Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: 056. Archangel - (3)
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Under Priest Leo's direction, the people moved swiftly and orderly to their assigned positions.
Otilie Kete von Ihen Dorp let out a small breath. The summer night was muggy, but the ruins of the grand cathedral carried a chill in the air.
"...That rat dares to insult me?"
Holy See Knight Captain Gregorius ground his teeth and raised his sword.
Otilie's current role was to hold that knight back somehow.
Gregorius swayed as if he might topple over at any moment, yet he didn't fall.
The only things propping up that knight's body were his fanatic spirit bordering on madness and the momentum of his rampaging divine authority.
'Divine authority...'
Otilie had only ever read about it in books, dismissing it as some otherworldly tale.
But witnessing it firsthand made the principle clear.
If holy power was the residue or scraps left by the gods, divine authority was the gods' will itself.
The human body wasn't a vessel capable of containing that immense will.
To use a puppet analogy, it was like forcing a crude, oversized gear into a delicate wind-up doll.
The doll might move furiously for a moment, but eventually, its internal parts would grind and clash in discord. That knight was exactly like that right now.
'Just buy time.'
The divine authority sustaining that knight's body would soon exhaust itself.
In that sense, Leo's order to drag things out was perfectly apt.
To see through even this in such a short time...
"Teacher really is amazing."
Otilie murmured with a smirk.
Meanwhile, Guiding Professor Everett passed by her side, his face etched with concern.
"Otilie, even so, facing that knight alone is too reckless, isn't it? If needed, I can join you..."
"It's fine. I can handle it."
Otilie cut him off firmly.
In truth, she wasn't confident in coordinating with someone.
Teamwork was one of the most awkward areas for her.
Above all, she didn't want to reveal her perfect partner, 『Leo』, to others—especially not to this perceptive professor.
"...Alright then, if you're sure."
Everett shrugged and backed off.
Now alone with her, Gregorius snorted like a bull ready to charge.
"I'll cleave you in half...!"
Boom!
Overwhelming leg strength. This was on a different level from the rooftop battle. Gregorius accelerated in an instant, his movements too fast to follow with the naked eye.
But Otilie didn't panic. She flicked her fingers as if plucking a string.
"『Leo』, 'Turbillion'."
In that moment, an invisible pressure crushed Gregorius from all sides.
It was a gravity magic part inspired by Guiding Professor Gregor's spell from the Ivory Tower, implanted into Leo.
That overwhelming physical force even slowed Gregorius, who was upheld by divine authority.
"Gaaah!"
Of course, it wasn't enough on its own.
Gregorius shook off the gravity magic and charged. Each step cratered the floor.
But just as his sword swung down, chains flew in from all directions. It wasn't magic from 『Leo』. The puppets Otilie had stationed throughout the cathedral had gathered at her side, binding Gregorius's limbs.
"...Ngh!"
Gregorius thrashed, suddenly restrained, but the magically forged chains showed no sign of giving.
"Gaaah!"
On the contrary, the more he struggled, the deeper the chains dug into his flesh.
"How dare a mere cadet...!"
Gregorius's eyes rolled back. Reason had long since snapped. Ignoring the pain of his flesh tearing away, he swung his sword with a single-minded focus to kill the enemy before him.
Whoosh. The greatsword's swing scattered debris with its wind pressure alone. But it never reached Otilie.
"Not there."
Otilie was already behind him. 『Leo』 had scooped her up and leaped away.
As Gregorius flinched, the puppets gripping the chains spun like dancers, toppling his stance.
They were like hunting dogs taking down a massive beast.
Crunch!
Gregorius flailed wildly, but he could only destroy one or two puppets.
"Useless."
"Gaaah!"
Gregorius let out a bestial roar.
With each cry, Otilie's expression grew colder.
Dissonance. The noise of broken parts grinding forcibly.
It was as grating as ever.
"Let me say it again."
Otilie flicked back her loosened hair and spoke primly.
"My puppets are invincible. You'll never lay a finger on me."
The night was long, and her puppets were plentiful.
In a war of attrition, Otilie was untouchable.
Meanwhile, Elise was having an astonishing experience.
"Hah!"
Boom!
Sophia swung the Ink Sword, slicing through the divine authority's tentacles. Using debris as footing, she leaped up and struck the black pillar stretching from Balua's back to the sky.
[This wench... aims for Heaven's Ladder?!]
Letting out a more pained scream than when his main body was hit, Balua swung his hand. Light filled their vision like an erupting volcano, sweeping over everything.
But Elise angled her holy barrier to deflect it, while Sophia used the barrier as a springboard to leap high and evade.
- 'Each time you strike the pillar, a wave of divine authority will crash in. Don't meet it head-on. Dodge, leap high, or deflect if you can't.'
Elise and Sophia could handle it so adeptly thanks to Priest Leo's advice moments ago.
- 'Every attack will summon tentacles from the ground. Unlike others, you can counter these.'
Crunch! Sophia dropped from the sky, slicing a chunk from the wings sprouting on Balua's back. Right after, a tentacle burst from the ground, but Elise swiftly crushed it.
It felt surreal.
Like taking a test with the answer sheet open.
Every action Balua took had been foretold through Leo's mouth moments earlier.
His strategy went beyond mere prediction. It pierced the monster's breathing, habits, even the direction it writhed in pain—a perfect answer key.
Sophia called it a divine oracle.
Elise thought that was no exaggeration.
"Out of the way. That's my spot!"
"Too late. I claimed it first."
They snarled at each other, yet Sophia exploited the gaps she carved, and Elise sealed them; Elise blocked openings, and Sophia pierced them. A bizarre yet perfect ensemble. No coincidence—Priest Leo's design made it inevitable.
"Left!"
Sophia shouted, and Elise shifted her barrier. The surging wave of divine authority shook Elise's innards just from colliding with the barrier, but knowing in advance made it bearable.
Elise marveled inwardly.
'Unbelievable.'
She never dreamed combat could be this smooth amid the divine authority's vortex.
'Priest truly has divine insight.'
A special sense piercing the truths of all creation.
Elise deemed that the mark of a true saint.
- 'Finally, that black pillar above his head. It's the source supplying the angel's divine authority. Cut it off.'
Chewing over Leo's earnest warning, Elise pressed the fight.
The holy power left in her handkerchief would last maybe two minutes at most.
She had to end it quickly.
"...We can do this."
At that moment, Sophia reversed her grip on the Ink Sword and fully severed one of Archbishop Balua's wings. Balua screamed and twisted, briefly exposing the joint where the black pillar connected to the sky.
'Ah!'
Now was the chance.
Elise gathered all her remaining holy power. A dazzling golden spear formed at her fingertips.
'This will end it.'
Elise approached slowly. Her target: the black pillar embedded in Balua's nape. Destroy that joint, and this nightmare would end.
But...
[...Elise...]
Balua's head turned slightly, and a familiar voice leaked from his mouth.
Distorted with noise, grotesque, but unmistakably Archbishop Balua's—the man who raised her.
[Will you kill me...?]
Elise's hand froze midair.
Balua's grotesquely transformed face twisted in agony.
[It hurts...]
"..."
[Help me... Elise... like a daughter to me...]
Archbishop Balua hadn't always been so stern.
When Elise first took refuge in the cathedral, he would stroke her head with a kindly face.
The smile as he dressed her in saintess robes for the first time now lay shattered, twisted in a bitter grin.
She couldn't hesitate. Her mind knew it. But twenty years had ingrained it beyond reason, into instinct.
- 'Don't let your heart waver. That man sought to sacrifice you, Elise.'
By the time Priest's advice echoed in her ears, it was too late.
"Ah..."
Elise's eyes wavered. The holy power's glow dimmed briefly.
Balua didn't miss it.
[Hahaha! Still so soft, Elise!]
Balua's face turned demonic in an instant.
A hidden sharp spear of divine authority surged toward Elise's exposed heart.
She couldn't dodge.
Too late for a barrier. As Elise sensed death and squeezed her eyes shut—
Thud!
A dull impact, and someone roughly shoved Elise aside.
"Kyaa!"
Elise tumbled across the ground and looked up in haste. Then gasped in horror.
"Priest!"
There stood Leo, pierced in the shoulder by the tentacle instead of her.
"*Cough*, Elise. Get back for now. Handle the rear with Sophia..."
"Ah, aaa... Y-your wound...!"
Fresh blood gushed from the shoulder gash. Leo's pristine priest robes stained crimson.
Elise trembled. Her hesitation had gotten Priest badly hurt.
She had to save him.
But no holy power left to draw.
[Worthless fool, choosing death yourself...!]
Archbishop Balua hoisted the spear impaling Leo. Leo's body floated up. Dozens of tentacles erupted from the ground to finish him.
"N-no!"
Because of her hesitation. Her foolishness. Someone precious was dying.
The despair from the dark room earlier blackened Elise's vision.
—Flash.
But the feared outcome didn't happen.
The night sky blazed like noon. Vision went white. No sound. A single blinding flash cleaved the tentacles lunging at Leo—and space itself—in a straight line.
[Kieeeek!]
With Balua's scream, severed tentacles and blood rained down like a storm.
Before Leo hit the ground, someone appeared like the wind and caught him.
"...Huh?"
Elise stared blankly at the scene.
At the collapsed cathedral entrance stood a golden-haired knight in white armor, moonlight at her back. Heat fiercer than the sun rose from her sword.
"...What in the world is going on here?"
The knight asked.
Rushing to save Elise had been impulsive, no doubt.
In a way, a mistake.
Similar to drawing Shade's gaze during the Full Moon Festival. But far riskier. Charging an archangel? A novel suicide method.
Yet what could he do? Elise was doomed. Better me taking a heavy wound than the game's protagonist dying.
Above all, it had paid off.
I'd survived, after all.
"Ugh..."
Thanks to the golden-haired knight who appeared out of nowhere.
She groaned softly, scanning the surroundings.
"...What in the world is going on here?"
A flat voice. A face beautiful to the point of coldness. Poise without a hint of disorder.
Definitely no one I knew.
'Who is she?'
As I exchanged glances with her in full princess-carry position, a frantic figure came running from the ruined main gate.
Knight Academy instructor Chiron. He'd been supporting the rear and rushed over at the flash.
"You lot! Everyone okay? That huge light sudde—huh?"
Chiron froze upon seeing the knight, eyes bulging.
"...K-Knight Beatrice?"
"Long time no see, Sir Chiron."
Seemed they knew each other, so I cautiously asked Chiron.
"Uh... who is she?"
Chiron gaped at my question.
"You seriously don't know?"
"Is she famous?"
"In this kingdom, who doesn't know First Princess's guard knight?"
Chiron said it like common knowledge.
"One of the kingdom's seven swordmasters—and at the pinnacle."
"..."
Pinnacle among swordmasters.
That clicked one character into place...
"Beatrice... Ludenfeldt."
The support character usable only once, in the final chapter of Throne of the Academy.
Ciris's guard knight. Closest to sword saint status right now.
"...The cheat key arrived."
I voiced my honest thought.
Nothing else to say.
It was the plain truth.