409. Sunrise (1)
409. Sunrise (1)
- 1 -
Yuran and Serica watched the upheaval unfolding in the sky.
"... Tsk."
Serica's sharp fangs sank into her crimson lips.
"The archangels are definitely stronger than me."
In the stillness that washed through the chaos, her voice was laced with barely suppressed resentment.
Yuran consoled her, a gentle smile brushing the corner of her mouth.
"A gap of that magnitude can be bridged by skill and compatibility, Lady Serica. Please do not let it weigh on you."
"Weigh on me? Me?"
Serica let out a light scoff.
"This is just... yeah. I'm angry. That I'm weaker than those winged things."
"Yes, I understand."
The corners of Yuran's mouth lifted slightly.
Serica was so adorable she nearly forgot the words of comfort she had prepared.
Serica, who had been glaring at that impossible-to-hate face, spun around sharply and looked down at the plains.
The allied army had joined forces with the Holy Kingdom's forces to push back the monsters born from Tiamat's scales while evacuating the Holy Kingdom's citizens to safety.
The irony was thick enough to taste.
'Our side, the demon realm archdukes, is helping Tiamat, and they're fighting the angels who should have been on the Holy Kingdom's side—but down below, we're opposing Tiamat and helping the Holy Kingdom's citizens...'
This tangled, intertwined mess between the factions was utterly headache-inducing.
Even so, Serica did not stop thinking.
Because Libertas must have believed she would handle even this chaotic situation wisely and sent her here.
That was when something caught her eye.
"That's...? Ran, look over there. Who do you think that is?"
"Hm? ... No. It can't be."
Yuran's brow furrowed slightly as she looked where Serica was pointing.
It was a great distance, but she could not possibly fail to recognize the enemy of her dear friend and beloved master.
The pink horns had been cleverly concealed, but the aura of that power could not be hidden.
'I noticed too late.'
The presence of another powerful being—something she would normally sense sharply.
But she had registered it far too late.
Because the combined powers of Tiamat, the angels, and the demon realm archdukes were pressing down on the air across the entire region.
"Astaroth. It is the Archduke of Obsession, Lady Serica."
"... That woman was the one who committed the deed here."
The gravity that surfaced on Yuran's face was conveyed fully to Serica as well.
"I don't know what she intends to do, but we need to reorganize first. The Holy Kingdom's vermin have almost all been evacuated to safety now."
"Commendable."
At Serica's words, a proud smile appeared on Yuran's face.
Seeing that smile, Serica grumbled.
"What. Obviously I know at least this much. Just hurry up and get on with it!"
"Yes, Lady Serica."
Soon, the allied army began to move again.
Elena and the monster queens also approached, assessed the situation, and reorganized their forces to apply pressure to Astaroth's army.
In the meantime, Serica continued to track Astaroth's movements intently.
Though it was only nominal, she was the senior-most officer in this army. She could not afford to miss an enemy shift.
And soon, she spotted something strange.
"... What was that just now?"
A subtle change had occurred among the most powerful presences.
So minute she might not have noticed if she had not been focused from the start.
"Astaroth has broken away from her army. ...But where in the world has her presence gone..."
Serica and Ran understood.
Someone—probably the army's second-in-command—was deliberately spreading their presence wide to deflect scrutiny while the commander slipped away from the encampment.
"Ah."
Realization dawned on both at the same time.
Their gazes shot back up to the sky.
To where Tiamat hung in the heavens.
"She must be there."
The reason her presence had suddenly vanished was because she had cunningly slipped in among the even greater powers.
Serica spoke through clenched teeth, her gaze piercing.
"She intends to do something to Tiamat. Or, the other way around—she might try to help the angels and gain something from it."
The two women's eyes met in midair.
What they had to do was obvious.
Whatever Astaroth wanted to do, they had to obstruct it thoroughly.
"I'll go first. If one of us is the vanguard, it should be me."
"Take Kamaya with you. She will be a tremendous asset in the sky."
"Yeah."
Serica nodded without hesitation.
Kamaya and her harpies were elites among elites who could easily close a gap of roughly half a tier when fighting in their element.
Yuran's judgment was as sharp as ever.
"I shall reorganize the army and keep Astaroth's main force pinned. The marquises are holding out on that side as well."
"Hang in there."
"Please take care of yourself."
Moments later, from the allied encampment, a vampire in a crimson dress and a harpy queen with flame-bright plumage spread their wings and soared upward.
Into the sky, where the mighty powers tangled and intertwined in dizzying complexity.
- 2 -
「Touch of Envy」.
The first to act was Leviathan, the Duke of Envy.
From his black-stained palm extended skyward, a green mist spread in all directions.
『Get back! You're only in the way. Go find a way to catch that monster lizard instead!』
The instant he saw that mist, Morr'is contorted his brow and swung his spear laterally.
To block the power and force the other angels to retreat.
『You rely on foul tricks as always, Leviathan.』
That voice was twisted with anger and loathing, but the judgment was on the mark.
Leviathan's mist was a power that indiscriminately sapped life force and mana.
Ordinary angels could not endure it for long before weakening and collapsing.
『Well now. Crying cowardice with a mortal enemy right in front of you is something best saved for your dying breath, don't you think?』
Leviathan's voice, after drawing his power to its peak, boomed across the sky.
Yet his demeanor remained composed.
He drew back his black-stained wrist and thrust his hand forward once.
Krrrrng...!!
A monster's roar erupted from that hand.
『「Garden of the Dead Moon」.』
Beside him, Edenish quietly intoned and spread her wings.
Her wings, formed of flower petals, scattered pieces of herself in every direction.
They did not fall elsewhere but drifted in the sky, pushing back Leviathan's power.
"「Footprints of the Nine-Tails」."
The voice of Asmodeus—the only one of the four who had not yet drawn her power to its limit—flowed out softly.
The jade orbs drifting above her nine tails danced around her, painting over the sky's expanse.
An illusion. Yet a power with substance.
It erased the ground and transformed their surroundings into an endlessly shifting blue and red space.
As her illusion bled into reality, the world around the four beings began to warp.
『Now we can settle this quietly among ourselves.』
Contrary to her gentle tone, Asmodeus, having drawn her power to its peak, smiled a venomous smile.
Kwang — !!
In that instant, Morr'is's crimson long spear shot forth like lightning.
But just before the spear tip struck home—
Jjeo-eok —
Leviathan's hand gaped wide, and in the next breath transformed into a beast's maw.
Just as it was about to swallow the spear—
Teo-eop!
Morr'is, having retrieved his long spear, glared at Leviathan.
『Fuck.』
The vulgar curse burst from Morr'is's mouth.
The memory of being caught by that disgusting maw around four hundred years ago had surfaced.
Anything swallowed by that mouth was never seen again until the battle ended.
Because it connected directly to Leviathan's subspace.
『What's the matter? You seem off your game. Though, you never possessed much class to begin with, so I suppose it's fitting.』
As Leviathan laid down his provocations in a cold tone, a crimson light washed over Morr'is's face as he glared at him.
He was drawing out his power as the Angel of Twilight without restraint.
『It's been a thousand years since I became an angel, so we've fought quite a long time indeed. Right? So let's stop fighting now. You...』
Shwaaak!!
『... bastard!!』
A white short spear hurled mid-sentence.
It split into dozens in an instant and rained down toward Asmodeus and Leviathan.
A sight like a blizzard's speed amplified tenfold.
Sarak.
But those destructive frost fragments vanished in the span of a breath with a single dance of a golden tail.
『Tch...!』
『Hmph.』
Right after Morr'is clicked his tongue and threw himself toward the spear again, Edenish's powder-pink flower petals scattered on the wind.
Beautiful petals.
But wherever they touched, the air distorted.
Asmodeus twisted her body to evade, but a few grazed her.
『... Ugh!』
The fabric of her dress melted, baring a pale shoulder.
Dark red veins turned blue across her skin.
A lethal poison. A venom so virulent it could poison an archduke of the demon realm.
『Be careful.』
『I know!』
From Leviathan's back, dozens of fins spread out in all directions.
Space warped.
What had been the sky became a dark sea, and the water's surface looked down upon them from above.
Guoooo —— !!
From that water's surface, a whale-like monster with a colossal mouth burst forth.
Kwang!!!
Morr'is, having retrieved his short spear, drove the blade into the monster's snout and held on—but this place was empty air.
『Goddamn —— !!』
Morr'is plunged endlessly downward, then summoned his strength and tore the monster's maw apart in every direction.
『Fine, I won't hold back any longer!!』
Hwaak — !
Before him, a sunset-colored radiance burst forth.
「Sinner's Cross」.
Before light wielding the authorities of extreme heat and anti-magic, the two archdukes had no choice but to dodge.
Kwakwakwang——!!
A clash that felt as though it would continue for eternity.
Both sides were revealing their full power, yet the battle dragged on and on, neither able to land a fatal blow on the other.
- 3 -
The sky melted and shattered.
It was remade, then torn apart again.
As if gods warred over a canvas, reality itself was endlessly painted over and erased.
'Oh my god...'
Tiamat's world was crumbling.
A truth she had never once questioned in over a thousand years of life.
The conviction that she was the mightiest being.
'I thought I was just outnumbered...'
But what she now witnessed was different.
Seeing the two demon realm archdukes and the angels—who the moment they clashed had cast aside all prior composure and fought with everything they had—she understood.
That she had been a frog in a well.
The angels baring their full power, and the demon realm archdukes matching them as if it were nothing, all possessed might rivaling her own.
Now she could admit it.
'What should I do?'
Chaos swirled in Tiamat's mind.
An emotion she had never once felt in her life. Helplessness.
If she added her strength, the demon realm archdukes would surely win quickly.
Though greatly weakened, she still retained enough power to fill the role of a deciding blow.
So it was only natural that someone would take notice of her.
- Dear. Will you hear what I have to say?
At that moment, a voice like sweetly simmered apples seeped into her chaotic mind.
Tiamat instinctively turned her head toward the sound.
A giant pair of membranous wings extending from the waist.
A woman with wings resembling her own had drawn near before she knew it.
『... You are?』
- I am Astaroth. The one who caused you to re-emerge into this world.
Whispering in a voice spun half from truth and half from lies, that woman smiled a bewitching smile.
But.
"Excuse me."
At the voice that suddenly cut in, the smile slowly faded from the corners of her lips.
"Don't listen to that woman, big sister. All she wants is to use you."
Before either of them knew it, two other women had drawn close.
Serica, who had blocked Astaroth's seduction, stepped one pace closer and spoke confidently.
"Because as an outsider, I'd probably help you more properly, big sister. Maybe the name means something to you? It's Libertas."
『... What did you say?』
That was when a savage light kindled in Astaroth's eyes.
A chilling killing intent, like that directed at an irritating insect stealing prey she had nearly caught.