episode_0097

000

“You said you wanted to talk to me?”

Inside a space that was somewhat illuminated by light magic, Cleon speaks, unable to hide his disgust for the three stone tablets – the `Black Scripture`.

The thought of how many people’s lives had been twisted and sacrificed because of these beings made him want to vomit.

Whether the stone tablets, which seemed to lack visual organs altogether, sensed Cleon’s gaze, the red tablet, which seemed to be the most representative of them, answered.

“Is there a need to hate us that much? We feel a great sense of kinship with you. In that you are a revenger who doesn’t care about the means to achieve your goals.”

Cleon felt a strange discomfort at the androgynous voice, so young it was hard to tell if it belonged to a boy or a girl, and he couldn’t help but react to the stone tablet’s assertion.

`Revenger`.

“… … You’re mistaken. My revenge is already over.”

Cleon frowned and replied to the red tablet as if it were barking up the wrong tree. Then, the blue tablet laughed heartily and said to Cleon.

“That’s a strange story. Your ultimate goal shouldn’t have been achieved yet. I’m not talking about the would-be hero.”

He stares at the stone tablet, which speaks as if the would-be hero – Albein – is not Cleon’s ultimate goal.

Of course, the fight with Albein may have been one of the unavoidable happenings in Cleon’s journey. However, the stone tablet was saying that revenge on Albein was not the `end of Cleon’s revenge`.

“You want to find the one who banished the hero Lesia from the world and avenge her, don’t you?”

Iona closed her eyes as if she had some idea of what was going on, but in front of Sasha, who looked surprised, Cleon quietly clenched his fist and placed his hand on the hilt of his red sword.

He was ready to cut the stone tablet in half if it continued to talk nonsense.

“Aren’t you being rather cautious? If you don’t like what we’re saying, you can just cut us down. Well, even if you cut us down, nothing will change by losing this temporary body.”

“There’s only one thing I want to hear from you. What are you trying to summon by opening the dimensional passage?”

“Ah. That story is connected to the story we were about to tell. Agreement is a good thing. It feels like we’re understanding each other.”

“You’re making it sound good, but it just makes me feel bad. But if you’re willing to answer, hurry up and answer.”

A sound that felt like it was mocking Cleon’s irritation echoed in the dark space, and the blue stone tablet spoke once more.

“What are we trying to summon from beyond the dimensions? The `Adversary`. An entity with the power to reset the world.”

“Just as I expected, it was nonsense.”

“Is it really nonsense? Do you know how the ancient people were destroyed?”

Beatrice answers the stone tablet’s words.

“The generally accepted theory in academia is that the destruction of the ancient people was caused by wars between the ancient people that lasted for hundreds of years. As a result of creating and using powerful weapons that they could not control in order to win the war.”

“Indeed, a person who could stand in the position of that Layla Flamewatch’s friend. Quite knowledgeable. But it’s half right and half wrong.”

As the red stone tablet spoke, Iona spoke in place of Beatrice.

“The Golden Comet…. Is that it?”

“That’s right. Iona Chevalier. Is that also one of the pieces of knowledge you learned while wandering around the continent with your father?”

When Iona didn’t answer the question, Cleon turned to look at Iona.

“The Golden Comet is a great disaster that appears in the records of the ancient people scattered throughout the continent. It fell from the sky one day and destroyed the countries of the ancient people who were at war, one by one. All records of it end in despair that the Golden Comet will end their world.”

“That Golden Comet is our ancient people’s `Adversary`. One of the principles of this world, the system of the stars. When someone becomes a threat to the survival of the world, the `enemy of the world’s enemy` that the world arranges, even by twisting cause and effect.”

Cleon falls silent at the green stone tablet’s words.

He had heard about the concept of the `Adversary` from the great sage Sophia before.

With the appearance of the terrifying world’s enemy, the Demon Sword Emperor, the transcendent dragon slayer hero `Lesia` appeared as if drawn to it.

Perhaps it was somewhat predetermined that the hero Lesia would defeat the Demon Sword Emperor.

“We will completely revive the Demiurge and summon a demon so powerful that it will be called a `false god` in the world. If we do that, the world will surely create an Adversary to eliminate that demon.”

“This world is not your world. It’s a miscalculation to think that everything will go as you want.”

The stone tablet answers Cleon’s rebuke.

“That’s not necessarily the case. We have transferred only our minds to this tomb and have been studying the principles of the world for thousands of years. At times, we have cooperated with and opposed you people from the outside – the modern human race.”

“At some point, we came to be regarded as beings who possessed a great deal of knowledge and imparted teachings to mankind. Seeing these stone tablets in which some of our minds reside, they began to call us the `Black Scripture`.”

“The research was fruitful. We have found a way to bring the world’s Adversary into being in the form we desire. If the conditions are met.”

The three stone tablets take turns speaking, and as their magic power unfolds, a black hole appears in the ceiling.

It was a dimensional rift that he had seen before when the Isolation Tree Shuradcell had appeared.

Beatrice and Iona frowned at the fact that the Black Scripture was actually controlling such ridiculous magic.

“We’re going to bring the Golden Comet into this world once more.”

Everyone there couldn’t help but widen their eyes at those words.

“We will destroy the ancient people’s outdated world and cause a disaster that will reset everything once again on this star that has chosen your world, the world that you, the current human race, have built.”

“Doing such a thing won’t bring your world back!”

The black stone tablets fall silent for a moment at Sasha’s cry.

But soon they began to laugh.

“That’s not true. That’s not true, vessel of the savage god. It is possible. To restore everything to its original state.”

“The dimensional magic that is overflowing in this tomb does not go outside but circulates within. If we use this overflowing magic power and the magic power installed in various places in the underground tomb, we can recreate our brethren’s world as much as we want.”

“That, that’s…”

The technique used by the Isolation Tree Shuradcell to erode the surrounding world and turn it into its own world.

With thousands of years of obsession, they were trying to create a system similar to that, using this underground tomb as paint to repaint the world.

However, there was one fact that they overlooked, or rather, ignored.

That a proper world could not be created by using unstable and polluted magic power like dimensional magic.

The ancient people, or rather, those with so much knowledge that they were called the Black Scripture, could not have failed to notice this fact.

But they don’t care. Or rather, it would be better to say that they have stopped thinking about any other methods.

Their bodies had already perished, and only their minds remained, enduring while thinking only of restoring the destroyed world.

There was no way that their minds would not be weathered. There was no way that their souls would not be corrupted.

That is why they have rationalized themselves and given up on finding any further solutions.

Iona, Cleon, and Beatrice. They had no choice but to clench their fists after realizing this fact.

Persuasion was impossible with these beings, and they were merely echoes of ancient malice that had been left behind in countless despair.

That was the true nature of the `Black Scripture`.

“I would like to ask for your cooperation as well. Become our disciple…. no, our comrade, black swordsman. Cleon. Wouldn’t you like to meet the Golden Comet as well? You possess a darkness and potential that is far greater than the current chess piece – `Rail`.”

At the red stone tablet’s voice, Cleon grabbed Arundite, which had been stuck in the ground, and pointed it at the stone tablets.

“I refuse. As you said, if such a disaster is brought into this world as an Adversary, our world will meet the same future as yours.”

“That is our long-cherished desire. But why do you refuse? Wasn’t meeting her your wish?”

“-What?”

Cleon’s body and face stiffened for a moment at the stone tablet’s words.

“Ah. So you haven’t realized it yet. That Golden Comet is none other than your precious woman who was banished to another dimension and disappeared. `The Hero Lesia`.”

“… …”

The last night in the Valley of the Dragon flashes through Cleon’s mind.

The golden light that fell through the ravine of the ravaged village.

The Hero of Light, who descended from the sky like a shooting star.

“Perhaps it’s because she walked through that rift with dimensional magic for so long, but it’s questionable whether her appearance and strength are even that of a human like you.”

The next moment.

A high-pitched sound that pierces the ears follows the sword strike a moment late.

The swung Arundite cleaves the red stone tablet in two.

The light of the stone tablet gradually fades. But the stone tablets laugh as they watch Cleon, whose breathing is so ragged that his shoulders are moving up and down.

“Are you despairing that the being you admired has become the cause of the destruction of the past world, the worst mass murderer and disaster?”

“The Demiurge will soon descend. Once the vessel of the god is ready….”

From the remaining two intact stone tablets, the light was also gradually fading.

But the presence of their existence does not disappear.

As they said, the stone tablets are merely temporary bodies, and only avatars reside within them; their real selves are lying somewhere in this tomb.

The next moment, the holy sword Arundite, which Cleon was holding, and Ariadne, which Beatrice was holding, became impossibly heavy, and it seemed impossible to move from that spot.

“Kugh… What…!”

[Did you think that we would summon you here without any countermeasures? Both the holy sword and the demon sword are products of ancient technology. We are the ancient people who developed those technologies. When a weapon with great power is directed at us, we have long since prepared a means to counter it.]

They try with all their might to move them, but Arundite and Ariadne don’t even think about moving, and neither does Iona.

To make matters worse, as the dimensional rift that they had opened disappeared, due to the dimensional magic that had spread in all directions.

The ceiling was contaminated and gradually corroding.

If this continues, the ceiling may collapse and they may end up like the corpses buried in the cursed room.

“Cleon!”

The next moment, at Iona’s voice calling out to him, Cleon reflexively turns toward her and reaches out his hand.

As always, the moment Iona and Cleon’s hands meet, Iona transforms into a pure white sword, and as he raises her up, a powerful magic barrier that absorbs Cleon’s magic power and unfolds covers everyone, including Sasha and Beatrice.

The moment the barrier was deployed, a huge piece of debris fell and collided with the barrier.

[A hybrid of human and weapon…. It seems that our control does not work on you. Then, how about this?]

At the same time as the stone tablet’s words ended, Arundite, which had been stuck in the ground, sprang out on its own and flew somewhere.

There, a human figure that looked like a solidified shadow rose from the ground and grabbed the flying Arundite.

Then, using the power of the holy sword, it was approaching Cleon, who was tied up to maintain the barrier.

[You and we are kindred spirits in essence…. We thought that we could understand each other by removing the mask of hypocrisy.]

Eventually, the three eyes that appeared in the shadow were emitting red, blue, and green light, just like the broken stone tablet.

The Black Scripture’s shadow approached Cleon and was about to swing Arundite when.

A bolt of light and a blue flame magic flew in almost simultaneously.

The shadow easily blocked the attack by swinging Arundite, but the three eyes simultaneously moved behind Cleon and stared at the two girls who had attacked them.

Sasha and Beatrice were emitting afterimages of magic power from their hands, glaring at the Black Scripture with faces more enraged than ever before.

“You can’t lay…”

“You can’t touch…”

“A finger on my senior/brother!”

It was Sasha who darted forward using explosive acceleration.

In her hand was the fairy dagger she had received from Layla, and in her other hand, she held a magic arrow in reverse grip.

Perhaps it was because her inherent abilities had grown by one stage as the power of the stigma was strengthened, but Cleon could see that her muscle strength and agility were incomparably faster than before.

In terms of instantaneous acceleration alone, she would be faster than even himself, who was not using magic.

Sasha reached the front of the shadow with a sound that tore through the air and swung her arm wide, stabbing the magic arrow in her right hand toward the shadow’s side.

The shadow, with a look of boredom, was about to cut off Sasha’s arm along with the sword, but.

That was precisely Sasha’s aim.

The next moment, the magic arrow in her right hand exploded, and a intense light burst out, blinding the shadow’s eyes.

As the shadow stumbled and retreated as if in pain, Sasha quickly retracted her right arm and stabbed the shadow in the abdomen with her left dagger.

A mass of shadowy substance, like blood, flowed out from the Black Scripture’s avatar.

[Kugh… To think that a mere vessel of a savage god would…!]

The shadow instantly recovered from the wound in its abdomen and its eyes, and then slammed Arundite into the ground.

Then, fragments of glass swords scattered in all directions instantly transformed into another holy sword and surrounded the group.

“You, who guide the goblins through the night of terror. As the standard-bearer of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, become a harbinger of the impending disaster! Will o’ the Wisp!”

However, Beatrice’s magic was completed even faster than the surge of glass swords.

The magic that manifested from her after completing the incantation caused the same blue flames as before to appear in various places in the space like will-o’-the-wisps, devouring the glass swords that appeared at a rapid pace and melting them from the inside.

While the shadow was flustered by the sight, Sasha leaped backward and fired four arrows into the air, shooting them into the four corners of the ground on which the shadow was standing.

“Immobilizing Barrage…!”

The magic arrows are drawn to each other, forming a vertex, and then a plane of magic power rises from that vertex toward the sky, becoming a wall that imprisons the shadow.

[Tricks…. Such a barrier…!]

Just as the shadow was about to do something, a swarm of blue flames that had devoured all the glass swords and was emitting a intense light gathered in one place as if drawn by Beatrice’s gesture.

It flew into the barrier created by Sasha as if being sucked in.

The intense heat of the flames burns the shadow and melts the glass sword.

[KWWAAAAAAK!!!]

The shadow lets out a scream of pain, but the inside of the barrier is already filled with blue flames. It was impossible to see what was happening inside.

Eventually, the flames explode. The barrier created by Sasha cannot withstand it and breaks apart.

Inside, only the hilt of Arundite remained and fell to the ground, along with the shadows that had scattered in all directions.

The dark space that had suddenly become silent.

Sasha and Beatrice take a deep breath and survey their surroundings, but no presence can be felt anymore.

Beatrice quickly retrieves her Ariadne to confirm that she can move.

“Sasha, pick up the hilt of Arundite.”

At Cleon’s instruction, Sasha nodded as well and slowly picked up Arundite, which was regenerating, once more.

“The Black Scripture…”

“They can’t be killed with just this. It’s just an avatar created by dividing their minds. Unless the main body disappears – no, unless the soul is annihilated – they’ll try to interfere with us again.”

[But first, we need to find a way out of here.]

Cleon nodded at Iona’s words, but the current situation was not good.

They could not move while maintaining the thick magic barrier, and the cracks in the ceiling were gradually spreading, threatening to collapse the entire tomb.

The next moment, a vibration that shakes the ground resounds, and the shadows that were still rampant recombine, and this time a huge beast appears that can easily swallow a human whole.

As before, the three-colored eyes appear on the head of the monster with the long snout, but.

Sasha couldn’t help but step back slightly as she looked at the beast filled with madness and bloodlust.

[Using the form of a human and the holy sword was mercy on you…. The game is over…!]

Everyone grits their teeth and racks their brains to somehow overcome this situation.

It was only Beatrice who noticed something and looked up at the sky.

“Senior! Please trust me!”

“…Bea?”

Then, Beatrice fires a pillar of blue flame into the sky, pouring out almost all of her magic power.

It pierced through not only the barrier that Cleon was creating, but even the hand that the shadow beast was wielding, and was about to reach the ground, rising up through the ceiling.

[It’s meaningless! This is an isolated space…. Your magic won’t reach the surface!]

“There’s no need to go that far. This is a signal flare.”

As the shadow said, the pillar of flame stopped midway.

But the next moment, a intense impact erupts from the opposite side of the ceiling, and there was a presence coming in from the outside.

A mage with red flames of magic power on her body and a staff with a spearhead in her hand, looking down.

It was Layla Flamewatch.

“Ms. Layla…?”

“… … A group of evil beings having a nice tea party…. Doesn’t seem like it.”

The next moment, Sasha waves her hand, enveloping the entire space where Cleon is with a dimensional gate.

[What! Kugh, you!]

The next moment, Layla avoids the shadow that was reaching out its claws toward her by creating and passing through a dimensional gate herself.

The shadow glared at the sight and roared with intense rage, loud enough to reverberate throughout the underground.