That's More Than Enough

That would be more than enough.

The Grand Duke of Extreme Magic.

The great Grand Duke of the Empire who had reached the very pinnacle of demon magic — a pillar of the Imperium, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Duke of Yellow Embers and the Spirit Deity Duke.

Ziing! Ziing! Ziing!

And my designated target for execution.

With her purple hair and amethyst eyes, her outfit was so alluring that an ordinary person wouldn't have known where to look.

It was as if a mage's robes and a researcher's uniform had been fused into one — and the thin violet coat fluttering behind her, revealing so much of her body, radiated an ominous aura.

Zuaaaaang…!

Violet mana rippled at her fingertips, and dozens of magic circles took shape across the sky, preparing to unleash their spells.

I spun my hammer into a proper grip.

Thirty magic circles positioned at the outermost edge served as auxiliary support for the central formation, while twelve more severed anything that might interfere with the spell's connection and manifestation.

And as a final touch, she had even placed additional circles around the perimeter to block out any dispels in anticipation of a counter-dispel.

She was, without a doubt, far more than a simple archmage.

Fwaaaah!

"Die!!"

Violet flames surged upward.

The ruins of the duke's castle, shattered until not even its foundations remained, were swallowed whole by the blaze, and the fire devoured the terrain beyond the castle walls as well.

Did the residents ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠simply not matter to her?

'In a way, I suppose that's only natural.'

Someone willing to run experiments on spirits wouldn't spare so much as a passing thought for mere people.

And if what I suspected was true, she'd care even less.

"......"

To hold back the flames now pressing in around me, I swung the hammer down once more.

With a thunderous boom the earth shuddered, and for the briefest moment the fire subsided.

But the flames, shoved back by my divinity only momentarily, drank in the fire around them and came roaring back at me with even greater fury.

As I swept the flames aside with my hammer, a strange feeling washed over me.

"You know, this reminds me of the Will-o'-the-Wisps."

A field monster I'd encountered back when I first started streaming.

Like those wisps that kept absorbing one another and growing no matter how many you killed, this fire was really no different.

FWOORRRR!

The flames pressed in harder.

In the meantime, more magic circles bloomed in the air as she prepared an even greater spell, and the aura radiating from the fire began to grow thicker.

Demonic energy.

It hadn't been there at first, but the demonic energy mixed into her mana was deepening by the second.

If this kept up, the flames might swell into something enormous, like a will-o'-the-wisp, and become beyond my ability to handle.

'So I break it before then.'

KUUUNG! I brought the hammer down into the ground.

A faint shockwave scattered the flames for an instant, and through that gap I launched myself upward toward the Grand Duke of Extreme Magic, unhindered.

"...!"

The moment I closed the distance to right in front of her, hundreds of protective spells swirling around her rose up to shield her and strike back.

But it meant nothing.

Shaaaaa…

The extreme cold spilling from my wrist nullified every last one of those spells.

Everything standing between her and me vanished, and the Grand Duke's eyes went wide enough to tear.

At some point, a frozen spear had taken shape in my hand.

'The Spear of Extreme Cold.'

The spear, carrying a fragment of the Demon King, punched clean through the Grand Duke of Extreme Magic.

KWAGAGAGAGANG!!!

The Grand Duke of Extreme Magic went flying.

And she wasn't just sent flying — she was hurled away amid the sound of hundreds of things shattering, taking devastating damage with her.

'...She took damage?'

I didn't think she'd even drawn blood, though.

Wait, that's—

"Ugh!"

A searing chill shot through me, and I hurriedly stowed the spear back into my bracelet.

I yanked out Memory of Cold — the Mythic-grade item I'd obtained as a reward for subjugating Sgaredo — and stared down at my trembling wrist.

The skin there had frozen a deep, deathly blue.

I was treating it with holy magic as best I could, but demonic energy has the property of suppressing and blocking recovery.

And if that demonic energy belonged to the Demon King of Extreme Cold, the effect would be amplified all the more.

"Sre is still… asleep. She used up a lot of power."

Sre — or rather, Sgaredo dwelling inside that body — had expended so much strength that she'd been forced into a compulsory sleep cycle.

I could wake her even now, of course, but there was no situation dire enough to justify it.

'As expected... opposing forces really don't mix.'

Exhaling a long breath, I looked down at my slowly mending wrist.

Divinity and demonic energy have been fundamentally opposed powers since the dawn of time.

Even though my class trait lets me wield divinity freely, demonic energy still lies entirely outside my domain.

After all, in the entire history of the Celestial and Demon tribes, only a single ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠being had ever wielded both.

Naturally, even the vaunted Eight Seats and the Six Demon Kings could not manage it.

'That one was a monster. Not just "strong" — a genuine monster. Its very existence was an aberration, a thing that should never have—'

He had said that.

'The worst ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and strongest work ever crafted of both races... I cannot fathom who made such a thing. Of one thing only I am certain: I wish that mutation had belonged to the demon tribe. No — I wish it had been mine. It is a regret I carry still.'

And this part…

"...Huh?"

Wait, who said this?

"Hold on, just—"

Fighting off a wave of dizziness, I hastily drew the bracelet back out.

The Extreme Cold wouldn't emerge again without my willing it, but the bracelet was still radiating its frigid aura all the same.

I glared at it for a moment, then shoved it back into subspace.

I'd think about that later.

Right now, the execution target came first.

Zuaaang…

A fissure split open in the empty air, and a gate unfolded.

Stepping through it, the Grand Duke of Extreme Magic glared at me with an expression even more furious than before.

Her amethyst eyes smoldered, seething like open flame, and in her hand was a black staff that hadn't been there earlier.

"How dare you…"

More to the point, she looked remarkably intact for someone who'd just taken a strike from the Extreme Cold.

Granted, it was only a fragment — a fragment of a fragment, at that — but the spear I'd driven into her had been no light blow.

"Do you have any idea how much I've wasted because of you?!"

"...Wasted?"

"That's right!"

Ha.

"To think I made it for something as petty as this…" she muttered.

"......"

Made it to use.

Somehow, I felt like I understood exactly what that meant.

No — forget "felt like." I knew.

I'd seen it plenty of times before. How could I not?

"Karia Machelpid."

"...?"

"Where is your laboratory?"

I asked point-blank.

I'd heard the story, and I was nearly one hundred percent certain — but I needed to see it with my own eyes before I could make a definitive judgment.

'A judgment on whether to kill her — or do something far worse.'

Karia's face went blank for a moment, and then she let out a small snort, the rage draining from her aura.

"Haah… So that's what this is about. I did think it was strange."

...It was Arne.

"So that accursed girl sent you, did she?"

Khikhik. Karia chuckled and conjured two violet magic circles.

Like dimensional gates swinging open, severed spaces revealed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠themselves — and one by one, creatures of unknown origin came tumbling out.

"What luck you have. I can barely manage even the Sword God, and yet Arne gets to keep Leo and you."

"I am not on Arne's side."

I was simply doing what needed to be done.

It had nothing to do with Arne.

But Karia seemed to have already made up her mind, and she raised the black staff toward me.

Wuuung…

Violet demonic energy coiled around the creatures, and they began thrashing and shrieking — Kek! Kek! — flailing wildly.

The creatures writhed in agony as violet demonic energy seeped into their eyes, and then they charged at me like things possessed.

I called the White Savior from where it waited in the distance and shifted it into its spear form.

A roar tore the creatures to pieces.

Even though the system was replacing their blood and flesh with blue particles, a visceral revulsion rose in me unbidden.

Karia tilted her head as she watched her own test subjects get shredded without mercy.

"Oh my? Weren't you coming here already knowing everything? Every one of them still has their sense of pain, you know…"

They're pitiful creatures — and you'd kill them like that anyway?

"......"

"Weren't you here to stop me? Killing them all willy-nilly would be rather inconvenient for you, no?"

Her honeyed voice buzzed against my ears like a drone.

'Like the whisper of a demon.'

KUUNG! KUUNG!

More test subjects came pouring out of the dimensional gates.

Among them were many that were less monster than spirit.

I reversed my grip on the spear.

THWOOOAAAK!!!

I blasted the test subjects away once more.

With no chance of salvation. Certain and absolute.

"……"

Pitter, patter…

Divinity dripped down from the spear like falling blood.

I recalled the spear and looked up at Karia.

"I've met plenty of people like you."

"...What?"

"Take hostages, and I'll hesitate — so you lower your weapon, offer your strength, and let yourself be taken advantage of. 'The Lily I know would obviously do that.'"

Pfft.

"There was a time like that, yes. Back then, I thought it was the right thing to do."

But I learned better.

That way, I could never, ever save everyone.

A savior to all was a mirage, nothing more.

'A mirage. An unattainable utopia.'

"I'm not a savior. I'm not some judge come to weigh your sins, either."

I'm simply Lily Elbrit.

The Saintess of the Small Village — a foolish human with altogether too much love to give.

KUGUGUGUNG!!!

Pure white divinity descended upon the land of Machelpid.

The wings of light that had bloomed from my back grew larger and larger, and above my head, a shattered ring descended into place.

'The Crown of Succession.'

Thirteen percent, as before.

One minute of sustained time.

The power was insufficient, and so was the time — but…

"That's more than enough."

Taking out the trash is a small errand, after all.