Ch.10133. The Sky Came Crashing Down (3)

“The prophecy has not gone astray. Look. Both the Demon King and the Hero exist right there, perfectly intact.”

Rupert, who was observing the scene through the eyes of his familiar from within a dark stone chamber, trembled.

His snake-like narrow eyes were bloodshot to an unprecedented degree.

Finally.

The Black Light Star had been resurrected.

At first, he had believed that as both Hero and Demon King, he would be completed as Grandeus’s successor.

But his expectations had completely missed the mark.

When some clueless boy drew the sword, he even felt despair rising within him.

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

But why was Elbat radiating light like a holy sword?

That was, undeniably, a holy sword.

Where had things gone wrong?

The prophecy, the vision, couldn’t possibly be mistaken.

All sorts of doubts surged within him.

But in the end, he had merely misinterpreted the prophecy; the result had returned with fruits beyond what he had hoped for.

“The question is why he intervened so one-sidedly in that battle.”

Userph, who was also borrowing sight to observe the scene, offered a different opinion.

“I wonder what that fellow was thinking when he stepped in to stop their fight. And… I also doubt whether it will truly end like this.”

“What are you trying to say, Userph?”

“…Nothing special. Just that if our intervention comes too late, things might go seriously awry. That’s all I wanted to say.”

Setting aside the fact that the Black Light Star had manifested again.

Now, the one displaying it had been on the verge of death just moments ago.

But if his condition had suddenly improved now, wasn’t that strange?

…Perhaps.

Could this be like a final torch being lit before death?

Userph was simply expressing his unease.

While his colleague before him pursued prophecies and glimpsed visions, somewhat detached from reality.

At least Userph himself was different.

Within the Salvation Knight Order, he was the only one who truly faced reality for what it was.

====

Who was it that said?

Miracles begin with the first step taken with vigor.

And are completed with the last step taken when one is about to give up.

“……”

The catastrophe that had been raging, threatening to devour and overturn the world, vanished in an instant.

To all who witnessed it,

It instilled an indescribable sense of awe.

But what followed were questions. Doubts. Suspicions.

Why did he stand in the way? How did he stop it?

Wasn’t this almost like an act of dissuasion?

If he had actually sided with one of them.

And if he had used that miraculous power he just displayed against the other in some way.

Either the Hero or the Demon King would have undoubtedly met their end.

But he intervened and twisted the course of events that would have led to either mutual destruction or the miserable defeat of one side.

“Kari—el!”

There was one person here who found that scene utterly hateful.

Someone who could not possibly forgive it.

Every emotion swirled in those footsteps advancing toward Kariel, who was sitting upright despite staggering.

Though her neat face was in disarray due to the commotion.

Nevertheless, her blonde hair and blue eyes still clearly revealed her presence within her distinct features.

With those composed eyes.

But what was contained in her eyes was.

Chaos, a mixture of clear resentment and ineradicable hatred.

Walking with the sword in hand, her appearance exuded such a hostile aura that anyone could see she was dangerously unstable.

“If you were just being hypocritical, I wouldn’t say anything. But you’re genuine, aren’t you? Living like that, you won’t have any life left.”

Though her tone seemed full of concern.

Why was she approaching him, who was sitting down clutching his sword with both hands?

As if.

She might strike him down at any moment.

Filled with anger and sorrow.

She raised her sword.

Below it, Kariel was looking up at Aseth with dim eyes.

“Then it wouldn’t matter if you died now, right? If you’re going to die miserably somewhere like that anyway, it’s fine if I take your life, isn’t it?”

The desire in her blue eyes was tinged with an incomprehensible madness.

How should one explain that?

Whatever emotion, thought, or resolve led to this decision.

What’s certain was that she too was not in her right mind at the moment.

“You crazy bitch!”

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

Fortunately, Venus deflected the sword while pushing Aseth away bodily, preventing any harm from reaching Kariel.

“When do you plan to fix that habit of getting irritated and angry for inexplicable reasons?”

“Who are you? Do you want to die? Why are you touching me? This is between me and Kariel! Why are you butting in?!”

“Shut up. Did you think I would just go along with a crazy woman’s rampage? Even a child’s tantrum wouldn’t be this pathetic.”

“Hey. Why are you talking like that? I’ve taught and guided you for years. Are you planning to repay kindness with enmity?”

“…And what about standing by while someone tries to kill an innocent person? Is that repaying kindness?”

“What?! That doesn’t suit you! You’re just like me, someone who enjoys killing and eliminating people! Why are you suddenly pretending to be a good person? Aren’t you the hypocrite?”

“I see there’s no reasoning with you.”

Aseth and Venus, suddenly taking stances as if they might fight each other.

“What… what’s going on here?”

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

What’s happening here?

Why is Leo standing there dumbfounded?

And that damned witch? Demon King?

Anyway, why is that damned woman… looking so confused again?

At the end of their gaze, they vaguely saw the figure of someone who had somehow ended up there, sitting down and desperately holding onto a laid-down sword.

“Did you see… what happened?”

“I, I just woke up myself.”

She had just given a potion to Deike, whose condition was also critical.

Since his lower body was injured, he was in no condition to move properly.

Instead, he seemed to have witnessed the entire situation while clinging to consciousness.

Deike limped over to them and sat down, muttering self-deprecatingly with a bewildered face.

“I don’t even know what I saw.”

The sky split open, light filled the world, and then a storm raged as if it would devour even that.

And at the moment they were about to collide.

No, right after they collided, a black pillar suddenly rose, swallowing everything that had been raging as if it would shake and destroy the world.

…How could one possibly explain this?

To call it a miracle seems strange.

To call it a wonder seems astronomical.

Wait, is this even right?

“…Why are those weird Salvation Knight bastards suddenly fighting?”

Luciri, who was lying with her head against Luirin’s knees and abdomen, raised her upper body only to question the commotion unfolding between the two.

Even now, they were engaged in combat that diverged somewhat from what typical swordsmen and gladiators would display.

Perhaps it was because their swordsmanship was so unique and special, or maybe because they both used similarly special techniques.

When they fought intensely it was fierce, but when they closed in, it was peculiar—as if swords, hands, legs, and bodies were intertwining alternately.

If they were unarmed, it would almost look like they were wrestling while standing.

However, the superiority in skill was clearly visible.

“Kuk!”

It was Venus who first lost his sword and was thrown to the ground.

“Clinging to someone who’s your senior, teacher, and master is out of order. You ungrateful little bastard.”

“……”

“You’re older than me and a man, so use that strength you were born with. Is that all you can do with that sturdy body? Will you even be able to have children at this rate?”

“…Still a crazy bitch.”

“Your language skills are also trash. This is why you can’t get along with others—because all you can say is at that level. You idiot.”

“Crazy bitch. Are you in any position to say that when you only get along with childish games?”

“There you go again.”

But the outcome was already decided.

Despite no apparent injuries, Venus seemed unable to steady himself, as if he had been hit somewhere critical.

After mocking him, Aseth gripped her sword again and turned toward Kariel.

But for some reason.

“Have you come to your senses?”

Though still staggering, Kariel had managed to stand up on his own.

The timing was remarkably unfortunate.

If she had been delayed just a few seconds, she would have simply taken his head.

“I told you long ago, didn’t I? Live selfishly. Don’t live altruistically. Don’t dedicate yourself to self-sacrifice.”

“…Did you?”

“Don’t say you forgot. I can tell by your eyes. You remember. With that good brain of yours, there’s no way you’d forget. Of course! Who knows what’s in your heart. I was confused when you were young, and now I’m even more confused.”

It seemed that Aseth was still overestimating Kariel.

That overestimation wasn’t just her problem.

Everyone who dealt with him… had been like that.

He still didn’t quite understand.

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

“I told you. Don’t do things for others’ benefit!”

“Why are you… interfering with that, even getting angry?”

“How can I not be angry?!”

She was raging like an angry little girl, but her intentions and purposes were very impure and unclear.

Something was definitely off.

From ancient times, geniuses have always had aspects that are difficult to understand by common sense.

She must be one of those.

This wasn’t something easily understood even by glimpsing her memories.

No, if one tried to understand, it wouldn’t be that difficult.

However.

Even if one could understand and empathize.

Accepting and following it was another matter entirely.

“If I, as myself, decide to do something, what problem is there?”

“…Still the logic of a tyrant when it comes to this. If you’re fine with it, then others’ thoughts and feelings are worthless, is that it?”

“Why are you making that connection?”

“Kariel! Look! Those two standing there stupidly! One is the Hero who just drew the holy sword! The other is the Demon King who has resolved to walk the path of blood! But what have you done? You’ve shoved mud water down both their throats! You’ve used your enormous presence to turn the new myth they were about to write into bubbles! Do you think this makes sense? What do you think human history is?”

“…Still spouting nonsense that’s hard to understand.”

The initial topic had somehow gone astray, and the point of her anger had shifted again.

“Just a crazy woman spouting crazy nonsense.”

Venus had finally begun to steady himself, but it seemed standing was all he could manage.

Nevertheless, his fighting spirit remained.

…Is he immortal? Or is his tenacity monstrous?

Even Kariel had to acknowledge that point.

Ultimately, it must be due to his innate physique and the will and strength with which he developed it.

“Hey?! You two! Are you going to end it like this?! You have reasons to fight to the death excitedly, don’t you? Are you just going to give up now? That’s not right?!”

At Aseth’s cry, Mineth and Leo, who had been in a state of panic, suddenly regained their senses.

Perhaps the miracle-like result that Kariel had just performed was more surprising to them than expected.

However, the battle was not yet over.

“……”

What a pointless act.

Kariel frowned.

“This is a battlefield that might happen once in a lifetime. How can you understand the feelings of a warrior who has been robbed of that?”

“…Indeed. You are certainly selfish.”

Judging others’ circumstances as she pleased, or rather, seeing things as she wanted to see them and trampling over them.

In the end, that obsession and stubbornness to set up the game her own way.

What had made that woman such a monster?

“Then I too will try to live a little selfishly, as you said.”

Two swords in Kariel’s hands.

But at some point.

It transformed into one.

“…What is that?”

Venus saw it.

Something that was a sword yet not a sword.

As if made from the essence of pitch-black darkness where not a single point of light could penetrate, that dark and black form.

And when it took the shape of a sword.

Venus finally realized.

Elbat was not that holy sword stuck over there.

…It was this very thing.

That very thing in his hand.

It was something equivalent to what Grandeus had held.

But it was different from Grandeus’s.

For some reason.

Venus felt that this one seemed even more plausible.

…There was no particular reason or basis.

But he, who had been observing it all along.

Could not help but accept it that way.

“So. That’s Elbat or whatever?”

Of course, Aseth had heard about it often enough to know.

But that it was such a monstrosity? Precious thing? Magical object?

Anyway, she had never even imagined it would be something so incomprehensible.

However, it was clearly the form she had heard described.

That was.

Borrowing the form of a sword.

Darkness, and blackness.

There was no other way.

To possibly describe it in time.