Ch.1152Reckless Challenge and Inevitable Outcome

After bringing down the entire temple where the Twilight Rune was hidden, Haschal somehow managed to escape with one rune amid the chaos.

“The Flame Rune… how fortunate. God, warrior, flame, collapse. If I could only obtain one, this would be the most efficient.”

And among the four runes, he got the Flame Rune, which was the most versatile.

“Were all the other runes destroyed…? That’s unfortunate. I believe she mentioned that this one alone isn’t enough to reach the power of god-slaying.”

Of course, no matter how useful it was, there were clear limitations with just one rune.

To manifest Leviathan—the god-destroying flame—with the Twilight Rune, one needed to possess all four seals simultaneously in one body.

At least, that’s what the ascended gods believed. That was the explanation given by Elpinel, who was involved in the plan.

“We can’t be sure. They might still be preserved under the rubble.”

“That seems overly optimistic. With the mountain in that state, how could the temple beneath remain intact?”

So, the burial of the remaining three runes along with the temple was truly regrettable for them.

If the related equipment was still intact beneath the collapsed mountain, they could dig it out later, but if it had been destroyed by falling rocks, Leviathan would be impossible to implement.

In that case, the Flame Rune that Haschal obtained would be nothing more than a powerful fire magic seal, unable to manifest any higher-grade abilities.

“…But can that woman actually use the Flame Rune? I don’t think we implanted any knowledge about the rune magic system—would she know the activation words?”

“Hmm…? Indeed, she wouldn’t know the activation words…”

…She might not be able to activate it at all.

To activate rune magic, one needed to pronounce the activation word—in other words, the exact name of the seal—but this knowledge had been lost thousands of years ago.

—-

Anyway, Haschal continued to play a leading role in various conflicts and battlefields afterward.

For example, the siege of Ainfeld Fortress.

Haschal, who joined the battle to support Leopold, sniped and blew away the commander of the undead army with a javelin, and fought desperately, piling up mountains of monster corpses until reinforcements arrived.

“Impressive. Her raw power still has a long way to go… but at least her fighting spirit and determination can be considered complete.”

The ascended gods who had been watching with bated breath finally smiled with relief and satisfaction when the battle ended, sincerely praising her achievements.

It was an undeniably impressive sight for them.

In the middle of hundreds of monster corpses, a knight leaning on a god-blessed sword like a staff, smiling with an exhausted face while catching her breath.

Though still clearly inexperienced and awkward, this was exactly the image of the hero they had hoped and expected for.

But that admiration vanished in the very next battle.

“Three against one, attacking from behind without warning… The name of knighthood would weep.”

Haschal set out to assassinate Claire at Ophelia’s request, hoping to recruit Ophelia—who possessed exceptional, even genius-level talent as a mage—as a comrade.

She slaughtered all of Claire’s mages in an instant and easily overwhelmed even Isabella’s insect knights, which Claire had prepared as her trump card.

“So the rune seal… can be activated that way.”

“It’s clearly an inefficient method, but I suppose it’s the best she can do for now.”

What’s more, she managed to activate the rune seal without knowing the activation word, summoning magical flames.

“Uh, wait. That flame seems to be moving toward her left arm…”

“Is it being drawn to the spirit’s soul… no, is it attacking?”

The rune’s flames that had risen flickered and dispersed repeatedly, then suddenly concentrated on Haschal’s left arm and blazed up.

The Flame Rune seal, detecting the hostility residing in Frosting, had judged the artifact as an “enemy” harmful to its master and launched an attack.

“KSHAAAAAAAA!”

Heat sufficient to burn souls, if not gods.

Frosting, which had originally been close to silver-white, was scorched by the heat and turned ash-gray, and the snake’s soul dwelling within it burned to black ash and perished.

“Shaaaa…”

Being a spiritual entity, it barely avoided complete annihilation despite being burned so severely, but this meant it was barely clinging to existence.

The critically wounded soul fell unconscious, allowing Haschal to be somewhat free from the netherworld’s cold that had been consuming her left arm whenever she equipped Frosting.

This was good news not only for Haschal herself but also for the watching gods, as it eliminated one of their concerns, but…

“W-what? Wait, what is that woman doing…?!”

What followed was too shocking to celebrate this development. So shocking that even her effortless subjugation of master-level monsters barely registered in comparison.

“Sister is mine now. I can do whatever I want with her.”

Ophelia van Sigmillus, the genius mage who, according to Regin’s calculations, should have used her innate talent to become a solid magical force in the hero’s party.

However, her true nature—which Regin had either failed to calculate or deemed unnecessary information and omitted—was shocking even to the gods.

“Th-that’s…! Isn’t that a witch?! There’s a limit to how sinister one can be…!”

“She doesn’t seem to worship Lilith… but, how disgusting. How could a candidate for the hero’s companion do such things…!”

“Is this twisted person really ‘a trustworthy companion’? Regin, are you sure your calculations are correct?”

A twisted affection and desire so sinister it was almost unbearable to watch.

To put it bluntly, if she hadn’t been calculated to become the hero’s companion, she would have been someone they should avoid entirely or even capture and punish.

Of course, Haschal, seemingly determined to make use of such a woman anyway, discreetly averted her eyes from those twisted preferences and brought her in as a collaborator.

—-

After recruiting Ophelia, Haschal’s next goal was to join hands with Leopold and remove Isabella from her position.

Isabella Benes Wittelsbach.

The second empress of the current empire and the last witch who survived the witch hunts with the help of Feirus.

In other words, she was the only apostle of the evil god Lilith.

“You’re targeting that woman at this point?”

Regin had predicted that the witch would reveal her true colors years later, burning the imperial territories with resurrected wyverns and delivering the final blow to the already declining empire.

Even if the “hero” managed to stop and defeat her, it was judged that the burning of the entire territory would be unavoidable.

That’s why Haschal wanted to deal with Isabella before she revealed her true nature, to prevent the catastrophe entirely.

“Isn’t this… a bit premature?”

If things went well, she might achieve results beyond Regin’s predictions, but unfortunately, the probability wasn’t very high.

“Indeed, her mana quantity itself may not exceed the barrier’s limits… but the power bestowed by Lilith remains intact, so it would be too much for someone with champion-level martial prowess.”

As Lilith’s only apostle, Isabella had properly received the evil god’s powers.

Although the Heaven’s Wall restricted her from wielding arch-mage level dark mana, her powers alone made her more dangerous than most arch-mages.

“No. Even before that, she’s the empress of the empire. Not just her prowess as a witch, but her external power and influence make her a formidable opponent.”

In addition, her power as the imperial empress and the forces she had cultivated over the past decades were serious threats.

Just look at the master-level insect knights that appeared when fighting Claire.

There were at most forty master-level forces in the empire, including the private soldiers of each prince-elector, but Isabella commanded twenty insect knights.

That alone was a force to be feared, and when combined with the insect monsters hidden in her lair, they formed almost a legion.

When you factored in the nobles cooperating with her and Ernst, the actual strength was even greater.

Although Haschal had become one of the top-ranked champions, if she confronted Isabella alone, she would be instantly suppressed, let alone stand a chance.

Of course, Haschal roughly estimated this and instead of recklessly charging in alone, she diligently prepared various countermeasures.

If she could prove Isabella was a witch, she could pull her down from her position as empress and declare her a continental criminal, so she contacted Lacy to seek cooperation from the Church of Elpinel.

To compensate for her insufficient forces, she joined hands with Leopold and brought in the “Sword of Landenburg” and other supporters of the first prince. Such were her countermeasures.

Of course, she didn’t forget to negotiate with Leopold in advance about the treatment of Leonore, whom she liked, to protect her somehow.

However, all these measures needed time to bear fruit.

How could investigating witch charges against the imperial empress in secret be a simple matter?

The joining of Landenburg also required time, considering the distance between the imperial territories and the border marquisate, and their position of having to defend the eastern border.

Of course, since both issues would be resolved if she just waited for the results, Haschal anxiously counted the days until they arrived in the imperial territories, but…

“The imperial palace… collapsed?”

In just those few days, Isabella vaguely perceived the approaching crisis and struck first, completely turning the situation around before being attacked.

“Hmm… this is bad. She read the moves, and read them perfectly!”

“We can’t blame her for being too cautious. Without a clear justification and sufficient forces, moving would only result in being labeled a traitor and being suppressed.”

“It was too hasty from the beginning. I understand her intentions, but now was not the time to rashly turn that witch into an enemy…!”

From the watching gods’ perspective, this was a very natural outcome.

Compared to Isabella, who had built a solid position and influence over decades, Haschal still had clear limitations in terms of power, influence, and standing.

She tried her best to defeat an enemy she couldn’t yet beat, but in the end, she only proved that it was a reckless challenge.

“No, I can’t… lose consciousness here…!”

As a result, she was utterly defeated by Werner Valenstein, the empire’s greatest swordsman and one of Isabella’s trump cards, and collapsed in a miserable state.

“Wait, she’s falling like this? This is really serious…!”

“A blessing of revival… no, the Heaven’s Wall prevents it from reaching her!”

It was an emergency that turned the celestial gods’ stomachs.

With Knut, she at least defeated her enemy, but this time she was completely defeated and neutralized before the evil god’s subordinate.

It was obvious that without someone’s help, she would be dragged away and turned into a plaything, but due to the Heaven’s Wall, they couldn’t provide any meaningful support.

“Lord Elpinel! What should we do…!”

“…We have no choice but to loosen one chain. It’s an irreversible act, but… there’s no other way.”

Therefore, after deep contemplation, Elpinel made a choice she truly didn’t want to make, one she would have avoided if possible.

She decided to partially break the divine chain that was restraining Vanirgand’s influence on the god-killing star’s body and soul through Durandal.

The result was quite intuitive.

“Get out of my body, right now—!”

As Elpinel’s restriction loosened and Vanirgand’s influence strengthened, the god-killing star’s soul responded with a roar, rushing to the forefront of consciousness.

To push away the otherworldly soul that had arbitrarily taken over her body, to reclaim her original body and rampage again.

It was the advent of the true god-killing star, Aishan-Gioro Haschal.

—-

“Huh, eating people? I knew she was going mad, but to this extent?”

“…No wonder Durandal doesn’t acknowledge her as its master.”

“Is this truly the soul of the god-killing star? Or perhaps, has she already been devoured by that evil god…?”

…It was indeed difficult to offer even a token positive assessment of what they were witnessing.