The situation was already chaotic. Bu-yuseong was pierced by 'Pride' and falling together, and several mages had either fallen or fainted from the shock. There was no time to compose themselves, and Bu-yuseong was screaming and creaking. If this continued, Bu-yuseong would crash along with 'Pride'. A result worse than merely having 'Pride' fall alone would come to pass.
Even so, something beyond that was felt.
Twang. It was like the tightly drawn world snapping. Clear rules, fair operation. Unlike the laws of the secular world, the true rules that made up this world were slightly distorted.
Something brushed past my eyes. A flash. Sparks bloomed in the air and vanished.
My gaze naturally turned downward. Bu-yuseong, and 'Pride', had cracks in them. As if cut by an incredibly sharp blade...
Not "as if." They were cut.
Screech. The line slowly widened. That line stretched from where my eyes could see, down to the bottom of Bu-yuseong. And all the way to 'Pride'. Wind howled through the slightly opened gap, vibrations erupted, and at the end of the ever-widening gap.
Crrrrack.
Bu-yuseong and 'Pride'. The two began to split vertically.
The bisected Bu-yuseong spread out to both sides. The mages who had barely been holding on lost their balance. In turn, the Bu-yuseong that had barely maintained its shape began to break apart from the bottom, swept up by the wind and storm.
"What... is happening..."
That wasn't even confusion.
Common sense was denied by an unexpected anomaly, and my mind, unable to comprehend the phenomenon, froze. I tried to grasp the situation and figure out what had happened, but it was a futile attempt. This was clearly a strike that defied all logic.
But. How on earth?
It was a slashing cut that flew from a completely unreadable position. Even for me, there was no way to know what kind of phenomenon this was. My sister? No, my sister's power wouldn't be this incomprehensible.
At that moment, Shei reflexively muttered.
"Sword Saint?"
Sword Saint?
I had heard the rumors. The empire's strongest sword. One who defeated Master before even reaching the Dao, a strong one that no one could approach. A Qi Master who always came up first when discussing the strongest on the continent.
Sword Saint, Orzhu Luote.
If it were him, I could understand. No, there wasn't even a need to understand. Because if it was 'Li', any absurdity was permitted.
But... I had never heard that the Sword Saint possessed a 'Li' that could cut from such an immense distance?
"The Sword Saint, already obtained the Li of the Single-Layer Slash...?"
'Obtained'? If it's someone at the level of the Sword Saint, he would already have Li. What does 'obtained' mean?
Tch. Anyway, that's not what's important right now.
Bu-yuseong and 'Pride' were cut. The original plan was to grab 'Pride' with Bu-yuseong, and in that state, lift Bu-yuseong to block 'Pride'. But the broken and cut Bu-yuseong couldn't fulfill its role. If this continued, it would just crash.
However, crisis is opportunity.
"Shei! Blue Tower Master!"
I don't know if it's the Sword Saint's Li or whatever, but it wasn't just Bu-yuseong that was cut. 'Pride' was also cut right now. The inside of 'Pride', exactly bisected, was revealing itself!
If it's now!
"It's an opportunity! 'Pride' has been split in half. We need to find the Demon God inside 'Pride' through this gap! Make a path!"
If this continued, Bu-yuseong would crash directly into the ground. It would lead to a disaster no different from 'Pride' falling. At the very least, to prevent that collision, gravity control needed to be restored. If Bu-yuseong couldn't fulfill its role, then we had to at least obtain the Demon God inside 'Pride'.
"It's dangerous. 'Pride' has been split in half."
"That's perfect! The weight we have to support has decreased!"
"Even 'Pride' cut in half is致命的. If that 'Pride' falls to the ground, the damage will be uncontrollable."
"There's no time to worry about others right now! 'Pride' split in half is a problem, but if the remaining half and Bu-yuseong join forces and fall to the ground, the damage will be doubled! Let's think about restoring this Bu-yuseong first!"
The mass had decreased and the speed had slowed significantly. At this level, they could somewhat handle it on the ground. Until just now, it was irresponsible buck-passing, but now, having seen the Sword Saint's strike, it wasn't buck-passing.
Demon King. Sword Saint. These derelicts of duty. Save the world a little, will you! You have the power!
"Let's get the Demon God. We must end all this disaster."
"Yes! Let's go!"
"Sister. I'll borrow the ice."
The Blue Tower Master took out a fountain pen while running and quickly drew along Elsia's ice. A branch of ice broke off and created a path of ice in front of the Blue Tower Master. When the Blue Tower Master lightly shook the fountain pen, ice formed ahead of that path, extending all the way to the top of 'Pride'.
"Sister. Guide the others inside the tower of Bu-yuseong. It'll be safe there."
"...You never listen to your sister, do you."
"Going against is what a younger sister does."
The Blue Tower Master smiled faintly and slid along the ice path. Beneath her feet, the ice repeatedly melted and froze at a rapid cycle, propelling her body forward.
Ice Wave. A magic that creates waves on ice. Even without her unique magic, the Blue Tower Master's magic had reached the pinnacle. She smoothly rode the ice and shouted.
"Hughes, Shei. Get on!"
"Now you're making sense. Let's go!"
Shei and I also got on the ice path. The surging ice pushed my heels and guided me to the top of 'Pride'.
The cross-section of 'Pride' cut by the Sword Saint was smooth. Thanks to that, we reached the cross-section of 'Pride' without any particular issue. The Blue Tower Master ran her hand down the cross-section and spoke.
"It's a type of rock hard to see on this land. The crystal structure is unique, and it contains unknown magical power, so it'll be difficult for Bu-yuseong's magic to directly affect it."
"Magical power dwells in matter. If it's a meteorite that drifted in empty space for close to millions of years, millions of years' worth of magical power would be condensed within it. The thought of destroying it with a dabbling of magic might have been arrogant from the start."
"Yeah. We had no choice but to block it with force from the beginning. By any chance, is there anyone who can create a gap in the meteorite?"
At the Blue Tower Master's question, Shei stepped forward.
"I'll try. Cheon-aeng!"
Shei called Cheon-aeng and tried to swing it, but Cheon-aeng was much heavier and duller than usual. Shei made a troubled expression.
"Ugh. It's impossible with Cheon-aeng. I used too much power and the blade is damaged. It won't be able to exert power until it spits out the rock it swallowed inside."
"What about Ji-jan?"
"...Ugh. Ji-jan doesn't work well either. This rock isn't of the earth, so Ji-jan's earth techniques don't work."
"Neither Cheon-aeng nor Ji-jan is useful? Then what use is Mr. Shei at all?"
"Shut up! I can still use Ji-jan!"
The annoyed Shei struck down with Ji-jan. Clang, sparks flew, part of the rock broke, and cracks formed inside. Compared to usual, it was too small a destruction, but it was enough for the Blue Tower Master.
"This is enough. Use water as ink."
The Blue Tower Master gathered moisture, loaded it into her fountain pen, and drove it into the gap of 'Pride'. The moisture in the fountain pen seeped deep inside 'Pride'. Once enough moisture had seeped in, the Blue Tower Master successively unleashed her unique magic, repeatedly freezing and melting the moisture.
Ice expands in volume when it freezes. If the seeped water repeatedly freezes and melts, no matter how huge the rock, the gaps will widen and it will split. That was no exception even for a meteorite.
"Ice Break. Ice Sparkle."
Rumble rumble. The cycle of melting and refreezing gradually sped up, and the vibration became severe as if an earthquake had struck 'Pride'. Then at some point.
Crack, and nearly a 10m radius crumbled down. The meteorite turned into gravel was swept away by the wind. The meteorite was hard, but forced freezing through unique magic couldn't be stopped. The ice, expanding in volume as it froze, destroyed 'Pride' from the inside.
"Amazing, isn't it? If you had more time, Blue Tower Master, you'd have destroyed the meteorite all by yourself!"
"Not having time is the problem. By any chance, do you feel anything?"
"My senses don't particularly. It should normally reveal its presence at this level."
At that time, Cheon-aeng floating above Shei's head trembled. Then it turned its blade tip and began to slowly move. Shei noticed the anomaly and muttered.
"Huh...? Cheon-aeng?"
"It's a spatial anomaly. Cheon-aeng is being pulled into a spatial anomaly. Like a compass."
"Then, there's something where Cheon-aeng is heading! It's over there!"
The Blue Tower Master and Shei followed Cheon-aeng's guidance through the howling wind.
Bu-yuseong was still in free fall. With the gradually increasing speed, the wind blew hard enough to make it difficult to keep one's body steady. Grinding down the solid 'Pride' while struggling not to fall was by no means an easy task.
Nevertheless, Shei and the Blue Tower Master accomplished it. Sticking to 'Pride' so as not to fall, they dug deep inside like moles.
Then at some point. Cheon-aeng bumped weakly with a thud. Shei picked up Cheon-aeng again and shouted.
"We've arrived. It must be here!"
"Wait a moment. There's a risk of it breaking if you swing Ji-jan here, so I'll handle this part."
I used the Golden Mirror's Demon God to change the meteorite into a card. Since it was a meteorite imbued with magical power, there was some resistance, but still, the Demon God was effective on the meteorite too.
Seeing the meteorite turn into a card and scatter emptily, Shei grumbled.
"If that worked, you should have done it earlier. There was no need to use Ji-jan!"
"When would I convert this huge meteorite card by card. I'm doing it because we're almost there."
Like that, the meteorite became a card and disappeared, and when we finally reached the center of 'Pride'. I momentarily felt a sensation as if my body was falling downward.
It was strange. 'Pride' was falling, and we, falling with it, were in a nearly zero-gravity situation. But the moment I set foot inside here, I felt gravity as if I were standing on the ground.
At the familiar sensation I would have only felt on Bu-yuseong, the Blue Tower Master muttered.
"Gravity anomaly?"
"It seems like space distortion."
"Maybe both. Like what we experienced at Babel."
What the Demon King said was accurate. There was something at the center of 'Pride'. Probably the Demon God.
"There will be the Demon God's relic. I don't know what test there will be, but we must draw out that power and stop the crash. Any one of us."
When I spoke in a serious tone, the Blue Tower Master expressed doubt.
"Hughes. You're the king of humans, and you use the Demon God's power. You should do it."
"Ah. Well, even if I use the Demon God's power, it will probably only apply around me."
"...What?"
If it were my sister, that's one thing, but I couldn't lift Bu-yuseong. What could lift Bu-yuseong was the Demon God's power. Or someone permitted by that Demon God.
"You said you found the Demon God's power and could freely handle it!"
"That was revealed during the Demon God War. How would Blue Tower Master know?"
"Because I planted a spy!"
"Saying that so proudly... And originally, in a secret organization, you have to put on some bluffs. I didn't lie, you know."
I found the Demon God, and I can use its power. I just didn't say how to find the Demon God or how much power I could use.
"So don't let your guard down. The opponent is a Demon God trying to destroy this land. Persuasion might fail. Unless everyone persuades it, that will won't change."
Everyone fell silent and tensed up.
The Demon God inside 'Pride' harbored the will to destroy the land. It wasn't a problem that would end just by meeting the Demon God. Both the Blue Tower Master and Shei nodded with full tension.
We entered the interior of 'Pride'. Feeling the same gravity as on the ground, we walked into the cave formed within the meteorite. I felt like a bug burrowing into a fruit. Like that, a spacious area appeared before me as I dug into the center of the meteorite.
If 'Pride' was a fruit and I was a bug, this place was like a room containing 'Pride's seed. An empty space. In the middle of it, there was something. I saw that form and muttered.
"A tree?"
Why is a tree here? Moreover, it was a tree with a lusciously ripe apple hanging as if it would fall at any moment. A tree with only a single apple hanging in this place without sunlight or wind. It was too alien.
That's probably the Demon God. When I took one more step closer.
Plop, plop. The branch bent little by little, and the stem of the ripe red apple snapped. The bright red fruit received gravity and fell straight to the ground. The moment the apple hit the ground.
I was already inside the Demon God's imagery.