Heaven's Mandate (1)

"'Teresia. Obey the Mandate of Heaven, and conceive the new master within your body.'"

"……."

I fell silent at the nonsensical words spouted by this man who had barged in uninvited.

It seems there's some kind of special gimmick behind why my attacks aren't landing on him.

What he had just said bothered me, but right now, my focus had to be on taking down the opponent in front of me. Just as I resolved to concentrate solely on that—

Skrrrriiiik—!

Along with a violent shudder running through my grip, the sword in my hand began to scream.

…What?!

Glancing toward the sound, I saw the bastard's bare hand gripping my blade.

When the hell did he close the distance?! I didn't catch his movement at all!

When I snapped my gaze back up, the masked man stood right before me without having made a single preparatory motion—as if he had literally teleported.

"Tsk!"

I quickly readjusted my grip, preparing to slash at him, but he spoke first.

"…That is the entirety of the message entrusted to me. Which means, ideally, I should simply escort you back to our headquarters, but…"

Craaash—!

The moment he finished speaking, he completely shattered my blade using nothing but raw grip strength. Shards of pure white metal scattered through the air like snow.

"…You don't seem keen on coming quietly, so I suppose I'll have to use force."

In an instant, he thrust his hand toward me. His fingers snapped forward in a straight line with the blinding speed of a lightning jab.

"…!"

Fast. But not unavoidable.

"Hup!"

I pivoted cleanly out of his reaching grasp. Channeling the momentum of my spin and accelerating with full force, I whipped around into a spinning back kick.

THWACK!

A heavy thud echoed as my heel slammed squarely into his torso.

"Ghk?!"

With a strangled grunt, he went hurtling in the direction of the impact. A split second later, glass shattered with an ear-splitting crash, and the masked man blew right across the living room and plummeted off the terrace.

"What the hell was that guy's deal?" I muttered under my breath, watching the shattered window as the wind whipped through, violently fluttering the curtains.

"Quite impressive. I didn't expect you to move even faster than that. …I take it that initial slash wasn't your full power? How unexpectedly tender of you."

"…?!"

Before I knew it, the masked man was lounging back on the couch where he had first been sitting, looking as relaxed as if nothing had ever happened.

What is this? I literally just kicked him out the window.

What's more, there hadn't been the faintest trace of presence when he returned. As I frantically tried to rationalize the bizarre phenomenon unfolding before my eyes, he continued.

"In any case, since you've made your lack of cooperation clear… I'll have to treat you a bit more roughly from here on."

Snap—!

The instant he snapped his fingers, the space around me warped. From the rippling distortions emerged dozens of figures identical to him, lunging at me in unison. Recognizing it as an all-out assault, I shifted into combat stance immediately.

"…Come forth, Divine Iron."

A viscous, pitch-black liquid pooled against my palm. Stepping into a fluid sword strike, I slashed my arm across the surging crowd.

Slash—!

With clean, ringing bisections, countless clones were cleaved in half. The weapon cleaving through them was a jet-black blade that had materialized in my grasp: Divine Iron. A versatile weapon obtained long ago during a dungeon raid, possessing boundless malleability to take any form alongside peerless durability.

Having carved down a swath of duplicates in a single stroke, I sprinted straight toward the one presumed to be the original.

"Now, now. You must finish your work properly."

Even as he spoke with lingering nonchalance—

Grip—!

A sudden, vice-like hold clamped around my ankle.

"…?"

Looking down, I saw one of the clones I had bisected just moments ago. Crawling on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its remaining torso alone, it had locked its hands onto my leg.

It can still move even after being cut in half? An artificial lifeform?

Guessing it was something akin to a golem, I clicked my tongue in irritation. These relentless constructs blindly pursued their directives even with their bodies pulverized. Seeing its crushing grip on my ankle, I raised my blade to sever its arm, but then—

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

A flat, mechanical cadence droned out, and blinding white beams of light began bursting from every pore of the creature's body.

"Ah."

Instantly recognizing what kind of attack this was, a faint gasp slipped past my lips.

BOOOOOM—!!!

A colossal explosion engulfed the entire residence in blistering radiance. The blast devoured my home whole, leaving behind only the patter of falling debris and billowing plumes of acrid black smoke.

From within the dense haze—

Whoosh!

Having broken free of the collapsing house and leapt onto an adjacent rooftop to clear the smoke, I surveyed my surroundings immediately. Where is he? Where's the bastard?

Darting my eyes around to pinpoint his location, the voices rose around me.

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

Waiting atop the roofs was a horde of his bizarrely varied duplicates. Easily numbering over a hundred at a glance, the clones locked onto me the instant I cleared the smoke, surging forward like a swarm straight out of a zombie movie.

"Give me a damn break."

Spitting a curse, I braced myself against the tidal wave.

"Spear."

At my brief murmur, Divine Iron shifted. The black blade elongated into a polearm, and I swept it in wide arcs, thrusting and carving through the encroaching lines. By expanding my attack range with the spear, I could intercept them before they got close enough to trigger another suicide explosion.

Moving with the effortless grace of a sword dance, I whittled down their numbers at a frantic pace.

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"Shield."

Whenever their long-range strikes—beams of amber light—sniped at my openings, the weapon broadened into a tower shield covering my entire frame.

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"Greatsword."

When a Goliath-sized brute among the clones lunged forward, the weapon morphed into an immense greatsword to cleave it in two. Dual blades, battleaxe, halberd, mace, longsword, daggers—I shifted forms fluidly, slicing, impaling, crushing, and shattering them one after another.

After minutes of relentless carnage—

"Phew…"

Shattered fragments of his clones littered the roofs and streets below. Just as I took down the final puppet and paused to catch my breath—

Clap, clap, clap.

Applause drifted from somewhere above. Stepping into view was the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠familiar man in the pristine suit.

"Splendid. To think you could dispose of so many with such ease. I wondered how much that petite frame of yours could endure… but truly, you are worthy of being called the Cradle of God."

"…Who the hell are you? No, what the hell are all of you?"

"Hm?" Hamel shrugged in mock surprise. "Have you finally developed an interest in us? Or are you simply trying to buy time to recover?"

"……."

Under his amused gaze, I silently clenched my fists. Just as he said, that initial self-destruct blast had taken its toll somewhere; my movements were growing noticeably stiff. I hadn't let it show during the brawl, but if this dragged on, the internal damage would only worsen, leading to disaster. Furthermore, the bastard hadn't revealed his full hand yet. I had to tread carefully.

Damn it, I should've pocketed at least a few pieces of my main gear before retiring! Things would be so much easier right now!

While I was silently wallowing in regret, the man tipped his fedora lower and spoke.

"Well, why not? Consider it an indulgence for one destined to share our convictions in the future. My name is Hamel. A member of Heaven's Mandate, upholders of the divine will—and your guide, sent to assist in fulfilling your grand mission."

"Heaven's Mandate? What kind of nonsense is that now?"

I narrowed my eyes at the unsolicited exposition. Hamel chuckled behind his mask.

"A gathering of those who know the truth of this world, united to prevent its total collapse before it's too late. How about that? Stirs your curiosity, doesn't it?"

"Nope. Not even a little. So could you kindly piss off?"

"How hurtful."

Ignoring his theatrical sigh, I pressed on to extract more information.

"…So? What does your little cult want with me?"

Hamel stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, now. Even I don't know the exact details, but I imagine you understand far better than I do. Perhaps the message I delivered holds your answer."

"…?"

At his remark, I slowly sifted through my memory. What had he muttered earlier? Something about heaven's will…

"You have ripened sufficiently, and the time of harvest has come. Through your devotion, we shall welcome the new hero."

"Therefore, uphold the will of heaven and fulfill the promise. That promise is to offer your flesh as a cradle, becoming the fertile soil for the master of the new world."

"Teresia. Obey the Mandate of Heaven, and conceive the new master within your body."

"……."

Chewing over his words, a sudden chill struck me.

…Wait. Could it be?

A specific trait carved deep into my existence resurfaced in my thoughts.

It was the trait bestowed upon me eighteen years ago like some starter package when I was tossed into this world. Back then, I had merely thought, What is this crap?

Don't tell me this is connected?! If so, everything that creep said lines up terrifyingly well…

Take that last line, for instance.

*Upon loss of purity, all accumulated stats will be inherited by your next-generation child.

What if… what if the entire reason I was reincarnated into this world was for this? If that hypothesis held true, almost everything Hamel said suddenly made sick sense.

"You have ripened sufficiently, and the time of harvest has come. Through your devotion, we shall welcome the new hero."

In other words, their "harvest" meant waiting until I peaked as an adventurer.

"Obey the Mandate of Heaven, and conceive the new master within your body."

And that meant… their whole objective was to strip away the mountain of power I had bled to build and transfer it to an offspring.

Wait, what the hell?! I'm not some broodmare! Besides, I was a dude in my past life! Are they seriously planning what I think they're planning?!

A wave of sheer horror crashed over me as the pieces fell into place.

"At any rate, dragging this out any longer benefits neither of us, so shall we resume?"

Snap!

Hamel snapped his fingers once more.

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"All for the Mandate of Heaven."

"……."

Every single duplicate I had hacked apart began reassembling itself, rising from the rubble. Ominous light flared behind their masks as they fixated on me simultaneously.

"You weren't the only one who needed time," Hamel said with a chuckle. "Thanks to our little chat, we can transition smoothly into Round Two."

"……."

I fell silent for a beat, then spoke slowly.

"You said your name was Hamel, right?"

"Oh? You remembered? I'm touched."

"Just as you suggested. I'll go to this 'Heaven's Mandate' of yours."

"Hm? If you're willing to come quietly… that makes my job easier, but are you certain?"

I shook my head.

"You misunderstand. I'm not following you. You're going to give me a ride."

"…Is there a difference?"

"A difference? Huge difference. Once I beat you half to death, I've got a whole list of questions I need to ask at your headquarters!"

Drawing a deep breath after declaring my intent, I began reciting the incantation.

With a heavy thud shaking the very ground beneath my boots, a violent tempest whipped outward from my body. Even as a surge of searing exhilaration boiled through my veins, the torrent of unleashed force swelled with every syllable, culminating in a blinding eruption of pristine white brilliance.

Stigma Release.

It meant releasing the wellspring of supernatural power inherent to the denizens of this world. Every soul born in Nueria drew upon the strength of their assigned birth constellation. The continent's most renowned adventurers all harnessed this power to transcend human limitations.

And I was no exception.

A blinding white aura burst forth from my flesh, flooding my vision with overwhelming radiance.

"You mentioned Round Two, didn't you?"

I took a heavy step toward him through the blazing light.

"Then let's get it started."

Power boiled uncontrollably through my limbs. Shrouded in that soft yet incandescent luminescence, I raised Divine Iron—now in the form of an immense greatsword—and leveled the tip straight at his throat.

"…Good grief."

Hamel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tugged his fedora lower with a dramatic sigh.

"It would have been so much simpler had you cooperated peacefully… but since you insist on being stubborn, I have no choice but to escalate."

Reaching into empty air, he drew forth a sleek, pitch-black cane and leveled it at me.

"If blood is truly what you desire, I shall oblige."

With cane in hand, Hamel surged forward alongside his endless wave of duplicates.

"Bring it on!"

Gripping the Divine Iron in both hands, I swung with everything I had.

Thus began our second round—a clash where neither side held back. He cornered me with bizarre abilities and an immortal horde that rebuilt itself endlessly; I countered with every ounce of martial mastery I possessed, parrying and shattering every assault he threw.

…To cut straight to the conclusion.

In the end, I lost.

The city streets where we waged our battle were reduced to complete ruin. Miraculously, not a single civilian casualty was recorded, and the authorities wrote the entire catastrophe off as an unexplained destructive phenomenon of unknown origin.

And as time passed…

The Platinum Adventurer, Teresia, remained nowhere to be found.