Still sitting on her bed, Birgitte looked around with bleary, sleep-deprived eyes.
It took her several seconds to finally notice Zeno standing before her. She fixed him with a look of pure suspicion.
"……Mnh? What’re you doin’ dressed like that at this hour? Doesn’t look like a student prank, either."
Zeno didn’t let his agitation show. He lowered his stance.
"Good evening, beautiful lady. Sadly, I have no time to dally with you. I’ll be taking my leave."
Then, he vanished. Unlike his earlier movement, Zeno was now serious—his speed exceeded the sound barrier.
Naturally, he was far too fast for Birgitte to track. To her, he simply disappeared in an instant.
But immediately afterward—crack!—a sharp sound rang out, and Zeno was once again repelled.
"Guh……!?"
Zeno let out a pained groan. Birgitte was still right in front of him.
He had intended to move, yet he hadn't shifted an inch from his original position.
"You’re lookin’ like you’re wonderin’ what the hell happened. These Crystal Nuclei floatin’ around me are artifacts recovered from the ruins of the Sandro, an ancient civilization. I’ve had ‘em refurbished. As you can see, they’ve got the power to generate barriers."
—Sandro. Zeno recognized the name.
The super-civilization Sandro had flourished ten thousand years ago. Using weapons forged with their unique technology, they had possessed enough military might to fight on equal terms even against the Demon race.
The Crystal Nuclei hovering around Birgitte were one such weapon. They responded to the owner's will and the enemy's movements to deploy ultra-powerful barriers.
Zeno had fought a user of those tools once before, and he had nothing but bitter memories regarding the sheer durability of those barriers.
"Those artifacts… if I recall, they form a Triple or a Square in the air to deploy a barrier within that space. Right now, five artifacts are surrounding me, forming a triangular pyramid. In other words, a Triangular Barrier has been deployed in all directions to prevent my escape. ……Good grief, to think I would end up fighting someone with this many artifacts."
Zeno gripped his large spear, testing the weight in his palm.
In the past, he had been trapped behind those walls. He’d only managed to break through and retreat by working together with Sheraha, who had luckily come to his aid.
"I am stronger and faster than I was then. If I squeeze out every bit of my power, destruction should be possible. I’ve already confirmed that those artifacts lose their effect once the barrier is shattered. But even if I do, then what? I haven't found the Girl of the Vessel yet, and now that I’ve been spotted, I won't have time for a leisurely search. Even if I escape here, their guard will tighten, and contact will become even harder……"
"Dunno what you’re mumblin’ about, but spill why you’re here already. Dependin’ on your answer, I might let you off with just a light beatin’, y’know?"
Losing patience with Zeno’s monologue, Birgitte pointed a finger sharply at him.
Zeno thought for a moment, then exhaled a sigh of resignation.
"……As I thought, I’m not built for thinking. I am a gust of wind. I shall simply blow through everything in my path."
Zeno’s breathing shifted. He began to draw in a massive, continuous breath.
As he did, his body began to swell significantly.
"Storm Body Whirl—"
Exhaling all at once, Zeno thrust his large spear forward.
Simultaneously, the winds that had been swirling erratically began to coalesce in a single direction.
"Wha—! A gale just started blowin’ out of nowhere……?"
Being composed of a Magic Body, Demons were capable of reshaping their own forms to a certain extent.
For one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Army, that meant they could heavily modify their internal structures—creating powerful blood vessels and muscles with weight as close to zero as possible to achieve incredible physical performance.
The true power of the Storm Body Whirl began now. The whirlwind generated by his immense lung capacity slammed into Zeno’s back, providing massive thrust.
"Hyaaaaaaaah!"
Letting out a roar, Zeno charged at ultra-high speed. The tip of his large spear struck the barrier, sending a shower of sparks flying.
"Whoa! You’re tryin’ to force your way through? But this barrier won’t break so easily."
"……If I only hit it once, perhaps."
Zeno retreated at high speed with every breath, then immediately lunged forward again.
By lightening his body enough to dance on the wind and creating his own airflow, he achieved a level of mobility that defied common sense.
"Behold, Storm Body Whirl: Vortex!"
Bang! Clang! Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat……!
A relentless barrage of spiral thrusts hammered into the defense.
The speed of the impacts accelerated until dry cracks began to spiderweb across the barrier’s surface.
"Hm? The barrier is……?"
"Uoooohhhhhhh!"
The cracks spiderwebbed further. Fissures spread, fragments of light scattered, and then—the barrier shattered completely.
"No way!?"
Birgitte’s eyes widened in shock.
From the impact of the barrier breaking, the Crystal Nuclei tumbled to the ground one after another, emitting thick plumes of smoke.
"T-That’s stupid…… Unbelievable…… This can’t be happenin’……"
Birgitte collapsed weakly to her knees. Her expression was the picture of despair.
"Just one of those Crystal Nuclei costs enough to buy a whole small town, y’know……? And you just broke ‘em like that……"
"Hmph. A whole town? Indeed, those artifacts are likely worth that much. I find it hard to believe you possessed multiple, but—this is the end! Become rust on my spear!"
With a burst of fighting spirit, Zeno charged toward Birgitte.
—I'll pierce her and let the momentum level the city.
If he did that, the Girl of the Vessel wouldn't be able to hide, and it would take time for that boy, Lloyd, to arrive through the rubble. He just had to make contact and vanish.
I've won—that was the moment Zeno felt certain of victory.
Clang! A heavy sound rang out, and Zeno’s momentum died instantly.
A barrier. Four new Crystal Nuclei were floating in front of Birgitte, deploying a new defense.
"I-Impossible…… Another barrier……!?"
Zeno, who had been certain of his win, recoiled in shock.
"Were those artifacts…… not the only ones!?"
Needless to say, Birgitte had simply pulled out more Crystal Nuclei.
The Square Barrier deployed in front of her was perfectly halting Zeno’s spear.
"Haa…… Of course these things are expensive. I can’t exactly go tossin’ ‘em around like candy. Haa…… Five whole towns’ worth of money, down the drain. Haha, hahaha…… Haa……"
Birgitte laughed with a dry, hollow voice, her face still looking utterly dejected.
As Zeno took a half-step back, unnerved by her reaction, four more Crystal Nuclei flew out from Birgitte’s robes.
"Crap—!"
By the time he noticed, it was too late.
Zeno was surrounded on all sides—above, below, left, and right—by Crystal Nuclei. A barrier snapped into place.
A Triangular Barrier had required his absolute full effort to break; this time, it was a Square Barrier. For Zeno, who had exhausted his mana in his previous attack, breakthrough was now impossible.
"Guh……! J-Just how many Crystal Nuclei do you have……!?"
"Nineteen…… no. Since five were just broken, I guess I’ve got fourteen left. Hahahaha……"
Birgitte kept her gaze lowered, laughing with that same dry voice.
But Zeno was practically paralyzed by those words.
"Four……!? ……Unbelievable. Even back then, they were national treasure-class rarities! To think there are fourteen of them in this era…… Just where and how did you gather them!?"
"Haa…… With money, obviously. I’ve got a fair bit of cash, after all. I reckon I’m probably the only person who owns every last one of these artifacts left in the world."
Birgitte spoke as if it were common knowledge, but Zeno gasped at the sheer absurdity.
These artifacts were so rare that only a few had existed in an entire country even when they were in their prime. Great wars had been fought over far fewer.
"Even so, no one should have been able to gather them all! Are you saying a single girl accomplished what none of the royalty or nobility of that era could? It couldn't possibly be just money. You must have used immense political power, information-gathering, connections…… You’d need every resource available to pull off such a feat!"
"All of those things only exist because of money, y’know. Information just naturally flows toward the people with the most cash."
Zeno knew that people with money attracted information from those hoping for a sale.
However, that only happened because there was a possibility they would buy it at an astronomical price. In other words, this woman was wealthy enough to make the purchase of every legendary artifact seem like a viable business transaction.
"……You, just how much money do you actually have!?"
"Askin’ about someone’s wallet is a bit tacky, don’t ya think? Well, you don’t seem like a business rival, so I guess I’ll tell ya. —My annual income in Continental Currency is 12.05 billion G$, and my total assets are about 200 trillion G$."
The total asset amount Birgitte stated was nearly ten times that of the great nations Zeno remembered from the past.
It was far beyond imagination, exceeding the scale of anything an individual should possess.
"Impossible……"
"Money is where it is, y’know. It’s more than people who don’t have it can even imagine. ……Sigh. But I sure took a massive loss today. Oh, but wait. This guy is probably the Demon Lloyd and the others were talkin’ about. In that case, wouldn’t he be worth quite a bit in other ways? If I hand him over to a research institute, or put him up for auction…… I could recover a decent amount, right? Nihehe, not bad, not bad at all."
One moment Birgitte was letting out a heavy sigh, and the next, she was mumbling to herself with an eerie, predatory smile.