As Ren and his companions materialized before them, a man’s voice rang out from the shadows.
"My, my...?"
Deep within the garden, a monolithic slab of obsidian—perhaps a monument—sat enshrined. Encircled by a vibrant tapestry of flowers, the site held a quiet, mystical gravity.
The man standing before the monument was the one who had spoken.
Draped in the same jet-black robes as his subordinates, he brandished a lavishly ornate staff. His scalp was shaven bare like a warrior monk's and etched with intricate tattoos. His eyes lacked whites; instead, golden irises ringed his pupils, swirling with sinister, reddish-black patterns. With a gaunt, skeletal face and bulging, reptilian eyes, he cut a grotesque figure. Though he possessed an imposing height—standing nearly twice as tall as Ren—he walked with a hunched, feline gait that was profoundly unsettling.
"My, my, my... I entertained the possibility, but is that truly the Third Prince standing before me?"
Radius forced his leaden legs forward, suppressing his exhaustion. The Lion Sanctum Knights moved into a protective formation ahead of him, with Ren flanking his side.
"...Bishop Lenidas."
Ren did not recognize the name Radius uttered.
"Oh! To think you still remember me!"
"How could I ever forget? You served as a priest at the Imperial Capital Grand Temple. I would never lose sight of a face such as yours."
"Ho-ho... I am honored. It has been five years since I departed the capital, yet you still recognize me even now."
As he listened to the exchange, Ren began to grasp the situation. What concerned him most was why a man of such standing had defected to the Demon King Cult.
As if giving voice to Ren's thoughts, Radius spoke again.
"You, who once served the Main God Elfen, were a saint whose name was revered even in the Holy Land. Why, then, have you debased yourself by joining the ranks of the Demon King Cult?"
At that, Lenidas froze. "Debased? Us?"
"Yes. Surely you understand the gravity of siding with the Demon King."
A dumbfounded Lenidas slowly straightened his hunched back. Standing at his full height, he was truly gargantuan—likely a result of carrying the blood of other races alongside his human lineage.
"I have seen the truth!" he hissed. "It is Elfen who is truly foolish!"
"What could you possibly mean by that?"
"It goes without saying! I feel no need to explain the sanctity of our cause to someone like Prince Radius, who dismisses the Demon King so flippantly!"
No matter how Radius pressed him, Lenidas refused to elaborate. Instead, he signaled the cultists to intimidate the newcomers while he paced forward with a sickening smirk.
"Your Highness... I find it quite peculiar. The Mana Stone atop the Great Clock Tower is the same old relic... why is that?"
"You already know the answer. We saw through your plot and were waiting for you."
"Is that so? Then why... why is the legendary protection crafted by Milim Altia completely absent from this place?"
"Ho, so you noticed."
There was no protective power? Ren knit his brows. This contradicted everything Licia had told him.
"But I have no intention of explaining. I do not see the need to enlighten a fool who serves the Demon King," Radius said, throwing Lenidas's own words back at him.
Lenidas stopped dead. The cultists flanking him followed suit.
"Fine. I shall simply escort Your Highness to the Cult Leader and let him extract the answers. This arrangement serves my purposes just as well."
The Cult Leader? Radius frowned.
(That guy...)
As Ren recalled the mention of the leader, Lenidas raised his arm. His subordinates began to close the distance slowly. In response, the Lion Sanctum Knights stepped forward to meet them.
Lenidas remained at the rear, smiling defiantly behind the shield of his men.
"Your Highness, these men appear more capable than the ones below," one of the knights observed.
"So it seems. Regardless, prioritize capturing them alive."
Radius issued the difficult order with the weight of a man who stood alongside his soldiers, not one who commanded from safety.
"Everyone, if you are to fall today, it shall be at my side. If you have no objections to that—then show them the Strong Sword inherited from the Lion King!"
The command was the ultimate honor for a Strong Sword User. For the knights of the Lion Sanctum, hearing a member of the Imperial Family offer to share their fate set their blood ablaze.
The knights roared. They drew their blades and charged with the ferocity of a conquering army.
The air filled with the shriek of clashing steel and the whistle of Wind Magic. Tongues of magical flame licked the air, distorting the scenery. The exquisite rooftop garden was transformed into a chaotic battlefield in an instant.
Radius turned to Ren, his voice calm and steady amidst the din.
"Ren."
"Yeah?"
"I have an apology to make."
"To me?"
"Yes. You remember my power, don't you? And the fact that we shook hands afterward."
Ren realized immediately what the Prince was referring to.
"Armor with magical defense would have dulled my senses. But the other day, you weren't wearing any. I inadvertently caught a glimpse of the power you harbor."
It had been an accident. Radius hadn't intended to pry; he had simply wanted to offer a sincere gesture of friendship.
"You said you 'caught a glimpse.' Does that mean you didn't see everything?"
"Indeed. I was afraid to look any deeper. The moment we touched, I felt something far removed from anything I have ever known... a power that does not belong to the realm of men."
Radius was likely sensing the Magic Sword Summoning, though he couldn't comprehend its nature. He only knew that the scale of Ren’s power was terrifying.
"However, because I could not fully grasp your power, I was able to understand something else."
While the knights and cultists clashed, the two watched Lenidas reach for the Great Clock Tower's mechanism.
"Some time ago, a pillar of light pierced the heavens from the Clausel territory. It happened around the time of Viscount Given’s uprising."
"......"
"That light was seen in the capital and even as far as the Sky Continent. I have heard reports that it was observed across the Elfen Sea on the Western Continent."
Radius looked Ren in the eye. Ren met his gaze.
"Ulysses is the same. He still hides his daughter’s true strength. I understand that revealing one's hand is a weakness, but his behavior has always piqued my curiosity."
"I see."
The distance between them narrowed by half a step. Radius spoke with the confidence of a man who had already solved the puzzle, trusting his knights to hold the line.
"The Baldur Mountains suffered unprecedented devastation. I find it impossible to believe that was the work of the Cult. If they possessed such power, they would have struck the capital long ago. Therefore, that disaster was caused by something else entirely."
Radius continued, his voice cutting through the sounds of battle.
"For instance... the Red Dragon Asval, who was whispered to be slumbering within those mountains."
Ren remained silent, but his lack of denial was all the confirmation Radius needed.
"If Asval was resurrected, the pieces fit. If Ulysses’s daughter possessed a power he was forced to hide, it all connects."
"No, there's still a hole in that theory," Ren countered.
"Oh? And what is that?"
"Who defeated Asval? He’s a legendary dragon. It took the combined strength of the Seven Heroes just to face him in the past."
"That much is obvious."
Radius formed a fist and pressed it against Ren’s chest.
"Ren. It was you."
His voice was absolute.
"The fact that you escaped the Baldur Mountains with Ulysses’s daughter and stand here today is the only proof I need. Just as with Viscount Given, you are the key to everything."
Ren didn't answer. He couldn't—not yet. He looked away, focusing instead on Lenidas at the far end of the garden.
"If you don't wish to speak of it, I won't ask again," Radius said, backing off with surprising ease. "But Ren, you cannot deny that you have risked your life to overcome impossible odds time and again."
"If that’s true... what then?"
"Nothing in particular. I simply suspect that tonight, you will show us a different kind of battle than those you've fought before."
Ren looked back at him. Radius was staring at Lenidas now, his expression cool and composed.
"I don't need another desperate struggle. Your task is exactly what you promised me. Tonight, you will trample your enemies."
Ren remembered his own words: 'I’ll become a Lion who suppresses every single enemy.'
He had won his previous battles by the skin of his teeth, surviving through sheer desperation. But Radius was telling him that was no longer necessary. Tonight was a demonstration of absolute strength.
"Edgar told me something," Radius added. "He said that while you might be inferior to him in the technical execution of Strong Sword Arts, he could not fathom the outcome if you two truly fought to the death."
"I'm honored to hear that from a man like Edgar."
"Humility is no longer required. So, Ren..."
Radius called two knights back to his side to guard him, clearing the path.
"Show us the true power of the Lion you claimed to be."
The goal was to capture Lenidas alive. Ren had come here prepared to do whatever it took to see that through. He stepped forward.
"Will you lead the way, comrade-in-arms?" Radius asked.
"Yeah. I'll lead the way."
In that instant, the atmospheric pressure changed.
The knights and cultists alike were forced to stop their blades as a crushing aura washed over the rooftop. As Ren approached, the flow of the battle shifted violently. The knights, sensing the change, retreated toward Radius to clear the field.
The cultists bunched together, raising their swords and staves in a desperate defense.
"Kill him!"
"Kill him!"
A barrage of elemental magic—gales, infernos, and shards of ice—converged on Ren. Radius watched without blinking. The knights stood firm, recalling the day Edgar had tested the boy.
(This is nothing compared to the dragon.)
Ren wasn't afraid. Even in the face of magic that defied physical barriers, these attacks were pitifully insufficient.
He raised his Iron Magic Sword with a calm, deliberate grace. He cast a brief glance toward the heavens.
"The stars," he murmured, "are quite beautiful tonight."
Then, he unleashed a single, horizontal sweep.
A shockwave erupted—a localized gale that tore through the air. The sheer pressure of the strike collided with the incoming spells, shattering them in a blinding flash of light.
Radius and the knights shielded their eyes for a second. When they looked again, Ren stood before them, a sword in each hand.
Radius felt a chill run down his spine. That technique...
"Haha... I have never heard of a mere boy capable of wielding the Star Sower technique, Ren."
It was a Master Swordsman Class art of the Strong Sword. To use it was to stand on equal footing with the Sword Saints of other schools—the same pinnacle Licia was destined to reach.
Radius was stunned by the speed of Ren's growth. Yet, for Ren, this wasn't some miracle. It was the natural result of training that would have broken an ordinary man and life-and-death struggles that had begun in his earliest childhood. His potential had finally blossomed.
Ren tightened his grip on his blades.
"Magic of your caliber will never touch me."
He would sow the stars and reap his enemies. Without exception.
The terrified cultists unleashed a desperate second volley, but none of it could reach him.
Suddenly, Ren vanished, moving like a streak of lightning.
"Ho?!"
Lenidas let out a pathetic squeak as the tip of the Iron Magic Sword lunged toward him. Ren didn't bother with the subordinates; he went straight for the head of the serpent.
An opening act was no longer required. Ren now possessed the power to dictate the terms of his own destiny.