Human Torch

Elhani and Azu faced each other.

I couldn't see Azu's expression from here, but I could feel intense anger radiating from her back.

"Silver hair and blue eyes. If my memory serves… the girl who inherited the Creator King's Apostle. Your name is Azu."

"I don't want you saying my name. It's unpleasant."

"Oh my, how disliked I am. I've heard you also drove off Temple Knight Evris. My, my, he was a man of no worth beyond his swordsmanship, but well done nonetheless. However, I wouldn't want you to think that's the extent of the Church of the Sun God's power."

While Elhani was talking, I glanced at the wall where the heat beam had struck.

Part of the stone wall had melted.

How hot must it have been?

What Azu held was just an ordinary iron sword.

It would be difficult to block that heat beam.

Though Alexia had put up a magical barrier, it would be a threat if fired at us too.

"When I wore this dress, he told me it suited me well. I promised to wear it with care, and yet… I won't forgive you."

As Azu swung the sword, the Fire and Water Elementals drifted around it.

"Then I shall deal with you first. You'll make the finest sacrifice."

Heat beams shot from both of Elhani's eyes.

Traveling at literal light speed, there was no time to defend after seeing them coming.

But Azu read Elhani's preparatory movements, predicted the attack, and angled the flat of her blade to meet the beam.

The moment the heat beam touched Azu's sword, it was deflected upward.

Where the sword and beam collided, a sizzling sound could be heard.

The blade quickly turned red-hot, but it showed no sign of melting or breaking.

"She's protecting the sword with the spirits' power. That's why the sword isn't losing to the heat. When did she learn to control them like that?"

"Azu-chan has been playing with Orleans and the spirits whenever she has free time. I think she picked it up naturally."

"To so effortlessly apply that to combat… her instincts are as exceptional as ever."

"But it doesn't look like she can completely neutralize it."

I listened to Alexia and the others' commentary.

So she was managing somehow with the spirits' help.

Elhani fired heat beams repeatedly, but Azu deflected each one with her sword.

When stray beams came our way, the barrier protected us.

With each deflection, Azu advanced one step closer, narrowing the distance.

The smug expression on Elhani's face gradually lost its composure.

His burns had worsened since the start.

The cost was clearly significant.

Then Azu took a large stride forward, reaching striking distance.

"Done with your tricks?"

"You dare call the blessing granted by the Sun God a trick…! You brat."

Elhani had abandoned his polite speech entirely.

The outcome was all but decided.

"You can't break through the spirits' protection."

Azu swung the sword horizontally.

Elhani's neck was effortlessly severed, his head falling to the floor alongside his collapsing body.

Azu had won.

I exhaled with relief, thinking so.

"Not yet!"

But Azu shouted and reflexively leaped backward, as if wary of something.

Elhani's decapitated body rose on its own.

"It turned undead?!"

"No, that's not it. This is… how abhorrent."

Elza contradicted Finn's words.

From the stump of the standing body's neck, fire blazed up.

Like a torch.

Seeing a human look that way filled me with an indescribable eeriness.

Temple Knight Evris's end had been abnormal too, now that I thought about it.

"Ah, so that's what this means. My lord."

Elhani's head, lying on the floor, spoke.

"The human body is too weak for my lord's blessing. Then one need only discard the human body. To become kindling is simply to become my lord's vanguard."

"He had the Sun God's Seed Flame planted in him. Even in death, his soul is burned up for the Sun God. To deny even the final peace of death…"

Elhani's head eventually burned to ash.

But the body remained intact.

It bowed as if performing a greeting, turning the neck stump toward us.

… It looked exactly like a cannon aiming its muzzle.

Azu immediately readied the sword with both hands and gathered magical power into it.

Fire erupted from the neck just as Azu swung her sword down.

The massive magical forces collided, cracking the walls.

The shockwave alone knocked me off my feet.

Elza supported me.

Elhani's body gradually crumbled. This was essentially a suicide attack.

Was mutually assured destruction one of the Church of the Sun God's doctrines?

The two forces were evenly matched, but Azu's sword gave out first.

It was just an ordinary iron sword to begin with. It had reached its limit from blocking the heat beams and being exposed to massive magical power.

If she'd had her usual Sealed Sword Grungaus, Azu would have won for certain.

The blade shattered, and the magical power she'd gathered dispersed.

With Azu's strike no longer holding it back, fire engulfed the corridor and rushed toward us.

Azu sprinted back toward us.

Alexia and Finn stepped forward to shield us, while Elza and Orleans wrapped their arms around me protectively.

Just when I thought all was lost, the wall beside us rotated, revealing a hidden passage.

There stood Gloria and her subordinates.

At the same time, I felt something wrap around my entire body and yank me into the side passage.

The same happened to everyone else.

The moment we were all pulled in, the wall returned to its original position, and the fire passed us by.

"There may be others. Seal the exits. Let no one escape."

At Gloria's command, her subordinates vanished in an instant.

"My apologies. We were delayed."

"No, just in time… Could you please remove these threads?"

Apparently, Gloria had bound everyone with threads and pulled us into the passage.

A rough method, but since it saved us, I couldn't complain.

Once the threads were removed, I was free again.

"And you let people like that into the palace? What's security doing?!"

Finn stood up and complained to Gloria.

They were apparently acquainted from their shared profession, and she couldn't rest without voicing her grievance.

"The head of security had been swayed by the Church of the Sun God and skillfully let them in. Our primary duty is His Majesty's protection, so our response was somewhat delayed."

"That's just an excuse. So much for the 'greatest assassin.'"

Gloria ignored Finn's complaints.

What mattered to her was her employer, Emperor Kelves.

She had probably only come to help because she'd been ordered to.

"Suspicious individuals have been apprehended and dealt with. We will now join your security detail, so please rest assured. This passage is normally known only to the imperial family and their guards. Revealing it to you is a gesture of His Majesty's goodwill."

"I see."

Being attacked was the Empire's fault, and being saved was also thanks to the Empire.

The situation only grew more complicated.

But what surprised me most was that the Church of the Sun God's roots had spread even into the Empire's security.

Perhaps remnants of their deep-rooted faith remained, given that they were once the continent's most flourishing religion.