As Long as I'm with Ceryll
The heart of the kingdom, the capital city of Persia.
Facilities of every kind crowded around the royal center of Persia. The most famous among them was Persia Academy, founded for the purpose of raising the kingdom’s talents. The second was…
“A demon suddenly appeared at the Royal Bakery… and took the customers hostage.”
The Royal Bakery.
True to its name, it was a place that enjoyed the deep affection of the nobility. Young daughters and their mothers in particular were always coming and going. And the great majority of those patrons ranked among the most powerful nobles in the kingdom.
They must have figured that killing those people would plunge the kingdom into utter chaos.
The primary goal of an Evil Apostle was to sow chaos throughout the realm. This explosion would strike the kingdom hard. Nobles who lost their beloved daughters and wives would reeling from the shock, and the kingdom’s political landscape would suffer for more than a year afterward.
Becoming an Evil Apostle means you take pleasure in chaos and destruction.
I was already making my way toward the bakery through the hole the child had dug, but I still did not know exactly who the enemy was.
According to the original story, the bakery was obliterated without a single trace left behind.
That explosion had to be the enemy’s power.
An explosion, huh…
There was one Evil Apostle who immediately sprang to mind at the word “explosion.” A demon who met his end at the hands of the original protagonist around the middle of the story—someone who had slaughtered countless people in blasts of fire and force. Because the original had explored him in depth, I knew that demon well.
…But certainty is a dangerous luxury.
There was no guarantee it was the one I knew.
“What does this so-called demon look like?”
So I asked first.
“His face is deathly pale, and sharp fangs stick out. And…”
“And?”
“He said he carries the blood of a pureblood…”
Pureblood.
At those words, relief washed through me. It was exactly the demon I had thought of.
The vampire, Lutin.
The demon who had killed so many with his explosions. And I knew precisely how to deal with Lutin.
“We’re here.”
The child spoke. I poked my face carefully through the hole he had dug.
“Mom, Dad. I brought someone who can save us.”
The couple who looked to be bakers wore troubled expressions. Did they think I was unreliable simply because I was a student?
“D-Dad? Th-These people can defeat that demon. My gut is telling me so.”
The child insisted, yet his father only shook his head, refusing to the very end.
“Why not?”
Sensing the situation had turned strange, Ceryll asked the child’s mother.
“…The moment that demon dies, a massive explosion will go off.”
Lutin was using even his own death as a trigger for the blast. The instant he perished, a colossal explosion would engulf this place. I knew better than anyone how devastating that power was. At the same time, I also knew how to stop it.
Of course, knowing and actually attempting it were two very different things. With my current strength, I could never pull it off alone.
But.
If it’s with Ceryll… we might just manage it.
Just as she had said. Alone it would be impossible, yet together the two of us might save everyone.
“There’s a way to stop the massive explosion.”
I explained how to deal with the vampire. But would Ceryll even believe the words of a mere student like me?
“All right. I’ll try it.”
Ceryll answered without the slightest hesitation.
“…You really believe what I just said?”
“Yeah.”
“…What if it’s a lie?”
“Is it a lie?”
“No.”
I hadn’t expected her to trust me so easily.
“I believe in Reina.”
At those words I bit my lip.
“…We only get one chance. And if we fail to destroy his magic circuit, you might get caught in the enemy’s explosion magic.”
Even Ceryll could die if she took that blast head-on.
Her hand closed firmly around mine.
“I believe in Reina. If it’s you, you can do it.”
Ceryll believed in me—more than I believed in myself.
“…That’s a heavy burden.”
I said it lightly, but having someone place that much trust in me didn’t feel bad at all.
The vampire Lutin.
He had loved explosions ever since he was a child. Whenever he blew something—or someone—apart, a profound pleasure flooded through him. And at last a being appeared who recognized his talent.
The Evil God, Phenex.
Phenex praised him, told him he was doing splendidly, and suggested he wrap even more people in fire and death. Not only that—he bestowed upon Lutin an even greater explosion magic. It was a grand spell that activated only upon his own death, yet that hardly mattered.
—Go to the royal capital and slaughter many. Then I shall gift you stronger explosion magic still.
If this job succeeded, greater power would be his.
“This bread will be the last.”
He happened to be hungry, and this was the capital’s most famous bakery, so Lutin decided to sample the dessert before he reduced the place to rubble.
Gulp.
He swallowed the bread in a single bite and curved his lips into a sinister smile.
“Now it’s time to tear this place apart in style.”
The roar of explosions, the screams of lives being swallowed by flame, and himself dancing amid the carnage—that was pure happiness for Lutin.
Creak.
He rose from his chair and began to draw a magic circle, preparing the spell that would detonate the bakery.
And at that exact moment—
Slash.
A sharp impact struck him.
A sword?
Realizing he had been cut, Lutin froze in surprise. Even though he specialized solely in explosion magic, he was a pureblood vampire who carried the blood of the ancients. His physical abilities far surpassed the ordinary. Yet something had wounded him so swiftly he never even noticed.
The cut is shallow.
His chest had been sliced, but it was nowhere near fatal.
Slash.
Again the skin over his chest parted. Fabric fluttered to the floor. Lutin’s brow furrowed.
Swish.
In the same breath another cut opened across his chest. And once more, just as the blade was about to fall—
Grab.
Lutin seized the sword with his bare hand. Blood ran down his fingers in rivulets, but he paid it no mind, staring instead at the one who had cut him.
Young.
He had assumed only a knight could wound him. Yet the blonde girl standing before him looked far too young no matter how he examined her.
But her skill is exceptional.
Even allowing for his carelessness, he had permitted three successful strikes. What’s more—
She can even use Mana Reinforcement.
The blonde girl was already clad in Mana Reinforcement.
Bang!
The sword he gripped exploded. Anything that touched Lutin’s hand for even a moment could be detonated. The mana-reinforced blade crumpled like paper. He thrust his hand forward and clamped his fingers around the girl’s face.
“How dare you wound me. Now pay the price.”
He intended to explode her on the spot. A magic powerful enough to shatter even a mana-protected sword in a single burst. She had just watched it happen right before her eyes, and now she herself was about to suffer the same fate—yet she showed no fear.
She’s smiling?
Why was the girl smiling?
She spoke.
“I succeeded.”
Succeeded? At what?
Thud.
Something dropped. Lutin lowered his gaze and saw a scrap of flesh. His own flesh.
My heart…
Only then did he realize the flesh shielding his heart had been sliced clean away. He had dismissed the wounds as shallow and grown careless. That blonde girl had perfectly excised the skin covering his heart.
A vampire’s magic circuit resided within the heart. Once destroyed, magic became forever impossible.
It will be fine. The curse Lord Phenex bestowed protects my heart.
The blonde girl could not be a divine apostle. If she were, she would have fought with holy power from the very beginning.
Unless an attack carries divine power, my heart won’t even feel a scratch.
So Lutin believed he had nothing to fear. And as if to mock that very belief—
An arrow streaked through the air.
Thwip!
It punched straight through the curse and buried itself dead-center in his heart.
“Success.”
I let out a long breath of relief and felt the corner of my mouth twitch upward.
Lutin’s heart is protected by the curse of the Evil God.
Without divine power, wounding it was impossible. And the only ones who could launch an attack imbued with divine power were apostles of the gods. In other words, it had to be me.
“Hah… hah…”
They said using divine power drained you dry, and every word of it was true. I had fired only a single arrow, yet I could barely stay on my feet. In the end I simply sank to the ground.
I only had one shot.
So I had to hit the magic circuit dead-on and destroy it. For that, the heart itself had to be exposed.
Without Ceryll I never could have attempted it.
Because she was with me, I could confirm exactly where to aim. That was why I landed the shot.
Getting the Stealth talent beforehand helped a lot too.
An arrow charged with divine power was perfect in almost every way—except for the crackling sparks it produced. Thanks to Stealth, though, that drawback hardly mattered.
With this, Lutin can no longer use explosion magic.
The same went for the massive detonation. Even if he died now, no grand explosion would follow.
“Damn it!”
Lutin’s scream tore through the air. He had clearly figured out what I had done.
“I won’t forgive youuuuuu!”
He howled the words and fixed me with a murderous glare. The look in his eyes alone told me everything. He intended to kill me.
The problem was that every last drop of strength had already left my body. If Lutin decided to end me right now, I would die without the slightest resistance.
But—
“Not a chance!”
I was no longer alone.
Thud! Thud!
Having lost her sword, Ceryll simply clenched her fists and began to rain blows down on Lutin.