Never Underestimate the Blue (1)

Yes. Isaac had said it.

"Honestly, I don't get why you're all trembling in your boots over some Red punk."

Heh. The brat spoke so easily about it—picking his ear while he said it, no less—and Shuri felt something catch in his chest. But the kid was still his little brother, so he answered calmly.

"That guy is seriously strong, you know."

And then Isaac, his crimson eyes flashing like ground-up magic stones, said this. For that one instant, he didn't look like a child at all—he looked like a sovereign who had outlived the ages themselves.

"Hmm. The way I see it, little Shuri... if you actually showed your true power, it'd be a different story. You might even win."

"Hah, there's no way in hell I'd beat him......"

"I'm serious. Just stop cowering, reach out your hand. And smash him."

And honestly, Shuri hadn't believed a word of it—but right now, he was doing exactly as that advice said.

Why?

Because if he lost to this bastard, he'd be killed by Isaac first! Goddammit!

"The idiot here is you, bastard!"

Shuri seized Naizer by the collar and hurled him.

BOOM!!

It was a blow powerful enough to split the marble floor beneath them.

Everyone doubted their own eyes. What was more shocking still was that the one who'd gone flying wasn't Shuri—it was Naizer.

The Red apprentices who had been silently hoping to watch Shuri crippled, and the paladins who had come to spectate, all hung their mouths wide open.

"Blue...! Beat him!"

Isaac grinned, flexing the bone hand wrapped in bandages—everything was going exactly to plan.

Ha. Little punk. Good, good!

Softening up the muscle first so the holy power extracts nice and easy! Raising you was worth every minute!

Naizer, meanwhile, was in shock.

'What... I went flying...? To that punk?'

What is this? What's happening?

But Shuri was not the type to end things there. No—if he ended it there, he'd be dead at Isaac's hands!

Moving fast, Shuri swallowed dryly as he glanced at Isaac.

Truthfully, he was terrified. Just as Naizer had bullied him back at the academy with displays of strength, Shuri feared he might be crushed by a counterattack even now.

Of course, getting hurt himself didn't matter. What Shuri truly feared wasn't pain or injury—it was the honor of Blue being dragged through the mud because of him.

But Isaac, as if he'd read that very thought, flashed a sly smile.

"Brother. Do you know why Blue's technique is forbidden for use on humans?"

"Because it only works on demons, so——"

"Nope. It's because humans can't endure it."

!!

Isaac curled the corner of his mouth, wearing the face of someone who inexplicably knew everything there was to know about Blue.

"Smash him. Bones and all."

A moment later, Shuri seized Naizer's arm and poured Blue's holy power into it.

Naizer scrambled to grab Shuri's collar in return—but Shuri was faster.

WHAM!

"Kh-ghahk!!"

Crack. Crunch-crunch!

"AAAARGH!!"

Naizer's scream rang out, wreathed in blue light.

The right arm caught in Shuri's grip was shattered without mercy, sagging and flopping like some boneless invertebrate.

"Gahh—urghk!"

"Naizer!!"

The apprentices who had come to watch stared at the scene in sheer shock.

Shuri hurling Naizer across the arena was astonishing enough—but Blue's technique, the undisputed king of anti-personnel arts, unleashed on a human body?

Amid everyone's stunned disbelief, Naizer's bloodshot eyes bulged as he thrust out his left arm.

"A mere Blue... getting cocky!"

When Naizer charged with martial arts rather than divine arts, Shuri immediately dropped into a defensive stance.

'If it's martial arts, I trained to death because of that little brat, dammit.'

Shuri had once asked Isaac why he pushed martial arts training so relentlessly.

"I'm training as a priest—shouldn't divine arts matter more? Why is it that every single time you teach me, the martial arts portion only gets bigger?"

"Why, you ask?"

"Yes, that's what I'm asking! I mean, I suppose as a holy knight... being of a Saint's family, you need to be good at martial arts too?"

"Nope. It's because you're gonna be my meat shield."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Naturally, Shuri had doubted his own ears at that answer......

"...Say what, you little—"

"It'll be useful for you too. Look at our grandfather—he's a martial priest, isn't he? Don't you want to dish out that kind of destruction?"

"Th-the Head of House? Sure! Just imagining it sounds great!"

"Good boy. Then my personal meat shield... martial-arts priest: decided."

"...Hey......"

"Relax. I'll buff you in return. You've got talent for that side of things anyway. Hmm, I do remember a few of them... wonder if they'll work."

And then, calling it a "demonstration," he'd beaten Shuri black and blue.

Recalling every one of those beatings, Shuri's hand lashed out.

CRACK!!!

"Naizer!!"

"Shuri. You've got this. Just beat the hell out of him, whatever else. The Saints of old said that with this buff applied, using it on a human kills them. Well—not my problem."

CRACK! CRACK!

At last, Naizer went down.

A tremendous roar erupted through the arena.

Even Rillai, who had been about to ask the judges to halt the match, stared at the two of them, utterly stunned.

'Those are the Saints' techniques Mother said she failed to restore...!!'

How— who on earth could have—?!

The arena seethed.

People of every faith had gathered here, high imperial officials among them. And with that came plenty of people hostile to Blue. Some, truth be told, had been silently praying that Blue's technique would be smashed to pieces for good.

And yet.

"What is the meaning of this! The Red successor, being pushed back by Blue?"

"In anti-personnel arts, of all things? By Blue?"

"This defies all sense!"

The Cardinal of Red, faintly but undeniably, had lost his grip on his composure.

He'd been told to keep an eye on Isaac—and now he was witnessing this disgrace, brought about by that colt who hadn't paid the slightest attention to anything.

'No. I've never seen that technique from Blue before.'

What is going on?

It didn't feel fused with the Papacy's power, and there was no way Blue had quietly developed a brand-new strength.

'I must look into this.'

Kina too, watching the Red apprentices get trampled into the dirt, was staring in open disbelief.

'Shuri... no.'

That punk could never possess power like that.

And yet Kina saw it clearly. The faint buff divine art draped over Shuri's body. That blessing, entwined with a Blue technique none had ever laid eyes on, was generating terrifying force.

And there was Shuri, glancing at Isaac as if to ask is this right?, and there was Isaac, watching the whole spectacle with a fond, satisfied smile......

'No way... did Isaac Eschua make that too?'

Kina—who had intended to steal only the Pope's techniques—looked at Isaac with trembling eyes.

Shuri finally turned to Isaac, as if asking whether he was satisfied now.

Isaac was grinning ear to ear. The face of a gourmand beholding holy power ripened to perfection for the plucking—and beneath it, the gleeful face of a child demanding hurry up, keep going.

By that point, Shuri set his hands on his hips and let out a long sigh.

Well—the Red Pentagons had been thrown in the first place to treat Isaac's hand.

'Even this whole mess seems to have gone exactly the way Isaac intended. But fine. Nothing to be done......'

He drew a deep breath and roared.

"Never underestimate Blue again!!"

"!"

"OOOOOH...!!!"

Shuri turned away from Naizer.

"Now then, I'll be taking the necklac——"

But at the sight of Shuri turning to leave, Isaac's expression froze in an instant. An expression of profound, simmering displeasure—utterly unlike anything he'd worn before.

Reading that face, Shuri broke out in a cold sweat and cursed Isaac with his eyes alone.

'No, you bastard! Surely that's enough! We can move on from here! The objective's accomplished, isn't it?!'

But Isaac's expression only curdled further, fouler and fouler by the second.

"...Damn it."

Wearing the face of a man who truly, deeply did not want to, Shuri pressed a hand to his forehead and spoke ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to Naizer.

"There's still... the finale."

"Fuck—what??"

"Tell me where the necklace is!"

Naizer, sprawled on the ground, was flabbergasted. His arm was ruined, and though he couldn't tell what technique it had been, his entire body had been blown apart—but then, no wonder the people of the Red house were Red!

And now this bastard dared to hold a threatening interrogation against him, the future head of the Red house?

"You son of a bitch! You think I'll talk, idiot?! I'm not combat-incapacitated yet, I'll have you know——!"

Then Shuri, clearly at the end of his rope, grabbed Naizer by the collar and whispered into his ear.

"Hey, dammit! Please, just tell us! This is all for the sake of saving your sorry ass too, okay?!"

"You think a man who'll lead the Red house flinches at a whisper?"

At last, Shuri lifted his moistened eyes to the heavens.

"Ha... Then I suppose I'll have to make him confess. Yes. Right."

At those words, Isaac's eyes curved into crescents, the corners of his mouth hitching up toward his ears.

But Naizer, understanding none of what was happening, merely burst out laughing.

"Fine! Go ahead, try me! As the Red heir, I've mastered every torture technique there is. Someone like you dares to... kghulk?!!"

Shuri's foot came down square on Naizer's most treasured assets.

Squish.

In that instant, a dead silence fell over the entire arena.

"...Kkh."

The ones letting out strangled, breathless groans were the paladins.

The knights coughed violently and turned their heads away, while the priests shut their eyes tight in postures of the utmost piety.

Surely, surely that was a step too far—even for a member of clergy, no, even for a human being? Even torture had lines that could not be crossed, didn't it?

But Shuri, eyes screwed shut, spoke.

"No matter how thoroughly you harden yourself... that part never gets trained. Bastard!"

Of course, that line belonged to Isaac.

Shuri was simply repeating it, verbatim.

And so Shuri, grinding something soft and awful beneath his heel as though bursting it, continued in a voice thick with genuine disgust.

"I didn't channel any holy power this time—out of humanitarian restraint... For the sake of your family's future, confess. If the heir's a eunuch, the bloodline's finished, isn't it? At least one of them has to survive."

The Red apprentices shrieked.

Those cowardly bastards!

"Blue... such cowardice...!!"

"I never thought that bastard had it in him!"

At the same time, Naizer gritted his teeth through the torment.

'Shuri would never do something like this!'

The only one who would is that Isaac Eschua—the one who didn't even look like Blue!!

'That demon of a bastard! Over a mere test, just to get his hands on a necklace, he'd ruin another family's future——'

But then Naizer shuddered as something dawned on him, gooseflesh rising across his skin.

Wait. Come to think of it—hadn't Shuri said, just moments ago?

—Now then, I'll be taking the necklace.

Shuri had been about to walk off and retrieve the necklace—never mind a confession, without so much as asking where it was!

Which meant......

'He already knows where it is...!'

The moment Naizer's eyes met Isaac's, a chill shot up his spine like a blade of conviction.

'Those bastards really do know where the real one is!'

And now Naizer trembled for an entirely different reason.

How? How did they find out?

The real necklace had a concealing divine art laid over it—its presence hidden flawlessly!

No—wait. Before that. If they already knew where the necklace was, why bother capturing the leader and torturing him at all?! Are they completely out of their minds?!'

'Damn it all—I can't let it end like this.'

Gritting his teeth, Naizer looked at the shattered statue of the god that Isaac had destroyed.

That statue was the vessel through which the chief god bestowed his blessings. Pray to it, and you would gain favorable power—a chance to turn the tide.

So he sent a signal to his subordinates.

But Kina, as if reading it right off him, lightly tapped the ground with her foot.

Flash!

In the same instant, a golden array bloomed to life across the floor.

Though it had looked like a trinket, a child's toy, the array's true scale was vast enough to swallow the entire arena with room to spare.

"Khaghk!"

"AAARGH!"

Every Red apprentice caught within the golden array's perimeter collapsed, screaming.

It was a wide-area divine art that paralyzed everything that was not an ally, all at once.

The Red apprentices, their bodies locked mid-motion in a heartbeat, could only lie there groaning.

"Those bastards...! Now I see it—they faked getting captured on purpose!"

"They infiltrated the Red camp knowing full well Naizer was a fake! Just so they could put him in that state!"

Isaac snickered, as if to say they'd only just figured that out.

"With eyes that dull, how were you planning to become inquisitors? You idiots?"

"Going this far, just to force a confession out of Naizer!"

"No matter what you do, Naizer will never confess!"

Then Isaac burst out laughing.

"Ah—now that's where you're wrong."

"What?!"

"You don't need the leader in your hands to get a confession, kids."

"What???"

"And here you are, faithful of the Red, and you don't even know that? A confession has never come from breaking the boss. You break the weakest one first."

"......?!"

"The lower down the chain they are, the looser their lips. And all of you know where the necklace is, don't you?"

The Red team, finally grasping the meaning of his words, ground their teeth. There was only so much contempt for the Red house a person could get away with!

"Don't make me laugh! Even with Naizer in that state, he's keeping his mouth shut—so who exactly is going to babb—huh."

Isaac raised his rattle... no. His vicious, spiked morningstar.

"Yep. One at a time ought to do it."

"AAAAAH! SAVE ME!"

At his subordinates' screams, Naizer thrashed violently, as if to tell them to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stop.

"You crazy bastard, won't you quit?! You already know who has the real one! There's no need for any of this!"

But Isaac only laughed—puheh.

"Hmm, dunno, do I?"

Since he didn't know for certain, he'd simply have to break them one by one and fill up on holy power, wouldn't he?

Isaac slipped onto his finger the Saintess's ring he had received as a suckling babe ten years ago. The Elder Ring—a relic that drank in the divine power of everything around it.

Whisper sounded puzzled.

'Beating them half to death fills it up about ten percent faster, that's why.'

Isaac smiled.

Yes—they were just like zombies in that regard. He'd hated it back when he was the Demon King, but it came in awfully handy now, didn't it?

In any case, entrusting Naizer's torture to Shuri was all in service of destroying this country! Of severing the lifeblood of one of the five great houses that served the gods!

'Now, it's my turn!'

Get the hand back to normal before the inquisitors come knocking! Puheh!

Though truthfully, it would probably be his conduct, not his hand, that got him dragged off first.

The Red apprentice caught in Isaac's grip had gone deathly pale.

"You smashed the chief god's statue, and now this—violence that a priest must never, ever commit! Can you still call yourself a man of the cloth?!"

"Oh my. And here I thought the whole point of the Red Pentagons was torture?"

"Don't you know where you are?! This is the garden of the Red god himself! Everything that happens here is watched by the God of Penal Law! You truly think you'll walk away unscathed?!"

But Isaac simply sneered.

The God of Penal Law? Ah—did he mean that lazy good-for-nothing?

"Ahh, but the great and mighty Red god is far too busy to bother watching ants like us. Do try praying with a little more faith next time."

"......!!"

At Isaac's blasphemy, Shuri pressed a hand to his forehead.

Ah, that heaven-condemned brat. Not a scrap of faith in him! How on earth is he planning to talk when the time comes to contract with a god?!

When nothing got through to him, the Red apprentices began to shake.

'This bastard is a total lunatic. He's insane!'

It was painfully clear they might soon be sharing Naizer's fate.

"Okay! Okay, I get it, I get it! I'll tell you! The one holding the necklace is Sol... PUHAK!"

Isaac channeled holy power into his fist and knocked the man cold.

Ah. The Saintess's techniques really are potent.

"Sorry. My hand slipped—didn't catch that. Next."

Isaac turned his head, and the apprentice beside him shouted.

"I-I know it! I know who has it...! It's the blond one, Soli... PUHAK!"

Isaac dropped him too, without hearing a word.

"Ugh, why are your voices so tiny? I can't hear a thing! Are you going to confess properly or not?!"

The Red apprentices finally understood the truth, and their bodies trembled.

'That bastard...!'

'He has no intention of listening to a word. He's just going to flatten every last one of us!'

But Isaac, steadily drinking in the holy power, only smiled.

"As you all well know, this test has no time limit, right? Fitting for the Red Pentagons—I'll be torturing you sloooooowly!"

Isaac swung his weapon wide.

And naturally, he saved the one holding the real necklace for the very last.

The spectators watching the scene turned ghost-white, and the Crown Prince ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spoke a quiet word.

"...Knight."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Are we, at this moment, truly watching the examination that will select the clergy to represent our Empire?"

"Yes. That is correct."

"...I see."

The guard knight narrowed his eyes at the Crown Prince.

"...Forgive my impertinence, Your Highness, but is it merely my mistake that your eyes seem to be... sparkling?"

"It's a mistake."

"Yes, Your Highness."

...A mistake it is. Of course. Yes.