Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Heaven from the Gutter
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◆
-System Message
▶ The main event 'Twin Jesters' begins.
▶ The 'Hero's' disposition will change depending on the result!
▶ Relationships with certain individuals will change depending on the result!
◆
“Uh, Lady? What’s going—”
Vespa started to ask something upon seeing Gray suddenly drop from midair, but her mouth snapped shut right away.
It was probably because anyone would notice something was off with the scene unfolding beyond the window.
The sun had just begun to set in the early evening, yet darkness was spreading like rot in an instant, blanketing everything around.
It was as if someone had forcibly dragged night ahead of time—a pitch-black darkness swallowing everything.
No, looking closer.
That darkness consisted of tiny bird-shaped specters.
There were just enough of them to blanket the sky.
“⋯⋯Well now.”
Siona let out an incredulous laugh as she watched.
It seemed the thing had multiplied its forces during the short walk from the black market where it was presumably summoned.
‘That’s why Carlyle was in such a hurry to inspect.’
If they’d given it even a little more time, it would have turned into a disaster requiring the total mobilization of the city’s manpower.
As Carlyle had put it, those were ‘lesser spirits.’ Demons not even positioned high in the hierarchy.
And even something like that had caused this mess.
“How did it multiply so much? Specters can’t be made without corpses.”
“It must have devoured the ones in the black market.”
Siona shrugged.
“What, does it matter? They were trash anyway.”
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯.”
Vespa and the princess shot Siona uncomfortable looks.
It was true the black market was filled with such people, but treating human lives so lightly still unsettled these soft-hearted types.
There was no room to argue the point, though.
Amid the specters blanketing the sky, a ‘hand’ suddenly jutted out.
Something slithered out, cracking its shell on its own, and thudded down in front of their building.
It was a purple giant that had skinned a human and draped the flesh like clothing, with bones hung all over its body like grotesque ornaments.
Veins and chunks of meat grotesquely traced along its facial features, evoking the image of a clown.
“⋯⋯.”
Vespa and the princess paled, hands flying to their mouths.
Even Siona frowned at the bizarre appearance that seemed to shave away one’s sanity just by looking, so it was a natural reaction.
-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Soon, a scream like tearing eardrums erupted from the demon’s mouth.
The shout alone cracked every window in the building, sent exterior panels raining down, and fissured the bricks paving the ground.
To cause this much damage before the fight even started—it starkly demonstrated the demon’s power.
Only one person.
The sole iron-nerved human utterly unfazed stood there.
Gray raked her eyes over it savagely and bellowed back, mana-charged, in response.
“Shut your trap—!”
At that moment.
-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A shockwave over ten times the demon’s battle cry rippled out, collapsing an entire wall of the building.
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯.”
Incredulous stares poured onto Gray from around her.
No, who else but this girl could win a shouting match against a demon?
Her expression was unreadable, but the demon that had roared first was just staring at Gray too. It might’ve been her imagination, but it looked thoroughly dumbfounded⋯⋯
“Vespa.”
“Y-Yes, Lady!”
“Magic. You can use it.”
“Yes!”
Gray tapped her holy sword.
“Infuse something helpful for attacks into this. Can you do it?”
“Uh, I’ll try!”
“I’ll count to three, so match my signal. Spirit Knight, you too.”
She seemed almost in a ‘rush.’
Siona pointed it out with a grin.
“Hmm— Hero. Planning a quick finish?”
“No reason to wait.”
“Even so, the opponent’s a demon. Wouldn’t it be wise to approach cautiously?”
Demon.
Humanity’s enemy.
Unambiguous archfiends that tormented humans, devoured them, and fueled themselves on their suffering.
Even the lowliest of them embodied the most vicious ways to plague mankind.
No matter how much of a hero she was, caution was warranted.
That was the intent behind her words.
“-No.”
Gray refused flatly.
“First, no way I’d lose to trash like that. Second.”
Above all.
“That idiot’s all alone right now.”
Fine for the others.
But Carlyle might be in danger.
“⋯⋯⋯⋯Hmm.”
Siona’s eyes curved into half-moons.
“Wow, this smells fun. Guess I’ll have to give some dating advice soon?”
“Shut up or you’re first.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Gray glared at the quick-to-comply Siona for a moment, then raised her sword.
“⋯⋯Ten seconds.”
The words growled from her throat.
“I’ll cut it down.”
Moments later.
As if to prove her words, Gray’s sword strike flashed, tearing the sky asunder.
◆
“-Good grief.”
Carlyle clicked his tongue at the flash beyond the annex.
Poor demon. Facing a spirit knight, a hero, and an archmage.
Vespa wasn’t fully battle-ready yet, but even without her, the other two spelled a brutal beating.
He sighed heavily and scanned the surroundings.
‘Evacuation’s—’
Going well, it seemed.
He’d asked the Gray Cardinal to handle evacuating the dignitaries inside the state guesthouse and any humans in the demons’ path.
And she’d handled it perfectly, no doubt.
Moving that many people in mere hours. He had no idea what methods she’d used.
‘⋯⋯Isn’t magic supposed to be our thing?’
If Gray was a monster in combat, this one was a monster in schemes.
No request felt impossible. Reliable when on your side.
“Hey—”
“⋯⋯.”
⋯⋯So.
If only the Gray Cardinal herself hadn’t strolled onto the rooftop where Carlyle was, thudding her boots.
“What are you doing here?!”
As Carlyle blurted it, face drained of color, Felix covered her face with both hands like she was shy.
“Kyaa— Save me—”
“⋯⋯.”
A terrified damsel’s voice.
“You wouldn’t abandon a fragile girl like me to a ruthless demon’s clutches, right?”
“⋯⋯.”
Carlyle eyed the pitifully twisting Felix with a nauseous look.
Was she always this character?
⋯⋯No, but seriously.
Why was she here?
She’d admitted herself she couldn’t use divine power—an empty shell.
“-Ahem.”
Felix smirked and pulled her robe hood down.
“Well, no divine power, but I won’t get in the way.”
“⋯⋯Pardon?”
“So go ahead and do what you were gonna. You’re here alone ‘cause you’re confident, right?”
“⋯⋯.”
“That’s what I came to see.”
⋯⋯Seriously.
Gray or her, they matched perfectly in sheer willfulness.
Carlyle shook his head and gripped his holy sword.
At that moment.
Darkness descended around them.
-⋯⋯
-⋯⋯⋯⋯!!!!!
Specters swarmed from all directions.
A ‘massive eye’ loomed through the darkness, blotting the sky.
Belicor’s other half.
The side spawning specters.
‘⋯⋯Good grief.’
He’d faced them countless times through regressions, but demons’ scale never failed to impress.
Even the lowest lesser spirits blanketed the skies over an entire district.
“Quite a lot. Can you handle them all?”
Handle them?
Can you handle them⋯⋯
Carlyle swallowed the bitter question with a wry smile.
Truthfully, it wasn’t about whether he could.
The issue lay elsewhere.
Especially with ‘witnesses’ around.
“Cardinal.”
Carlyle sighed and spoke.
“One promise.”
“Hm?”
“No matter what I do, someone’ll see and exploit it, so I won’t ask you to keep quiet.”
He activated Tears of the Stars.
Conducted mana through the holy sword.
“But. If you misuse it, I’ll get mad.”
For good reason.
What he was about to unleash.
Surpassed even this timeline’s Gray—the ‘strongest of humanity.’
It lasted a mere 3 seconds.
And topping it off.
‘Hero.’
[Yeah.]
‘Truth is, it’s called 3 seconds, but actual combat time is 1 second.’
That’s how it broke down.
But the holy sword snickered right away.
[Half that and it still wrecks.]
‘⋯⋯.’
Classic Hero.
Carlyle chuckled too and pressed the sword to his body.
Something alien flowed inside.
The next instant.
“Divine Command.”
As Carlyle spoke.
The cardinal behind him’s eyes widened.
His voice held something distinctly ‘alien.’
‘⋯⋯No, not just alien.’
Not mere otherness.
As an Orthodox cardinal, she’d met countless superhumans.
Precisely why she recognized the ‘other hierarchy’ emanating from Carlyle now.
What to call it.
In that instant, the air changed.
It was as if.
The ‘power’ dwelling in Carlyle’s body.
Blazed like a sun exploding before her eyes.
⋯⋯An overwhelmingly radiant ‘something.’
“The apex of all things commands—”
With those words.
Carlyle raised the holy sword.
“—Evil shall perish.”
The next moment.
-⋯⋯
-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sky split in two.
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