Mutation – 4

“Such petty tricks……”

Kaikilia looked around at the magic circle that tightly encircled the bedroom walls, glowing blue. It was a barrier with not even the slightest gap.

She raised her holy sword and lightly scraped the magic circle with the tip of its blade. The magic circle, caught on the very end of the blade, stretched out and pulled along, then resiliently snapped back. It felt exactly like looking at a wall made of rubber.

“For a demon, you’ve used your head quite well.”

Kaikilia, who had grasped the nature of the magic circle at once, muttered that.

If this had been a barrier created with demonic power, she could have easily torn it apart with her holy sword. Because for them, holy power meant exactly that.

But now it was different. What surrounded the bedroom now was a magical barrier made of mana. Therefore, against this barrier, the holy sword was merely a shining sword.

“Outside, it must be thoroughly contaminated.”

It was certain, as the holy sword had been reacting like crazy since earlier. That demonic power had terribly contaminated the vicinity.

Unless one donned a holy defense or purified the surroundings with divine power, no one would be able to approach. Even if it were Minerva.

“Did you hate me that much, you insignificant wretches?”

Kaikilia scoffed.

Demons had an extremely strong pride in their own existence, and they would often mock and look down on the concept of mana simply because humans used it. It was a fact she had heard directly from them.

Yet, for them to use the very power they disdained to commit such an act, it could only be seen as a sign that their hatred for Kaikilia ran deeper than their pride.

Indeed, from their perspective, Kaikilia must have been hated to death. Because at the very moment they were one step away from completely engulfing the imperial palace, she had appeared with her holy sword and interfered with their plans.

Most of the demons in the imperial palace at that time were permanently annihilated, and the very few who survived abandoned their pride and fled as fast as their tails could carry them, so their deep hatred was natural.

“What should I do about this?”

Kaikilia, having finished scoffing, scraped the magic circle with her holy sword once more. The spot where it touched the holy sword emitted a faint blue light.

The blue light soon spread throughout the entire bedroom. The magic circle shimmered. It was exactly like waves crashing.

If she had to break this, she could certainly do so. Because the military might Kaikilia possessed was not something that could be blocked by a mere magic circle like this.

There was no need to use her full power. If she merely used more power than usual and swung it, a paltry magic circle like this would melt away like wet tissue paper.

Only what happened afterward was the problem.

“The repercussions would extend to other places, huh……”

Perhaps because they were demons, they had used their heads a bit; the composition was incredibly exquisite.

To break it, a certain magnitude of force had to be applied, but it was designed so that its strength would rapidly decrease as soon as a force beyond that magnitude was applied.

The moment Kaikilia swung her holy sword and broke the magic circle, not only the imperial palace but also a part of the imperial capital would be swept away with it. It would be tantamount to destroying the empire with her own hands.

“……”

Kaikilia briefly calculated the repercussions after committing the act.

The imperial palace collapsing? She could just rebuild it. The empire’s wealth was overflowing. An imperial palace like that could be rebuilt anytime.

People dying? It didn’t matter. Kaikilia was the kind of person who had left even the Silver Dawn Knights and the Golden Twilight Knights as groups outside her concern. How much less would she care about commoners?

“However, from the Emperor’s standpoint, doing so would be unacceptable.”

Collateral damage occurring could be endured as much as possible. However, the spread of unease within the empire due to that collateral damage could not and should not be endured.

This place, the imperial palace where Kaikilia resided, had to be the most steadfast, powerful, and robust fortress in the empire.

If it became known that the imperial palace was half-destroyed and people had died, unease and turmoil would spread uncontrollably like wildfire. It was the most frowned-upon scenario from the perspective of an Emperor.

“Tsk.”

Kaikilia, having finished her calculations, clicked her tongue. Given the situation, it seemed she would have to dismantle the magic circle piece by piece.

Although her memory was a bit vague since it had been a long time since she dabbled in magic, Kaikilia was a woman who had been praised since ancient times as the empire’s next greatest genius after Minerva.

The knowledge she had accumulated so far wasn’t going anywhere. She stuck her holy sword vertically into the floor and approached the magic circle. And just as she was about to lay her hand on the magic circle.

“……Did it save me some trouble?”

The magic circle began to shatter.

The geometric patterns that had covered the bedroom scattered cleanly and disappeared, leaving not a single trace of mana, as if they had never existed in the first place.

Kaikilia had only just reached out her hand, so that meant.

“Minerva.”

As Kaikilia muttered that, the bedroom door opened, and Minerva walked in.

She didn’t ask the cliché question of how Minerva had entered when the outside must be filled with wicked demonic power. Because it was clearly visible that a shield made of divine power enveloped her body.

“Was it the Pope?”

Instead, she asked a different question. It was a question with the beginning abruptly cut off, but Minerva, who understood it easily, nodded her head. Her long white hair swayed and rustled behind her neck.

“That’s right.”

“How strange. For them to personally help you, what wind blew this way?”

Kaikilia had never heard of Popes directly intervening in external affairs for at least the past few hundred years. They had always only sent Inquisitors and Interrogators to wage holy wars.

After doing so well until now, why would they suddenly send her with such a shield?

She had heard that they had been appearing outside the Grand Cathedral much more frequently recently, so it might be related to such actions.

“For a child, it might be a slightly subtle reason. Still, would you like to hear it?”

“Don’t waste time and speak. When have their actions ever had a non-subtle reason? I must go kill the demon who set foot here as soon as possible.”

At Minerva’s words, returned with a faint smile, Kaikilia waved her hand as if to say, ‘Don’t do anything useless.’

“Put your worries aside, child. The Pope of the Sun has already gone. Ah, and this is also the answer.”

“……What did you just say?”

Kaikilia’s expression stiffened.

“The Pope of the Sun came personally? You mean, not just sending you with a holy defense, but he arrived here himself?”

“That’s right.”

“Why?”

Not only did he personally cast a holy defense on Minerva, but now he had even set foot here himself; the situation was becoming increasingly inscrutable. It was an earth-shattering event.

“I don’t know the exact reason either. It’s natural since they didn’t tell me. However, I do know that the Pope of the Sun is showing great interest in that child.”

“……Ha.”

Kaikilia snorted.

Because it was all too obvious who ‘that child’ was, the one Minerva said the Pope of the Sun was showing great interest in.

“In that case, isn’t he saying he came to covet what is mine?”

This made it clear. Before, she had suspicions but no concrete evidence, so she had to let it slide, but not now. The fact that the Pope of the Sun had come personally was the most certain proof.

The content of the letter delivered using even an Inquisitor, the words that he would never show interest, were indeed a blatant lie. A cold smile appeared on Kaikilia’s face.

“Where is the demon now?”

“It’s here.”

Minerva, as if she had already expected Kaikilia to react that way, merely smiled lightly and tapped the floor with the staff in her hand.

As soon as that happened, in the next moment, Kaikilia and Minerva had moved to a corridor somewhere in the imperial palace.

Though she didn’t show it outwardly, she was quite surprised internally. Because the magic circle was clearly not visible, and even the blue mana was nowhere to be seen. It seemed she had achieved tremendous accomplishments in a short time.

“There it is.”

At Minerva’s words, Kaikilia turned her gaze again. Now was not the time to focus on such a feat. Because a much more important task remained.

The one who claimed to have no interest upfront, yet harbored a greater desire than anyone else behind the scenes. Because she had to meet that audacious vixen who dared to lie to the Emperor of the Empire.

Kaikilia soon achieved her objective. The Pope’s figure was very easy to spot.

“……”

The sight of the Pope, tightly embracing the man who had told her to rest assured that he would never show interest, kneading his chest and passionately kissing him, their tongues intertwined.