“Dodriel,” came Barel’s voice again.
“With pleasure,” responded Dodriel, forcing his wicked shadows into Patriot’s and Dafton’s mouths.
““Mrrrgh?!””
A massive amount of shadow flooded into their bodies until they both exploded from the inside. Pieces of dark red flesh went flying in all directions, and the venue fell silent.
“The impure are rotten inside and out,” Barel said, having brutally disposed of the two nobles.
He snorted and cast his eyes appraisingly around the entire venue.
“I see the eidolon Fafnir, and… Oh, how nostalgic. I wouldn’t have expected to find a pup from that isolated island here. And is that the Billion-Year Sakura? What is it doing here? …Ahh, a memento of that old fool Bacchus, is it?”
Having finished scanning the crowd…
“Cough, cough…”
…Barel was overcome with a coughing fit. Blood fell through the black haze covering his face, and his aides began to panic.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
“I feared you weren’t yet ready to leave the castle…!”
Barel halted them with a wrinkled hand and wiped blood from his mouth.
“I am fine. I’m just not used to being outside yet. I’ll get over this soon.”
I couldn’t make out much of what they were saying because of the distance, but there was no mistaking my eyes. He coughed up blood? It looked like Barel might be ill.
“Barel Ronelia, you’ve got guts appearing here before me,” Chairwoman Reia said from beside me, her voice thick with hostility. Her fist turned black—which must have been the source of her nickname—and it looked like she might attack him at any moment.
“Greetings, Black Fist. True, the presence of a Transcendent is quite troublesome. Not just anyone can overcome the curse of that button. That’s why I’m going to prevent you from taking the stage,” Barel said.
“Excuse me?” the chairwoman said dubiously.
The announcer suddenly spoke up with panic in her voice.
“I—I have an emergency message from the Empress! A large host of demons has appeared from shadow spots in the sky and attacked Liengard Palace! Black Fist Reia Lasnote is ordered to return to the palace at once! To repeat, a large host of…”
Chairwoman Reia gritted her teeth, yet Barel appeared completely at ease.
“Please hurry, Ms. Reia! The Empress is in danger!” the announcer pleaded.
The chairwoman turned to me. “Allen, I need to go save Her Majesty. I’m sorry about this, but can I leave this situation in your hands?”
“Yes, ma’am!” I replied.
Chairwoman Reia ran off in the direction of Liengard Palace. Barel watched her go, then stood calmly from his shadow throne.
“Gauron, Dodriel, take care of the rest.”
“Understood.”
“I’ll make you proud, boss!”
Just before he stepped back into the shadow, Barel glanced back at me.
“Allen… Make sure you discover the truth. I am not your enemy. The King’s Power exists to help us defeat our true foe,” he said mysteriously before vanishing into the black vortex.
A giant shadow then appeared above the stage, from which a large number of limp objects began to fall, landing on the ground with loud thuds. I realized with horror that they were human.
“Must kill…swordsmen… Kill, kill, kill…”
“Oooooo…”
Their muscles had swelled to abnormal sizes, and they held unstable Soul Attires.
“Those people must have been fed soul-crystal pills…,” I said, grinding my teeth in anger.
“Ah-ha, that’s correct! A gold star for you, Allen! You’re so smart… Wait, when did you…? Oh, right! You’ve fought swordfighters enhanced by soul-crystal pills multiple times now! I read about it in a report a while back,” Dodriel said cheerfully.
He looked down upon the horde of squirming people.
“These swordfighters have all been enhanced by soul-crystal pills. Well, it sounds nice when you put it that way, but they’re really just the subjects of failed experiments, their bodies ravaged by the effects of the drug.”
“You… Do human lives really mean nothing to you…?!” I shouted.
“Nah, not really,” he said without hesitation. There was a shocking lack of emotion in his words. “Anyway, who cares about whether they’ve been ‘enhanced’ or ‘horribly disfigured by experiments gone wrong’? There’s something I want to tell you!”
Dodriel leaned forward, his eyes shining like a child’s.
“Today, the Holy Ronelian Empire declares war on Lien—”
He was interrupted when an ice spear struck him in the face.
“…Who threw that?”
Dodriel was uninjured, having used Shadow Sovereign to step into the Shadow World, but he looked livid at having his speech interrupted. I could see his eyebrows twitching from a distance.
“Do you ever quit runnin’ your damn mouth? Come down here so I can beat the shit out of you, you piece of trash!” Shido yelled, beckoning Dodriel toward him. He was just as short-tempered as always.
“All who disobey the will of God shall be struck down!” Cain yelled.
“I don’t give a damn about the Holy Empire or the Black Organization, or whatever the hell else you have to say!” another Ice King Academy student yelled.
“If you want a fight, you’ve got it, asshole!” shouted another one.
All of Ice King’s students yelled angrily at Dodriel.
I then noticed a group of students banding together.
“The enemy has attacked. Lend me your strength, everyone,” said Idora, who was leading a group of White Lily Girls Academy students.
“Gladly!”
“Follow Idora, everyone!”
“We’ll strike down these villains, who wish to bring chaos to the world, and make them see the error of their ways!”
The White Lily girls cheered.
“Shido, Idora…!” I gasped. Two reliable forces of students had risen up to fight—and it didn’t stop there.
“M-Medi, stop! You need to rest!”
“You almost died, remember?!”
“Oh, shut up! I can’t laze around in bed while the enemy’s attacking! Thanks for healing me, but I’ve gotta go!”
A girl argued with members of the medical staff and dashed out the east gate. It was Medi from Divine Emperor Academy. She stood before her classmates and spoke in a clear, loud voice.
“Listen up, you lot! The enemy’s here! I hope you’re not scared!”
“As if! Who do you think we are?!”
“All right, everyone! Follow President Medi!”
“Let’s show them the might of Divine Emperor Academy!”
Medi fired up her fellow students. It seemed like she was the school’s true leader.
“Hey, we can’t let the other Elite Five Academies outshine us! It’s time to show them Flame Emperor’s righteous spirit!”
“““YEAH!”””
The Flame Emperor Academy students shouted with deep voices, equally determined to demonstrate their worth.
Students from the Elite Five Academies—Thousand Blade, Ice King, White Lily, Divine Emperor, and Flame Emperor—stood side by side, ready to oppose their common enemy.
That’s right… I—we—are not alone! Some of the best swordfighters in Liengard were gathered in this very arena. Together, we made a truly formidable force.