That wasn’t the kind of thing you just told someone. That kind of bombshell was for the likes of the Host Samurai, the Dragon Throne guy who’d laugh off a revelation like that with a shake of the head and a glass of whiskey.
Hell, even I had nearly died when we first subdued him two months ago.
Lilith had to be stationed a full kilometer away, her barrier spells at maximum output, just to keep herself safe. Even then, she’d barely managed to hang on.
To be fair, without her triggering the transcendent battle arts that surpassed even traditional martial magic, there was no way I could’ve won. And those techniques? Only activated through her support. That was why she had to stay just within reach, far enough to survive the shockwaves, close enough to keep the link stable.
Which led to the inevitable.
Lilith had watched the entire fight unfold from afar—if you could call a kilometer “afar” in that kind of battle—and afterward, she let me have it. Full force.
“Do you even realize how ridiculous this is?” she’d said, her voice trembling with fury. “I’m just a human. At best, I’m operating at an A- or S-rank adventurer level. And you’re having your world-ending clash of divine monsters within a single goddamn kilometer of me. You think I can survive the fallout of that even with my best barriers?! Are you insane?!”
Then came the punch. A clean right hook that nearly dislocated my jaw.
“Were you trying to kill me, you absolute moron?!”
It was the first time I’d ever seen Lilith genuinely lose it. Also, the first time she’d ever spoken to me with no filters, no polite phrasing, just raw fury spat straight in my face. That alone had shocked me more than the punch.
Back in the present, Koharu just shrugged, wearing a vague, unreadable expression that said, “I don’t even want to know.”
“Lurking around, dodging questions… Honestly, Ryuto-kun, you’re impossible sometimes.”
“And now you’ve regained your true power, right?” I turned to Koharu, giving her a pointed look.
She stiffened, expression flickering as if unsure how to respond. “I… I honestly don’t know. Maybe? It sort of feels like it, but…”
“Then let me make a suggestion,” I cut in.
“A suggestion?” she echoed warily.
“Your village, it was wiped out by oni, wasn’t it? Ogres?”
She nodded solemnly. “Yes. Mostly Ogre Generals. And possibly their leader. The Ogre King.”
I raised my right hand and pointed due north.
“There’s a cluster of Ogre Generals that way. Dozens of them, by the look of it. And they’re likely just the scouts.”
Even a single Ogre General was classified as a high-threat entity. Seeing so many operating as scouts meant one thing: the main force was massive. It was almost a given that an Ogre King was commanding them.
Just like what happened in the East.
I sorted through the patterns in my head, connecting the threads until the conclusion became clear.
These weren’t isolated incidents. Someone was orchestrating this, pulling the strings in both the east and west. In the east, their target had been Saegusa. Here in the west, it was probably Cordelia.
I sighed, the weight of inevitability settling on my shoulders.
So much for just playing around with students.
I gave Koharu’s arm a tug and led her forward. After a few paces, the trees parted, and there they were. Ogre Generals. Towering brutes, already visible through the underbrush.
Then a sharp, echoing voice rang out across the forest, cracking through the air like a gunshot.
“Run! Get out of here! Those are Ogre Generals! I can’t handle them on my own!”
Right. I’d completely forgotten.
There was supposed to be a veteran adventurer posted nearby, assigned by the academy as our escort. D-rank or maybe E-rank. Someone meant to keep watch from a distance.
In reality? A complete liability. More of a danger to us than to the enemy.
Just one more thing I didn’t need right now.
“I’m sensing about thirty of them in total,” I said, casually brushing off the tension. “You handle five, and I’ll step in after that. Not bad for rehab, right?”
Koharu let out a quiet chuckle, the sound light and dry.
The truth was, if she ever decided to get serious, Koharu could easily hold her own against an A-rank adventurer. Her technique, her presence, it all pointed to that level of skill. The Ogre Generals? They were C-rank at best. One-on-one, they wouldn’t even be a warm-up for her.
“Ryuto-kun?” Her voice trembled slightly. “Am I really… connected to the gods right now?”
“Probably.” I shrugged. But honestly, she already knew the answer. How could she not? The curse that had bound her all this time had shattered in an instant, like brittle glass. She must have felt it and known the moment it happened.
It was the kind of release that defied belief. Like waking up to find every trace of illness gone, not just faded but obliterated. No pain, no weight, no resistance. As if some powerful narcotic had surged through her veins, scrubbing away every last discomfort in a single, impossible wave. That kind of clarity would leave anyone breathless.
“I understand,” she whispered.
And just then, a faint smile spread across her face, soft and bright, filled with a quiet joy that needed no words.
Before I could speak, another voice rang out from the forest, shrill and panicked.
“Heey! I told you! I told you to run! Why the hell are you still standing there after spotting an Ogre General?! I can’t save suicidal idiots!”
The adventurer didn’t wait for a reply. He turned and fled as his life depended on it. Honestly, it probably did.
Koharu stepped forward.
Then, slowly, deliberately, she began to chant.
“By the covenant of old…”
It wasn’t a spell so much as a song. Her voice floated into the night like silk on water, and as she sang, her fingers moved in smooth arcs, sketching glowing runes in the air. The motion was elegant, eerily reminiscent of classical Japanese dance. Had this been a moonlit festival instead of a battlefield, the sight might’ve been mesmerizing.
“I beseech, and I offer…”
Her voice rose, threadlike and clear, each phrase spun like the note of a lullaby meant for gods.
“Wow.”
The word slipped from me before I realized it.
The atmosphere around her shifted, growing quiet and crystalline. The air itself became cool, reverent, and tinged with danger.
Her presence had taken on a holy edge, clean and still, yet edged like glass. You couldn’t touch something like that with dirty hands. Hell, even I felt it: a sharp, sacred cold that warned you to keep your distance.
Something divine had awakened in her.
An Ogre General broke into a jog, barreling straight toward Koharu with lumbering steps that shook the earth. From its perspective, she must’ve looked like the perfect prize: lithe, beautiful, vulnerable. A rare catch, and one it clearly intended to drag back to its nest. There, it would no doubt use her as nothing more than a breeding vessel. A living receptacle for its foul bloodline.
The distance between them shrank rapidly. Ten meters. Nine.
Then, without warning, Koharu shook her head slowly from side to side.
“No,” she whispered. “I can’t…”
The words had barely left her lips before the sacred energy gathered around her, so serene and regal, broke apart and vanished like morning mist.
“What’s going on?” I called out, already fearing the answer.
“My legs… They’re shaking. I can’t… stabilize the formation. The ritual is slipping…”
Her voice trembled. All the color had drained from her face, leaving her ghost-pale. Her body seemed frozen, fragile.