The Shadow Over the Capital

Right around the time Evalin took hold of the Thorn Staff, the concert's encore came to an end.

The sheer volume of the crowd's cheering spoke to its success.

Left to her own devices, Princess Yupe looked ready to start singing again.

It was immediately after that when something began blocking the sun.

At first, everyone assumed a cloud had passed over.

But as the light was cut off and shadow fell, they realized it wasn't a cloud. It was something massive and solid.

"What… is that?"

Someone in the crowd murmured.

As if in answer, the massive shape opened its mouth wide.

"——"

An enormous cry reverberated through the Royal Capital.

It was an impossibly heavy sound, the kind that made your body feel like it was being crushed.

Yohane reflexively moved to cover his ears.

But Queen Tianis stumbled, so he grabbed her arm and pulled her close to shield her instead.

Throughout the crowd, people sank to the ground, unable to bear it.

The only ones still standing in the central plaza were Azu and the others.

Alexia was supporting Anatia, who'd nearly collapsed.

Perhaps fortunately, the fact that the audience had sunk to the ground prevented a panic from breaking out.

Or perhaps the colossal presence in the sky simply felt too unreal.

"The Sky Whale. It's gotten bigger than before."

"That's an apostle of the Sun God…? Something like that, humans can't possibly deal with it."

Queen Tianis, slumped on the floor, murmured as she gazed up at the sky.

I agreed.

The sheer difference in scale was overwhelming.

If only we had that crown… but it had been sent back to Duke Baroba for the war effort.

No amount of arrows could bring that thing down.

No, even the largest ballistae probably couldn't reach that altitude.

No matter how strong Azu and the others were, what were they supposed to do against something like that?

This was just unfair.

The barrier enveloped the Royal Capital.

Since it had been breached once before, it had been improved and reinforced.

Some in the crowd voiced relief at the barrier's activation.

"Everyone, please stay calm! The barrier will protect the Royal Capital. Running recklessly is dangerous, so please remain where you are and wait!"

Anatia was calling out to the crowd.

In this packed state, it was terrifying just to imagine how many casualties a panic alone could cause.

Despite the murmuring, the crowd remained relatively composed, perhaps because Anatia, their chancellor, was keeping her composure.

She had to be terrified on the inside, yet she understood her role and carried herself with dignity.

Thorns emerged from the Thorn Staff and coiled around Evalin's arm.

Even to an untrained eye, you could feel her magical power steadily intensifying.

This was the same staff that had overwhelmed even Alexia.

"Well then, I'm off. May I do as I please with the barrier? It's fairly well made, but it won't hold up against the Sky Whale's attacks as is."

"If you can truly do something about this, do whatever you want. Please, protect everyone."

"Understood."

Evalin was the same as always.

Without the slightest tension, she stepped out through the window and floated into the air.

"Be careful!"

That was all I could say to her as she went to face that terrifying monster.

Something began falling from the Sky Whale's belly.

They were small black orbs, roughly palm-sized.

The moment they touched the barrier, they detonated.

Screams rose at the sound of the explosions.

The shockwaves rippled through the air.

If the barrier was breached in this state, panic would surely erupt.

It was only because the barrier still held that people were managing to stay calm.

The black orbs rained down over a wide area in rapid succession, hammering the barrier with damage.

Each one packed the punch of a powerful spell.

Just as Evalin had said, the barrier wouldn't last long at this rate.

Evalin, floating in the air, headed for the apex of the barrier.

The relentless barrage of black orbs had already begun forming hairline cracks.

"This first. For a human-made barrier, it's quite well done. With some modifications, it should be able to hold."

She pressed the tip of the Thorn Staff against the barrier.

Whispering an incantation known only to elves, she channeled a surge of magical power into it.

The instant she did, the barrier began repairing itself from the point of contact with the Thorn Staff, restructuring itself into something far more resilient.

Once the reinforcement had spread to every section, the black orbs detonated against it without so much as making it shudder.

Even the sound that reached below had softened, and the barrier showed no signs of breaking.

Even so, if this bombardment continued indefinitely, the barrier would eventually be breached no matter how much Evalin reinforced it.

And the Sky Whale was more than capable of sustaining it. That much she knew all too well.

There was no telling how many nations had been reduced to rubble under this same assault.

She looked down.

Countless people gazed upward as if in prayer, watching Evalin and the barrier.

The people of the Ash Kingdom, long since destroyed, must have prayed the same way. Please, let us be saved.

The elves of that era had abandoned them.

Evalin had objected, but her words fell on deaf ears, and she hadn't had the courage to go alone.

That the elves had lost any place to go afterward, scattered, and declined as a race was only natural.

But now was different from then.

Evalin took aim at the Sky Whale and unleashed her magic.

A combined blast of fire and concussive force.

A single strike powerful enough to punch a hole through a castle wall.

She'd modified the barrier to amplify magic cast from the inside.

The Thorn Staff's augmentation was layered on top of that.

Her firepower far exceeded her usual output.

The moment the spell struck the Sky Whale, smoke billowed and a sound like fireworks erupted.

Its enormous body shifted, ever so slightly.

When the smoke cleared, the impact site had been gouged out.

"——"

With a cry that sounded almost like a scream, regeneration began immediately.

Flesh swelled up and started filling in the wound. It was fully restored within moments.

Seeing this, Evalin's expression soured, a rare sight.

"Truly revolting. If something like this is an apostle, what kind of god is the Sun God?"

An aberration utterly divorced from nature.

A monster unlike any monster.

Its sheer enormity might inspire awe and make one think it sacred at first glance, but its true nature was repulsive to the core.

The indiscriminate voracity with which it swallowed any airborne creature in its path, the casual indifference with which it leveled entire nations.

Whether this thing even possessed a will was unclear.

"If it regenerates, I'll just blast away the same amount again."