Conventions? Who Cares (3)
"Then keep an eye on that one. I've got business in the room of the past Popes."
Isaac brushed straight past them and was out the door in an instant.
Kina could only stare, dumbfounded. And no wonder—he had doubted his own ears when the report came in that Blue had attacked Gold. When word added that the ringleader appeared to be Isaac, the shock had felt like a blow to the back of the head.
Of course, Blue and Gold could never be on friendly terms. But Isaac had shown him nothing but goodwill this whole time.
Not only had the little wretch slyly taken the Crown Prince's hand to drive out the papal faction, now he was targeting the small monastery where the Pope stayed alone!
Was this truly the conduct of the incorruptible Blue?
And the room of the past Popes, of all things!
Don't tell me that brat is after—
Why else would the Pope have come to this monastery in particular? The keepsakes of past Popes were scattered across the monasteries of House Berith's territory.
Those keepsakes were, in fact, the cores of the barrier that protected the Berith lands.
And this place held the relics of Pope Sylvester—the longest-reigning Pope in history, and thus the one with the deepest entanglements with the Skeleton Demon King.
In a word: a critically important place.
If he opens that, he can unlock the secret vault of the past Popes in the main cathedral, too.
It meant every secret art of the papal house laid bare. Panicked, Kina rushed to chase after Isaac—but—
"No! I can't let you pass!"
BANG!
Shuri blocked his path.
"Did you not hear me? I said I'd stop you."
Shuri's holy art sealed the exit completely. A blue barrier wrapped the walls.
Kina stared at his cousin in sheer disbelief. It was a look utterly different from the one he gave Isaac—bitterly cold and arrogant.
"Stop me?" You? Against me?
At the same moment, golden lightning burst forth, so violent it left no room for reply.
"Kgh." A groan escaped Shuri.
Damn it, of course—this is Gold, the noblest of nobles we're talking about.
That look that said, how dare you even think of facing me?
Yes, it was the trademark arrogance of a lion staring down a mouse—but honestly, the bastard was strong enough to get away with it… damn it all!!
His eyes had gone bloodshot!
I'm dead, damn it!
But it was none other than that Isaac who had entrusted Kina to him. There had to be a good reason for th— like hell there was!
Kina spread both arms wide and poured down lightning.
"I didn't realize you were so eager to fight me."
No?! I have zero interest in fighting you!
Isaac, you son of a bitch, abandoned me and ran!
"Since you want it so badly, I'll deal with you myself and then go after Isaac."
No! I don't want it! You bastard!
KA-BOOM!
As the terrifying light rained down without mercy, Shuri dodged and hurled every curse he knew.
Insane! They say he never took the investiture, but he already holds a Cardinal's qualifications. He's absurdly strong!
The power of the 9th Tier, indeed!
Shuri hid himself and fired long-range lethal arts, but Kina swatted them away as easily as brushing off flies.
So 6th-Tier holy arts really aren't enough.
Against any ordinary priest, Shuri would have overwhelmed them completely. The problem was that this one was anything but ordinary.
How was anyone supposed to beat the Empire's foremost genius priest? Honestly, it was strange that Isaac was always mentioned in the same breath as a monster like that.
And Isaac, of all people, surely knew it too.
Tch. Nothing for it, then.
Kina, in fact, was chuckling softly to himself.
Well, he does show decent skill, for a Saint-family brat.
But that was all—mere upper-priest level. The only one who could trade blows with him was Isaac.
When that Isaac left him as my opponent, I assumed there was something impressive waiting…
Kina raised his hand.
"Let's end this—"
That instant, Shuri thrust a box up into the air.
"Stop! If you don't, I'll open this!"
"!"
Kina gaped at the box Shuri held out.
Wasn't that the thing Isaac had handed to Shuri before leaving? He let out a small, disappointed laugh.
"So your own strength fails you, and you reach for what Isaac gave you? No—of course. That's Isaac for you. Did he really think handing that to a nobody like you would turn the tables between us?"
"Shut up! Our head of house entrusted it to me!"
Shuri remembered what Isaac had said when he'd passed him the box.
"It's a secret art of our family that I developed. With this, even the Pope's grandson won't be able to move an inch. I'm counting on you, Kim Shuri."
That's right—the secret art of their family, powerful enough to neutralize even Kina!
"Don't you dare look down on the secret arts of Blue!"
"!"
At last, Shuri released what Isaac had given him. The moment he channeled holy power into the small wooden box, its lid sprang open and blue light burst forth.
Kina narrowed his eyes against the intense azure glow.
Ah, right. The Blue Secret Art. That one is a genuine nuisance.
And since it was a holy art Isaac had prepared, it would be all the more potent.
But that was beside the point.
"Did you really think I never researched how to dismantle the Blue Secret Art? I'll erase that secret art of yours, root and st—"
…er…
…er…?
At the power emerging from the box, Kina blinked rapidly. His face said: why on earth is THAT coming out of there?
But the one truly flustered was Shuri, who had opened the box.
You said it was our family's secret art, you absolute lunatic!!
What had come out of the box was, in fact, the God of Wealth of Gold.
Yes—that patron deity who had shamelessly pocketed what the Gold Cardinal had once handed over as tribute to the Supreme God. The very one the Gold Cardinal and his priests had chased after so tenaciously, demanding its return.
Shuri's eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.
Wait. Wasn't this thing… buried in the Crown Prince's garden?!
How to put it—a fairy the size of a forearm. The God of Wealth, taking the form of a tiny old man, slapped himself flat onto Shuri's head.
And now he was about to throw a tantrum at the flustered Kina—
[This insolent whelp of the Gold Faith!]
…Throw a tantrum, he says?
[You dare raise an attack against a god of Gold, a seedling of Gold?! You shall never be forgiven!]
Even against his own side?!
Kina's mind went completely blank.
Shuri's, too, went distant.
Isaac, you insane bastard! What did you DO?!
Well… all right. He could understand it.
When the god of one's own faith manifests, a priest must immediately disarm and show reverence.
Moreover, a patron deity—a guardian god of a household—was a lower god that dwelt in a particular place like a family retainer, keeping it peaceful. Not an especially mighty god, but an old and venerable one nonetheless, a deity that its seedlings were duty-bound to respect.
Which meant that yes, even a Cardinal could not treat one lightly, but—
It's not supposed to take the side of a different faith like this!
There was even less chance of a Gold god siding with a Blue seedling. Unless Isaac had done… something…
That's it, you brat! What in the world did you do to a god, that a patron deity would act like this?!
True to form, Kina—rarely caught off guard—stammered.
"N-no, this is, well. Um, honored patron deity. Would you come out of there for a moment? No—please come out. You mustn't stay in a place like that!"
At that, the God of Wealth clung even tighter to Shuri's head and snapped back, refusing to budge.
[How does a seedling of Gold fail to show reverence upon beholding a god of Gold!]
Kina was utterly flustered.
"N-no, honored patron. Now is really not the time for—!"
[Aye, you insolent thing! Dispel your holy art and kneel, or never be forgiven! Lay so much as a fingertip on this child, and you shall know no mercy!]
…I'm losing my mind!!
Why is the patron god of Gold so blatantly protecting Blue?!
"That is Blue territory over there! Come over here! Why are you in a place like—"
[Why? Because your father sent me off to Blue, that's why.]
Fatherrrr!
Kina wanted to tear his hair out. He had never imagined he'd be hamstrung like this.
To be fair, back then it had been a bargain with the Supreme God, and Gold had presumably sent a distinguished guest along to keep up appearances… but who knew it would come to this!
Still, he forced himself to hold on and spoke.
"Honored patron, that mandate was already lifted, so if you would come this way—"
[Aye!!! The eyes of this young whippersnapper are set far too high!]
"Kgh…!"
Unbelievable!
In the end, disarmed, Kina sank to one knee and bowed his head.
Frankly, there was no time to be doing any of this. He had no illusions that his grandfather would fall easily, but if Isaac's target really was the room of the past Popes, it would be a catastrophe.
He needed to get out of here quickly and stop him.
"Honored patron. Gold is in a dire situation right now. Do you know who it is sitting on this head of mine? He is an enemy who has invaded our Gold—an enemy who must be dealt—"
But the patron god, sweating buckets, smoothly turned his head away and pretended not to hear.
Kina's temper flared.
"Honored patron!"
[Hmm? What was that? I've gotten old, you see, and my ears aren't what they used to beee…!]
I'm losing my mind…!
Isaac, what on earth did you do?!
Kina pressed a hand to his forehead amid this absurdity.
If it were up to him, he'd love to simply crush the god with his upper-god authority—but a patron deity was a god who received the reverence of gods. For a man who would be Pope to stomp a god down as a god made for terrible optics. Nothing good could come of it.
At last, having made up his mind about something, he turned away.
"Ha. Fine."
"!"
If it came to this, he would simply destroy the building and leave.
Originally he'd hoped to spare the monastery, dealing with Shuri and dissolving the barrier—but with things as they were, there was no choice.
And just as Kina turned—
BANG!
"!"
Shuri blocked him yet again. Leering into Kina's face, Shuri bared a vicious grin.
"Where do you think you're going? You think you can just walk off after ignoring me?"
This brat…!
What's more, unlike before, his spirit had surged.
In fact, Shuri was smiling.
Right. It threw me off at first because what he left with me was the God of Wealth of Gold—but this is Isaac we're talking about.
This brilliant, brilliant bastard!
With this, I can handle even Kina, who can't attack!
That's what you meant, isn't it, Isaac? You're putting him in my hands.
Shuri swelled with pride, feeling as though Isaac had acknowledged him. After all, even with Weapon Disarm in play, dealing with Kina was no easy feat.
He's putting his faith in me.
Driven half-mad by that thought, Shuri was just about to cast his holy art with full confidence—
"—HKGH?!"
Something strange shot out of the box the patron god had emerged from.
A black, whip-like tendril. In the next instant, it had coiled itself tightly around both Kina and Shuri.
"Kuugh?!"
"Kghk!"
The two, tangled hopelessly together, screamed.
They had no idea what it was—but then Shuri caught sight of something and screamed even louder.
"You—you're—!"
What had appeared was a tiny fairy: none other than Isaac's king-ranked Holy Spirit.
The spirit spoke to Shuri, who was bound from head to toe alongside Kina.
[That is a substance of the spirit realm. The more you move, the more it tangles and tightens.]
"!"
[Isaac says to hold it nice and snug with that. I trust you understand what he means?]
The moment Shuri grasped Isaac's plan, his face went chalk-white, veins standing on his brow.
Isaac, you bastard—you planned this from the start!
Of course… of course that bastard would never actually trust me!
Kina, for his part, ground his teeth in fury. So this was what he'd been for! Isaac—you never intended to face me at all, did you…!
"Isaac!"
Kina immediately tried to undo the substance binding his body, but Shuri—staring vacantly at the ceiling in utter resignation—thrashed about like a madman. Reacting to his movements, the tendril wound around them even tighter.
Certain his ribs were about to crack, Kina glared daggers at Shuri.
"Hey, don't move! I'll undo this, so just cooper—"
"Screw it! Let's die together, you bastard!!"
"AAARGH!"
Is this really who you are, Isaac?!
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
While Shuri kept Kina tied down—
"Someone's cursing me out, I can feel it."
Isaac picked at his ear as he stepped into the room of the past Popes. Then, gazing at the statue within, he broke into a wide, gleaming smile.
"Found you."