Chapter 53: Mirror Queen (2)

Elian was stunned.

“This kind of monster was hiding right under our noses in the Vatican?!”

“You simply weren’t paying close enough attention.”

Exina and El Lagarde’s swords clashed with blinding speed.

Flames and bursts of mana lit up one side of the room.

To be honest, everyone had known for a long time that El was no ordinary person.

She was the Saint of Salvation, after all—

The one who held 60% of the continent’s mana in her hands.

But no one had ever said she was also a master swordswoman.

Yet now, El wasn’t just dueling with Exina.

She was overwhelming her.

And that wasn’t all.

Luna had been casting spell after spell—fireballs, blizzards, water serpents—whenever she found an opening.

“I’ll return it to you.”

“…!”

With a flick of her hand, El redirected Luna’s magic right back at her.

Both her spell reflection and her swordsmanship were unprecedented.

Which meant… she’d been hiding all of this?

For how long?

Fourteen years at the very least?

Elian felt dizzy at the thought.

To make matters worse, they couldn’t even sense El’s mana.

It wasn’t a matter of level or strength.

It was like her mana didn’t register as mana at all.

That meant Elian’s team had to rely solely on instinct and killing intent to read her movements.

What was already a hard fight had become nearly impossible.

“Haa… haa… If only I were thirty years younger…!”

Exina’s sword clashed again with El’s.

It was a hopeless fight in many ways.

And yet, for Elian, it wasn’t entirely bad.

Irene was currently fighting the Mirror Queen.

Which meant—no cameras.

This was his one chance to have a real conversation with El.

“Alright then—!”

“Not so fast!”

The moment Exina showed an opening, Elian rushed in, parrying El’s sword.

He had far too much to say to her.

“Why did you betray us?”

“It wasn’t betrayal. I was never on your side to begin with.”

Elian let out a hollow laugh, almost incredulous.

They’d known each other since childhood.

Did that mean even back then she was someone from the future?

El parried his strike and answered:

“I’ll tell you everything, Elian. The truth is—there is no Saint of Salvation in your world.”

“What…?”

“Only one world can ever have someone blessed by God.”

“Then… what are you?”

“I’m the current Saint of Salvation. From the future—by your standards, anyway. Of course, I used illusion magic to fake the body.”

Even while she was talking, Elian couldn’t afford to lower his guard.

No matter how much support he got from Exina or Luna, one slip-up could cost him his life.

He had just heard something earth-shattering, but there was no time to process it.

Still, the pieces were falling into place.

There was no Saint in his world.

The girl he’d thought was his childhood friend had taken her place.

It sounded insane— but after everything that had happened since the Demon King’s fortress, it didn’t even feel strange anymore.

“Then why did you save me? Weren’t you supposed to eliminate threats to the plan?”

The Mirror Queen certainly hadn’t intended to spare Elian.

She had even reinforced his corpse to prevent resurrection.

Yet the Saint of Salvation had revived him.

Granted, Irene had helped, but still.

“I could tell… you looked so broken. Probably some kind of trauma from killing yourself, you know?”

“…The Mirror Queen?”

Why the Mirror Queen would suffer from trauma for killing herself was a mystery Elian didn’t have time to solve.

He decided to let that one go.

The situation was already confusing enough.

“That’s why I brought you back. To me—your childhood friend—Elian was more important than Irene.”

“You just said the childhood friend thing was fake!”

“…In the future, it was real.”

The moment those words left her lips, El’s swordwork became even faster.

Elian tried to block, but—

If he blocked from the front, she came from the side.

If he guarded the side, she struck from behind.

This wasn’t something a human could parry.

Eventually, one of her strikes got through.

The momentum shifted entirely to the Saint of Salvation.

“Let’s stop playing around.”

El reversed her grip on her sword.

Elian’s instincts screamed that this was the end.

“I can’t let you relapse again. I’ll have to kill you myself.”

Just as El lunged to strike—

Something came spinning through the air from behind.

There was no killing intent in it, so Elian instinctively caught it with ease.

“Huh? This is…”

“I poured all my mana into it. I’m too old and sick to fight anymore… so I’m counting on you.”

Elian quickly assessed the situation.

Seeing Exina’s decision, Luna immediately followed through with her own.

An immense surge of mana burst from Luna’s staff.

It shot straight toward Elian like a projectile.

“I used acceleration magic, healing magic, defensive spells—everything…! I’m sorry… I just can’t keep going anymore… so I’m giving you all my power…”

“Got it. That means I really have to win now.”

Elian silently stared at El.

Once a childhood friend, now nothing more than an enemy.

But right now, he felt certain—he wouldn’t lose.

“Prepare yourself.”

***

“…I never imagined you were Kssarel.”

“Kssa… what?”

“Nothing. Forget it if you don’t know.”

To think it was Elian.

Honestly, she never saw it coming.

Sure, they were close.

They did broadcasts together, talked a lot too.

‘But even so… to go this far?’

It was a strange feeling.

If she had to sum it up in one sentence:

Elian spent over ten years pretending to be the Mirror Queen, killing an astronomical number of people—all for her?

If someone had told her that yesterday, she’d have brushed it off as nonsense.

Even now, if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it.

But unfortunately, it was true.

“What on earth happened in the future? Wait, how big is the time difference between here and there?”

“Thirty years.”

“And how long have I been dead?”

“Twenty years and… one month, twenty-eight days.”

Danger.

This was the first time she felt danger not from battle, but from something else.

Wait—was I the one who flirted with him?

Looking at Elian—older Elian—holding her magic and her sword, it… actually made sense.

The story she got from Elian was even more shocking.

Just like Luminil had said, she died in the future.

That part wasn’t anything too unusual.

The problem was how it happened.

She wasn’t the only one who died.

Something appeared in the future—something even Elian didn’t know about.

And that disaster took both Tania and Exina’s lives too.

‘So then I stepped in and defeated the calamity, but ended up half-dead and came back to find Elian. That it?’

And that whole mess is supposed to happen in ten years?

Anyway, after that, Irene took care of Elian—practically the only survivor—with everything she had.

But eventually, even future Irene died.
And in her final moments, future she passed all her mana and weapons to Elian.

“After that, I was hopeless. The world was in ruins, so I just stayed home and never went outside.”

“And then the Saint of Salvation came to you.”

“Yeah. I don’t know how, but she knew how to open a portal to the past.”

The Mirror Queen—future Elian—wore a deeply dark expression…

Then suddenly burst into maniacal laughter.

That girl was really losing her mind.

“So I made a plan. As long as I have divine power and mana, I can revive anyone. I decided to turn everyone in this world into mana.”

“That’s completely insane. I don’t remember you mentioning being hit by a mind-destruction spell earlier, though.”

“I’m perfectly sane.”

Right. Fair enough.

Elian might look amazing as the number one ranked hero.

But in the end, she’s just an ordinary woman in her early twenties.

If everyone around her died and the world collapsed, it’s no wonder she lost it.

The only problem is that she went too insane.

As I was trying to figure out what to do with future Elian, a familiar fanfare sound rang out.

[Anonymous Sponsor] has donated 100,000 gold!

– This has to be a prank, right? LOL please let it be a prank

Ah, right.

I was streaming right now, wasn’t I?

I tried to salvage the situation somehow, but…

– I’m going to start hoarding safehouses right now

– Aaaagh I’m losing my mind Aaaagh I’m losing my mind Aaaagh I’m losing my mind

– Why is this real? Why is this real? Why is this real? Why is this real?

– This makes no sense fr lol

– I said I’d die happy if I saw Irene again, now I might actually die lol

– Watching the stream and suddenly I get told I’ve got 10 years left to live lol

– Irene1: You’ve gotta be kidding me

By the time I realized, it was already way too late.

Actually, maybe this was a good thing.

If it’s something that could destroy the world, it’s better for everyone to know.

Besides, we’ve got 10 whole years, right?

Ten years is enough time for a whole country to change.

Tania and Exina, who were supposed to die, have more than enough time to prepare.

Since things had already gotten to this point, I quickly scanned through the broadcast screen.

A mission stood out among the list.

[Subjugate the Mirror Queen]

[7,368,300G]

[22:10:49]

The fact that it’s still using the name “Mirror Queen” means this was probably posted back when I first entered the Demon King’s Castle.

“You’re still not planning to change your mind, are you?”

“Of course not. I’ve nearly gathered all the mana.”

Even though I’m Irene…

I really don’t think I can talk her down.

Trying to explain would just take too much time and turn into a pointless argument.

Besides, Elian seems to be in a hurry too.

“Then die.”

I decided to just go with a clean response.

At the same time as I said that, future Elian began drawing in an enormous amount of mana from somewhere.

Judging by the situation, it looked like that huge sphere attached to the ceiling.

That must be the mana she’s been gathering all this time.

“Well then, shall we begin, Irene?”

“Gladly, Elian.”

– The world’s ending, but why is this atmosphere kind of hype

– Elian pretending to be indifferent makes it hit even harder lol

– Praying Irene wins this

– This is stressful, can’t other people go help too?

– All the top dogs are already there lol

– Fr if you go now, you’ll probably just end up giving more mana to future Elian

[Anonymous Sponsor] has donated 500,000 gold!

– The fate of the world rests in the hands of a Demon Castle exec, good luck seriously

As the huge donation came through, almost like we had planned it—

Future Elian and I charged at each other at the same time.