Ch.22173. The Fierce Battle of Fire and Darkness.

“…This conversation ends here. Either hand it over willingly… or pay the price.”

“……”

I rummaged through my belongings and pulled out a wooden stick broken in half.

“What do you plan to do with that?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

“I’m asking because I do know.”

According to myth, the fire giant used this to end the world.

If someone who resents the world and hates existence needs this… well, isn’t the reason obvious?

“Do you think I would allow that?”

“This isn’t about… getting permission. It’s about whether you can stop me or not.”

“……”

“Hand it over. Or what? Are you going to lecture me like the rest of your bloodline?”

“…No. I’m just as sick of meaningless lectures.”

Lectures are just self-important people talking down to others.

If someone truly wanted to resolve another’s problems and conflicts, they would offer understanding and empathy, not lectures.

I won’t say there aren’t people who lecture with genuine belief in what’s right.

But.

“I respect your intentions. Since ancient times, and even now… I’ve thought that this world should permanently, eternally disappear.”

“……”

Was my answer unexpected?

The figure who was about to argue back just stared at me, unable to continue.

“But that’s just the opinion of you and me standing here. Or perhaps the will of those who entrusted their intentions to you.”

Even now, outside the erosion zone, armor-like beings that were dead yet moving were clearly active.

…They didn’t seem to possess free will like Grandeus, but they were likely similar entities.

However, just because they resemble Grandeus…

Should their existence be permitted?

That’s not something I can answer.

That’s strictly for the dead to decide.

And the one bearing that burden is the woman before me.

However.

“For countless others who aren’t here, this doesn’t apply at all.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“…That we destroy their golden age, their prime, perhaps another life and existence with our selfishness? At least I don’t want that.”

For someone, this moment might be the most fulfilling, most determined, most meaningful day.

For someone, right now might be the most precious time when they can stand shoulder to shoulder with their beloved, kissing, embracing, and spending time together.

For someone else, this moment might be the culmination of days spent in sweat and tears.

For another, this might be the moment they finally realize a dream they’ve held until the very end.

I don’t know for sure, but for someone who has been separated from their loved one for days, decades, or even centuries…

Despite that, someone who has desperately maintained their burning, unchanging love might finally be reuniting with the one they cherish.

All of this… has nothing to do with me.

“I cannot ignore that.”

“No! That’s not it! Even in this moment, there are people suffering and screaming! Wailing and crying! People bleeding! Spouting such dreamy nonsense! You refuse my demand?! That’s worse than those damn lectures! Worse, I tell you!”

“Yes. Your words are absolutely correct.”

And.

“Because I myself am included among those suffering beings.”

“Then why! Why should others matter at all!”

“That’s exactly why… both you and I have suffered so much.”

Not caring about others.

Looking down on them. Ignoring them. Discriminating against them.

Tormenting them, again and again.

Because it doesn’t hurt oneself.

Because satisfying one’s desires and cravings feels good.

That ugliness of feeling special and superior by tormenting the weak.

…But for some, that’s not ugly. It’s natural and justified.

Because they are the privileged ones, the ones who enjoy, the superior ones, the noble ones.

And thus, by any means necessary, they alone must remain happy.

Even if it means trampling, crushing, and smashing everything except themselves.

“I have no intention of inflicting on others the same pain I’ve suffered. Ah, let me clarify that I don’t have much to say about revenge, I’m actually in favor of it, so I won’t comment on that.”

At this, their expression grew strange again.

“You… you’re somehow different… but what makes you different?”

I know it too.

In this world, there are hundreds of times more suffering people than happy ones.

Perhaps even more than that.

And we needn’t limit ourselves to humans or sentient beings.

If beasts, insects, plants, all living things have emotions and souls…

…they would surely suffer just as we do.

Because they’ve been thoughtlessly thrown into this inappropriate life.

“Besides. We still don’t know anything.”

Why were we born?

Why must we live?

Why… do we exist?

And removing the premise of “we”…

Why was I… born, why do I live, why must I exist?

They say there are countless answers in religion, magic, civilization, history, society, and philosophy.

…But where among them lies the truth?

Heba, who blindly worshipped Marduk according to her birth circumstances, and Legarn ultimately took a different path influenced by my words.

That your suffering and hardship is because you are creatures made from the blood and soil of Kingu, the evil god.

So your suffering and lowly status is only natural.

That might have been the correct answer in that era.

Or perhaps the conquerors and rulers spread such content unilaterally to justify their dominion over the subjugated.

“Perhaps the rules and principles were designed so that the living can never know.”

Numerous religions say that when you die, you fall into a river, lake, or swamp of oblivion and forget everything.

Whether that’s imagined or true… we don’t know.

Perhaps it’s because we don’t know that we imagine and strive to discover.

If we already knew all the answers…

What adventure or exploration would there be?

Would there really be any need to search or struggle to find answers?

“We just haven’t found it yet. But it surely exists somewhere.”

My memories are fading now, but…

When I pursued something, when I was fascinated by exploration or pioneering…

Wasn’t it to uncover such unknowns?

Even a magician’s development and invention of magic is, in reality, discovery.

Just finding and implementing what already exists.

In the end… we should have focused on finding rather than creating.

“All useless daydreaming. Do you live in dreams? Those unsatisfied with reality tend to depend on something. Whether it’s faith or alcohol… what’s the difference? Isn’t your idealistic theory just another messy religious doctrine?”

“……”

That’s right.

In the end, perhaps I’m just settling for living in ideals because I have no other solution.

Maybe I hoped that somehow, somewhere, there would be an answer I could accept.

“I can’t listen to this nonsense anymore. This is my final ultimatum. Hand over Lævateinn willingly. Otherwise…”

“……”

And.

Though I didn’t say it aloud,

I have this modest wish.

That some sunlight might shine on your life—a life spent believing this world is hell, and destined to end that way.

I don’t even hope for happiness.

I’ve long concluded that happiness is just another ideal, a vague dream. I decided that long ago.

Just…

…Cariel and Alesia from another world.

What they wished for wasn’t what you’ve become.

Even if they’ve already passed and disappeared.

You, who have somehow survived and come this far…

…No.

This too is meaningless…

“Yes. Right now that’s… correct.”

From the half-staff in my left hand, intense flames burst forth.

In my right hand, I shoulder a pitch-black sword.

“If you want to take it, then yes. By all means.”

If your grand desire can break my insignificant will into pieces.

—-

“Huh? What?”

The view from the sky was… difficult to describe in words.

Monsters rushing in relentlessly and those standing against them.

Among them, conspicuously non-human beings were active on the front lines, defeating monsters.

‘Did they succeed?’

Alesia found it difficult in many ways due to the rushing wind.

It was hard to keep her eyes open properly, and the wind noise made it difficult to hear what was happening below.

“So I’ll drop you now?”

“What?!”

Drop someone from this height?

What? Is he admitting he’s going to make me fall to my death? Was this creature… actually planning to assassinate… no, publicly execute me?

“That’s absurd—”

Before she could finish, the unnatural pressure on her shoulders released,

and her body was unceremoniously thrown into the air.

‘Huh?’

Wait, am I really going to die?

After falling for a few seconds, she started to come to her senses.

‘Am I immortal?! How am I supposed to survive this!’

Her body was already unnaturally light, and although she wasn’t heavily armored like before… even now, elves would consider her current state quite heavily armed!

But more importantly, is this really…?

‘Hmm?’

As she approached the ground, her body suddenly slowed, and a tree branch extended naturally to catch her around the waist.

“Whoa!”

Compared to being dropped from the sky after being held by a bird, this was merciful treatment.

Alesia landed from about her own height after being released from the tree branch’s grip(?).

“I wondered where you were, but you’re still here?”

“Hamern?”

“How could you come so recklessly? Even though we received the signal, it was extremely dangerous.”

“……”

I know nothing about this.

“Well, that’s one worry off my mind.”

“Is it?”

“Please go to the rear to check on the wounded, then join us at the front immediately.”

“Running me back and forth? That’s too harsh!”

I’ve been fighting continuously until I was forcibly transported here by that wretched bird!

Despite her complaints, Alesia quickly headed to the rear.

She immediately began casting holy magic that combined both physical and spiritual recovery.

“…?”

After several dozen seconds that felt like minutes, she finished casting and sighed with relief.

Then she glimpsed something ominous in a separate space at the rear.

Alesia quickly understood what was happening in that area.

‘That’s…’

The situation was unfolding faster than she had anticipated.

Just then, Cariel with a sword in one hand and flames in the other.

Opposite him stood a woman in black armor, breaking through the crimson branches entangling her body.

‘The Demon Lord.’

Facing her alone?

‘The Demon Lord in an erosion zone?’

For an ordinary human, just surviving there would be remarkable.

But to face the Demon Lord—who was nearly invincible even in the middle realm—alone in a fully demonized zone?

‘……’

Her hesitation was brief.

He must have made his decision with a plan in mind.

And the current Cariel was not the same person she had known before.

Besides, her own situation didn’t seem particularly relaxed either.

Especially… two black-armored knights? warriors? wearing armor similar to the Demon Lord’s.

They were striking from the rear, and just blocking them seemed precarious.

‘Still, right now, even if just for a moment, I should head to the front.’

Observing a battlefield and determining the optimal flow is truly difficult.

But perhaps because she had often been in situations requiring judgment in the midst of melee combat and chaos during her time in the north,

she had a unique sense for these things.

Returning the way she came to where Hamern had been, she saw that Hamern had already joined the front line, clashing with the incoming enemies.

While they might be overwhelming at range, their close-combat forces were rather weak, so supplementing that aspect would allow them to fight much more efficiently.

‘Though that depends on how many arrows they have left.’

They say spirit arts can substitute for arrows, but even that isn’t unlimited.

‘And in this chaos, they can’t search corpses for supplies.’

In battlefields she knew, even children were sometimes used to participate in battle or to gather, secure, and supply such byproducts.

Of course, being children, they weren’t thrown into the thick of it unless they were particularly hardened… but the truly ruthless ones would insert small-bodied children into enemy formations to disrupt their lines.

In other words, she had seen and experienced even such things.

…At that time, she truly wondered if she had ever really been a saint beyond just the title.

Intense flames rushed through the air with fierce heat.

‘That doesn’t look good either.’

The Demon Lord and Cariel seemed to have begun their clash in earnest.

Turn your head one way or another, and chaos reigns everywhere.

‘Familiar yet different.’

In the north, they didn’t have fires cutting through the sky or dozens of spirits painting the world in various colors like this.

Not to mention, the number of monsters wasn’t this ferocious.

“Tsk!”

Having finished casting her holy magic, Alesia.

She quickly navigated through the allied forces with uncanny precision, finally heading toward where Hamern was.

As a monster rushed toward her excitedly,

she promptly…

THWACK!

…headbutted it.

With her clearly exposed forehead.

Then she crushed the fallen small monster under her metal boot.

And drew the sword at her waist.

‘I’m not used to such a small sword.’

What could she do? She had discarded everything else as it hindered movement.

So here… she’d have to make do!

“Truly! Truthfully! Really! Certainly! Assuredly! Unless you are born again! You cannot see the kingdom of Heaven under any circumstances!”

Alesia chanted in a tone that could be either a prayer or a curse, muttering and repeating.

At that moment, an intense white light began to flow from her hands and sword.

Keeek!

Kaak?

Gurk?

The large and small monsters rushing toward her were startled by this, stepping back, struggling.

Alesia began to sweep through the rushing enemies.

‘I’ve made it this flashy, so they should understand…’

Thwack! Thwack! Ratatat!

A rain of arrows swept through the area.

The monsters momentarily hesitated.

If they could hit moving targets with perfect accuracy, what about stationary ones?

It’s like begging to be killed.

“That’s right!”

With that, Alesia instinctively began running to the left.

Holy power is the force most diametrically opposed to magical power.

By itself, it gives beings of the demon realm not just discomfort but actual malice.

Because for them, light—holy light—is a punishment worse than a curse, the clearest proof of divine abandonment, the most evident demonstration of punishment.