Evil God of Darkness (3)
I could see the divinity that had been concentrated in the sword slowly spreading outward into the air around it.
And this was no ordinary divinity — it was the divine power that the Heojeop Chief God had personally gifted to me.
The most sacred of energies, born from the One who sat at the center of all gods.
No matter how thoroughly Tariki's influence saturated this place, darkness was powerless before the Chief God's divinity.
As my divine domain widened, I watched the darkness retreat step by step before it.
Having confirmed all of that, I pulled my hands from the sword and let out a long breath.
Maybe it was because the Heojeop Chief God's divinity dwelled inside my body, but the effects of the divine domain were manifesting far more powerfully than they should have.
Thanks to that, I wasn't just laying the groundwork for a miracle — I could also shut down any attempt Tariki made to strike at us from behind.
<To think such a wretched excuse for a prayer could produce something like this.>
As I watched the divinity gathering strength around us, Grandfather let out a hollow laugh.
...It really was a wreck of a prayer, I'll admit. Thinking back on it, that thing was closer to outright blasphemy than prayer.
<Is it because you are the Chief God's Apostle?>
'Nope, Grandpa.'
<Hmm?>
'The Chief God just happens to be into this sort of thing, that's all.'
I mean, what kind of god lends their power to someone who spends the whole time insulting them? Even if that person is their own Apostle?
No — that pedo pervert Chief God simply *enjoys* being cursed out by a cute girl!
It's obvious! How else could the divine domain possibly unfold this perfectly?!
<Enough with the nonsense.>
'I'm being completely serious here.'
<Look ahead instead. Your plan has only just begun.>
Tch. Once again, I've failed to reveal the Heojeop Chief God's true nature to Grandpa. But denying it doesn't change reality, you know.
Someday, you will come to understand that the Heojeop Chief God is an incurable pedophile pervert.
Because I'm going to make you accept it.
With that thought, I steadied my grip on my shield.
My part of the work was done. All that remained was to hold the line and wait for Phoebe and Johann to weave their miracle properly.
<The darkness is moving.>
The instant Grandfather's warning left him, every person who had been charging toward us collapsed to the ground at once.
I turned my head, half-suspecting the Face-Connoisseur Fox had something to do with it, but she shook her head.
It wasn't you? Then what in the world is this?
Puzzled, I scanned our surroundings — and saw the demonic power of Tariki draining out of the fallen people, streaming off toward somewhere else.
Was Tariki changing strategy, having decided that crushing us with sheer numbers was impossible?
What now? What kind of nonsense are you going to pull to blow me apart this time?
Just as I was tightening my hold on the shield, nerves drawn taut, I heard the thunder of hooves in the distance.
"Cavalry!"
Far away, a body of horsemen was charging toward us, kicking up a storm of dust.
Grotesquely mutated horses twisted by the evil god's power — and riders clad in black-stained armor, trailing wisps of black smoke as they bore down on us.
They were no longer knights. They were a wave made of darkness, a tsunami preparing to swallow the earth whole.
<They mean to punch through a single point and shatter us.>
'If I step up and hold them—'
<Do you have the luxury of that right now?>
...I didn't. I was pouring nearly all of my divinity into deploying and maintaining the divine domain.
Absorbing the impact of that cavalry charge would be more than I could manage.
<You need not handle everything yourself. Is that not why you brought so many with you?>
Grandfather was right. Better to trust the people I'd brought along than to charge forward and introduce a variable into my own plan.
Just as I forced down the urge to move and settled in to watch how things unfolded —
the Face-Connoisseur Fox's mist-formed foxes began streaming toward the cavalry.
They moved the same way they had when lulling the city's people to sleep — yet strangely, the riders did not fall.
"...They already stand in the very heart of a nightmare, so sleep cannot claim them. A cunning little trick, that."
It was the Face-Connoisseur Fox saying something was interesting — and yet not a trace of a smile touched her lips.
Utterly serious — a face I had never once seen her wear in front of me before. The face of a true beast who ruled an entire forest. With a light flick of her finger, the fox-shaped mist scattered and reformed, gathering along the cavalry's charge path.
From the outside it looked like nothing more than thin fog — surely all it could do was obscure their vision, I'd thought. But that fog shattered my common sense with ridiculous ease.
KWAAAANG! By blocking the cavalry's charge, it proved itself a wall of solid stone.
This is the power of a Lord of the Forest?
The sight was so incredible that I'd completely forgotten the Face-Connoisseur Fox's true nature as a perverted masochist and was honestly awestruck — but her expression remained grim.
What's with that face? You just blocked a full cavalry charge, didn't you?
My question answered itself before she could reply.
From behind me came a roar far louder than anything that had come before.
"Chaos everywhere, it seems. Utter chaos."
Even as the Face-Connoisseur Fox grumbled, the thunderous impacts kept coming without pause.
A charge. Another charge. And yet another.
If the mist was a solid wall, then they seemed determined to throw themselves against it again and again until it broke — a madness that only grew louder with every passing moment.
...You're kidding me. That crowd earlier was just a probing attack? What is with this firepower?
"No, not everywhere. They come from above as well."
<Girl! Above you!>
Above? What's coming from above that has both the Face-Connoisseur Fox and Grandpa shouting at once?
The moment I reflexively tilted my head back and looked up, I saw it.
A human figure falling from on high.
And in his hand, a black sword. No — a sword forcibly dyed black.
...Duke Burrow.
Damn it. He took control of Duke Burrow in that tiny window of time?!
The Duke was plummeting at terrifying speed, yet the sound of his landing was impossibly light — like a feather settling to the ground.
Then he rose to his feet before us, glanced around — and let a sly smile creep across his face.
The moment he spread his arms wide, the evil god's presence that hung over Burrow Territory thickened even further.
No explanation was needed as to why. The dark mana spilling from the ground beyond my divine domain had opened its maw toward the unconscious civilians.
...Damn it. I have to block it. If I don't, the people—!
"Who can say. The ending has yet to be decided, so such certainty seems rather premature."
I scrambled to move — but the Face-Connoisseur Fox was faster. The mist she had spread through the city surged up to intercept the darkness, keeping it from swallowing the citizens whole.
"My apologies, but the only one permitted to call me a beast is my dear Lia. You revolting evil god."
Even as she absorbed Tariki's naked fury, the Face-Connoisseur Fox smiled.
But anyone could see she had no room to spare.
She was overextending herself holding back the darkness — cold sweat was trickling down her forehead.
"Struggling just to protect yourself, and still you posture. How quaint."
The thing wearing the Duke swung his sword.
There was, without question, a considerable distance between the Face-Connoisseur Fox and Duke Burrow.
Ordinarily, his blade shouldn't have been able to touch her — shouldn't have affected her in the slightest.
But the sword of a warrior who had reached a certain realm made short work of common sense.
Riding the wake of the Duke's slash, the evil god's mana erupted into a flying wave of cutting force, fired straight at the Face-Connoisseur Fox.
She didn't so much as react to it. Just as Tariki had taunted, she'd lost her margin for anything else while holding back the magic spreading across the city.
But that was no problem at all.
Because she wasn't alone.
What tank in the world would leave a caster mid-spell to fend for herself?
I planted myself in front of the Face-Connoisseur Fox and faced the incoming slash.
I didn't have much divinity left to spare right now.
But it's fine.
Every battle I'd fought until now was telling me so.
Iron Wall declared: I could block it.
My instincts declared: I could hold.
As long as those two voices agreed, there was no reason under heaven I couldn't stop that slash.
I drove more strength into the leg braced against the ground.
I locked my grip around the shield's handle.
I clenched my jaw hard.
And I put myself between my ally and the blow meant for her.
The attack — Duke Burrow's peerless swordsmanship interwoven with the evil god's mana — carried terrifying weight behind it.
My body was shoved backward, inch by inch.
The arm holding my shield screamed in protest.
The light woven through Ankir as it deflected the slash began to dim.
But that was all.
The mana-laden slash taxed my body to its limits — yet it couldn't leave so much as a scratch on Ankir.
"Aww♡ That's all you've got?♡ The Duke of Burrow's really gotten old, huh?♡ What a limp, flimsy blade — like a wilted old knight's sword♡ So *this* is why House Burrow has no heir?♡"
Through the bulk of my massive shield, I spat my taunt, and I could see the Duke's brow furrow in irritation.
Along with it came a fresh volley of sword strikes.
In my current state, weathering that chain of blows would be rough — but I wasn't preparing for those strikes at all.
The moment Duke Burrow raised his sword, I saw a blade darting in behind him, targeting his exposed back.
"You may as well call it sound strategy!"
Duke Burrow wrenched his sword around in a desperate parry, turning aside Carl's attack.
The evil god's mana collided with the pure-white aura wreathing Carl's blade, each straining to drive the other back.
Having blocked an attack while still off-balance from a surprise strike, the Duke should have been at a severe disadvantage — but reality refused to cooperate.
The Duke, whose martial prowess ranked among the finest in the kingdom, had been empowered by the evil god's mana.
The creature wearing him actually moved to force Carl's blade back with raw strength.
Had he anticipated the disadvantage from the start?
Carl didn't press his luck; he retreated cleanly.
Seeing it, the Duke moved to pursue, unwilling to grant him a moment's respite — but the attempt failed.
Alsaetin, positioned behind Carl, loosed an arrow that disrupted the Duke's movement. Carl neatly widened the distance and began angling once more for an opening to strike.
"Hmhm. It occurs to me that coming here was well worth the trouble. Who would have thought the day would come when I would be guarded by you."
'Now's really not the time for—'
"If you've got breath to waste on that garbage, hurry up and stop that gloomy piece of trash's magic already, you useless perverted fox!"
Just as I was gritting my teeth and watching the situation unfold, the Face-Connoisseur Fox spat nonsense at me from behind.
I snapped back at her in irritation while my mind raced.
A moment ago, I'd insulted not Tariki, but the Duke himself.
And the provocation had still landed hard.
Which meant that even now, puppeted by the evil god, Duke Burrow likely retained a degree of self-awareness.
...All right. Let's run a little experiment, then.
"Duke limp-dick♡ What are you looking at?♡ Getting jealous of another man just because yours won't stand up is pretty ugly of you, isn't it?♡"
"..."
"Or oh my, have you discovered a new taste?♡ Planning to turn your own butt into an entrance from now on?♡ PWAHAHA♡ Actually, that sounds kind of fun~♡"
Mid-defense against Alsaetin's arrows, Duke Burrow suddenly twisted at the waist and came lunging toward me, tolerating a degree of damage to do it.
Hmm. So he does still have some awareness left in him.
Tariki had put him to sleep, but that sleep wasn't deep.
Which made the solution obvious.
If a sleepy Duke couldn't wake up on his own, you simply got right up next to his ear and shouted him awake.
"Did that sting?♡ It stung, didn't it?♡ Khekhek♡ Who knew the Duke of Burrow was a womanizer~♡"
It's not what I want, but there's no other way.
I have to provoke you.
Duke Burrow, you need to wake up. Now.
Because otherwise, there's no telling what I'll say next.