Mutant Elf Euris (2)
Just how long had Master been planning this?
I was still far too lacking to fathom the heart of someone who would split the heavens in two if things didn't go her way.
"So you really have been out there punishing the wicked all this time?"
There was no way to salvage the situation unfolding before my eyes. One look at Selen's bright, smiling face beside me made that painfully clear.
"You pretended otherwise at the Public Enemy council, but you're actually quite shy, aren't you?"
"……."
The misunderstanding had only grown deeper. By now it seemed fully cemented inside her head. Once a delusion took root, it didn't come loose easily. The path I was walking had already diverged completely from the plan I'd first laid out.
The reason I failed to predict any of this ultimately came down to trust. I never imagined Master would go this far to obstruct her own disciple's path. I'd thought she would respect my wishes. Instead, she'd coldly smacked me across the back of the head.
"It's about time you admitted—"
"Enough talking. Prepare for battle."
Since things had come to this, I might as well give her what she wanted. A proper disciple repaid the teachings she'd received, didn't she? It would sting a little, but Master would understand. She'd chosen this subjugation scenario herself, after all.
"You dare stand against me? I'll make you regret it."
Master stretched out her hand and clenched her fist tight. In an instant, a green magic circle spread across the entire floor. Mana surged. The flow of the air shifted violently. Then a hemispherical barrier took shape—a narrow one, enclosing only our immediate surroundings.
"Sage, what's going on?"
"She's sealed us in!"
A spatial isolation spell. We were properly trapped. Me, the Hero party, and Master putting on her little act of being corrupted by evil—no other being could breach the transparent wall that had formed around us. Riella and the other mages tried to dismantle it, but it didn't look easy. It wasn't a matter of skill. This was a hybrid spell mixed with Aura—a type they'd never seen before. Just interpreting it would take considerable time.
An elf who had reached a realm no one else could touch. That was why I'd bestowed upon her the title of Heavenly Demon.
"Feeling the pressure yet? You won't be receiving help from anyone else."
Wasting a high-level technique on something like this… She was taking this far too seriously.
"Unni, how strong is she?"
"With just the three of you, you absolutely can't win."
Even with the full party assembled it wouldn't be easy—and now there were only three of them. The current Hero party was outmatched. Still, that wasn't really a problem. She wouldn't put killing intent into her attacks.
"I'll stick to support. Handle the rest yourselves."
Even in this unwanted situation, there was an upside. Real combat experience for the Hero party. A conveniently available training dummy of a Heavenly Demon.
"Everyone, follow my orders from this point on."
"Understood."
"Ready!"
Breny and the Great Warrior steeled themselves for battle. Selen did the same. Every one of them settled into a stance that said they were ready to charge at any moment. And thanks to their mental conditioning, they didn't flinch even before a powerful foe. Watching them lean on one another and stoke their fighting spirit filled me with pride.
"Quite the bond you've built."
Master spoke, then unleashed another spell.
"I'll need to split you up."
The shockwave hit before we could dodge. My vision collapsed and reassembled itself. When I came to, I was standing in a place filled with nothing but pure white. An empty void with nothing in it. Master and I were the only living things that moved.
"I now exist as four at once. The four of you must unite your hearts—"
"Stop."
I cut her off firmly. It was rude, but some things needed saying.
"If it's just the two of us, you don't need to keep acting."
"I have been tainted by evil. I am not the master you think I am."
"So that's the setting you're going with?"
It had been fun when I was the one doing it. Watching someone else play along was considerably less entertaining.
"Disciple of mine, this master of yours is truly disappointed."
I'd made my displeasure a little too obvious, and she finally dropped back into her usual self.
"I prepared so diligently for your sake. Couldn't you at least pretend to be surprised?"
She was genuinely hurt. I felt a little bad—but I had my own grievances.
"You turned me into a temporary companion of the Hero party in front of a huge crowd. How can you say that with a straight face?"
I'd become a judge of evil completely by accident. An image that didn't suit me at all had been plastered over me, and it was going to severely restrict everything I did from here on.
"So what's your end goal?"
"You want to know? Then try defeating me."
Back to pretending she'd been infected by evil. Fake miasma billowed up from her head, shoulders, and chest like a fire had broken out. This wasn't a situation I could talk my way out of. That left only one option—communication through my fists.
I raised my Aura and wound it tightly around both hands. I loosened my ankles and waist, finishing my preparations to repay her kindness. I wrapped Aura around both legs as well and was just about to charge when—
Wait!
Sun-bask urgently held me back.
"What?"
Calm down and focus.
Not sure what she meant, I quieted my mind for a moment. A deep breath. Slowly, I began to sense the energy that my turbulent emotions had been masking.
That's not fake.
Real miasma. Not a magical performance. The moment I recognized it, my breath started to catch. My senses dulled. My head throbbed.
"Did I not tell you? I have been tainted by evil."
The look in her eyes had changed. The gentle gaze that used to rest on me was now filled with hostility.
"Who are you."
Master would never harbor miasma. She was someone who loved creation over destruction. It wasn't that she merely looked different. She truly was a different being.
"Saintess. Do you truly not recognize me?"
Her voice had grown more sinister. A dense black light seeped into Master's pupils.
"The First Heaven of the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings. I am Kbalt, the Soul Binder."
The miasma grew even sharper. It felt as though hands were closing around my throat.
"I have returned from death to take my revenge upon you."
It pressed in through my skin—a malice so pure it could torment everything around it with emotion alone. It really was him. Kbalt had taken Master's body.
"Do you fear me? Or is it your master you fear?"
He approached me slowly, miasma coiled around his entire body.
"A vessel like this is not easy to come by. I've invested quite some effort since the moment we first met."
I'd been played. Master hadn't driven Kbalt out at all.
He left only a tiny fragment behind when he escaped…
A scheme to gradually seize control of the body. With Master's constitution—powerless against spiritual entities—she would have had no way of knowing.
"Excommunicated Saintess. Do not think you will die cleanly. I will violate you, trample you, and in the end turn you into an undead so that you may weep forever in agony."
Vivid rage manifested as miasma. It coiled so thickly in black that his form was barely visible.
"That woman thoughtfully arranged this opportunity for you. If you wish to resent someone, resent your master."
He clad his right hand in Aura. His left hand shaped magic into something sharp as a blade. The ability to fully wield the power of a possessed body—that was how Kbalt had once thrown the entire Empire into chaos.
"Come, then. Attack me. You've grown fond of losing, have you? I shall personally gift you defeat."
"……."
The space we were in was an application of illusion magic. Shatter it, and I'd crumble along with it. To get out, I had to force him to dispel the magic himself.
I clenched and unclenched my fists a few times, working the remaining stiffness from my body.
"I prefer losing to the good heroes, actually."
I slowly wrapped dark-crimson Aura around my entire body—fierce as a roaring flame. Then I launched myself forward.
He charged at me too.
Fists crossed. Mine was faster. But it was blocked—a double defense of barrier and Aura. In the opening left by my stalled attack, a fist slammed into my face. An impact that rattled bone. Immediately after, the hand-turned-blade sliced across my throat. A deep cut. But my regeneration held the skin together and stitched it shut before it could become fatal.
"Is that the full measure of the Excommunicated Saintess's dignity? Nothing but a false reputation."
He sneered, full of swagger—already imagining how he'd torment me after winning.
"Forgive me, Master."
I spat out a loosened tooth along with blood and unleashed my Aura—hard enough to strain my body.
"I'm going to have to beat you senseless."
Aura enveloped my whole body and fused with it. Physical force so overwhelming the space itself couldn't contain it warped the surroundings.
"A futile effort, no matter how hard you try."
He drew out power of his own in answer. Miasma and Aura merged, and countless magic circles etched themselves across his body.
"A mere disciple, daring to defeat this Heavenly Demon?"
Pathetic. He'd gotten a little flustered and was now laboring under a massive delusion.
"You're right that Master's strong. But…"
I shot forward. The ground warped with every step. In just a few strides, I was on him.
"I surpassed Master a long time ago."
I drove my fist out. Through the barrier. Past the Aura and the miasma. My knuckles met his jaw. A heavy, crushing blow. He toppled backward. I seized his throat with one hand and raised the other high.
"You mean to kill your own master?!"
"You picked the wrong body to possess."
First, a punch. The Aura shielding his face crumbled. Another. This time the miasma scattered. Punch after punch. The barrier clinging close to his skin shattered to pieces.
"Master wants to meet her end at my hands, you see."
There was a reason she'd hated it whenever I said I'd die to the Hero party.
"Farewell."
I poured everything into the final punch—sincerity and respect included.
"This can't be! Do you know how hard I worked to claim this body—!"
Ugly thrashing and desperation. At the same time, the white space collapsed, and we returned to the magic field. Back exactly where we'd first been standing. Countless gazes poured down on me, carrying emotions too tangled to name in a single word.
Were you actually going to kill her?
"Of course not. What kind of disciple sends her master off like that?"
I'd applied just enough force, and he'd panicked and dropped the illusion himself. At my current level, he wasn't an opponent I could call a real threat.
Finish him already!
Kbalt was clutching his face in agony. Full of openings. Right now, he probably couldn't even react. But attacking him would only kill Master—he himself wouldn't die. To finish Kbalt for certain, I needed the Hero's power.
I looked around. The Hero party, freed from the illusion at the same time as me, was still staggering. Blood ran from their noses and mouths. Whatever grueling fight they'd endured, they could barely stay on their feet. Holding out this long was more than enough. Ordinarily I wasn't supposed to help—but just this once, I decided to lend a hand.
"Snap out of it."
Selen, hands braced on her knees, lifted her head.
"Unni, the mutant elf has been taken by the Heavenly King Kbalt—"
"I know. So start commanding. You're the one who has to step up if we're going to take him down."
Selen hesitated for a moment. Her hands trembled faintly.
"Scared? What did I tell you before?"
The trembling stopped.
"That even against an enemy you cannot defeat, you must stand and fight to the end."
Brilliant resolve filled her platinum eyes.
"O lofty Sun, grant me the power to destroy the being that spreads terror."
Sunlight concentrated into a single point. Holy Power surged so intensely it made my chest tingle. The sacred spell Radiance—a technique that massively amplified physical ability when fighting a hostile foe. The light dwelling in Selen glittered, bright enough to sting the eyes.
"Great Warrior, take the front and absorb as many attacks as you can."
"Understood."
The Great Warrior's body vanished, replaced by the combat-form Aura physique he'd shown when fighting me.
"Sage, stay by my side and support our attacks."
"Got it!"
Breny clenched both fists, steeling her resolve.
"And…"
Her determined gaze turned to me.
"Excommunicated Saintess, please protect us."
An old memory surfaced. A strangely wistful feeling welled up.
"Let's go."
It was time to send the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings back to hell.
"I won't let any of you die."
I stepped forward—together with the Hero party, to put an end to Kbalt.