(I made it just in time!)
A wave of relief washed over me as I parried the blow Beria had swung to kill Shion.
"What?! Orun?!" Beria spat, his eyes wide with shock. "You should be at the Second Farm! How did you get here? We have a Teleportation Interference Barrier erected around the capital!"
So he knew I had defeated Stieg. In that case, his surprise was only natural. Just two hours ago, I had been locked in combat with Stieg on a remote island leagues away from the Nohitant Kingdom. Beria had blocked teleportation into the capital, mirroring the barrier I’d used to stop anyone from leaving the island.
But I didn't need teleportation. I had developed a technique to traverse vast distances at high speeds without it. Of course, it was a reckless method—every muscle in my body was currently screaming in protest.
"To think you’d feel safe just because of a Teleportation Interference Barrier—you’ve underestimated me!"
I threw my weight into my blade, shoving Beria back.
"Tch!"
Beria grimaced as he leaped backward to put distance between us. I immediately followed up with a spell.
"—[Shot + Penetrate]."
The mana bullets, their piercing power enhanced, caught Beria dead-on. Under normal circumstances, they would have bored straight through a human chest, but Beria’s Eternal Immutability rendered him impervious.
I had expected as much. The force of the impact sent him careening backward, flying across the castle grounds until he slammed into the city’s outer wall—or rather, into the thick layers of ice Shion had encased it in.
"Sorry I'm late," I said, neutralizing the pressure of Beria’s special ability while he was temporarily sidelined.
Shion, now freed from the paralysis, stumbled slightly but immediately regained her footing.
"No, it’s all right. I knew you’d come for me, Orun." She offered a bright, carefree smile. "I should be the one apologizing. I wanted to handle this myself, but all I could do was create an environment where you could fight without holding back."
She was right. If Beria and I clashed at full power, the aftermath would have reduced the capital to rubble. Thanks to Shion freezing the entire city, I didn't have to worry about collateral damage.
"No, you did more than enough. I want to respect your feelings, but I really wanted to settle things with Beria with my own hands."
"I see. It’s for your parents and the people of your village, isn't it? I'm a bit exhausted, so I'll leave him to you. I'd only be a hindrance in my current state, so I’m going to withdraw for now."
"Understood. Thank you, Shion."
Once she left, I confirmed that the strain on my body from the high-speed travel had been mended by Self-Healing. Then, I turned my attention to the outer wall. Beria was already heading back; we intercepted each other just a short distance from the castle.
We closed the distance in a heartbeat.
"—[Magic Sword Integration: Alteration]."
I swung the magic sword Schwarzhase at him.
The thunderous crack of clashing blades resounded through the air. The impact spider-webbed the surrounding ice, but because Shion’s Time Rewind was active, the crystals knitted themselves back together as if nothing had happened.
"To think you'd walk right into your own execution. I'll kill you here alongside that 'White Demon'!" Beria snarled as our blades locked.
"Have you forgotten? I’m the one who severed your left arm ten years ago. I’m incomparably stronger now than I was that day. You’re no match for me anymore! —[Third Form: Mont Drei]!"
I shifted the magic sword’s form from a longsword to a greatsword mid-clash. The sudden expansion of the blade forced Beria off-balance, and I used Shukuchi to vanish into his blind spot.
"What?!"
I brought the massive blade down with the exact same motion I’d used to take his arm a decade ago. It didn't bite into his flesh, but the sheer force hammered him down into the frozen ground.
(As expected, even with Eternal Immutability, he hasn't stayed exactly the same for ten years.)
I released a wave of mana to follow up.
"Heavenly Flash!"
"Tch! Don't mock me!"
Beria shouted as he activated his special ability. I assumed he intended to stitch the Heavenly Flash into mid-air, using the same logic he’d used to paralyze Shion.
"I already know that trick. —[Annihilation]!"
By deploying a force field that repelled the stillness emitted by Beria, I caused the two to cancel each other out. With nothing left to obstruct it, the Heavenly Flash struck him dead-on. An explosive shockwave rippled outward.
In that same instant, Beria’s magic—a colossal bolt of lightning—fell from the sky, aiming for my head. But because I had detected the signs with Mana Tracking, I dodged the strike without difficulty.
When the smoke cleared, Beria stood unscathed, looking up at me with a loathsome expression.
"...That just now was August's technique...! How can you use that?"
In the Fairy Tale Era, after the battle with the Evil God ended and humanity moved to the World of Principles of Magic, a conflict erupted between special ability users and those without them. To quell the chaos, August created a country to accept the special ability users.
A nation that gathered such people would possess immense power. Even for a Hero who had sealed the Evil God and built the world, the non-ability users would have naturally opposed such a move. The only reason they didn't was because August possessed a technique to neutralize special abilities.
All Creation was the "Ability to Know All and Weave It." If a power allowed one to manipulate anything they understood, then it stood to reason they could also unravel it.
"I wonder. But I can tell you this: the power August-san wove definitely lives on within me."
Through the previous Shot + Penetrate and that last exchange, I had finally deciphered the mechanism behind Beria's Eternal Immutability. Next time, I would be able to cut him.
"...How truly irritating! Are you telling me you're still going to stand in my way even now?!"
"Damn right I am. You tried to kill Shion. You’re targeting my disciples, the Silver Rabbit, and every soul in Tsutrail. You unleashed those beasts and spread misery across the world. There’s no way I’m letting a man like you run free!"
I kicked off a Mana Foothold to close in. But as I prepared to strike, a jet-black, sludgy, liquid-like mana began to spread beneath Beria's feet. The pool shifted shape, and countless thorns erupted toward me.
"—!?"
I reacted at the last second, but several of the thorns grazed my skin.
(This mana... it’s like the Evil God’s!)
While I was reeling from the alien, malevolent nature of the mana, Beria pressed his advantage.
"I haven't stayed the same for ten years either!"
He lunged with a sword shrouded in that same inky mana. I parried the blow with my magic sword and used the momentum to put some distance between us.
"When you had the Hero conquer the Great Labyrinth of the West, you snatched away a portion of the Evil God's mana, didn't you? So the reason you're trying to break the seal is..."
As I thought aloud, Beria’s face twisted into an elated grin.
"Exactly! To become the 'King of the World,' I’ll devour the power of the Evil God for myself!"
"...Is that why you betrayed August-san?"
"Yeah! That man desired coexistence with demons—the enemies of humanity! They turned against the humans who created them! Ungrateful trash like that should be exterminated to the last one! That’s why I’ll become king and wipe them out!"
The only ones August-san had desired coexistence with were the fairies—the mana lifeforms that cooperated with humans. He hadn't included the hostile demons in that vision. Of course, if the demons had sought peace, he would have approached them, but it was clear from my talk with Stieg that such a path never existed.
...Ah, I see. For this man, there was no distinction between fairies and demons. Since the age of myths, Beria had consistently hated all mana lifeforms without exception.
I knew from August-san that the ancient war had been unfathomably fierce. I could understand how someone who lived through it would come to hate the Evil God and demons.
And those emotions were exactly what had been exploited.
"Don't you even realize the contradiction in your own words?"