice arrows pierced several of them.

The arrows were considerably smaller and thinner than those fired from the thick claws.

But their sheer number was in a different league.

Few were able to dodge all of the ice arrows scattered across such a wide area, and many were wounded and dropped to the ground.

If they fell straight down, fatal injury would be certain. Naturally, others rushed to recover them.

And there, the thick claw arms were brought down.

There was no means to endure a direct hit from that.

The ice was shattered, vibrations shook the surrounding area, and fragments flew toward those who had been frozen by the impact.

"H-how can this be…"

In the eyes of those who had somehow managed to weather the blow, no light of hope remained.

It had been a sortie driven by anger.

Even so, they had drawn up countermeasures and prepared, as best they could.

But all of that had been meaningless, because they had misjudged the very nature of their enemy from the outset.

A creature beyond human reckoning.

"Were we… were we just supposed to wait for death…?"

Fleeing the land would be best… But what's been built up cannot easily be cast aside, hm.

There was no one to react to the crab's voice.

Some stood there blankly in despair, others shrank and trembled in fear, others lamented their own helplessness…

Yet not every single human had given up.

Those who kept casting healing spells. Those who shouted with all the voice they had, doing everything they could to rally those around them. Even Tristan, tossed on shattered ice, unable to move under the half-baked water-walking spell and bracing himself with one hand against the ground, was one of them.

(Something, some way… something!)

He thought desperately, but no answer came. And yet, he kept thinking.

Even watching one comrade after another fall wounded, his will to resist only grew stronger.

But reality was merciless. No answer came, and many more lost their lives.

"… Damn iiiit!"

It didn't matter what happened to him. He wanted to protect people. That was what he had sworn to wield this demon-sword for.

If not now, then when?

Without an answer, Tristan raised his sword and charged…

Now now, don't be hasty～

The instant a voice that didn't suit the scene reached his ears, his vision was painted pure white.

The same went for the crab.

… What is this? Not mist… smoke… ash, hm?

Judging from the fact that it couldn't be manipulated that it was not made of water, the crab considered how to blow it away, and then the wind cleared its sight.

What was revealed was the figure of humans beginning to retreat.

That too is acceptable… But to merely let them go is not the best, no.

The crab raised a slender claw and struck.

The claw shattered ice, but slipped through the body of a person.

… What?

It blinked, baffled at the strange phenomenon.

Were they dodging so quickly that it looked like the strike had passed through them? Was its vision being deceived? The most likely was…

Illusory arts, then.

Judging this, the crab scattered hail over a wide area.

Its power was nothing a shield couldn't block, and its lethality was low. But its purpose, to deliver a wide-area attack, was achieved, and the result showed.

It seemed everyone's position had been off in its perception, but all of them had survived.

"Aw, you spotted us already～?"

And it learned of the existence of a winged mermaid shielded by a membrane of water.

"Best-san, isn't it? We have no intention of fighting you."

"However," the winged mermaid… the Siren smiled mysteriously.

"We will be removing this ice."

… If you can, that is.

"Well then."

Smiling, the Siren raised her hand to the sky.

"Splaaash!!"

A thunderous roar. And a tremor.

What appeared in response to her voice was a divine beast.

It surfaced by smashing through the ice with its massive body, and again shattered ice when it dove back into the water.

In the cascade of spray that fell like a downpour, the Siren and the crab still stood facing each other.

"… You're not putting it back up?"

… No need, no.

After eliminating everything, it would slowly restore it.

If most of those retreating overheard that, they would judge as much and quicken their pace in order to live.

But the Siren was different.

"In that case, please allow us to evacuate completely from here."

An ice arrow pierced the smiling Siren.

Yet what remained were only the fragments of ice it had broken through.

… So she fled, hm.

That too is acceptable, the crab thought, folding its arms and letting itself drift along the sea's flow.

When such a number of humans had pressed in to subjugate it, it had already achieved its objective, after all.

Meanwhile, beneath the thick ice…

"Ababababa."

The Siren was trembling, teeth chattering.

"Scary scary scary, no way I'm taking on something like that without Ilya-chan, no way nope～"

"Which is why we said we'd take the front line for you…"

"Now that is no good～"

Her tone was soft and her smile wide, but the firmness in her declaration left no room for debate, and the mermaids fell silent.

"… Understood."

You had to be an illusion user capable of hiding an entire island to throw off those gigantic arrows' aim.

And above all, they knew her nature: that she hated to see those around her hurt more than she hated being hurt herself.

That was precisely why everyone wished to protect her, to support her, and lent her their strength.

"Then let's head on ahead. What's important is what comes next, yes?"

"That's right～. Yeah, let's give it our best!"

"Yes."

Even if it meant saving the hated humans.

 

*

 

And a few days later.

"Have the people who were fighting all made it back?"

"Yes. We've gotten word from Tristan-san too."

The Siren and the mermaids had concealed themselves in the waters near Akradist's largest port city, Tiamadist.

"Then, as planned, please handle the canceling-out of the waves."

""""Yes!""""

Watching the mermaids scatter, the Siren stroked the divine beast standing behind her.

As if sensing her intent, the high, clear cry kyui echoed through the deep sea.

Spurred on by that cry, the Siren too headed for the port.

"Wh-what is that?"

The bewildered voice was that of a soldier on lookout duty.

At the end of his gaze stood a human figure atop the ice.

But that figure had wings, and no feet that bore a human shape.

"Wh-who are you!"

Eventually people gathered, and the one in command stepped forward and addressed the figure.

"I am the mermaids' chief. It seems all of you in Akradist are in some difficulty, so I have come."

Confusion spread among them at the Siren's voice.

Acknowledging that with an "ah" of agreement, the Siren spoke again:

"Please, do not be alarmed. I have no intention of harming you."

So saying, she smiled warmly.

And bowed low in courtesy.

(Well then… let's begin!)

She plucked the strings of the harp she held, and raised her hand to the sky.

"Kaboooom!"

To the thunderous noise that accompanied the cry, ice shattered and the divine beast leapt through the air, twisting its body.

Screams, cheers, stunned silence.

Before the eyes of a great crowd, Operation Bahamut Hero was set in motion.

 

*

 

The Reinhardt Empire, by the shore of Lake Shura.

There remained no trace of the lake that had once supported the Empire as its largest. Only a cracked, ravaged, desolate landscape stretched out.

Looking on at the scene, the soldiers harbored many emotions.

But that they did not voice or display them was due in part to their pride as the elite chosen for the subjugation force.

And in part because the Emperor himself, the man they revered, stood before them.

The front of the formation.

Standing where no commander should ever stand, the Emperor surveyed his soldiers.

"The people of the Empire are facing a crisis."

His voice, not raised, somehow spread through the entire formation.

"You can see, can you not. The horrid state of that once benevolent and beautiful lake. You can see, can you not. The mighty monster that is the cause of this devastation."

What blurred into view in the distance was a distorted sphere.

So that thing was the source of this catastrophe, the soldiers stared.

"It has dried up the lake, wreathed the area in unnatural heat. And yet, why it remains here, no one knows."

But, the Emperor raised his voice.

"What is certain is the fact that this thing has withered the lives of the Empire's people! And still it seeks to gnaw away at many more lives of our people!"

There were doubtless those among them who had had acquaintances among the victims.

There were doubtless those whose families had been affected by the drying up of the water source.

Speaking slowly, so that both those who clenched their fists involuntarily and those who did not might understand, the Emperor continued:

"Therefore, to investigate its true nature, we sent an investigation party, but it yielded no results. The heat, too great to permit the existence of life, was such that no one could set foot inside."

Those who had known this fact waited silently for his next words; those hearing it for the first time wore looks of bewilderment. Looking around at them, the Emperor said:

"And yet, we are here! I ask of you all! Is there anyone here who cannot endure this heat!"

"""No!"""

"Is there anyone who, with the enemy before them, wishes to retreat!"

""""No!""""

The Emperor thrust up the jet-black sword in his hand.

"The reason we have managed to reach this place! The reason none of you feel the heat! It is by the authority of a single divine sword: Lyle!"

Amid the cheers that rose like a roar, the Emperor declared:

"Therefore, fear nothing! The divine sword shall be the power that protects us! Therefore, do not falter! The divine sword shall be the power with which you strike down the enemy!"

And he leveled the sword at the misshapen sphere.

"Advance together!! Soldiers of the Empire!!"

"""""Oohh oohh oohh!!"""""

With the Emperor, cavalry, infantry, and spear units charged forward.

And so, the Lake Shura recovery operation began.

And a unit deployed a little apart from the main formation also began to move.

"Siege engine corps, forward!"

At the order, more than a dozen siege engines began their preparations.

Among the trebuchets were ones that hurled bundled stones, ones that launched massive boulders, and there were also weapons that fired pieces shaped from entire great trees as spears.

Even in a world where magic was developed, these were occasionally used to break barriers or for surprise attacks, and they had been brought together for this fight in which magic could not be casually used.

"First trebuchet army, ready!"

"Second trebuchet army, ready!"

"Spear-breakers, ready!"

"All units, confirm targets! It's fine to miss, but whatever you do, don't hit the main force!"

At the order leader's raised hand, a flag bearer lifted the war banner…

"Fire!!"

And swung it down with the command.

At that signal, the volley of every projectile rained toward the sphere.

Of course, even as massive as the sphere was, some shots missed.

But the vast majority struck the sphere head on, and it distorted and burst.

It was working.

With that conviction, strength flowed naturally into the soldiers' hands.

"— Fire!!"

The next to touch the sphere were the arrows loosed by the archers.

Poison, paralytic toxin, mana-nerve toxin.

Things condemned as inhumane, but against monsters and abominations such things didn't matter, and the heavily-coated arrowheads buried themselves into the sphere.

The extent of the effect was unknown, but they had certainly struck home.

"Spear-throwers, follow right! Fire!!"

One after another, spears flew in and lodged themselves… and at last, the sphere collapsed.

(Was the magical heat barrier and attack its very lifeline…?)

It was a clear push, but they couldn't drop their guard.

The opponent was an evil god. Until the very end, they could not slacken their attacks.

The Emperor steeled himself.

"It is working! Show this thing the strength of all of you!!"

""""Oohh oohh oohh…!!""""

The soldiers charged to annihilate the weakened enemy.

And right before their eyes, the change occurred.

"It moved…!"

"!?"

The sphere, which had been simply still, began to act.

Then it shuddered, and all at once collapsed.

A death throe?

As if to mock the soldier who entertained that optimistic thought, the change went on.

"Wha… people!?"

Their forms were human.

Yet they had no faces, no fingers.

Transparent mud-doll-like humanoids stood up trembling.

Their number easily exceeded thirty.

The misshapen humanoids were each armed with spears and arrows of the Imperial army.

"Don't be misled! Even if the enemy holds weapons, show it the skill it cannot match in a day or two!"

The Emperor shouted.

Looking closer, scattered at the humanoids' feet were what had probably been the remnants of the sphere.

There would be no holding back now.

His judgment was correct.

But, fundamentally, the change was not yet finished.

"Wha, what…"

Even the Emperor widened his eyes at the single humanoid that loomed up, scattering parts of itself in clumps.

Its body was thin as wire. Yet that was only relative to the giant frame that looked easily over twice the size of any of the others.

And in its hand was the remnant of the massive spear that had been hurled first.

By human reckoning, it clearly lacked the muscle to wield it, but at this point that hardly mattered.

"Your Majesty. That giant. I'll go."

The one to step forward was Torsti. The fact that he had his hand on his bracelet was a sign that he was going to remove it.

If the giant possessed monstrous strength, then the oni blood he carried would be the only means to counter it.

"… I leave it to you."

"Yes."

Do not push yourself. Such words he could not say.

The reason he had left First Prince Alphonse in the capital was as a contingency for the very worst case.

To one who had come with that much resolve, such words were not the right thing to say.

"Tris."

"?"

Stopped just as he was about to remove the bracelet, Torsti turned back to the Emperor.

The words to say at this moment. Such things were already decided.

"Strike it down well!"

"Yes!"

Removing the bracelet, Torsti broke into a run.

Despite the delay from their exchange, the leg strength that brought him neck and neck with the cavalry already ahead was nothing short of remarkable.

But this was no time to simply see him off, either.

"The enemy is not many! Surround a humanoid in groups and destroy it!"

A melee between the misshapen humanoids and the humans began.

The Imperial army, numerically superior, surrounded each humanoid with many; while some defended, others attacked, and they pressed the offensive to whittle them down for certain.

Cavalry charged in lines with spears thrust out, coordinating with the infantry.

All of this was inter-unit coordination born of training, premised on combat against other species superior in baseline physical ability.

But their opponent was not human.

"This thing…!"

"There's no end to them…!"

No matter how many times they slashed, although they cleaved them, they regenerated almost at once.

Some parts seemed to scatter and not return, which at least confirmed they were inflicting damage, but a war of attrition was unavoidable.

A war of attrition against opponents they couldn't even tell were alive?

The soldiers steeled their disgusted hearts and swung their swords.

And Torsti had succeeded in pulling the giant away from the main force.

His method had been mostly to grab it by the leg and throw, a rather brawny approach, but by doing so he learned several things.

First.

Its enormous size and mass were certainly not to be ignored, but to him as he was now, the motions of raising and bringing down its spear were too slow.

And second.

"Hah!"

When he severed something resembling its arm, much of the limb rejoined.

But the points of severance, or where the spear's weight had crushed it, did not come back.

It probably wasn't all that resistant to physical shock. Convinced of this from their exchange so far, Torsti changed his method of attack.

"Hah!"

He hit.

He hit, dodged. He hit and hit.

Primitive as it was, this was faster than throwing, and let him kill off more parts of the body.

That the giant's body looked as though it had shrunk wasn't his imagination.

At this rate… just as he was thinking that…

"!?"

A sudden roar accompanied by a blast of wind made him whirl around, and what spread there was the unchanged sight of ongoing combat.

Save for one thing: a gaping, empty space.

Looking more closely, he saw scattered, motionless humanoid remnants, and fragments of people, scattered.

"Self-destruct! Shield yourselves at all costs!"

"Don't miss the instant they swell up!"

So he heard people shout.

Self-destruct. At those words, Torsti returned his gaze to the giant.

(If this one self-destructs, the scale will be in a different league…!)

He had to put more distance between it and the main camp.

So he thought, but it didn't work.

(This thing…!)

Its bearing. The speed of its spear-swings.

(It's getting stronger…!?)

It still wasn't a match for Torsti, but if the other humanoids were strengthening in the same way…

Such thoughts crossed his mind, and he forced down the panic that nearly took hold.

"My role is to defeat you for certain."

He muttered it to himself like a vow, and Torsti honed his focus.

Meanwhile, in the main force, his prediction had hit the mark, and the situation was changing due to the strengthened humanoids.

On top of that, the earlier self-destruct.

(Asking them not to falter is the unreasonable demand.)

Against opponents who might self-destruct at any moment, the frequency of attacks dropped, which in turn handed the enemy more initiative. And again, another humanoid's body swelled.

"This is ba—!"

But the soldier who had just been attacking it had no time to bring up his shield.

I'm done for.

So he thought, closing his eyes, and the explosion's roar struck his ears.

"…?"

But there was no pain in his body.

"Open your eyes!"

"Y-yes!"

Shouted at, he opened his eyes, and there was a human back.

And not just any human's. It was the Emperor's back.

"I return it. Your shield."

"Y-yes!"

Receiving back the shield he was supposed to have been holding, the soldier somehow forced down his confusion and rejoined the fight.

To put it plainly: using the authority of the white divine sword Hardia, the Emperor himself had, in the stopped flow of time, borrowed the shield and stood in front of the soldier to block the impact.

It wasn't something the Emperor should be doing himself just because he could, but he had judged that, if he let more casualties from self-destructs accumulate, the soldiers' attacks would dull even further.

(But to read every self-destruct…)

The Emperor lacked eyes that could grasp the entire battlefield, and given the advantage the divine sword granted him, that was his only worry.

So went his complacency.

"Your Majesty!!"

The voice, almost a scream, came too late, and what the Emperor felt was a sharp pain.

When he looked, an arrow had pierced his right arm.

Perhaps the poison had begun to circulate. All at once his body refused to obey him, but it wasn't the time to dwell on that.

(This is bad…!!)

What he had been holding in his injured right hand was the divine sword Lyle.

The divine sword with the authority to nullify every kind of magic was now slipping from his grasp.

Apart from its wielder, it could not exercise its authority.

Perhaps sensing the disappearance of Lyle's authority on their skin, several of the humanoids began generating orbs of fire.

I won't let them.

He tried to invoke Hardia in time, but the paralytic poison must have spread. He failed to grip properly, and Hardia, too, was about to slip from his hand.

In the midst of all this, his body began to call out, abnormally hot.

(In a place like this…!)

In his dimming awareness, what he saw was a soldier's hand reaching toward Lyle as it rolled away.

Quickly.

Quickly hand it to me.

The wish couldn't be spoken aloud, and incredibly, the soldier held up the divine sword Lyle to the sky.

"Manifest, the authority of the divine sword Lyle."

In that instant, the heat vanished.

"Hmm. It really did work out."

"Who… are you…?"

Only Torsti had been granted permission to accompany him. As far as anyone who could wield a divine sword was concerned, the Emperor was the only one.

Removing his helmet, the soldier revealed his face to the Emperor.

"You were the one who told me to prepare for any contingency. Father."

"Al… phonse…!?"

A stir ran through those around them as well.

Realizing that a member of the imperial family had been mixed in with the infantry, garbed as a common soldier and participating in the fight, their surprise was only natural.

But the present situation didn't allow them to dawdle in surprise.

"Take His Majesty back! Tell the treatment unit to spare nothing!"

"Yes!"

"W, wait…!"

He had decided that this was where, as Emperor, he would make his final stage.

He had meant to atone for starting a foolish war, for burdening his vassals and his people with hardship.

Even at the cost of his life.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty. The place of your death is no such dried-out wasteland."

Having seen all that, First Prince Alphonse declared:

"To gaze upon an Empire I have brought back to strength through my politics, surrounded by family who watch over you, departing with a smile. That is your way of dying. Father."

"… The things you say. You… fool of a son."

Showing a bitter smile, watching the Emperor as he was carried away, Alphonse surveyed the area.

"Now then, soldiers of the Empire! Whether to be reviled as incompetents who let His Majesty be wounded, or praised as loyal vassals roused by his wounding: this is the crucial moment!"

In the midst of the battlefield, the eyes of those who could meet Alphonse's gaze were eloquent.

Even if you didn't have to say it.

Sensing the will they couldn't quite voice in front of royalty, Alphonse raised the corner of his mouth.

"First, then, let us fulfill the necessary conditions."

So saying, he held aloft the divine sword Hardia.

"Tris!"

"Brother!? Why are you here…!"

In a space severed from the flow of time, only the two of them exchanged words unchanged.

"That can wait. Hurry up and take down that big thing."

"!"

No matter how powerful divine tools were, their effects were constrained by limits of time and distance.

Even so, the reason he hadn't taken this clearly advantageous option had probably been out of respect for Torsti's wish "not to rely on the divine swords."

How soft.

Even as Alphonse thought that, the fact that it didn't offend him meant he himself probably had similar softness.

(But… this really does take it out of me.)

As Alphonse layered repeated invocations of the spell, he gritted his teeth at the sensation of something draining from his body.

It was different from the sensation of expending mana; it was the feeling of being increasingly unable to hold his focus together. He had never experienced anything quite like it, and it took a real toll on him.

(… My respect, truly, is due my father.)

Even as he respected his father, who up until they reached this place had been firing Lyle as though it were nothing, he wanted to congratulate himself for having tagged along uninvited.

He had no leeway to spare a thought for his brother's exhaustion, but even so, the one-sided assault ended quickly.

Battered all over, the giant fell still, its whole body turning the same color as the immobile remnants.

Standing at its feet, Torsti turned back.

"It's done! Should I take down the other humanoids too!?"

"No, give the soldiers their chance to shine!"

Without conveying the fatigue from invoking the divine swords, Alphonse dispelled Lyle's authority.

"Behold! Tris has struck down the giant!"

The collapsing giant.

To the soldiers it must have looked like an instant.

While demonstrating Lyle's power, Alphonse declared:

"Soldiers, attack without holding back! And if anyone spots a self-destructing enemy, raise your voice! My brother will hurl that vile thing far off in an instant!"

A cheer rose, and the tide that had nearly been turning against them swung back to the imperial side.

They pressed their attack with certainty, and the moment they saw signs of self-destruct, they reported.

Torsti rushed in, hurled it far, and it burst.

The humanoids had learned and grown stronger, but in terms of numbers, the Imperial army held a complete advantage, and one by one, the humanoids were diminished.

And when all the humanoids had vanished…

"Our victory! The Empire's victory!!"

"""Ohh ohh ohh ohh ohh ohh!!"""

It wasn't long before victorious roars and cheers rose.

The being called the most numerous of the evil gods was a collective of small amorphous creatures.

Annihilating every last one of them was an extremely difficult task, and even this time, parts of it that had been blown away by the initial siege engines had survived.

In time, they would gather strength again over long years and once more rise to the level called an evil god.

But that was a trivial matter.

In the long history of hardship that would begin with the end of the war, the victory the Emperor himself had won for the people, even as he was wounded, would be a support for the Empire's citizens for a long time to come.

 

*

 

The Mithledge Kingdom, at the crater of Mt. Fyaguraja.

In the midst of seething lava, that kept punching the gushing magma.

Weak! Too weak!

The voice was filled with anger.

But its expression was nothing. Not figuratively, but literally, for it had no face, no eyes, no mouth.

For all that I am mighty, what utter fragility! What an unsightly display!

Arms covered with short fur were long and thick, while its legs were short relative to those arms, and its overall figure resembled a primate.

But whenever it raised its voice or swung its arms, the flames that flickered evaporated even the lava.

Make me feel it! My strength!! Endure more, and feel it! My strength!!

Stamping the ground, lashing out in anger, the monkey caught an odd noise above.

?

Looking up, there were rocks.

And these were rocks whose size easily reached four times that of a fully-grown man, larger than even the monkey's massive frame.

There were so many of them, raining toward the crater, that there was no point even counting them.

Hmph.

But the monkey snorted in derision.

Immediately afterward, a serpent-like raging flame burst up, swallowing the incoming boulders, which melted away one after another.

Lukewarm, too lukewarm!!

The mages who had taken advantage of the brief opening to close in took in the sight of the monkey roused anew with mostly stunned recognition.

Lula, who had hurled the enormous mass of boulders.

And the monkey monster who had brushed it aside as if it were nothing.

There were those who regretted having stepped into a danger zone, but it was too late.

Oh, surrounded?

The monkey looked around.

Although its face had no eyes, the mages felt themselves pierced by its gaze.

"There is nothing to fear. Nothing to be impatient over."

At the words of the lecturer, who had been put in charge of leading from the front, the agitated mages began to recover their composure. Acknowledging that, he raised his staff forward.

"Now then, let us execute the plan."

The mages encircling the monkey began chanting.

While letting out a fuha chuckle at the fullness of mana flowing in from every direction, the monkey had absolutely no intention of staying on the defensive.

How will you handle this, humans?!

From the crater were born again serpents of flame, just like before.

The five flame-serpents thrashed wildly and eventually bared their fangs at the mages.

But the violent, searing heat that had melted even great boulders failed to scorch them.

"Hee hee, did you think we came here with no countermeasures at all?"

Their armor and defenses honed and specialized for the fire attribute, barriers and accessories all geared toward that, gave them a defense rating capable of even diving into the crater unharmed.

Of course, this was the result of narrowing it down to one attribute alone, the fruit of long years of research by the magic guild and of having dedicated different teams to barriers, reinforcement, and so on, separate from the attack team, that they had finally achieved this advantage.

It had its drawbacks, namely low versatility and rapid drain on resources, but they had no intention of fighting a prolonged battle in the first place.

"Fire!"

A barrage of magic struck the monkey at once.

Of course, there were no fire-type spells. As with the boulders, some would surely be defended against.

But it was a saturation attack designed to overwhelm its ability to handle it.

By the first wave they could no longer see, and yet the second and third waves were poured into it without mercy.

"Cease fire."

Even with their numbers, mana wasn't inexhaustible.

When they stopped to confirm the situation, what reflected in their eyes was…

What's wrong, finished already?!

The still-uninjured monkey. Its body, completely unscathed.

"That can't be…"

Why?

Mired in confusion, the commander desperately searched for the cause, and a clear difference came into view.

It was the flame the monkey wore.

Indeed, that was the only difference she could find.

If you're done, then I'll come at you!!

As the monkey swung its arm, the flame it wore changed shape.

The form was like a whip,

(I-it's fine, we blocked it earlier…)

And as a result, both the barrier and a section of the encirclement were crushed and burned away.

"S-shoot!! Don't let it do as it pleases!!"

At the voice, the mages reflexively began chanting.

If they hadn't, they would have tried to flee from the spot then and there.

Whether holding their ground was the right answer, they couldn't say, but they did at least manage to stop the monkey's pursuit.

"Hmm… so that's how it cancels out magic, then."

Glimpsing the form of the whip before her sight was covered, Lula muttered as much.

The boy serving as her contact with the guild couldn't conceal his confusion at her oddly composed manner.

"L-Lula-san, this is really bad, that thing, the barrier…!!"

"Quiet. I was watching."

That was exactly why she was thinking through how to break the impasse.

What is it? Savor my power more thoroughly!!

Cloaking itself in flames that were both the strongest of spears and the firmest of shields, the monkey laughed loudly with its faceless voice.

Lula couldn't hear that voice, but she understood that, before the monkey turned serious, she had to find a way through.

But magic was canceled out by its flames.

In that case… physical attacks?

(Ordinary ones'll just get melted.)

Ordinary.

The word caught in her head, and the boy beside her also seemed to flash on something, his eyes lighting up.

His gaze fell on the spear she held.

"Th-that's right! Lula-san's demon-spear!"

"No."

"Eh!?"

Lula answered without missing a beat.

But the boy was neither in a position to back down at just those words, nor was the situation forgiving.

"Why not!?"

"This thing's effect… right now, at least, I can't use it."

To be precise, she did not have a complete grasp of the full extent of its effect.

When Lula faced the demon who had wielded this demon-spear, she had been thrust at a place she'd already been wounded by another weapon, and the wound had expanded.

After she defeated the demon and obtained the spear, testing revealed that it expanded not only wounds caused by weapons but also those inflicted by magic.

And testing also revealed that, when used to strike an unwounded part, the user's hand would be injured.

"So using it on something completely uninjured now is meaningless."

If anything, it'd be a loss.

Hearing that, the boy couldn't help muttering.

"Why on earth would you carry something so troublesome…"

Because Ilya had told her to.

To be precise, Ilya had not specifically described the demon or the spear, but soon after Lula began searching, she had found that very demon and that very spear, and she had concluded "this must be the one" because of how conveniently it fit.

To compensate for the disadvantages discovered in testing, she had practiced spear arts with the demon-spear, and that had clearly proved easier to handle than a sword or a bow; the same was true with ordinary spears, not just the demon-spear.

At the time, she had marveled, thinking Ilya had foreseen her aptitude…

(Ah, I see.)

Reaching that thought, Lula realized something.

There's no need to think about it.

"Tell the others to stop their magic when I move."

"Eh, Lula-san!?"

Without answering the call, Lula leapt.

In a flash she was behind the monkey.

She felt the heat more keenly than at the edge, but it was not a problem.

Nu!?

By the time the monkey noticed her presence and turned around, the spear was already piercing its body.

If she were going by the test results alone, attacking an unwounded monkey would mean she'd only injure herself.

But Ilya had been involved in her acquiring this demon-spear.

(Then the fact that I'm here, holding this demon-spear, can't be meaningless.)

It was a conviction.

Of course it was Lula's own overestimation, not Ilya's actual intent, but that didn't matter.

"Ya."

Guh…!

The Long Spear Felarma.

This demon-spear, whose spearhead widened toward the haft, had an ability specialized in "expanding wounds."

The drawback was that, when used to strike an unwounded part, it injured the wielder instead of the target.

And the benefit was that, when it pierced an already-wounded part, it doubled the damage.

Those were only a part of Felarma's abilities.

Its true ability was "the expansion of destruction."

A spear. It was a weapon designed to harm people, a tool to bring forth destruction.

For that reason, if the one struck was unwounded, the "destruction inherently borne by the spear" was instead inflicted upon the wielder.

Fire. It was a symbol of life that swallowed and grew tremendously and eventually burned itself out. And it was a symbol of destruction and death that burned everything to ash, but at the same time it was an aspect of change rather than end.

The flames the monkey wore were a symbol of the very concept of destruction.

That being so…

Guaaaaaaaahhh!?

That "destruction" was magnified.

T-this pain!! Why?! I am fire! I am the strongest destruction, the very flame itself! Then why am I being burned by fire?!

The doubling of damage. That was the result of inflicting the "same degree of destruction" upon the bearer themselves.

"Hup."

Guaaaaaahh!?

The strongest, self-proclaimed flame burned the monkey.

As expected… gh… of my… flame! Indeed, ah-gah… the only one… ggh… who can defeat me… ah-ghh… is me alone!!

Mixing screams between its words, the monkey spat out delighted words.

Now that you understand that, I have no more use for you!

As if that had been its goal from the start, it released its flame.

As Lula pulled back the spear she had just thrust in, a tree-trunk-thick arm closed in on her.

She barely managed to dodge the first swing.

But Lula was not particularly suited for close combat.

Take pride that you are personally killed by me, the strongest!!

The arm's trajectory, her own posture, the time until impact.

She couldn't dodge.

And if it hit, she'd certainly die.

"— Severed from the origin, the fruit that does not bear —"

But Lula began to chant.

Pointless—

resistance. The voice that pronounced that did not continue.

What the monkey saw was the white of ice covering its body.

The other mages had likely prepared it in advance. Precisely because it had released its flames, ice clung to its arms and legs, hindering the monkey's movement.

But it was only for a moment… in fact, before the time of a single blink it had vaporized.

The superheated vapor was meager in volume and was quickly blown aside by wind magic.

That wasn't merely consideration for Lula, whose heat resistance had reached its limit by suppressing the heat of the crater itself.

N-gh!

Released from the freeze, then immediately frozen again.

Even if each instance only bought a moment, repeated again and again, it added up to a great deal of grace.

Stop messing with me.

Although uninjured, irritated and intending to lash out in anger by spewing flame again, what entered the monkey's sight was Lula assuming a stance with the spear.

The monkey reflexively stopped clothing itself in flame, and…

"Unbound, the cradle of lifeless destruction — come forth — Meteor Nova Shot!"

In front of the girl who thrust her palm forward, a wall of rock suddenly appeared, the monkey saw.

It's not!!

It wasn't a wall.

Declaring as much in the instant and trying to produce flame, but too late.

Just as it felt an impact through its whole body, it was pushed onward with tremendous force.

One of the spells Lula created: "Meteor Nova".

This spell, which sent a great mass flying like a meteor, took longer to chant and reach its target than "Strike Nova", but it was massive in scale, high in power, and broad in area of effect.

And while its area of effect was narrower than "Falling Meteor"'s, its striking power against a single target was incomparable.

These spells shared a common trait: the launch position could be changed by altering the chant and incantation.

When the spell name ended in "Shot," her hand became the launch position.

The impact and wind pressure couldn't reach the level of having one fall from high altitude, but even so, it had power that couldn't be compared with ordinary attribute Shot spells.

A mass of violence assailed the monkey.

Guoooohh oh oh oh oh!!

Enduring an impact that nearly tore its body apart, melting it with flame and resisting with all its strength to no avail, the monkey was released from the pressure only after smashing and blasting through everything around it and bursting out of the crater.

It landed on a bedrock generated by the mages.

The magic raining down on it after that wasn't meant to defeat it, but to hold it in place.

You bastards…!!

The flames the monkey produced were powerful, and inexhaustible.

But because it was pouring its power into that, it couldn't produce flame at range.

That was the reason for keeping the monkey away from the crater.

And with that achieved, another, previously-held-back unit finally moved.

"To think we'd be testing the long years of research from my grandfather's generation, even just a fragment, on a stage as grand as this…"

So muttered, with irritation, the magic guild's lecturer in command of the mages.

A field still in need of much testing, with vast room for trial and error… sealing arts.

Research that had been carried out with monsters in mind, now being used "as an afterthought" in an emergency. There was dissatisfaction with that.

There was jealousy at the way a single girl had effortlessly read through the forbidden tomes they had pored over for so long, deciphering them through repeated failure.

He couldn't entirely accept it yet, but the present operation had results enough that, despite all that, he felt "glad to have participated."

"Hey, hurry up and start, all of you! The opening Lula-jou and the practical-side bunch have built up here is too valuable to carelessly throw away."

Throwing back his cape, he too began chanting.

As if to weave the mages themselves into a formation, lights of every color rose up in vivid array.

Lula moved away from the crater, taking up the role of harassment and holding the monkey down.

At the crater, with the monkey's control gone, the heat was waning; to limit the damage, magic such as barriers was used to guide and contain the magma and bring it back under control.

"Individually, our power is no match for an evil god like you. But to gather, to connect, to pass on — that is the strength of we humans. — Savor it well."

He wasn't able to hear the monkey's voice.

But his words happened to answer what the monkey had said.

And as if to prove those words, the gigantic array that had been drawn began to interfere with the monkey.

Nu!? This is… you bastards!!

"Whoa!"

"It's stubborn…!!"

Seeing through their intent, the monkey's anger reached its peak.

To be sealed was tantamount to bending the knee, lowering one's head.

That alone, it could not accept. There was no way it could accept that.

But fragile humans were trying to seal the strongest, and were on the verge of succeeding.

This was a challenge to the strongest itself.

Nyooooooooohhh!!

The monkey roared, and in response the flames it wore expanded and danced like whips.

In response, the mages aimed to complete the sealing rite while also diverting magic into generating footholds that were melting under it and into defense, not just into restraint.

It was a total-power clash, both sides throwing in everything they had.

Nufu, fuha, fu ha ha ha ha ha!!

The monkey found exaltation amid its anger,

"I'm pretty sure we're in trouble here…"

while the mages found a sense of solidarity and accomplishment amid their fear and fatigue.

"… Annoying."

Just one person was different: Lula.

She wound up, parallel-chanted wind magic, and threw.

The demon-spear, accelerated beyond what human strength could manage, struck the monkey.

Guaaaahh!!

"Oh. It hit."

The spear's blade had been melting from repeated attacks on the flame.

Thrown out of desperation, the demon-spear had struck home and was sporadically inflicting "destruction" on it.

Before pulling it out, the monkey had probably wanted to suppress the pain first.

To the monkey, which had released its flame…

"Laprais Raging."

A chain-like distortion of space coiled around it.

Nu!? N-gh!!

It had to pull out the spear, but its hand wouldn't move.

The binding was probably magic. If it could produce flame, it might cancel it out, but it would have to endure the pain of the demon-spear, and there was no guarantee the binding would be eliminated.

Its abilities had been too overwhelming, so mentally it was fragile.

And that moment of hesitation was enough to complete the sealing.

My power!! I… I'm being drained away…!!

A yellow hexahedron. A blue octahedron. A red octahedron. A green hexahedron. And a black-and-white dodecahedron.

The monkey was bound by lattices piling up one after another, and with each, its body contracted.

No…! Stop…!!

Where had its earlier attitude gone.

The monkey raised pitiful cries, but few could hear them, and some were even crushed by the unrelenting weight of intimidation as it kept rampaging.

But even that was blocked from view by the dazzling light.

Nyowaaaaaaa…

A dying scream cut off, and when the light receded, what remained was a red crystal dodecahedron with the spear still embedded.

And from the crystal, which had rolled with the weight of the spear, a single monkey tumbled out as though spilled.

…?

The monkey, looking around the area, was about the size of a person's head.

Its small, slim body bore no resemblance to its previous form, and most strikingly, its face now had expression, having shifted into a shape resembling a sheep.

"Is that one… an evil god too?"

!

"Ah!!"

Startled by one mutter, the monkey's body twitched and it bolted away in a single line.

But the mages' fatigue and exhaustion were so severe that they couldn't manage to pursue it.

"…"

"… It… it's over, right?"

Even as they were unsure what to make of the strange ending, they were relieved that the danger had passed.

It didn't take long before smiles spread, and finally the joyful voices rose into a great cheer.

"Hey, you lot. I get that you're happy, but it's not over yet."

"""Yes～"""

Sending messengers to report the outcome to the guild and the kingdom, the mages began the aftermath.

Calming the volcano.

Dealing with lava flows, volcanic ash, and the smoldering forest.

Among the people moving about taking breaks, Lula stood gazing at the crystal.

"Lula-jou… was this one a failure?"

To the question of the man who had been in command, Lula replied simply, "Failure."

Setting her manner of speaking aside, he had to accept it as a failure if it was to inform the next attempt. The man exhaled once, organized his thoughts, then addressed those waiting behind him.

"Well then, what is this, then? Going by the result, the effects of absorption, conversion, and diversion did manifest, and above all, the very fact that it has kept this form is the proof."

"But the evil god got away. Was that one the main body?"

"If so, why is the spear still embedded here?"

Paying no mind to those who had finally begun on-site analysis based on the questions they voiced, Lula thought to herself.

(Probably, what was sealed was only the monster part of the evil god.)

The formula had been developed for sealing monsters, so it had sealed most of the monster-like portion of the evil god, and the remainder, released, had become a sheep-faced monkey.

That interpretation didn't contradict the fact that the spear had been fixed in the crystal and that the small monkey, unsealed and not attacking, had run away. Nor did it contradict Ilya's words about "when the main body appears."

(… Going by a convenient interpretation, at least.)

It may have been more forceful than the procedure Ilya had envisioned.

That said, since they couldn't undo the seal to verify, and the monkey was nowhere to be found… and since the volcano would be sealed off for some time, situations like this one were unlikely to occur again soon.

(… Yeah! This is about as much as it gets!)

Having reached a personal conclusion, Lula's interest shifted to the next thing.

That is, reporting to Ilya.

"Ah, Lula-san!"

As though it were a matter of course, Lula didn't respond to the voice calling her and descended the mountain with movements that betrayed no fatigue from the battle.

In the end, until she arrived at the royal capital, Lula didn't touch the earring on her ear.

 

*

 

The western part of the Archipelago Countries Alliance.

Just barely outside the bird's perception range, learned through countless attempts at luring it, Nina psyched herself up with a "all right."

"… Here goes, Sylph!"

Gotcha!

Chanting the spell of aerial movement, "Aerial Verty", she took flight, and with Sylph's assistance, she accelerated all at once.

What she aimed for was a bird with a cat's face.

Hold up, you guys again-chu?

Mumbling as if exasperated, the bird flapped its wings.

At that signal, the pressure of wind that had been trying to crush the surroundings turned toward Nina and Sylph.

Sylph canceled it out, and in the meantime Nina circled around to aim at the main body of the bird.

That was how it had gone so far.

"Sylph, please!"

Aye-aye!

Sylph clung to Nina's back and manipulated the wind.

!?

Without changing trajectory or losing speed, Nina charged straight on, and the bird widened its eyes.

It hurriedly ascended sharply, then reversed direction.

Without circling, the distance closed all the faster.

Too naive-chu!!

Using the maneuverability of its wings, the bird slipped Nina's magic without slowing down.

"Ahh, so close!!"

Hmph!!

The bird attacked Nina and the others while accelerating away.

Of course, Nina and the others wouldn't end the chase there and clung to it.

Slipping Nina's magic and gliding through the sky as if to show off its own speed, the bird kept moving.

A race they had repeated countless times.

Feeling some discomfort, the bird grumbled as though irritated.

You guys can't beat me, just accept it-chu.

"You won't know until you try!"

Snorting with derision, the bird soared through the sky like before.

For the bird, the only thing of interest was its own speed.

Anything else was nothing more than an existence to demonstrate its own speed, and anything that got in the way was simply something to swiftly eliminate.

That was precisely why, when challenged to a contest of speed, it took up the bet.

The sense of superiority of leaving behind one who is confident in their speed. The pleasure of crushing someone's confidence: there was nothing better.

Breaking the heart of someone whose heart refused to break was especially exquisite.

Just try your best-chu.

And so, the game of tag in the sky continued.

Now and then, Nina fired off magic, and the bird dodged it, while Nina shortened the distance by going via the shortest route. Attacks from the bird were brushed aside by Sylph and amounted to nothing.

When Nina had charged in a straight line at the start, it had been surprised, but there had been no further changes.

No, that wasn't quite it. Long.

Feeling that the pursuit was lasting longer than before, the bird…

Gh!!

Held its breath at the ice arrows closing in, its trajectory read.

Rather than braking, by using wind magic to glide and deflect the arrows, it just barely avoided them.

But from where?

Eh!?

What the bird, having barely dodged the approaching attack, saw was several ships that had appeared on the sea below.

… I see.

It had been led.

Resenting the realized fact, the bird twisted its cat-like face into a leer.

Those things were too slow to even compare with.

So they had no value in existing.

Want me to bust you up some more-chu? I'll grant that wish of yours-chu!!

A wide-area downdraft.

The vicious wind that had sunk many ships and destroyed houses… did not occur.

W-why-chu!?

Not part of it. All of it.

The only existence that could do something like that was one. But until then, the great spirit Sylph had been extending interference from near locations to distant ones, so canceling out hadn't been on time and there had been no shortage of damage.

But just now, the interference had been over the entire area, almost simultaneously.

You, why…!!

Not gonna tell～

You, gh!!

Just as it tried to press further, it barely dodged Nina as she suddenly accelerated.

"Ahh!! Sorry, Sylph!"

A-ha-ha, no good, no good～ But it's fine～

Judging from their exchange, Sylph had probably accelerated the girl.

That was precisely what didn't make sense.

Why!?… gh.

It grew angry at Sylph's antics, but bristling at an equal opponent was meaningless.

Yes. Equal.

It could understand canceling out part of an attack, but to cancel out the whole while also helping the human partner was absurd.

And yet Sylph was actually doing it.

C-cursed…!

As if anticipating its moves, magic spells were loosed to preempt it; but with Nina sticking close, it couldn't focus its attention solely downward.

As time passed, the ships that had scattered to other lure points and mages using flight magic gathered.

If the encirclement kept building, it might get caught eventually.

I-I… ?!

Impossible. There was no way this could be possible.

But the attacks and the humans bearing down on it were not illusions.

M-mock…

That was unacceptable. That was to deny its own existence.

Even as reason told it so, instinct could not accept it.

… ing me!!

In time with its scream, the bird's body swelled.

The body, now enlarged, was that of a cat; its limbs from the knees down were those of a bird. Its wings and tail remained those of a bird, and on the cat's forehead was a single horn.

Its claws and fangs had transformed into ferocious shapes, and it was clear at a glance that its appearance had become something other than peaceful.

If the bird's form had been built solely for speed, this one looked built for combat.

It's your fault, all of you, your fault!!

Spreading its wings, feathers scattered.

What should have fallen on the wind's drift instead abruptly changed trajectory and speed, assaulting Nina and the others.

And the main body began attacking the humans as well.

In its eyes, the intent to overtake them with speed was gone; only naked killing intent that sought the elimination of every enemy burned there.

You, you, you!!

"Whoa, w-whoa, whoa whoa whoa!"

Nina somehow dodged the main body's strikes and the salvo of blade-sharp feathers with Sylph's help.

The bird was paying attention to the sea below as well, apparently.

By keeping feathers swirling around itself it didn't allow anyone to approach, and while dodging incoming magic, it closed in on Nina with certainty.

Nina.

"!"

At Sylph's voice, Nina returned one nod, and then…

"Ouch…!"

A feather grazed her shoulder.

Although the wound was shallow, the pain seemed to break her focus, and Nina's speed slackened.

Naturally, the enemy didn't miss its opening.

Aaaaaaaaaaahhh!!

Without sparing a glance, the cat raised its claws…

"Your top side is wide open."

!?

At the voice from overhead, it froze.

Or rather, was frozen.

Mounted on its back, its arms and neck grasped, the cat could no longer move as it intended.

And the figure on its back, Elias, willed it.

"Behave yourself now."

Uaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!

A near-white flame rose and enveloped both of them.

Though it thrashed and struggled, the cat could not break Elias's hold, and was burned by the purification flame he wielded.

"Sylph!"

Gotcha!

What they aimed for were the feathers that, even now, twisted course in response to the cat's continued struggle to head for Elias.

In the ears of Nina and the others, who crushed those one after another, came the cat's pained cry.

Aaaaaaahhhh!!

The cry did not last long.

"…?"

What Elias saw was the cat's body gradually shrinking.

By the time the shrinking stopped, the cat had become about the size of a kitten: an inconceivable change from its previous massive frame.

And to that, the scorched parts that had been visible up close also vanished, and the ferocity had also faded from its claws and fangs.

While he gazed at the winged cat that fit in his hand, Sylph came over to look as well.

Ah-h, this one looks like it doesn't need to be sealed.

If Sylph said so, there was no mistake.

Easing his tension and turning to head toward Nina, what reflected in Elias's eyes was her form, flying in toward him.

"Amazing! You were amazing, darling!!"

"Nina, you were amazing too. If you hadn't been there, I couldn't have done this so well."

"Eh-heh-heh."

The two rejoiced in each other's safety and danced through the air in celebration of victory.

Of course, the others were left out.

But the fact that they could do that was because the danger had passed.

"… You two, if it's over, say so already!!"

The two's flirting continued until they were shouted at.

 

*

 

Early morning in Lunéville.

In the central plaza, despite it being well before dawn, a great many people had gathered.

Standing on the hastily-erected dais were the lord Hector and Branch Manager Frank.

Even when the dying cries of monsters flying through the sky occasionally echoed in the distance, no one took their eyes off the two.

The situation being what it was, this was not a residents-led grilling driven by frustration over the lack of an offensive.

Rather, the silence wrapped around them was nearly the antithesis of clamor: the silence before a storm.

Everyone's eyes were glittering, so from the outside, their fighting spirit was plain to see.

"… Are all of you armed?"

"""Ooh!"""

To Hector's voice, the response thundered back.

"Have all of you committed the plan to memory?"

""""Ooh!!""""

Frank's follow-up brought an even louder reply.

Acknowledging the response, Hector took a breath.

"Then I won't say much more."

So saying, he turned his strained expression… into a smile.

"The time of patient endurance is over!"

"""""Ooh!!!"""""

"Vent every pent-up grievance!!"

"""""Ooh!!!!"""""

"Take back everything that was taken!!"

"""""Ooh!!!!!!"""""

"The counter-offensive begins!! Open the gates!!!!"

In time with his shout, an arrow that gave off a high-pitched whistle was loosed into the sky.

That signal triggered a barrage of magic from the casters who had been waiting at the city gates. The monsters near the gates were scattered.

"""""Oooohhh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh…!!"""""

The grating, clashing sound of metal.

The sound of feet kicking off the ground.

War cries.

All of it poured through the gate and then fanned out.

The aim was the wholesale destruction of the proliferating monsters in one go.

Allow no chance to call others.

Allow no opportunity to grow stronger.

Bury them with certainty, and take everything back.

For this, they had endured up to this very moment.

The frustration that had piled up upon piled up seemed to explode all at once.

The roar of magic and battle cries echoed from every direction.

If anything, the way everyone moved according to the plan and maintained their coordination so firmly was strange given how intensely they were running wild.

"Ilya, what's the matter? You're staring off into the distance."

"Ah, are you worried about Frank-san or something! That'd actually be more fun!"

"… Haaah."

""Disappointed!?""

To the playful Ria and Cynthia, Ilya inadvertently let a sigh slip, and the two reacted as though shocked.

That they kept on bright and cheerful was because the two were being considerate. Knowing that, the sigh was something she had let out at her own ineptitude for making them do so, but it would have been crass to say as much.

Looking around the plaza again, the non-combatants who weren't going out to fight remained.

Among the branch's staff, not just the two from earlier, but everyone aside from Charon, Claude, Luke, Bard, Katie, and Clarice was there.

"I said anyone not participating in the plan didn't have to come."

"Wondering why we came anyway?"

said Desiree.

"Don't be coy, Ilya!"

"Of course it's because we want to see them off."

Cynthia and Elizah followed up.

"Ah, Rachelle's here to see off her boyfriend, isn't she～"

"O-obviously it's for everyone!"

"You don't have to make excuses about it～. Well, that flustered look is what makes you cute, though～"

Rachelle was being teased by Cynthia and Ria.

"We figured we'd at least stick around until our Lord and his lot come back."

"Yeah, yeah."

"At least let it be for your husband's sake."

"Hope he puts in a little effort～"

The wives from the kitchen laughed together.

Triggered by that, idle chat sprang up here and there, and amid it all, only Amabel was fixedly staring at the gate.

"It'll be all right."

"… Yeah."

Hector was, in a sense, the supreme commander.

By rights he should have been concentrating on directing the operation, but there had been no way to stop him when he had said "I shall also go out to the front."

After much persuading, they had settled on the compromise of having him handle the sweep of monsters around Lunéville's walls, which kept him from going to the very front lines.

But because of that, Frank, claiming to be his escort, had ended up as the leader of a unit that swept the walls from the opposite direction.

(Honestly…)

It was true that morale would rise when a commander joined the fight, but there were also concerns: a drop in morale and confusion if he was wounded. The risks were considerable.

While she could understand the desire to remove a threat to one's own town with one's own hand, her honest opinion was that a commander should handle his emotions with reason.

(Then again, just being calm doesn't mean someone has people's trust, either.)

Before she could be fussed over again, she cut off the thought, and from within the crowd chatting to distract themselves from the tension she sensed a single presence drawing near.

"No abnormalities so far."

"Thank you. They should be returning soon, so please continue a little longer."

"Leave it to me."

The woman, Clarice, gave that affirmation as a matter of course and disappeared into the crowd.

Her role was to watch from the sky, unobstructed, for any communication from the guards stationed around town.

The reason they had positioned guards wasn't only the stated cause, to check whether monsters had infiltrated through places like sewers, but also the unstated reason of being on guard against acts of terror by supremacists.

Even though the Empire, the ideological home of the supremacists, had quieted down, as the saying "a cornered rat will bite the cat" went, the more cornered a being was, the harder it was to predict what they might do.

Better to err on the side of caution.

Originally someone else was supposed to be assigned, but Clarice's argument that "every bit of combat strength counts, doesn't it?" had been accepted.

 

*

 

A while after that, Hector and his unit returned.

With the surrounding monsters swept clear, all the city gates were opened, and the tax office adjacent to the plaza was made into a temporary headquarters.

Hector's and Frank's units were each split into garrison units and mobile units and reorganized.

"Signal from the Carunne direction! One red!"

"Squads One, Two, Three, move out at once. Once the sweep is complete, Squads Two and Three will transport the wounded and return; Squad One will continue the sweep."

"Yes!"

Hector gave instructions to the young guild member who had rushed in as a messenger.

He's really got the air for it, Ilya thought idly, and then suddenly…

(… Why am I in headquarters?)

They were inside the town, true, but it was still a battlefield, and the importance of the people gathered here was on a completely different level from those in a conference room or a parlor.

(… This is not the time to think of it as too late!)

Don't accept it, absolutely not.

So she thought, and was just starting to consider a way to slip out, when…

"If only we could use keseki the way we did at the arena…"

"True…"

She inadvertently agreed to Frank's words, but since the cause was Ilya herself, her tone and manner ended up somewhat detached.

The official line was that the wind elements inside the keseki had been used up, so without refilling, the stones could not be used.

That was true to some extent, but the real reason was that, without Ilya's mana acting as a relay, they could barely cover any distance.

Unlike past usage, in Lunéville the use case was tactical battlefield support. If she did the only thing only she could do to help out, that would have been the same as taking action herself, she had thought.

(They didn't have it before, so they'll be fine without it!)

Even now, the situation was unfolding smoothly without leaning on the keseki.

While she was lost in such thoughts, the situation kept advancing.

"Signal from the Veluun direction, blue, just came in!"

"Inform the transport team. Use Veluun as a hub to resupply."

"Roger!"

Logistics were important and indispensable for maintaining the front lines.

The operation's goal was to quickly cull the monsters before they could multiply, and to wipe them out before nightfall, when they would grow stronger and visibility would become a disadvantage. But that also required securing transport routes and swift supply runs.

While Hector was giving instructions so that things in the field didn't stall, another person came rushing in.

"A messenger has arrived from the royal capital!"

"Let them through."

Receiving the consent, the one who came in was not a royal army knight but a guild member.

Ilya recognized the guild member as the Guild Association Rondéville Headquarters Vice Manager she had seen before.

"I'm sincerely glad to see you arrived safely."

"It's thanks to your call and your aid that we did."

So saying, he shook Hector's hand, but his expression was severe.

Urged to take a seat, the Vice Manager told them something they didn't really want to hear.

"The army will not move from the royal capital. Or rather, it's more accurate to say it cannot move."

"In our last exchange, the situation didn't seem so dire."

To Frank's words, the Vice Manager nodded, and his brow furrowed.

"Things weren't critical, but mentally, he was likely quite exhausted. To our pleas, the King refused to nod his head right to the end. 'There's no guarantee the numbers won't grow further; we can't reduce our defenses and expose the people to danger'… is what he said."

He'd just used the capital's residents as a pretext.

Sensing as much, Ilya let out a small breath, but the Vice Manager seemed to be even more exasperated than she was; he twisted his mouth bitterly.

"On hearing that decision, a considerable number of soldiers resigned from the army and flowed into the guild. It was fortunate, in a way, that thanks to them we were able to gather enough people to act… But the shortage of numbers cannot be denied."

"What's the progress on the section we've shared with you?"

"About seventy percent of plan, I'd say."

Saying so, he placed pieces on the map he had spread out on the table.

"We prioritized rapid extermination, and since we couldn't divide our forces too thinly, the advance has inevitably been slower."

"No, that's the correct choice. Carelessly poking at them only increases their numbers. We shouldn't spread ourselves too thin."

"… Hearing you say that, I can finally exhale at last."

Truly relieved, the Vice Manager let out a deep sigh.

He gulped down the simple meal and water provided, then promptly stood and threw on his cloak.

He was probably loath to lose a single second, but in terms of digestion Ilya's honest opinion was that he should rest a little after eating.

That said, he likely wanted to hurry back so the Headquarters Manager directing the operations along the highway to the royal capital could be informed quickly, so she didn't stop him.

"Joining up with your unit will boost our numbers, but please don't change the approach."

"Understood. Then if you'll excuse me."

Even after the Vice Manager left, headquarters remained busy with messengers coming and going.

But Ilya didn't do anything noteworthy.

Of course she handled various odds and ends, but those were things anyone could do.

The scale of the affair didn't matter.

Whether the ice dragon or the arena… just as before, they'd get through it with everyone's strength.

Yes. Not through her individual strength, but through everyone's.

"… It's time. Signal all units. Sweep the monsters in your current area of operations. No further combat is permitted after that."

"Yes sir!"

And so the first day of the annihilation campaign came to an end.

There were unforeseen events, such as the royal army's non-participation, but nothing dire happened, and they ended the first day at roughly the planned level of progress.

"Ilya."

Called by Frank, she turned around to find a smile that was, perhaps, the result of forcibly letting his tension go.

"Everyone's coming back. Welcome them with something tasty to eat."

"… Understood."

You don't have to coddle me too.

The thought made her smile slip out unbidden.

She returned to the branch and called out to the kitchen staff to start cooking.

The guild members returning to the branch carried their food to their mouths while bragging about today's prizes and speaking eagerly of tomorrow's spirit, making a cheerful racket.

With smiles, and a glimmer of hope for tomorrow on their faces.