Chapter 114. Holy War (3)
Chapter 114. Holy War (3)
6
The wedding hall became a crucible of chaos.
"Kyaaaak!"
"Oh God, wh-what in the world is that......."
The sky was tinged with sunset. A fissure split open across it.
The red sky cracked like a pane of glass, c-c-crack. Blood seeped through the broken gaps. I reinforced my vision with aura and looked up at the sky.
[The apostle of 'Ox that Harvests Ruins' manifests.]
There was a girl holding a massive iron hammer,
[The apostle of 'Warhorse of the Eternal Plains' manifests.]
and a general mounted on a pegasus flapping its wings,
[The apostle of 'Evangelist of Everlasting Happiness' manifests.]
and children holding hands and dancing a strange dance.
"Oh, oh my God......."
The guests invited to the wedding stared at them in horror. The fissure splitting open in the red sky alone was an unbelievable sight. And now unidentified beings had burst out of that fissure, so they couldn't collect themselves.
Only three people.
"They've appeared."
Raviel, I, and the Heretic Questioner were ready to fight. The one with command authority among us was Raviel.
"Special Task Force, assemble and protect the guests! Those belonging to the Divine Dragon Corps, gather in one place! My vassals, guide the guests and evacuate them!"
My bride and a duchess of the Empire, Raviel shouted at the guests thrown into confusion, and above all at the ducal house's vassals. People flinched.
Calling a name.
The act of having one's name called had a strange magic that roused people from confusion. If the one casting that spell was the second-highest noble in the empire, there could be nothing better.
"Blue Lion Knight Order, form ranks!"
"Your Grace, what in the world are those......."
"Cast aside your questions. Pull yourselves together and watch the enemies' movements. You are the masters who lead the empire. If you intend to disgrace yourselves before me, then surrender your titles! Do you understand!"
"Y-yes, understood!"
Raviel brought order to the hall in an instant. Even soldiers and nobles who ordinarily would not be under her command obeyed Raviel's orders.
They felt it instinctively. They did not know why the evening sky's sunset had shattered, or why unidentified apostles had appeared, but they knew that only by following Raviel Ivansia's voice could they make it through this situation.
"Can you determine their abilities?"
Having finished her series of orders, Raviel spoke to the Heretic Questioner.
"Yes! Please wait just a moment!"
The Heretic Questioner formed hand seals. White light burst from his hands. The light shot up into the sky like a beam and swept over the apostles of the other world in an instant.
"Hmm, analysis complete! First, that young lady holding the massive hammer over there is......."
But the Heretic Questioner could not finish his sentence. Perhaps the beam he had fired had been taken as a provocation. The hammer-wielding apostle leaped down from the sky.
The apostle's blonde hair streamed as she brought the massive iron hammer crashing down.
BOOOOM!
The ground was literally overturned. People screamed.
The wind pressure of the hammer alone whipped up a whirlwind. The red flowers and white flowers flown in from the empire's south to decorate the wedding fluttered about in a mess. Amid the scattering of a hundred blossoms in full bloom, the apostle's eyes burned red.
-Raviel Ivansia!
Those eyes and that voice were not unfamiliar.
-I won't give anything to you!
Astonishingly, the apostle's appearance was the spitting image of Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter.
"Th-that's Lady Golden Thread Plum......?"
"You, what is that appearance?"
The guests made bewildered sounds. Golden Thread Plum was a celebrity, though not as much as my lord husband. Naturally, many people recognized her face. Some of them looked back and forth between the apostle and the Heretic Questioner in horror.
"Hmm."
The Heretic Questioner muttered in a small voice, "This is not good."
"That is most likely the true body of the person called Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter."
"True body?"
"To put it simply, it is as if her soul has been mortgaged to a demon. In exchange for borrowing a Constellation's power, she has offered up all of her abilities, appearance, and memories! Ahah. It seems that young lady truly had a wish she wanted to fulfill even if it meant sacrificing everything. How interesting......."
The object of the Heretic Questioner's interest was swinging her hammer with great enthusiasm.
Hwoooong!
People were swept up by the wind pressure of the hammer and sent flying. The knights who had at least trained in martial arts gritted their teeth and held on. Their faces were still clouded with confusion, but they had realized at least one fact. That the figure resembling Lady Golden Thread Plum was not friendly toward them.
"B-block her!"
"Protect the guests!"
"Respond as ordered!"
The appearance of a clear 'enemy force' rallied the 'allies' accordingly. The empire's most renowned warriors, whom Raviel had invited as guests and hired as security for this day, drew their swords and charged. Refined movements. It was a coordinated assault by elites.
Golden Thread Plum snorted.
-Right, you all follow Raviel Ivansia's orders anyway.
Dozens of warriors leaped in all at once.
-Rather than hand anything over to that woman, I'll destroy it all.
Dozens of blades carrying aura shot forward simultaneously, but clang......! The blades were blocked by Golden Thread Plum's skin and bounced off.
"Wha......?"
Bewildered groans leaked out from all around. Golden Thread Plum had not sustained a single wound. Some warriors swung their swords again without panicking, but it was useless. All the swords were blocked by Golden Thread Plum's flesh. At best, the aura only burned away some of Golden Thread Plum's clothing.
-O Ox that Harvests Ruins!
Golden Thread Plum brought her hammer down.
-Grant me your blessing!
Crunch! One warrior was crushed by the iron hammer and burst like a watermelon. Blood sprayed. Before the droplets of blood that had shot into the air could even fall to the ground, Golden Thread Plum swung her hammer once more.
"W-wait......."
Someone's head was smashed by the hammer's swing. Smack! Blood burst and burst again. The slaughter continued without hesitation. As their comrades died, the warriors desperately struck at Golden Thread Plum's openings, but no blade tip could leave a scar on her skin.
"Everyone, be careful!"
The Heretic Questioner shouted.
"That person is clad in one of Mutia's blessings, [Inviolable Body]! She literally cannot be wounded. Ahah. To be precise, the effect is [reduces physical harm to oneself by 99.9%]!"
A body that cannot be wounded.
"Unless it is a blow powerful enough to topple a mountain peak, you will not be able to deal meaningful damage to her! Please do your best!"
-Raviel Ivansiaaaaa!
The warriors panicked. Among them was the old gentleman who had become my adoptive father for today only, the imperial court's chief steward and commander of the Special Task Force.
The old gentleman who held the position of the empire's strongest spoke as if dumbfounded.
"Topple a mountain peak? Who could accomplish such an absurd feat?"
"Indeed. It is truly an arduous task. But if you cannot accomplish it, you will all die!"
The Heretic Questioner smiled prettily, beaming. If one were to capture that smile alone in a photograph, one might forget the fact that people were being smashed into chunks of flesh by a hammer in real time right now. Crazy psychopath.
"Even that one alone is a monster."
Raviel sighed.
"And now another one is coming."
My lord husband was right. That apostle, whether the soul or true body of Golden Thread Plum, was merely one of the enemies we had to fight. In fact, she might even be the easiest enemy to deal with.
-O pitiful ones.
The red sunset.
The general mounted on the pegasus slowly descended with the sky at his back.
-Blame that pitiful girl. Blame the one dwelling in that girl's original body, and blame that young man. Because of them, you have come to be trampled beneath our hooves. It is only right that you all grieve.
The general looked at Golden Thread Plum, then at the Heretic Questioner, and finally at me. He wore a thick helmet, so his expression could not be seen.
-O warriors who follow the warhorse.
The general raised his banner high. A point of red sunset seeped into the banner.
-Awaken.
That was the moment. Translucent ghosts were summoned around the general. Dozens, hundreds, thousands. Perhaps a number reaching ten thousand ghosts.
-Groooo.......
-Grrr, rrrrr.......
Everyone was at a loss for words.
When Golden Thread Plum swung her iron hammer, even when people were caught in the hammer's swing and torn apart like sheets of paper, the guests still pulled themselves together. They resisted. They fought back. But an army of ten thousand emerging from the crimson sky.
It was on a different dimension.
"R-run......."
Someone muttered in a hoarse voice.
"Run!"
Someone else caught the same words and shouted them.
-Charge.
With a single word, the general cut off their mutterings and shouts.
-Groooooo!
-Kikik, kikiiiik!
Countless ghosts poured down. They wore old armor like ancient soldiers. But the spear tips they thrust were not old. Thunk! The back of a guest desperately trying to flee was pierced through.
"P-please spare me!"
"Kyaaaaak!"
Massacre.
Guests collapsed, bleeding. Their blood spilled out, dyeing the white flowers red. This place, which was supposed to become the most splendid wedding hall in the empire, became the most wretched hell.
"...Heretic Questioner."
I spoke. Afterward, I realized my voice was extremely cold.
"What is that apostle's ability?"
"I have just completed the analysis. Hmm. One of Mahos's blessings, [Battlefield of the Sanctuary], is being activated."
The Heretic Questioner spoke while maintaining his hand seals. Just as the Character window was visible only to my eyes, the Heretic Questioner seemed to have text visible only to him as well.
"[Battlefield of the Sanctuary] is a wide-area skill. It affects the entire vicinity. The effect is tremendous—[it fixes the summoned beings' abilities at the peak of their lives]! Each and every one of those ghosts is an elite among elites. They are the souls of warriors who followed Mahos!"
"...We're outmatched."
Raviel set down her fan.
"The difference in numbers is too great. Mutia's apostle has an ability that cannot lose in one-on-one combat, and Mahos's apostle is far too advantageous in group combat. A dilemma."
-Ru.
And then.
-Ru, ruru, ra. Ra.
The last apostle began to move.
-Ra.
-Ruru, ra. Rara. Ru.
-Rururu. Rara. Ra. Ra.
The apostles in the form of children sang. The singing descended from the sky and resounded across the earth. The children danced in a circle as if playing a ring dance, and the faster the dance became, the fiercer the singing grew.
-Ra.
-Ru, ra. Rara.
Thud.
The guests fleeing from the ghosts suddenly collapsed. It was not just one or two. Thud, thud. As if they were dolls whose strings had been cut, people lost consciousness and crumpled where they stood.
"Oh."
The Heretic Questioner quickly formed hand seals. Light leaked from his hands and enveloped Raviel and me.
"Ahah, this is truly not good! Hmm. It is a type of mental attack. When exposed to that song, one is forcibly buried in [the memory of when one was happiest]. No one without considerable mental fortitude can refuse it!"
"......."
The hammer apostle immune to physical attacks.
The warhorse apostle specialized in group combat.
The happiness apostle that violated the mind.
"...Really. They're vicious in every category."
"Yes! If there were only an apostle specialized in one-on-one combat, we could somehow deal with it. Even if forced into group combat, there would be ways to respond. If mental attacks were the problem, we could assemble a small elite force with strong mental fortitude. But if we must fight all three types of battles at once, ahah. It is extremely difficult!"
The Heretic Questioner smiled brightly.
"Death King."
"Yes."
"May I believe that the Death King will win?"
The wedding hall was already sinking into the sunset.
From the sky, the song rang endlessly. On the ground, the dead slaughtered the living.
At last.
Crunch!
The head of the Special Task Force commander, who had resisted to the very end, was crushed.
With the old gentleman's head trampled beneath her feet, the hammer apostle, Golden Thread Plum, glared at us fiercely.
-Raviel Ivansia!
"......."
Raviel was wearing a black dress. At a glance, it looked like mourning clothes rather than a wedding dress. But this was the empire's custom.
After marriage, the person who would become the master of the family wore black. The one who would not wore white. That was why Raviel wore a black dress, and I wore a white tuxedo.
"Gong-ja."
Raviel turned to look at me.
"I should have said this earlier."
"Yes."
"That tuxedo suits you very well."
"......."
I smiled. The apostles of the Constellations had invaded. The guests had all been slaughtered. But Raviel complimented my wedding attire at this moment. That meant she did not accept 'this ending' as 'the end.'
That's right.
We will never give up on our marriage.
"Raviel is the most beautiful in the universe as well."
I took my bride's hand. I felt the soft texture of her lace glove.
THUD!
A heavy footstep rang out. Golden Thread Plum was probably charging toward us. Soon the iron hammer would crush us. Feeling the earth's axis shake, I spoke.
"We made a promise to each other. That I would never take my own life without Raviel's permission. That even if a moment came when I had to die, I would accept death only after always doing my utmost to the very end."
"That is so."
"Please allow me to die now."
Raviel smiled.
"I allow it."
A single word. What made me invincible was nothing more than a single word from the person I loved.
-Raviel Ivansiaaaaa!
The moment Golden Thread Plum swung her hammer. I wrapped myself around Raviel.
To die even 0.1 seconds faster than her.
Raviel understood my intent and let herself be embraced without resistance. The two of us laced our fingers tightly together. Soon the massive hammer came down upon my body.
[You have died.]
A death just like always.
[Reproducing the trauma of the enemy who killed you.]
A sight just like always.
[Regressing 24 hours into the past.]
But.
It was not a regression just like always.
"Gong-ja."
When I opened my eyes, Raviel was there, holding my hand. The moment our eyes met, we understood. That there was no need to explain what we had been through. That we shared 'the same time.'
Just as we had been right before death, we were still holding hands after returning alive.
She and I were no longer a solitary regressor of one.
"Let us establish a plan."
Because we were two, we were invincible.