Noblesse
The sun had fully set, and darkness had settled over the world.
By the light of the moon, the saintess sensed something familiar yet strangely alien in Hilde.
For the first time, the woman who had always been by her side since their days in the church looked utterly unfamiliar.
Magi.
The same force she had grown sick of feeling in Makyeong. And yet the magi surrounding Hilde now was different—its concentration was horrifyingly dense.
Setting aside the fact that Hilde was using magi at all, there was no way a human could withstand this much of it. Not even a high-ranking demon would endure it; the Silent Reaper, Eire, had once nearly lost her life to a runaway surge of magi.
But Hilde did not appear to have been consumed by it. On the contrary, if one ignored the black magi altogether, she resembled the angels who were said to have once served the Goddess.
As the force shaking the very foundation of the earth faded, the hero’s party and Hilde stared at one another.
“Huh!”
The saintess flinched, her heart dropping at the psychological impression reflected in Hilde’s eyes, and her legs nearly gave out beneath her.
That single exchange of glances sent chills through her, a fleeting understanding of the mind behind Hilde’s gaze.
It was less than a ten-thousandth of the instinct a passing human might feel looking at an ant crawling along the ground.
There was only one kind of being that could inspire such a feeling.
A sacred being from myth. One of the immortals.
And yet, because the power she wielded was magi, it was difficult to judge too quickly.
Behind Hilde, a pair of dark wings faintly glowing with soft light slowly unfurled and beat once in the air. The saintess’s heart trembled with unease.
“I see. You’re not someone I know.”
Edan, the hero party’s mage, spoke in a low voice, as if confirming his suspicion. The saintess had felt much the same.
At Edan’s words, Hilde smiled. Unlike usual, the skin around her eyes did not move at all; only the corners of her mouth rose in an unsettling imitation of a smile.
The being occupying Hilde’s body regarded the hero’s party as little more than ants.
“Hmm. Correct. For insignificant vermin, you are rather impressive.”
Even as it spoke in a tone that sounded almost like granting praise to a subordinate, everyone found it difficult to get a word out under the pressure that tightened around their bodies.
“Um, where’s Hilde? Is she okay? And who are you?”
When the saintess asked, Hilde’s face returned to blank stillness.
“You have no need to know.”
Lee Yu-seong forced himself forward a step and spoke.
“Why not? We’re her companions. If something’s happened to her, we’ll handle it.”
“No. I will not entrust this to the laws of humans.”
After a little time passed, the forces defending the capital were beginning to converge on the area. Edan grew increasingly anxious under the presence that continued to possess Hilde.
“Why are you still standing there? Isn’t whatever you came for already over?”
Hilde did not answer Edan directly. Instead, she slowly closed her eyes and opened them again, then lifted the right hand that held the demonic sword.
“Since this body has been placed in danger, all nearby humans are designated for elimination.”
Once more, black energy burst violently around Hilde, surging like a storm.
“Tch. So the insects are choosing death for themselves. I shall show mercy and spare the three of you.”
It happened in an instant. As the raised sword came down, dense magi formed into a sword strike and shot toward the approaching soldiers. It carried the most destructive force the hero’s party had ever seen in any attack.
Edan, barely managing to hold himself together, used spatial distortion to twist the trajectory of the strike upward just slightly. The magi tore forward with a sonic boom, swallowing one of the distant mountain ranges whole.
The explosion that slammed into their ears and the shockwave of the quake sent everyone except the hero’s party sprawling in agony. People who had been caught in the aftermath of an attack that had flown so far away fainted, or had their eardrums burst and were now bleeding from their ears.
Damn it! I was trying to send it completely into the sky, and that’s all I got?
The power of a descended angel.
Even after Edan’s magical power had surged dramatically thanks to the reward he received at the procession, all he could do was twist the trajectory by a hair for a split second. If he had not used spatial distortion, the people rushing in would have been slaughtered to a man.
The onlookers watching this scene fell into chaos. Terrified by the unimaginable power, they screamed and ran or collapsed where they stood. It was as though hell itself had unfolded in the mortal world.
Even after unleashing an attack capable of reshaping maps, Hilde’s expression did not change. The saintess shut her eyes tightly and cast buffs on Lee Yu-seong and Edan. They had to stop the current Hilde somehow. With the stronger buffs, their abilities rose sharply.
And yet, she still felt no confidence.
Can we stop an angel?
The saintess could hardly believe the situation. Being forced to fight Hilde, now threatening humanity’s survival, did not feel real. It felt like a dream.
Lee Yu-seong gripped his sword with both hands. Then he shouted.
“You! I don’t know who you are, but do you even understand that because of what you’re doing, Hilde’s going to suffer serious damage?”
Hilde was about to attack again, then paused. For a moment, the hero’s party felt relief. But the answer that came next tightened the cord of tension once more.
“Still clinging to hope, are you? The petty systems of humanity are not even worth considering. This one will soon be taken to the Celestial Realm and cared for.”
“So it’s true after all. Are you truly a being who lives in the Celestial Realm?”
The saintess asked, her voice wavering. Yet beneath her trembling tone, there was certainty.
“Yes. Persist further, and I will deal with you first. Do you really think mere vermin can stand against an immortal?”
The saintess shook her head. According to the records, beings of the Celestial Race possessed strength sufficient to alter terrain with a single gesture.
But a question rose in her mind. The Celestial Race, who had vanished from the world long ago, were said to watch over all races with mostly gentle dispositions. There were hardly any records of them attacking humanity at all.
“It would be impossible, yes. But what you are doing now is not appropriate. I understand the depravity of the human heart well enough to comprehend why you might be furious. Still, if you are to punish someone, I believe it would be best to do so only to the individual who committed the wrong.”
“You are terribly presumptuous. Do not explain human standards to me. This is your final warning, offered especially out of mercy.”
“And yet you seem to care deeply for Hilde. Do you truly believe it will be all right, even after killing us?”
The Celestial being sneered at the saintess’s words.
“You worry over trivial matters. You are, after all, creatures who live only for an instant. Beings that will be forgotten with the passing of time. I’m growing bored, so just die already.”
The hero’s party felt their breath seize all at once. The Celestial being occupying Hilde’s body clearly had no intention of stopping its attacks. When it raised the demonic sword again, Edan immediately cast a slow spell. With the saintess’s buffs raising his magical power further, he was horrified by how quickly his mana was being drained. The Celestial being’s resistance to magic was formidable beyond reason because of the difference in their stations.
Dammit. It really is a monster.
At this level of resistance, even spamming top-tier offensive magic would be lucky to leave a scratch. Even if he erected hundreds of Dimension Walls, they would be shattered to pieces.
I have to change the sword’s path somehow. If it lands even slightly nearby, it’s over.
Lee Yu-seong activated mana through his entire body and rushed toward Hilde as fast as he could. In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance and barely resisted the torrent of magi long enough to knock Hilde’s sword upward. It was a timing so exact it might as well have been a miracle.
With a piercing sound, the magi shot into the sky and split the clouds apart. The sight was magnificent, but there was no time to admire it. The Celestial being approached Lee Yu-seong, who was struggling to redirect the sword’s trajectory, and stabbed for his abdomen.
With a sickening sound, Lee Yu-seong was struck. Without Edan’s slow spell, he would not even have been able to react before being pierced through.
Fortunately, the magic exhausted itself at that moment, and he avoided a fatal wound through sheer instinct, but the moment the blade brushed his left arm, it was severed clean off.
“Kuhh! What kind of power is this…!”
After a brief exchange, Lee Yu-seong retreated and landed a short distance away. He too had grown tremendously compared to before receiving the reward, but the gap in power was so vast he could not even hold out for long.
“Hero!”
The saintess healed Lee Yu-seong’s arm with an upgraded healing spell. Wrapped in golden light, the severed limb lying on the ground vanished, and his arm regenerated at a visibly rapid pace.
Perhaps because she was concentrating, the saintess failed to notice Hilde’s movement as she vanished into the air. Seeing Hilde suddenly on the ground, Edan’s eyes widened as he shouted,
“Saintess! It’s dangerous!”
The Celestial being appeared behind her. Its speed was so great, it had crossed space in an instant, and no one had been able to perceive it.
But there was still enough time to swing the demonic sword.
“Annoying. If I deal with you first, things will go more smoothly.”
The saintess looked back. Her long silver hair scattered through the air in a sweeping arc as she turned. Her eyes filled with shock. The blade, slicing horizontally toward her, was coming to split her in two. But she caught a sliver of unnatural hesitation. For an instant, it looked as though the Celestial being had seen something and faltered. Yet it was only a moment, and Hilde’s sword was already rushing in to end her life.
In that instant of crisis, the saintess’s mind sharpened, her thoughts accelerating as she slowly registered the situation.
She had wanted to live in a peaceful, happy world. But dying like this did not feel unfair enough to make her despair.
Even so, thanks to Hilde, she had gathered herself and survived all the way here.
So this is as far as I go…
At the very edge of death, the saintess saw someone rushing toward her at the speed of a flash of light.
Clang!
Blade met blade, and sparks erupted violently. The one who had saved the saintess at the last possible moment was someone she knew very well.
“Lady Agatha!”
Recognizing her at a glance, the saintess cried out. Agatha, having rushed over after hearing the clash, gathered the saintess into one arm and fell back. Even that brief confrontation had been exhausting, and she could not endure for long.
“……”
The Celestial being occupying Hilde’s body lowered its gaze to the right hand gripping the demonic sword. For a brief moment, it had been delayed by watching the human in front of it. That tiny hesitation had been enough to disrupt the motion and keep the saintess from being cut down cleanly.
Hilde’s face soured slightly.
To find the reason, the Celestial being swallowed Hilde’s memories. Seeing the human she had raised since infancy caused a great disturbance within it.
Even the force of its possession was beginning to weaken little by little.
Not yet. Not yet. Just a little more time, please…
The angel whispered inwardly, as if pleading with someone for permission.