It was mana.
Mana so powerful that not only Hio, but even Theordo could feel it clearly.
Because they had sensed mana of that magnitude, every monstrosity in the vicinity was now running madly toward that place.
For it was the instinct of monstrosities to feel intense rage toward every energy except the Abyss.
“Who on earth…?”
The first name that came to mind was Kreutzwald.
But that could not be.
Kreutzwald had personally stepped in to help Hio in a crisis?
Did that even make sense?
Kreutzwald was the sort of person who had refused to accompany him, telling him to grow further at the crossroads of life and death.
Moreover, this had not been a hopeless crisis.
It was certainly a dangerous situation, but there had been a way through.
They would have had to fight through the night, but it was manageable.
If things became truly urgent, he could have taken out the 255 undead troops stored in the Coffin of Death.
So it was not Kreutzwald.
Then who could it be?
At the end of this wretched world, who else besides himself and Kreutzwald was still alive and breathing?
“…Theordo.”
He did not know who it was, but there was only one thought in his head.
“Let’s go.”
They had to go there.
They had to go and meet that being.
Then they would be able to learn the truth.
The truth Kreutzwald had hidden.
Kreutzwald’s truth.
Theordo understood that resolve, but he showed hesitation.
For this steadfast knight, whose only reason for living was Sylvia, the goal was to reach the continent as quickly as possible.
To him, now that every monstrosity had rushed off in one direction, this was a chance to move far away.
Even so, Theordo eventually nodded.
Because if they looked only one step ahead, they would never approach the truth.
Because before they could even reach the truth, the result would arrive, and that result clearly seemed to be the continent’s defeat.
To him as well, the current situation was undeniably abnormal. And so he reached the conclusion that they had to find the being who had emitted that mana.
It was the same thought as Hio’s.
The feeling that if they met that unknown being, they might learn the truth.
Hio and Theordo moved carefully.
Not too slowly.
Fast enough not to go against the atmosphere around them.
Then, gradually, they increased their speed.
Because the surrounding atmosphere itself was already close to madness.
A thick insanity carried on the Abyss.
The obsession to devour living beings, to tear them limb from limb, gathered together, became wind, spread as madness, and swept past Hio and Theordo.
So there was no need to worry about being discovered.
All they had to do was follow behind them and run quickly.
Because they ran so fast, they were able to reach the scene before long.
A silent scene, with no noise of battle and no traces of exchanged attacks.
All that remained were traces of overwhelming violence. The remnants of mana that must have swept through the place.
At the scene, there was no presence left besides Hio and Theordo.
Only the giant eye that had once been the watcher lay ripped to shreds, draped like a blanket over the corpses of the monstrosities.
In the time between Hio sensing the mana, every monstrosity rushing toward that place, Hio and Theordo exchanging opinions, starting to run slowly, realizing there was no need for that, and then running at full speed—
Though the explanation was long, in that short span of time, which in reality could not have taken long at all, the unidentified figure had torn apart and killed every monstrosity that rushed in, then left.
He truly had no idea who it was.
“…Strong.”
At the very least, they were far above the current Hio, who could only use magic.
At a glance, they seemed like a powerhouse who could even be compared to Kreutzwald.
“Who on earth are they…?”
Hio stepped over the corpses of the monstrosities and moved forward.
Theordo grabbed Hio by the shoulder and shook his head.
“I know.”
Monstrosities were gathering again.
The unidentified figure had vanished, but the vast remnants of mana presumed to be his still lingered there.
“It’ll only take a moment.”
Even so, the reason he moved forward was because he seemed to have seen something.
The place where mana remained most densely.
Most likely, the place where that being had stood.
When he arrived there, he could see a strange sight.
It was a miracle that felt both unreal and dreamlike.
To put it simply, it was a spell.
A small sentence formed from ordinary ash, gathered densely together upon the ground.
—Beware the black monster.
The moment he confirmed it, the ash crumbled, scattered, and flew far away.
* * *
—The Verden Empire has given up on the expedition and chosen defense!
That news was quickly conveyed to the key figures of every nation.
Along with the meaning contained within it.
Because they had some rough understanding of the situation that must have forced such a choice, they too had to change their movements in accordance with the empire’s decision.
Even so, there was nothing that would change greatly.
The entrances to the Demonic Realm were strangely concentrated within the empire, while the other kingdoms only had to station all their forces at the few gates that had appeared in their own territories and prepare for a failed subjugation.
However, even those few gates were too much for them.
The reason the entrances to the Demonic Realm were strangely concentrated within the empire was because forces of strangely great strength had gathered within the empire as well.
The remaining nations did not have the capacity to handle Abyss monsters that were reaching the latter stages.
And so the current situation unfolded.
“We abandon the gates that appeared in the south and west. Issue evacuation orders to all nearby residents and have our forces focus solely on the defense of the capital.”
How severe had the damage been when they had clumsily divided their forces for no reason?
Not only had they failed to stop every gate, they had simply lost precious fighting strength.
To prevent that, they had decided to focus on only one gate.
Then what would happen to the rest?
Abyss monsters released without any restraint.
There was only one place they would head.
The place where, instinctively, the strongest rage welled up within them.
The place they wanted to destroy the most, and the only light capable of standing against the Abyss.
The Holy Kingdom of Hiberunia.
* * *
“We have to help Hiberunia.”
He knew.
He knew there would be no future if the Holy Kingdom fell.
The aura of the Abyss had already spread everywhere.
How much land had been abandoned because they could not withstand it?
How many places had become lands of death?
If the Holy Kingdom collapsed and the priests were annihilated, such lands might never be reclaimed, and they would no longer be able to treat the people dying from the Abyss.
The plains that should have dyed the earth gold and filled people’s hearts with abundance had become black lands of death where humans could not live, and the people who formed the foundation of nations were dying helplessly amid meaningless struggles.
In such a situation, how could one speak of the future?
They might have to prepare for destruction, as the emperor’s final command, which was spreading by word of mouth, had said.
So they had to protect the priests, at least.
Vitalianus knew that better than anyone.
“…Can we not bring even just the high-ranking priests to the empire?”
But they did not have the capacity.
To send support to Hiberunia, they would have to abandon much of the empire’s land.
Would they protect their own people and territory, or dispatch troops to Hiberunia for the sake of the future?
Each and every choice was unbearably heavy and painful.
“That would mean telling them to abandon their own kingdom… and besides, the priests of Rifyue value the sanctuary more than their own lives. It will be difficult.”
“I suppose so. What do they say the internal situation in Hiberunia is like?”
“Thanks to the efforts of the Saintess and the cardinal, who possess immense divine power, there doesn’t seem to be any major disturbance among the leadership. But externally, they’re barely holding on, since all the monsters abandoned by the surrounding kingdoms are heading toward Hiberunia. At this rate, they’ll be destroyed in this wave.”
Even if they had somehow managed to hold out until now, this was now a clear limit.
Now that the expeditions had been abandoned, before long, monsters and the Abyss would pour out in great numbers from every gate.
And most of them would follow their instincts and head for Hiberunia.
The already tattered Holy Kingdom did not have the capacity to stop a wave of that scale.
All that remained would be destruction.
The best course would be to evacuate even just the high-ranking priests to the empire, but as someone had said, that too was impossible.
Then, as a second-best measure, the most realistic alternative was to dispatch an extremely small number of reinforcements.
A number that, when considering the empire itself, would not greatly affect the war situation.
And yet, people with enough power that, once they arrived in Hiberunia, they could change the tide of battle.
There were not many people suited for that.
“…Will you be all right?”
Someone capable of striking a wide area alone.
The person who would be of the greatest help among the forces that could be sent in small numbers.
“Claire.”
Vitalianus’s gaze turned to the person across from him, with whom he had been speaking all this time.
Red eyes and red hair that resembled flame.
But she was cold.
The burning passion that had once filled both eyes was gone.
Only gaunt eyes, filled with empty void, remained.
“Yes. I’ll go.”
One Claire was better than sending an entire corps.
She did not require extensive preparations, nor did she require supplies.
And yet, her strength was as extraordinary as the nickname that had recently begun to follow her—no, so extraordinary that even that nickname felt lacking.
One who went beyond wielding skills, who governed flame and placed fire beneath her feet.
“I will entrust it to you.”
Claire was strong.
It had been barely a little over a year.
In that time, she had grown stronger at a terrifying pace, to the point that her fame had spread across the continent.
However, the method was extremely dangerous.
She had grown by facing the Demonic Realm directly with her entire body, without paying any heed to her own safety.
As though that alone were the reason she lived.
As though no other goal remained.
That was why, whenever Vitalianus looked at Claire, his chest grew tight.
Because the fire that burst from her with no regard for what lay before or behind her seemed as though it would, in the end, burn even her own body to ash.
Because he felt as though he had failed to keep the final request left by a friend he had gained late in life, a hero who had given his life to hold back the Abyss.
Because he knew he had been unable, in the end, to lead the summer that had burned so fiercely into spring.
It felt as though a lump of lead had been placed in a corner of his heart. Suffocating. Heavy.
“Then I’ll depart immediately.”
And so, this time as well, he stopped Claire, who was about to rise at once without revealing any emotion, by calling her name.
“Claire.”
“Yes.”
An immediate answer.
A voice without intonation.
Where had the girl from once upon a time gone, the girl who had been hot as midsummer and fresh as a summer flower in full bloom?
“Do you know Hiberunia’s Saintess, Irina?”
“Is there anyone who doesn’t know the Saintess called the Light of the Holy Kingdom?”
As she said, there was no one at present who did not know Irina.
The holiest woman to be born in forty years.
The only existence capable of standing against the Abyss.
Claire could not guess Vitalianus’s intention in asking such a sudden question, but she answered for now.
However, she could not answer the question that followed.
“Then do you also know who found and protected the Saintess, and awakened the immense power within her?”
Because this too was an exceedingly famous story.
The one who found and protected the Saintess, who had been nothing more than a girl on the street.
The person the Saintess regarded as her benefactor and held especially dear.
There was only one.
The hero, Hio Pavlenko.
As that name came to mind, a deep shadow fell over Claire’s face.
“If not for him, the Holy Kingdom, which lacked a central pillar, would have collapsed long ago. Especially since divine power had been disappearing.”
She knew.
Claire knew all of it as well.
But why was he deliberately bringing up such a thing?
For the past year, Hio’s name had been practically taboo in front of Claire.
“And what of Her Majesty Sylvia Verden, the current emperor? Who was it that recognized Her Majesty’s worth, entered the faction of a woman who had no power at all, alone, and in the end seated her upon the imperial throne?”
This too was something no one was ignorant of.
He had remained by Sylvia’s side, ended the civil war alone, and ultimately made the princess with the weakest power into the emperor.
“If another prince had ascended the throne, the empire would already have been on the path to ruin through all manner of wars before the Demonic Realm even appeared. And if it were not for the current emperor, the empire would not have been able to unite as one like this.”
Claire naturally knew that as well.
She had not known before, but now she did.
Why Hio had chosen Sylvia.
What future he had looked toward, and why he had chosen the most difficult path and brought it to fruition.
“Then do you know this as well?”
That was Vitalianus’s final question.
This time too, she could not answer.
“That there is one more person, besides those two.”
Because her heart, which had been still as if dried out, began to tremble.
Because she was busy forcibly suppressing the emotion that threatened to surge up for some reason.
“That the last person he asked me to look after, even right before he died, still remains.”
Only now did she understand.
Memories from not so long ago, yet already old, moved rapidly through her mind and began fitting together like fragments.
Why Hio had stayed for two years in a rural village like Delpir Village.
Why he had sent a country girl who knew nothing of the world to the academy.
The many things that had happened during the two years they lived together.
The countless incidents she had experienced after going to the academy.
After all of them passed by one after another, the final thing that came to mind was—
“Claire. It is you.”
The desperate sight of Hio collapsing as he coughed up blood.
“You are Hio Pavlenko’s final arrangement. His hope.”
Because it was difficult to keep her eyes open, Claire tightly shut them.
At the corners of her eyes, which she had thought were dry, droplets finally formed, then flowed endlessly down her hollow cheeks.
Did she truly have to accept it now?
Did she have no choice but to acknowledge that she would never see him again?
“So please, value your life.”
In the end, Claire turned away without answering.
That, at least, she could not promise.