After She Disappeared (1)
After She Disappeared (1)
BOOOOOM!
The sky flashed white with every lightning strike. It was proof that Olivia's battle with Belphegor was growing fiercer by the moment.
Kiel ran without looking back.
"D-Duke Kiel?"
"Out of my way!"
Kiel shoved past the knights who were assembling toward the Academy and kept running.
He had no time to deal with them. Even now, in this very moment, Olivia's time was ticking away.
Sixty days. That was all she had left after sacrificing her life over and over. And now even those sixty days had to be spent for the sake of others—a situation Kiel could not accept.
It was unreasonable. It was absurd.
Kiel's pace grew faster. With every step he took, the road caved in and the ground split open.
'Will the Gold Tower even let me in?'
Since the day Olivia collapsed, Kiel had not visited the Gold Tower once. More precisely, he could not.
He was not without a sense of tact. Melina was firmly convinced that Kiel was the one who had harmed Olivia, and Kiel could not refute that claim.
The timing was far too coincidental for denial.
But in an emergency like this, what did any of that matter?
'If they block me, I will break through.'
Melina would understand. She was a person who cherished Olivia above all else.
Kiel soon arrived at the Gold Tower.
The Gold Tower did not seem to have received word of the Academy's situation yet.
"Summon the Gold Tower Lord!"
"The night is deep. No matter that you are Duke Kiel, such discourtesy is—"
There was no time to explain. Kiel forced his way through the gap in the open door and entered the Tower.
"D-Duke Kiel! You must not do this!"
After pushing past the mages blocking his path and climbing several more floors, Melina appeared.
Melina's eyes were calmly settled. But the atmosphere she exuded was anything but calm.
As if prepared to strike him down at the slightest provocation, her golden hair, which reached her waist, floated faintly upward from the aftershock of her magical power.
"Not content with having threatened my disciple four years ago, you now break into the Tower in the dead of night? What is the meaning of this? If you cannot offer a fitting explanation—"
"Olivia is in danger."
Melina furrowed her brow.
"...Is that the truth?"
"I stake my family's honor on it."
No further words were needed.
Kiel briefly explained the situation. A Great Demon had appeared at the Academy, and Olivia was confronting it alone.
Just then, a bolt of lightning struck down in the direction of the Academy. For a fleeting moment, the enormous form of the demon was seared into Melina's eyes.
And confronting it—Olivia as well.
"...No."
Melina's robes seemed to billow for an instant, and then her body vanished somewhere in the blink of an eye.
Unchanted teleportation.
"...Hah."
Left alone, Kiel muttered in disbelief.
"Damn it."
As if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Melina had left him behind and departed alone.
*****
The Great Demon Belphegor.
After realizing that his attacks could not reach Olivia, he had changed his method of assault.
He focused entirely on destroying their surroundings.
He hated to admit it, but Olivia was strong to a degree that was hard to believe she was human. Even a polymorphed dragon would not reach that level.
'Damn it. If only I could use Necromancy...!'
Belphegor was not originally a combat-type demon. His primary specialty was Necromancy.
Controlling thousands and tens of thousands of souls, creating a legion in an instant—that was his true forte.
Of course, even by basic physical standards alone, he was incomparably stronger than the average demon, but not to the point of rivaling the other Great Demons.
That was precisely why Olivia's remark that he was the weakest had struck a nerve.
Because it was true to some extent.
'If only I could use my abilities, a wretch like her would be nothing!'
Necromancy was fundamentally similar to a necromancer's undead summoning arts. One extracted souls from dead bodies and materialized those souls, commanding them to kill other living beings.
One tainted soul rapidly became two, and faster still, two became four.
Like an epidemic.
That was Belphegor's method of building a legion.
But...
'There are no corpses. Damn it all!'
There was not a single soul to extract. Whenever he tried to sweep away the humans who were frantically evacuating, Olivia sensed it like a ghost and blocked his attacks. There was nothing he could do.
'And if that swordsman from earlier returns in this situation...!'
It was dangerous.
Truly dangerous.
The thought that he might not simply be driven from the Human World but genuinely be annihilated sent a chill down Belphegor's spine.
"You ought to be grateful to me. If you'd been summoned during the day as originally planned, you wouldn't have lasted ten minutes."
- ...
Belphegor could not refute it. She was right. The night, filled with darkness on all sides, was the only reason he could endure. Had it been day with the sun in the sky, it would have gone exactly as Olivia said.
"So if you'd listened to me, you could have lived about two days longer."
Olivia lightly provoked Belphegor.
But contrary to her composed outward appearance, cold sweat was running down Olivia's back.
The area where Belphegor had rampaged had already reached a level that could be called ruins. By sheer luck, no one had died yet, but the moment a single person died, the current balance would shatter.
She had also used up half her mana. There was only a three-level difference from Max Level, but that difference was far too great to call it small.
That gap determined whether or not one could freely draw in external mana at will.
A fearsome wave of energy erupted from the direction of the Gold Tower. The next moment, the source of that energy revealed itself.
Melina glanced around, then flew toward Olivia.
"Are you injured anywhere?"
"...And Kiel?"
"I came alone. That ill-mannered wretch will arrive here in about three minutes regardless, so do not worry."
"..."
She had suspected it, but she had not imagined they would actually come separately.
She had heard that Melina had not met with him even once since Olivia collapsed last time, and it seemed to be true.
Melina's grudge-holding was far more formidable than Olivia had thought.
"Master."
"My beloved disciple. For now, let us focus on dealing with that creature."
"I may collapse soon."
Melina's face darkened.
"...What did you just say?"
The slight tremor in her voice was surely not Olivia's imagination.
Blocking another of Belphegor's attacks, Olivia spoke clearly and distinctly.
"I may collapse soon."
"Then withdraw and rest. Once the Kiel wretch and I attack together, we can certainly repel a demon of this level."
"That won't work. I have to be the one to finish it."
"Stop being stubborn and at once—"
Instead of continuing the argument, Olivia reached into her Subspace and pulled out a potion. Melina's expression shifted oddly as she recognized what the potion was. It looked as if she was asking why Olivia had been enduring without using it all this time.
"Master. I have a request."
"What request is that?"
"If I collapse before I can drink this, force it down my throat, Master—even if you have to."
"Olivia."
"It's my final request."
She had said it without much thought.
But Melina's expression was far from untroubled.
"..."
Her golden gaze lingered on Olivia's face.
"...Do not speak such words, even in jest."
Olivia was not so tactless as to reply that she was not joking.
"I'm sorry, Master. I meant my final request before I collapse."
"...Is that what you meant?"
"I want to defeat that creature on my own. So please, watch over me from the side."
Melina could not refuse her beloved disciple's request.
Watching Melina retreat without protest, Olivia felt inwardly relieved.
'Good. Now.'
Light magic? Efficiency?
She needed to sustain it for at least thirty minutes?
That had been a lie from the start.
The reason she had told Kiel to bring Melina was simply that she was the closest person available.
As long as Melina did not inflict damage on Belphegor, she would not be processed as a Kill Participant. Then the Favorability would be applied properly to Kiel.
'I can create light myself anyway.'
Among all those attributes, this was exactly why she had chosen lightning.
Lightning, though only for an instant, emitted light brighter than anything else.
And ice reflected that light.
Olivia deployed hundreds of ice crystals centered around Belphegor. Then she fired a bolt of lightning toward the nearest crystal.
The lightning bounced and rebounded endlessly, then transformed into light that brightly illuminated every direction.
CRACKLE!
In the midst of the blinding light, Belphegor screamed.
- GYAAAAAAARGH!
It was no ordinary light, so if left as it was, he would be annihilated before long.
If only she could hold out until then.
[Warning! Warning! Warning!]
A familiar alert sounded. Though she could not see it, it was proof that Kiel had reached the vicinity.
[Within a Clue, you may only make contact with one regressor!]
Her consciousness.
.
.
.
Her consciousness grew dim.
But she endured.
Just a little longer.
.
.
.
Just a little.
.
.
.
Just a.
.
.
.
Jus.
[Access has been forcibly terminated!]
"..."
Olivia collapsed.
"O-Olivia!"
Melina caught the falling Olivia in a single motion.
"D-Drink it. Q-Quickly, drink it, child."
Melina brought the potion to Olivia's lips. The fragile esophagus offered no resistance against the liquid that surged in like a wave.
Gulp.
Olivia, held in her arms, opened her eyes.
"..."
She briefly looked around her surroundings.
ZZZZZZT!
That thing emitting bright light in all directions—though she had no memory of using it—was unmistakably her own magic.
- GYAAAAAAAARGH!
And in the middle of that magic was Belphegor.
Far in the distance, Kiel was visible.
"Are you all right...?"
Leaving Melina behind her, Olivia stretched her hand toward the sky.
And slowly gestured.
Countless bolts of lightning became a single pillar and crashed down upon the ground.
Belphegor's body burst apart.
The hollow death of a Great Demon.
"..."
But on the face of the one who had achieved that feat.
There was no emotion whatsoever.