“If you will not give me the answers I seek,” I said, “then I’ll have to beat them out of you.” “Heh. Try me. First comes step one: showing you just how worthless your precious power really is.” All of a sudden, the man came screaming toward me, kicking up dirt and rubble in his wake. “Are your two compatriots not going to assist you?” I asked. “That’s right. It’s just you and me for now, Leon. They’ll get their turn!!” Just like at the training ground, a pair of swords materialized in the man’s hands, presumably the result of some intrinsic ability. Metal and metal clashed. “Grrr. You’re faster than you were at the arena.” “Ah-ha-ha-ha! Of course I am! Do you know how much effort I had to put into holding back, waiting and waiting and waiting for this moment?!” The speed of the man’s blades matched that of my fists. It was clear he had been concealing his strength at the trial, but something else worried me even more. I could sense divine power coming from within him. Divine power was the only thing that could harm or affect the Goddess. If this man had access to it, then I wanted him to join our cause or, at the very least, lend us his aid. But just look at that gaze of his… He has the eyes of someone who has endured a life of being despised. “Where did you get that power?!” I demanded. “And what do you hope to gain by attacking me?” “I don’t have to tell you a goddamn thing! All you need to know is that I hate your guts! I hate you so much, I can’t function anymore!” To put some distance between us, I leveled a fist at Kaito. The man blocked my blow with his swords and went skidding a few paces back. “So…is there no way for us to reach common ground?” I asked. “Hah. Damn right there isn’t.” “I see. Then it must be vengeance that drives you. I don’t recall what I did to earn your ire, but I’m afraid I cannot die while my task remains undone. I’ll beat the truth out of you: the source of your divine power, the fate of the fey folk, and the nature of that beast standing behind you that smells like the fairies do.” Mana surged within me, and my soul cried out for battle. I had activated the divine power I’d discovered in my youth—the power to go beyond the pinnacle of beastfolk evolution. “You’re looking good, Leon,” the man said. “Guess a bit of greenery and fresh air really does do wonders, huh?” The mana swirled like a vortex around me. “I can’t take any chances against a guy with the power of the divine like you,” he went on. “Sorry to get rough, but I’m going to have to smash your arms and legs into dust!” The look in his eyes was unwavering—it told me that this was a man who believed in his cause as much as I did in mine. “Divine Wildfooooooooorm!!” The mana filled me in an instant, stimulating, revitalizing, and rebirthing each and every cell in my body. My teeth grew long, my claws sharp, my mane wild and bristling with magic. Vast quantities of mana spilled out of me, crackling like lightning in the air around me. My five senses grew keener, and my intuition sharpened into a sixth. This transformation drew out far greater potential than what a simple Wildform was capable of. According to Lilia, it worked by replacing part of the body with a magical substitute, allowing the user to absorb mana from the air and convert it into power. This granted a nigh-limitless supply of magical energy upon which to draw. Going by intuition alone, I surmised that Divine Wildform granted a fivefold increase in power over the conventional Wildform. Unfortunately, while in this state, I was unable to check my status board to confirm it, perhaps because the divine powers conflicted with one another. “Hmm. Nobody’s ever reacted like that before.” Many creatures had fled immediately in primal fear and awe upon seeing me take this form, but the man before me still had a twisted smile on his face. In fact, his grin seemed even broader than before. It was a molten smile, like concentrated sugar. “I can’t help it,” Kaito said. “I’m just so happy to see you go all out.” “You had better put up a decent fight,” I replied. “Otherwise, my power will go to waste.” Kaito’s eyes were steeped in blackest night. I had hoped this display would cause him to realize the difference in our strength and stand down, but evidently, he wasn’t going to be intimidated. However, it was all the same in the end. If there was any way Kaito could have won this battle, it was by getting to me before I activated this technique. Now that I had, the fight was as good as over. The mana-rich air of this forest made me feel more powerful than ever before. “Let us begin!!” I yelled. “Over Limit: Full Over.” Just then, the man was enveloped in a green glow, and he vanished. The very next sound was that of his blades against my knuckledusters. Had I not already activated my ultimate technique, I would not have been able to react to his unprecedented speed. The force of his strike, too, was unimaginable—it was as though he was putting every bit of strength in his body behind it. But that didn’t mean that Kaito’s onslaught ended there. “Flash Change.” The next thing I knew, he was subjecting me to a flurry of blows from seemingly everywhere at once. Up, down, left, right, in front of me, behind me. A rising slash, a falling cut. A sweeping graze, a twisting lunge. The blades closed in from every angle, devouring me. But that wasn’t all. “Y-you! What sorcery is this?!” Each time Kaito landed a blow, the weapon in his hands changed. First, it was a single-edged longsword, then a broad-bladed greatsword, then a knife of blackened steel, then a thick, curved blade, and then a sword made of crystal. Then a sword with many blades, then one as long as a spear, and then one worn on the fists, like my own weapon… Every sword was of a different form, length, and weight. Different blades and different techniques. If I readied myself to block a forward grip, he suddenly switched to a reverse one. If I planned to avoid a long blade, it was instantly replaced with a short one. Each and every slash was made with perfect precision and perfect knowledge of the blade’s specific strengths and weaknesses. How many bodies had the man left in his wake to achieve such a comprehensive understanding of all these disparate weapons? I couldn’t even begin to imagine. But that was far from the most astonishing thing about him. For there was one sound beneath the unending cacophony of blades that disturbed me even more. It was the sound of Kaito’s tearing flesh. The sound of his crumbling bones. “You’re insane.” I could readily imagine what manner of technique he was using. The impact behind each strike was enough to shatter Kaito’s body, but each new attack felt just as strong as the last. Somehow, he was able to surpass the limitations of his own body—which had been put in place to prevent this kind of damage—to draw upon his full potential. Thus, each strike damaged him, but by constantly healing those wounds with magic, he was able to keep fighting. I understand the logic, but is any human truly capable of such a feat?! “Oh no!” The initial clash had caught me off guard, and due to the incredible speed and force of Kaito’s follow-up attacks, I was unable to recover. It was only a matter of time before I would make a misstep and offer him a fatal opening. The punishment for my mistake was Kaito striking me hard in the abdomen with a spiked metal rod. My body made a noise I did not know it could make, and I was flung backward nearly twenty meters, before I collided with a tree and snapped the trunk in two. “Told you the fresh air does wonders,” he said. “To me, as well as to you!” I gave Kaito no response. His mocking voice deserved none. I spat out the blood accumulating in my mouth and rose to my feet. “No matter,” I said. “These wounds will quickly heal.” That was no bluff. Divine Wildform dramatically boosted not only my physical strength but also the speed of my recovery. Cuts and scrapes that I sustained in this state disappeared in mere seconds. “Yeah, I know,” he said. “I’m not expecting you to go down that easily.” All the wounds that Kaito had sacrificed his body to inflict amounted to nothing more than a momentary discomfort for me. But even this piece of information wasn’t enough to wipe the smug smirk from his face. “This isn’t the end,” he said. “We’ve only just begun! I want you to show me what you’re capable of! Squeeze out every last drop of strength! Present your greatest self! Otherwise, there’s no point to any of this!” None of my abilities seemed to faze him. “Oh, Leon! Show me the power you’ve been seeking all your life! Watch me tread it into the dirt before you die a miserable death!” Kaito’s voice came as though bubbling up through thick lava. The green aura of healing magic that cloaked his form looked like a cloud of toxic mist. Pain meant nothing to him; his body was just another tool in his arsenal. The thing standing before me may have looked human, but the similarities ended there. He was a monster in human skin. But that meant nothing to me. “Silence, upstart. I have a duty to uphold. A mission I must complete at any cost.” He was a monster, born to wreak calamity. But I was long since prepared to fight monsters. “We fight to protect the world. The future! If you would stand in our way, then you must fall, too.” Our mission was to slay the one who sat upon the throne of the world. No mortal threat could shake me from that path. “I know not what gave birth to your hate, but your mission cannot possibly weigh heavier upon your back than mine! Thousands of lives rest on my actions! Can you say the same of your misguided crusade?!” We had sworn to slay God. If we failed, our world would perish. There were no higher stakes than these. However… “Ah, there they are.” I should have known. There was no reasoning with monsters. “There they are—the eyes that killed me,” Kaito said. “The world? The future? Don’t make me laugh. First, you’ve got to pay for what you did.” This man was so steeped in hatred that it suffused his very being, yet still he reached out for more, shrouding himself in darkness. It formed a shell around him, a barrier of black steel forged in the fires of emotion, hot enough to melt anything it touched. “Anyway, that’s enough talk for now, I think,” he said. “You’ve got a long night ahead of you, but I don’t. Let’s get on with it.” The last orange light had left the sky, and the cold glow of the moon replaced the setting sun. That, along with the faint glow of the magical water, bathed the two of us in light… …making his darkness all the more striking. In his right hand, a sword with a wave-edged blade burst into black flame. In his left, a sword constructed of dozens of crescent-moon blades crackled with lightning. “Very well. You shall not take me by surprise a second time,” I said. “I will call upon the full extent of my power to utterly obliterate you.” I prepared to make another assault, accelerating the flow of mana around my body. Then I struck my fists together, and purple spirals formed around them. “Heavy Impact: Lion Strike!!” Usually, Wildform made it impossible to cast magic, but Divine Wildform possessed no such limitation. It allowed the user to make use of mana present in the air, avoiding the steep attenuation associated with beastfolk mana. I swung a weighty fist, and a lion’s head of mana appeared around it as it flew. However, Kaito unleashed a technique of his own at precisely the same time. “Unison Slice: Black and Blue; Fire and Spark!!” Dark flames wrapped in blue lightning tore through the air toward me. Our techniques collided at the midpoint between us, producing a momentary silence followed by a mighty roar that shook us both to our cores and coated the battlefield in dust. The next sound to reach my ears was the clang of our weapons, as my full-power haymaker collided with the equal and opposite force of Kaito’s blade. “Haaaaaaaaagh!!” “Graaaaaaaagh!!” At the base of a newly formed crater, a battle of life and death began. Oh, he was strong. “Raaaaaagh!!” “Hmph!” I switched swords twice during a single swing, altering the trajectory, but Leon still barely managed to catch it on his fist. “G…grh…” His hands were cloaked in gravity magic, so they felt several times more solid than usual. My healed bones shattered upon impact once more. It hurt, but I was used to the pain by now, and the more I focused on the battle, the more it faded into the background. “Wind Spikes! Ice Claws!!” With the Briar’s Blade of Wind in one hand and the Leopard’s Dagger of Snow in the other, I caught Leon between multiple thorns of wind approaching from the rear and a formation of ice erupting from the ground. However… “Out of my way!” Leon scattered the spikes by blasting a gravitational wave from his back, while cloaking his legs in the same magic as his fists to shatter the ice. We fought on and on, exchanging a number of similar techniques. The force of our struggle laid waste to the forest, uprooting and splintering any trees in the vicinity. Our power was almost equal, and Leon soon began taking damage, as evidenced by the blood that stained his tattered equipment. Naturally, I was not doing much better myself. I had obtained the Peach’s Blade of Revival, which specialized in healing and was much more potent than the Nephrite Blade of Verdure, but it drained a lot of mana, and my clothes and equipment were both heavily damaged. Plus, even healing my wounds did nothing to restore my stamina. Leon and I had both taken substantial hits, but since we were constantly healing ourselves, there were no wounds to be seen on either of us. Nonetheless, the battle was nearing its conclusion. “Heavy Impact: Flurry of Fangs!” “Krk! Ghh! Grhhh!!” My arsenal of tricks had managed to throw Prince Leon for a loop at first, but it wasn’t long before his hardened battle senses kicked in and he gradually grew wise to my attacks. He was learning the flow of the battle, and some of my strikes started to falter. That left Leon free to throw faster and more devastating counters, tipping the scales steadily in his favor. But I can’t lose. Not yet. Not when there’s so much more to do! I had to be stronger, if this was to be my greatest battle so far. I needed Leon to go all out—to draw upon more of his power than he had ever needed in his life. That was precisely why I had brought him to the fairy forest. Seeing as he was turning into a fey himself, this was where his power would be greatest. Plus, this spring was brimming with mana, perfect for fueling his Divine Wildform ability. “Diiiiiiiie!!” Just for this moment, I left my vengeance and everything else behind. Just for this moment, I abandoned my despair, my anger, my hate, and my pain. I thought only of how I was going to deliver the killing blow, despite the knowledge that doing so would cut my vengeance short. One cut, two cuts, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Fire, wind, water, ice, thunder. Stronger, faster, again and again and again. My swords were my body, and the entirety of my soul was housed within their blades. “Grh… Nrgh… Not yet…!!” A spray of blood flew as I redoubled my assault. Leon no doubt knew as well as I that the battle was steadily shifting in his favor. Hence, he remained calm, bearing the weight of my strikes, waiting for his chance. “Haagh!” Taking careful aim, Leon launched a single powerful blow that knocked my sword back, throwing me off-balance. “C-crap!” “You’re wide open!” Seizing upon the opening, Leon sent his fist toward me. A mighty punch that could end the battle in an instant. I stepped forward without even thinking about it. Why? Because this was the moment I had been waiting for. Leon had eagerly capitalized on the gap in my defenses to try to end the battle, but once he saw my reaction, he realized that it had been my plan all along. Would his fist reach me first, or would my sword reach him? I’ll kill you I’ll kill you I’ll kill you I’ll kill you I’ll kill you. Come on!! One second slowed down to an eternity as our weapons crossed. And then… “Diiiiiiieee!!” “Guh…!” …a spray of blood burst forth…from Leon’s arm. He’d managed to bring his left arm out of the path of my blade just in time, but my sword severed his right arm completely. But that alone wasn’t enough to win me the match. “This isn’t over!” Baring his teeth and grimacing, Leon summoned his divine power, regenerating the muscle and sinew I had cut clean through. His arm reknit itself together before the detached limb even had time to fall to the ground. And because my attack had left me off-balance, Leon delivered a deadly punch straight at my rib cage. It was all I could do but to interpose my arms to protect my vitals. As the blow landed, I heard the same sickening crack I had heard so many times already. “G…gaagh!!” My face paled with shock. For about two and a half seconds, I completely lost consciousness. “Dear brother!” “Kaito!!” My two compatriots screamed my name from the sidelines, where I had instructed them to stand. You don’t need to sound so worried… I know! Their voices drew me back awake, just in time to see Leon standing tall before me. “…Tch.” I had taken as direct a hit as I could without it killing me, and Leon’s divine power had infiltrated my body, interfering with my recovery magic. It would take another few minutes before I was up and moving around again. “I win,” said Leon. “Hah. I knew this was coming, but it still hurts like a bitch…” I had regained almost all the lost power of my previous life. But if that was enough to beat Leon, one-on-one, steered and cultivated to the absolute height of his power, and provided with the most favorable conditions possible… …then there would have been no point in any of this. “Well done, Leon. You won this one, fair and square.” “…What are you planning, miscreant?” Leon immediately realized there was a quality to my voice not in keeping with my predicament. He raised a single eyebrow. But it was already too late. “Ha-ha-ha! Oh, can’t you savor the moment a little longer?! You’ve won! Your training paid off! You summoned a power even greater than mine! Even greater than the hero at the height of his strength!” “The hero? …What do you mean?” He was too slow on the uptake. “Come, now, Leon. You’ve proved your might and won the battle. Now, it’s time to pay the price! Mai! Yuuto!!” “Grr! Still intent on fighting me, are you?” Without taking his eyes off me, Leon shifted his attention to my two allies. “…Enemies of my brother must die.” “Finally, we get to do something.” Before Leon could process what they were doing, Mai unleashed a poison slash, and Yuuto unleashed a monstrous claw…right at the Fairy Tree. The very tree from which Leon drew the mana to fuel his Divine Wildform, now that he had been almost entirely transmorphed into a fairy himself. “Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaagh?!” He emitted a scream unlike any I’d ever heard him make. “Ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! It’s over, Leon. You gave everything you had to win this battle, and now it’s time to settle the debt! You became the strongest being on this earth, and yet Mai and Yuuto are going to put you in the ground without laying a finger on you!!” “Curse you… What have you done…?” Leon fell to his knees, clutching his breast as though he couldn’t breathe. He tried to launch a gravity wave at Yuuto and Mai, but it rapidly dispersed after traveling only a few centimeters. “Tell me! What did you do to me?!” “I used the Tempter’s Blade of Polymorphism,” I replied. “The what?! Argggggh!!” I slowly rose to my feet. My whole body was crying out in pain, but it no longer mattered. “You don’t know what I mean, do you? But don’t worry. In a few seconds, you’ll remember it all.” I approached the kneeling prince and took out the Eight-Eyed Sword of Clarity. Then I stabbed the blade into his shoulder. “Argh! Ggrh! Graaahhh!!” Leon’s pain doubled, and he clutched his head in agony. “The…the hero? Where am I? Who am I? Grrh! What’s going on?!” “That’s right, Leon. It’s me, the hero you killed. I’ve brought you here, to this world, so we can have a little fun.” His lips twisted as new memories filled his head. Memories he didn’t remember but that he nonetheless recognized as his own. “Kaito… Oh, Kaito, Kaito, Kaito. You’ll pay for this!!” “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Welcome back, Leon!! Oh, I never knew us meeting again could feel so damn good!!” “What is the meaning of this, Kaito?! How are you alive? I watched you die! We all—! Gaaaaaaaaghhh!!” Mai and Yuuto attacked the Fairy Tree once more. As they did, the monsters surrounding us in the clearing let out howls and roars of excitement. “…I see… The Tempter’s Blade. That explains why I felt weak in places bereft of mana… It was— Gggrhhh!!” Mai’s poisoned naginata caused the Fairy Tree to rot and splinter. Meanwhile, Yuuto took the form of a many-headed monster and chewed its multicolored leaves and branches into dust. “That’s right,” I said. “And this tree is the source of the fairies’ power. If it’s damaged, then it restores that energy by taking it from any fey nearby. If you’d known about it in advance, maybe you could have done something to disguise your race, but thanks to your Divine Wildform, you look just like a fairy now, cloaked in their mana that you sucked up!” It would be like having a thick syringe plunged into your skin and all the blood in your body drained out. I couldn’t imagine how painful that would be. “How does it feel, Leon? You could have snapped both of their necks, but the only thing you can do is crawl on the ground like a maggot.” I roused my aching body to gaze upon Leon’s suffering. “It hurts, doesn’t it? To be weak and powerless.” My mouth tasted of blood, but there had to be crystals of pure joy mixed in, given the high I was feeling. “Suffer.” “Gaaaaagh!!” “Suffer.” “Grkh… Grrrhhh!!” “Suffer.” “Ggh… Ggrh!! Rhh!!” Yuuto and Mai chipped away at the Fairy Tree, and with their every strike, Leon let out another agonized scream. A howl I’d waited so long to hear. Oh, how good it felt. “Yes, writhe in pain, like a pixie with torn-off wings.” By the time the tree was little more than a single twig, I’d recovered enough to stand and walk. And although I could not fight, I was more than capable of delivering the coup de grâce. “Stop…,” Leon pleaded. “If you destroy the tree, the fey will lose their power. Many human lives will be at risk…” “So what? You’re saying I should die instead?” “No, I’m not. But even you must see this just isn’t right!” “Hah! That’s even less convincing! Since when have you cared about right and wrong?! You turned your back on it! You made an innocent man suffer so you could achieve your aims!” I leaned in closer, as if to tighten the noose around his neck. “I’m just doing the same thing you did.” With one final crack, the Fairy Tree snapped in half. “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!” Leon emitted a noise as piercing and loud as a backfiring speaker. “Ghh… Gah… Rgh…” He lay in a pool of his own sweat, centimeters away from death. What a beautiful sight it was. But I wasn’t ready to end it yet. Not by a long shot. I wasn’t nearly done defiling the power he’d lusted after. “All right, Leon. It’s time for scene two. This time, you’ll—” But just as I turned to walk over to him, a familiar voice reached my ear. “I’m afraid I cannot let you harm him. That man is one of my few allies.” Mai and Yuuto both reeled with shock, too. “What?! Why is she here?!” “Wasn’t she supposed to have left town?!” “Liliaaa!” I cried. “What are you doing here?!” Standing there, dressed shoulder to toe in a deep blue robe, with midnight hair that seemed to blend into the night itself, was someone who by all accounts should have been nowhere nearby. Lilia Lu Harleston had returned. I am Lilia Lu Harleston, born illegitimately to the lord of the land of the demons via one of his harem. From a very young age, I have been able to see what others cannot. It appeared to me as a sort of particle, gathering and diffusing in all different shapes and colors. This particle was found in the air, in plants, in insects, in animals, and also in people. Whenever I saw it, it reminded me of the view outside the window of my childhood home. Of the memento left by successive generations of demon lords, which continued to watch over our race today. The Demonlight Tree. Its bark was so dark as to absorb all light, and it was covered in a glowing red that pulsed, as if alive. The tree was tall enough to pierce the skies themselves and was completely barren, without a single leaf on any of its branches. Despite its deathly appearance, however, it brimmed with monstrous life. That much was obvious to anyone who laid eyes upon it. From the air and the earth, the Demonlight Tree sucked up those multicolored particles only I could see, converting them into white dust that it sprayed up into the sky. At the time, I didn’t know what I was seeing, but I knew it was wrong. Whatever the Demonlight Tree was doing, it couldn’t be good for this world. The white spray it dispersed seemed to me like it was screaming. I could see many such trees via my window in the demon lord’s castle. Because of that, I came to dislike the realm in which I was born. I was told countless times that what I could see was mana, and that it was due to my intrinsic ability, Magic Eye. But even back then, I knew that wasn’t right. No… That’s not it. But I couldn’t argue the point. Because I could see mana. And if what I was seeing wasn’t mana, then what else could it be? My illegitimacy was only discovered after I had already been named. By then, it was too late to strip me of my royal surname. As such, I was sent to be the errand girl of an old wizard in the castle and given a magic item that concealed my status board. From then on, I was known as just plain old Lilia. My magical aptitudes were average for a girl of my race, but the ability to see mana gave me an edge, and people considered me a promising mage. Around the time I completed my education, the demon lord and his wife suddenly passed away. Just prior to their deaths, the lord had summoned me to discuss the possibility of adopting me into the royal family and restoring my surname, so that I would no longer have to lie about my origins. By that time, I had already begun to suspect my true lineage by listening to what people said about me when they thought my back was turned. At one point, I’d grown so suspicious that I removed the magic item and observed my own status board, thus learning my true name. So I knew what the lord was offering, but nonetheless, I opted to stay as Lilia. I wished for nothing more than to stay away from the politics of rule and live a normal life. But during that meeting, I noticed something strange. This substance only I could see that was present in every living thing—especially in those of power and greatness—right up until the moment of death, was completely absent in the dying lord. Our lord was said to rank among the most powerful in all of history. I had expected to see his body replete with the particles. Just like the Demonlight Tree. Later that day, I spoke to my foster parent, the old wizard, about the choice I had made. He gave a troubled frown, then smiled and said to me, “Thank you.” When I told him what I had seen, the old wizard looked sad, and muttered, “He’s never been good with words, you see.” Soon after that, the old lord passed, and his wife quickly followed. The next in line to the throne was his eldest son, a man hailed as a worthy successor. When I saw him at the coronation, I wasn’t sure he was the same man I knew. Such was the density of the mysterious particles I could see within him. I thought back to what the old wizard had said. Perhaps the old lord had bequeathed this power to his son? “Lilia?” Afterward, I began waiting on Leticia, now a young girl. Those years spent watching over her growth and aiding the old wizard in his experiments were among the calmest of my life. But at a certain point, the old wizard began acting strange. He would lock himself in his laboratory, slaving away at his experiments for days on end. Eventually, he even left the city and went to live at the base of the Demonlight Tree. His eyes became sunken pits, his cheekbones grew gaunt, and his wrinkles became more numerous than ever before. I worried for his health, but there was nothing I could do. He wouldn’t even accept my offers to assist in his research anymore. All I could do was watch as the old wizard aged rapidly beyond his years, before he was eventually killed by a magical accident during one of his experiments. I had just gone to check up on him when I heard the explosion, but by the time I arrived, he was beyond salvation. His mouth hung half-open in death, his final words forever unspoken. I took some time away from work and began going through the old mage’s research. It was there I learned what my ability was really showing me. The old wizard had been researching the structure of mana and of the arcstone, the special demon heart that only the demon lord possessed. His studies touched on the mechanism by which mana could be converted into fire, water, earth, and wind through the use of spells. Why dense concentrations of mana caused monsters to spontaneously spring into being. By what means mana affected the body in the case of support spells and hexes. The old wizard described mana as a high-energy particle whose properties could be changed at will. Spells were operations capable of breaking that particle down into pure energy and reconstructing it into a new form. This conclusion was based not only on his experiments but on interrogating me about the things my ability allowed me to see. The old wizard believed mana particles underpinned all creation and named the resulting energy “worldforce.” This energy was what powered change. Those with greater concentrations of worldforce had higher levels or more abilities than others. The theory went that those who absorbed more worldforce in their travels used it to fuel greater levels of strength, and that was what we referred to as “experience points.” This theory was consistent with how I had seen the world since birth. I was quickly convinced of its veracity. “That all makes sense, but…” I closed the old wizard’s tome of magical research, which had been disguised as a vegetation field guide, and placed it back on the shelf. Then I picked up another book, similarly obfuscated, that detailed his investigations into the arcstone. Among successive generations of demon lords were those who possessed an arcstone, whom history remembered as the most powerful of our kind. Whenever such a demon lord appeared, the humans would invariably receive a vision from their goddess, leading them to summon a hero from another world, replete with divine power. The hero and demon lord would then battle. If the hero was defeated, the demon lord would transform into a Demonlight Tree. This transformation took a few years and always occurred after the hero died, whether the demon lord was directly involved in their death or not. In that time, the demon lord would return here, to the home of demonkind, to plant their roots and take their final breath. The resulting Demonlight Tree would continue to produce black leaves and crimson fruit, absorbing mana from the depths of the earth and providing strength to demonkind. That, on the surface, was the purpose of the Demonlight Tree. However, these experiments revealed that most of the energy absorbed this way was converted into worldforce and sent somewhere else. Even after the tree grew barren and ceased producing leaves and fruits, this second function never ceased. This seemed to imply that the Demonlight Tree was sending power to some enemy of mankind’s Goddess, perhaps even some hypothetical God of demonkind. And if that was the case, then the roles of hero and demon lord—and even the very animosity between demonkind and humanity in the first place—were nothing but fabrications in a proxy war on a divine scale. But that wasn’t even the most startling revelation. If the demon lord won, then the Demonlight Tree would send the Earth’s power to this supposed God of demonkind. On the other hand, if the hero won, then they would return to their world, replete with the worldforce they’d accumulated over the course of their adventure. In other words, the amount of energy in this world decreased either way. Eventually, if this went on, the world would be completely drained of worldforce, transforming into a barren land home to no life whatsoever. Such was the chilling end my foster father’s research notes foretold. He sought some way to reach the gods, to take that power back, but his experiments grew in scale until they killed him. And so I decided to search for such a means myself. If our gods were not going to protect us, then I would have to assume that duty in their place. So I inherited my father’s work. I encouraged Ardelius in his crusade against mankind. I provoked the evil dragon and even killed Leticia’s brother to obtain the arcstone for myself. But thanks to Ardelius’s schemes, Leticia ended up with the arcstone instead. The arcstone and the hero’s power are both divine in nature. Consequently, they should both be capable of harming the Goddess. I had come across a staunch ally in the form of Leon Gailed, but even together, we had not perfected a means of reaching the gods. I’d even gone so far as to inform Leticia herself of the crisis this world faced. However, I did not tell her that the true object of her vengeance was none other than me. Nor did she know that I had taken her brother’s demon heart for myself. And now… The Holy Crystal of the Lunarian See. It was very likely that this artifact also possessed the power of the divine. I may have further use for you yet, Ardelius. I replaced the second tome on the bookshelf of my inn room. As I sat down at the desk, my lips twisted into a smile. Lilia was after Ardelius, believing him to be the one who killed her brother. I would make use of the chaos to steal the Holy Crystal. At that moment, there was a knock at the door. “Oh? Those two are back earlier than I expected.” Leticia and Nonorick were both quite insistent that eating at every restaurant in town was the done thing upon arriving in a new city, so I hadn’t expected them to return for some time. “Hmm?” I said, upon opening the door. “There’s no one here. And what’s this, a note?” I picked it up, and when I read it, I gasped. “The fairies are about to be wiped out. If you wish to save them, then come to the forest.” This was no empty threat, for a fairy’s disembodied wing was included with the note. I must inform Leticia…but I cannot establish Soulspeak contact. Nonorick must have taken her to one of those suspicious curio stores with too much magical interference. I’ll leave a note instead. I quickly came to a decision. This threat could not go unanswered. I penned a message explaining where I was going and left the inn. “…” All without noticing the singular presence watching me from the shadows. I hurried into the depths of the forest as quickly as I could. Even with the Magic Eye, I failed to spot a single fairy along the way. At last, I came across an unbelievable sight. “Leon? What happened? You’re at death’s door…” I ran to his side, at a loss to explain the situation I was witnessing. Leon had lost even after using Divine Wildform. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “I’ll explain later,” I replied. “Right now, I have to deal with these three.” Lying opposite Leon was a man, not even attempting to hide the glare he was leveling at me. I believed his name was Kaito. “…I have a feeling they will not allow us to run so easily.” I glanced around and saw that his accomplices—humans by the names of Yuuto and Mai—had immediately moved to surround us and cut off our escape. “Watch out… They’re strong…,” Leon said, groaning. “Yes, that much is clear. I shall not let down my guard.” It looked as though Kaito wouldn’t be rejoining the fight, but his two companions appeared completely unharmed. “They are…dangerous… Be careful.” With that, Leon passed out. I laid him under a tree and turned to face the other two. “Earth Dragon’s Roar! White Flame Wave!” This time, I held nothing back. This staff was not a mere striking weapon like the one I’d used during the examination but a tool for quickening my casting speed to unprecedented levels. With it, the ground beneath my feet took the form of a dragon and attacked, while white flames sped toward my foes. However… “Gigantes Arm!!” “Waterflow Wind!” …Yuuto shattered the dragon with his arm—which had grown to gigantic proportions—while Mai quenched the flames with water. Thus, our battle began. “It appears you possess a modicum of strength. However, even combined, you can never defeat me.” “Krh…!” “I knew you were going easy on us before, but this is crazy!!” It didn’t take long for Lilia to take the lead in the battle. The pair weren’t giving her an easy time of it, but they had sustained many wounds in the process. Mai and Yuuto are giving it all they’ve got…but it might not be enough… They had taken more damage than I expected, and so far, their prospects were not looking good. The best thing to do would be to grab the two of them and get out of here, but I wasn’t sure whether I could do that. I had originally planned on leaving this place using my powers of teleportation as the final step in my vengeance against Leon. That power currently resided in a magic orb I had prepared with one of my soul blades. Theoretically, I could use it to escape this predicament. Of course, our plans would be ruined, but… “So long as we survive, there’s always a next time…” I readied myself to cast everything I’d worked for aside. But at that moment… “Not yet, dear brother!!” …Mai called out to stop me. “I didn’t come with you to this world just to hold you back!” She rose defiantly to her feet. “Yuuto,” she said. “Thirty seconds. Please keep Lilia busy for thirty seconds. That’s all I ask.” “Thirty seconds?! Hmm, that’s a lot to ask…” Yuuto curved his lips in a bold smile. “But okay; I’m not going to be a burden, either!” Yuuto likewise struggled to his feet and took out a glowing green orb from his pocket. He placed it into his mouth and bit down, shattering it and swallowing the fragments. “Amalia Plant: Full Body!!” Yuuto’s whole body swelled like a balloon as he called upon the power of a high-level monster we had encountered in the Gambler’s Gauntlet. As he did so, Mai began chanting. “Come, like malevolence spoken, your forefathers shrouded in gloom.” “Grrrrrooooooohhhhhh!!” A howl rent the air as Yuuto took the form of a many-armed monster. Its body was formed of hardened moss and earth, and thick vines extended from its core. They whipped like vipers and sped toward Lilia. “Come, like curses unbroken, your ancestors facing their doom.” “Krh! Out of my way!!” Lilia was as adept in magic as any member of her race and began weaving together swift spells to protect herself against the vines. She wasn’t quite as proficient as Leticia, for whom magic was as effortless as breathing, but she was a capable sorceress all the same. Her Magic Eye ability let her intuit a great deal about her foes’ spells, so she was more than a match for Yuuto. “They just keep coming!” “Grrgh!! Giiieee! Gaaaa!!” Lilia sliced away at the vines, to the resounding score of Yuuto’s inhuman screams. “Come, like the maiden expelled, as your house is eclipsed by the mists.” Although she couldn’t cast as smoothly as Leticia could, Lilia’s ability allowed her to see an opponent’s attack coming far in advance, which meant she could approximate her sister’s frightening response speed. But that didn’t guarantee she could get through Yuuto’s vines. “Grhh! You think this will be enough to stop me?!” Yuuto kept up the assault, regrowing his vines each time one was destroyed. Though he was unable to deliver a decisive blow, he succeeded in keeping her occupied. “Come, like the darkness beheld, as your eyes slowly fester with cysts.” After the promised time was up, Yuuto’s vines were depleted, and he returned to normal. “Thirty seconds, on the dot,” he said. “Don’t say I never do anything for you…” “Come, the gods tumble like flies. Come, let me pluck out your eyes.” Yuuto dragged his bloodied body over to the nearest tree and collapsed beneath it. He was exhausted, but he had upheld his task to the letter. “Thank you,” said Mai. “That’s all I needed.” “What the…?” I could hear Lilia gulp. Wisps of dark wind whirled around the spot where Mai stood. She had channeled so much energy into them that they crackled with electricity, as if alive. “Come to me now! Sigh of the Rotting Princess!” “Krh!” Lilia could see mana. That meant she knew Mai’s spell would be fatal. And so, as Mai lowered her naginata in a sweeping arc, Lilia hopped back to put some distance between her and this mysterious power. But Mai then spoke. “There’s no use running. You cannot escape the wind.” There was a sound like crumbling sand, and more of the black wind descended from the night, as if guided by Mai’s spell. That wind came down on Lilia like a gavel from the heavens. “Grhhh!!” Lilia deployed a magical barrier, standing firm against the incredible weight bearing down on her from above. Outside the protection of her shield, the grass and the trees around her withered to dust at the black wind’s touch. Lilia was an excellent sorceress. However, her spells themselves were not where her strengths lay. She was more adept at solving strategic puzzles with the help of her intrinsic ability, and in terms of raw power, her spellcraft was somewhat lacking. Thus, Mai’s ultimate technique could very well seal her doom. “There is no escape,” Mai declared. “Prepare to be cursed, to run rotten, to descend into stagnation.” From out of the black winds emerged the darkened, slender arm of a woman. “Die, die, diiiieeee!!” As soon as that bony arm touched the barrier, Lilia’s spell disintegrated into black sand. But Lilia wasn’t ready to die yet. She threw up a succession of shields, one after the other. She seemed to be using observations from her Magic Eye to adjust the formula on the fly, as each was more effective than the last at holding the black wind at bay. “You shall not defeat me!!” “Give up and diiiiiie!!” Lilia and Mai screamed as their spells contended with each other’s. Then the finger of Mai’s cursed arm shattered the final barrier, and a release of energy gave rise to a blinding black light. The shock wave threw up a cloud of dust, and when it cleared… “Haah… Haah… Haah… Haah…” …Lilia was still standing, panting with ragged breaths. The cursed wind had turned everything around her to ash, and her arm had been caught and was beginning to turn black. Given that the spell was supposed to deprive Lilia of all four of her limbs, however, this outcome was less than favorable. “I couldn’t…do it… Guff…” Mai spat out those last few words, then fell flat from magic exhaustion. “You did well,” said Lilia, “But I’m afraid this—” “Yeah, she did do well.” “Huh?!” There was a swoosh, and Lilia’s healthy arm fell to the ground, severed at the shoulder. Thanks to Mai’s and Yuuto’s efforts, my approach had gone completely undetected. “Don’t bother fighting back. I may be wounded, but there’s no way I’m going to lose to a woman with no arms.” “Grh… How could it end…here?!” Lilia leered at me, and I hit her back with a wave of intimidation. I had severed her limb with a high-temperature blade, so the wound had sealed over without bleeding. But while I might have recovered the reins, I wasn’t sure where to go from here. Despite all my scheming, this was one wrinkle I hadn’t planned for. Why was Lilia back so soon after leaving town? I know they say when it rains, it pours, but this was ridiculous. I’d even made sure to double-check with the guild that Leticia’s party had actually left for the battlefield like they said they did! However, at that moment, my lament was cut short by an explosion that took place directly between me and Lilia. Who is it now?! I should have been able to guess. I had Lilia at the tip of my blade and was watching her closely for any sudden movements. The only person who could have cast that spell, then, was… “Nyah-ha-ha! That’s quite enough, I think!” This world must have been created to torment me. The breeze ran through her scarlet hair. Her defiant grin challenged the world. Leticia was standing there, in her gothic dress, exactly the same as I remembered her. “…” “Leticia…!” She dropped into the clearing from out of nowhere. Lilia sounded relieved at her sister’s arrival. Crap. This is really bad. I might not be capable of taking on Leticia in this condition… And if she was here, chances were Nonorick wasn’t far behind. “…Grh.” “This…doesn’t look good.” Mai and Yuuto voiced their displeasure. They could each go no further. There was no time to waste. I needed to get the three of us away from here by any means necessary. Dammit, I was so close…! Okay, calm down… Dammit! Dammit! I found it difficult to steady my thoughts. The frustration of my vengeance being so close at hand and yet tantalizingly far clouded my mind. Without even casting me a glance, Leticia walked over to Lilia’s side. “My, you look even worse than usual, dear sister.” I knew that Leticia had no memory of our relationship, but even so, the reminder hit me hard. “You have done well. Now rest.” “Thank you, Leticia… But I fear there is no time for conversation. First, we must work together to take these three into custody.” “I know. But your healing comes first.” I couldn’t help but feel there was a strange quality to Leticia’s voice. But before I could figure it out, Leticia took up position behind her sister and laid a hand on her back. “Godly Bless.” Two pairs of faintly glowing golden wings descended from the heavens. One touched Lilia’s severed shoulder, the other her cursed and blackened arm. Two bright lights flashed, and all of a sudden, Lilia’s limbs began regenerating. “Phew. Thank you, Leticia.” “Anything for you, Lilia. I shall spare no effort.” Again, I felt it. There was something strange about the way she’d said that. A nagging feeling at the back of my mind that I just couldn’t shake. “This fight required I expend much of my mana,” said Lilia. “But now that you’re here—” Suddenly, Leticia hugged her from behind. “Oh, Sister?” she said. “There’s something I’ve always wanted to tell you, so, so much. But I had to wait until the time was just right. You don’t know how hard it’s been; at times, I thought I would fall apart. But I waited and waited and waited.” “Leticia…? What are you—?” “I’ve wanted to pay you back for Brother for a long, long time.” Though I was far from Leticia and Lilia, for some reason, I heard the stabbing sound loud and clear. “I’m taking back the heart you stole from him, Lilia.” A small amount of blood spurted forth from Lilia’s chest. Leticia’s charming smile appeared over her shoulder. And finally, I realized what it was about Leticia that had given me pause. It was a feeling of recognition. Recognition of a feeling. A dark and merry emotion that had been my steadfast companion for so long.
Chapter 107
43 min read