Should I Just Kill Him?
Should I kill him?
"It's hideous."
Eloni Academy, the pride of the elves mere thirty minutes ago, was gone — and in its place sat the nexus of the corrupted World Tree. Tens of thousands of black roots twisted around each other in grotesque tangles, thick violet magesight seeping out from between them. The magesight climbed upward again and again, drinking in the life mana dispersed through the air. Life mana saturated every corner of the World Tree, and the living held the richest reserves of it — but there was no reason not to draw in what hung free in the air as well.
Only about a tenth of the World Tree had been corrupted so far, but the World Tree was so vast that even that ten percent was enormous — big enough to swallow a decent-sized city whole. I converted the White Savior into its hammer form and shot into the air. Against a foe this size, nothing beat the hammer.
Kiiiiiiiieeee!!
Crash!
The moment I closed in to bring the hammer down, hundreds — thousands — of tree trunks lunged for me, brimming with the singular intent of seizing me right here and turning me into nutrients. I gave a little snort and simply crushed the approaching trunks to powder. They burst apart one after another under the crushing weight of my divinity. Deciding that trunks weren't enough, the roots came for me next — the lower-grade World Boss-class roots that Asuka was fighting elsewhere. The fact that they existed only here, of all places, suggested they were guardians of the nexus.
Whrrk. I spun the hammer halfway through its arc and reversed the rotation. The sudden change in direction completely scrambled the airflow, and in that instant the roots that had been targeting me lost their aim and whipped uselessly through empty air.
KWAAAA-KOOM!!!
One root burst apart under the hammer's crushing blow. The moment I pushed off to target another, the frozen wreckage of the first root shattered into fine shards and came swarming back at me.
"I expected that."
In that sliver of a gap I shifted back to spear form, twisted straight through, and leapt skyward. The shards that grazed past where I'd been glared after me as if seething with resentment. Meanwhile, I finished my preparation.
Spear's Roar.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
More than a hundred storms shot out in every direction, tearing the roots to ribbons. The wreckage regenerated and split off into new pieces to come at me again, but it was useless. I let out one more roar and the debris was shredded into particles that scattered into nothing.
"Phew..."
"...I do like the hammer better than the spear, actually."
It was true the spear was technically superior — but when it came to the single overwhelming blow, no weapon could touch it. And shattering that nexus was a job for the hammer, too.
I looked at the nexus, watching me in silence even as its roots died by the hundreds. Thump. Thump. A grotesque black central root coiled around it in layer upon layer, as if shielding whatever lay within — and from inside that shell radiated an immense magesight. Far more than the current me could comfortably bear.
Kwaduk.
Even so, I swung the hammer without hesitation.
And then —
"Celestials... those damned chicken-heads."
Puuuk...!
My heart was pierced.
"Gah...!"
My heart had been pierced. Well — almost pierced. I twisted my body at the last possible instant and forced it away with my divinity, barely turning the blow aside. But the same maneuver drove the thing straight through my left arm instead.
KRAKZZZT!!!
Ignoring the searing pain, I brought the hammer down through the end of its arc. The upper root shrouding the nexus let out a shriek and shattered into divinity-dust. One more step and I would have crushed the nexus flat.
"...Tough, aren't you."
But the nexus scrambled backward and just barely slipped out of my range. Sssshk! Only then did the root embedded in my left arm tear free, murky black blood streaming down.
Not a herald of corruption.
Celestials and demons alike could be purified or corrupted by the other race — fallen angels and converted demons were the classic examples. Though it was less a total corruption like in the stories and more a matter of being overpowered into a puppet. Normally it required a gulf of power and soul so vast the other side couldn't hope to resist... but this wasn't that. Whatever level the demon Berd had occupied before its sealing, it was nothing that could talk about 'stature.' What it had in excess was force — and that was what was pinning me down right now.
With the Crown of Succession, I could kill it.
Kill it? No — I could obliterate it outright. Crush it to nothing, reseal the demon into the sword, and bury it in some other dimension for all eternity.
And yet I kept the Crown put away.
Dreaming is over for me...
The Crown of Succession was unstable. Keep wielding a tool that dredged up the emotions of the past, and the me of the present might simply cease to exist. I was not going back to the past. Move forward. And never look back. Reminiscence was enough. Hating him and remembering him — that alone was enough.
"I rather like your method... but I'm disappointed. After all that anticipation, the celestial I get is you."
"You'll regret that it's me."
"Will I?"
The nexus opened. The roots spread apart on either side like courtiers welcoming a king, and between them stood the Sword God, sword in hand, both eyes staring blankly into nothing. He really had gotten his body stolen like an absolute fool.
Now then, let's think. In my current state, taking down both the corrupted World Tree and the demon would be a struggle. To manage it I'd need the Crown of Succession or the Sacred Fire — but the Crown was out for the reasons above, and the Sacred Fire was worse. That was the last bastion, a technique I held back until the very, very end. What I needed was something that could win without dragging anything out of the past.
Something I didn't have back then — but have now.
The Sword God's mouth opened.
"My name is Berd."
Shhk.
"I will kill you and escape beyond this world."
The moment those words ended, violet magesight erupted like madness. The roots spreading on either side responded to it, hardening all at once and lunging for me. I pulverized most of them with the hammer, but as if biding for an opening, a black root came charging in from the one direction I couldn't move to block.
The surging root was sheared clean through.
It wasn't me.
"Starlight Surge!"
Shaaa-rang!!
A meteor sword wreathed in starlight carved through the root. Silver-haired swordswoman Aisha appeared in a brilliant flash, her starlit aura billowing as she took her place at my side. Something I didn't have back then, but have now — a comra—
"Sword God oppa! Can you hear me?!"
"......"
Should I just kill him.
Thwap.
I cracked her across the forehead with my knuckles.
"AAgh!"
"Focus. You interfere one more time, I'm flicking you into orbit too."
"...Ugh. Yes, ma'am."
Steeled, Aisha raised her meteor sword. She had her soft spots, but her talent was plenty. What mattered was the 'severing' power she carried. Aisha alone couldn't cut through the mana-soaked nexus roots of the World Tree — but her class and her weapon were the key. Severance. An ability imbued with the unique authority to cut absolutely, the same effect as the Green Hermit I'd lent to Yena. Whatever it cut, it cut through — with bonus damage besides. Of course, a demon of that caliber could nullify even the word 'absolutely,' but with me doing a little fine-tuning, that changed the equation.
"One more gnat joined the fight, and nothing's different..."
Berd, occupying the Sword God's body, sneered at her and wound the roots around the nexus once more. He looked quite composed on the surface, but I could sense a faint fluster underneath.
"......"
Aisha flinched even though it wasn't the Sword God anymore — but it was precisely because of that reaction that she understood this was not him, and her fighting spirit burned hotter.
"Give oppa his body back!"
Her starlit sword-blades shredded the roots to ribbons. With a ringing shaa-raaang, the severed roots spat magesight as they fell away. In that gap I hammered the nexus root with everything I had — and the nexus, blocking both of us at once, blasted out a violent wave of magesight that sent Aisha and me flying.
KUGUGUGUGUNG...!
A root far, far vaster than anything before it rose from the depths — the scale of a mountain heaving itself out of the earth. Even here I could feel the magesight bleeding in streaks from the nexus, straining itself despite having absorbed less than it needed.
"Aren't you overextending yourself?"
"Silence! You couldn't pierce this body if you tried!"
The sky went dark. The root was vast enough to swallow me and Aisha both, far away as she was — but I did nothing at all.
Shiiiing.
Cutting that thing was someone else's job.
"Oh? Then what about me?"
The root was sheared away in a single stroke. A small woman trod atop the severed black root, scattering jade-green light in her wake. Asuka Elfosis.
"Die, you damned bastard."
A green sword-strike taller than the root itself split the nexus clean in half.