Nice timing! Has Shea ever been this welcome?!
The power of the Holy Maiden of the Sky. The power that rejects the original future. As my sister said, it is an overlap of 'luck'. To compare it to gambling, it's like holding a hand that guarantees victory.
Then what happens? As time passes, the disadvantage grows.
Victory breeds victory. The pot stacks upon the pot, snowballing into the next pot and returning as even more chips. Time is on the winner's side. The loser is crushed by the massive gap, suffocating without even a chance to turn the tables.
There is only one way to overcome it. A variable.
The being named Shea, whom the Holy Maiden of the Sky cannot foresee, will become my axis.
"What's going on?! Some kind of curtain was covering everything, so I couldn't figure out the situation! I tore through it just in case, and it's not bad, right?"
"I love it beyond words!"
"Uh, uh? L-l-love...?"
"Shea! The objective is achieved. Let's escape!"
"It's too, sudden..."
"Escape!"
"Yeah!"
At my shout, Shea snapped out of it and swung Jizan. Jigon Style: Earth Flow Wall. The flowing earth created a massive wall, separating me and my sister.
[Holy Maiden of Opportunity. I will not let the precious opportunity you gave us go to waste. However...]
Now is the chance. According to what Shea said, the Holy Maiden of the Sky noticed Shea's existence every time, but couldn't predict how she would act. It must be because Shea is also a Holy Maiden, so she can't be observed through foresight.
Therefore, the 'power that rejects foresight' cannot be used around Shea. Because foresight itself won't work!
[He will become an obstacle that ruins this opportunity. You must restrain him, or render him unable to resist.]
"I have no intention of restraining Hughes!"
[Then why did you bring him here?]
"Hughes said he would come! And I also came because I wanted to know what was going on this time! You can't know without seeing it for yourself!"
[Shea. You know it. As long as the King reigns, no one can go against this order. What is the problem?]
'Sister's' power is absolute. Not just simple destructive power, but she possesses the extreme limits of all abilities a human can have, such as charisma and judgment. If she is the pinnacle of humanity, gathering only the strengths of all humans, her iron-fisted politics would surely be the most ideal.
Even while vaguely recognizing that, Shea shook her head and shouted.
"Hughes shouldn't be there!"
[He refused to be here.]
"Then I don't need it! Even if Hughes is fickle and mischievous, his thoughts are deep!"
[Shea. Do not depend on him. He is a being that puts everyone to the test. He will bury everyone in endless agony and chaos. Please think and act for yourself.]
"This is what I've thought of!"
Shea and I fled with all our might. Invisible minor misfortunes constantly dragged at my feet. The ground at my feet being slightly muddy, sand mixed in the headwind stinging my eyes, thunder and lightning suddenly coursing through my body, or the storm blowing me backward.
Later on, it wasn't on a scale that could simply be dismissed as 'misfortune'! The only saving grace was...
"Heavenly Sword Qi!"
Shea, wielding Cheonaeng and Jizan, was completely covering the misfortune. I fled through the escape route Shea had created.
[Shea... Even after coming this far, are you still giving him a chance?]
The Mobile Magic Tower in the distance stumbled. It should still be far away, but it staggered in a truly bizarre and forced manner, then leaped over 30 meters and fell right over my head. In the midst of it all, perhaps I pressed something wrong, but the tower's residual magic power concentrated in its launcher.
"How is this misfortune!"
There's a limit to misfortune; this is just reality manipulation! It's a rigged game!
As I screamed, the Mobile Magic Tower crashed down on me without mercy. Magic power flashed, parts poured out, sharply broken fragments and steel rebars pierced me, and it rolled while trapping me inside.
"Hughes!"
Misfortune driving a person to their death. The broken mechanical device bared its blades only at me, trying to tear me apart. I screamed and flailed my arms.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
I smashed through the wall of the magic tower and bounced out. My whole body was scratched with countless wounds, and the rampaging magic shook me several times, but having endured and regenerated with the Human Rule, I turned the wall into a card and escaped.
"Hughes, are you okay?!"
"Yes! It was dangerous, but I held on!"
"...Did your character change or something?"
"If a person grows, they should change a little!"
Pushing through the fallen Mobile Magic Tower, there stood the Empire's Magic Cavalry who had survived under the tower's protection. My eyes met theirs.
"Ha!"
"Are you allied forces?"
"State your affiliation!"
The Empire's Magic Cavalry were elite soldiers raised with a fortune of ten million gold. With the support of the Mobile Magic Tower, they could spray tactical-level magic that could turn the tide of battle. They were useless against my sister, but against us right now, they were a quite significant force.
What if they block our way? Even if they can't beat us, they will hold us back.
Could this also be 'misfortune'...? There's no chance of winning against the Imperial army!
"Halt! They are not the enemy. Right now, the Empire's enemy is over there!"
It was then. The 'Southern Army Commander' who had fallen, revealed himself again. The Magic Cavalry, who had been thrown into confusion, focused their attention on the sudden appearance of their superior.
In the meantime, the 'Southern Army Commander' grabbed his own reddened neck and shouted.
"The Holy Maiden colluded with the King of Humans to usurp the Emperor's throne! The reason the Holy Imperial Court has been respected until now was because, despite possessing that authority and fame, they distanced themselves from politics and acted only for the subjects! But if this is how it is, we can only think that the Holy Maidens have been hatching a conspiracy for that long time, plotting to overthrow the Empire!"
It was a sharp, point-by-point denunciation. The Magic Cavalry were an elite corps with higher education; even if they didn't know the full details of the incident, it was enough to make them harbor doubts.
...Before I could feel any doubts as to why the 'Southern Army Commander' appeared here alone without any guards.
[Hundred-Faced One. You who decided to follow Yuel, have you now decided to follow the King of Sins instead?]
Of course, it didn't work on the Holy Maiden. She immediately saw through Hilde's disguise, and a change occurred in the battle situation. What followed before my eyes was a single line. A fast and stealthy attack that even the wind didn't notice aimed for the 'Southern Army Commander'.
"Watch out!"
"Ugh!"
A whip-like attack swept over Hilde. Having noticed the attack, Hilde flexibly did a backflip and dodged it. On the ground, a mark appeared as if someone had lashed it wildly with a whip.
Though she dodged, it had an incredible destructive power even from that far distance. While Hilde lowered her posture and avoided the attack, the Centaur Palace Lord Kaus appeared, limping on his spear shaft.
"That is not the Southern Army Commander. The Southern Army Commander is lying over there. My, my. A flawless disguise art. Even I was confused for a moment."
Hilde looked at Kaus and sneered.
"You were fighting the King of Humans just a moment ago, yet your betrayal is quite fast, isn't it~?"
"That is that, and this is this. I can't just stand by and watch the Hundred-Faced One impersonate an Imperial commander and frame the Holy Maiden."
Although Kaus was missing limbs one by one, Hilde dared not claim an advantage. The opponent was the Zodiac Twelve Palaces, and among them, the ancient and renowned Centaur Palace Lord. The Shinchuk Spear was an all-purpose weapon usable not only at long range but also at close range. If the Centaur Palace Lord had been in perfect condition, Hilde wouldn't have been able to hold out.
'Come to think of it~. It's because he's a cripple who lost his limbs that I was able to dodge~. Shouldn't I just land one hit somehow~?'
So Hilde picked up a sword from the ground and charged at the Centaur Palace Lord. The Centaur Palace Lord was surprised to see Hilde charging at him instead of running away.
"The bizarre person who freely changes faces, the Hundred-Faced One. Aren't you the mask play actor who fled after slighting the Empire in the past?"
"I'm honored that you remember me~."
"It was a unique talent, and you succeeded in escaping even while being wanted by the Constellations. But..."
"You can't escape as long as the Shinchuk Spear is watching anyway, right~? If you're only going to watch us, we could escape just the same~."
"...I'll think about it. However."
Hilde was still in the appearance of the Southern Army Commander. Having a sturdy, robust, and majestic middle-aged face, tilting her head and speaking in a sweet, coquettish voice.
The Centaur Palace Lord gagged and spoke.
"Speaking like a girl with the face of an acquaintance brings a physiological revulsion. Could you change to a somewhat decent face?"
"This is also psychological warfare!"
"Ugh... My stomach wasn't feeling good already."
Even while staggering, the Centaur Palace Lord stood on the ground on one foot. As long as he stood holding his spear, as long as it was in his field of vision, it was within the Shinchuk Spear's range. Moving away was meaningless.
So Hilde charged toward the Shinchuk Spear.
Thanks to my comrades coming to help, I succeeded in slipping away. I just need to make contact with the Blue Tower Lord, retrieve everyone, and get out.
My sister will become the Emperor of the Empire. No one can stop that. Even if they harbor dissatisfaction about it.
But if there is a focal point like me, the opposition can gather around me. For that, I first need to escape in one piece.
I somehow shook off the Holy Maiden of the Sky and the Shinchuk Spear. If I can just get out of here...
"Little brother."
Such hopes are like a flame on a match, flickering for a moment and disappearing, leaving only an afterimage. I underestimated my sister's will.
I believed that since my sister showed me a little goodwill, she wouldn't kill me, but.
My sister came directly to me and blocked my way.
"Sister! Move!"
"If you become the King of Sins, I must defeat you. I don't want to do that."
I knew she wouldn't kill me, but I didn't think she'd actively try to stop me from escaping...! That's not like the King of Beasts!
"I don't need the world you'll create, and the world you'll create doesn't need me! I won't be forced. I will choose!"
"In fact, you haven't chosen anything. Even though you, weak and pitiful, have always compromised and lived by clinging to others."
"Even those compromises are my choices!"
Now that I've awakened the Human Rule, I don't fall behind in pure strength itself. I kicked off the ground and slipped past my sister's side. My sister's muttering flowed down from above.
"It's a contradiction. Force is taking away your choice."
Rumble rumble. A strange sound was heard from under my feet. The feeling of the earth being crushed and mangled was transmitted as a seismic wave instead of sound. I kicked off this bizarre and ominous trembling and broke through, but ahead of me, I saw the figure of my sister who I should have clearly passed.
It wasn't my sister who moved. It wasn't me either.
It was the earth. The earth coiled and sent everything, including me, backward!
"Ugh, this is...! A Meta Conveyor Belt!"
"I heard there's flowing earth far away. I made it once."
Earth Arts, gravity anomalies, attraction through lightning. Waves.
The liquefaction of the earth achieved through this. My sister pulls and turns the earth that has become like liquid as she pleases. It's like an antlion pit. There's absolutely no way to escape!
Unlike me, who was sent back, Shea was actually further away. My sister deliberately sent Shea far away. Confirming that I wasn't by her side, Shea returned to me while floating in the air.
"Hughes! There's no choice! Now!"
"No, Shea! If you attack!"
The King of Beasts is not originally that violent. But any beast counterattacks against a being that attacks it. A cornered rat will bite a cat. Even the King of Beasts has a minimum ferocity to protect herself.
The reason my sister pushed Shea away was simply because it was convenient. But if Shea shows hostility!
"Heaven and Earth Sword Kun...!"
Jizan as the sheath, Cheonaeng as the sword. Like the horizon where the sky and earth meet at the far end of the distant view, the two overlap. The Cheonaeng, compressed to the limit, is loaded into the heaviest cannon called Jizan and fired at once.
"Horizon Splitter!"
Colliding the sky and the earth, vertically shattering that horizon. Sharply forging the extremely compressed space, it's a slash close to the principle that cuts through everything. Shea's ultimate move vertically slashed my sister.
With a tick sound.
"Ah."
The slash that splits space connects from the sky to my sister. The line drawing the end of the world comes straight down... and stops, caught on my sister.
After that, the slash shattered like pieces of glass.
The slash spewed by Cheonaeng is sharply compressed air. It is different in kind from sound or wind. The gale spewing from the gap in the compressed space can split even rocks.
However, that is still wind. Even if compressed, it is a fluid flow. It only moves according to that principle, and Shea used that to try to harm my sister.
To block power with power, a corresponding force is required, but my sister didn't do that. Instead.
"Now, the wave can be broken."
She destroyed the rule itself with the Demon God Rule.
The one strike that couldn't be blocked due to the compressed air, became no different from vigorously swinging a thin glass sword. If it's a glass sword, it's not scary. If you block it, it simply breaks, scatters, and disappears.
"Ugh, Cheonaeng...! Huh? Cheonaeng is?"
It was a great technique, but it was nullified so vainly. The Demon God Rule even affected Cheonaeng. Shea panicked upon seeing Cheonaeng, which had lost its reaction.
"Yes. You're... in the way."
My sister raised her axe towards such a Shea.