The signal for war could be heard.
The shouts of the opposing soldiers could be heard.
Then an offensive magic that was large-scale enough by several times was activated.
The scenery in front of his eyes was filled with red, blue yellow and other coloured magical activations, as if it were the reflection of the fantasy world, but for some reason, it had a feeling as if it were fake like a mere reflection in the water mirror.
At least up until today there wasn’t the appearance of an activation of a spell that could kill hundreds, thousands of people in a moment.
If it wasn’t using the Alpha Stigma to watch.
If it wasn’t seen with the Alpha Stigma that could see through all magicks, this probably would look like a fire.
“…”
Ryner narrowed his eyes.
He was now with the Geihlficlant army, the squad that King Gulafed Abuleld personally led, they were near the rear of the nine hundred and ninety thousand soldiers.
That meant that they were very far away from the front lines.
No, even now, even if it were the soldiers closest to the front lines, they shouldn’t be fighting yet. They were now within the distance where a large-scale magic could be used to decrease the numbers on each side.
And that attack, should clearly show Geihlficlant’s advantage.
No matter what, according to Vois, the numbers of Geihlficlant should be twenty four times the numbers that Gastark bought down from the northern continent. Even this squad was around two times of the enemies’ numbers. And other soldiers were surrounding Gastark.
Then it seemed as if they were going to use a circular large-scale magic.
Under normal circumstances, Gastark had no way to block this magic attack. No, it may even be that this squad didn’t even need to cross swords with the Gastark army.
The difference in strength was so large that there was a possibility that because of Geihlficlant’s large-scale magic, Gastark would be destroyed immediately, and this side wouldn’t even suffer any casualties.
So now the soldiers were not nervous at all. Only following the signal, the mage soldiers started to chant the verse for the large-scale magic. But now they didn’t know if there was a need to release it. Because there was no guarantee that they would be able to bear the magic from Gastark’s lines.
So the soldiers weren’t too nervous, slowly expanding their magic.
“…”
But as Ryner watched them, he said: “…Gastark will immediately use the Heroes’ Relic… Ah no, it’s that, called Rhule Fragmei right? They will immediately use that.”
Vois who was on a horse beside him replied: “Of course. Or else they won’t have a chance of winning.”
“But we are going to stop that Rhule Fragmei?”
“It seems to be the case. Geihlficlant who started late in collecting Rhule Fragmei passed the collection duty to us Anti-Roland Coalition and the Azure Princess, so not only do they not have limited knowledge on how to use theRhule Fragmei, their numbers are low too. They have no way to defend against Gastark who knew about the existence of the Rhule Fragmei earlier.”
Ryner looked at Vois, asking: “But you… no, the Anti-Roland Coalition can defend against it?”
Vois smiled faintly, “Possibly not. About the research on Rhule Fragmei, Gastark is the most detailed, and they had a large number of Rhule Fragmeis that we don’t know about, and they have researched thoroughly on the methods on which to use them.”
“Huh? Then the explanation you told us about those Rhule Fragmei…”
Vois nodded, “Yes. If we want to fight with Gastark, that number is not enough. But, as long as we stop a few attacks from the Rhule Fragmei, that is enough. Because no matter what, the difference in manpower is too great. If Geihlficlant can take the opportunity after the attack from Gastark’s Rhule Fragmei to break into Gastark, then victory will be decided.”
“Did you raise this suggestion to the Geihlficlant king?”
Vois shook his head, “No, I told him we would stop all of the Rhule Fragmeis, so please do not worry.”
Ryner frowned, “Isn’t that a complete lie?”
“My job is to con people.”
“I know that, even if you didn’t say it. Then, let us work hard to prevent the Rhule Fragmei of the enemy from killing people.” Ryner said these words that could not be treated as a joke.
So Vois laughed, “Just as long as our companions don’t die, it’s fine. And we only need to defend against a few of the attacks from the Rhule Fragmei, and Geihlficlant will defeat Gastark. After that that would be the main point of this war. That is Ryner you will bring endless despair to Gastark. Ah, that is a wonderful plan. It clearly is a war that can end everything, but our companions are all safe and sound~” Saying this speech as if he didn’t think too carefully about it, Vois looked at Ryner, continuing: “—Then use this motivation to work hard.”
Ryner didn’t look at Vois, saying: “How disgusting.”
Then he stared into the distance.
He discovered that the first wave of large-scale magic had already been released from Gastark.
And so that the waves would neutralize each other, Geihlficlant had released their magic too.
And there were eight spells.
Such a large attack, Gastark definitely would not be able to defend against it.
Then they would definitely use the Rhule Fragmei. And they would definitely release it in a place where these eight large-scale magics would be neutralised.
That meant.
“They would come here.” Ryner said.
Vois nodded: “Then block that. Ryner, according to what I taught use that Rhule Fragmei…”
Ryner pulled out a few things that resembled amulets and rings and a small cylindrical stone that Vois had given him.
These things were all Rhule Fragmei, and they all had different effects. He picked out a ring, then returned the rest into the bag at his waist.
Vois laughed again, saying: “You picked the Rhule Fragmei that specializes in defense again… People who don’t have the courage to kill their enemies wouldn’t be able to protect their companions?”
But Ryner replied without being affected: “What we need to do is to minimize the sacrifices, until the enemy uses the unknown weapon that is stronger than the Rhule Fragmei, right? Then this kind of meaningless slaughter…”
“You wouldn’t do it?”
“Yeah.”
“But if this would ask for your lives as a price, then what would you do?”
“…”
“If, because you are unable to control the attack for the enemy, and cause your companions, Ferris, Kiefer, Toale and rest to die, wouldn’t you regret it?”
“…”
“Well, that doesn’t mean that it would be fine if you regret it if they really died, but if the companion that died were me, then it would be troublesome…” Vois pulled out a red amulet, simply throwing it into the sky.
Then said.
“Explode, Demonic Beast Destroyer.”
In that moment.
The amulet started to absorb the light around it. As if wanting to suck away all the light in this world, strongly, strongly, strongly, that amulet took in all the light, then exploded.
An unbelievably intense light flew towards the place where the Gastark soldiers were.
But at the same time, a rainbow light flashed near Gastark.
Ryner had seen that light once.
It was in the past when the destructive light of Demonic Beast Destroyer that Vois had been using had been devoured by a glowing bug swarm.
Tens of thousands, millions of rainbow coloured bugs danced in the sky, started to devour the Demonic Beast Destroyer that Vois had released.
Vois had a slightly disappointed expression, saying: “Ah, Gastark is using Divine Parasite Bugs... Then the Rhule Fragmei of the ‘-arms’ series are uneffective. And Gastark will want to test if we have any Rhule Fragmei on this side that can erase ‘-arms’ light…”
At this moment, the sky above the Gastark army darkened suddenly.
Then Vois said: “It seems that it’s here. And the opponents are using five at one go. This isn’t aimed at us. You understand that?”
Ryner was unable to respond.
Only because he was quite familiar with what Gastark had done so far, so Ryner frowned.
What Gastark wanted to do.
It was unquestionably war.
This matter was clearly displayed in front of him. The enemy really wanted to kill everyone here.
Why did they use five Demonic Beast Destroyer but didn’t aim it at the main body of the Geihlficlant troops?
That was because their side had just used Rhule Fragmei.
That meant that the other side could use Rhule Fragmei, and that showed that they had a Rhule Fragmei that could neutralize the Demonic Beast Destroyer like them.
Then, they would use the Rhule Fragmei to attack other areas, attack those troops that did not have Rhule Fragmei and kill all of them.
Besides because Rhule Fragmei had so much power that it could allow one person to overthrow a country, so normally only the higher ups had the authorization to use it.
Well, this was natural.
Because there were idiots who would use Rhule Fragmei to kill each other after entering the dangerous battle field, and possibly they could wipe out their own army.
So now, only the Geihlficlant king and Ryner had those Rhule Fragmei with large-scale destructive powers.
Gastark probably had a few elite people who had Rhule Fragmei too.
So now, Gastark was releasing five Demonic Beast Destroyers to attack the main pillar of their army, and they were unstoppable.
So Gastark could kill Geihlficlant soldiers with a one-sided war.
And even if they encountered a situation where they were blocked, Gastark would immediately know that there was a Geihlficlant personnel who was important enough to wield this Rhule Fragmei.
No matter what situation, Gastark could gain information beneficial to themselves, through the Rhule Fragmei’s attacks.
And now, the situation in front of them, should be the first case.
The soldiers in the target region of the Demonic Beast Destroyer, moved into a defensive position—
“…”
At this moment, the light exploded.
The strong light exploded.
Then the sky returned to its original brightness.
It returned to the sky that had warm sun rays.
But the situation on the battle field had been changed greatly.
The soldiers who were not nervous until just now, were all crying.
It was to be expected.
Because the Geihlficlant numbers had been decreased by ten thousand in a moment.
More than ten thousand lives were gone in a moment.
This scene was so abnormal that even if the mind could accept it, the body was unable to react.
The power that was so strong that humans should not wield it, was rampaging on this battle ground.
Then Vois raised his face to look over, “Ah, in a moment many of our companions have died~. Although it was lucky that Ferris and the others weren’t there, but no one would know what’s going to happen next. So, go and quickly kill the enemies…”
At this moment a woman spoke from behind, “Shut up, Vois.”
Ryner turned around, finding that Ferris had appeared behind him on a horse. And Toale and Kiefer were behind her.
Seeing his companions appear after ten thousand people had disappeared from the battle field, Ryner’s emotions became heavier.
But Ferris ignored Ryner who was feeling down, telling Vois: “Don’t bully Ryner. Or else the person who would be frustrated because he is depressed will be you. If you bully him too much then what would happen if he escaped again?”
Ryner smiled bitterly, looking at her, “Ah, I don’t deny that point.”
“Because that’s the truth. And you have the history of escaping. When was that? I remember that was when a man called Tiir appeared…”
“Ah~ No, that was…”
But Ferris interrupted him, continuing, “Then the two of you casually ran off to play with women, and you let one get pregnant, in the end you escaped while saying that you didn’t want to take responsibility…”
“Hey, what are you talking about…”
But Kiefer suddenly cut into Ryner’s words, saying with a slightly serious expression: “Ah? Ah? What’s that, I didn’t know about that.”
So Ferris revealed a smug smile that said ‘you people don’t understand it, huh’, and for some reason, Vois seemed to nod, accepting this explanation.
“No, Ryner’s decision was right. Basically, escaping everything can escape responsibility, that’s the motto by which we swindlers live by…”
“Hey, I say! What nonsense are you talking about!” Ryner yelled angrily. Then he looked at Ferris with a defeated expression. He looked at her, even though she had seen thousands of soldiers disappear in front of her, even if the soldiers surrounding her had fallen into confusion, but she was still making these lame jokes, saying: “…Because I can’t escape, so stop teasing me.”
Ferris smiled again, “Bullying you is my hobby.”
“I know.”
“Then tolerate it.” Ferris said happily, but she still had a concerned expression.
Ryner looked at Ferris, nodding, replying: “Yeah.”
Then he moved his eyes from her, turning back to the battle ground, saying: “Well, because there’s nothing worse than you bullying me. So anyway there will be some way…”
Then he started to think of how they should move.
Looking at the battle in front of him that was using Rhule Fragmei in war for the first time in history, he started to think of the direction that they should head in after today.
Anyway for some reason, Vois had handed the command post of the soldiers to Ryner.
Vois’s subordinates and Toale’s soldiers numbered three thousand strong.
Although they had slightly lesser people compared to Gastark and Geihlficlant, but even so there was three thousand people.
Three thousand lives.
This was now Ryner’s burden.
This was the case where he could say “Ah how troublesome so I’ll leave first” and escape.
It was completely different from before.
“…”
It was already different from when he would escape from before Sion and Ferris.
Because I am carrying the weight of many people’s lives.
And I carry the intentions of my companions who believe in me—although it’s slightly irritating since it sounds innocent.
“…”
So he looked behind him again.
Looking at Ferris, Kiefer and Toale’s faces.
Looking at the companions who had come to the accursed battle field with him.
He thought.
At least, I have to let these people leave this place alive.
At this moment, Vois said: “Then we should officially start. The war has already begun. What should we do after this, Your Majesty.”
Ryner frowned, saying slightly accusingly: “What Your Majesty.” Then asked: “Oh yeah, Ferris.”
“Eh?”
“Where are Iris and the others?”
“They’re at the back.”
“Behind us?”
“Yeah. It’s the end of the Geihlficlant army. If it’s there even if we are killed by Heroes’ Relics, even if the soldiers behind us are killed, Iris’s side shouldn’t be too badly affected…”
But Vois interrupted her, “They will be affected. Even if it is the Rhule Fragmei from the ‘-arms’ series, there are types where they can fly a long distance in a straight line. Gastark is clear about the power of Geihlficlant. If they use it, then they will use the strongest one. As long as they are on the battle ground, there is no safe place…”
But this time Ryner interrupted him, “But it will be fine if we block all their attacks. It will be fine if we stop all the attacks from the Rhule Fragmei here, right?”
Vois smiled and nodded, “That’s right. His Majesty has finally said something reliable, I’m so happy.”
“So~ I told you don’t call me Majesty.”
“Ah? Then how should I address you?”
Ferris replied: “How about King Pervert?”
“Let’s use that!”
“Hey so I said, can you be more serious! Although this isn’t the front line, but this is still the battle field? We’re still in the range of the attacks from the Rhule Fragmeis?”
Vois nodded, telling Ferris angrily: “That’s right Ferris. So be more serious!”
Ferris nodded too, turning to Kiefer and saying: “Yes red-haired woman! This is the battle field! Be more motivated!”
Kiefer widened her eyes, purposefully pretending to be angry, narrowing her eyes, but her mouth still curved slightly with laughter, looking at Toale, “Ah? Me? Then… then… Oh yes Toale! You’d better be energetic!”
Toale smiled gently, looking at Kiefer, then turning to Ryner, “…Then let it be my fault, I’ll let my report be the ending of this topic. Nelpha’s soldiers, have followed Ryner’s orders, they can cover the rear at any time. Even if theRhule Fragmei continues to reach to the rear, our soldiers probably wouldn’t be too badly affected.”
Ryner nodded, saying: “It’s good that someone can speak seriously.”
Toale had a slightly strict expression, saying: “I’m only frightened. Because someone is actually using the unknown weapon called the Rhule Fragmei to kill many people… just thinking about it makes me tremble… But this thing has happened before me, so I don’t feel like joking around…”
Although Ryner wanted to retort actually I didn’t, but he was unable to say anything.
Because before he opened his mouth, the battle situation changed again. The sky where the Gastark army was darkened again.
With this signal, Ryner threw the ring that he was holding into the sky, then muttering the phrase he learnt from Vois, that could activate this miraculous ring.
“Devour that light, Divine Parasite Bugs.”
In a moment.
The ring that Ryner had threw out exploded. Then the fragments of the ring floated in the air, giving out a rainbow light, before starting to multiply.
The light increased to hundreds and thousands of small fragments in a moment, making a sound of flying insects.
At the same time, the opposite side released the Demonic Beast Destroyer again.
And it was released to this side.
The light of destruction ate away at Geihlficlant’s large scale magic as it attacked.
But this attack was met with the rainbow insect swarm that Ryner had released.
Like locusts the insects flew towards that light.
“Pppsssssssssssssssshhhhhhhh!”
Releasing that cry, the insects devoured the light.
It seemed, this attack had been successfully blocked.
But.
Ryner said: “That was to confirm, right? It was to confirm whether we had the means to defend against the Rhule Fragmei from the ‘-arms’ series so they attacked.
Vois nodded.
“And they had the goal of erasing the large-scale magic. But…”
“Seeing that the attack from the ‘-arms’ series wouldn’t work, they probably use another one to attack.”
“Then, what would come next?”
Hearing that, Vois tilted his head, answering: “Who knows… even I can’t make a guess. Ah, but because Gastark has a more superior knowledge about the Rhule Fragmei than us, so perhaps it would be an attack from one that we don’t know about, or one which we don’t know how to properly defend against. Then what should we do?”
“…” Ryner was deep in thought again.
Then he tried to organize the information he had of the other side in his head.
Firstly, the soldiers’ numbers, this side had the advantage. Well, although this was under the situation that Geihlficlant was their companion.
But in this battle, the numbers of the soldiers didn’t hold much significance, although the king of Geihlficlant had some Rhule Fragmei with him, but Vois didn’t teach him all of the activation phrases. Because if Geihlficlant could completely grasp the ways of which to use the Rhule Fragmei, they wouldn’t lose to anyone.
This was why Gastark was so desperate to invade the middle continent. Before the major countries had gained proper information of the Rhule Fragmei, there was the urgency to occupy the mid-continent.
But aside from that, Gastark had another ace.
That was the unknown weapon that had more power than the Rhule Fragmei that terrified Pia and Vois.
And after that was activated, it could destroy hundreds of thousands of humans in a slash, it could only be said to be a detestable weapon.
But because of that weapon’s existence, Vois could make a deal with the Geihlficlant king.
Because Vois had said that he had a mysterious weapon that could be used to stop the unknown weapon that Gastark had, so it could be put to use in this battle, but in actual fact even he didn’t know whether it could be blocked, and that secret weapon was under Ryner’s control.
It was borne by Ryner’s cursed eyes.
Because it seemed like these Alpha Stigma could block Gastark’s weapon—talking about which, just betting thousands of people’s lives on this reason, no matter what it was insane.
“Ah, damnit!” The more he thought about it the more his head ached.
But, we have already come to the battle field, the killing has already started too. Thousands of people have died in front of me, and the battle is becoming more and more intense.
In this mad war, how could he let his companions survive.
“…”
Ryner considered this problem.
Then three possible solutions appeared in his mind.
The first was, after Gastark used that weapon, Ryner would successfully stop it.
But this would be a complete victory.
Because Gastark wasn’t only using Rhule Fragmei, and they had to activate that weapon, this fact in itself would mean that unless Gastark depended on the Rhule Fragmei they would be unable to defeat Geihlficlant, so if that weapon was ineffective, to Geihlficlant that had the distinct advantage in terms of numbers, Gastark would probably be defeated.
But, this solution was probably too hard.
Firstly, Gastark had more knowledge about the Rhule Fragmei than their side, so even if they fought hard with the Rhule Fragmei, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t lose too.
Furthermore, Ryner was very clear about how strong Gastark was, that it could use the power of the Rhule Fragmei.
Just by remembering the opponents that he had fought against, Sui and Kuu, the Gastarkian soldiers, he could understand this point.
Gastark gave the Rhule Fragmei to a person, so that they could gain the power of more than a hundred soldiers, power that he and Ferris were unable to go against.
Besides that, the opponent they were clashing against, was the main body of Gastark.
There may be people who were more powerful than Sui and Kuu.
Are we only able to suppress these people, and force the Gastarkians to reach the step where they have no choice but to use that weapon?
But now he completely couldn’t come up with a plan.
Anyway if that weapon were activated, could he really block it?
“…”
To this point Ryner himself was so doubtful that he suspected that Vois had taken a wrong step somewhere.
At least towards Ryner, he couldn’t bet all the lives of his companions in this gamble.
That meant that this plan had no possibility of working.
The next plan?
Ryner continued to think.
Actually the other two were very simple.
Ryner only needed to unleash the Rhule Fragmei at where the Geihlficlant king.
This way, it would be easy to deal with that Geihlficlant king, anyway the king himself had probably never thought that his companions would betray him, and he didn’t know how to use the Rhule Fragmei.
And he could kill thousands of soldiers on the inside, letting Geihlficlant enter a state of chaos, abnd according to this they could continue to use the Rhule Fragmei to control the panic, in the end Ryner and the others would surrender to Gastark—
“…”
Well, if it were Vois he would definitely pick that, but I…
That meant, it was the only the third plan left.
The third plan.
But, this was a dangerous plan.
Well, simply saying, it was escape—that plan.
But it wasn’t running away, anyway Geihlficlant definitely wouldn’t allow them to do that, and if what Vois said was true, if the weapon range of Gastark was so large, even if he started to desperately escape, as long as that weapon was activated, they would die.
But, Ryner thought of a place that definitely wouldn’t be hit.
But in any case, if he said that out loud, it was a place that anyone would understand without thinking.
“…”
Gastark’s weapon would probably not be aimed at the place where the Gastark soldiers were when it was activated. No, although they would activate the weapon with the self-destructive feeling of knowing that their companions would be sacrificed, but Ryner had heard from Vois that in the battle against Stohl, Gastark had mostly not suffered much.
That meant…
“…If we go behind the Gastark army, that is the safety region.” Ryner muttered.
But Vois said: “Arara, so you were thinking about something as ridiculous as that?”
Ryner shrugged.
That plan was certainly ludicrous.
No matter what that plan needed him to dodge large-scale magical attacks and attacks from Rhule Fragmei before he could reach the front lines, and he would need to fight with the Gastarkians as he broke past them…
Furthermore there were only three thousand people on this side.
In simple words, this was an impossible plan.
“But the other plans are more ridiculous than this, so this was the best.” Ryner said.
Vois had a face that said ‘here you go again’, saying: “Killing the Geihlficlant king was the best.”
“…”
“But if Ryner you really want to do that, then I will stop you.”
Ryner widened his eyes in surprise, “Oh oh, how rare, I thought this would be your favourite plan.”
Vois continued to smile as he said: “If I wanted to use that plan, I would have acted before we came here. But I didn’t do that, because there is a need for you to be here, to stop the weapon of Gastark’s. If we let the world know that Gastark isn’t the only one with that crazy power, that the other countries have ways to stop that power, then we can allow the countries to bond together…”
Until here, Ryner could truly understand what Vois wanted to do.
It seemed like Vois wanted to completely seal that weapon here.
To clash with that weapon that could kill tens of thousands of people in a moment.
If this continues, then one day the world would be destroyed.
So they had to let the whole world know that this was scary.
“Is this, is your goal…” Ryner said.
Vois knocked on his head, saying: “Of course using some plan to dominate the world is more interesting, just by depending on the strongest weapon to wage war, and having the strongest be the winner, something like that isn’t it too boring? So I want to set the world on a new track.”
“So, you want to use my eyes to seal the enemy’s weapon?”
“Yes.”
“Even if you’re not clear whether my eyes can block it?”
“Yes. But if it really can’t take it, then there wouldn’t be too much to worry about. If anyone is unable to stop Gastark from conquering the world… then it would be too boring, I would rather die and be reincarnated to become an extremely beautiful Loli, then use beauty to conquer the world.”
“…An extremely beautiful Loli?”
“Ah, how impressive Ryner. You’re interested in this!”
“No no no, I’m not interested, please don’t speak nonsense.” Ryner interrupted Vois, then started to think about the meaning of Vois’s words.
That sentence that mentioned sealing Gastark’s weapon, letting the world to return back to its tracks again.
No, even though if he used the Rhule Fragmei in war there wasn’t anything strange.
But as if seeing through what Ryner was thinking, Vois said: “If it is successful, there’s a possibility that the Rhule Fragmei can be banned, or I should saw, I have already prepared for that information to be spreaded.”
Ryner looked at Vois, saying: “…It feels like, for the first time I can see through what you are thinking and then why you do such troublesome matters.”
Vois smiled happily, “…That means my mind is full of beautiful Lolis?”
“…That means, the Anti-Roland Coalition that has a weapon stronger than the Rhule Fragmei, would set the condition that both parties are unable to use that power, right?”
“Ah, wait, why did you ignore the topic about my beautiful Lolis…”
Ryner continued to ignore him, saying: “Then, you probably will tell the world this message. Using the Rhule Fragmei in battle is very dangerous. Then even the two countries that have power surpassing the Rhule Fragmei will decide not to use that power. So you can threaten other countries to stop using Rhule Fragmei, right.”
And the other countries would probably accept that.
The countries that did not have Rhule Fragmei would probably agree with this wholeheartedly.
And those countries that were one step behind in collecting Rhule Fragmei, including one of the three major countries Geihlficlant Empire.
If the country Geihlficlant and Gastark who had maintained the weapon that was stronger than Rhule Fragmei and the Anti-Roland Coalition decided to seal off the use of Rhule Fragmei, then many countries would probably agree.
Although they didn’t know the responses of the remaining two countries—Remrus Empire and the Ertolia Republic, but Vois probably had plans concerning this area.
As for the southern ruler Roland…
“…”
Thinking about that, Ryner’s expression went down.
Would Sion who was poker-faced accept this agreement on Rhule Fragmei usage.
Not long ago he clearly thought that he knew what that person was thinking about, and how he would react, but in a few months’, everything had changed completely.
No, perhaps he had never understood Sion since the beginning.
He had only thought that they had become friends. He had claimed by himself that the two were close friends.
He had mistakenly thought that he was able to save him.
And the result was, in the end Sion had disappeared as he cried.
Sion had clearly bore all the painful memories by himself, not showing any weaknesses to anyone—
“…”
But I completely didn’t feel Sion’s pain.
Before I didn’t understand his heart, now I am even more unable to know what he has been hiding.
I was clearly so close to him.
I was clearly saved by him many times, but I never completely understood him, so I was unable to save him.
If I can really could understand him, then we wouldn’t be on the battle field now.
Even if it reached the point where we had to fight, he would probably be at Sion’s side, helping him fight.
“…”
Ryner looked back at himself.
But there was no one there.
The person that should have been by his side was gone.
There should have been a person who would be like a devil when it came to work, then said to him “Then Ryner work hard for me~”.
And Ferris would definitely come to mess around.
Then, I…
“…”
I would definitely yell you are trooooublesome, but in the end I would work hard.
He would certainly shout you are all anooooying, but he would still work hard.
Because I like Sion, I like Ferris, and I like the people by my side.
So if Sion told me please defeat my enemy.
If Sion told him that the weapon of Gastark’s is very strong so think of something, or said because he wanted to conquer the world so let’s work hard.
Even if Sion raised a ridiculous request, even if it were something that was near impossible, he would definitely…
I would definitely say how troublesome, how annoying, then start to work hard.
But why did this future shatter.
Sion had cried as he disappeared, and used the Rhule Fragmei.
And attacked Ryner’s companions.
Then killed countless Nelpha soldiers and people. And destroyed half of Toale’s body.
So the situation had turned into something like this.
“…”
Ryner moved his eyes from the empty space by his side.
He found that soldiers with different coloured armours filled his vision.
They were Gastarkian soldiers.
This was the northern side of the mid-continent.
It was unbelievably far away from Roland.
This situation where the scenery was changing with different auras, to tell the truth, he couldn’t keep pace with it.
Perhaps Ferris too. Leaving Sion, leaving her country, and coming to a battle field like this.
Kiefer and Toale too. No, Toale had even lost his country. And he had many brothers, but now there was no news of them. Maybe they had successfully escaped, but perhaps they had died before they could contact Ryner and the others.
And, here, we still need to fight.
We need to kill.
And we will still lose companions.
They were clearly tired, but it was still not enough.
Because the world was changing perpetually, so it would force you to change.
Furthermore—
“…”
But, Ryner smiled, then turned to Vois, “…Actually it’s not bad. This is the first time after hearing your words, I feel like accomplishing that motive.”
Vois had a ‘I told you so’ expression, saying: “I thought that Ryner would agree with this thinking too. But, if a ban on the Rhule Fragmei could be made, the reputation of the Anti-Roland Coalition would soar.”
“…” Ryner nodded, expressing his agreement.
If it succeeded, if they could really ban the Rhule Fragmei from war, this news would spread to Roland.
What Ryner was doing, would reach Sion’s ears.
This wasn’t bad, Ryner thought.
It was at least better than doing nothing.
Although he could understand that it wasn’t to the degree that Sion would think ‘I want to see you again’ and leave the country.
“…It could be possible that banning the Rhule Fragmei would be something interesting.” Ryner murmured.
Clearly he had written in his report to change the world so he had went to find Rhule Fragmei—which was Heroes’ Relics, but the more he found the relics, the stranger the world became, so he would work hard to stop this.
Sion who would heard something stupid like this.
“…”
That person, Sion would definitely smile.
Ryner thought.
Vois said: “Well, but no matter what…”
Ryner nodded, “No matter what I need to stop the weapon from Gastark before it can be set up, right?”
“Yes.”
“If I don’t stop it, everyone will die.”
“Yes. So if you want to use that kind of plan—going behind Gastark, then dodging the attacks from Gastark’s weapon, then in the beginning you shouldn’t have come here. We can only face it straight on. Then, if it’s not victory, it’s death.” Vois said.
No victory, meant death.
But at this moment, Toale’s voice spoke from behind them.
“I am betting three thousand lives on my side, so I completely can’t tie myself on the same string as you.”
Vois looked at Toale, saying: “then what do you want to do? I think with only three thousand people, to fight with tens of thousands of people and breaking free, something like that is a suicidal act… Although we are protected by the physical shield of Geihlficlant so it seems safe, but while we’re talking, many people are dying. And it is many people. Although there may not be any screams, so you may not know…”
But Toale interrupted Vois with a strict expression, “The lives of the Geihlficlant soldiers and formerly Nelpha soldiers, I cannot treat them equally.”
Vois raised an eyebrow, “You can’t be as naïve as Ryner?”
“At least I can differentiate between comrades and enemies. You…”
“An enemy, right?”
“Toale’s gently eyes narrowed sharply, staring at Vois as he said: “…At least, I think you are a dangerous person.”
Vois smiled for some reason, looking happily at Ryner, “Annoying, it seems like there is another outstanding person, Your Majesty. Only outstanding characters would appear in chaotic eras. Although I thought that it would be fine if Toale died, but I didn’t think that there would be a person who would honestly call the Geihlficlant soldiers our physical shields. It’s simply uncommon. It’s great that he lived till now.”
Ryner had a slightly frustrated expression, looking at Vois, “The one who called them physical shields was you.”
“But Toale thinks that too, deep down. And he never completely believed me.”
“I didn’t completely believe you, too.”
“Ah?”
Ignoring Vois who was relaxed, Ryner looked at Toale, saying: “Sorry, the Nelpha soldiers are in danger too…”
Toale interrupted him, saying: “It’s not Ryner’s fault. The one at fault is Vois Fiurelle? He clearly could control all information channels, but he didn’t tell us what kind of dangers we would run into, forcefully bringing us here. Then probably until now, he has told us many lies…”
Vois simply replied: “Of course. Because I was born to be a swindler. But until now, most things are like what I predicted, so everything was truth.”
“You think I will believe that…”
Vois continued, “Compared to worrying about the progress of these lives, it would be better to stay here. Of course like what Ryner said, according to the range of Gastark’s weapon, if we can go behind Gastark, we should be able to safely escape. But I’m afraid before that, we will all be destroyed.”
“But…”
Interrupting Toale, Vois had a slightly challenging tone as he continued: “Even if we really successfully survived to go behind them, the remaining troops would be half of the original number. That would be troublesome. Because according to the plan I have for after today, I will need the power of the Nelpha soldiers. If they are wasted to protect Toale’s life here, then that would be very troubling for me.”
But Toale didn’t fall for it, only closing his eyes to think, then softly saying: “…Which side is better…”
This feeling, everyone was familiar with the heart break.
It was the situation where they didn’t know whether Ryner would be able to block Gastark’s weapon, so would it be better to wait for their activation.
Or knowing that there would be a large number of sacrifices, still taking the soldiers to proceed to hide behind Gastark.
This of course wasn’t a problem that could be easily dealt with.
Because three thousand lives were dependent on this problem.
If they were stubborn, then more lives could be lost.
This was a decision that was so painful that it made it hard for people to breath.
And the choices were limited.
The realization that everything could be destroyed packed an impact too.
And if there was the possibility of everything being destroyed, then at least they could anticipate Ryner blocking Gastark’s weapon, staying here and doing nothing?
At this moment, Vois suddenly said: “I think staying here is the best choice. Otherwise everyone, have you checked the battle situation?”
Toale asked in reply: “…Battle situation?”
Kiefer answered from behind him: “…Gastark stopped using the Rhule Fragmei. And the Geihlficlant soldiers are slowly pressed back by the approaching Gastark army, right?”
Ryner raised his head, although he hadn’t completely grasped the situation, but from just now, Gastark had stopped using the Rhule Fragmei.
And Geihlficlant soldiers were moving forward slowly. If they continued to move forward, the Geihlficlant soldiers would clash with Gastark soldiers soon.
If it reached that step, Gastark wouldn’t be the opponent of Geihlficlant who had the advantage of numbers.
So if this continued…
“…Gastark will probably use that weapon quickly, right?” Ferris said.
Vois nodded, smiling: “So everyone don’t argue here, let us bet our lives on Ryner… Although I said that, but if Geihlficlant-kun is easily defeated, then it would be troublesome.
From behind him, two subordinates on horses rushed over.
One of them was a girl called Relca Redehna who was in charge of them when they met the Geihlficlant king.
Shiny green hair, and eyes that were as serene as a black crystal.
Another was a girl who had carried Vois when he jumped off the carriage. Long black hair and green eyes, she wore battle armour on her slim body.
The two of them came to Vois, whispering something in his ear, then Vois smiled.
Seeing this, Toale told Ryner: “Indeed, he’s not reliable at all.”
Ryner smiled bitterly: “Yes. After all he is someone who didn’t tell the truth since the start.”
But what Vois said made sense, Ryner thought.
Stopping the attacks of the Rhule Fragmei on Geihlficlant, perhaps it was to prepare for using that weapon.
Then, even if they moved now, it would probably be too late. Then they could only hand over the war where was either kill or be killed to Geihlficlant, focusing on the actual battle would be better…
“…”
Suddenly at this moment.
“……Ah…”
Ryner made a noise of disbelief.
Then widened his eyes.
His eyes widened quickly.
Then he saw not far from him, there were some strange things flying over.
Although that object was moving too quickly, so he couldn’t see it clearly, but, he could clearly see something activating.
Then, numerous heads flew into the sky.
Countless arms and bodies flew into the air.
Followed by a large amount of blood gushing out.
“…”
But, there were no screams.
The screams were covered by the noise of the soldiers moving forward and the explosions from the large-scale magic, it was muffled.
But the Geihlficlant soldiers shouldn’t have met physically with the Gastark soldiers.
So heads flying into the sky was too strange.
Bodies flying into the air was odd too.
But, heads were entering the air one by one.
Then something jumped up.
This time he could catch a glimpse of that object.
It was golden. It was fast enough that it couldn’t be seen properly, something golden.
Ryner moaned: “…Oh no.”
Then he looked at Vois, shouting, “Vois! Those people didn’t stop using Rhule Fragmei so that they could use their weapon! It was to kill us… it was to kill the people who have Rhule Fragmei and initiate another attack to sort themselves out!”
At this moment, Vois heard the screams nearby.
Then five Geihlficlant soldier’s heads flew into the air.
Among the falling blood droplets, a golden beast was dancing in the air.
“…”
Ryner had seen this beast once.
Because he had fought with this monster once.
It was the ring-shaped Rhule Fragmei that had been used by a Gastarkian assassin called Lir.
Among the three of the Lightning Beasts that was called forth with that Rhule Fragmei, they were dancing in the air that was not the front line.
That Beast looked toward Vois, releasing an ear-shattering cry.
Ryner yelled, “Stupid Vois, be careful of your front!”
But apart from yelling, he couldn’t do anything. The beast was too fast, he couldn’t even react.
And he was too far away.
He couldn’t rescue him in time.
One beast kicked away the surrounding Geihlficlant soldiers.
The second jumped up, opening its mouth.
Just as it was about to bit off Vois’s head, and shred his body…
“Vois-sama!?” Relca who was beside him screamed.
Then she leapt in front of Vois, her arm was ripped off by the beast.
She dropped off the horse with a large amount of blood spewing out. But the last beast continued to move closer to Vois.
But this attack was blocked by Ferris who jumped out from behind with her sword.
At this moment Vois finally reacted.
He seemed to look at Ferris who was blocking the beast with some surprise, then he looked at Relca who was lying on the ground, unmoving.
He looked at his subordinate with a calm but cold expression, like a child.
“…”
But he didn’t say anything.
Relca didn’t move.
Relca didn’t move.
But…
“…”
There wasn’t the time for him to be sad.
“Damnit!!”
Ryner muttered, then started to draw the glowing words in the air with all his might. This was the magic that could increase the body’s speed that he had learnt using Alpha Stigma, from the Estabul Mage Knight.
Quickly finishing the magical sequence, Ryner started to incant the words, and so that he would be able to gain the maximum benefit, he tried his hardest, hardest, hardest to activate the magic, “I OFFER THE CONTRACTED WORDS, LETTING THE SLUMBERING MALICIOUS SPIRIT DWELL WITHIN.”
In a moment.
His body glowed, and he could accelerate to the point where his muscles nearly tore.
He jumped up from the horse, leaping towards where Ferris was fighting with the Lightning Beast.
He started to draw magical formations in the air again, and he drew two with both hands at the same time.
The magical formations were immediately completed.
Ryner chanted, “WHAT I SEEK IS IRIDESCENT DESTRUCTION>>>KUURI!”
Two glowing cubes appeared in the magical formations of “KUURI”.
Then a beam of light appeared from the cube.
One aimed at the Lightning Beast that had bitten off Relca’s arm.
The other aimed at the beast that was attacking the Geihlficlant soldiers.
The beast that attacked Relca disappeared after being hit.
But the beast near the Geihlficlant soldiers felt the presence of “KUURI”, moving its vision over, then jumped to a side, dodging.
“Damnit, it missed…”
But Ferris interrupted him, saying: “No, it hit.”
Then she waved her sword, sending the suppressed beast flying, then reflecting the “KUURI” beam from Ryner at it.
The beast was burnt by the light of “KUURI”, shaking as it disappeared.
Now there was only one left.
Ryner continued to draw magic formations, reaching Ferris’s side, asking: “There’s one left, can you deal with it?”
Ferris smiled slightly, raising the sword high, saying: “It’s different from the past. Now, I can finish off a few by myself… But, if the opponent is that person…”
Ryner nodded too.
If their opponent was that man called Lir, it would become troublesome.
Because he was the most troublesome opponent, that could use a few types of Rhule Fragmei at the same time.
He was the most troublesome enemy that Ryner, Ferris, Tiir and Luke could only face for five minutes.
This person was probably not far off from them.
And he had come to take Ryner’s and the other’s lives.
The reason was simple.
From where Ryner and the others were, they had used Rhule Fragmei that could defend against Gastark’s Rhule Fragmei—the enemy had already confirmed this point.
Then they decided to defeat the users of the Rhule Fragmei.
And maybe they were planning to grab all the Rhule Fragmei from this side.
No matter what…
“…Then let us defeat this one.” Ryner said.
Then he released the magic of the magic formations he had prepared.
But at this moment, the Lightning Beast leapt up, retreating. It killed the Geihlficlant soldiers around it, roaring.
The beast’s roar.
It was so reverberating that it stifled the heroic cries of the soldiers in the region.
As if spreading the message that there were many prey here, calling its fellow brethren.
Ryner frowned, turning around to look behind him.
He found that Kiefer had already rushed to Relca’s side, pressing her shoulder to stop the flow of blood, yelling: “She’s… she’s still living! She can be saved!”
Toale looked to Vois and called, “Quick, use that healing stone called Death Transference!”
But Vois only looked at Toale blandly, then had a very happy smile, looking at Ryner, “Ah, really, if I were more unfortunate, I would have died? This makes me more battle aware. And it was unexpected, that it could push away the Geihlficlant soldiers so easily, sending the assassin in…”
Toale interrupted Vois, roaring: “This is not the time to be talking about that! Hand over Death Transference quickly!”
Vois shrugged, looking at Toale. Then he moved his eyes to look at Relca who was on the ground.
At this moment Relca struggled to open her eyes, saying weakly: “…Are, are you alright, Vois-sama.”
Vois nodded, replying: “Yes, I’m fine. It’s all thanks to you protecting me, Relca. You did well.”
Relca had a faint smile.
Vois smiled and nodded: “But I’m sorry, we don’t have the time to heal you. The Gastarkian assassin has already confirmed our existence, I estimate that the next wave of attack will come quickly too, and I’m not willing to heal a soldier like you, and it will waste the Death Transference. So I will abandon you here. But if possible, please slow the Gastarkian assassin down…”
He didn’t even complete that, Toale shouted angrily, “What… what are you talking about!”
Relca was losing a large amount of blood, colour was slowly leaving her face.
There was clearly no time to be wasted. If he continued to leave it as it was, she would probably die after a few minutes.
So Toale stared at Vois, clearly saying: “Hurry, give me the Death Transference quickly…”
But Vois narrowed his eyes, turning around to look at his subordinate with black hair, “…Harmit, please inform the others about this situation…”
“Don’t joke around! Give me the healing stone quickly…”
But Vois only pointed a finger at Toale, making an action ‘kill him’.
Following that his other subordinate, that woman called Harmit unsheathed the sword at her waist, stabbing at Toale.
But Ferris moved her large sword faster than her, cutting the black-haired woman’s sword into two pieces.
Ryner took the chance to grab Vois’s hair, saying: “…You, wanted to kill Toale just now, right?”
Vois simply continued carrying that happy smile, simply wanting to acknowledge that.
But before he answered, Ryner tightened a hand in Vois’s hair, saying: “…Don’t look down on us, brat. Hand over the Death Transference quickly.”
Although Harmit wanted to turn around and attack Ryner, but Vois stopped her.
“Stop, Harmit. You’re not Ryner’s opponent…” he said that, raising his head to look at Ryner.
“Will you use the Death Transference no matter what?”
“Of course.”
Hearing Ryner’s reply, Vois had a troubled smile, “…Of course… huh… If it is of course, then there’s no help for it.”
He pulled out a stone that was smaller than a fist, then threw it to Kiefer who was desperately trying to stem the blood from Relca’s shoulder.
Kiefer caught the stone, quickly pressing it to Relca’s wound. But that stone didn’t start to heal Relca’s injury. So Kiefer looked up, staring at Vois and said: “Tell me how to use Death Transference.”
Vois didn’t look at Kiefer, only stared at Ryner, “…You really want to… use it…”
Ryner interrupted him, tightening his grip, saying: “Say it quickly.”
Vois sighed, saying: “…It drinks blood… Let the stone absorb the blood from the corpses of the Geihlficlant soldiers. If there is so much fresh blood, then there should be enough for it to have the power to save Relca…”
So Kiefer quickly soaked the stone in the blood pooling on the ground.
At some point in time, the fresh blood from the Geihlficlant soldiers had gathered into a small puddle, and that stone began to drink that blood.
Ryner looked at this scene.
He looked at this stone that gave him a chilling feeling even though it was going to save Relca’s life by gathering power through sucking up the life of the Geihlficlant soldiers.
Drinking the life of other people, to gain the power of healing.
This was the power of Death Transference.
But.
“…”
But Vois said disapprovingly: “…Although it is commendable that you didn’t care about the deaths of the Geihlficlant soldiers, but Relca isn’t your comrade, there should be a limit to how goody-two-shoes you can be, Ryner.”
Then Vois looked at Relca on the ground, calling: “…Relca.”
Relca opened her eyes weakly, looking at Vois, her lips forming the word ‘yes’, but unable to speak. It seemed that she was so weak that she was on her last breath.
But Vois only looked at her and said: “If we have to heal your wound we’ll need for it to absorb a little more power. But we have to leave this place now. Because we are targeted by the Gastarkian assassin, as we have the Rhule Fragmei. So, the Death Transference treatment, you’ll have to do it yourself.”
Relca nodded softly, then tried to reach out for the Death Transference in Kiefer’s hand. But although she wanted to reach out, but her body couldn’t move.
So Kiefer said: “I’ll stay…”
But Vois told Relca: “If you weigh me down, I wouldn’t want to see you ever again.”
Relca had an expression as if she were about to cry, desperately reaching out. Uncaring about the large amount of blood flowing from her shoulder, she stretched out her hand, grabbing the Death Transference that was soaked in the fresh sea of blood of the Geihlficlant soldiers.
In that moment, the Death Transference gave out a greenish white light, the blood pouring from Relca’s shoulder suddenly slowed.
Vois smiled and nodded, “…Good.”
Then he looked at Ryner again, saying: “Then, can you release your hold on my hair? We don’t have the time to be staying here and doing such silly things.”
Ryner stared at Vois, although he wanted to say many things to this proud brat, but he found that he didn’t know where to start from.
“…”
But, Vois’s words were always realistic—
It was realistic until it made people angry, he was clearly only a brat but he always talked about the painfully realistic truth, so Ryner let go of Vois’s hair.
He was right, there was not much time left.
The Gastarkian assassin—that man called Lir had already reached here.
He had come to take the lives of Ryner and Vois who had the Rhule Fragmei.
Although because his attack was stopped because of the temporary retreat of the Lightning Beasts, but that person would immediately return.
And he would return with reinforcements.
Although he was alone when he had entered Imperial Nelpha secretly, fighting with Ryner and the others alone, but now he had the army of Gastark with him.
Then.
“…”
Then, there was a possibility that there was an enemy as strong as Lir. Ryner knew at least two other Gastark soldiers who had the same large power.
The siblings Sui and Kuu. The two could wield Rhule Fragmei, and they had an overwhelmingly strong power, and had once hunted Ryner and Ferris.
Although up till know he had managed to dodge from their hunting because of his luck, but if those people joined powers and attacked, it would not be a small matter.
That meant, they could no longer spend time here.
So Ryner raised his head, wanting to tell everyone to retreat.
But at this moment, Vois told Ryner: “So as to heal Relca’s injuries, we have wasted a Death Transference here. But we only have four Death Transference, which means that there are only three Death Transference left. I hope that you wouldn’t regret saving Relca, Ryner.”
Ryner stared at Vois, deciding to ignore what he said, saying: “Retreat—” He suddenly thought of something, shaking his head, “No, that’s not right. Let’s separate. Because the enemy is only focusing on Vois and I. Kiefer and Toale leave this place quickly. I will protect Vois…”
But Kiefer said: “I want to stay too…”
Ryner shook his head firmly, saying: “Sorry, Kiefer. You will only slow us down. The enemy is very strong, I will not be able to protect Kiefer as I fight…”
Kiefer pouted.
But Toale patted Kiefer’s shoulder encouragingly, “Retreat with me. Even if we are behind the scenes we can do many things…”
“I understand.”
“…”
“I understand. But, Ryner…”
Looking at Kiefer who was watching him, Ryner smiled, “Yeah, I will try not to get myself killed.”
“You definitely have to work hard.”
“Yeah, then leave quickly. I don’t know when that assassin will reach.” Ryner said.
But Kiefer didn’t want to leave him.
So Toale grabbed her hand, forcefully pulling her back.
After Ryner confirmed that Kiefer and Toale had left, he turned to Ferris and said: “…Ah~ with you, that…”
Before Ryner finished speaking, Ferris opened her mouth to say: “I will stay by your side. If it were not for me, you would die immediately?”
Ryner smiled bitterly.
Then he looked back to the battle ground.
There were devastating cries from the battle field. And in the distance, there were blinking lights.
It seemed that the battle was approaching.
And Lir was probably closer.
And in this direction…
“…”
Ryner narrowed his eyes.
In this direction there was the king of Geihlficlant, Gulafed Abuleld.
Because King Abuleld had over fifty Mage Knights stationed by his side, so they were probably in the massacre too.
Ryner said: “The king of Geihlficlant, huh…”
Vois nodded, saying: “Now you’ve at last understood the reason for the enemy’s temporary retreat. King Abuleld is not completely useless. He couldn’t just let those parasites mess around. He probably commanded the Mage Knights to ambush the Gastarkian assassins.”
“Then, if we go over now…”
“Yes, if we combine forces with the Mage Knights, we probably can deal with the assassins. Hurry…”
Before Vois finished speaking, a sharp scream was heard from the back.
Ryner knew who was screaming.
It was Kiefer.
It was Kiefer’s voice, and she had just retreated to the back.
Ryner widened his eyes, finding that his whole body was trembling. He didn’t have the courage to turn around to confirm what had happened, only in that moment he couldn’t move.
He had the annoying thought of whether Kiefer had died.
“…”
He tried hard to dispel this thought, and turned around.
Kiefer was still alive.
But in front of her, a few bodies of the Anti-Roland Coalition soldiers went flying.
And in the middle of the commotion, there was a young girl.
She seemed to be around Vois’ age, fourteen or fifteen years old.
Her fringe touched her eye brows, she had the natural pink hair colour of the Gastarkians; she wore a black skirt and her pretty features gave her an aura of a pitiful child.
Ryner knew this girl.
She was the Gastarkian spy that Ryner and Ferris had met when they were travelling through the surrounding countries to search for the Heroes’ Relics.
Her name should be Kuu Orla.
And that Kuu was now holding up the scythe in her hands.
Her slim hands were able to hold up the scythe that was longer than Ryner’s body.
But the girl, as if holding a twig, swung the scythe easily, simply cutting through the bodies of the surrounding Geihlficlant soldiers.
But the bodies that the girl cut did not gush blood. Because those cuts had already froze over with ice.
Yes.
That scythe was one of the Rhule Fragmei.
This Rhule Fragmei called Ailecrono’s Scythe would take away the wielder’s feelings as a price, greatly raising the physical ability of the wielder, and sealing whatever it cut with ice.
And Kuu was now spinning Ailecrono’s Scythe.
Spinning.
Spinning.
As the scythe cut down, she continued to spread the bloodless death.
Then that scythe approached Toale and Kiefer.
“Damnit!!” Ryner yelled, jumping up from the horse, using his magically accelerated body, jumping forward at the speed of lightning.
But Ferris reached Kiefer’s back faster than Ryner, then stepping on Kiefer’s back. So Kiefer’s body narrowly missed the blade of the scythe, and her shoulder struck the handle.
Followed by that her body flew back with an unbelievable speed, crashing to the ground, landing at a distance that it would not be hard to believe if she had died.
But Kiefer only groaned “…Ow… that hurts…” as she climbed up.
Ryner breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, a sharp metallic sound was heard.
It was Kuu’s scythe clashing with Ferris’s large sword.
Kuu looked at Ferris, saying: “…I… recognize you…”
Ferris replied: “Then you should remember that it was you who lost to me? If you don’t want to die, retreat.”
Kuu tilted her head, “…According to my memory… It should have been you who lost…”
“It seems that you have forgotten.”
“…Then…” Kuu said as she raised the scythe again, swinging it down hard, “Make me remember.”
She swung down the scythe so quickly that Ryner couldn’t catch its movements.
But Ferris skillfully blocked her opponent’s countless attacks.
But Ryner understood that if this continued, Ferris would be defeated.
The more she blocked those attacks, the more easily Ferris’s sword would be frozen, then her movements would slow.
So he had to go and help her immediately.
“…”
But Ryner was unable to move.
Only standing on the ground, his nerves tensed, surveying the movements of the surroundings.
Because the enemy—
“…”
If this girl called Kuu appeared, another enemy would definitely appear.
It was the brother of the girl called Kuu—Sui Orla.
And the person called Sui was also one that could use strong Rhule Fragmeis, although he should have been severely injured by the Rhule Fragmei that Froaude used, escaping back to his motherland.
But if he was still alive.
“…”
At this moment, Ryner saw that behind Kuu, there was a group of Anti-Roland Coalition soldiers surrounding a slim man.
He still had that pink hair, it was long enough that it was a little feminine. A steady expression that was completely unsuited for this battle. Then slim eyes that revealed humour.
Sui Orla.
Sui still had that smiling expression, meeting Ryner’s gaze. Then looked at Kiefer who had been kicked out.
“…”
Ryner bent down.
He already knew what Sui was thinking.
He had probably seen him wanting to save Kiefer, understanding that she could be used as a hostage.
So Sui had a happy expression, saying: “Ah, isn’t this Ryner. It’s been a long time.”
During this time, Ferris was still fighting with Kuu. And it had become so aggressive that no one could break in.
Sui looked at this happily, saying: “Talking about which, you understand the situation now, right? Ferris has already been locked down by Kuu. And I’m still able to move. You understand what this means, right?”
Of course he understood.
There were many comrades by his side now. Kiefer, Toale, Vois, Harmit, and Relca who was still being healed, and the Anti-Roland Coalition and Nelpha soldiers.
No one among them could block Sui’s attack. If they were hit, they could only die.
That meant, Sui was actually holding everyone here hostage.
But Ryner smiled, saying: “…That is, on the account that you can attack faster than I can.”
Sui shrugged, “That means you’re stronger than before?”
“Yeah.” Ryner nodded.
This was only a lie.
In truth, compared to the time when he had fought with Sui, there wasn’t too much difference. At least he wasn’t so hard working. So he had a large gap between Pia, Peria and Zohra. Even if he frantically started up his training, there wouldn’t be any effects so quickly.
But, even so.
“…If you think that I’m same as before, you’ll regret it.” Ryner fibbed.
Then so that it would be easier for him to jump, he bent down.
But Sui laughed even more happily, “Then let’s wait for a while. It wouldn’t be too late when Kuu kills Ferris…”
But as he spoke, Vois said from behind Ryner: “Ryner.”
Although Ryner didn’t turn around, but Vois continued, “You can give the order to attack any time. This is the center of our base. Everyone is your comrade. So that person wouldn’t be our opponent…”
But Sui laughed even more happily, pulling out a dagger.
A dagger that did not have a hilt.
That dagger seemed very similar to the one that Ryner had discovered when he was in Nelpha, but the colour was different.
It was blood red.
This was a dagger that was blood red in colour, as if it had been stained with blood.
Sui gripped the dagger, saying: “Doing things like these would only result in more sacrifices. Vois Fiurelle.”
But Vois laughed too, answering: “How uncoincidental, I’m a person who understands who to balance out things. So even if we sacrifice hundreds of our comrades here, if Ryner kills you, it’s my win.”
At this moment Harmit suddenly yelled, “Aisweiar!”
This was probably a secret signal that only the Anti-Roland Coalition knew.
So the surrounding hundreds of soldiers started to draw magic formations in the air.
Vois said: “Even if you can wield the Rhule Fragmei because of you are chosen because of hereditary conditions—you are too self-confident. Attacking the enemy’s base alone, I would only call those people idiots. So die, baka-san.” As he finished speaking, Vois made a gesture.
In a moment, the Anti-Roland Coalition released their magic.
But Sui remained unmoving, only raising the red dagger, murmuring sadly: “…So I said there would be meaningful sacrifices.”
Ryner immediately understood that he said the truth. Because the Rhule Fragmei in Sui’s hand gave off a strong blinding light.
Although he didn’t understand its effects, but even if he didn’t understand, he clearly knew that if that thing was activated, it could easily kill the surrounding soldiers.
“…”
Ryner quickly started to think about what he should do. He thought hard. If he made a wrong move, his comrades would most likely be killed. Not only that, it could even give Sui more of an advantage.
Furthermore Sui had always been aware of Ryner’s movements. If he officially started the battle between Sui now, there would only be Ryner fighting.
So Ryner was unable to move, if he moved too much, he would be caught…
“…”
At this moment he saw something strange out of the corner of his eye.
In the furthest distance where Ryner could still see clearly.
Kiefer who had been hit by the hilt of the scythe stood up suddenly.
Then she frantically wrote a few complicated glowing words. That was a high-level magical formulation that was very strong, if she was not at the level of a Mage Knight she would be unable to control it.
But Ryner knew, Kiefer was unable to use that kind of high-skilled magic. At least according to her knowledge and ability, she was unable to use that kind of first-class magic.
And now she was using that magic. It showed that in the time they had been separated, she had not given up on her self-training, unlike Ryner.
Of course, that magic was slightly unsteady, it was unable to compare to Ryner’s accuracy and speed.
But even so, that magic was about to be completed.
So Ryner smiled, then lowered his voice to the pitch that Sui was unable to hear, telling Vois: “…Vois, after the soldiers release their magic, let them retreat immediately.”
“Do you have a good idea?”
Ryner shook his head, “Although I do not have a good idea, but our comrades have increased.”
“Comrades?”
He nodded, “Yeah, it is a strong comrade…”
“Urgh…!”
At this moment, Ferris who was fighting with Kuu gave a slightly pained noise.
It seemed that her sword had started to freeze because she was going against the power of Kuu’s Ailecrono Scythe.
“Urgh! If, if this continues…”
Before she finished speaking, Kuu’s scythe cut down again, Ferris wanted to raise her sword to block this blow.
But as the weapons clashed, the strong impact made her release the sword. Ferris widened her eyes, saying: “I’m, I’m going to lose…”
“It’s done.” Kuu said, raising her scythe again.
But Ferris smiled faintly: “What. The one who should be done with, is you.” She stepped forward, charging to Kuu who was holding the large scythe.
“I purposefully released the sword.” Ferris said happily, making a karate chop towards Kuu’s neck.
Although Kuu wanted to use her scythe hilt to block this, but Ferris’s karate chop hit her neck faster than she expected. Although the scythe hilt hit Ferris at the same time, but Ferris used her feet to block it, lending its momentum to jump towards Sui.
Sui’s attention immediately focused on Ferris who had appeared in front of him immediately.
The space of a second.
It was only a slight space.
But it was already enough.
Ryner took the opportunity, running over.
Sui hurriedly pointed the dagger-like Rhule Fragmei at him, wanting to say something.
But in the next moment.
Sui said in disbelief: “…Wha…What!?”
This was because the girl who had been sent flying by Kuu, who didn’t look strong at all suddenly rushed over like lightning.
Kiefer who had used the high-grade magic from Estabul to increase her body’s strength, jumped up from the ground, running over, then kicking Sui’s hand which held the dagger.
The dagger left Sui’s hand, spinning into the sky.
Ferris raised her leg too, preparing to kick Sui’s neck.
And Sui couldn’t dodge this attack.
He frowned, muttering: “Oh no!”
Then he moved his body slightly, changing the target position from his neck to his face.
In the next instant, with a smack, he was sent flying.
But because he had avoided his vital position, so he remained conscious, Sui adjusted his landing position, reaching into his pockets, wanting to take something out.
But Ryner immediately decreased the distance between him and Sui. Then he took out a stiletto from his belt and pressed it to Sui’s neck, saying: “Don’t move. Or I’ll kill you.”
So Sui stopped, raising his head, then looked at Kiefer, saying: “…I didn’t think, that she had that kind of ability to move…”
Ryner smiled, “My companions are very strong.”
“Your companions?”
“Yeah.”
“…Your companion… right? I thought Kiefer was our companion…” Sui stared at Kiefer, suddenly something as strange as that.
“Unless you want to betray us? Your mission was to bring Ryner to Gastark, right?”
But Kiefer simply said: “Ah? Did I promise that?”
Ryner was confused by that, so he stared at Sui and Kiefer, asking: “…The two of you know each other?”
Kiefer had a slightly troubled expression, saying: “that, when I was wandering around, I stayed in Gastark for some time, I came to know him there.”
“Is that only it… Riphal, your king always thought that you were dating him…”
Kiefer interrupted him, saying: “That was Riphal’s misunderstanding.”
“…But at least, when Riphal knew that you were here too, he frantically sent us over to rescue you. Because of you, he decided to stop Glovil’s attack.”
Hearing this conversation, Ryner at last knew what the relationship was between the Gastark king and Kiefer.
No, at least that man called Riphal, towards Kiefer…
At this moment, Sui said again: “His Majesty doesn’t wish for you to die…”
But Kiefer interrupted him, simply saying: “Then attack us.”
Sui had a disbelieving expression, looking at Kiefer in surprise, saying: “You’ll die too, you know?”
But for some reason, Kiefer laughed.
She seemed to laugh happily.
She seemed to laugh joyfully.
Then she said with that uncaring tone: “It doesn’t matter.”
“Dying with Ryner has always been my dream. So it doesn’t matter.”
“Because the one who I like… who I love, is not Riphal, but Ryner.”
She said simply, with clear eyes.
“…”
To this sudden confession, Ryner didn’t know what to say.
Sui said: “Then, you said you would bring Ryner back with you.”
Kiefer still smiled and answered: “I lied.”
“You traitor.” Sui said accusingly.
“You still dare to say that~” Kiefer smiled sadly.
Sui smiled too, his smile was bitter, saying: “…This is troublesome… Our king is always most unwelcome in front of the women that he falls in love with.”
Then Sui looked at Ryner, saying: “…Well, so we don’t have anything here to do… Although we were ordered to protect you and Kiefer Knolles… but because we were betrayed, so I have to go back. Then can you release me?”
“…”
But Ryner was slightly stunned, because too many things had happened, so he didn’t reply.
Kiefer knew the people from Gastark, and she had been ordered to bring Ryner back.
But she had simply betrayed Gastark.
And since she had stayed in Gastark for some time, then she should know the true appearance of the weapon that Gastark had. And she should know what kind of power that weapon had.
She clearly knew better than anyone else that she would die if she came here. It was even possible that she had seen that weapon’s power in Stohl.
But she had simply chose to come here.
She smiled as she chose to come here with Ryner.
And that reason was actually because, I like Ryner, so it’s like that…
An idiotic reason like that.
“…”
At this moment, Kiefer suddenly looked over, saying: “Ryner.”
“…Eh?”
“…Because there’s no guarantee that I would die here, so I wanted to say everything…” She said, then stopped as if she didn’t know how to continue. Then she blushed, but looked like she wanted to cry.
“I like Ryner.” She said.
She said with a voice that everyone could hear.
But Ryner was unable to reply. Towards this sudden development, he didn’t know how to reply.
At this moment.
“…”
There was the sound of something hitting the ground.
Ryner looked to the place where the sound came from. He found that Ferris’s sword had dropped on the ground for some reason, and she was frantically going to pick it up.
No, had she even picked up the sword that she had dropped intentionally when fighting with Kuu? But he had clearly heard that clang sound, Well, it was okay if anything happened, he put that aside.
That, so now, ah~ what should I do?
Seeing Ryner having that silly face, Vois poured cold water: “…What are you acting out. It’s clearly not a development to be surprised about, why is everyone’s reaction so big?”
Then he pointed at Kuu on the ground, ordering the subordinate called Harmit: “Tie her up.”
Harmit nodded, pressing down on Kuu’s body.
Confirming that nothing was missing, Vois dismounted, walking to Kuu who was unconscious and tied up by Harmit, looking at Sui, saying: “The tables have been overturned, now the hostage is on our hands. Then I’ll tell you what you told us when you appeared, ‘you understand what this means, right?’ … Killing so many companions, and still wanting to trick us…”
Vois took out a dagger, smiling happily, “So you want us to let you go back? You must be joking.”
Ryner and Sui yelled at the same time: “Stop!”
But Vois continued to smile, “I was joking. How tiresome, because I have too many good people here, if I really kill this girl here, I will probably be scolded terribly, so I’ll let her go here… But I can’t choose to let you go back. If we still need to fight Gastark, it wouldn’t hurt to have a few hostages.”
Sui tilted his head and said: “…Hostages? I advise you not to do something as useless as that. Because your opponent wouldn’t be Gastark.”
Vois smiled: “Because the weapon you call Glovil will kill us?”
“Ah, that’s true. As long as you stay here, you will definitely die.”
And Vois seemed to have a smile that was so happy, as if he could play with the whole world, saying: “It doesn’t matter.”
He raised his pitch, until he sounded like a woman, “…Because I can die with Ryner, that’s always been my dream, so…”
“I’ll kill you--!!” Kiefer shouted.
Vois ignored Kiefer’s shout, telling Ryner: “I love Ryner~ ♥~”
Hearing this very ‘Vois’-esque speech, Ryner had a slightly irritated expression.
But Vois continued to smile happily, staring at Sui as he said: “…We came here after knowing you had that mysterious weapon Glovil, and we still came. We bet our lives to stand here. If you misunderstood that we came here to try desperately…”
“We didn’t think of that.”
Someone said suddenly from behind them.
Behind Vois, there was a man.
He had the pink hair that only Gastarkians had, a strong, agile body and a confident smile.
Ryner knew this person.
He was the man called Lir Orla.
And he was the person who released those Lightning Beasts.
And this man wanted to release them again. He moved the ring on his finger, saying: “Appear, gathered Beasts!”
In a moment, a large thunder cloud appeared above Vois’s head, a golden Lightning Beast jumped out, wanting to bit off Vois’s head.
This was too sudden, no one was able to react.
Ryner, Ferris, Kiefer, Harmit, no one was able to react on time.
But Toale who had been standing by Vois’s side suddenly jumped up.
So one of the Lightning Beasts bit Toale’s leg, and he grabbed his leg, from his thigh, he pulled off the magical prosthetic, ordering: “Self-destruct.”
Following that order, Toale’s prosthetic limb exploded with the Lightning Beast that had bitten the limb.
One was destroyed just like that.
There were still two left.
Although the other one wanted to attack Toale who had lost one leg, but Ferris had reacted, raising her sword, blocking the Lightning Beast’s attack.
But the other Lightning Beast—
“Harmit, take Vois away quickly, leave that scythe girl!” Toale shouted.
Harmit hearing that, immediately grabbed Vois, leaving the area.
So the other Lightning Beast carefully collected Kuu and the scythe, running back towards Lir.
Ryner could only watch everything, unmoving.
Because if he released the restraint on Sui, the enemy would become Lir and Sui.
If they entered that kind of situation, then just by depending on the people around them, they would be unable to win. Ryner didn’t have the confidence to win two opponents with Rhule Fragmei without any injuries.
Furthermore the man called Lir, was more challenging than Sui and Kuu combined.
So he couldn’t let go of the restraint he had on Sui. Anyway let Sui faint first, then help Ferris and the others—he decided, but as he hesitated, the situation became worse.
Lir moved his ring again, saying again: “Gathered beasts, appear!”
A thunder cloud appeared in front of him, this time five golden monsters stepped out.
Three of them were wolf-like beasts that had mostly appeared.
And two were monsters similar to what Froaude had released before, similar to devils.
Then these five monsters rushed towards Ferris.
The five and the one from the previous round, totaling six monsters were attacking Ferris alone.
“…”
Ferris stepped back, desperately moving her sword, using an unbelievable speed, to block the demon’s attack.
But of course she couldn’t stop everything.
Several gashes appeared on her body, blood flowing. But even so, she tried hard not to let the enemy’s attacks be drawn to Vois, Toale and Kiefer, fighting alone.
At this moment, Toale who was on the ground because he had lost his prosthetic limb, started to draw a crest in the air. He started to construct the offensive fire magic of Nelpha.
Vois reacted too, not only ordering his subordinates, and the surrounding Geihlficlant soldiers, “There’s a Gastarkian soldier…”
And Lir said: “I wouldn’t let you gain the advantage.”
He pulled out a circular disc with a hole in the center, then used his finger to spin it, throwing it towards the sky, saying softly: “Spin, Fabluss’ Moon Circle.”
It was like a curse, taking Lir as the center.
No, so that Sui and Kuu would not be hurt, the circle took Ryner and the others as center, starting to move vigorously.
The small disc moved at an unbelievable speed, spinning. It spun several rounds at which others could not see it.
But, it could be felt that their surroundings had grown quiet.
The dozens of soldiers around them…
No, maybe hundreds of soldiers, had been sliced open in a moment.
They didn’t even have the time to scream, when they were speedily sliced up, becoming corpses as they dropped onto the ground.
The surroundings became empty.
In a radius that wasn’t counted to be small, the living people had all disappeared.
The only ones living, were Ryner, Sui, Kiefer, Vois, Harmit, Toale, Kuu, Ferris and Relca who was on the ground, so she wasn’t harmed by the Rhule Fragmei.
The other soldiers were killed.
Although the Geihlficlant soldiers and Anti-Roland Coalition soldiers had felt this abnormality and wanted to provide them with reinforcements, but they hadn’t caught up.
No, it was lucky that they had not caught up.
Because Lir had a weapon that was able to kill the surrounding soldiers in an instant. The strange disc had returned to Lir’s finger, continuing to spin at a speed that could not be caught by the naked eye.
Even if the soldiers came to help again, they would probably be sliced open by Lir’s disc before they knew that they were dead.
And at this moment, Toale’s magic had completed.
But before Toale could move, Lir pointed to Ferris who would definitely die in the battle with the Lightning Beasts.
Then in his hand there was a green ball that was familiar.
It should be called the Rhule Fragmei called Stone Devourer.
It was a weapon that was able to gouge out the eyes of wielders of magic eyes.
And it was a weapon that could destroy the strong yarn that Luke used.
Because its general usage was broad, so it couldn’t be understood what kind of power that Rhule Fragmei had, but, anyway it was an extremely dangerous weapon.
Then Ryner remembered.
He remembered Lir had simply killed his companions before.
He had killed Lafra. He had killed Pueka. As long as it was wielders of magic eyes, he could even kill innocent children without any hesitation.
And now this person, to Ferris…
“…”
And he wanted to kill Ferris.
“Stop!!!!!!!” Ryner shouted, releasing Sui, jumping up from the ground, running towards Ferris.
But Lir laughed.
He laughed scornfully.
“This is war? How can I stop.” He said, then opened his hand, pushing the green stone in front of Ferris, saying softly, “Devour this person, Stone Devourer.”
So the stone…
The green stone called Stone Devourer immediately exploded.
And Ferris wasn’t able to block this blow.
She had spent most of her energy dealing with the Lightning Beasts, she didn’t have any more energy to block it.
“I definitely, wouldn’t let you succeed!”
Ryner shouted, grabbing Ferris’s hair from behind, pulling her down.
“Ah.” Ferris called, falling back, then looked at Ryner in slight surprise.
Several Lightning Beasts wanted to chase after Ferris, but Ryner blocked them. He reached out his right hand, pushing it in front of a beast that was running over. So Ryner’s wrist was bitten off, but he didn’t stop, using his remaining left hand, to punch Lir’s face.
Although this punch made Lir move back slightly, but everything was done.
The green stone in Lir’s hand exploded, becoming a great distortion in space.
In the next moment, Ryner’s left hand was sliced off into the air, but even so it had not ended.
Lir said with a nervous but determined voice: “Gouge out the crystal, Stone Devourer.”
So the green stone exploded again.
Although he didn’t know what he wanted to do.
But if he didn’t guess wrongly, it should be that he wanted to do the same thing like had he had done to the wielder of Alpha Stigma, Pueka.
To Ryner.
To Ryner’s Alpha Stigma.
And in that moment.
“…”
Ryner lost his vision.
His vision suddenly turned black, he couldn’t see anything.
He completely couldn’t see where he was, what he was doing.
“Ah…” He said.
Then he felt his body suddenly lose strength, kneeling on the ground.
“Ryner!!” Ferris shouted.
Strangely, she shouted with a sad voice that was rarely heard. But because of this shout, he finally understood that he had saved her.
So Ryner sighed in relief.
It was good if she had been saved. But if he continued to remain here, he would be killed. So he needed to tell her to run away quickly. But he couldn’t say anything, all his energy was gone, he couldn’t say a single word.
Then he felt Ferris hug him, hug his body.
She should clearly run away, this wasn’t the time to be doing this, but she strongly, she held him strongly.
“…Hey hey, your crystal has clearly been taken away, but you’re still alive. You really are a monster.” Lir said.
“…You, you, you… I am definitely going to kill you.” Ferris said with a trembling voice.
But no, I must stop Ferris.
Ryner thought.
She can’t win, she definitely can’t win these people. So if she doesn’t escape, I can only beg for mercy.
Even if I die here, it’s fine.
But, my comrades.
The companions who followed me here, no matter what I have to let them escape.
“…”
Hearing Kiefer cry in sadness, then run over.
So Ryner said: “…Li…Lir… I have a favour.”
Lir said: “It doesn’t seem like I have a reason to accept my enemy’s favour, right?”
Ryner forced a scornful smile, “Take it as me begging you…”
But Lir opened his mouth as if knowing what Ryner wanted to say: “You want to surrender at this point in time? Impossible. This is the punishment for the companion who has turned enemy and betrayed us. We clearly came here to save her, but I didn’t think that I would nearly lose my younger brother and sister’s lives. I don’t want to make the same error twice.”
“…”
“But letting you escape is fine. Because we have no more time to waste here. So, hey, the one called Vois Fiurelle.”
Somewhere nearby, Vois replied: “What is it?”
“Give all your Rhule Fragmei to me. This way I will let you live.”
Vois said with a slightly depressed voice: “There’s no choice… Harmit, take these.”
Harmit made a noise of assent, then wanted to pass them to Lir.
Although he couldn’t see, but Ryner still understood what happened.
At this moment, Kiefer suddenly shouted, “Vois, bring the Death Transference to Ryner, quickly!”
Lir said: “The Death Transference if a Rhule Fragmei too…”
But Kiefer interrupted him, saying again: “I definitely wouldn’t let you have it! If you want it, you’ll have to kill me first!”
Don’t say that, Ryner thought. Don’t say that for me, it doesn’t matter if something like dying happened to me.
For a monster who has no meaning in living, don’t die so easily.
At this moment, he felt Kiefer by his side, she stroked Ryner’s face, saying: “Ferris, don’t cry. Hurry! We have to move Ryner to places where soldiers are bleeding… Or else the Death Transference that sucks blood wouldn’t work… I’ll go get Ryner’s wrist.”
Because of this sentence, Ryner’ mind suddenly went blank.
Kiefer said Ferris was crying.
That Ferris, was actually crying.
Ryner sank into a state of self-hatred.
When they left Sion, she cried too, unsettled.
He clearly said that he wouldn’t leave such lonely memories for her, but now it was still the same.
Because he had been too weak, so he had become like that.
And, he understood too.
I will probably die soon.
He could clearly feel something very important in his body dying, and Death Transference probably couldn’t heal it.
Lir said: “…This person can’t be saved. Wielders of cursed eyes having lost their crystals can only…”
At this moment, Sui said: “Onii-san, let’s go. Our work has ended.”
Vois asked: “…Taking away the crystal also means taking away the power of Ryner’s magic eyes, right?”
“Yes.”
“That means, the power of Alpha Stigma, all of it…”
“Yeah.”
“Then Ryner is no longer a wielder of cursed eyes? He has already become a normal… a normal human?”
Lir answered: “Yes. Well, but he’ll die soon.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
“I see…” Vois had a disappointed voice.
Of course. Vois had come here because of Ryner’s magic eyes.
He had anticipated that Ryner’s eyes would be able to block Gastark’s weapon and had come here solely for that reason.
But, now he had simply lost those eyes.
And that meant everyone here.
“…”
Everyone would die.
But Ryner was unable to think about this.
His blood loss was severe.
Because he had lost both wrists, a large amount of blood was rushing out.
His consciousness was slowly blurring.
Lost in a distant place.
But he heard Kiefer’s voice. He heard Kiefer’s trembling and hoarse voice.
“I wouldn’t let you die. I definitely wouldn’t let you die!”
Then he felt Kiefer touch his shoulder.
His chest was still being hugged by Ferris. So he could feel her body trembling uncontrollably.
They were probably using Death Transference to heal him. If it were Death Transference, it could probably heal the wounds of both his wrists.
“…”
But, his consciousness became more blurred, more distant.
Then, he felt it.
He felt death.
He felt himself walking into the depths of death.
He felt himself slowly losing the power to live…
Then finally, Ryner’s consciousness, disappeared.
•••••••
“…”
Raising his head to the sky.
Looking at the distant sky.
The weather was very sunny today, so when he woke up he felt that something good would happen.
“…”
After Vois Fiurelle confirmed that the assassins had left, he looked back.
He looked at Kiefer and Ferris frantically try to heal Ryner who had lost his sight and both his wrists.
No, his wrist had already been joined back.
The severed left had had started to join back under the treatment of Death Transference.
The right hand had been torn apart by the beast so it was unable to return to its former appearance, Well, but at least the blood flow had stopped.
No matter what this was war. The blood that was the source of Death Transference’s power was abundant here.
As long as it wasn’t immediate death, no matter how severe the wound, as long as they used Death Transference, they wouldn’t die.
But.
“…”
Ryner Lute would still die.
Because his 'Alpha Stigma had been stolen.
Because his magic eyes had been crystallised and stolen.
Vois had met people who collected crystallised magic eyes before, so he knew that after the wielders lost the power of their magic eyes, they would die.
They would die immediately.
It was as if having a major organ like their heart or brain being destroyed, they would die immediately.
Probably to the wielders of cursed eyes, these magic eyes were probably the most important organ that gave them their main power.
So Ryner would definitely die.
No matter what, his Alpha Stigma had been stolen.
So…
“…”
Vois raised his head to the sky again, calling his subordinate, “Harmit.”
The black-haired beauty looked at him, replying: “Here.”
Vois smiled, saying: “Ne, so I said today would be a good day, right?”
Harmit tilted her head, not understanding Vois’s meaning, saying: “…Huh?”
But actually there wasn’t any need for her to understand his feelings.
Because today really was a good day.
Looking at the crying Kiefer Knolles.
Looking at the crying Ferris Eris.
Looking at the grim Toale Nelphi.
Only he, smiled happily, then used a light tone, to say to these three people: “Then then, has Ryner died?”
The three looked at Vois at the same time. They looked at him with an unbelievably scary expression, but they didn’t say anything.
But there wasn’t any need for them to answer.
If he died.
Then his heart would stop, his breathing would halt, the Death Transference would stop working.
Because Death Transference wouldn’t react to dead people.
But now that stone was sucking the blood on the floor. It was slurping up the blood.
As if desperately sucking up blood to wake up something else in Ryner’s body.
In normal situation after their magic eyes had been crystallised, they would die immediately, but now something in his body that had allowed to live, was as if about to be awakened.
Vois looked at this, murmuring: “…Ah, anyway, it seems like I win this bet.”
Well, no matter what, he was actually unsettled.
What the ugly Goddess said, how much of it was truth? He had always been unsettled about that.
Furthermore, the Goddesses had described Ryner like this.
No, it should be said they had described the thing in Ryner’ body.
<…We don’t know what it is. And we don’t know what will appear. Up until now something like that has never happened, what has happened to the body of the Solver of All Equations?>
The Goddesses had said that.
But he only needed this, to Vois it was enough.
The existence that even the Goddesses were unable to fathom.
That thing, that seemed to control all Reason in this world that the Goddesses were unable to understand.
It was in Ryner Lute’s body.
And the strange thing that even the Goddesses were unable to understand, probably wouldn’t appear so coincidentally, Vois had thought.
“…”
It couldn’t appear just for fun, he had thought.
So Vois had thought that if he brought Ryner here, he would let that thing appeared.
If he weren’t a human who had to die.
If her weren’t a monster who was about to die here.
And, he told Ryner that— “α—the power hidden in your body, seems to be the strongest power.”
That information, was actually a lie that Vois had come up with. It was easy to trick his opponent with a small lie, he had thought, then came up with this lie that seemed to have some meaning, but, from the beginning till the end, that had only been a lie.
The Goddess had never mentioned that.
They only told him that he needed to watch Ryner Lute, and keep a tab on him.
Ryner Lute, and Lucile Eris.
The Solver of All Equations and the Weaver of All Equations.
Now in the body of these two people, there were unknown bodies in them.
Things that could easily twist the rational of this world.
It was something that was unable to be understood by the common logic that they knew.
And the things that lived in their bodies, had always threatened this world—the Goddesses had said, and they were scared.
So Vois thought of betting on this gamble.
He gambled on the thing that was beyond the Goddess’ understanding.
If that thing really existed, then this person wouldn’t die here.
Was that person a hero from the legends, or a legendary hero, or—
“…There’s also the possibility that he will be a demon that will ruin this world…” Vois smiled.
Then he looked at Ryner who had lost consciousness. He looked at this monster that was on the ground, that had lost his Alpha Stigma.
He still hadn’t died.
He had clearly lost his Alpha Stigma, but he hadn’t died.
The Goddesses didn’t seem to be too clear on the weapon that Gastark had—the information on that weapon called Glovil. Even if Vois had searched through all the information networks in the world, he hadn’t gotten any solid information.
That meant, in this place, there were two giant powers that the Goddesses did not know of.
There were two powers that even those people who controlled the world did not know about.
And these two powers would clash here.
And it was such a sunny weather.
Under this clear sky with no clouds in sight.
This was really—
“…Everything has been decided on since the beginning, don’t you feel as if this were fate?” Vois said.
Harmit had an uncomprehending expression.
Vois smiled.
Of course he was the one to push for this development. It was his careful planning, that had caused matters to develop to this stage.
But everything possibly was decided on since the beginning, he had occasionally thought.
In the fate that had been decided on, followed by the low-grade humans who would follow its joys and despairs.
“…Thinking like that, always feels a little irritating…”
But, even so, only this time, he wanted to think of everything as destined.
He hoped that this situation was also decided since the beginning.
That before Gastark would use that weapon called Glovil, Ryner would lose his Alpha Stigma.
Then, after becoming like that.
The real battle, was from now on.
If everything proceeded in the way that Vois had predicted.
If.
“If I can win this gamble… the world can really change.”
It would change into scenery that not only humans, even Goddesses had never seen.
Up until today, no one had seen that scenery, that would replace everything in this world.
So Vois breathed out a little nervously.
If it weren’t death, it was changing the world.
“…”
He turned around.
The battle continued.
Even if Vois didn’t have three thousand soldiers under him, the battle that wouldn’t be affected by that, continued.
And the Geihlficlant held an overwhelmingly strong pressure.
As if not scared of the destructive power of the large-scale offensive magic and Rhule Fragmei, it slowly pushed the battle line back, then Gastark slowly started to retreat.
If this continued, Gastark would definitely lose.
But of course, that could not happen.
Anyone could see what Gastark was doing.
They were waiting for those assassins who had been sent to retrieve Kiefer and Ryner to return.
And when they returned, Gastark would use Glovil.
No.
“…”
At this moment, Vois felt something interesting.
What those Gastarkian assassins said.
They said they had been ordered to bring Kiefer and Ryner back.
That meant, the Gastarkians, had already felt that something special had existed in Ryner’s body?
Vois thought.
But the Gastarkian assassins didn’t bring Ryner back together.
They left after taking his Alpha Stigma.
Then, what did this mean?
Then, what did this mean?
Vois asked himself, then smiled scornfully.
Gastark that had the weapon that even the Goddess didn’t know about, probably didn’t completely understand Ryner.
That meant, Gastark hadn’t grasped the information that Ryner was equivalent to a BUG?
He thought.
“…If everything were just my imagination, it would be troublesome.” It was rare that he would say a weak point, then he called his subordinate again, “Harmit.”
Hamit replied, in her proper, curt but energetic way: “Is there anything wrong, Vois-sama.”
“How are Relca’s wounds?”
“Although she is unconscious, but she will probably live.”
“That’s good.” He nodded, repeating: “That’s good.”
Then he raised his head to the sky.
Now he only needed to wait.
Or die.
Or wait for the moment when the world would change.
“Harmit.”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you hungry? We have done what we need to do. Let’s have lunch.”
Hearing Vois’s sudden pronouncement, Harmit tilted her head in confusion.
Because she was overly serious, so every time he joked, she would always reveal this expression.
Then after she remained confused for a period of time, she understood what he meant, and smiled faintly, saying—
“Yes.”
•••••••
“…”
Suddenly, a palpitation came from his heart.
So he stopped fighting.
He stopped massacring the monsters around him.
Then Sion Astal focused his attention on that palpitation.
“…”
A strong thundering was coming from his chest.
Something important to his body, started beating strongly.
At first he didn’t understand what happened, but his heart was beating until he wanted to yell loudly.
“…”
He raised his head to the sky.
The blood red sky.
He was now under a sky like this.
But somewhere opposite this sky, there was something strange happening.
Although he didn’t know what had happened yet.
Although he didn’t know what had happened yet.
But these monsters—
“…”
These clones of the Goddess, that had attacked Sion, felt this.
Hundreds of monsters that were unbelievably ugly, raised their heads to the sky.
They looked to the northern sky.
They looked to the distant northern sky.
It seemed like something significant had happened there.
So a beast called.
<Psssssssshhh-->
It let out a piercing shout that humans couldn’t bear.
But Sion understood its meaning. Sion who was no longer human could understand their call.
This was the retreat order from the Goddesses to their clones. So the monsters retreated.
Something worse than ambushing Sion here had probably happened.
It seemed like there was some serious problem, so these monsters needed to go and deal with it.
“…”
Sion pulled off the monster that was hanging on to his shoulder, stamping on it, then raising his hands, muttering: “Begone, monsters.”
A black sword appeared suddenly from behind him, piercing through the monster’s head. Followed by a clatter, the monster’s head disappeared.
Confirming this, he turned to the north again.
He looked at the northern sky.
Then closed his eyes.
Opening them again.
“…”
Following that he was back to reality.
The reality where there were no monsters.
He was now in a carriage.
He was in a carriage where there was a simple desk and bed.
He opened his eyes and found he was lying on a bed. His head ached terribly, it was probably because he had hit his head and lost his consciousness in reality when he was attacked by the Goddess.
He rubbed his temples, raising his head, getting off the simple mattress. Then he opened the carriage door. The outside was still as noisy as ever.
It seemed, he was still on the battle field.
Froaude was waiting outside the carriage, he said with a cold but slightly concerned tone: “…Have you work, Your Majesty.”
Sion nodded, getting off the carriage.
Then he surveyed the situation.
In the end he found that the scenery wasn’t much different from when he had lost consciousness at.
“…This is?” He asked.
Froaude replied: “The area between the lands that used to be the Southern Country of Ali and the Autonomous Holy City of Cassla.”
According to what Froaude said, Sion finally understood that his army had seemed to retreat by quite a distance.
“Have we been outmaneuvered by Remrus?”
Froaude nodded, “Because they used a surprisingly strong weapon.”
“So we didn’t win?”
“No no, this is only a temporary retreat to reorganize our army. And now Field Marshals Claugh Klom and Rahel Miller have gathered the soldiers to make a counter-attack. Because we sent out extraordinary pieces, so we probably can stop them.”
Hearing this report, Sion nodded.
Everyone had probably retreated to protect Sion who had lost consciousness. The morale of the soldiers who had seen Sion collapsed must have been badly affected.
But if they were able to regroup the army in such a short time, start the counter-attack, that meant…
Sion smiled, saying: “It seems that even without me, Roland can conquer the world?”
Froaude smiled too, “Please don’t joke about that—then I will go and spread the news that Your Majesty is already awake to the whole army. Because almost everyone followed Your Majesty to come here, so if you’re not with us, including me, everyone is not motivated.”
He finished saying these words that seemed to be offerings, turned around and left.
“…”
But Sion didn’t stop.
He moved his eyes away from Froaude, looking to the sky again.
He looked to the northern sky.
The sky there seemed to be very sunny.
It was so cloudless that it made him feel comfortable.
But for some reason, somewhere deep in his chest—
“…”
Somewhere deep in his chest felt very uncomfortable.
So he understood something important that would cause a change must have happened.
As if hearing something in the far north let out a cry.
But.
“…”
But even so, Sion chose to keep quiet in the end, not saying anything.
•••••••
“We will win!”
The Geihlficlant king yelled.
So as to increase the soldiers’ motivation, he yelled, almost making his voice hoarse.
In actuality, this war had many benefits for him.
Although he had been cautious because of the information that the strongest power in the northern continent Stohl Empire had been defeated, but in the end if you talked about it optimistically, it would be the side with more soldiers that would win.
There was no other path.
No matter what they did there was no other path, the person who stepped firmly step by step would win.
And Geihlficlant was that country.
No matter whether you were royalty or noble birth, people with no talents could not be acknowledged. People with no results couldn’t be recognized.
Even if it were the prince, if he did not have the ability to deal with it, his position would have been snatched away by the other nobles.
So he had never relaxed his demands towards himself. He had worked hard at disciplining himself since young. Because he was a just prince recognized by everyone.
And he wanted this country to become stronger, more peaceful.
But suddenly the country that he had never heard of called Gastark appeared, and focused its sights on Geihlficlant.
It was said that they had weapons that no one had ever seen before, up till today.
No, they had used it a few times on their way here.
And because those weapons spit flames, it had killed tens of thousands of his soldiers.
But, even so.
“…We will win.”
He thought.
The Geihlficlant army was already completely pressing back the Gastark army.
Furthermore they had ten times the power of the opposing army. If they had an opening, the Gastark army would be easily scattered in a moment.
And if it became a chaotic battle, the other side couldn’t use that strange weapon too. Because if they continued with their plan, they would suffer damages too.
So it would end like that—Gulafed Abuleld thought.
The shining conqueror of the north, the legend of the Gastark Empire, would end here immediately.
But they would leave a reputation. No matter what they had conquered the northern continent.
But in the history after today, their name would only pass down as part of the Geihlficlant Empire.
“…”
Gulafed smiled.
Then he pulled out the sword at his waist.
His horse galloped forward.
On the battle field that was filled with a few large-scale magics and deaths, he calmly galloped forth.
He was this kind of king.
A king who took up the lives of his comrades.
That was why everyone chose him.
They choose him who was fearless and courageous.
Because he was a king who was protected by the people and soldiers.
So the soldiers who desperately protect their selfless king who rushed to the front lines.
So the army strength increased in a moment. Thousands of soldiers moved at an unbelievable pace.
Then Abuleld smiled happily, raising his sword.
Raising his sword high in the air.
This sword was going to clash with the swords of the Gastark army.
He flew there in a straight line, roaring: “That’s enough, you guys!”
The Geihlficlant soldiers answered with an ear-splitting yell—
“Yes--!!!!”
Because of this earth-shattering cry, the Gastark soldiers trembled.
The world shook.
The earth shook.
With the progress of these soldiers who shouted that they wanted to kill the Gastarkians, everything shook.
So Rize shouted: “Too slow!”
He scolded angrily: “What are Lir and the others doing!”
“…”
But Riphal did not answer.
He only watched the Geihlficlant army that was slowly approaching in a huge mass.
All he could see were the green flags and armours of Geihlficlant and his soldiers.
“…Definitely.”
That country must have an extremely wonderful king. He thought.
Or else there wouldn’t be so many soldiers following him.
Even that military country Stohl, their soldiers had weakly shuffled their feet. But this was to be expected, because the royalty and nobles who were in high positions, didn’t follow them onto the battle ground.
But here.
On this battle ground, the Geihlficlant king was on its front lines.
In these nights and days, no matter how many northern countries he had defeated, this had never happened. But it seemed that the Geihlficlant king was this kind of king.
Furthermore.
“…”
Riphal frowned.
Then he thought.
If everything had not been distorted.
If the Goddesses had not devoured this world, if the Hero had not gone bad, if everything was not twisted, he would want to live in the country that was ruled by that kind of king.
To tell the truth he had never thought of ruling the world, much less have this kind of meaningless war.
Because he hated seeing people die.
Be it his companions or enemies.
Because he hated seeing people die.
This was completely meaningless.
No matter how many people he killed, the ending would still be the same.
In the end a country would take over the world.
But that country would be ruined one day.
And then a new struggle would erupt.
Leaving blood, screams and despair.
And people would immediately forget these.
They would make the same mistake.
He himself had never thought of entering this boring killing cycle.
Even if Stohl had killed his parents, he had opposed revenge.
Because there was no meaning.
He had even advised everyone in the village to have a peaceful life under Stohl’s governance.
But.
“…”
But why was he standing here.
Killing people here.
And killing many people.
It was clearly the worst action.
If no one was seeing, if there were no companions fighting by his side, he would probably hate it so much that he would cry.
I clearly only want to live in peace, why does that world disallow for such a small hope to exist.
Forcing him to move forward.
Making him move forward.
Making him move forward and kill people.
Or else in the end, the whole world would be devoured by the Goddess or something like that.
“…”
At this moment, his companions finally returned.
Lir, Sui and Kuu.
In the beginning he had only sent them to confirm the position of the Geihlficlant king, but for some reason the spy that had followed Kiefer returned at this time. And said that Kiefer had escaped his notice, coming to this battle field for some reason.
Hearing this news, Riphal had frantically plead for Lir and the others to save Kiefer.
Riphal looked at Lir who had returned empty-handed, asking: “…Why didn’t you bring Kiefer back?”
Lir looked down, saying: “She said she didn’t want to return to your side.”
Rize who was standing behind Riphal said: “Huh? Is that woman an idiot? She clearly knows what will happen.”
But if she was so adamant on not returning, there was no choice.
“Did she say she wanted to die with Ryner Lute?” Riphal asked.
Lir replied: “…No, the Solver of All Equations is already…”
“Dead?”
“Is this better to do this?”
Riphal nodded, “…Yes. That’s the case. Anyway I can’t save the Solver of All Equations… Even if you brought him back, I would probably kill him here. But even so… Even so, I still wanted to let them have more time together for Kiefer’s sake…”
But, Ryner Lute was already dead.
And Kiefer still hadn’t left the side of the dead Ryner.
Riphal smiled sadly, saying: “…I’ve been dumped again~”
Lir didn’t say anything.
Sui and Kuu and Rize were silent.
Because they already understood what would happen.
Riphal would swing that big sword.
He would swing Glovil down.
He would swing that cursed Sword of Regeneration.
Then everything here would end.
Half of the Geihlficlant soldiers would probably die. The crowd covering this area would disappear in and instant, it could be possible that they might even see the horizon.
And among that, Kiefer’s life would be ended.
“…”
He clearly said that he hated seeing people die, but his hand…
His cursed hands still…
“…Don’t tell me I have to kill the woman I love…” He muttered with a voice as if he were about to cry.
But that sentence was murmured so low that no one could hear it. No, that probably was the small, weak voice that was filled with hate and cursed fate, that sounded in the deepest corner of his chest.
Then he raised his head.
Because he couldn’t cry.
Because he couldn’t cry, and he couldn’t escape.
So he faced the front.
He found that the Geihlficlant army had already reached in front of him.
So he said: “…Let our comrades retreat. I will end this war.”
Lir nodded.
Rize yelled: “His Majesty is going to use Glovil! Retreat!”
The Gastark soldiers yelled happily, the shout to kill all of Geihlficlant soldiers spread.
Both sides were shouting “Kill! Kill! Kill!” as they prepared to clash.
And in the middle of these two armies.
“…”
Riphal Edea stood proudly by himself.
Then he pulled out the large sword on his back.
It didn’t seem like humans could use it—
A long…
Long…
Long…
Black…
Cursed sword.
He slowly raised the sword above his head, lifting his soldiers.
Raising his head, looking at the man who was galloping towards him amongst the front line of the Geihlficlant army.
That man who wore elegant green armour. He raised his sabre, leading the Geihlficlant army. There was the possibility that this man was that country’s king.
But.
“…”
In Riphal’s eyes, there was no reflection of the Geihlficlant king’s figure.
He only used that remaining eye, to look into the distance.
He looked at the other side of the enemy army.
He looked at the people he was about to kill.
He looked at the lives of comrades.
“…Kiefer she…” He murmured.
And he stopped, he didn’t continue. He squashed what he wanted to say back into his chest.
Because he didn’t have the right to explain himself anymore. He no longer had the right to explain what he wanted to do to the people he was going to kill.
So he could only shout like he usually did.
He shouted with that voice as if he were about to cry—
“I…I am a murderer! I am a king of slaying! If you want to curse me, then come! But, even so, I will still swing this sword. So that I can save more lives than I am going to kill now, I will kill you all here!!”
So he, Glovil—
The scenery warped.
The scenery warped.
The world warped with a strangely mushy sound.
And Ryner,
"..."
Had seen this same scene before.
He saw something within the depths of darkness.
The scenery being twisted, crushed, wrapped, and colors melting into each other, staining everything red.
Red.
Red.
Red.
Red.
File:DDnYnD v06 295.jpg
"..."
This was the same scene he saw when he died a while ago. No, the same scene he saw when he thought he died from being stabbed in the chest with a knife.
Then Ryner looked at his hands.
His hands were being stained white.
Not only his hands – but his feet, his chest, his whole body were being stained white as well.
It almost seemed like his own existence was getting weaker – even the outline of his body was fading away.
"...everything is happening the way it did last time..."
He whispered.
Then he looked around.
Everything within his field of vision was being stained red.
And Ryner knew what kind of red it was.
The same shade of red that the pentacle in his eyes had.
A red ceiling.
A crimson floor.
A vermillion wall.
A scarlet corridor the stretches directly ahead.
And Ryner knew where he was.
He was within himself.
Inside his Alpha Stigma.
A monster called Alpha lived here, and...
"..."
A black-haired woman who tried her best to stop its rampage.
And he remembered the woman's face.
He remembered who she was.
Mother.
His own mother.
He didn't know why, but his mother risked her life to prevent the monster from going wild inside Ryner.
Therefore
"..."
Therefore, his mother should be here right now.
And Ryner whispered softly,
"...mother."
But no response came.
There was only the blood-red corridor, stretching infinitely.
So Ryner began walking. He proceeded through the passageway, and saw what he'd seen before.
Beyond the corridor lay an unbelievably huge room.
If I have such a huge and empty hole within me, won't I die of loneliness? These nonsensical thoughts passed through Ryner's head.
That room was red as well.
The sky; the earth; everything was red and wriggled like human insides.
The same as before.
Exactly the same.
Yet somehow different.
Because...
"...there's no voice..."
He said.
Yes.
Last time, a voice came from the skies.
A low and heavy voice that resounded directly in his brain.
It's the same voice that Ryner can only hear when his Alpha Stigma goes berserk, a voice overbearing like that of a god's – however, he can't hear it now.
The red monster who posed as a deity was supposed to live here.
But it wasn't here.
Ryner tried speaking up,
"Is it hiding somewhere...?"
Maybe when Lir gouged out his Alpha Stigma, that monster got devoured by that stone Spunquel and died?
Regardless, nothing was there.
Ryner emerged from the corridor and stepped into the room. He mused to himself as he walked on,
"...maybe everything's a dream? I'm already dead, so I'm seeing things during my last moments...or..."
Am I in hell?
That's one possibility, he thought.
He killed lots of people when his Alpha Stigma went berserk, after all.
Such a monster could never hope for heaven.
And he failed to protect his friends...
"..."
Ferris and Kiefer and Toale and Voice and Arua and Kuku and Sion and – no, he failed pretty much everyone.
Someone like that wouldn't go to heaven after he died.
So,
"...is this hell?"
He whispered, and something replied.
<<That's right.>>
Something replied.
However, the voice came from the heavens. A voice from the skies that battered directly at his head.
But it wasn't the overbearing voice that resounded when his Alpha Stigma went berserk.
This voice sounded somewhat sleepy and lazy.
Ryner lifted up his face and asked,
"Who is it?"
The voice laughed.
"Just 'ahaha' doesn't tell me anything."
And the voice said,
<<You should be able to understand by just looking, right?>>
Ryner scowled,
"Where?"
<<Straight ahead. Right in front of you.>>
The voice said.
So Ryner turned to the front again, and discovered that the scenery had changed sometime in between.
Not completely – everything was still stained red -, but two people appeared without his notice.
One of them was a woman.
A woman with beautiful and long black hair. A woman with a gentle face. A face that evoked such nostalgia in him, that he was nearly driven to tears just by the sight of her.
It was his mother.
His mother lay on the red floor, looking like she was asleep.
And a man gently held her in his arms.
Ryner took a look at that man.
"..."
And was at a loss of words.
Because...
"..."
The man was himself.
However, he wore strange clothes. Ridiculous ones like that of a clown, and a tear drop was tattooed below his left eye.
He looked towards Ryner with that left eye and smiled gently.
<<Hi there. So we finally meet.>>
He said in a friendly tone.
Ryner scrutinized the clown that looked exactly like himself, and said
"Who are you?"
The clown merely shrugged his shoulders in reply.
<< I'm you.>>
"Huh?"
<<You. Your sleeping self.>>
"I don't get it..."
However, the clown interrupted his words.
<<It's also correct to say that I'm half of "Ryner Eris Reed"[the Lonesome Demon] – the Solver of All Equations. But in the end, I'm still you.>>
He said.
But Ryner couldn't understand what those words meant. Seeing this, the clown smiled kindly.
<<It's alright if you don't understand it right now. You'll eventually get it.>>
"Really?"
<<Yep.>>
"I see..."
Ryner said and looked around him,
"So, where's that monster?"
He asked.
The clown replied,
<<You mean Alpha?>>
"Yeah."
<<He ran. Because I – no, you woke up...if you fully awakened, Alpha wouldn't be able to do anything about it.>>
That's what he said, but Ryner couldn't understand a word.
But it doesn't matter, because he has more important matters to attend to.
"..."
Ryner gazed at the woman lying before him; at the black-haired and gentle-looking woman.
And said,
"...so"
"So, is mother released now? She has been holding back Alpha for my sake, didn't she?"
The clown nodded, and gently caressed his mother's black hair,
<<She's been released.>>
He said.
Ryner's eyes widened at this. Pentagrams no longer appeared in his eyes. He opened his curse-free eyes – looking almost as if they've never been cursed in the first place - and ran towards his mother's side.
But the clown said,
<<Then she died.>>
He said.
<<She abandoned everything to protect you. She really is a kind person.>>
Those were his words.
And Ryner stopped himself. He looked at the woman on the floor.
His mother.
His mother, who risked her life and continued to protect him all these years, even though he himself forgot her name, her face and even her figure.
"...sh-she died?"
He said.
But the clown didn't answer. He merely looked towards Ryner in sympathy.
"..s-she died..but I, I haven't even said anything to..."
However, the clown replied.
<<Your feelings were conveyed to her.>>
"But..."
<<And you still have things to do, no? She's already dead, but you're not dead yet.>>
The clown said.
Ryner stared at the clown who resembled himself,
"I'm...not dead?"
<<That's right. And you have to protect your friends –no, we have to protect our friends. That's what we've decided, right? We want to save everything we see. If even monsters like us can save someone - then we'd want to save everything – we've decided, haven't we?>>
"..."
Hearing those words, he suddenly remembered.
What he should do.
What he had to do from now on.
And who he is.
So Ryner looked at the clown.
He looked at the clown who was the splitting image of himself, and said.
"You are..."
He felt the depths of his chest shake.
The very insides of his chest trembled.
Then he opened his mouth.
And his voice,
<<...I am...I am a demon who became mad to save Sion, huh...>>
His voice came from the heavens.
"..."
Ryner opened his eyes.
He saw the faces of his friends.
The faces of Ferris and Kiefer.
Both of them looked on the brink of crying.
No, they were actually crying.
They were crying and pushing Derunio onto his body like everything depended on it.
And they hadn't realized that Ryner was awake already.
"..."
On the side, Toale was talking to Vois with a troubled face.
And Ryner tried to say,
"...ah~"
He tried to speak up,
"...I'm beat."
Ferris and Kiefer turned around in an instant. Their eyes widened in surprise.
"Ryner!?"
Kiefer shouted and embraced him.
And Ferris...
"..."
She hurriedly tried to wipe her tears, but her attempts only made it worse. She turned away and shouted in anger.
"I-idiot! You sure took your sweet time!"
Ryner smiled wryly.
Toale came towards him with a happy face and extended his hand.
Ryner took it and pulled himself upright. He now realized that he's standing in a sea of blood. He was probably healed by Derunio absorbing the blood here.
His left arm was attached. His right arm was torn into shreds and missing, but the wound had closed, at least.
Ryner glanced at his arm, and immediately turned towards his two comrades.
As expected, Kiefer and Ferris were drenched in blood from standing in that sea of blood.
"...sorry. I made you worry."
Ryner whispered.
Ferris still refused to turn around and didn't even give him a reply.
"Ah~ That's great. So you did wake up, as expected."
Vois butted in, and Ryner turned towards him.
" 'As expected' my ass. You lied, didn't you?"
Vois smiled at his words, and tilted his head.
"About what?"
"About my eyes and what the Goddess said about them. What was it again? Er, Alpha is..."
Vois gleefully finished the sentence.
"Alpha – the power of destruction that lies within you is one of the most powerful types – was that what you meant? Yes. That was a complete lie."
Vois admitted curtly, even though he lied about an important thing that he really shouldn't have.
Ryner replied with a bored face.
"Don't screw with me. Alpha escaped."
Vois seemed a bit surprised at this.
"Hmm. So Alpha escaped...because it's afraid of Glovil?"
He asked, but Ryner shook his head.
And Vois grinned happily.
"Afraid of you?"
He asked, his expression smug as if he expected everything.
"..."
Ryner was getting more annoyed by the minute, so he stopped replying.
But, Vois kept speaking.
"So, did you find out who you are?"
"..."
"Everything went according to my words, right? If you came here, you'd find out..."
"...ahh geez. Shut up. Stop making such a big deal about it."
Ryner said, and Vois replied
"Well, you're having a talk with me later, but at least answer me this. I'm sure everyone here wants an answer..."
Vois paused. Ryner felt a slightly nervous air around Vois.
So, when Vois said
"...it's about Glovil, can you..."
Ryner interrupted.
"I can deal with it."
He detached himself from Kiefer's embrace and turned around. He stared at the real world he had come back to. A world filled with slaughter.
He gazed at the battlefield with eyes whose sight should've been stolen by Lir.
"..."
A tear shape floated within his eyes. A tear drop that flickered in blue, red, white, and all the iridescent colors.
Reflected in those eyes were things beyond this world.
The composition of all magic.
The composition of all humans.
The composition of all matter.
The composition of all Rule Fragments can be seen.
And he knew how to undo them.
Vois questioned from behind.
"...so, in the end, who are you?"
"A lonesome demon who happened to be very good at solving puzzles."
Ryner said without turning around.
He stared into the distance.
And saw, in the distance, a monster being born.
Perhaps no one else can see this scene. Maybe, not even the Gastarkians who summoned that could see it.
The scene is happening in a world overlapping with reality, but different.
A giant snake descended from the skies. A snake with white scales, whose body is huge enough to cover the entire sky.
The snake opened its mouth. From its mouth, another monster – no, the face of a beautiful girl with long, pink hair appeared and said
<<O, contractor...I shall answer your call again>>
The girl cast her voice downwards.
A quiet, quiet, quiet, yet overbearing voice.
A cursed voice that resounds directly in a human's head.
<< I shall answer. I shall answer. Come, offer the price. Offer it, and release my power.>>
Her voice coaxed.
The monster cast her voice downwards, and coaxed the feeble human.
And the contractor answered. The contractor replied, sacrificing his own body to gain power.
It seemed like the weapon Glovil had to be activated that way.
A human, offering his life to the monster to unlock its true power.
File:DDnYnD v06 319.jpg
And the girl laughed.
She seemed to be laughing at the foolish antics of man.
She laughed softly, looking down on everything.
And
<<...the contract is finished. Releasing my power.>>
After she said that, a red light appeared from afar.
A light in the shade of blood was released violently into the world.
Ryner began,
"...everyone step back. I'm cancelling Glovil's mag..."
But his words stopped.
Because another voice came from the skies.
<<Ha, ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha>>
It was a voice he knew very well.
One that he heard over and over again.
The voice that descended whenever Ryner's Alpha Stigma went berserk.
The voice of the monster that kept tormenting him.
"..."
No, the monster that killed his mother-
"Alpha, huh..."
Ryner said and looked up towards that voice.
And it was there.
The monster that he once met in his eyes.
A beast as big as Glovil's floating body descended towards him.
Red skin in the shade of blood.
Eyes even redder than that.
Vermillion pentacles in the depths of its eyes.
Sharp fangs.
Sharp claws.
Gigantic wings.
However, those wings weren't flapping. They were merely swaying lazily, and the beast ignored gravity as is floated down slowly.
No, the concept of gravity that governs the plane of humans might not even exist in this world.
Ferris, Kiefer and the others probably couldn't see the monster. No, Ryner himself wouldn't be able to see it either if not for the power of the Solver of All Equations in his eyes.
All they heard were voices coming from the sky.
Voices like that of gods' descended from the sky, and humans feared.
However, Ryner looked up at Alpha with bored eyes.
Seeing that, Alpha smiled with its mouthful of teeth.
<<Ha, hahaha, ahahahaha, so you see me, so you see me, demon...so finally, you have stepped beyond the boundaries of man, just like that mad hero...>>
Ryner interrupted.
"Shut up, monster."
<<Bold words. But what can a mere human do by gaining just a bit of power? You're no longer protected by Artofaal. Nothing stands against my power now.>>
The beast finished, and bit into his own wings. He tore out his own teeth and sank his arms into his chest.
And gradually, the seal that had restricted the monster began to break. The restraints that his mother cast on the monster to hold him back – to prevent it from going on a rampage and killing Ryner – were being torn off.
And another monster tried to come out from the beast's body. The beast's chest was ripped apart and torn open,
"..."
And a giant spider with a human-like head emerged from within. Its whole body was red. A giant spider with a blood-red body. The spider opened its mouth and began devouring the body of the beast which looked like the demons in fairytales. It began devouring the Curse of Artofaal that Ryner's mother created.
And the human-like head above its mouth looked towards Ryner.
Actually, the face didn't have eyes, so Ryner didn't know whether it's staring at him or not, but it definitely turned towards him.
Ryner looked back.
At the face without eyes, a nose, a mouth or ears. It was simply an egg-shaped and blood-red head, and infinite amounts of pentacles that shone even redder appeared and disappeared before it.
And that head, with all its flickering pentacles, looked towards him. Looked down on him.
Ryner scowled.
"So that's your true form."
As expected, Alpha laughed. "Hahahahahahaha". It laughed with a powerful voice that made heads spin.
And...
<<That's right. And how would you call me? God. Demon. Devil. Hero. Monster. How would you...>>
However, Ryner extended his hand.
And with his eyes - eyes that were shining with prism tears -, he looked up at the ugly spider and muttered.
"...how would I call you? Hah! You're just a spider, aren't you?"
He said and moved his fingers slightly. A light appeared at his fingertip.
Then he looked up.
"...the spider's..."
And even turned his gaze towards the snake on the other side.
"And the snake's equations analyzed. Terminating their existences..."
But stopped right there.
He saw something grasping his left arm.
It was woman's arm.
At first, he thought that it belonged to Ferris or Kiefer.
But immediately dismissed that idea.
After all, humans shouldn't be able to come to this unnatural world.
So, who...
Who is it...
"..."
Ryner looked towards the woman grabbing his arm.
But it wasn't a woman.
No, it wasn't even human.
It had a long hair and a nicely shaped body.
But it didn't have eyes. It had eyeholes, but no eyes. Insect-like beings gushed out from its eyeholes, and it bit on Ryner's arm with its horizontal mouth filled with teeth.
"...a Goddess huh."
Ryner scowled and turned his gaze towards the Goddess.
"Terminating existence..."
But stopped again. He felt a great pain in his right shoulder. Something tore into him.
One after each other, his legs, back and neck were being torn into.
Ryner turned around in response.
And saw dozens of the Goddess' monsters.
Then, voices came down again.
Alpha's voice.
Voices of the Goddesses' doubles.
<<Don't get cocky, demon...we've decided to finish you off here...resistance is futile...you...all of you are going to perish here.>>
They said.
And Alpha released one vermillion pentacle from his face.
Not towards Ryner, but the ground.
The pentacle engraved itself on the earth.
And the ground twisted with red.
A hole opened from the distortion, and what looked like brown dirt gushed out. Then came the soldiers with green armor. Then the blue sky. Then the voices of humans.
Everything was being turned inside out, with the hole as the center. The alternate world was slowly transformed into the real world.
However, Alpha was still there.
An unbelievably huge spider monster, whose existence shouldn't even be allowed in the human world, appeared.
Just by raising its leg, soldiers around the spider were blown to smithereens, before they even touched its leg.
Humans were rendered speechless before such an unusual sight.
Speechless before the appearance of a monster that looked like it came straight from a fairytale.
But the screams began immediately.
The screams of madness began immediately.
<<Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaahahahahahahhaaaaaaahahahah know fear, humans! Tremble, humans! I am God, demon, devil, hero, a monster who'll slaughter all of you...come, scream for me!>>
Alpha roared.
It released vermillion pentacles from its face into all directions. When they hit humans, their blood boiled and exploded from within.
It was different from the power that Ryner used before. When he went berserk and released pentacles, the power within them was different.
Most likely, Alpha was merely abusing the power of the Solver of All Equations.
"...now you're just a monster."
Ryner groaned.
Ferris' voice came from behind.
"W-what is that..."
Ryner didn't turn around.
"The monster within me."
"Why is it out here?"
"Because I'm weak. But I'll stop it now."
"But, such a monster..."
However, Ryner interrupted her words.
"Hey, Ferris..."
"Hmm?"
"I've always made you worry, and you were the one who kept protecting me, but this time, I'll..."
He said.
"I'll do the protecting."
With those words, he took at step forward. His body felt incredibly heavy. The Goddess' doubles were swarming around his body and tearing into him in the alternate world, and he found it a bit hard to move.
But he ignored that and moved forward. Then he extended his hand towards Alpha.
Alpha laughed at this.
He laughed madly.
<<Hahahahahaha, hahhahahahahahaha, you can't do it. You won't be able to. The weakness in your heart won't let you.>>
Ryner ignored the words that Alpha cast down, and weaved light patterns in the air with his finger.
However, the spider monster still laughed.
<< I said you can't do it! Your power is too immense, so you can't use it in this world. If you do, you'll erase the entire landscape. So, you won't use your power. That's why I chose this place for your burial. Because you, with your weak and fragile heart, can't kill humans...you can only kill that monstrous snake in the alternate world. You can't kill...>>
Someone spoke up behind him.
"...you can do it. Right, Ryner?"
Vois said.
"You are our king. If you saved us here, then you'd truly be our king, both in name and..."
But Ryner interrupted him.
He cut off Vois' words.
"It's not about big things like that. The spider was right. I am a weak human. Not a monster, just a fragile human. And because humans are sad creatures...because they're weak and sad creatures, they cannot choose everything."
He said, and remembered Sion's face.
Sion, who was smiling as tears flowed down his cheeks in the rain.
He kept making choices.
The ones that are the hardest to make.
And in the end, he cried. He cried, and disappeared.
But if he was really that troubled, why didn't he talk to me? That's what I thought.
Why didn't he tell me to save him? I thought.
He said that I'm his greatest friend.
He said that I'm his companion.
Why did he heave all those burdens upon himself?
"..."
But, I was wrong.
He couldn't have talked to me.
Because I..
"..."
I didn't bear anything.
All I did was run away.
I selfishly proclaimed that I wanted to save everything, but all I did was run away without shouldering anything.
That's why Sion disappeared while crying.
But it's different now.
It'll be different from now on.
I wanted to stand beside him – not just by talk – but truly stand beside him.
But for that, I need to shoulder my own burdens.
I need to move on.
"If...if I'm not a monster, but a human..."
I need to move on.
Because I like Ferris.
Because I like Kiefer.
Because I like Toale.
Vois...well, I wonder?
And Milk, and Lafra, and Arua, and Kuku, and Fahl, Tyle, Toni, and Sion as well.
"Because I like humans...so..."
Ryner said and raised his hand.
He felt something on his face. Felt his own tears flowing down his cheek.
However, he still said,
"So, I'll move on."
And released a light from his fingertip.
A light that undoes all equations.
For an instant, Alpha looked surprised. But it really was for an instant.
Alpha was caught in the light immediately, and its very existence was erased.
But the light didn't stop there.
It couldn't be controlled by Ryner's will anymore. Slowly but surely, like a pandemic, the light spread out into the world.
It expanded in front of Ryner in the shape of a fan.
And the humans touched by the light all turned into sand.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Tens of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands.
An unbelievable amount of humans were erased by the light and turned into sand.
And the light clashed with the red light that Glovil unleashed.
By that time, almost no one was left in front of Ryner.
Glovil's light and Ryner's light had killed most of them.
Then, Glovil's and Ryner's powers negated each other and disappeared.
"..."
It seems like their powers were almost equal.
And only despair remained.
Nothing that resembled a human figure could be seen.
More than a million people were erased, but the plains merely stretched on as if nothing had happened.
The sky was clear.
Most relaxing.
Ryner looked at the sky
"...I killed..."
He began, but was cut off by Ferris.
"No! You...you just protected us!"
She shouted.
She shouted with all her might.
Ryner smiled bitterly at that.
He smiled bitterly at her kindness. Normally, she'd swing around her sword and never stop yapping about dango, but at times like this, she'd be so kind. He felt like crying. But he won't. Not anymore.
"Yeah..."
He merely nodded.
"Yeah, you're right."
He merely nodded.
And mused to himself.
He killed to protect his friends.
That's...alright. It's a reason that he can accept, he thought.
But it's not something that he should do, whether he accepted it or not. It's not something he can forgive himself for. There's no way he can live on smiling sheepishly after killing more than a million people.
That's why Sion cried.
And even the King of Gastark-
Even Rephael Edea must be moving forward while crying, isn't he? Ryner thought faintly.
But nothing is going to change by just thinking about it.
Ryner closed his eyes.
And moved his consciousness into the alternate world again.
As usual, the Goddess' doubles were biting into his body.
Ryner narrowed his eyes.
"..well, that's that. What are you going to do about it?"
He said.
And the Goddess' doubles shivered in fear.
<<...you monster...>>
They say.
But Ryner smiled sadly.
"Sorry, but I'm a human, saddeningly so."
He said, and grabbed one of the Goddesses that was tearing into him.
"Disappear."
And it was done.
All the Goddesses detached themselves from Ryner
<<Orders for retreat.>>
They said.
"Then go. But tell this to your boss – since you guys bullied Sion, I'm not going to forgive you."
Ryner said. He raised his hands, and lowered his voice
"...tell her that I'll come and kill her one day."
And the Goddess' doubles hurriedly ran away from the alternate world that Ryner had created.
Ryner nodded and looked at the sky again.
The snake monster was still there.
A girl's head emerged from its mouth and smiled. Her hair was the same shade as that of the Gastarkians.
Then
-I thought I could meet you here. Hello, Mister Demon.
She said.
Ryner replied,
"Who are you? The structure of your equation is a bit different from that of the Goddesses or Alpha..."
The girl answered:
-I am Glovil. The lover of Riphal Edea.
"Lover?"
-Yes. I am a woman sent forth for the sole purpose of crossing with him.
"...sole purpose of crossing...um, I'm not really getting it...but, you're a monster, right?"
-Ahaha.
"Well, 'ahaha' doesn't really tell me anything...ah~ geez. So, you knew you can meet me here, and what did you come for?"
Ryner asked, and the girl answered.
-I just came to see. To see whether we can kill the mad demon. Whether we can kill the mad hero. In truth, the Goddesses aren't the enemy. The ones who mess up this world are always you two.
"..."
Ryner narrowed his eyes at her words.
He couldn't understand what the girl was saying.
"...the ones who mess up the world are always the demon and the hero? That..."
-Don't think too hard about it. You're mad with love anyways, so you won't reach the right conclusion. But...right. It's a bit troubling. Your power is beyond my expectations...
She stopped, and looked like she had a sudden epiphany.
-Well, I'm still glad that I could meet you. I wonder, will I meet you again, or will I meet the hero next? I don't know, but that's it for today. I'm going back to my beloved hero's sword. So, see you.
The girl said and returned to the snake's mouth.
And the snake disappeared.
Ryner looked at the empty space it left behind.
"..."
Suddenly, his body lost all strength. He couldn't even stand anymore. He fell on his knees and onto the ground.
"Ryner!?"
He vaguely heard Kiefer shouting.
Ryner opened his eyes.
And returned to the real world again.
Kiefer and Toale were trying their best to support Ryner, who was crumbling to the ground.
He looked at their faces.
"...ah, sorry. I'm just really worn out, and sorta sleepy..."
He said, and Toale smiled.
And so did Kiefer, who looked to be on the verge of tears.
"Ryner, you're always sleepy."
She forced herself to say in a bright voice.
A voice that conveyed her feelings, that she didn't mind what Ryner just did.
"..."
And Ryner was deep in thought.
Maybe he really isn't a monster anymore, he thought.
Because he was loved and helped by such kind companions, and maybe, simply by being amongst them, he'd become human.
Of course, he had committed an unforgivable sin.
He can't turn back now, for he had opened the gates of hell.
Despite all that, he realized that he was still human.
"..."
He was a weak, sad human that would kill to protect his friends, after all.
"..."
He realized that Ferris was looking at him behind Kiefer. Looking at him with a somewhat incompetent face that spoke of both her desire to come forth and her hesitance to do so.
To think that they'd want to stay at the side of a monster who just killed over a million people..such idiots.
But in the end, all humans are idiots.
Including himself, all of them are idiots, saddeningly so.
Imperfect beings that would hurt one another if they got too close, but would also die of loneliness if they weren't at each other sides.
So, Ryner smiled.
He smiled gently at her.
"..."
And Ferris gladly returned his smile.
♦
And the battle ended.
An unusual battle in which over a million soldiers disappeared in an instant; in which a gigantic spider went on a rampage, had come to an end.
And this piece of news spread throughout the world like fire.
With an impact that far surpassed the news of Gastark defeating the Steol Empire, this piece of information made its way throughout the world.
Accompanied by rumors and highly exaggerated retellings, it was passed on from person to person.
And the entire structure of the world is threatening to change-
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
"......"
But the leader had realized that it would come to this.
She said that a demon was about to be born.
A sad, lonesome demon who is easily driven to tears.
She said that he was a weak being who'd die immediately if left alone.
A weak being who'd die right away if no one helped him.
Because he was too kind.
He was too kind, and he loved the hero too much-
He'd be driven mad immediately.
That's why
"...I have to come and get you."
He, Tiir Rumibul, whispered.
The signal for war could be heard.
The shouts of the opposing soldiers could be heard.
Then an offensive magic that was large-scale enough by several times was activated.
The scenery in front of his eyes was filled with red, blue yellow and other coloured magical activations, as if it were the reflection of the fantasy world, but for some reason, it had a feeling as if it were fake like a mere reflection in the water mirror.
At least up until today there wasn’t the appearance of an activation of a spell that could kill hundreds, thousands of people in a moment.
If it wasn’t using the Alpha Stigma to watch.
If it wasn’t seen with the Alpha Stigma that could see through all magicks, this probably would look like a fire.
“…”
Ryner narrowed his eyes.
He was now with the Geihlficlant army, the squad that King Gulafed Abuleld personally led, they were near the rear of the nine hundred and ninety thousand soldiers.
That meant that they were very far away from the front lines.
No, even now, even if it were the soldiers closest to the front lines, they shouldn’t be fighting yet. They were now within the distance where a large-scale magic could be used to decrease the numbers on each side.
And that attack, should clearly show Geihlficlant’s advantage.
No matter what, according to Vois, the numbers of Geihlficlant should be twenty four times the numbers that Gastark bought down from the northern continent. Even this squad was around two times of the enemies’ numbers. And other soldiers were surrounding Gastark.
Then it seemed as if they were going to use a circular large-scale magic.
Under normal circumstances, Gastark had no way to block this magic attack. No, it may even be that this squad didn’t even need to cross swords with the Gastark army.
The difference in strength was so large that there was a possibility that because of Geihlficlant’s large-scale magic, Gastark would be destroyed immediately, and this side wouldn’t even suffer any casualties.
So now the soldiers were not nervous at all. Only following the signal, the mage soldiers started to chant the verse for the large-scale magic. But now they didn’t know if there was a need to release it. Because there was no guarantee that they would be able to bear the magic from Gastark’s lines.
So the soldiers weren’t too nervous, slowly expanding their magic.
“…”
But as Ryner watched them, he said: “…Gastark will immediately use the Heroes’ Relic… Ah no, it’s that, called Rhule Fragmei right? They will immediately use that.”
Vois who was on a horse beside him replied: “Of course. Or else they won’t have a chance of winning.”
“But we are going to stop that Rhule Fragmei?”
“It seems to be the case. Geihlficlant who started late in collecting Rhule Fragmei passed the collection duty to us Anti-Roland Coalition and the Azure Princess, so not only do they not have limited knowledge on how to use theRhule Fragmei, their numbers are low too. They have no way to defend against Gastark who knew about the existence of the Rhule Fragmei earlier.”
Ryner looked at Vois, asking: “But you… no, the Anti-Roland Coalition can defend against it?”
Vois smiled faintly, “Possibly not. About the research on Rhule Fragmei, Gastark is the most detailed, and they had a large number of Rhule Fragmeis that we don’t know about, and they have researched thoroughly on the methods on which to use them.”
“Huh? Then the explanation you told us about those Rhule Fragmei…”
Vois nodded, “Yes. If we want to fight with Gastark, that number is not enough. But, as long as we stop a few attacks from the Rhule Fragmei, that is enough. Because no matter what, the difference in manpower is too great. If Geihlficlant can take the opportunity after the attack from Gastark’s Rhule Fragmei to break into Gastark, then victory will be decided.”
“Did you raise this suggestion to the Geihlficlant king?”
Vois shook his head, “No, I told him we would stop all of the Rhule Fragmeis, so please do not worry.”
Ryner frowned, “Isn’t that a complete lie?”
“My job is to con people.”
“I know that, even if you didn’t say it. Then, let us work hard to prevent the Rhule Fragmei of the enemy from killing people.” Ryner said these words that could not be treated as a joke.
So Vois laughed, “Just as long as our companions don’t die, it’s fine. And we only need to defend against a few of the attacks from the Rhule Fragmei, and Geihlficlant will defeat Gastark. After that that would be the main point of this war. That is Ryner you will bring endless despair to Gastark. Ah, that is a wonderful plan. It clearly is a war that can end everything, but our companions are all safe and sound~” Saying this speech as if he didn’t think too carefully about it, Vois looked at Ryner, continuing: “—Then use this motivation to work hard.”
Ryner didn’t look at Vois, saying: “How disgusting.”
Then he stared into the distance.
He discovered that the first wave of large-scale magic had already been released from Gastark.
And so that the waves would neutralize each other, Geihlficlant had released their magic too.
And there were eight spells.
Such a large attack, Gastark definitely would not be able to defend against it.
Then they would definitely use the Rhule Fragmei. And they would definitely release it in a place where these eight large-scale magics would be neutralised.
That meant.
“They would come here.” Ryner said.
Vois nodded: “Then block that. Ryner, according to what I taught use that Rhule Fragmei…”
Ryner pulled out a few things that resembled amulets and rings and a small cylindrical stone that Vois had given him.
These things were all Rhule Fragmei, and they all had different effects. He picked out a ring, then returned the rest into the bag at his waist.
Vois laughed again, saying: “You picked the Rhule Fragmei that specializes in defense again… People who don’t have the courage to kill their enemies wouldn’t be able to protect their companions?”
But Ryner replied without being affected: “What we need to do is to minimize the sacrifices, until the enemy uses the unknown weapon that is stronger than the Rhule Fragmei, right? Then this kind of meaningless slaughter…”
“You wouldn’t do it?”
“Yeah.”
“But if this would ask for your lives as a price, then what would you do?”
“…”
“If, because you are unable to control the attack for the enemy, and cause your companions, Ferris, Kiefer, Toale and rest to die, wouldn’t you regret it?”
“…”
“Well, that doesn’t mean that it would be fine if you regret it if they really died, but if the companion that died were me, then it would be troublesome…” Vois pulled out a red amulet, simply throwing it into the sky.
Then said.
“Explode, Demonic Beast Destroyer.”
In that moment.
The amulet started to absorb the light around it. As if wanting to suck away all the light in this world, strongly, strongly, strongly, that amulet took in all the light, then exploded.
An unbelievably intense light flew towards the place where the Gastark soldiers were.
But at the same time, a rainbow light flashed near Gastark.
Ryner had seen that light once.
It was in the past when the destructive light of Demonic Beast Destroyer that Vois had been using had been devoured by a glowing bug swarm.
Tens of thousands, millions of rainbow coloured bugs danced in the sky, started to devour the Demonic Beast Destroyer that Vois had released.
Vois had a slightly disappointed expression, saying: “Ah, Gastark is using Divine Parasite Bugs... Then the Rhule Fragmei of the ‘-arms’ series are uneffective. And Gastark will want to test if we have any Rhule Fragmei on this side that can erase ‘-arms’ light…”
At this moment, the sky above the Gastark army darkened suddenly.
Then Vois said: “It seems that it’s here. And the opponents are using five at one go. This isn’t aimed at us. You understand that?”
Ryner was unable to respond.
Only because he was quite familiar with what Gastark had done so far, so Ryner frowned.
What Gastark wanted to do.
It was unquestionably war.
This matter was clearly displayed in front of him. The enemy really wanted to kill everyone here.
Why did they use five Demonic Beast Destroyer but didn’t aim it at the main body of the Geihlficlant troops?
That was because their side had just used Rhule Fragmei.
That meant that the other side could use Rhule Fragmei, and that showed that they had a Rhule Fragmei that could neutralize the Demonic Beast Destroyer like them.
Then, they would use the Rhule Fragmei to attack other areas, attack those troops that did not have Rhule Fragmei and kill all of them.
Besides because Rhule Fragmei had so much power that it could allow one person to overthrow a country, so normally only the higher ups had the authorization to use it.
Well, this was natural.
Because there were idiots who would use Rhule Fragmei to kill each other after entering the dangerous battle field, and possibly they could wipe out their own army.
So now, only the Geihlficlant king and Ryner had those Rhule Fragmei with large-scale destructive powers.
Gastark probably had a few elite people who had Rhule Fragmei too.
So now, Gastark was releasing five Demonic Beast Destroyers to attack the main pillar of their army, and they were unstoppable.
So Gastark could kill Geihlficlant soldiers with a one-sided war.
And even if they encountered a situation where they were blocked, Gastark would immediately know that there was a Geihlficlant personnel who was important enough to wield this Rhule Fragmei.
No matter what situation, Gastark could gain information beneficial to themselves, through the Rhule Fragmei’s attacks.
And now, the situation in front of them, should be the first case.
The soldiers in the target region of the Demonic Beast Destroyer, moved into a defensive position—
“…”
At this moment, the light exploded.
The strong light exploded.
Then the sky returned to its original brightness.
It returned to the sky that had warm sun rays.
But the situation on the battle field had been changed greatly.
The soldiers who were not nervous until just now, were all crying.
It was to be expected.
Because the Geihlficlant numbers had been decreased by ten thousand in a moment.
More than ten thousand lives were gone in a moment.
This scene was so abnormal that even if the mind could accept it, the body was unable to react.
The power that was so strong that humans should not wield it, was rampaging on this battle ground.
Then Vois raised his face to look over, “Ah, in a moment many of our companions have died~. Although it was lucky that Ferris and the others weren’t there, but no one would know what’s going to happen next. So, go and quickly kill the enemies…”
At this moment a woman spoke from behind, “Shut up, Vois.”
Ryner turned around, finding that Ferris had appeared behind him on a horse. And Toale and Kiefer were behind her.
Seeing his companions appear after ten thousand people had disappeared from the battle field, Ryner’s emotions became heavier.
But Ferris ignored Ryner who was feeling down, telling Vois: “Don’t bully Ryner. Or else the person who would be frustrated because he is depressed will be you. If you bully him too much then what would happen if he escaped again?”
Ryner smiled bitterly, looking at her, “Ah, I don’t deny that point.”
“Because that’s the truth. And you have the history of escaping. When was that? I remember that was when a man called Tiir appeared…”
“Ah~ No, that was…”
But Ferris interrupted him, continuing, “Then the two of you casually ran off to play with women, and you let one get pregnant, in the end you escaped while saying that you didn’t want to take responsibility…”
“Hey, what are you talking about…”
But Kiefer suddenly cut into Ryner’s words, saying with a slightly serious expression: “Ah? Ah? What’s that, I didn’t know about that.”
So Ferris revealed a smug smile that said ‘you people don’t understand it, huh’, and for some reason, Vois seemed to nod, accepting this explanation.
“No, Ryner’s decision was right. Basically, escaping everything can escape responsibility, that’s the motto by which we swindlers live by…”
“Hey, I say! What nonsense are you talking about!” Ryner yelled angrily. Then he looked at Ferris with a defeated expression. He looked at her, even though she had seen thousands of soldiers disappear in front of her, even if the soldiers surrounding her had fallen into confusion, but she was still making these lame jokes, saying: “…Because I can’t escape, so stop teasing me.”
Ferris smiled again, “Bullying you is my hobby.”
“I know.”
“Then tolerate it.” Ferris said happily, but she still had a concerned expression.
Ryner looked at Ferris, nodding, replying: “Yeah.”
Then he moved his eyes from her, turning back to the battle ground, saying: “Well, because there’s nothing worse than you bullying me. So anyway there will be some way…”
Then he started to think of how they should move.
Looking at the battle in front of him that was using Rhule Fragmei in war for the first time in history, he started to think of the direction that they should head in after today.
Anyway for some reason, Vois had handed the command post of the soldiers to Ryner.
Vois’s subordinates and Toale’s soldiers numbered three thousand strong.
Although they had slightly lesser people compared to Gastark and Geihlficlant, but even so there was three thousand people.
Three thousand lives.
This was now Ryner’s burden.
This was the case where he could say “Ah how troublesome so I’ll leave first” and escape.
It was completely different from before.
“…”
It was already different from when he would escape from before Sion and Ferris.
Because I am carrying the weight of many people’s lives.
And I carry the intentions of my companions who believe in me—although it’s slightly irritating since it sounds innocent.
“…”
So he looked behind him again.
Looking at Ferris, Kiefer and Toale’s faces.
Looking at the companions who had come to the accursed battle field with him.
He thought.
At least, I have to let these people leave this place alive.
At this moment, Vois said: “Then we should officially start. The war has already begun. What should we do after this, Your Majesty.”
Ryner frowned, saying slightly accusingly: “What Your Majesty.” Then asked: “Oh yeah, Ferris.”
“Eh?”
“Where are Iris and the others?”
“They’re at the back.”
“Behind us?”
“Yeah. It’s the end of the Geihlficlant army. If it’s there even if we are killed by Heroes’ Relics, even if the soldiers behind us are killed, Iris’s side shouldn’t be too badly affected…”
But Vois interrupted her, “They will be affected. Even if it is the Rhule Fragmei from the ‘-arms’ series, there are types where they can fly a long distance in a straight line. Gastark is clear about the power of Geihlficlant. If they use it, then they will use the strongest one. As long as they are on the battle ground, there is no safe place…”
But this time Ryner interrupted him, “But it will be fine if we block all their attacks. It will be fine if we stop all the attacks from the Rhule Fragmei here, right?”
Vois smiled and nodded, “That’s right. His Majesty has finally said something reliable, I’m so happy.”
“So~ I told you don’t call me Majesty.”
“Ah? Then how should I address you?”
Ferris replied: “How about King Pervert?”
“Let’s use that!”
“Hey so I said, can you be more serious! Although this isn’t the front line, but this is still the battle field? We’re still in the range of the attacks from the Rhule Fragmeis?”
Vois nodded, telling Ferris angrily: “That’s right Ferris. So be more serious!”
Ferris nodded too, turning to Kiefer and saying: “Yes red-haired woman! This is the battle field! Be more motivated!”
Kiefer widened her eyes, purposefully pretending to be angry, narrowing her eyes, but her mouth still curved slightly with laughter, looking at Toale, “Ah? Me? Then… then… Oh yes Toale! You’d better be energetic!”
Toale smiled gently, looking at Kiefer, then turning to Ryner, “…Then let it be my fault, I’ll let my report be the ending of this topic. Nelpha’s soldiers, have followed Ryner’s orders, they can cover the rear at any time. Even if theRhule Fragmei continues to reach to the rear, our soldiers probably wouldn’t be too badly affected.”
Ryner nodded, saying: “It’s good that someone can speak seriously.”
Toale had a slightly strict expression, saying: “I’m only frightened. Because someone is actually using the unknown weapon called the Rhule Fragmei to kill many people… just thinking about it makes me tremble… But this thing has happened before me, so I don’t feel like joking around…”
Although Ryner wanted to retort actually I didn’t, but he was unable to say anything.
Because before he opened his mouth, the battle situation changed again. The sky where the Gastark army was darkened again.
With this signal, Ryner threw the ring that he was holding into the sky, then muttering the phrase he learnt from Vois, that could activate this miraculous ring.
“Devour that light, Divine Parasite Bugs.”
In a moment.
The ring that Ryner had threw out exploded. Then the fragments of the ring floated in the air, giving out a rainbow light, before starting to multiply.
The light increased to hundreds and thousands of small fragments in a moment, making a sound of flying insects.
At the same time, the opposite side released the Demonic Beast Destroyer again.
And it was released to this side.
The light of destruction ate away at Geihlficlant’s large scale magic as it attacked.
But this attack was met with the rainbow insect swarm that Ryner had released.
Like locusts the insects flew towards that light.
“Pppsssssssssssssssshhhhhhhh!”
Releasing that cry, the insects devoured the light.
It seemed, this attack had been successfully blocked.
But.
Ryner said: “That was to confirm, right? It was to confirm whether we had the means to defend against the Rhule Fragmei from the ‘-arms’ series so they attacked.
Vois nodded.
“And they had the goal of erasing the large-scale magic. But…”
“Seeing that the attack from the ‘-arms’ series wouldn’t work, they probably use another one to attack.”
“Then, what would come next?”
Hearing that, Vois tilted his head, answering: “Who knows… even I can’t make a guess. Ah, but because Gastark has a more superior knowledge about the Rhule Fragmei than us, so perhaps it would be an attack from one that we don’t know about, or one which we don’t know how to properly defend against. Then what should we do?”
“…” Ryner was deep in thought again.
Then he tried to organize the information he had of the other side in his head.
Firstly, the soldiers’ numbers, this side had the advantage. Well, although this was under the situation that Geihlficlant was their companion.
But in this battle, the numbers of the soldiers didn’t hold much significance, although the king of Geihlficlant had some Rhule Fragmei with him, but Vois didn’t teach him all of the activation phrases. Because if Geihlficlant could completely grasp the ways of which to use the Rhule Fragmei, they wouldn’t lose to anyone.
This was why Gastark was so desperate to invade the middle continent. Before the major countries had gained proper information of the Rhule Fragmei, there was the urgency to occupy the mid-continent.
But aside from that, Gastark had another ace.
That was the unknown weapon that had more power than the Rhule Fragmei that terrified Pia and Vois.
And after that was activated, it could destroy hundreds of thousands of humans in a slash, it could only be said to be a detestable weapon.
But because of that weapon’s existence, Vois could make a deal with the Geihlficlant king.
Because Vois had said that he had a mysterious weapon that could be used to stop the unknown weapon that Gastark had, so it could be put to use in this battle, but in actual fact even he didn’t know whether it could be blocked, and that secret weapon was under Ryner’s control.
It was borne by Ryner’s cursed eyes.
Because it seemed like these Alpha Stigma could block Gastark’s weapon—talking about which, just betting thousands of people’s lives on this reason, no matter what it was insane.
“Ah, damnit!” The more he thought about it the more his head ached.
But, we have already come to the battle field, the killing has already started too. Thousands of people have died in front of me, and the battle is becoming more and more intense.
In this mad war, how could he let his companions survive.
“…”
Ryner considered this problem.
Then three possible solutions appeared in his mind.
The first was, after Gastark used that weapon, Ryner would successfully stop it.
But this would be a complete victory.
Because Gastark wasn’t only using Rhule Fragmei, and they had to activate that weapon, this fact in itself would mean that unless Gastark depended on the Rhule Fragmei they would be unable to defeat Geihlficlant, so if that weapon was ineffective, to Geihlficlant that had the distinct advantage in terms of numbers, Gastark would probably be defeated.
But, this solution was probably too hard.
Firstly, Gastark had more knowledge about the Rhule Fragmei than their side, so even if they fought hard with the Rhule Fragmei, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t lose too.
Furthermore, Ryner was very clear about how strong Gastark was, that it could use the power of the Rhule Fragmei.
Just by remembering the opponents that he had fought against, Sui and Kuu, the Gastarkian soldiers, he could understand this point.
Gastark gave the Rhule Fragmei to a person, so that they could gain the power of more than a hundred soldiers, power that he and Ferris were unable to go against.
Besides that, the opponent they were clashing against, was the main body of Gastark.
There may be people who were more powerful than Sui and Kuu.
Are we only able to suppress these people, and force the Gastarkians to reach the step where they have no choice but to use that weapon?
But now he completely couldn’t come up with a plan.
Anyway if that weapon were activated, could he really block it?
“…”
To this point Ryner himself was so doubtful that he suspected that Vois had taken a wrong step somewhere.
At least towards Ryner, he couldn’t bet all the lives of his companions in this gamble.
That meant that this plan had no possibility of working.
The next plan?
Ryner continued to think.
Actually the other two were very simple.
Ryner only needed to unleash the Rhule Fragmei at where the Geihlficlant king.
This way, it would be easy to deal with that Geihlficlant king, anyway the king himself had probably never thought that his companions would betray him, and he didn’t know how to use the Rhule Fragmei.
And he could kill thousands of soldiers on the inside, letting Geihlficlant enter a state of chaos, abnd according to this they could continue to use the Rhule Fragmei to control the panic, in the end Ryner and the others would surrender to Gastark—
“…”
Well, if it were Vois he would definitely pick that, but I…
That meant, it was the only the third plan left.
The third plan.
But, this was a dangerous plan.
Well, simply saying, it was escape—that plan.
But it wasn’t running away, anyway Geihlficlant definitely wouldn’t allow them to do that, and if what Vois said was true, if the weapon range of Gastark was so large, even if he started to desperately escape, as long as that weapon was activated, they would die.
But, Ryner thought of a place that definitely wouldn’t be hit.
But in any case, if he said that out loud, it was a place that anyone would understand without thinking.
“…”
Gastark’s weapon would probably not be aimed at the place where the Gastark soldiers were when it was activated. No, although they would activate the weapon with the self-destructive feeling of knowing that their companions would be sacrificed, but Ryner had heard from Vois that in the battle against Stohl, Gastark had mostly not suffered much.
That meant…
“…If we go behind the Gastark army, that is the safety region.” Ryner muttered.
But Vois said: “Arara, so you were thinking about something as ridiculous as that?”
Ryner shrugged.
That plan was certainly ludicrous.
No matter what that plan needed him to dodge large-scale magical attacks and attacks from Rhule Fragmei before he could reach the front lines, and he would need to fight with the Gastarkians as he broke past them…
Furthermore there were only three thousand people on this side.
In simple words, this was an impossible plan.
“But the other plans are more ridiculous than this, so this was the best.” Ryner said.
Vois had a face that said ‘here you go again’, saying: “Killing the Geihlficlant king was the best.”
“…”
“But if Ryner you really want to do that, then I will stop you.”
Ryner widened his eyes in surprise, “Oh oh, how rare, I thought this would be your favourite plan.”
Vois continued to smile as he said: “If I wanted to use that plan, I would have acted before we came here. But I didn’t do that, because there is a need for you to be here, to stop the weapon of Gastark’s. If we let the world know that Gastark isn’t the only one with that crazy power, that the other countries have ways to stop that power, then we can allow the countries to bond together…”
Until here, Ryner could truly understand what Vois wanted to do.
It seemed like Vois wanted to completely seal that weapon here.
To clash with that weapon that could kill tens of thousands of people in a moment.
If this continues, then one day the world would be destroyed.
So they had to let the whole world know that this was scary.
“Is this, is your goal…” Ryner said.
Vois knocked on his head, saying: “Of course using some plan to dominate the world is more interesting, just by depending on the strongest weapon to wage war, and having the strongest be the winner, something like that isn’t it too boring? So I want to set the world on a new track.”
“So, you want to use my eyes to seal the enemy’s weapon?”
“Yes.”
“Even if you’re not clear whether my eyes can block it?”
“Yes. But if it really can’t take it, then there wouldn’t be too much to worry about. If anyone is unable to stop Gastark from conquering the world… then it would be too boring, I would rather die and be reincarnated to become an extremely beautiful Loli, then use beauty to conquer the world.”
“…An extremely beautiful Loli?”
“Ah, how impressive Ryner. You’re interested in this!”
“No no no, I’m not interested, please don’t speak nonsense.” Ryner interrupted Vois, then started to think about the meaning of Vois’s words.
That sentence that mentioned sealing Gastark’s weapon, letting the world to return back to its tracks again.
No, even though if he used the Rhule Fragmei in war there wasn’t anything strange.
But as if seeing through what Ryner was thinking, Vois said: “If it is successful, there’s a possibility that the Rhule Fragmei can be banned, or I should saw, I have already prepared for that information to be spreaded.”
Ryner looked at Vois, saying: “…It feels like, for the first time I can see through what you are thinking and then why you do such troublesome matters.”
Vois smiled happily, “…That means my mind is full of beautiful Lolis?”
“…That means, the Anti-Roland Coalition that has a weapon stronger than the Rhule Fragmei, would set the condition that both parties are unable to use that power, right?”
“Ah, wait, why did you ignore the topic about my beautiful Lolis…”
Ryner continued to ignore him, saying: “Then, you probably will tell the world this message. Using the Rhule Fragmei in battle is very dangerous. Then even the two countries that have power surpassing the Rhule Fragmei will decide not to use that power. So you can threaten other countries to stop using Rhule Fragmei, right.”
And the other countries would probably accept that.
The countries that did not have Rhule Fragmei would probably agree with this wholeheartedly.
And those countries that were one step behind in collecting Rhule Fragmei, including one of the three major countries Geihlficlant Empire.
If the country Geihlficlant and Gastark who had maintained the weapon that was stronger than Rhule Fragmei and the Anti-Roland Coalition decided to seal off the use of Rhule Fragmei, then many countries would probably agree.
Although they didn’t know the responses of the remaining two countries—Remrus Empire and the Ertolia Republic, but Vois probably had plans concerning this area.
As for the southern ruler Roland…
“…”
Thinking about that, Ryner’s expression went down.
Would Sion who was poker-faced accept this agreement on Rhule Fragmei usage.
Not long ago he clearly thought that he knew what that person was thinking about, and how he would react, but in a few months’, everything had changed completely.
No, perhaps he had never understood Sion since the beginning.
He had only thought that they had become friends. He had claimed by himself that the two were close friends.
He had mistakenly thought that he was able to save him.
And the result was, in the end Sion had disappeared as he cried.
Sion had clearly bore all the painful memories by himself, not showing any weaknesses to anyone—
“…”
But I completely didn’t feel Sion’s pain.
Before I didn’t understand his heart, now I am even more unable to know what he has been hiding.
I was clearly so close to him.
I was clearly saved by him many times, but I never completely understood him, so I was unable to save him.
If I can really could understand him, then we wouldn’t be on the battle field now.
Even if it reached the point where we had to fight, he would probably be at Sion’s side, helping him fight.
“…”
Ryner looked back at himself.
But there was no one there.
The person that should have been by his side was gone.
There should have been a person who would be like a devil when it came to work, then said to him “Then Ryner work hard for me~”.
And Ferris would definitely come to mess around.
Then, I…
“…”
I would definitely yell you are trooooublesome, but in the end I would work hard.
He would certainly shout you are all anooooying, but he would still work hard.
Because I like Sion, I like Ferris, and I like the people by my side.
So if Sion told me please defeat my enemy.
If Sion told him that the weapon of Gastark’s is very strong so think of something, or said because he wanted to conquer the world so let’s work hard.
Even if Sion raised a ridiculous request, even if it were something that was near impossible, he would definitely…
I would definitely say how troublesome, how annoying, then start to work hard.
But why did this future shatter.
Sion had cried as he disappeared, and used the Rhule Fragmei.
And attacked Ryner’s companions.
Then killed countless Nelpha soldiers and people. And destroyed half of Toale’s body.
So the situation had turned into something like this.
“…”
Ryner moved his eyes from the empty space by his side.
He found that soldiers with different coloured armours filled his vision.
They were Gastarkian soldiers.
This was the northern side of the mid-continent.
It was unbelievably far away from Roland.
This situation where the scenery was changing with different auras, to tell the truth, he couldn’t keep pace with it.
Perhaps Ferris too. Leaving Sion, leaving her country, and coming to a battle field like this.
Kiefer and Toale too. No, Toale had even lost his country. And he had many brothers, but now there was no news of them. Maybe they had successfully escaped, but perhaps they had died before they could contact Ryner and the others.
And, here, we still need to fight.
We need to kill.
And we will still lose companions.
They were clearly tired, but it was still not enough.
Because the world was changing perpetually, so it would force you to change.
Furthermore—
“…”
But, Ryner smiled, then turned to Vois, “…Actually it’s not bad. This is the first time after hearing your words, I feel like accomplishing that motive.”
Vois had a ‘I told you so’ expression, saying: “I thought that Ryner would agree with this thinking too. But, if a ban on the Rhule Fragmei could be made, the reputation of the Anti-Roland Coalition would soar.”
“…” Ryner nodded, expressing his agreement.
If it succeeded, if they could really ban the Rhule Fragmei from war, this news would spread to Roland.
What Ryner was doing, would reach Sion’s ears.
This wasn’t bad, Ryner thought.
It was at least better than doing nothing.
Although he could understand that it wasn’t to the degree that Sion would think ‘I want to see you again’ and leave the country.
“…It could be possible that banning the Rhule Fragmei would be something interesting.” Ryner murmured.
Clearly he had written in his report to change the world so he had went to find Rhule Fragmei—which was Heroes’ Relics, but the more he found the relics, the stranger the world became, so he would work hard to stop this.
Sion who would heard something stupid like this.
“…”
That person, Sion would definitely smile.
Ryner thought.
Vois said: “Well, but no matter what…”
Ryner nodded, “No matter what I need to stop the weapon from Gastark before it can be set up, right?”
“Yes.”
“If I don’t stop it, everyone will die.”
“Yes. So if you want to use that kind of plan—going behind Gastark, then dodging the attacks from Gastark’s weapon, then in the beginning you shouldn’t have come here. We can only face it straight on. Then, if it’s not victory, it’s death.” Vois said.
No victory, meant death.
But at this moment, Toale’s voice spoke from behind them.
“I am betting three thousand lives on my side, so I completely can’t tie myself on the same string as you.”
Vois looked at Toale, saying: “then what do you want to do? I think with only three thousand people, to fight with tens of thousands of people and breaking free, something like that is a suicidal act… Although we are protected by the physical shield of Geihlficlant so it seems safe, but while we’re talking, many people are dying. And it is many people. Although there may not be any screams, so you may not know…”
But Toale interrupted Vois with a strict expression, “The lives of the Geihlficlant soldiers and formerly Nelpha soldiers, I cannot treat them equally.”
Vois raised an eyebrow, “You can’t be as naïve as Ryner?”
“At least I can differentiate between comrades and enemies. You…”
“An enemy, right?”
“Toale’s gently eyes narrowed sharply, staring at Vois as he said: “…At least, I think you are a dangerous person.”
Vois smiled for some reason, looking happily at Ryner, “Annoying, it seems like there is another outstanding person, Your Majesty. Only outstanding characters would appear in chaotic eras. Although I thought that it would be fine if Toale died, but I didn’t think that there would be a person who would honestly call the Geihlficlant soldiers our physical shields. It’s simply uncommon. It’s great that he lived till now.”
Ryner had a slightly frustrated expression, looking at Vois, “The one who called them physical shields was you.”
“But Toale thinks that too, deep down. And he never completely believed me.”
“I didn’t completely believe you, too.”
“Ah?”
Ignoring Vois who was relaxed, Ryner looked at Toale, saying: “Sorry, the Nelpha soldiers are in danger too…”
Toale interrupted him, saying: “It’s not Ryner’s fault. The one at fault is Vois Fiurelle? He clearly could control all information channels, but he didn’t tell us what kind of dangers we would run into, forcefully bringing us here. Then probably until now, he has told us many lies…”
Vois simply replied: “Of course. Because I was born to be a swindler. But until now, most things are like what I predicted, so everything was truth.”
“You think I will believe that…”
Vois continued, “Compared to worrying about the progress of these lives, it would be better to stay here. Of course like what Ryner said, according to the range of Gastark’s weapon, if we can go behind Gastark, we should be able to safely escape. But I’m afraid before that, we will all be destroyed.”
“But…”
Interrupting Toale, Vois had a slightly challenging tone as he continued: “Even if we really successfully survived to go behind them, the remaining troops would be half of the original number. That would be troublesome. Because according to the plan I have for after today, I will need the power of the Nelpha soldiers. If they are wasted to protect Toale’s life here, then that would be very troubling for me.”
But Toale didn’t fall for it, only closing his eyes to think, then softly saying: “…Which side is better…”
This feeling, everyone was familiar with the heart break.
It was the situation where they didn’t know whether Ryner would be able to block Gastark’s weapon, so would it be better to wait for their activation.
Or knowing that there would be a large number of sacrifices, still taking the soldiers to proceed to hide behind Gastark.
This of course wasn’t a problem that could be easily dealt with.
Because three thousand lives were dependent on this problem.
If they were stubborn, then more lives could be lost.
This was a decision that was so painful that it made it hard for people to breath.
And the choices were limited.
The realization that everything could be destroyed packed an impact too.
And if there was the possibility of everything being destroyed, then at least they could anticipate Ryner blocking Gastark’s weapon, staying here and doing nothing?
At this moment, Vois suddenly said: “I think staying here is the best choice. Otherwise everyone, have you checked the battle situation?”
Toale asked in reply: “…Battle situation?”
Kiefer answered from behind him: “…Gastark stopped using the Rhule Fragmei. And the Geihlficlant soldiers are slowly pressed back by the approaching Gastark army, right?”
Ryner raised his head, although he hadn’t completely grasped the situation, but from just now, Gastark had stopped using the Rhule Fragmei.
And Geihlficlant soldiers were moving forward slowly. If they continued to move forward, the Geihlficlant soldiers would clash with Gastark soldiers soon.
If it reached that step, Gastark wouldn’t be the opponent of Geihlficlant who had the advantage of numbers.
So if this continued…
“…Gastark will probably use that weapon quickly, right?” Ferris said.
Vois nodded, smiling: “So everyone don’t argue here, let us bet our lives on Ryner… Although I said that, but if Geihlficlant-kun is easily defeated, then it would be troublesome.
From behind him, two subordinates on horses rushed over.
One of them was a girl called Relca Redehna who was in charge of them when they met the Geihlficlant king.
Shiny green hair, and eyes that were as serene as a black crystal.
Another was a girl who had carried Vois when he jumped off the carriage. Long black hair and green eyes, she wore battle armour on her slim body.
The two of them came to Vois, whispering something in his ear, then Vois smiled.
Seeing this, Toale told Ryner: “Indeed, he’s not reliable at all.”
Ryner smiled bitterly: “Yes. After all he is someone who didn’t tell the truth since the start.”
But what Vois said made sense, Ryner thought.
Stopping the attacks of the Rhule Fragmei on Geihlficlant, perhaps it was to prepare for using that weapon.
Then, even if they moved now, it would probably be too late. Then they could only hand over the war where was either kill or be killed to Geihlficlant, focusing on the actual battle would be better…
“…”
Suddenly at this moment.
“……Ah…”
Ryner made a noise of disbelief.
Then widened his eyes.
His eyes widened quickly.
Then he saw not far from him, there were some strange things flying over.
Although that object was moving too quickly, so he couldn’t see it clearly, but, he could clearly see something activating.
Then, numerous heads flew into the sky.
Countless arms and bodies flew into the air.
Followed by a large amount of blood gushing out.
“…”
But, there were no screams.
The screams were covered by the noise of the soldiers moving forward and the explosions from the large-scale magic, it was muffled.
But the Geihlficlant soldiers shouldn’t have met physically with the Gastark soldiers.
So heads flying into the sky was too strange.
Bodies flying into the air was odd too.
But, heads were entering the air one by one.
Then something jumped up.
This time he could catch a glimpse of that object.
It was golden. It was fast enough that it couldn’t be seen properly, something golden.
Ryner moaned: “…Oh no.”
Then he looked at Vois, shouting, “Vois! Those people didn’t stop using Rhule Fragmei so that they could use their weapon! It was to kill us… it was to kill the people who have Rhule Fragmei and initiate another attack to sort themselves out!”
At this moment, Vois heard the screams nearby.
Then five Geihlficlant soldier’s heads flew into the air.
Among the falling blood droplets, a golden beast was dancing in the air.
“…”
Ryner had seen this beast once.
Because he had fought with this monster once.
It was the ring-shaped Rhule Fragmei that had been used by a Gastarkian assassin called Lir.
Among the three of the Lightning Beasts that was called forth with that Rhule Fragmei, they were dancing in the air that was not the front line.
That Beast looked toward Vois, releasing an ear-shattering cry.
Ryner yelled, “Stupid Vois, be careful of your front!”
But apart from yelling, he couldn’t do anything. The beast was too fast, he couldn’t even react.
And he was too far away.
He couldn’t rescue him in time.
One beast kicked away the surrounding Geihlficlant soldiers.
The second jumped up, opening its mouth.
Just as it was about to bit off Vois’s head, and shred his body…
“Vois-sama!?” Relca who was beside him screamed.
Then she leapt in front of Vois, her arm was ripped off by the beast.
She dropped off the horse with a large amount of blood spewing out. But the last beast continued to move closer to Vois.
But this attack was blocked by Ferris who jumped out from behind with her sword.
At this moment Vois finally reacted.
He seemed to look at Ferris who was blocking the beast with some surprise, then he looked at Relca who was lying on the ground, unmoving.
He looked at his subordinate with a calm but cold expression, like a child.
“…”
But he didn’t say anything.
Relca didn’t move.
Relca didn’t move.
But…
“…”
There wasn’t the time for him to be sad.
“Damnit!!”
Ryner muttered, then started to draw the glowing words in the air with all his might. This was the magic that could increase the body’s speed that he had learnt using Alpha Stigma, from the Estabul Mage Knight.
Quickly finishing the magical sequence, Ryner started to incant the words, and so that he would be able to gain the maximum benefit, he tried his hardest, hardest, hardest to activate the magic, “I OFFER THE CONTRACTED WORDS, LETTING THE SLUMBERING MALICIOUS SPIRIT DWELL WITHIN.”
In a moment.
His body glowed, and he could accelerate to the point where his muscles nearly tore.
He jumped up from the horse, leaping towards where Ferris was fighting with the Lightning Beast.
He started to draw magical formations in the air again, and he drew two with both hands at the same time.
The magical formations were immediately completed.
Ryner chanted, “WHAT I SEEK IS IRIDESCENT DESTRUCTION>>>KUURI!”
Two glowing cubes appeared in the magical formations of “KUURI”.
Then a beam of light appeared from the cube.
One aimed at the Lightning Beast that had bitten off Relca’s arm.
The other aimed at the beast that was attacking the Geihlficlant soldiers.
The beast that attacked Relca disappeared after being hit.
But the beast near the Geihlficlant soldiers felt the presence of “KUURI”, moving its vision over, then jumped to a side, dodging.
“Damnit, it missed…”
But Ferris interrupted him, saying: “No, it hit.”
Then she waved her sword, sending the suppressed beast flying, then reflecting the “KUURI” beam from Ryner at it.
The beast was burnt by the light of “KUURI”, shaking as it disappeared.
Now there was only one left.
Ryner continued to draw magic formations, reaching Ferris’s side, asking: “There’s one left, can you deal with it?”
Ferris smiled slightly, raising the sword high, saying: “It’s different from the past. Now, I can finish off a few by myself… But, if the opponent is that person…”
Ryner nodded too.
If their opponent was that man called Lir, it would become troublesome.
Because he was the most troublesome opponent, that could use a few types of Rhule Fragmei at the same time.
He was the most troublesome enemy that Ryner, Ferris, Tiir and Luke could only face for five minutes.
This person was probably not far off from them.
And he had come to take Ryner’s and the other’s lives.
The reason was simple.
From where Ryner and the others were, they had used Rhule Fragmei that could defend against Gastark’s Rhule Fragmei—the enemy had already confirmed this point.
Then they decided to defeat the users of the Rhule Fragmei.
And maybe they were planning to grab all the Rhule Fragmei from this side.
No matter what…
“…Then let us defeat this one.” Ryner said.
Then he released the magic of the magic formations he had prepared.
But at this moment, the Lightning Beast leapt up, retreating. It killed the Geihlficlant soldiers around it, roaring.
The beast’s roar.
It was so reverberating that it stifled the heroic cries of the soldiers in the region.
As if spreading the message that there were many prey here, calling its fellow brethren.
Ryner frowned, turning around to look behind him.
He found that Kiefer had already rushed to Relca’s side, pressing her shoulder to stop the flow of blood, yelling: “She’s… she’s still living! She can be saved!”
Toale looked to Vois and called, “Quick, use that healing stone called Death Transference!”
But Vois only looked at Toale blandly, then had a very happy smile, looking at Ryner, “Ah, really, if I were more unfortunate, I would have died? This makes me more battle aware. And it was unexpected, that it could push away the Geihlficlant soldiers so easily, sending the assassin in…”
Toale interrupted Vois, roaring: “This is not the time to be talking about that! Hand over Death Transference quickly!”
Vois shrugged, looking at Toale. Then he moved his eyes to look at Relca who was on the ground.
At this moment Relca struggled to open her eyes, saying weakly: “…Are, are you alright, Vois-sama.”
Vois nodded, replying: “Yes, I’m fine. It’s all thanks to you protecting me, Relca. You did well.”
Relca had a faint smile.
Vois smiled and nodded: “But I’m sorry, we don’t have the time to heal you. The Gastarkian assassin has already confirmed our existence, I estimate that the next wave of attack will come quickly too, and I’m not willing to heal a soldier like you, and it will waste the Death Transference. So I will abandon you here. But if possible, please slow the Gastarkian assassin down…”
He didn’t even complete that, Toale shouted angrily, “What… what are you talking about!”
Relca was losing a large amount of blood, colour was slowly leaving her face.
There was clearly no time to be wasted. If he continued to leave it as it was, she would probably die after a few minutes.
So Toale stared at Vois, clearly saying: “Hurry, give me the Death Transference quickly…”
But Vois narrowed his eyes, turning around to look at his subordinate with black hair, “…Harmit, please inform the others about this situation…”
“Don’t joke around! Give me the healing stone quickly…”
But Vois only pointed a finger at Toale, making an action ‘kill him’.
Following that his other subordinate, that woman called Harmit unsheathed the sword at her waist, stabbing at Toale.
But Ferris moved her large sword faster than her, cutting the black-haired woman’s sword into two pieces.
Ryner took the chance to grab Vois’s hair, saying: “…You, wanted to kill Toale just now, right?”
Vois simply continued carrying that happy smile, simply wanting to acknowledge that.
But before he answered, Ryner tightened a hand in Vois’s hair, saying: “…Don’t look down on us, brat. Hand over the Death Transference quickly.”
Although Harmit wanted to turn around and attack Ryner, but Vois stopped her.
“Stop, Harmit. You’re not Ryner’s opponent…” he said that, raising his head to look at Ryner.
“Will you use the Death Transference no matter what?”
“Of course.”
Hearing Ryner’s reply, Vois had a troubled smile, “…Of course… huh… If it is of course, then there’s no help for it.”
He pulled out a stone that was smaller than a fist, then threw it to Kiefer who was desperately trying to stem the blood from Relca’s shoulder.
Kiefer caught the stone, quickly pressing it to Relca’s wound. But that stone didn’t start to heal Relca’s injury. So Kiefer looked up, staring at Vois and said: “Tell me how to use Death Transference.”
Vois didn’t look at Kiefer, only stared at Ryner, “…You really want to… use it…”
Ryner interrupted him, tightening his grip, saying: “Say it quickly.”
Vois sighed, saying: “…It drinks blood… Let the stone absorb the blood from the corpses of the Geihlficlant soldiers. If there is so much fresh blood, then there should be enough for it to have the power to save Relca…”
So Kiefer quickly soaked the stone in the blood pooling on the ground.
At some point in time, the fresh blood from the Geihlficlant soldiers had gathered into a small puddle, and that stone began to drink that blood.
Ryner looked at this scene.
He looked at this stone that gave him a chilling feeling even though it was going to save Relca’s life by gathering power through sucking up the life of the Geihlficlant soldiers.
Drinking the life of other people, to gain the power of healing.
This was the power of Death Transference.
But.
“…”
But Vois said disapprovingly: “…Although it is commendable that you didn’t care about the deaths of the Geihlficlant soldiers, but Relca isn’t your comrade, there should be a limit to how goody-two-shoes you can be, Ryner.”
Then Vois looked at Relca on the ground, calling: “…Relca.”
Relca opened her eyes weakly, looking at Vois, her lips forming the word ‘yes’, but unable to speak. It seemed that she was so weak that she was on her last breath.
But Vois only looked at her and said: “If we have to heal your wound we’ll need for it to absorb a little more power. But we have to leave this place now. Because we are targeted by the Gastarkian assassin, as we have the Rhule Fragmei. So, the Death Transference treatment, you’ll have to do it yourself.”
Relca nodded softly, then tried to reach out for the Death Transference in Kiefer’s hand. But although she wanted to reach out, but her body couldn’t move.
So Kiefer said: “I’ll stay…”
But Vois told Relca: “If you weigh me down, I wouldn’t want to see you ever again.”
Relca had an expression as if she were about to cry, desperately reaching out. Uncaring about the large amount of blood flowing from her shoulder, she stretched out her hand, grabbing the Death Transference that was soaked in the fresh sea of blood of the Geihlficlant soldiers.
In that moment, the Death Transference gave out a greenish white light, the blood pouring from Relca’s shoulder suddenly slowed.
Vois smiled and nodded, “…Good.”
Then he looked at Ryner again, saying: “Then, can you release your hold on my hair? We don’t have the time to be staying here and doing such silly things.”
Ryner stared at Vois, although he wanted to say many things to this proud brat, but he found that he didn’t know where to start from.
“…”
But, Vois’s words were always realistic—
It was realistic until it made people angry, he was clearly only a brat but he always talked about the painfully realistic truth, so Ryner let go of Vois’s hair.
He was right, there was not much time left.
The Gastarkian assassin—that man called Lir had already reached here.
He had come to take the lives of Ryner and Vois who had the Rhule Fragmei.
Although because his attack was stopped because of the temporary retreat of the Lightning Beasts, but that person would immediately return.
And he would return with reinforcements.
Although he was alone when he had entered Imperial Nelpha secretly, fighting with Ryner and the others alone, but now he had the army of Gastark with him.
Then.
“…”
Then, there was a possibility that there was an enemy as strong as Lir. Ryner knew at least two other Gastark soldiers who had the same large power.
The siblings Sui and Kuu. The two could wield Rhule Fragmei, and they had an overwhelmingly strong power, and had once hunted Ryner and Ferris.
Although up till know he had managed to dodge from their hunting because of his luck, but if those people joined powers and attacked, it would not be a small matter.
That meant, they could no longer spend time here.
So Ryner raised his head, wanting to tell everyone to retreat.
But at this moment, Vois told Ryner: “So as to heal Relca’s injuries, we have wasted a Death Transference here. But we only have four Death Transference, which means that there are only three Death Transference left. I hope that you wouldn’t regret saving Relca, Ryner.”
Ryner stared at Vois, deciding to ignore what he said, saying: “Retreat—” He suddenly thought of something, shaking his head, “No, that’s not right. Let’s separate. Because the enemy is only focusing on Vois and I. Kiefer and Toale leave this place quickly. I will protect Vois…”
But Kiefer said: “I want to stay too…”
Ryner shook his head firmly, saying: “Sorry, Kiefer. You will only slow us down. The enemy is very strong, I will not be able to protect Kiefer as I fight…”
Kiefer pouted.
But Toale patted Kiefer’s shoulder encouragingly, “Retreat with me. Even if we are behind the scenes we can do many things…”
“I understand.”
“…”
“I understand. But, Ryner…”
Looking at Kiefer who was watching him, Ryner smiled, “Yeah, I will try not to get myself killed.”
“You definitely have to work hard.”
“Yeah, then leave quickly. I don’t know when that assassin will reach.” Ryner said.
But Kiefer didn’t want to leave him.
So Toale grabbed her hand, forcefully pulling her back.
After Ryner confirmed that Kiefer and Toale had left, he turned to Ferris and said: “…Ah~ with you, that…”
Before Ryner finished speaking, Ferris opened her mouth to say: “I will stay by your side. If it were not for me, you would die immediately?”
Ryner smiled bitterly.
Then he looked back to the battle ground.
There were devastating cries from the battle field. And in the distance, there were blinking lights.
It seemed that the battle was approaching.
And Lir was probably closer.
And in this direction…
“…”
Ryner narrowed his eyes.
In this direction there was the king of Geihlficlant, Gulafed Abuleld.
Because King Abuleld had over fifty Mage Knights stationed by his side, so they were probably in the massacre too.
Ryner said: “The king of Geihlficlant, huh…”
Vois nodded, saying: “Now you’ve at last understood the reason for the enemy’s temporary retreat. King Abuleld is not completely useless. He couldn’t just let those parasites mess around. He probably commanded the Mage Knights to ambush the Gastarkian assassins.”
“Then, if we go over now…”
“Yes, if we combine forces with the Mage Knights, we probably can deal with the assassins. Hurry…”
Before Vois finished speaking, a sharp scream was heard from the back.
Ryner knew who was screaming.
It was Kiefer.
It was Kiefer’s voice, and she had just retreated to the back.
Ryner widened his eyes, finding that his whole body was trembling. He didn’t have the courage to turn around to confirm what had happened, only in that moment he couldn’t move.
He had the annoying thought of whether Kiefer had died.
“…”
He tried hard to dispel this thought, and turned around.
Kiefer was still alive.
But in front of her, a few bodies of the Anti-Roland Coalition soldiers went flying.
And in the middle of the commotion, there was a young girl.
She seemed to be around Vois’ age, fourteen or fifteen years old.
Her fringe touched her eye brows, she had the natural pink hair colour of the Gastarkians; she wore a black skirt and her pretty features gave her an aura of a pitiful child.
Ryner knew this girl.
She was the Gastarkian spy that Ryner and Ferris had met when they were travelling through the surrounding countries to search for the Heroes’ Relics.
Her name should be Kuu Orla.
And that Kuu was now holding up the scythe in her hands.
Her slim hands were able to hold up the scythe that was longer than Ryner’s body.
But the girl, as if holding a twig, swung the scythe easily, simply cutting through the bodies of the surrounding Geihlficlant soldiers.
But the bodies that the girl cut did not gush blood. Because those cuts had already froze over with ice.
Yes.
That scythe was one of the Rhule Fragmei.
This Rhule Fragmei called Ailecrono’s Scythe would take away the wielder’s feelings as a price, greatly raising the physical ability of the wielder, and sealing whatever it cut with ice.
And Kuu was now spinning Ailecrono’s Scythe.
Spinning.
Spinning.
As the scythe cut down, she continued to spread the bloodless death.
Then that scythe approached Toale and Kiefer.
“Damnit!!” Ryner yelled, jumping up from the horse, using his magically accelerated body, jumping forward at the speed of lightning.
But Ferris reached Kiefer’s back faster than Ryner, then stepping on Kiefer’s back. So Kiefer’s body narrowly missed the blade of the scythe, and her shoulder struck the handle.
Followed by that her body flew back with an unbelievable speed, crashing to the ground, landing at a distance that it would not be hard to believe if she had died.
But Kiefer only groaned “…Ow… that hurts…” as she climbed up.
Ryner breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, a sharp metallic sound was heard.
It was Kuu’s scythe clashing with Ferris’s large sword.
Kuu looked at Ferris, saying: “…I… recognize you…”
Ferris replied: “Then you should remember that it was you who lost to me? If you don’t want to die, retreat.”
Kuu tilted her head, “…According to my memory… It should have been you who lost…”
“It seems that you have forgotten.”
“…Then…” Kuu said as she raised the scythe again, swinging it down hard, “Make me remember.”
She swung down the scythe so quickly that Ryner couldn’t catch its movements.
But Ferris skillfully blocked her opponent’s countless attacks.
But Ryner understood that if this continued, Ferris would be defeated.
The more she blocked those attacks, the more easily Ferris’s sword would be frozen, then her movements would slow.
So he had to go and help her immediately.
“…”
But Ryner was unable to move.
Only standing on the ground, his nerves tensed, surveying the movements of the surroundings.
Because the enemy—
“…”
If this girl called Kuu appeared, another enemy would definitely appear.
It was the brother of the girl called Kuu—Sui Orla.
And the person called Sui was also one that could use strong Rhule Fragmeis, although he should have been severely injured by the Rhule Fragmei that Froaude used, escaping back to his motherland.
But if he was still alive.
“…”
At this moment, Ryner saw that behind Kuu, there was a group of Anti-Roland Coalition soldiers surrounding a slim man.
He still had that pink hair, it was long enough that it was a little feminine. A steady expression that was completely unsuited for this battle. Then slim eyes that revealed humour.
Sui Orla.
Sui still had that smiling expression, meeting Ryner’s gaze. Then looked at Kiefer who had been kicked out.
“…”
Ryner bent down.
He already knew what Sui was thinking.
He had probably seen him wanting to save Kiefer, understanding that she could be used as a hostage.
So Sui had a happy expression, saying: “Ah, isn’t this Ryner. It’s been a long time.”
During this time, Ferris was still fighting with Kuu. And it had become so aggressive that no one could break in.
Sui looked at this happily, saying: “Talking about which, you understand the situation now, right? Ferris has already been locked down by Kuu. And I’m still able to move. You understand what this means, right?”
Of course he understood.
There were many comrades by his side now. Kiefer, Toale, Vois, Harmit, and Relca who was still being healed, and the Anti-Roland Coalition and Nelpha soldiers.
No one among them could block Sui’s attack. If they were hit, they could only die.
That meant, Sui was actually holding everyone here hostage.
But Ryner smiled, saying: “…That is, on the account that you can attack faster than I can.”
Sui shrugged, “That means you’re stronger than before?”
“Yeah.” Ryner nodded.
This was only a lie.
In truth, compared to the time when he had fought with Sui, there wasn’t too much difference. At least he wasn’t so hard working. So he had a large gap between Pia, Peria and Zohra. Even if he frantically started up his training, there wouldn’t be any effects so quickly.
But, even so.
“…If you think that I’m same as before, you’ll regret it.” Ryner fibbed.
Then so that it would be easier for him to jump, he bent down.
But Sui laughed even more happily, “Then let’s wait for a while. It wouldn’t be too late when Kuu kills Ferris…”
But as he spoke, Vois said from behind Ryner: “Ryner.”
Although Ryner didn’t turn around, but Vois continued, “You can give the order to attack any time. This is the center of our base. Everyone is your comrade. So that person wouldn’t be our opponent…”
But Sui laughed even more happily, pulling out a dagger.
A dagger that did not have a hilt.
That dagger seemed very similar to the one that Ryner had discovered when he was in Nelpha, but the colour was different.
It was blood red.
This was a dagger that was blood red in colour, as if it had been stained with blood.
Sui gripped the dagger, saying: “Doing things like these would only result in more sacrifices. Vois Fiurelle.”
But Vois laughed too, answering: “How uncoincidental, I’m a person who understands who to balance out things. So even if we sacrifice hundreds of our comrades here, if Ryner kills you, it’s my win.”
At this moment Harmit suddenly yelled, “Aisweiar!”
This was probably a secret signal that only the Anti-Roland Coalition knew.
So the surrounding hundreds of soldiers started to draw magic formations in the air.
Vois said: “Even if you can wield the Rhule Fragmei because of you are chosen because of hereditary conditions—you are too self-confident. Attacking the enemy’s base alone, I would only call those people idiots. So die, baka-san.” As he finished speaking, Vois made a gesture.
In a moment, the Anti-Roland Coalition released their magic.
But Sui remained unmoving, only raising the red dagger, murmuring sadly: “…So I said there would be meaningful sacrifices.”
Ryner immediately understood that he said the truth. Because the Rhule Fragmei in Sui’s hand gave off a strong blinding light.
Although he didn’t understand its effects, but even if he didn’t understand, he clearly knew that if that thing was activated, it could easily kill the surrounding soldiers.
“…”
Ryner quickly started to think about what he should do. He thought hard. If he made a wrong move, his comrades would most likely be killed. Not only that, it could even give Sui more of an advantage.
Furthermore Sui had always been aware of Ryner’s movements. If he officially started the battle between Sui now, there would only be Ryner fighting.
So Ryner was unable to move, if he moved too much, he would be caught…
“…”
At this moment he saw something strange out of the corner of his eye.
In the furthest distance where Ryner could still see clearly.
Kiefer who had been hit by the hilt of the scythe stood up suddenly.
Then she frantically wrote a few complicated glowing words. That was a high-level magical formulation that was very strong, if she was not at the level of a Mage Knight she would be unable to control it.
But Ryner knew, Kiefer was unable to use that kind of high-skilled magic. At least according to her knowledge and ability, she was unable to use that kind of first-class magic.
And now she was using that magic. It showed that in the time they had been separated, she had not given up on her self-training, unlike Ryner.
Of course, that magic was slightly unsteady, it was unable to compare to Ryner’s accuracy and speed.
But even so, that magic was about to be completed.
So Ryner smiled, then lowered his voice to the pitch that Sui was unable to hear, telling Vois: “…Vois, after the soldiers release their magic, let them retreat immediately.”
“Do you have a good idea?”
Ryner shook his head, “Although I do not have a good idea, but our comrades have increased.”
“Comrades?”
He nodded, “Yeah, it is a strong comrade…”
“Urgh…!”
At this moment, Ferris who was fighting with Kuu gave a slightly pained noise.
It seemed that her sword had started to freeze because she was going against the power of Kuu’s Ailecrono Scythe.
“Urgh! If, if this continues…”
Before she finished speaking, Kuu’s scythe cut down again, Ferris wanted to raise her sword to block this blow.
But as the weapons clashed, the strong impact made her release the sword. Ferris widened her eyes, saying: “I’m, I’m going to lose…”
“It’s done.” Kuu said, raising her scythe again.
But Ferris smiled faintly: “What. The one who should be done with, is you.” She stepped forward, charging to Kuu who was holding the large scythe.
“I purposefully released the sword.” Ferris said happily, making a karate chop towards Kuu’s neck.
Although Kuu wanted to use her scythe hilt to block this, but Ferris’s karate chop hit her neck faster than she expected. Although the scythe hilt hit Ferris at the same time, but Ferris used her feet to block it, lending its momentum to jump towards Sui.
Sui’s attention immediately focused on Ferris who had appeared in front of him immediately.
The space of a second.
It was only a slight space.
But it was already enough.
Ryner took the opportunity, running over.
Sui hurriedly pointed the dagger-like Rhule Fragmei at him, wanting to say something.
But in the next moment.
Sui said in disbelief: “…Wha…What!?”
This was because the girl who had been sent flying by Kuu, who didn’t look strong at all suddenly rushed over like lightning.
Kiefer who had used the high-grade magic from Estabul to increase her body’s strength, jumped up from the ground, running over, then kicking Sui’s hand which held the dagger.
The dagger left Sui’s hand, spinning into the sky.
Ferris raised her leg too, preparing to kick Sui’s neck.
And Sui couldn’t dodge this attack.
He frowned, muttering: “Oh no!”
Then he moved his body slightly, changing the target position from his neck to his face.
In the next instant, with a smack, he was sent flying.
But because he had avoided his vital position, so he remained conscious, Sui adjusted his landing position, reaching into his pockets, wanting to take something out.
But Ryner immediately decreased the distance between him and Sui. Then he took out a stiletto from his belt and pressed it to Sui’s neck, saying: “Don’t move. Or I’ll kill you.”
So Sui stopped, raising his head, then looked at Kiefer, saying: “…I didn’t think, that she had that kind of ability to move…”
Ryner smiled, “My companions are very strong.”
“Your companions?”
“Yeah.”
“…Your companion… right? I thought Kiefer was our companion…” Sui stared at Kiefer, suddenly something as strange as that.
“Unless you want to betray us? Your mission was to bring Ryner to Gastark, right?”
But Kiefer simply said: “Ah? Did I promise that?”
Ryner was confused by that, so he stared at Sui and Kiefer, asking: “…The two of you know each other?”
Kiefer had a slightly troubled expression, saying: “that, when I was wandering around, I stayed in Gastark for some time, I came to know him there.”
“Is that only it… Riphal, your king always thought that you were dating him…”
Kiefer interrupted him, saying: “That was Riphal’s misunderstanding.”
“…But at least, when Riphal knew that you were here too, he frantically sent us over to rescue you. Because of you, he decided to stop Glovil’s attack.”
Hearing this conversation, Ryner at last knew what the relationship was between the Gastark king and Kiefer.
No, at least that man called Riphal, towards Kiefer…
At this moment, Sui said again: “His Majesty doesn’t wish for you to die…”
But Kiefer interrupted him, simply saying: “Then attack us.”
Sui had a disbelieving expression, looking at Kiefer in surprise, saying: “You’ll die too, you know?”
But for some reason, Kiefer laughed.
She seemed to laugh happily.
She seemed to laugh joyfully.
Then she said with that uncaring tone: “It doesn’t matter.”
“Dying with Ryner has always been my dream. So it doesn’t matter.”
“Because the one who I like… who I love, is not Riphal, but Ryner.”
She said simply, with clear eyes.
“…”
To this sudden confession, Ryner didn’t know what to say.
Sui said: “Then, you said you would bring Ryner back with you.”
Kiefer still smiled and answered: “I lied.”
“You traitor.” Sui said accusingly.
“You still dare to say that~” Kiefer smiled sadly.
Sui smiled too, his smile was bitter, saying: “…This is troublesome… Our king is always most unwelcome in front of the women that he falls in love with.”
Then Sui looked at Ryner, saying: “…Well, so we don’t have anything here to do… Although we were ordered to protect you and Kiefer Knolles… but because we were betrayed, so I have to go back. Then can you release me?”
“…”
But Ryner was slightly stunned, because too many things had happened, so he didn’t reply.
Kiefer knew the people from Gastark, and she had been ordered to bring Ryner back.
But she had simply betrayed Gastark.
And since she had stayed in Gastark for some time, then she should know the true appearance of the weapon that Gastark had. And she should know what kind of power that weapon had.
She clearly knew better than anyone else that she would die if she came here. It was even possible that she had seen that weapon’s power in Stohl.
But she had simply chose to come here.
She smiled as she chose to come here with Ryner.
And that reason was actually because, I like Ryner, so it’s like that…
An idiotic reason like that.
“…”
At this moment, Kiefer suddenly looked over, saying: “Ryner.”
“…Eh?”
“…Because there’s no guarantee that I would die here, so I wanted to say everything…” She said, then stopped as if she didn’t know how to continue. Then she blushed, but looked like she wanted to cry.
“I like Ryner.” She said.
She said with a voice that everyone could hear.
But Ryner was unable to reply. Towards this sudden development, he didn’t know how to reply.
At this moment.
“…”
There was the sound of something hitting the ground.
Ryner looked to the place where the sound came from. He found that Ferris’s sword had dropped on the ground for some reason, and she was frantically going to pick it up.
No, had she even picked up the sword that she had dropped intentionally when fighting with Kuu? But he had clearly heard that clang sound, Well, it was okay if anything happened, he put that aside.
That, so now, ah~ what should I do?
Seeing Ryner having that silly face, Vois poured cold water: “…What are you acting out. It’s clearly not a development to be surprised about, why is everyone’s reaction so big?”
Then he pointed at Kuu on the ground, ordering the subordinate called Harmit: “Tie her up.”
Harmit nodded, pressing down on Kuu’s body.
Confirming that nothing was missing, Vois dismounted, walking to Kuu who was unconscious and tied up by Harmit, looking at Sui, saying: “The tables have been overturned, now the hostage is on our hands. Then I’ll tell you what you told us when you appeared, ‘you understand what this means, right?’ … Killing so many companions, and still wanting to trick us…”
Vois took out a dagger, smiling happily, “So you want us to let you go back? You must be joking.”
Ryner and Sui yelled at the same time: “Stop!”
But Vois continued to smile, “I was joking. How tiresome, because I have too many good people here, if I really kill this girl here, I will probably be scolded terribly, so I’ll let her go here… But I can’t choose to let you go back. If we still need to fight Gastark, it wouldn’t hurt to have a few hostages.”
Sui tilted his head and said: “…Hostages? I advise you not to do something as useless as that. Because your opponent wouldn’t be Gastark.”
Vois smiled: “Because the weapon you call Glovil will kill us?”
“Ah, that’s true. As long as you stay here, you will definitely die.”
And Vois seemed to have a smile that was so happy, as if he could play with the whole world, saying: “It doesn’t matter.”
He raised his pitch, until he sounded like a woman, “…Because I can die with Ryner, that’s always been my dream, so…”
“I’ll kill you--!!” Kiefer shouted.
Vois ignored Kiefer’s shout, telling Ryner: “I love Ryner~ ♥~”
Hearing this very ‘Vois’-esque speech, Ryner had a slightly irritated expression.
But Vois continued to smile happily, staring at Sui as he said: “…We came here after knowing you had that mysterious weapon Glovil, and we still came. We bet our lives to stand here. If you misunderstood that we came here to try desperately…”
“We didn’t think of that.”
Someone said suddenly from behind them.
Behind Vois, there was a man.
He had the pink hair that only Gastarkians had, a strong, agile body and a confident smile.
Ryner knew this person.
He was the man called Lir Orla.
And he was the person who released those Lightning Beasts.
And this man wanted to release them again. He moved the ring on his finger, saying: “Appear, gathered Beasts!”
In a moment, a large thunder cloud appeared above Vois’s head, a golden Lightning Beast jumped out, wanting to bit off Vois’s head.
This was too sudden, no one was able to react.
Ryner, Ferris, Kiefer, Harmit, no one was able to react on time.
But Toale who had been standing by Vois’s side suddenly jumped up.
So one of the Lightning Beasts bit Toale’s leg, and he grabbed his leg, from his thigh, he pulled off the magical prosthetic, ordering: “Self-destruct.”
Following that order, Toale’s prosthetic limb exploded with the Lightning Beast that had bitten the limb.
One was destroyed just like that.
There were still two left.
Although the other one wanted to attack Toale who had lost one leg, but Ferris had reacted, raising her sword, blocking the Lightning Beast’s attack.
But the other Lightning Beast—
“Harmit, take Vois away quickly, leave that scythe girl!” Toale shouted.
Harmit hearing that, immediately grabbed Vois, leaving the area.
So the other Lightning Beast carefully collected Kuu and the scythe, running back towards Lir.
Ryner could only watch everything, unmoving.
Because if he released the restraint on Sui, the enemy would become Lir and Sui.
If they entered that kind of situation, then just by depending on the people around them, they would be unable to win. Ryner didn’t have the confidence to win two opponents with Rhule Fragmei without any injuries.
Furthermore the man called Lir, was more challenging than Sui and Kuu combined.
So he couldn’t let go of the restraint he had on Sui. Anyway let Sui faint first, then help Ferris and the others—he decided, but as he hesitated, the situation became worse.
Lir moved his ring again, saying again: “Gathered beasts, appear!”
A thunder cloud appeared in front of him, this time five golden monsters stepped out.
Three of them were wolf-like beasts that had mostly appeared.
And two were monsters similar to what Froaude had released before, similar to devils.
Then these five monsters rushed towards Ferris.
The five and the one from the previous round, totaling six monsters were attacking Ferris alone.
“…”
Ferris stepped back, desperately moving her sword, using an unbelievable speed, to block the demon’s attack.
But of course she couldn’t stop everything.
Several gashes appeared on her body, blood flowing. But even so, she tried hard not to let the enemy’s attacks be drawn to Vois, Toale and Kiefer, fighting alone.
At this moment, Toale who was on the ground because he had lost his prosthetic limb, started to draw a crest in the air. He started to construct the offensive fire magic of Nelpha.
Vois reacted too, not only ordering his subordinates, and the surrounding Geihlficlant soldiers, “There’s a Gastarkian soldier…”
And Lir said: “I wouldn’t let you gain the advantage.”
He pulled out a circular disc with a hole in the center, then used his finger to spin it, throwing it towards the sky, saying softly: “Spin, Fabluss’ Moon Circle.”
It was like a curse, taking Lir as the center.
No, so that Sui and Kuu would not be hurt, the circle took Ryner and the others as center, starting to move vigorously.
The small disc moved at an unbelievable speed, spinning. It spun several rounds at which others could not see it.
But, it could be felt that their surroundings had grown quiet.
The dozens of soldiers around them…
No, maybe hundreds of soldiers, had been sliced open in a moment.
They didn’t even have the time to scream, when they were speedily sliced up, becoming corpses as they dropped onto the ground.
The surroundings became empty.
In a radius that wasn’t counted to be small, the living people had all disappeared.
The only ones living, were Ryner, Sui, Kiefer, Vois, Harmit, Toale, Kuu, Ferris and Relca who was on the ground, so she wasn’t harmed by the Rhule Fragmei.
The other soldiers were killed.
Although the Geihlficlant soldiers and Anti-Roland Coalition soldiers had felt this abnormality and wanted to provide them with reinforcements, but they hadn’t caught up.
No, it was lucky that they had not caught up.
Because Lir had a weapon that was able to kill the surrounding soldiers in an instant. The strange disc had returned to Lir’s finger, continuing to spin at a speed that could not be caught by the naked eye.
Even if the soldiers came to help again, they would probably be sliced open by Lir’s disc before they knew that they were dead.
And at this moment, Toale’s magic had completed.
But before Toale could move, Lir pointed to Ferris who would definitely die in the battle with the Lightning Beasts.
Then in his hand there was a green ball that was familiar.
It should be called the Rhule Fragmei called Stone Devourer.
It was a weapon that was able to gouge out the eyes of wielders of magic eyes.
And it was a weapon that could destroy the strong yarn that Luke used.
Because its general usage was broad, so it couldn’t be understood what kind of power that Rhule Fragmei had, but, anyway it was an extremely dangerous weapon.
Then Ryner remembered.
He remembered Lir had simply killed his companions before.
He had killed Lafra. He had killed Pueka. As long as it was wielders of magic eyes, he could even kill innocent children without any hesitation.
And now this person, to Ferris…
“…”
And he wanted to kill Ferris.
“Stop!!!!!!!” Ryner shouted, releasing Sui, jumping up from the ground, running towards Ferris.
But Lir laughed.
He laughed scornfully.
“This is war? How can I stop.” He said, then opened his hand, pushing the green stone in front of Ferris, saying softly, “Devour this person, Stone Devourer.”
So the stone…
The green stone called Stone Devourer immediately exploded.
And Ferris wasn’t able to block this blow.
She had spent most of her energy dealing with the Lightning Beasts, she didn’t have any more energy to block it.
“I definitely, wouldn’t let you succeed!”
Ryner shouted, grabbing Ferris’s hair from behind, pulling her down.
“Ah.” Ferris called, falling back, then looked at Ryner in slight surprise.
Several Lightning Beasts wanted to chase after Ferris, but Ryner blocked them. He reached out his right hand, pushing it in front of a beast that was running over. So Ryner’s wrist was bitten off, but he didn’t stop, using his remaining left hand, to punch Lir’s face.
Although this punch made Lir move back slightly, but everything was done.
The green stone in Lir’s hand exploded, becoming a great distortion in space.
In the next moment, Ryner’s left hand was sliced off into the air, but even so it had not ended.
Lir said with a nervous but determined voice: “Gouge out the crystal, Stone Devourer.”
So the green stone exploded again.
Although he didn’t know what he wanted to do.
But if he didn’t guess wrongly, it should be that he wanted to do the same thing like had he had done to the wielder of Alpha Stigma, Pueka.
To Ryner.
To Ryner’s Alpha Stigma.
And in that moment.
“…”
Ryner lost his vision.
His vision suddenly turned black, he couldn’t see anything.
He completely couldn’t see where he was, what he was doing.
“Ah…” He said.
Then he felt his body suddenly lose strength, kneeling on the ground.
“Ryner!!” Ferris shouted.
Strangely, she shouted with a sad voice that was rarely heard. But because of this shout, he finally understood that he had saved her.
So Ryner sighed in relief.
It was good if she had been saved. But if he continued to remain here, he would be killed. So he needed to tell her to run away quickly. But he couldn’t say anything, all his energy was gone, he couldn’t say a single word.
Then he felt Ferris hug him, hug his body.
She should clearly run away, this wasn’t the time to be doing this, but she strongly, she held him strongly.
“…Hey hey, your crystal has clearly been taken away, but you’re still alive. You really are a monster.” Lir said.
“…You, you, you… I am definitely going to kill you.” Ferris said with a trembling voice.
But no, I must stop Ferris.
Ryner thought.
She can’t win, she definitely can’t win these people. So if she doesn’t escape, I can only beg for mercy.
Even if I die here, it’s fine.
But, my comrades.
The companions who followed me here, no matter what I have to let them escape.
“…”
Hearing Kiefer cry in sadness, then run over.
So Ryner said: “…Li…Lir… I have a favour.”
Lir said: “It doesn’t seem like I have a reason to accept my enemy’s favour, right?”
Ryner forced a scornful smile, “Take it as me begging you…”
But Lir opened his mouth as if knowing what Ryner wanted to say: “You want to surrender at this point in time? Impossible. This is the punishment for the companion who has turned enemy and betrayed us. We clearly came here to save her, but I didn’t think that I would nearly lose my younger brother and sister’s lives. I don’t want to make the same error twice.”
“…”
“But letting you escape is fine. Because we have no more time to waste here. So, hey, the one called Vois Fiurelle.”
Somewhere nearby, Vois replied: “What is it?”
“Give all your Rhule Fragmei to me. This way I will let you live.”
Vois said with a slightly depressed voice: “There’s no choice… Harmit, take these.”
Harmit made a noise of assent, then wanted to pass them to Lir.
Although he couldn’t see, but Ryner still understood what happened.
At this moment, Kiefer suddenly shouted, “Vois, bring the Death Transference to Ryner, quickly!”
Lir said: “The Death Transference if a Rhule Fragmei too…”
But Kiefer interrupted him, saying again: “I definitely wouldn’t let you have it! If you want it, you’ll have to kill me first!”
Don’t say that, Ryner thought. Don’t say that for me, it doesn’t matter if something like dying happened to me.
For a monster who has no meaning in living, don’t die so easily.
At this moment, he felt Kiefer by his side, she stroked Ryner’s face, saying: “Ferris, don’t cry. Hurry! We have to move Ryner to places where soldiers are bleeding… Or else the Death Transference that sucks blood wouldn’t work… I’ll go get Ryner’s wrist.”
Because of this sentence, Ryner’ mind suddenly went blank.
Kiefer said Ferris was crying.
That Ferris, was actually crying.
Ryner sank into a state of self-hatred.
When they left Sion, she cried too, unsettled.
He clearly said that he wouldn’t leave such lonely memories for her, but now it was still the same.
Because he had been too weak, so he had become like that.
And, he understood too.
I will probably die soon.
He could clearly feel something very important in his body dying, and Death Transference probably couldn’t heal it.
Lir said: “…This person can’t be saved. Wielders of cursed eyes having lost their crystals can only…”
At this moment, Sui said: “Onii-san, let’s go. Our work has ended.”
Vois asked: “…Taking away the crystal also means taking away the power of Ryner’s magic eyes, right?”
“Yes.”
“That means, the power of Alpha Stigma, all of it…”
“Yeah.”
“Then Ryner is no longer a wielder of cursed eyes? He has already become a normal… a normal human?”
Lir answered: “Yes. Well, but he’ll die soon.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
“I see…” Vois had a disappointed voice.
Of course. Vois had come here because of Ryner’s magic eyes.
He had anticipated that Ryner’s eyes would be able to block Gastark’s weapon and had come here solely for that reason.
But, now he had simply lost those eyes.
And that meant everyone here.
“…”
Everyone would die.
But Ryner was unable to think about this.
His blood loss was severe.
Because he had lost both wrists, a large amount of blood was rushing out.
His consciousness was slowly blurring.
Lost in a distant place.
But he heard Kiefer’s voice. He heard Kiefer’s trembling and hoarse voice.
“I wouldn’t let you die. I definitely wouldn’t let you die!”
Then he felt Kiefer touch his shoulder.
His chest was still being hugged by Ferris. So he could feel her body trembling uncontrollably.
They were probably using Death Transference to heal him. If it were Death Transference, it could probably heal the wounds of both his wrists.
“…”
But, his consciousness became more blurred, more distant.
Then, he felt it.
He felt death.
He felt himself walking into the depths of death.
He felt himself slowly losing the power to live…
Then finally, Ryner’s consciousness, disappeared.
•••••••
“…”
Raising his head to the sky.
Looking at the distant sky.
The weather was very sunny today, so when he woke up he felt that something good would happen.
“…”
After Vois Fiurelle confirmed that the assassins had left, he looked back.
He looked at Kiefer and Ferris frantically try to heal Ryner who had lost his sight and both his wrists.
No, his wrist had already been joined back.
The severed left had had started to join back under the treatment of Death Transference.
The right hand had been torn apart by the beast so it was unable to return to its former appearance, Well, but at least the blood flow had stopped.
No matter what this was war. The blood that was the source of Death Transference’s power was abundant here.
As long as it wasn’t immediate death, no matter how severe the wound, as long as they used Death Transference, they wouldn’t die.
But.
“…”
Ryner Lute would still die.
Because his 'Alpha Stigma had been stolen.
Because his magic eyes had been crystallised and stolen.
Vois had met people who collected crystallised magic eyes before, so he knew that after the wielders lost the power of their magic eyes, they would die.
They would die immediately.
It was as if having a major organ like their heart or brain being destroyed, they would die immediately.
Probably to the wielders of cursed eyes, these magic eyes were probably the most important organ that gave them their main power.
So Ryner would definitely die.
No matter what, his Alpha Stigma had been stolen.
So…
“…”
Vois raised his head to the sky again, calling his subordinate, “Harmit.”
The black-haired beauty looked at him, replying: “Here.”
Vois smiled, saying: “Ne, so I said today would be a good day, right?”
Harmit tilted her head, not understanding Vois’s meaning, saying: “…Huh?”
But actually there wasn’t any need for her to understand his feelings.
Because today really was a good day.
Looking at the crying Kiefer Knolles.
Looking at the crying Ferris Eris.
Looking at the grim Toale Nelphi.
Only he, smiled happily, then used a light tone, to say to these three people: “Then then, has Ryner died?”
The three looked at Vois at the same time. They looked at him with an unbelievably scary expression, but they didn’t say anything.
But there wasn’t any need for them to answer.
If he died.
Then his heart would stop, his breathing would halt, the Death Transference would stop working.
Because Death Transference wouldn’t react to dead people.
But now that stone was sucking the blood on the floor. It was slurping up the blood.
As if desperately sucking up blood to wake up something else in Ryner’s body.
In normal situation after their magic eyes had been crystallised, they would die immediately, but now something in his body that had allowed to live, was as if about to be awakened.
Vois looked at this, murmuring: “…Ah, anyway, it seems like I win this bet.”
Well, no matter what, he was actually unsettled.
What the ugly Goddess said, how much of it was truth? He had always been unsettled about that.
Furthermore, the Goddesses had described Ryner like this.
No, it should be said they had described the thing in Ryner’ body.
<…We don’t know what it is. And we don’t know what will appear. Up until now something like that has never happened, what has happened to the body of the Solver of All Equations?>
The Goddesses had said that.
But he only needed this, to Vois it was enough.
The existence that even the Goddesses were unable to fathom.
That thing, that seemed to control all Reason in this world that the Goddesses were unable to understand.
It was in Ryner Lute’s body.
And the strange thing that even the Goddesses were unable to understand, probably wouldn’t appear so coincidentally, Vois had thought.
“…”
It couldn’t appear just for fun, he had thought.
So Vois had thought that if he brought Ryner here, he would let that thing appeared.
If he weren’t a human who had to die.
If her weren’t a monster who was about to die here.
And, he told Ryner that— “α—the power hidden in your body, seems to be the strongest power.”
That information, was actually a lie that Vois had come up with. It was easy to trick his opponent with a small lie, he had thought, then came up with this lie that seemed to have some meaning, but, from the beginning till the end, that had only been a lie.
The Goddess had never mentioned that.
They only told him that he needed to watch Ryner Lute, and keep a tab on him.
Ryner Lute, and Lucile Eris.
The Solver of All Equations and the Weaver of All Equations.
Now in the body of these two people, there were unknown bodies in them.
Things that could easily twist the rational of this world.
It was something that was unable to be understood by the common logic that they knew.
And the things that lived in their bodies, had always threatened this world—the Goddesses had said, and they were scared.
So Vois thought of betting on this gamble.
He gambled on the thing that was beyond the Goddess’ understanding.
If that thing really existed, then this person wouldn’t die here.
Was that person a hero from the legends, or a legendary hero, or—
“…There’s also the possibility that he will be a demon that will ruin this world…” Vois smiled.
Then he looked at Ryner who had lost consciousness. He looked at this monster that was on the ground, that had lost his Alpha Stigma.
He still hadn’t died.
He had clearly lost his Alpha Stigma, but he hadn’t died.
The Goddesses didn’t seem to be too clear on the weapon that Gastark had—the information on that weapon called Glovil. Even if Vois had searched through all the information networks in the world, he hadn’t gotten any solid information.
That meant, in this place, there were two giant powers that the Goddesses did not know of.
There were two powers that even those people who controlled the world did not know about.
And these two powers would clash here.
And it was such a sunny weather.
Under this clear sky with no clouds in sight.
This was really—
“…Everything has been decided on since the beginning, don’t you feel as if this were fate?” Vois said.
Harmit had an uncomprehending expression.
Vois smiled.
Of course he was the one to push for this development. It was his careful planning, that had caused matters to develop to this stage.
But everything possibly was decided on since the beginning, he had occasionally thought.
In the fate that had been decided on, followed by the low-grade humans who would follow its joys and despairs.
“…Thinking like that, always feels a little irritating…”
But, even so, only this time, he wanted to think of everything as destined.
He hoped that this situation was also decided since the beginning.
That before Gastark would use that weapon called Glovil, Ryner would lose his Alpha Stigma.
Then, after becoming like that.
The real battle, was from now on.
If everything proceeded in the way that Vois had predicted.
If.
“If I can win this gamble… the world can really change.”
It would change into scenery that not only humans, even Goddesses had never seen.
Up until today, no one had seen that scenery, that would replace everything in this world.
So Vois breathed out a little nervously.
If it weren’t death, it was changing the world.
“…”
He turned around.
The battle continued.
Even if Vois didn’t have three thousand soldiers under him, the battle that wouldn’t be affected by that, continued.
And the Geihlficlant held an overwhelmingly strong pressure.
As if not scared of the destructive power of the large-scale offensive magic and Rhule Fragmei, it slowly pushed the battle line back, then Gastark slowly started to retreat.
If this continued, Gastark would definitely lose.
But of course, that could not happen.
Anyone could see what Gastark was doing.
They were waiting for those assassins who had been sent to retrieve Kiefer and Ryner to return.
And when they returned, Gastark would use Glovil.
No.
“…”
At this moment, Vois felt something interesting.
What those Gastarkian assassins said.
They said they had been ordered to bring Kiefer and Ryner back.
That meant, the Gastarkians, had already felt that something special had existed in Ryner’s body?
Vois thought.
But the Gastarkian assassins didn’t bring Ryner back together.
They left after taking his Alpha Stigma.
Then, what did this mean?
Then, what did this mean?
Vois asked himself, then smiled scornfully.
Gastark that had the weapon that even the Goddess didn’t know about, probably didn’t completely understand Ryner.
That meant, Gastark hadn’t grasped the information that Ryner was equivalent to a BUG?
He thought.
“…If everything were just my imagination, it would be troublesome.” It was rare that he would say a weak point, then he called his subordinate again, “Harmit.”
Hamit replied, in her proper, curt but energetic way: “Is there anything wrong, Vois-sama.”
“How are Relca’s wounds?”
“Although she is unconscious, but she will probably live.”
“That’s good.” He nodded, repeating: “That’s good.”
Then he raised his head to the sky.
Now he only needed to wait.
Or die.
Or wait for the moment when the world would change.
“Harmit.”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you hungry? We have done what we need to do. Let’s have lunch.”
Hearing Vois’s sudden pronouncement, Harmit tilted her head in confusion.
Because she was overly serious, so every time he joked, she would always reveal this expression.
Then after she remained confused for a period of time, she understood what he meant, and smiled faintly, saying—
“Yes.”
•••••••
“…”
Suddenly, a palpitation came from his heart.
So he stopped fighting.
He stopped massacring the monsters around him.
Then Sion Astal focused his attention on that palpitation.
“…”
A strong thundering was coming from his chest.
Something important to his body, started beating strongly.
At first he didn’t understand what happened, but his heart was beating until he wanted to yell loudly.
“…”
He raised his head to the sky.
The blood red sky.
He was now under a sky like this.
But somewhere opposite this sky, there was something strange happening.
Although he didn’t know what had happened yet.
Although he didn’t know what had happened yet.
But these monsters—
“…”
These clones of the Goddess, that had attacked Sion, felt this.
Hundreds of monsters that were unbelievably ugly, raised their heads to the sky.
They looked to the northern sky.
They looked to the distant northern sky.
It seemed like something significant had happened there.
So a beast called.
<Psssssssshhh-->
It let out a piercing shout that humans couldn’t bear.
But Sion understood its meaning. Sion who was no longer human could understand their call.
This was the retreat order from the Goddesses to their clones. So the monsters retreated.
Something worse than ambushing Sion here had probably happened.
It seemed like there was some serious problem, so these monsters needed to go and deal with it.
“…”
Sion pulled off the monster that was hanging on to his shoulder, stamping on it, then raising his hands, muttering: “Begone, monsters.”
A black sword appeared suddenly from behind him, piercing through the monster’s head. Followed by a clatter, the monster’s head disappeared.
Confirming this, he turned to the north again.
He looked at the northern sky.
Then closed his eyes.
Opening them again.
“…”
Following that he was back to reality.
The reality where there were no monsters.
He was now in a carriage.
He was in a carriage where there was a simple desk and bed.
He opened his eyes and found he was lying on a bed. His head ached terribly, it was probably because he had hit his head and lost his consciousness in reality when he was attacked by the Goddess.
He rubbed his temples, raising his head, getting off the simple mattress. Then he opened the carriage door. The outside was still as noisy as ever.
It seemed, he was still on the battle field.
Froaude was waiting outside the carriage, he said with a cold but slightly concerned tone: “…Have you work, Your Majesty.”
Sion nodded, getting off the carriage.
Then he surveyed the situation.
In the end he found that the scenery wasn’t much different from when he had lost consciousness at.
“…This is?” He asked.
Froaude replied: “The area between the lands that used to be the Southern Country of Ali and the Autonomous Holy City of Cassla.”
According to what Froaude said, Sion finally understood that his army had seemed to retreat by quite a distance.
“Have we been outmaneuvered by Remrus?”
Froaude nodded, “Because they used a surprisingly strong weapon.”
“So we didn’t win?”
“No no, this is only a temporary retreat to reorganize our army. And now Field Marshals Claugh Klom and Rahel Miller have gathered the soldiers to make a counter-attack. Because we sent out extraordinary pieces, so we probably can stop them.”
Hearing this report, Sion nodded.
Everyone had probably retreated to protect Sion who had lost consciousness. The morale of the soldiers who had seen Sion collapsed must have been badly affected.
But if they were able to regroup the army in such a short time, start the counter-attack, that meant…
Sion smiled, saying: “It seems that even without me, Roland can conquer the world?”
Froaude smiled too, “Please don’t joke about that—then I will go and spread the news that Your Majesty is already awake to the whole army. Because almost everyone followed Your Majesty to come here, so if you’re not with us, including me, everyone is not motivated.”
He finished saying these words that seemed to be offerings, turned around and left.
“…”
But Sion didn’t stop.
He moved his eyes away from Froaude, looking to the sky again.
He looked to the northern sky.
The sky there seemed to be very sunny.
It was so cloudless that it made him feel comfortable.
But for some reason, somewhere deep in his chest—
“…”
Somewhere deep in his chest felt very uncomfortable.
So he understood something important that would cause a change must have happened.
As if hearing something in the far north let out a cry.
But.
“…”
But even so, Sion chose to keep quiet in the end, not saying anything.
•••••••
“We will win!”
The Geihlficlant king yelled.
So as to increase the soldiers’ motivation, he yelled, almost making his voice hoarse.
In actuality, this war had many benefits for him.
Although he had been cautious because of the information that the strongest power in the northern continent Stohl Empire had been defeated, but in the end if you talked about it optimistically, it would be the side with more soldiers that would win.
There was no other path.
No matter what they did there was no other path, the person who stepped firmly step by step would win.
And Geihlficlant was that country.
No matter whether you were royalty or noble birth, people with no talents could not be acknowledged. People with no results couldn’t be recognized.
Even if it were the prince, if he did not have the ability to deal with it, his position would have been snatched away by the other nobles.
So he had never relaxed his demands towards himself. He had worked hard at disciplining himself since young. Because he was a just prince recognized by everyone.
And he wanted this country to become stronger, more peaceful.
But suddenly the country that he had never heard of called Gastark appeared, and focused its sights on Geihlficlant.
It was said that they had weapons that no one had ever seen before, up till today.
No, they had used it a few times on their way here.
And because those weapons spit flames, it had killed tens of thousands of his soldiers.
But, even so.
“…We will win.”
He thought.
The Geihlficlant army was already completely pressing back the Gastark army.
Furthermore they had ten times the power of the opposing army. If they had an opening, the Gastark army would be easily scattered in a moment.
And if it became a chaotic battle, the other side couldn’t use that strange weapon too. Because if they continued with their plan, they would suffer damages too.
So it would end like that—Gulafed Abuleld thought.
The shining conqueror of the north, the legend of the Gastark Empire, would end here immediately.
But they would leave a reputation. No matter what they had conquered the northern continent.
But in the history after today, their name would only pass down as part of the Geihlficlant Empire.
“…”
Gulafed smiled.
Then he pulled out the sword at his waist.
His horse galloped forward.
On the battle field that was filled with a few large-scale magics and deaths, he calmly galloped forth.
He was this kind of king.
A king who took up the lives of his comrades.
That was why everyone chose him.
They choose him who was fearless and courageous.
Because he was a king who was protected by the people and soldiers.
So the soldiers who desperately protect their selfless king who rushed to the front lines.
So the army strength increased in a moment. Thousands of soldiers moved at an unbelievable pace.
Then Abuleld smiled happily, raising his sword.
Raising his sword high in the air.
This sword was going to clash with the swords of the Gastark army.
He flew there in a straight line, roaring: “That’s enough, you guys!”
The Geihlficlant soldiers answered with an ear-splitting yell—
“Yes--!!!!”
Because of this earth-shattering cry, the Gastark soldiers trembled.
The world shook.
The earth shook.
With the progress of these soldiers who shouted that they wanted to kill the Gastarkians, everything shook.
So Rize shouted: “Too slow!”
He scolded angrily: “What are Lir and the others doing!”
“…”
But Riphal did not answer.
He only watched the Geihlficlant army that was slowly approaching in a huge mass.
All he could see were the green flags and armours of Geihlficlant and his soldiers.
“…Definitely.”
That country must have an extremely wonderful king. He thought.
Or else there wouldn’t be so many soldiers following him.
Even that military country Stohl, their soldiers had weakly shuffled their feet. But this was to be expected, because the royalty and nobles who were in high positions, didn’t follow them onto the battle ground.
But here.
On this battle ground, the Geihlficlant king was on its front lines.
In these nights and days, no matter how many northern countries he had defeated, this had never happened. But it seemed that the Geihlficlant king was this kind of king.
Furthermore.
“…”
Riphal frowned.
Then he thought.
If everything had not been distorted.
If the Goddesses had not devoured this world, if the Hero had not gone bad, if everything was not twisted, he would want to live in the country that was ruled by that kind of king.
To tell the truth he had never thought of ruling the world, much less have this kind of meaningless war.
Because he hated seeing people die.
Be it his companions or enemies.
Because he hated seeing people die.
This was completely meaningless.
No matter how many people he killed, the ending would still be the same.
In the end a country would take over the world.
But that country would be ruined one day.
And then a new struggle would erupt.
Leaving blood, screams and despair.
And people would immediately forget these.
They would make the same mistake.
He himself had never thought of entering this boring killing cycle.
Even if Stohl had killed his parents, he had opposed revenge.
Because there was no meaning.
He had even advised everyone in the village to have a peaceful life under Stohl’s governance.
But.
“…”
But why was he standing here.
Killing people here.
And killing many people.
It was clearly the worst action.
If no one was seeing, if there were no companions fighting by his side, he would probably hate it so much that he would cry.
I clearly only want to live in peace, why does that world disallow for such a small hope to exist.
Forcing him to move forward.
Making him move forward.
Making him move forward and kill people.
Or else in the end, the whole world would be devoured by the Goddess or something like that.
“…”
At this moment, his companions finally returned.
Lir, Sui and Kuu.
In the beginning he had only sent them to confirm the position of the Geihlficlant king, but for some reason the spy that had followed Kiefer returned at this time. And said that Kiefer had escaped his notice, coming to this battle field for some reason.
Hearing this news, Riphal had frantically plead for Lir and the others to save Kiefer.
Riphal looked at Lir who had returned empty-handed, asking: “…Why didn’t you bring Kiefer back?”
Lir looked down, saying: “She said she didn’t want to return to your side.”
Rize who was standing behind Riphal said: “Huh? Is that woman an idiot? She clearly knows what will happen.”
But if she was so adamant on not returning, there was no choice.
“Did she say she wanted to die with Ryner Lute?” Riphal asked.
Lir replied: “…No, the Solver of All Equations is already…”
“Dead?”
“Is this better to do this?”
Riphal nodded, “…Yes. That’s the case. Anyway I can’t save the Solver of All Equations… Even if you brought him back, I would probably kill him here. But even so… Even so, I still wanted to let them have more time together for Kiefer’s sake…”
But, Ryner Lute was already dead.
And Kiefer still hadn’t left the side of the dead Ryner.
Riphal smiled sadly, saying: “…I’ve been dumped again~”
Lir didn’t say anything.
Sui and Kuu and Rize were silent.
Because they already understood what would happen.
Riphal would swing that big sword.
He would swing Glovil down.
He would swing that cursed Sword of Regeneration.
Then everything here would end.
Half of the Geihlficlant soldiers would probably die. The crowd covering this area would disappear in and instant, it could be possible that they might even see the horizon.
And among that, Kiefer’s life would be ended.
“…”
He clearly said that he hated seeing people die, but his hand…
His cursed hands still…
“…Don’t tell me I have to kill the woman I love…” He muttered with a voice as if he were about to cry.
But that sentence was murmured so low that no one could hear it. No, that probably was the small, weak voice that was filled with hate and cursed fate, that sounded in the deepest corner of his chest.
Then he raised his head.
Because he couldn’t cry.
Because he couldn’t cry, and he couldn’t escape.
So he faced the front.
He found that the Geihlficlant army had already reached in front of him.
So he said: “…Let our comrades retreat. I will end this war.”
Lir nodded.
Rize yelled: “His Majesty is going to use Glovil! Retreat!”
The Gastark soldiers yelled happily, the shout to kill all of Geihlficlant soldiers spread.
Both sides were shouting “Kill! Kill! Kill!” as they prepared to clash.
And in the middle of these two armies.
“…”
Riphal Edea stood proudly by himself.
Then he pulled out the large sword on his back.
It didn’t seem like humans could use it—
A long…
Long…
Long…
Black…
Cursed sword.
He slowly raised the sword above his head, lifting his soldiers.
Raising his head, looking at the man who was galloping towards him amongst the front line of the Geihlficlant army.
That man who wore elegant green armour. He raised his sabre, leading the Geihlficlant army. There was the possibility that this man was that country’s king.
But.
“…”
In Riphal’s eyes, there was no reflection of the Geihlficlant king’s figure.
He only used that remaining eye, to look into the distance.
He looked at the other side of the enemy army.
He looked at the people he was about to kill.
He looked at the lives of comrades.
“…Kiefer she…” He murmured.
And he stopped, he didn’t continue. He squashed what he wanted to say back into his chest.
Because he didn’t have the right to explain himself anymore. He no longer had the right to explain what he wanted to do to the people he was going to kill.
So he could only shout like he usually did.
He shouted with that voice as if he were about to cry—
“I…I am a murderer! I am a king of slaying! If you want to curse me, then come! But, even so, I will still swing this sword. So that I can save more lives than I am going to kill now, I will kill you all here!!”
So he, Glovil—
The scenery warped.
The scenery warped.
The world warped with a strangely mushy sound.
And Ryner,
"..."
Had seen this same scene before.
He saw something within the depths of darkness.
The scenery being twisted, crushed, wrapped, and colors melting into each other, staining everything red.
Red.
Red.
Red.
Red.
File:DDnYnD v06 295.jpg
"..."
This was the same scene he saw when he died a while ago. No, the same scene he saw when he thought he died from being stabbed in the chest with a knife.
Then Ryner looked at his hands.
His hands were being stained white.
Not only his hands – but his feet, his chest, his whole body were being stained white as well.
It almost seemed like his own existence was getting weaker – even the outline of his body was fading away.
"...everything is happening the way it did last time..."
He whispered.
Then he looked around.
Everything within his field of vision was being stained red.
And Ryner knew what kind of red it was.
The same shade of red that the pentacle in his eyes had.
A red ceiling.
A crimson floor.
A vermillion wall.
A scarlet corridor the stretches directly ahead.
And Ryner knew where he was.
He was within himself.
Inside his Alpha Stigma.
A monster called Alpha lived here, and...
"..."
A black-haired woman who tried her best to stop its rampage.
And he remembered the woman's face.
He remembered who she was.
Mother.
His own mother.
He didn't know why, but his mother risked her life to prevent the monster from going wild inside Ryner.
Therefore
"..."
Therefore, his mother should be here right now.
And Ryner whispered softly,
"...mother."
But no response came.
There was only the blood-red corridor, stretching infinitely.
So Ryner began walking. He proceeded through the passageway, and saw what he'd seen before.
Beyond the corridor lay an unbelievably huge room.
If I have such a huge and empty hole within me, won't I die of loneliness? These nonsensical thoughts passed through Ryner's head.
That room was red as well.
The sky; the earth; everything was red and wriggled like human insides.
The same as before.
Exactly the same.
Yet somehow different.
Because...
"...there's no voice..."
He said.
Yes.
Last time, a voice came from the skies.
A low and heavy voice that resounded directly in his brain.
It's the same voice that Ryner can only hear when his Alpha Stigma goes berserk, a voice overbearing like that of a god's – however, he can't hear it now.
The red monster who posed as a deity was supposed to live here.
But it wasn't here.
Ryner tried speaking up,
"Is it hiding somewhere...?"
Maybe when Lir gouged out his Alpha Stigma, that monster got devoured by that stone Spunquel and died?
Regardless, nothing was there.
Ryner emerged from the corridor and stepped into the room. He mused to himself as he walked on,
"...maybe everything's a dream? I'm already dead, so I'm seeing things during my last moments...or..."
Am I in hell?
That's one possibility, he thought.
He killed lots of people when his Alpha Stigma went berserk, after all.
Such a monster could never hope for heaven.
And he failed to protect his friends...
"..."
Ferris and Kiefer and Toale and Voice and Arua and Kuku and Sion and – no, he failed pretty much everyone.
Someone like that wouldn't go to heaven after he died.
So,
"...is this hell?"
He whispered, and something replied.
<<That's right.>>
Something replied.
However, the voice came from the heavens. A voice from the skies that battered directly at his head.
But it wasn't the overbearing voice that resounded when his Alpha Stigma went berserk.
This voice sounded somewhat sleepy and lazy.
Ryner lifted up his face and asked,
"Who is it?"
The voice laughed.
"Just 'ahaha' doesn't tell me anything."
And the voice said,
<<You should be able to understand by just looking, right?>>
Ryner scowled,
"Where?"
<<Straight ahead. Right in front of you.>>
The voice said.
So Ryner turned to the front again, and discovered that the scenery had changed sometime in between.
Not completely – everything was still stained red -, but two people appeared without his notice.
One of them was a woman.
A woman with beautiful and long black hair. A woman with a gentle face. A face that evoked such nostalgia in him, that he was nearly driven to tears just by the sight of her.
It was his mother.
His mother lay on the red floor, looking like she was asleep.
And a man gently held her in his arms.
Ryner took a look at that man.
"..."
And was at a loss of words.
Because...
"..."
The man was himself.
However, he wore strange clothes. Ridiculous ones like that of a clown, and a tear drop was tattooed below his left eye.
He looked towards Ryner with that left eye and smiled gently.
<<Hi there. So we finally meet.>>
He said in a friendly tone.
Ryner scrutinized the clown that looked exactly like himself, and said
"Who are you?"
The clown merely shrugged his shoulders in reply.
<< I'm you.>>
"Huh?"
<<You. Your sleeping self.>>
"I don't get it..."
However, the clown interrupted his words.
<<It's also correct to say that I'm half of "Ryner Eris Reed"[the Lonesome Demon] – the Solver of All Equations. But in the end, I'm still you.>>
He said.
But Ryner couldn't understand what those words meant. Seeing this, the clown smiled kindly.
<<It's alright if you don't understand it right now. You'll eventually get it.>>
"Really?"
<<Yep.>>
"I see..."
Ryner said and looked around him,
"So, where's that monster?"
He asked.
The clown replied,
<<You mean Alpha?>>
"Yeah."
<<He ran. Because I – no, you woke up...if you fully awakened, Alpha wouldn't be able to do anything about it.>>
That's what he said, but Ryner couldn't understand a word.
But it doesn't matter, because he has more important matters to attend to.
"..."
Ryner gazed at the woman lying before him; at the black-haired and gentle-looking woman.
And said,
"...so"
"So, is mother released now? She has been holding back Alpha for my sake, didn't she?"
The clown nodded, and gently caressed his mother's black hair,
<<She's been released.>>
He said.
Ryner's eyes widened at this. Pentagrams no longer appeared in his eyes. He opened his curse-free eyes – looking almost as if they've never been cursed in the first place - and ran towards his mother's side.
But the clown said,
<<Then she died.>>
He said.
<<She abandoned everything to protect you. She really is a kind person.>>
Those were his words.
And Ryner stopped himself. He looked at the woman on the floor.
His mother.
His mother, who risked her life and continued to protect him all these years, even though he himself forgot her name, her face and even her figure.
"...sh-she died?"
He said.
But the clown didn't answer. He merely looked towards Ryner in sympathy.
"..s-she died..but I, I haven't even said anything to..."
However, the clown replied.
<<Your feelings were conveyed to her.>>
"But..."
<<And you still have things to do, no? She's already dead, but you're not dead yet.>>
The clown said.
Ryner stared at the clown who resembled himself,
"I'm...not dead?"
<<That's right. And you have to protect your friends –no, we have to protect our friends. That's what we've decided, right? We want to save everything we see. If even monsters like us can save someone - then we'd want to save everything – we've decided, haven't we?>>
"..."
Hearing those words, he suddenly remembered.
What he should do.
What he had to do from now on.
And who he is.
So Ryner looked at the clown.
He looked at the clown who was the splitting image of himself, and said.
"You are..."
He felt the depths of his chest shake.
The very insides of his chest trembled.
Then he opened his mouth.
And his voice,
<<...I am...I am a demon who became mad to save Sion, huh...>>
His voice came from the heavens.
"..."
Ryner opened his eyes.
He saw the faces of his friends.
The faces of Ferris and Kiefer.
Both of them looked on the brink of crying.
No, they were actually crying.
They were crying and pushing Derunio onto his body like everything depended on it.
And they hadn't realized that Ryner was awake already.
"..."
On the side, Toale was talking to Vois with a troubled face.
And Ryner tried to say,
"...ah~"
He tried to speak up,
"...I'm beat."
Ferris and Kiefer turned around in an instant. Their eyes widened in surprise.
"Ryner!?"
Kiefer shouted and embraced him.
And Ferris...
"..."
She hurriedly tried to wipe her tears, but her attempts only made it worse. She turned away and shouted in anger.
"I-idiot! You sure took your sweet time!"
Ryner smiled wryly.
Toale came towards him with a happy face and extended his hand.
Ryner took it and pulled himself upright. He now realized that he's standing in a sea of blood. He was probably healed by Derunio absorbing the blood here.
His left arm was attached. His right arm was torn into shreds and missing, but the wound had closed, at least.
Ryner glanced at his arm, and immediately turned towards his two comrades.
As expected, Kiefer and Ferris were drenched in blood from standing in that sea of blood.
"...sorry. I made you worry."
Ryner whispered.
Ferris still refused to turn around and didn't even give him a reply.
"Ah~ That's great. So you did wake up, as expected."
Vois butted in, and Ryner turned towards him.
" 'As expected' my ass. You lied, didn't you?"
Vois smiled at his words, and tilted his head.
"About what?"
"About my eyes and what the Goddess said about them. What was it again? Er, Alpha is..."
Vois gleefully finished the sentence.
"Alpha – the power of destruction that lies within you is one of the most powerful types – was that what you meant? Yes. That was a complete lie."
Vois admitted curtly, even though he lied about an important thing that he really shouldn't have.
Ryner replied with a bored face.
"Don't screw with me. Alpha escaped."
Vois seemed a bit surprised at this.
"Hmm. So Alpha escaped...because it's afraid of Glovil?"
He asked, but Ryner shook his head.
And Vois grinned happily.
"Afraid of you?"
He asked, his expression smug as if he expected everything.
"..."
Ryner was getting more annoyed by the minute, so he stopped replying.
But, Vois kept speaking.
"So, did you find out who you are?"
"..."
"Everything went according to my words, right? If you came here, you'd find out..."
"...ahh geez. Shut up. Stop making such a big deal about it."
Ryner said, and Vois replied
"Well, you're having a talk with me later, but at least answer me this. I'm sure everyone here wants an answer..."
Vois paused. Ryner felt a slightly nervous air around Vois.
So, when Vois said
"...it's about Glovil, can you..."
Ryner interrupted.
"I can deal with it."
He detached himself from Kiefer's embrace and turned around. He stared at the real world he had come back to. A world filled with slaughter.
He gazed at the battlefield with eyes whose sight should've been stolen by Lir.
"..."
A tear shape floated within his eyes. A tear drop that flickered in blue, red, white, and all the iridescent colors.
Reflected in those eyes were things beyond this world.
The composition of all magic.
The composition of all humans.
The composition of all matter.
The composition of all Rule Fragments can be seen.
And he knew how to undo them.
Vois questioned from behind.
"...so, in the end, who are you?"
"A lonesome demon who happened to be very good at solving puzzles."
Ryner said without turning around.
He stared into the distance.
And saw, in the distance, a monster being born.
Perhaps no one else can see this scene. Maybe, not even the Gastarkians who summoned that could see it.
The scene is happening in a world overlapping with reality, but different.
A giant snake descended from the skies. A snake with white scales, whose body is huge enough to cover the entire sky.
The snake opened its mouth. From its mouth, another monster – no, the face of a beautiful girl with long, pink hair appeared and said
<<O, contractor...I shall answer your call again>>
The girl cast her voice downwards.
A quiet, quiet, quiet, yet overbearing voice.
A cursed voice that resounds directly in a human's head.
<< I shall answer. I shall answer. Come, offer the price. Offer it, and release my power.>>
Her voice coaxed.
The monster cast her voice downwards, and coaxed the feeble human.
And the contractor answered. The contractor replied, sacrificing his own body to gain power.
It seemed like the weapon Glovil had to be activated that way.
A human, offering his life to the monster to unlock its true power.
File:DDnYnD v06 319.jpg
And the girl laughed.
She seemed to be laughing at the foolish antics of man.
She laughed softly, looking down on everything.
And
<<...the contract is finished. Releasing my power.>>
After she said that, a red light appeared from afar.
A light in the shade of blood was released violently into the world.
Ryner began,
"...everyone step back. I'm cancelling Glovil's mag..."
But his words stopped.
Because another voice came from the skies.
<<Ha, ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha>>
It was a voice he knew very well.
One that he heard over and over again.
The voice that descended whenever Ryner's Alpha Stigma went berserk.
The voice of the monster that kept tormenting him.
"..."
No, the monster that killed his mother-
"Alpha, huh..."
Ryner said and looked up towards that voice.
And it was there.
The monster that he once met in his eyes.
A beast as big as Glovil's floating body descended towards him.
Red skin in the shade of blood.
Eyes even redder than that.
Vermillion pentacles in the depths of its eyes.
Sharp fangs.
Sharp claws.
Gigantic wings.
However, those wings weren't flapping. They were merely swaying lazily, and the beast ignored gravity as is floated down slowly.
No, the concept of gravity that governs the plane of humans might not even exist in this world.
Ferris, Kiefer and the others probably couldn't see the monster. No, Ryner himself wouldn't be able to see it either if not for the power of the Solver of All Equations in his eyes.
All they heard were voices coming from the sky.
Voices like that of gods' descended from the sky, and humans feared.
However, Ryner looked up at Alpha with bored eyes.
Seeing that, Alpha smiled with its mouthful of teeth.
<<Ha, hahaha, ahahahaha, so you see me, so you see me, demon...so finally, you have stepped beyond the boundaries of man, just like that mad hero...>>
Ryner interrupted.
"Shut up, monster."
<<Bold words. But what can a mere human do by gaining just a bit of power? You're no longer protected by Artofaal. Nothing stands against my power now.>>
The beast finished, and bit into his own wings. He tore out his own teeth and sank his arms into his chest.
And gradually, the seal that had restricted the monster began to break. The restraints that his mother cast on the monster to hold him back – to prevent it from going on a rampage and killing Ryner – were being torn off.
And another monster tried to come out from the beast's body. The beast's chest was ripped apart and torn open,
"..."
And a giant spider with a human-like head emerged from within. Its whole body was red. A giant spider with a blood-red body. The spider opened its mouth and began devouring the body of the beast which looked like the demons in fairytales. It began devouring the Curse of Artofaal that Ryner's mother created.
And the human-like head above its mouth looked towards Ryner.
Actually, the face didn't have eyes, so Ryner didn't know whether it's staring at him or not, but it definitely turned towards him.
Ryner looked back.
At the face without eyes, a nose, a mouth or ears. It was simply an egg-shaped and blood-red head, and infinite amounts of pentacles that shone even redder appeared and disappeared before it.
And that head, with all its flickering pentacles, looked towards him. Looked down on him.
Ryner scowled.
"So that's your true form."
As expected, Alpha laughed. "Hahahahahahaha". It laughed with a powerful voice that made heads spin.
And...
<<That's right. And how would you call me? God. Demon. Devil. Hero. Monster. How would you...>>
However, Ryner extended his hand.
And with his eyes - eyes that were shining with prism tears -, he looked up at the ugly spider and muttered.
"...how would I call you? Hah! You're just a spider, aren't you?"
He said and moved his fingers slightly. A light appeared at his fingertip.
Then he looked up.
"...the spider's..."
And even turned his gaze towards the snake on the other side.
"And the snake's equations analyzed. Terminating their existences..."
But stopped right there.
He saw something grasping his left arm.
It was woman's arm.
At first, he thought that it belonged to Ferris or Kiefer.
But immediately dismissed that idea.
After all, humans shouldn't be able to come to this unnatural world.
So, who...
Who is it...
"..."
Ryner looked towards the woman grabbing his arm.
But it wasn't a woman.
No, it wasn't even human.
It had a long hair and a nicely shaped body.
But it didn't have eyes. It had eyeholes, but no eyes. Insect-like beings gushed out from its eyeholes, and it bit on Ryner's arm with its horizontal mouth filled with teeth.
"...a Goddess huh."
Ryner scowled and turned his gaze towards the Goddess.
"Terminating existence..."
But stopped again. He felt a great pain in his right shoulder. Something tore into him.
One after each other, his legs, back and neck were being torn into.
Ryner turned around in response.
And saw dozens of the Goddess' monsters.
Then, voices came down again.
Alpha's voice.
Voices of the Goddesses' doubles.
<<Don't get cocky, demon...we've decided to finish you off here...resistance is futile...you...all of you are going to perish here.>>
They said.
And Alpha released one vermillion pentacle from his face.
Not towards Ryner, but the ground.
The pentacle engraved itself on the earth.
And the ground twisted with red.
A hole opened from the distortion, and what looked like brown dirt gushed out. Then came the soldiers with green armor. Then the blue sky. Then the voices of humans.
Everything was being turned inside out, with the hole as the center. The alternate world was slowly transformed into the real world.
However, Alpha was still there.
An unbelievably huge spider monster, whose existence shouldn't even be allowed in the human world, appeared.
Just by raising its leg, soldiers around the spider were blown to smithereens, before they even touched its leg.
Humans were rendered speechless before such an unusual sight.
Speechless before the appearance of a monster that looked like it came straight from a fairytale.
But the screams began immediately.
The screams of madness began immediately.
<<Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaahahahahahahhaaaaaaahahahah know fear, humans! Tremble, humans! I am God, demon, devil, hero, a monster who'll slaughter all of you...come, scream for me!>>
Alpha roared.
It released vermillion pentacles from its face into all directions. When they hit humans, their blood boiled and exploded from within.
It was different from the power that Ryner used before. When he went berserk and released pentacles, the power within them was different.
Most likely, Alpha was merely abusing the power of the Solver of All Equations.
"...now you're just a monster."
Ryner groaned.
Ferris' voice came from behind.
"W-what is that..."
Ryner didn't turn around.
"The monster within me."
"Why is it out here?"
"Because I'm weak. But I'll stop it now."
"But, such a monster..."
However, Ryner interrupted her words.
"Hey, Ferris..."
"Hmm?"
"I've always made you worry, and you were the one who kept protecting me, but this time, I'll..."
He said.
"I'll do the protecting."
With those words, he took at step forward. His body felt incredibly heavy. The Goddess' doubles were swarming around his body and tearing into him in the alternate world, and he found it a bit hard to move.
But he ignored that and moved forward. Then he extended his hand towards Alpha.
Alpha laughed at this.
He laughed madly.
<<Hahahahahaha, hahhahahahahahaha, you can't do it. You won't be able to. The weakness in your heart won't let you.>>
Ryner ignored the words that Alpha cast down, and weaved light patterns in the air with his finger.
However, the spider monster still laughed.
<< I said you can't do it! Your power is too immense, so you can't use it in this world. If you do, you'll erase the entire landscape. So, you won't use your power. That's why I chose this place for your burial. Because you, with your weak and fragile heart, can't kill humans...you can only kill that monstrous snake in the alternate world. You can't kill...>>
Someone spoke up behind him.
"...you can do it. Right, Ryner?"
Vois said.
"You are our king. If you saved us here, then you'd truly be our king, both in name and..."
But Ryner interrupted him.
He cut off Vois' words.
"It's not about big things like that. The spider was right. I am a weak human. Not a monster, just a fragile human. And because humans are sad creatures...because they're weak and sad creatures, they cannot choose everything."
He said, and remembered Sion's face.
Sion, who was smiling as tears flowed down his cheeks in the rain.
He kept making choices.
The ones that are the hardest to make.
And in the end, he cried. He cried, and disappeared.
But if he was really that troubled, why didn't he talk to me? That's what I thought.
Why didn't he tell me to save him? I thought.
He said that I'm his greatest friend.
He said that I'm his companion.
Why did he heave all those burdens upon himself?
"..."
But, I was wrong.
He couldn't have talked to me.
Because I..
"..."
I didn't bear anything.
All I did was run away.
I selfishly proclaimed that I wanted to save everything, but all I did was run away without shouldering anything.
That's why Sion disappeared while crying.
But it's different now.
It'll be different from now on.
I wanted to stand beside him – not just by talk – but truly stand beside him.
But for that, I need to shoulder my own burdens.
I need to move on.
"If...if I'm not a monster, but a human..."
I need to move on.
Because I like Ferris.
Because I like Kiefer.
Because I like Toale.
Vois...well, I wonder?
And Milk, and Lafra, and Arua, and Kuku, and Fahl, Tyle, Toni, and Sion as well.
"Because I like humans...so..."
Ryner said and raised his hand.
He felt something on his face. Felt his own tears flowing down his cheek.
However, he still said,
"So, I'll move on."
And released a light from his fingertip.
A light that undoes all equations.
For an instant, Alpha looked surprised. But it really was for an instant.
Alpha was caught in the light immediately, and its very existence was erased.
But the light didn't stop there.
It couldn't be controlled by Ryner's will anymore. Slowly but surely, like a pandemic, the light spread out into the world.
It expanded in front of Ryner in the shape of a fan.
And the humans touched by the light all turned into sand.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Tens of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands.
An unbelievable amount of humans were erased by the light and turned into sand.
And the light clashed with the red light that Glovil unleashed.
By that time, almost no one was left in front of Ryner.
Glovil's light and Ryner's light had killed most of them.
Then, Glovil's and Ryner's powers negated each other and disappeared.
"..."
It seems like their powers were almost equal.
And only despair remained.
Nothing that resembled a human figure could be seen.
More than a million people were erased, but the plains merely stretched on as if nothing had happened.
The sky was clear.
Most relaxing.
Ryner looked at the sky
"...I killed..."
He began, but was cut off by Ferris.
"No! You...you just protected us!"
She shouted.
She shouted with all her might.
Ryner smiled bitterly at that.
He smiled bitterly at her kindness. Normally, she'd swing around her sword and never stop yapping about dango, but at times like this, she'd be so kind. He felt like crying. But he won't. Not anymore.
"Yeah..."
He merely nodded.
"Yeah, you're right."
He merely nodded.
And mused to himself.
He killed to protect his friends.
That's...alright. It's a reason that he can accept, he thought.
But it's not something that he should do, whether he accepted it or not. It's not something he can forgive himself for. There's no way he can live on smiling sheepishly after killing more than a million people.
That's why Sion cried.
And even the King of Gastark-
Even Rephael Edea must be moving forward while crying, isn't he? Ryner thought faintly.
But nothing is going to change by just thinking about it.
Ryner closed his eyes.
And moved his consciousness into the alternate world again.
As usual, the Goddess' doubles were biting into his body.
Ryner narrowed his eyes.
"..well, that's that. What are you going to do about it?"
He said.
And the Goddess' doubles shivered in fear.
<<...you monster...>>
They say.
But Ryner smiled sadly.
"Sorry, but I'm a human, saddeningly so."
He said, and grabbed one of the Goddesses that was tearing into him.
"Disappear."
And it was done.
All the Goddesses detached themselves from Ryner
<<Orders for retreat.>>
They said.
"Then go. But tell this to your boss – since you guys bullied Sion, I'm not going to forgive you."
Ryner said. He raised his hands, and lowered his voice
"...tell her that I'll come and kill her one day."
And the Goddess' doubles hurriedly ran away from the alternate world that Ryner had created.
Ryner nodded and looked at the sky again.
The snake monster was still there.
A girl's head emerged from its mouth and smiled. Her hair was the same shade as that of the Gastarkians.
Then
-I thought I could meet you here. Hello, Mister Demon.
She said.
Ryner replied,
"Who are you? The structure of your equation is a bit different from that of the Goddesses or Alpha..."
The girl answered:
-I am Glovil. The lover of Riphal Edea.
"Lover?"
-Yes. I am a woman sent forth for the sole purpose of crossing with him.
"...sole purpose of crossing...um, I'm not really getting it...but, you're a monster, right?"
-Ahaha.
"Well, 'ahaha' doesn't really tell me anything...ah~ geez. So, you knew you can meet me here, and what did you come for?"
Ryner asked, and the girl answered.
-I just came to see. To see whether we can kill the mad demon. Whether we can kill the mad hero. In truth, the Goddesses aren't the enemy. The ones who mess up this world are always you two.
"..."
Ryner narrowed his eyes at her words.
He couldn't understand what the girl was saying.
"...the ones who mess up the world are always the demon and the hero? That..."
-Don't think too hard about it. You're mad with love anyways, so you won't reach the right conclusion. But...right. It's a bit troubling. Your power is beyond my expectations...
She stopped, and looked like she had a sudden epiphany.
-Well, I'm still glad that I could meet you. I wonder, will I meet you again, or will I meet the hero next? I don't know, but that's it for today. I'm going back to my beloved hero's sword. So, see you.
The girl said and returned to the snake's mouth.
And the snake disappeared.
Ryner looked at the empty space it left behind.
"..."
Suddenly, his body lost all strength. He couldn't even stand anymore. He fell on his knees and onto the ground.
"Ryner!?"
He vaguely heard Kiefer shouting.
Ryner opened his eyes.
And returned to the real world again.
Kiefer and Toale were trying their best to support Ryner, who was crumbling to the ground.
He looked at their faces.
"...ah, sorry. I'm just really worn out, and sorta sleepy..."
He said, and Toale smiled.
And so did Kiefer, who looked to be on the verge of tears.
"Ryner, you're always sleepy."
She forced herself to say in a bright voice.
A voice that conveyed her feelings, that she didn't mind what Ryner just did.
"..."
And Ryner was deep in thought.
Maybe he really isn't a monster anymore, he thought.
Because he was loved and helped by such kind companions, and maybe, simply by being amongst them, he'd become human.
Of course, he had committed an unforgivable sin.
He can't turn back now, for he had opened the gates of hell.
Despite all that, he realized that he was still human.
"..."
He was a weak, sad human that would kill to protect his friends, after all.
"..."
He realized that Ferris was looking at him behind Kiefer. Looking at him with a somewhat incompetent face that spoke of both her desire to come forth and her hesitance to do so.
To think that they'd want to stay at the side of a monster who just killed over a million people..such idiots.
But in the end, all humans are idiots.
Including himself, all of them are idiots, saddeningly so.
Imperfect beings that would hurt one another if they got too close, but would also die of loneliness if they weren't at each other sides.
So, Ryner smiled.
He smiled gently at her.
"..."
And Ferris gladly returned his smile.
♦
And the battle ended.
An unusual battle in which over a million soldiers disappeared in an instant; in which a gigantic spider went on a rampage, had come to an end.
And this piece of news spread throughout the world like fire.
With an impact that far surpassed the news of Gastark defeating the Steol Empire, this piece of information made its way throughout the world.
Accompanied by rumors and highly exaggerated retellings, it was passed on from person to person.
And the entire structure of the world is threatening to change-
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
"......"
But the leader had realized that it would come to this.
She said that a demon was about to be born.
A sad, lonesome demon who is easily driven to tears.
She said that he was a weak being who'd die immediately if left alone.
A weak being who'd die right away if no one helped him.
Because he was too kind.
He was too kind, and he loved the hero too much-
He'd be driven mad immediately.
That's why
"...I have to come and get you."
He, Tiir Rumibul, whispered.
