I Am the Kingdom's Sword

The embedded sword pierced straight through the body.

Red mist erupted violently from where it had been impaled.

Was that the power he had accumulated by sacrificing all those people?

"Stop!"

The World's Master grabbed King Izard's arms and tried to pull out the impaling sword.

But King Izard refused to budge, standing firm like a solid rock.

"… Curse you, curse you! I was so close!"

"I cannot allow you to escape. Left alone, you will inevitably bring calamity to the Kingdom."

"A mere human king!"

The World's Master desperately fired spells, but King Izard drove the sword even deeper.

The red mist intensified and rapidly filled the room.

The wound couldn't close because the golden sword blocked it.

"S-stop… yes. I can use my power to revive you and let you out of here. A simple matter."

"Oh?"

King Izard made a motion as if to loosen his grip on the sword.

The World's Master twisted his face in delight and tried to continue speaking, but in the next instant, King Izard moved the sword upward, bisecting him from chest to head.

"You killed us yourself, yet you speak of revival? How arrogant can you be? You underestimate us far too much. And your words don't even rise to the level of flattery."

The body tried to regenerate, but the loss of power seemed faster than the recovery.

I could feel the once-terrifying presence weakening.

The World's Master, split from the chest up, raised both hands toward the ceiling and blew it away with magic.

At the same time, King Izard's sword slashed horizontally across the torso.

He burst apart like a popped balloon and vanished.

The red sky was visible from the throne room through the destroyed ceiling.

Debris fell, but Jill and the knights protected us.

"Even in that state, he still had power left?"

"A piece of a god, even a rotten one. But now he should be—"

Iefuda was about to say something when he dropped the cigarette from his mouth.

Following his gaze, I saw the red moon.

The red moon that had once been a massive full moon was now barely visible, reduced to a thin crescent.

If that represented the World's Master's remaining power, it should be on its last breath.

But looking at it, something felt off.

The shrinking red moon seemed to be… getting larger?

No, that wasn't it…

"Isn't it coming toward us?"

"Tch, so my eyes aren't playing tricks."

The knights fired magic and arrows at the red moon, but to little effect.

Though smaller, it was still enormous compared to a human.

"Not yet! Not yet!"

A high-pitched, cracked voice echoed.

The mist that had been released from the World's Master's body gathered toward the approaching red moon.

The red moon was enveloped, transforming into a massive blood clot.

"I shall take root in this world once more. I am the god most fit to rule over law!"

Enormous arms burst from the left and right of the blood clot.

The remaining portion transformed into a face.

… God, he calls himself? He looked more like a demon.

Something dark writhed from the mouth of the monster the World's Master had become.

Insects. Tiny insects gnawing at the building.

The throne room was devoured in an instant.

"We have no need for gods who bring misfortune. Humans can live by their own strength."

King Izard pressed the tip of his golden sword to the ground.

The remaining knights lined up behind him and did the same.

Golden magical energy began to radiate with King Izard at its center.

"It took a very long time to reach this point. But now, as king, as the Kingdom's sword, I can finally end this great evil that threatens the Kingdom."

The knights' forms slowly became hazy and eventually dissolved into the surrounding golden light.

Each time a knight became golden light, the magical power swelled.

They were likely offering themselves to the king's power.

I sensed no hesitation or fear in them.

Only nobility and dignity.

"This is why I can't stand knights. They don't even count their own lives when it comes to their purpose. Meanwhile, my own life is the most important thing to me."

"It's a difference in how you live. Besides, they probably believe that even if they die, someone will take up their duty. That as part of an existence called the Kingdom, they live on even in death."

"… I don't get it."

Perhaps this was too difficult for Jill.

Then again, even Yohane himself had just let those words spill out from pure emotion.

He was sure they were right, though.

King Izard and his knights had died here once, yet they rose again to defeat the Kingdom's enemy.

That was surely a miracle born from the spirit of duty passed down through generations.

All the knights vanished, and King Izard himself was enveloped in golden light.

The golden light warmly enveloped the surroundings, and the black insects that touched it burned away like evaporating dew.

There was no doubt. This was the end.

"Yohane. You who saved me. I have one final request."

"What is it?"

"Deliver my crown to the Kingdom."

"I will."

King Izard nodded.

Then he shouldered the golden sword and raised it to the heavens.

The light extended skyward as if drawn to the heavens, illuminating the world.

"Glory to the Kingdom."

Those were the king's last words.

With those words, he brought down the golden light.

"Mere humans!"

The World's Master threw both arms against the golden light.

The torrent of light didn't stop for such a thing.

The massive arms crumbled away where they touched the light.

In a final act of resistance, he opened his mouth and released all his remaining magical power as raw light.

The black light from the World's Master collided with the golden light, and the two locked in a stalemate.

The moment King Izard poured in even more power, the golden light intensified and burned through the black light, incinerating the World's Master along with it.

The golden light rose into the heavens, splitting the red sky wide before vanishing.

… How long had it been? Seeing the familiar blue sky brought tears to my eyes.