“Ribido, which would you prefer: being burnt to ash or cut up into fish food?” “Oh, so scary. ” Ribido wasn’t fazed by death threats, taking Sanctina’s free hand. “I got a message from Celes that they’ve arrived at her hideout.” “Then we need to begin.” Sanctina nodded, gesturing to the crowd. “Please join hands.” “All right.” “Don’t tense up. Just relax and take deep breaths.” “In… Out…” “Imagine your warmth passing through your hands, flowing into me. That will let me gather your magic.” “Um… Like this?” They weren’t used to lending magic like the priests. Though they were confused by the process, they managed to do as instructed. Their power started to flow into her. “I shall assist as well,” said Sieg, joining hands with a nearby citizen who held hands with the court mage, who then joined the soldiers and the holy warriors and all the way to the orc and minotaur and other demons who watched from the shadows of the castle gate. Light flowed from the conductors on the cart, making Sanctina feel like she was burning up from magic. “Agh! Ah!” “Are you okay?” “I’m all right.” The little girl looked up at her in concern, but Sanctina offered a smile, even as sweat trickled down her face. Inside Sanctina’s mind was Celes’s voice. “We’re ready. How are things over there?” “Everything is ready.” The two nodded at the same time, casting the same spell together. “Link.” Celes’s thoughts pumped into Sanctina’s mind. Though it took a significant amount of magic to share their senses, they had more than enough to burn through—for what was to come next. “Far beyond clouds, draw a curtain across the heavens, placing the sun’s great rays in my hands…” A spell of massive proportions. Similar to yet distinctly different from the images of Solar Ruin drilled into her mind as a member of the church. She formed a billowing magical screen in the sky, stretching from horizon to horizon. Unlike Solar Ruin, which concentrated the sun’s light into a single point like a magnifying glass burning ants, this spell had no destructive power. It simply altered the gathered rays and cast them to the world. “Show my sight to the people below this sky. Magnified Projection!” The magic in her body blasted up into a pillar of light, rising toward the sky. It crept to the edge of the atmosphere, turning into a gigantic curtain to block out the sky. It absorbed the rays to generate more power before projecting Celes’s vision: images of Shinichi and the others heading toward Elazonia’s underground laboratory. “A video captured by a camera can be sent via electromagnetic wave. The waves received are output again as a video. It was basically the same as a television.” Unfortunately, Sanctina hadn’t understood a word of Shinichi’s explanation. But his desire to broadcast Rino was eventually realized when they bent the annoying laws of physics and changed the plan to a huge curtain in the sky. “All right! It’s showtime—featuring Rino! Omnidirectional Telepathy!” A telepathic message shot off in every direction, with no specific target, sending the audio from Celes to the people. With that, much of the people on the continent of Uropeh would see and hear the entirety of the final battle with the Goddess. “Oh, to show Rino’s work to the entire continent! I can die a happy woman!” “I agree, but thou must stave off your death till this is complete!” warned Sieg. She was about to collapse. Maintaining the spell drained her magical and physical energy, though she was still smiling. They all looked up at the screen to see a nervous Rino as they paused before the door to the underground laboratory. “Can you guys hear me? I know some of you already know me, but my name is Rino. And…I’m…I’m the daughter of the Blue Demon King Ludabite.” “““Wh-whaaaaaaat—?!””” The masses of people were floored. Rino continued her painful confession. “I’m sorry I lied. I was afraid everyone would hate me because I was a demon, so I didn’t have the chance to tell you.” “……” “I’m not asking you to forgive me. I just want you to watch Elen’s story…the tale of Goddess Elazonia until the very end.” Rino bowed her head. The group used Tunnel to open a hole in the ground reaching the underground facility. It wasn’t just Tigris that stood watching with bated breath. Millions of people on the continent of Uropeh had their eyes locked on the screen. Rino, known to some as the Diva or the Superstar Goddess. All this time, she had been the daughter of the Demon King. The revelation shocked the people in Uverse, the capital of grapes and wine. But then they saw a brave little girl, who didn’t hold a grudge against her father’s captor, who tried to convince the other side to stop the fighting and become friends. That was enough to make them forget their animosity toward demons. It ignited anger toward Elazonia—for not only rejecting her peace offering, but attempting to murder her. “A goddess would never try to kill a little child!” “You call them filthy demons? You’re the one who has a filthy heart!” Rino had healed their wounds for free and even entertained them with concerts. Even if they’d had no fond memories of Rino, Elazonia’s words and actions were just so egregious. “You got this, Rino!” “Don’t lose to the wicked wretch!” The people of Uverse stood united, shouting words of encouragement into the sky. A minstrel visiting a city on the southern coast of the continent watched Rino’s projected image in the sky, a huge grin on his face. “Would you look at that! That’s got to be the greatest stage in the world!” Once the singer to his musical accompaniment, the little Diva was now facing off with the Goddess, broadcast to the millions of people on the continent. He had spent his every day spreading her songs to the people. There was nothing in the world that could make his heart leap for joy more than seeing her on that stage. “Dammit! I wish they’d invited me.” He clenched his teeth, wanting to see the whole performance in person. Then, he pulled out his lute, strumming a dramatic tune to the people of the city staring up at the sky in confusion, heightening the tension and excitement of the encounter. “Show us a new legend that can stand the test of time!” The lute provided the background music to the climatic end: a united front between humans and demons standing against the Goddess. The middle-aged owner of a tavern in Boar Kingdom dropped his fresh batch of french fries, rushing out to the sidewalk and looking up to see the images in the sky. “Little Miss Arian is a half dragon, huh…?” The sight of her with shining gold eyes and waves of red magic could only be explained by the fact that she was the daughter of a dragon. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid of her incredible power, which went beyond human capabilities. Filling the tavern owner’s heart were understanding and happiness. “Ha-ha. She looks better now. Not as nervous anymore.” He had seen thousands of people in the years running his tavern—from babies to criminals. Arian always had a cheerful front, but he’d seen something beneath that, something that smelled like fear. She stood against Elazonia, but there wasn’t a single ounce of fear on her face anymore. All he could see was acceptance of who she was and determination to protect the people important to her. “Go get her, Miss Arian!” It wasn’t just the tavern owner. Residents of the city had come out, crying out in support of her. At the northernmost part of the continent where monsters swarmed in the restricted zone, the people of Mouse Village cheered at the courageous sight of Arian. “Go! Over there!” “Make her pay for what she did to our ancestors!” cried the village chief, now understanding what Shinichi had meant when he was there. A short way off from the excitement in Mouse Village, the Red Dragon went to the summit. It was his first time aboveground in hundreds of years. He looked up at the images of his daughter. “……” He didn’t have enough words to express his support. But he could feel the magic necessary for the broadcast wasn’t strong enough. He could feel it wasn’t reaching the entire continent, so he added just a little boost of his own. “Channel, Link.” He sent it along channels in the ground toward the spell caster, Sanctina in Tigris, bolstering her power and casting Physical Enchantment to help her body. Then, he manipulated air flows throughout the continent to remove clouds above any human settlements. That should be enough to get the broadcast of the final battle with the Goddess to the entire continent of Uropeh. “……” He questioned whether or not it was all right as a Proxy of the Planet to support human activity, seeing they were as worthless to the planet as moss. But he quickly found the answer. “Necessary.” The ghost called the Goddess Elazonia hated the dragons for nothing. She wanted to destroy these so-called beasts so much that she’d even considered destroying the entire planet. She had to be an enemy of the planet, and a Proxy needed to eliminate her. If that was the case, then it was his duty as a Proxy to support any humans who would try to destroy Elazonia. The Red Dragon finally came to his conclusion. It felt like an excuse. He sat silently, staring at the sky, watching the images of his daughter who he’d done nothing for until now. The entire continent learned of Elazonia’s true nature. While the majority supported Arian, the Holy City was thrown into chaos. “Isn’t Lady Elazonia a good god trying to save humanity?!” “We’ve given her everything, and she saw us as nothing more than tools…” “It’s a lie! It’s a plot by the demons!” “But Hube really did disappear. It only makes sense if Elazonia killed him…” Some people fell into despair, betrayed by the person they’d believed in. Others screamed in denial. The confusion wasn’t just in the streets. It was also in the Archbasilica. The three former cardinals—now archbishops—sat transfixed after hearing the truth about the Goddess. “……” Effectus couldn’t even bring himself to say his famous line, “Indeed.” He simply sat on the floor, a shell of his former self. “…This may be my only chance.” Snobe, deciding that the Goddess’s church had run its course, started to run detailed calculations. Out of the three of them, only the Holy Mother Cardinal Vermeita looked determined. She showed herself on the Archbasilica’s balcony and called out to the crowd of followers that seethed like a chaotic cauldron. “Please calm down. That is not the Goddess Elazonia… That is the Evil God Elazok who has recently been creating strife in our world!” “““Wh-what?!””” The people were shocked to learn they had confused the gods. The light of hope returned to their eyes. “That’s right. Our Lady Elazonia would never say that!” “That’s the person pulling Cardinal Hube’s strings—I meant Evil Priest Hube!” “But they called her Elazonia, and she called herself that, too!” The people were relieved for a brief moment, but some of them started pointing out discrepancies, throwing the followers into chaos again. Vermeita drew a line. “I understand your confusion. That’s both the Evil God Elazok and the Goddess Elazonia.” “What does that mean?!” Vermeita waited for the people’s attention to gather on her. “I shall now reveal the truth to you. Our Lady Elazonia extracted the evil from inside herself, allowing her to become the Goddess of Light. However, that evil gathered its own power, beginning to act on its own.” “Which means… It can’t be…” “Yes, that is the lost half of the Goddess Elazonia—the Evil God Elazok!” “““Wh-what?!””” The followers were floored, but immediately believed her words at face value. As people who had decided to just accept the Goddess’s teachings, they had become lazy, abandoning their ability to reason for themselves because it was too much effort. “Yeah, that’s the evil side of Lady Elazonia. It’s not the Goddess of Light.” “And that’s why they just called her Elazonia and are trying to defeat her.” It was a little too convenient of an explanation, but it was far less weight on their shoulders to believe it than believe that the Goddess was evil. “People believe what they want to believe—whether it’s the truth or a fabrication.” That was what the Demon King’s advisor told her when he’d told her in advance about the Goddess’s true nature, giving her a strategy for riding out the chaos. “…Is this another punishment for our arrogance?” Now tides had changed again. They began shouting abuse toward Elazonia, who they thought was the Evil God. Vermeita sighed so no one could hear. It wasn’t wrong of them to believe in a god. The church was needed to remove the threats of monsters and bandits, to heal injury and disease, to even bring the dead back. But they had become drunk on the power of the immortal heroes. They used the threat of no healing or resurrection as a means to manipulate the countries, becoming a tyrannical institution that none could resist. “We must change.” Vermeita looked to the images that played across the sky, determination in her heart. No matter how the battle ended, there would be big changes in store for the church, but it was an opportunity to correct their corrupt customs. “Yes, this is a good chance. This will allow me to build an ideal land where boys can love each other!” She accidentally let her true goal slip from her lips, but it was swallowed by the roars of the people and went unnoticed. Elazonia stood frozen in shock when she learned that everything had been seen by the entire continent. Shinichi cackled evilly, almost like he was the Evil God. “Ha-ha-ha! You should have realized something was going on when Arian was the only one to attack you!” Celes was busy sending video footage to Sanctina through Link. Regina was supporting her student by providing magic, using a blocking spell to create a boundary that kept Elazonia from noticing the other chants. This was the final showdown. The only reason they made Arian fight it alone was because they had their hands full. “I would have thought a Goddess could figure it out, but you didn’t even notice a pathetic trap.” “Bastard…!” “How does it feel for your world to come crashing down? How does it feel, knowing you’ve spent three hundred years for this very moment?” Celes let out an exasperated sigh at Shinichi’s goading, which would be enough to make a real saint clothesline him. “I’m going to edit that out,” she said. After all they’d done to destroy the people’s faith in her, some people might sympathize with Elazonia if they heard this abuse. As she continued to lend magic to Celes, Regina called her daughter, who was currently unoccupied, over.
Chapter 72
13 min read