Chapter 101 – The Sky Fell Down (3)

“It’s not that the prophecy was wrong. Look. Both the Demon King and the Hero are right there, alive and well.”

Rupert, who was watching the scene in the dark stone chamber through the eyes of his familiar, shuddered.

His snake-like, narrow eyes were bloodshot beyond recognition.

In the end, the Black Star had revived.

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

But everything had gone completely off course.

When a clueless boy pulled out the sword, Rupert had even felt despair.

And when Cariel, whom he believed to be the successor, fell into a critical condition, that despair deepened even more.

So why was Elbart shining like a holy sword?

That was unmistakably a holy sword.

Where did things go wrong?

There was no way the prophecy, the oracle, could have been mistaken.

All kinds of doubts rose up.

But in the end, it was only the interpretation of the prophecy that was wrong, the result returned as something greater than he had hoped for.

“More importantly, the real issue is why he interfered so unilaterally in their fight.”

Yousef, who was watching the scene through the same vision, offered a different opinion.

“What was his reason for intervening in the fight between those two? And… I can’t help but wonder if things will really end like this.”

“What are you trying to say, Yousef?”

“…Nothing much. I just mean, if we’re late in getting involved, things could go badly wrong. That’s all I wanted to say.”

Never mind that the Black Star had manifested again.

The owner who revealed it had been on the verge of death just a moment ago.

Now, if he’d suddenly recovered, wasn’t that strange?

…Maybe.

Perhaps this was just a final flare before death.

Yousef was simply expressing his unease.

His companion before him chased prophecy and signs, often out of touch with reality.

But at least Yousef himself was different.

Within the Relief Knights, the only one who faced reality head-on was Yousef, himself.

* * *

Who was it that said,

Miracles begin with a bold first step.

And are completed by the last step you take as you’re about to give up.

“……”

The calamity that threatened to swallow, tear apart, and overturn the world disappeared in an instant.

Everyone who witnessed it, felt an indescribable sense of awe.

But what came next was doubt. Suspicion. Uncertainty.

Why did he stop that? Why did he intervene?

It looked as if he was trying to stop them.

If he had sided with either one of them, and if he’d unleashed that miraculous power he’d just shown, in any way, on his opponent, either the Hero or the Demon King would have met their end, without exception.

But the development where both would be destroyed, or where one would suffer a crushing defeat, he intervened and twisted it.

“Cariel!”

Someone here found that scene so detestable,  she simply could not forgive it.

Even as she staggered, she pressed on toward Cariel, who sat upright despite everything, all kinds of emotions swirling inside her.

Her neat face was disheveled by the chaos, but even so, her blond hair and blue eyes stood out, her features still striking.

With those clear eyes, but what those eyes held now, was an unmistakable mix of resentment and unerasable hatred, a storm of chaos.

As she walked, sword in hand, anyone could see she radiated an almost dangerously hostile energy.

“If it was just empty pretense, I wouldn’t even say anything. But you’re real, aren’t you? If you keep living like that, you’re not going to survive.”

Her tone sounded worried, but why was she gripping her sword with both hands, advancing toward him as he sat there?

As if, she was ready to bring something down on him right now.

With anger and sorrow, she raised her sword.

Below that blade, Cariel looked up at Ases with dim eyes.

“So you don’t mind dying now? If you’re going to die like a dog somewhere anyway, you’re fine with me ending it for you, right?”

The longing in her blue eyes was colored with a madness that couldn’t be understood.

How should one describe that?

What kind of feeling, what kind of thought, what kind of resolve led her to this?

What was clear was, she wasn’t in her right mind either.

“You crazy bitch!”

If Venus had been even a little slower in knocking the sword aside and pushing Ases away, the dying man would have become a corpse for sure.

“Are you ever going to fix that habit of getting angry and lashing out for no reason?”

“What’s with you? Do you want to die? Why are you getting involved? This is between me and Cariel. Why are you butting in?!”

“Shut it. Did you really think I’d just accept you going nuts and throwing a tantrum? Even a kid throwing a fit isn’t this bad.”

“Hey. Watch your mouth. After all the years I taught and led you, is this how you repay me? Planning to repay kindness with spite?”

“…So, leaving someone to get killed is repaying kindness? Was that it?”

“Hey?! It doesn’t suit you! Aren’t you the one who enjoyed killing and getting rid of people just like I did? Why are you suddenly acting like a good person? You’re the real hypocrite here!”

“There’s no point in talking to you.”

Suddenly, Ases and Venus squared off, as if they were about to start fighting among themselves.

“What… what’s going on?”

Clutching her abdomen and coughing, Luciri accepted the potion Luillin handed her and caught her breath.

What’s going on?

Why is Leo standing there looking stunned?

And that damn witch? Demon King?

Anyway, why is that damn woman so flustered now?

At the end of their gazes, someone was visible, barely, in the distance, sitting slumped and clinging to a fallen sword.

“Did you… see what happened?”

“I, I just woke up too.”

Deik’s condition was also critical, and she had just handed him a potion as well.

He’d taken a blow to the lower body, so he couldn’t move properly.

But he seemed to have stayed conscious and witnessed everything.

Limping over to the two, Deik slumped down, wearing a dazed expression as he muttered self-deprecatingly.

“I don’t even know what I saw.”

The sky split apart, and light filled the entire world, but then a storm raged as if it would swallow even that.

And the moment those things were about to collide, or rather, right after they did, a black pillar erupted, and everything that had been swirling to destroy the world was swallowed up in an instant.

…How is anyone supposed to explain that?

To call it a miracle feels bizarre.

To call it a wonder is astronomical.

No, does any of that even fit?

“…What’s with those weirdo Relief Knights? Why did they suddenly start fighting?”

Luciri, resting her head on Luillin’s knees and stomach, managed to lift her upper body just enough to watch the two going wild, voicing her question.

Even now, the two were engaged in a fight that was a bit off from what you’d expect from ordinary swordsmen or gladiators.

Maybe it was because their swordsmanship was so peculiar and unique, and perhaps it was also because they both used such special techniques.

It was fierce, but when they locked up, it was as if their swords, hands, legs, and bodies took turns getting tangled, a very strange sight.

If they didn’t have swords, it would almost look like a wrestling match on their feet.

But the superiority was obvious.

“Kh!”

The first to drop his sword and be thrown to the ground was Venus.

“It’s out of order to mouth off to your senior, your teacher, your mentor, you ungrateful brat.”

“……”

“You’re even older than me, so why don’t you put that sturdy body to better use? With that, you’ll never have kids, you know?”

“…You’re insane.”

“Your language is trash. That’s why you can’t get along with anyone else, you idiot.”

“Crazy woman. You’re the one who fits in with childish games, and you’re talking?”

“There you go again.”

But the match was already decided.

Venus showed no visible injuries, but he seemed unable to steady himself, as if he’d been struck somewhere vital.

As Ases sneered at him, she gripped her sword and headed back to Cariel.

But then, 

“You’re awake?”

Cariel was staggering but managed to stand up on his own.

The timing was just barely.

If she’d hesitated a few more seconds, she would’ve just cut his head off.

“I told you long ago, didn’t I? To live selfishly. Not to live for others. Not to throw yourself away for the sake of sacrifice.”

“…Did you?”

“Don’t pretend you forgot. I can tell just by your eyes. You remember. There’s no way you could forget with that smart head of yours. Of course! Who can know what you’re really thinking? You were hard to read as a kid, and you’re even worse now.”

It seemed Ases still overestimated Cariel.

But that wasn’t just her problem.

Everyone who’d ever dealt with him… had done the same.

He still didn’t quite understand.

“…I don’t know what you’re upset about.”

“I told you! Stop doing things for other people!”

“And why are you angry about that… Why do you even care?”

“What am I supposed to do if I’m angry?!”

She shouted like an angry little girl, but her intentions and motivations were anything but pure or clear.

It was definitely off.

Geniuses, throughout history, have always been a bit outside the bounds of common sense.

She must be one of those types too.

Even peering into her memories wouldn’t make her easier to figure out.

No, it’s not actually that hard if you just try to understand.

But, 

Even if you understand and empathize, accepting and following it is a different matter.

“If I want to do something as myself, what’s wrong with that?”

“…You’re still such a tyrant when it comes to this. As long as you’re fine, nobody else’s thoughts or feelings matter, right?”

“Why do you take it there?”

“Cariel! Look! Look at those two idiots just standing there! One is a hero who just drew the holy sword! The other is the Demon King, determined to walk the path of blood! And what did you just do? You shoved mud into both their mouths! You just made their new legend, their new story, into nothing with your overwhelming presence. Do you think that makes sense? What do you think you’re doing to human history?”

“…I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Even the original topic had gone off track, and the reason for her anger kept getting lost.

“She’s just a crazy woman spouting nonsense,” Venus muttered, finally managing to steady himself, though he still seemed barely able to stand.

Still, his fighting spirit hadn’t faded.

…Is he immortal? Or just monstrously stubborn?

Cariel had to acknowledge that much.

It was all due to his natural body and the strength and willpower he’d developed.

“Hey! Are you two really ending it here?! Don’t you both have plenty of reasons to fight to the death?! Are you just going to leave it at this? Isn’t that wrong?!”

At Ases’s outburst, Mines and Leo snapped out of their panic.

Maybe for them, what Cariel had just done was even more astonishing than they could have imagined.

But the fight wasn’t over yet.

“……”

Pointless.

Cariel frowned.

“A battlefield like this is something you might see once in your life. How could you know how a warrior feels to have it taken away?”

“…Yeah. You really are selfish.”

Judging other people’s circumstances however she pleases, no, seeing things exactly as she wants to see them and trampling over everything in her path.

That relentless stubbornness to force things her own way, 

What could have made that woman such a monster?

“If that’s the case, then I’ll try living a little selfishly too, just as you said.”

Cariel held two swords in his hands.

But at some point, they became one.

“…What is that?”

Venus saw it.

Something that was a sword, and yet not.

A shape so dark, as if it was forged from the purest pitch-black essence, as if not even a single ray of light could touch it.

And when it took the shape of a sword, 

Venus finally understood.

Elbart was not that so-called holy sword stuck in the ground.

…It was this.

That thing in his hand, 

That was the same as what Grandeus once wielded.

But it was also different from Grandeus’s.

He didn’t know why.

But to Venus, this one seemed even more fitting.

…He didn’t have any real reason or proof.

But after watching it all this time, he simply couldn’t help but accept it.

“So, is that Elbart or whatever it’s called?”

Ases, of course, had heard the name often enough.

But for it to be such a monstrosity? A demon weapon? A monster?

She had never even imagined such a thing.

But the shape was exactly as described.

That was, darkness, and shadow, borrowing the form of a sword.

There was no other way to describe it.