Chapter 101: The Sky Collapsed

“The prophecy did not miss. Look. Both the Demon King and the Hero still exist over there, perfectly intact.”

Rupert, who had been spying on the scene from inside a dark stone chamber through the eyes of a Familiar, shuddered.

His two snake-like, piercing eyes were bloodshot to an unprecedented degree.

Finally.

The Black Light Star had been revived.

At first, he had believed that the being who was both Hero and Demon King would be completed as the successor to Grandeus.

But his expectations had been completely wrong.

When a boy who knew nothing of the sword drew it, he had even felt a surge of despair.

And when Kariel, whom he had regarded as the successor, fell into a near-death state, that despair had only deepened.

But why was Elbat scattering light like a Holy Sword?

Was that not, perfectly, a Holy Sword?

Where did it go wrong?

The prophecy, the vision—there was no way they could be wrong.

All sorts of doubts surged within him.

In the end, he had simply misinterpreted the prophecy, but the result had returned as a fruit far greater than he had hoped for.

“The question is why he unilaterally intervened in that fight in the first place.”

Usurf, who was also spying on the scene through shared vision, offered a different opinion.

“What was that man thinking, stepping between those two? And… I have my doubts as to whether it will truly end like this.”

“What are you trying to say, Usurf?”

“…Nothing much. I just wanted to say that if our intervention is too late, things might accidentally go very wrong.”

Setting aside the fact that the Black Light Star had manifested once more.

The master who had just displayed that power—had he not been on the verge of death just a moment ago?

If his condition had suddenly improved this quickly, wouldn’t that be strange?

…Perhaps.

Usurf merely expressed his anxiety that this might be like a final torch lit before death.

The comrade before him was somewhat detached from reality, having chased prophecies and peered into visions.

But Usurf was different.

Within the Order of Relief Knights, Usurf was the only one who faced reality as it truly was.

====

Who was it that said?

Miracles begin with the first step taken with strength, and are completed by the final step taken at the moment one is about to give up.

“…….”

The sight of the Great Disaster, which had been overflowing as if to swallow, ravage, and overturn the world, vanishing in an instant.

It instilled an indescribable sense of awe in everyone who witnessed it.

But what followed were questions. Doubts. Suspicions.

Why did he block it? Why did he stop it?

It almost looked as if he were trying to dissuade them.

In truth, had he leaned toward one side or the other—had he poured that miracle-like power into the opponent or used it in any other way—either the Hero or the Demon King would have undoubtedly met their end.

However, he intervened and twisted the progression that had heralded either mutual destruction or the wretched defeat of one side.

“Kari—el!”

There was one person here who found that sight so hateful that it was utterly unforgivable.

As she walked toward Kariel, who had collapsed but remained upright, a whirlwind of emotions surged in her steps.

Her neat face was a mess, swept up in the chaos.

Nevertheless, her blonde hair and blue eyes still asserted their presence within her distinct features.

With those neat eyes.

But what was contained within them was chaos—a mixture of clear resentment and indelible hatred.

As she walked forward clutching her sword, she radiated a hostile aura so intense that anyone could see she was on the edge.

“I wouldn’t say anything if you were just acting hypocritical. But you’re the real deal, aren’t you? If you keep living like that, you won’t have a life left to lose.”

Her tone sounded distinctly worried.

Yet, why was she approaching the collapsed man, gripping her sword with both hands?

As if she were about to strike him down right now.

Filled with anger and sorrow, she raised her sword.

Below her, Kariel looked up at Ases with faint eyes.

“Then it wouldn’t matter if you died now, right? If you’re going to die a dog’s death like that somewhere anyway, it’s fine if I take your breath away, right?”

The longing in her blue eyes was stained with an unknown madness.

How should one describe this?

One did not know what emotion, what thought, or what resolve led her to this decision.

What was certain was that she, too, was not in her right mind.

“You crazy bitch!”

If he had been a moment later, the dying man would have certainly become a corpse.

Fortunately, because Venus knocked the sword away and pushed Ases aside with her whole body, the damage did not reach Kariel.

“When exactly do you plan to fix your habit of getting annoyed and angry for unknown reasons?”

“What are you? Do you want to die? Why are you touching me? This is between me and Kariel! Why are you interfering?!”

“Shut up. Did you think I would indulge every whim of a crazy bitch throwing a tantrum? Even a child’s spoiled brat wouldn’t be this pathetic.”

“Hey. Why are you talking like that? It’s been years since I taught and led you. Are you planning to repay my kindness with enmity?”

“…And leaving someone to kill an innocent person? Was that repaying kindness?”

“Hey?! I’m telling you, this doesn’t suit you! You’re someone who enjoys killing and erasing people just like I do! Why are you suddenly pretending to be a good person? You’re the one being hypocritical!”

“You’re impossible to talk to.”

Ases and Venus suddenly took stances as if they were about to fight each other.

“What… is going on?”

Luciri, clutching her abdomen and coughing, caught her breath as she drank the potion Luirin handed her.

What was happening?

Why was Leo standing there dazed?

That damn witch? Demon King?

Anyway, why was that damn woman looking so flustered?

At the end of their gazes, the figure of someone who had somehow ended up there, lying down and struggling to hold onto a sword, vaguely entered their sight.

“Did you… see what happened?”

“I, I just woke up myself.”

Deike’s condition was also critical, so Luirin had just finished giving him a potion.

Since Deike had been hit in the lower body, he was not in a position to move properly.

Instead, because he had maintained consciousness, he seemed to have witnessed everything.

Deike limped toward the two and sat down, letting out a self-deprecating mutter with a bewildered face.

“I don’t even know what I saw.”

The sky had split, and light had filled the heavens and earth, yet a storm raged as if to swallow even that.

And the moment they were about to collide—no, immediately after they collided—a black pillar suddenly soared, and everything that had been raging as if to shake and break the world was swallowed in an instant.

…How on earth could one explain this?

To call it a miracle was too eerie.

To call it a wonder was too astronomical.

No, was this even right?

“…Why are those weirdly-tempered Order of Relief Knights suddenly fighting?”

Luciri, who was lying with her head resting on Luirin’s knee and abdomen, posed the question as soon as she managed to prop up her upper body and saw the two causing a ruckus.

Even now, the two were engaged in a battle that differed somewhat from what typical swordsmen or gladiators showed.

It could be because their swordsmanship was so unique and special, but perhaps it was because they used similarly specialized techniques.

It was brutal when they fought violently, but when they clashed, it was very peculiar, as if their swords, hands, legs, and torsos were intertwining in turns.

If they were unarmed, one might think they were wrestling while standing.

However, the superiority in skill seemed clear.

“Kh!”

It was Venus who lost his sword first, seeing it flung to the ground.

“It’s out of order to clash with me, your senior, teacher, and master. You ungrateful brat.”

“…….”

“You’re older than me and a man, so try using some of that strength you had when you were nursing. Is that all you can do with that sturdy body? At this rate, you’ll be the one giving birth later.”

“…Truly a crazy bitch.”

“Your sense of language is trash, too. Since everything you say is always at that level, that’s why you can’t get along with others, you idiot.”

“Crazy bitch. Are you in any position to say that, you who only hang out with children’s games?”

“There you go again.”

However, the victory or defeat had already been decided.

Although there seemed to be no specific injury, Venus was unable to steady himself, as if he had been hit somewhere critical.

Ases poured ridicule upon him and turned back toward Kariel with her sword in hand.

But for some reason.

“Are you awake?”

Though staggering, Kariel was raising himself up by his own power.

The timing was quite coincidental.

If she had delayed by just a few seconds, she had intended to simply take his head.

“I told you before, didn’t I? Live selfishly. Don’t live altruistically. Don’t obsess over things like devotion.”

“……Did you?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot. I can tell just by looking at your eyes. You remember. There’s no way you’d forget with that brilliant brain of yours. Right! Who knows what’s in your heart. I was confused even when we were kids, so imagine now.”

It seemed Ases still overestimated Kariel.

That overestimation was likely not a problem unique to her.

Because everyone who dealt with him… had been the same.

He still didn’t quite understand.

“…I don’t know what you’re dissatisfied with.”

“I told you! Stop doing things for the sake of others!”

“Why are you… interfering to the point of getting angry?”

“What do you want me to do about being angry?!”

She raged like a temperamental girl, but her intention and purpose were highly impure and opaque.

It was certainly skewed.

Since ancient times, geniuses have always had realms that are difficult to understand by the standards of common sense.

She must be of that sort.

This was not a problem that could be easily grasped even by peering into her memories.

No, if one wanted to understand, it wasn’t actually difficult.

However.

Even if one could understand and empathize.

Accepting and following it was another matter entirely.

“I am doing this as myself, for myself. What is the problem with that?”

“…Still a tyrant’s logic in this regard. As long as you’re fine, the thoughts and hearts of others are useless, is that the reason?”

“Why does it lead to that?”

“Kariel! Look! Look at those two idiots standing there! One is the Hero who just drew the Holy Sword! The other is the Demon King who resolved to walk the path of blood! But what did you just do? You shoved muddy water into both of their mouths! You’ve used your massive presence to turn the new myth those two were going to write into a complete bubble. Do you think this makes sense? What do you think human history even is?”

“……You’re still rambling things that are hard to understand.”

The original topic had drifted away at some point, and the point of her anger had shifted again.

“A crazy bitch is just talking nonsense like a crazy bitch.”

Venus had finally begun to steady himself, but he still looked as if standing was his limit.

Nevertheless, his fighting spirit remained.

…Was he immortal? Or was his tenacity that of a monster?

Kariel had no choice but to acknowledge that point.

In the end, it was likely due to his innate body and the will and power he had developed.

“Hey?! You two! Are you going to end it like this?! There’s a reason to fight to the death with everything you’ve got, right? You’re just going to let it go now? That won’t do!”

At Ases’s shout, Mines and Leo, who had been in a panic, suddenly snapped back to their senses.

Perhaps the miracle-like result Kariel had just produced was more surprising than they could imagine.

However, the battle was not yet over.

“…….”

Doing useless things.

Kariel frowned.

“This is a battlefield that happens perhaps once in a lifetime. How could you know the heart of a warrior who has had that stolen?”

“…Right. You really are selfish.”

Judging others’ circumstances as she pleased, or rather, seeing and crushing them exactly as she wanted to see.

That obsession and stubbornness to set the stage according to her own will.

What had made this woman such a monster?

“In that case, I shall try living a bit selfishly, as you suggested.”

Two swords were held in Kariel’s hands.

But in an instant.

They transformed into one.

“……That is?”

Venus saw it.

Something that was a sword, yet not a sword.

A black and dark form, as if made by gathering only the essence of pitch-black, such that not a single speck of light could penetrate.

And when it took the shape of a sword.

Venus finally realized.

Elbat was not some Holy Sword stuck over there.

…It was this.

The thing in that man’s hand.

It was something equal to the very thing Grandeus had held.

However, it was different from Grandeus’s.

For reasons unknown.

Venus felt that this one was actually more fitting.

…There was no particular evidence or reason.

But having watched him for a long time, he could not help but accept it instinctively.

“Right. So that’s the Elbat or whatever?”

Ases, of course, knew of it from hearing it mentioned occasionally.

But that thing—a monstrosity? A cursed object? A magic beast?

She had never imagined it would be such an incomprehensible thing.

However, it was certainly the form she had heard about.

That was.

Darkness, and void.

Borrowing the shape of a sword.

There was simply no other way to describe it.