Hio’s hypothesis had been correct.
The reason the first kingdom to fall in Ventair had been the Sacred Kingdom of Hiberunia.
Abyss monsters instinctively sensed their own weakness and moved to destroy it.
Was there not vivid proof right here before his eyes?
What other reason could there be for it to come all the way from Arilleia, that distant island nation in the west, to the capital of Hiberunia?
What other reason could there be for it to so blatantly wreak destruction?
It had sensed some trace of divinity and was moving according to instinct.
The cruel truth contained in those words was this.
“It’s an Abyss monster.”
There was no turning back anymore.
Every soul had been completely stained by the abyss.
It was a story unbearably cruel to one person.
And yet the person in question did not give up.
- We incapacitate Ariel, then seal her again.
“With the magical knowledge we have now, resealing is impossible.”
- I will find a way.
“And the damage we’ll suffer in the meantime?”
- I will stop it with my life.
A brief silence followed.
At the end of it, a heavy voice leaked out once more.
“We kill the dragon.”
- Impossible.
Regarda stood tall against the sky, his spear held straight as his conviction.
- That is.
Regarda Obier.
His true identity was a dragon knight who had endured for a thousand years.
A dragon knight was one who protected a dragon.
- Not a word I will allow in my presence.
And so, as always, he protected the dragon.
It was the mission he had carried out, and the task he had to continue carrying out.
“I’m sorry. I just don’t want to see this world perish again.”
Hio, too, adjusted his grip on his staff.
Just as Regarda had his own circumstances, just as he had his own mission, Hio had one as well.
Beginning with a promise made to an old mage who had taught him magic, there were far too many things for him to protect, more than he could bear.
What each had to protect was different.
The environments in which they had grown up were different.
Their convictions were different, and their values were different.
Even the way they looked at the dragon was different.
To Regarda, she was a parent, a teacher, and a friend who had been with him from the moment of his birth.
To Hio, she was the abyss growing stronger by the moment, a massive variable in the future. Perhaps even the signal flare of destruction.
And so this was.
- I thought you and I could become good friends.
“So did I.”
A story in which each was the other’s villain.
「Skill — ‘Thunder Emperor(雷帝)’ is activating.」
Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and from afar, a massive peal of thunder announced an unfortunate beginning.
White radiance spread over Hio’s raised gray eyes.
And Regarda’s aura, filled to the brim with intent, became a yellow dragon and emitted lightning-like light.
- Grrrrrrr.
Between the two of them, the dragon stained by the abyss charged.
* * *
Kwaaaang!
A bolt of lightning slammed down onto the dragon’s head.
- Grrrr……
There had been an impact.
They said its hard scales rendered most magic useless, but Thunder Emperor was, by all rights, a highest-tier skill.
A powerful electric shock coursed through the dragon’s body, and for an instant, the dragon flinched and stopped.
Kwaaaang—!
What collided with that enormous body was Regarda’s spear.
Ariel, the dragon stained by the abyss, was driven back heavily by a full-powered swing unleashed without intent.
Once the dragon was pushed back like that, it was only the beginning.
「Skill — ‘Blue Flame(靑炎)’ is activating.」
Thunder Emperor and Blue Flame.
With his increased mana, Hio handled both at once and pressed in on Regarda, but.
- Do you not already know it is useless?
With a few swings, Regarda easily broke through them.
- Stay out of this for a while.
Then Regarda even summoned the sea dragon that had been guarding the western coast.
Because they were not at sea, it could not display the same grandeur as before, but even so, it was enough to keep Hio in check.
Lightning clashed with lightning.
Regarda blocked Ariel as she charged in again.
Kuruung— the rumbling thunder and the ceaselessly flashing lightning.
Directly beneath them, the dragon and the dragon knight collided.
Hio evaded the sea dragon while pouring Blue Flame and lightning down toward Ariel.
Kwaang!
Some were blocked by Regarda.
Some struck Ariel fully, yet her movements remained steady.
No, if anything, did she not seem to be growing harder and stronger with time?
The time she flinched from Thunder Emperor’s lightning seemed to be shortening more and more as well.
“It’s not… my imagination.”
The feeling that she was somehow becoming harder to deal with was not his imagination.
It was a clear fact.
The abyssal energy spreading thickly around Ariel proved it.
“The corrupted dragon’s soul is trying to handle abyssal energy as well.”
What that implied was rather horrifying.
From the moment of birth, she had already been the strongest life-form on earth.
Was she not an existence of such high standing that she was called a demigod?
That remained true even after she had been corrupted, and she was adapting to her new soul and new abilities.
Right now, she was merely an enormous life-form that was fast and tough, but if left as she was, it was impossible to even estimate what sort of disaster she would become once she continued adapting.
“I have to deal with her here, no matter what.”
Kwaaaang—!
Once again, he burst forth thunder with the power of Thunder Emperor and rushed in.
He dodged the sea dragon’s attack—its body like a serpent’s, its head crowned with horns—and, along with a bolt of lightning, drove himself down onto Ariel’s body.
At the same time, he planned to gather Blue Flame in both hands and drive it directly into her, but.
- Impossible.
Regarda, who had approached right beside him before he knew it, thrust his spear in, leaving Hio no choice but to dodge. In that gap, Ariel ignored both Hio and Regarda and flew toward the Order.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
- Ariel.
Of course, because of the lightning layered hundreds of times over and Regarda blocking her path again, she had to veer far off course.
- Grrrrrrrr……
The battle continued in this pattern.
When Ariel charged toward the Order, both of them blocked her at the same time, and when there was a brief opening, they kept each other in check.
Hio aimed for openings in Regarda’s guard to strike Ariel.
Regarda blocked Ariel while also trying to neutralize Hio.
The sea dragon continued to pursue Hio, and Hio evaded it while pouring attacks onto Ariel.
Regarda stood in Hio’s way while also swinging his spear at Ariel.
After repeating that for roughly an hour, even Hio had no choice but to admit it.
“This won’t work.”
His opponent was clearly a powerhouse ahead of him.
The proof was that Regarda was endlessly holding Ariel back while dealing with Hio at the same time.
For Hio, who could not handle intent, he lacked the ability to evade Regarda and inflict a fatal wound in a single blow.
Then should he go along with Regarda’s plan?
That was absurd.
It was no different from saying they should all die together just to save one dragon.
Ariel was clearly adapting to her current body and to the new energy called the abyss.
She was this strong even though she could not use her bottomless mana; what if she handled another energy in place of mana?
What if she used it like mana, and in the end, even used magic with it?
It might be a leap in logic, but it did not seem entirely impossible.
If that happened, then there truly would be no turning back.
There was no way to seal Ariel again, no time to find a way, and even if they did find a way, there would be no method to restore a soul that had been completely stained by the abyss and transformed altogether.
He did not know what Regarda thought, but at least by Hio’s common sense, that was how it was.
“I need to change something somehow……”
At a glance, the stamina and mana of those two far surpassed Hio’s.
One was a dragon, a supreme life-form.
The other was an existence that had lived for a full thousand years… no, endured for a full thousand years.
It was only natural.
If things continued like this, it was obvious Hio would be the first to fall.
As Hio reached that conclusion, a somewhat grave voice rang through his mind.
It was Purnell, who had been silently watching the battle until now, speaking to him.
- You… know it, so why are you not using it?
Those words struck his chest with considerable pain.
- Use that. The course of the battle will turn in an instant.
Did Hio not know that?
- Do not hesitate. Had you not already decided? That you would become a terrible villain to one person for the sake of tens of millions.
“……”
When he lifted his gaze, he could see Regarda still blocking Ariel.
Regarda Obier did not bother touching Hio, who had retreated far away.
The dragon knight.
Did he truly believe he could bring the dragon back?
Or did he simply want to believe that?
Hio did not know, but what he could feel clearly was Regarda’s utterly desperate state of mind.
“I… don’t know.”
What sort of bond Regarda had built with Ariel.
What he had felt when the dragon fell asleep, and what heart he had endured a thousand years with.
For what promise he had endured those long years of suffering.
And just how desperately he was standing in her way now.
He knew none of it.
“He’ll resent me and hate me terribly.”
- It is a choice. And as I see it, you have always made the right choice.
At Purnell’s words, a bitter smile rose to Hio’s lips.
The reason he had continued to hesitate despite possessing a definite power was because it was obvious how cruel it would be.
To others, it was the light of a hero, the power of salvation.
But to those two, it would be the thing that shattered their mission, their conviction, and a thousand-year promise.
- In truth, you knew from the moment you first met.
The dragon knight, Regarda Obier.
The strongest monster in history, who wielded a spear, harbored intent, commanded a sea dragon, and even possessed the secret weapon known as Dutchman.
As for such a being’s weakness.
In truth, it was obvious.
- A human cannot live for such a long time.
Even the elves, who lived long lives together with nature, had an average lifespan of only about one hundred and fifty years.
There was no being that could live a thousand years, except the dragon before his eyes.
Then how had Regarda endured?
How did that powerful body remain utterly unwavering?
And why had Kreutzwald told him to seek out Regarda?
If he thought about it, it was not a particularly difficult question.
The air around him was always cold, his blood would be cold, and his flesh and soul were different from one another.
Regarda Obier.
His true identity was.
- Kreutzwald’s necromancy.
A dragon knight who had already died a thousand years ago.
And so.
- An undead.
Hio’s hand moved bitterly.
「Purchasing stat ‘Divine Power’ for 340 pt.」
「Stat ‘Divine Power’ has increased by +34.」
* * *
“S-Saintess… I think something has gone terribly wrong here, hasn’t it……?”
The captain of the guard called to Irina, stammering.
Considering his usual speech and conduct, it was quite unusual, but in the current situation, both his behavior and tone were only natural.
In the sky, lightning flashed by the dozens, by the hundreds.
A dragon, a knight, and a man flew through the air, giving off roars louder than thunder.
Their collisions left ears ringing and the ground trembling—how many people could remain perfectly fine directly below that?
“It feels like we’re somewhere we really shouldn’t be……”
And yet Irina was calm.
Thinking back, she had always been like this.
Even when she had been abruptly thrown into unfamiliar Hiberunia as a saintess, had she not quickly grasped what she had to do and found her place in a short time?
Before, had she not awakened her divinity while pleading for her friends to be saved before the Sword Saint, a mage, and countless nobles?
And so Irina calmly did what she had to do again this time.
Even as mere impact sounds shook the main building and the earth rumbled, she sat in place and strove steadily to recover her divinity.
It was the place where divinity recovered best.
The center of the Order’s headquarters.
This place, called the sanctuary.
And so, even amid a battle beyond all measure roaring overhead, she sat calmly and tried to feel the divinity.
Kwaaaang—!
Kwaaaang—!
Kwaaaaang—!
When roughly an hour had passed like that.
“Hiiik! S-Saintess! Are you not done yet? Somehow, it looks like the dragon knight is being pushed back more and more……”
Only then did Irina open her eyes.
“Sir, could you turn all the sacred wood in the center toward me?”
“Y-yes? You mean these sticks?”
“Yes. Please set all of them so that they point at me.”
“Understood!”
After an hour of concentration, she had been able to recover her divinity quickly.
Of course, compared to the amount she originally possessed, it was extremely faint, but it would certainly be enough to protect the Order.
And so she had all the sacred wood, which would originally have extended in all directions, turned toward herself.
This meant she intended to control the divine protection alone.
It was the will to shoulder entirely by herself the protection that had been carried out by at least ten people.
“…I’ll do it.”
Between Irina’s outstretched hands, pure white light began to pour forth.