Chapter 9

P/N let me know if there's any mistakes and I will try to fix them,

I got lazy so you are only getting past one of chapter 9, I will post the other part tomorrow.

CHAPTER 9

FLOWER LANGUAGE FOR YOU

Sorry, Ahnya.

Sorry, Chloe.

Sorry, Runoa.

Sorry, Lyu.

...I'm sorry, Mia.

Sitting on her stone throne, her eyes tightly shut, Freya's brow furrowed. She put one hand to her forehead, her displeasure showing on her face as the spiral of names and voices echoed and intertwined in her head.

Dreaming again?

Her male and female guards alike looked on in concern, but responding to them would just have been bothersome. The dead Syr or rather Hörn-was dreaming. Because of Vana Seiðr, Freya and Hörn's senses were linked. Hörn was in a state of suspended animation while her magic was active, and so Freya would occasionally perceive the dreams she was seeing, like now.

Her vision was dark, but the girl's apologies echoed in her ears. On Hörn's side, depending on the goddess's emotions, a backwash of

feelings could occur, but the opposite couldn't happen on Freya's side. Freya didn't experience Hörn's thoughts or feelings. She only received signals. And in this moment, those signals were an unbearably unpleasant static.

If she was experiencing the goddess's emotions and apologizing like that in her own dream, then she was like Freya's mirror. The remnant traces of the daughter who Freya should have already put down were salvaged and running wild.

What a truly terrible mirror...

If even the dreams Hörn saw in the abyss of her sleep were just a bundle of her own memories and emotions, then there was nothing Freya could learn from glimpsing those dreams. Her vision was dark and closed off, so it was clear the girl was still sleeping. And the feeling of a droplet on her cheeks meant there were tears in her eyes?

She couldn't focus on the war game whose trend was already settled, and so she held her head, as if holding back a headache-when it came.

"!"

Freya quickly stood up. It was a sudden move, utterly bereft of any regal bearing.

Her guards were shocked as she opened her silver eyes.

"...L-Lady Freya...?"

"What?"

"Tell Hedin to end this at once."

The goddess's voice cut them off. As they froze, she fixed them with a sharp gaze.

"Tell him to settle this war game at once."

""Y-yes, Milady!""

The goddess's bark, which was so rarely heard, made her guards gasp and tremble.

They raced out of the house of the gods to find the commander.

Alone in the temple, the goddess sat back down upon her throne and for the first time allowed her irritation to show on her face.

"Settle things at once?" Hedin spun around.

"Y-yes, sir. That was Lady Freya's order, sir."

"The coalition is on its last legs...why so suddenly?!"

Hedin looked carefully at the faces of the two guards who had come bearing their patron goddess's message.

It was plain to see how flustered they were having witnessed Freya's sudden change in demeanor themselves. Meaning this command was unmistakably the goddess's divine will. Something had happened in her that caused a change of heart so great that she had to give a divine order.

Hedin's eyes silently narrowed behind his glasses.

"...Understood. I will give the order to the army myself. Rask and Remilia, you pass the order directly to that stupid cat and the rest of the first-tier adventurers. If I order a sudden change of direction, those fools will grow suspicious and refuse to listen."

"Y-yes, sir!"

Quickly preparing individual orders for the first-tier adventurers, he entrusted them to the two guards.

The familia members who had rushed from Freya's side didn't balk and

sprint away again, this time running out to the main battlefield where the coalition was even still resisting. Watching them quietly as they left, Hedin raised his head.

"All forces, shift to the attack! Move the headquarters forward! At once! It is the goddess's command!"

"Press the attack'?"

Allen, who had just run through another blacksmith with his high-speed spearmanship, raised his eyebrow suspiciously.

The female familia member who ran up out of breath as the smith's Crozzo magic sword clattered across the pavement nodded.

"Y-yes, sir...the whole army is to advance!"

"We were supposed to crush the enemy's forces completely here. What is that fly doing changing the plan now?"

"It is Lady Freya's direction, sir, not Hedin! She wishes to settle the contest swiftly!"

Allen reacted as expected, but she immediately shot back with the instruction she had been given. Allen's expression had been dangerous, but when he heard that, his eyebrows arched.

"What...? Is that true?"

"Yes, sir. Rask and I heard it ourselves. Lady Freya's...strongly worded... order."

Ironically, Allen stared at her face just like Hedin had earlier.

Rask and Remilia had been chosen together as guards for the house of the gods. If they were saying it, then it was undeniably Freya's will. Also, the fact that they had been sent away from the main camp where the goddess was waiting at all was irregular. If it were Hedin's orders and ones that he didn't

like Allen would surely have rejected them, but if it was what Freya wished, then that was a different story.

Suppressing the desire to vent his annoyance, the cat quickly looked around with his sharp eyes.

The fighting was already effectively decided. If the contest was already settled, then no matter what happened, the coalition had no chance of victory. In which case, there wouldn't be any problem in moving the hands of the clock along and settling things faster as the goddess wished.

The city's fastest first-tier adventurer furrowed his brow and accepted the decision of headquarters.

"...I'll go through the enemy's right wing like he wants. Gather up anyone whose hands aren't full and have them meet me there!"

"Yes, sir!"

While she disappeared into the distance, Allen ended his extermination of the enemy's magic sword squads.

Because of his elusive, wide-ranging attacks, Hephaistos Familia's blacksmiths and the adventurers who had Crozzo magic swords had almost all been wiped out. There were no longer enough magic swords to be a threat. Crushing the magic longsword that had fallen from the blacksmith's hand moments earlier, Allen turned toward the coalition's right wing.

"...Hagh, haaaagh! Guoooooooo!"

"Out of the way, fat ass."

Dormul, covered in blood, had both of his hands on the ground as he stood up in front of Allen.

He had been blown back by the crash of the einherjar's charge and trampled, and then blown all the way back to here by Hedin's artillery barrage, but he raised his weapon to at least hold back the first-tier adventurer aiming to deal the coalition a finishing blow.

"You! Shall! Not! Pass!!!! U0000000000000!"

His cracked armor fell from his body, and blood spurted from all over him as he swung his battle hammer down at Allen.

But Allen didn't bat an eye as he evaded not just the hammer but every drop of splattering blood. He passed silently by Dormul, shredding his weapon and his tempered dwarven body alike.

"Gaaaaah?!"

He didn't even look back as the dwarf slumped to the ground.

Ordered to drive forward, the chariot didn't have any interest in a mere adventurer.

"On me, snails."

Acknowledging the force that had gathered, the chariot began a merciless charge.

"Ah...Ohhhhhhhhhhhh! Freya Familia's assault has started! Freya

Familia!!!"

For the first time that day, Ibly offered some color commentary.

The only time he had truly gotten hyped was at the very, very beginning, during the open fusillade of magic sword blasts. Ever since then, he had been silent as Freya Familia's domination continued from start to finish. It was a ghastly battle that needed no analysis or commentary, and he had been unable to do anything but watch in silence with the rest of the crowd.

But now he finally had a reason to shout.

In other words, Freya Familia had ridden forward to bring this match to a close.

"Vana Freya's force is passing through the coalition's right wing and pushing east! Their target is, of course, the completely empty coalition base: the eastern ruins!!!"

A stir spread among the residents of Orario at the loud commentary and the big change in the battle.

Having received Freya's order through Hedin, the einherjar gathered on the north end of the main battleground.

With Allen at the head, they were advancing at a speed even a normal person could tell was unreasonable, tearing through the north end of the island.

"Ugh...?!"

Lilly saw the enemy shadows pass right through her field of vision but could do nothing.

Because the massive mausoleum stood in the center of the western half of the island, they were passing through the broken right wing to go around it.

The fact that she had sent Haruhime and the reserves who were cloaked by invisibility to the left wing, where Aisha's forces were still holding on, had come back to bite her. Allen, or rather Hedin, had a detailed grasp of the formation she had created and broke through the dangerously weak right wing in one fell stroke.

Lilly didn't have any more cards to play or any more forces to move. She could do nothing but watch the advance from where she stood atop the "Ogma Familia drops out!"

Ibly could just barely keep up with an upper-class adventurer's visual acuity, and his commentary was just a list of deities and familias who had dropped out.

"Kyaaaaah!"

"Serket Familia is out!"

"...So it was hopeless."

"Souma Familia, too!"

The deities' flowers scattered.

Inside ruins, behind pillars, inside jars. Discovering a god hiding in a bizarre place, a goddess's chest being mercilessly cut as she tried to run away. The few adventurers left behind as guards couldn't put up a fight. The murmured "Apologies, Lilliluka Erde" to a former follower disappeared in the scramble.

"Captain Shakti, Freya Familia is too fast! We can't recover all of the coalition adventurers!"

"Just do the best you can! Pull the badly wounded out without getting involved in the fighting!"

With so many deities dropping out, the retrieval of the followers was slow going.

The number of adventurers standing on two legs still conscious and fighting -was countable at this point, with the vast majority unconscious on the ground. Ganesha Familia was waiting along the edges of the island as judges. When they confirmed a deity had dropped out, they carried off adventurers who couldn't leave on their own, to the best of their abilities. Among those carried away were the unconscious Luvis and Mord, and Dormul as well.

"Hestia! Get away from here!"

"G-get away...where?!"

"The east is fallen! Head toward the front lines!"

With Freya Familia's clutches reaching the eastern ruins, the deities' reactions were broadly speaking two different choices. Either continue hiding, or gamble it all on a game of tag. Hephaistos, who was hiding together with Hestia, chose the former. Sending the queen across the middle was called a king's raid in a far-eastern board game.

"Run full speed! Until you reach where the children are on the western side! Even if you have to go alone!"

"Wh-what about you, Hephaistos?!"

"I'll go another direction! If we don't split up, we're both done for!"

"Gh...?!"

"You and I both have Level 5 children! At least one of us has to make it out of this! If we both get knocked out, there really won't be any chance of winning left!"

Hephaistos became a tyrant, not allowing Hestia any debate.

She could sense it. From Lilly's reaction through the crystal earlier, she knew that Tsubaki had already fallen, and her other followers were already on the verge of complete annihilation. So she intended to become a decoy for Hestia's sake.

It was a situation where even deities could do little more than throw in the towel, but even so, she refused to allow the odds of victory to fall to zero.

"Go while Takemikazuchi does what he can! Quickly!"

"Ghhh...Sorry!"

Pushed along by Hephaistos's forceful rebuke, Hestia rushed out of the ruins where they were hiding.

"Haaaaaaaah!"

"Guah?!"

"S-swarm him! Everyone surround him!"

There were few who could resist Freya Familia's advance.

Or more precisely, there was just one lone god. Using the flower on his chest as a lure, the god of martial prowess skillfully grabbed an einherjar's arm and performed a one-armed throw. The einherjar's status allowed him to achieve great speed, and now that his momentum had been turned against him, he crashed into the ground with a tremendous slam before passing out. The commanding beast person roared an order as the einherjar leaped as one at Takemikazuchi, who burst into a full-bodied sweat.

"Uoooooooooooooooooo?!"

"Gh?!"

The commander reached out their arm with a bellow and stole the purple chrysanthemum from the war god's chest, rendering his struggle meaningless.

"...Sorry, Hestia, Hephaistos..."

Beads of sweat fell to the ground as Takemikazuchi furrowed his brow and looked up at the sky.

The beast person who had stolen the flower collapsed, having exhausted the last of their strength. Around them were twenty-one other einherjar who had collapsed in the same way. And a little frther away, the rest of his familia, except for Ouka and Chigusa, had passed out as well.

The retaliation by the war god's hand had given Freya Familia its greatest

losses of the day so far he had wiped out an entire unit.

"Hathor! Leave this place to us and run!"

"So long as you live, the Goddess Alliance survives! Heed not our sacrifice!"

"Roger, will do."

On the eastern edge of the island, there was a movement in the former military fortress occupied by the Goddess Alliance members.

As the terrifying einherjar approached, the goddesses taking advantage of the fact that they couldn't be handled violently-formed a wall of flesh while Hathor quickly scooted away from their fortress.

But that was the limit of the coalition's resistance.

"Takemikazuchi Familia, is out!"

Their advance was too fast.

"Dellingr Familia, is out!"

There was no end to the list of familias who had fallen, unable to resist.

"Ratri Familia...is out...!"

Ibly's tone gradually lost momentum, cooling along with his face.

"Hephaistos Familia...is...is out...!"

And with Allen's spear emotionlessly tearing through her flower, the smithing god closed her eye to dull the regret.

The vast majority of the coalition had been forced off the field, sending the viewers in Orario's and the remaining coalition members' morale plummeting to rock bottom.

The coalition's remaining strength was four familias. Of the forty-seven familias at the start, forty-two had been knocked out. Allen's charge had cruelly run through the eastern ruins, reaching all the way to the eastern edge of the island.

"B-big brother... Lady Hestia...!"

The orphanage in Daedalus street.

The human boy Lai choked up.

"Mr. Bell...d-don't give...ugh...!"

"Ruu...don't cry...!"

The half-elf Ruu started to sob as he tried to cheer Bell on, while the beast person Fiona broke into tears, too. Maria, the children's mother, was at a loss for words, too, as she watched, unable to do anything but hug them tight.

Their reaction was honest. More honest than most adults. Unconcerned for appearances, their faces were a testament to the hopelessness the coalition faced.

-It was over.

Everyone had given up. There wasn't a single person who doubted that Freya Familia hadn't only won, but had won in a landslide. It was the predestined result. That's how it goes, thought the adventurers who stayed behind in the city as their shoulders fell. It couldn't have gone any other way, the deities murmured desolately. Resignation dominated the battlefield and the city.

But amid that, there was one person who felt something other than resignation...

Ahhhhh, just as expected...

Lilly.

The commander who understood the battle state better than anyone still kept her composure.

This was expected from the start...It would be stranger not to end up like this considering the difference in strength...so not yet...it's not time to go to pieces yet...!

The battle lines were already shattered, her pieces were almost all gone, and checkmate was near.

As a commander, faced with a board more worthy of criticism than any other, she still managed to be calm as beads of sweat poured down her forehead.

She had lost her cool completely seeing Bell utterly trampled earlier. Tears had welled in her eyes, and she had almost started weeping. But ironically, hearing the silly cries of the deities through the oculi had made a blue vein swell on her forehead. And hearing Hestia's full-force sprint and shout, she snapped and hit her own forehead in rage.

The taste of blood in her mouth was like a drug, dulling her emotions.

"Guuuuuu...ahhhhhh...!"

But more than anything, she could see that boy still fighting inside the crystal...

"AaaAAAAaaaaaa...!!!"

He tried to pretend he was just imagining the sound of all the sinews in his body were creaking as he put his hands on the ground.

Flesh and blood were flying; his bones were crying out at the agony. My heart felt like it would give out.

I can't. I can't win. It's impossible. Just run away. No more.

His body and spirit wailed but he steeled himself, forcing his fingers to grip the Hestia Knife.

Make it stop...no more...

How long has it been since he last complained like that?

Since meeting Winne and the Xenos, since the day he lost to Asterios, Bell had stopped those feeble complaints. He hadn't complained when he fell into the deep levels. And not when he was trapped inside the goddess of beauty's gilded cage.

No matter how hopeless it was, even if thoughts of resignation popped up in the back of his mind, Bell would act tough, as if he would never give up, even if it meant lying to himself. With a childish defiance, he would hold on in the end.

He wouldn't allow himself to complain.

The day he met the Xenos, something inside Bell Cranell had broken.

An irregularity had occurred in his head, his heart, or maybe his soul.

But even unconsciously, he understood that that irregularity was a prerequisite, a condition required to be a hero.

And the warrior in front of him had returned Bell Cranell to normal.

His strength, the weight of his single blow, reverted Bell back to his pathetic rookie period, when he was still traumatized by a minotaur.

Monster.

He was a monster.

The undisputed strongest.

A power stronger than anyone transformed even a potential hero candidate into a mere child.

Strong...scary...I can't win...!

How many times have I been blown away? How many times have I been tortured? I don't know. I don't want to know. I don't want to think about whose blood made the crimson spring over there.

This baptism is worse than what I experienced in all those days fighting in Folkvangr as the world whispered in my ear that I was Freya Familia's Bell Cranell.

The pain, the suffering, the hell-t's all on a different level.

Even if he had climbed to a height that would make most blanch, he still couldn't reach the lightning splitting the skies. And even if he did, he would just be burned and destroyed. And the warrior looking down at him was that thunder's proxy. Bell, who could do nothing but manipulate weak flame and electricity, was fated to be swallowed up by it.

Rabbit Foot Bell Cranell couldn't defeat Warlord Ottar.

...But even so...!

His hands trembled.

His knees wouldn't listen to him, wobbling like a newborn deer's. But even so, coughing up blood, flashes of light going off in his eyes, he pulled his body off the ground.

On the other side of the mirrors, Eina, Aiz, Tiona, Finn, Rai, Fiona, Ruu, the adventurers and residents in Orario, and Hermes and the other deities' eyes all widened as he dug his nails into the cracked stone, clutched his knife, and stood up.

"That's right. Stand."

Ottar alone betrayed no change in expression.

He didn't cheer it, either.

Mere acknowledgment.

The boaz warrior approved only those brave warriors who fought.

"If I don't...defeat you...I can't go to Lady Freya...?"

"That is right."

He was barely conscious, and his head was fuzzy.

"I can't...meet Ms. Syr...?"

"That is correct."

Drenched in blood, battered like a corpse.

"I can't save...her...?"

"I won't allow it."

Then it was simple.

There was only one thing Bell had to do.

"Then...I'll do it..."

Snuffing out the self that sensed his own end in this eternal baptism, shaving away at his terror, overcoming his despair, he reclaimed the reason driving him to have to fight.

Bell Cranell, the truest fool, remembered just who it was he had been making cry ever since that day.

"I will...defeat you...!"

His voice was unwavering, and the strength returned to his eyes.

His thoughts were still broken.

The lights in his eyes flashed and flickered as his consciousness faded in and out.

But he had the will to fight. He had the resolve to keep going in his soul.

If he could sense his own impending doom, then he simply had to keep becoming stronger than he was a second ago.

He would overcome this greatest baptism and go to her.

"That's right. Come."

The warrior didn't smile.

The goddess's strongest servant merely readied his sword.

"Rage."

As the rabbit bared its fangs, coughed up blood, and raised a battle cry, the ferocious boar met it head-on.

"Mr. Bell...!"

Lilly saw his blood spatter as he was knocked aside through the oculus in her hands.

Even though he was drowning in fear, Bell still stood back up. Even though he had been killed by despair once already, he still stood tall against the strongest.

If she didn't struggle against the strongest army, too, then it would be a lie. As his supporter, if she wasn't going to support him, then why was she even there!

So don't give up! Even if everyone else gives up, I won't!

She stood in a location where she could look out over the battlefield, her hazel eyes restlessly moving around, staying abreast of the seemingly hopeless state of the battle.

One!...One! One! One! One! One! Just one! If we could just take down a single first-tier adventurer, the tide could start to turn!

It could dam the torrent leading to sure defeat and create a lake of opportunity for a comeback. She fully understood just how far away that one person was, how much of a wild, fantastical, hypothetical day dream it was without anyone telling her.

I can see the shape of it already! The preparation is already laid out! The one to target is already set! We just need one more piece...if I can just find one more move...!

But even so, Lilly continued searching. Even as every part of her brain heated up, even as a faint red seeped into her vision, she kept searching. Standing alone atop the mausoleum, she engaged in the commander's lonely battle. Welf and the smiths were defeated, Bell was battered. Her instincts and emotions had long since slipped into panic, but her logic alone clung to a steel mask, holding her ground.

Lilly didn't stop trying to find answers.

In such dire straits, she alone tried to remain calm.

Remember, remember! In this situation, I have to use Mr. Hedin!

That was what none other than Braver had taught her.

"If you are to take command of this battle, then you will have to give up all hope from the very start."

It was five days before the war game.

Lilly had been undergoing training day and night without rest when Finn said that.

"Give up...?"

"Yes. What tactics can you use right now? What cards do you have?"

"...Mr. Welf's mass production of magic swords, Ms. Haruhime's level boost, Ms. Mikoto's gravity magic, and Mr. Bell's skill...also Lilly's magic could potentially be useful for scouting or causing confusion, maybe..."

"I see. That isn't anywhere near enough."

Hearing Finn say that without even a trace of regret even though she had even trusted him enough to reveal their strongest card, Haruhime-Lilly couldn't help staring at him.

"...When you put it so bluntly, it is a little hurtful."

"It's the truth. And right now, you can't afford to avert your eyes from the reality lounging right there in front of you. Or from all of the unfairness and absurdities-like an unbridgeable difference in strength."

"!"

Sitting at the table, Finn hadn't taught her some sure-win strategy. It was something far more important: the mindset of a commander.

"Lilliluka Erde, if you are going to be in command, then you have to be more clearheaded than anyone else, no matter the situation. More so even than back line mages. Far more so."

"...And be ruthless, too?"

"At times. But that isn't what you want, is it?"

Lilly felt like he was reading her mind as she awkwardly nodded.

Knowing that she wanted to be able to stand at Bell's side, for just a moment, Finn curled his lips into a smile.

"I would use anything. Inspiration, natural phenomena, even sacrificing my comrades."

"Since you don't think sacrifices are acceptable, you will have to use even more than me. You aren't ever out of cards. Pick up a stone off the ground and turn it into a weapon. Keep thinking and fumbling for a chance to win. I won't be there on the day. You will have to search for the answer with your own two eyes. Amid all the despair, search for the sliver of light smaller than the eye of a needle. Or else the coalition will not win. Your judgment and your orders have to lead them to victory."

With that declaration, Finn gave Lilly her challenge.

"Lilliluka Erde, let me ask you a different question. Who do you think your enemy is?"

"...The assembled force of Freya Familia."

"You aren't wrong, but you aren't really right, either."

Having given her so many strategies and tactics, Braver took one more step deeper.

"Right now, the person you should be watching is the commander opposing you."

"!"

Lilly's eyes widened, and a visible shock crossed through them.

"So then..."

"Yes, your enemy is Hedin Selrand. Freya Familia's grand marshal and a ruthless strategist."

Finn's guidance was to limit the enemy she was watching. He was telling her that, in extremis, all of the other first-tier adventurers and any other problematic enemies could be left to her allies but that she should focus on Hedin.

"If I were to face Hedin as a commander, I would lose four times out of ten."

"21"

"What puts me just barely over the edge is the ache in my finger."

Finn shrugged and then got to his point.

It was incredibly simple, but also far more difficult for Lilly than crossing through the deep levels.

"To guide the coalition to victory, you have no choice but to use Hedin."

"U-use him...? Not beat him in a contest of wits?!"

"That would be impossible. He has far more experience in command. His insights and the way his mind works are on a completely different level. A prum who has been a commander for all of a few months is not going to defeat a long- lived, sage elf."

Finn was absolute in his statement.

"Use Hedin's strategy, his tactics, and his thoughts. Calculate his goals, not to try to lay a trap for him but to steer things in the same direction. Just like how resisting a force greater than your body can handle will only destroy you."

And as Lilly looked at him in a daze, Finn smiled.

"There is no such thing as a perfect plan. There is no guaranteed strategy or invincible formation. Everything is incomplete. Grasp those holes, the true motives that Hedin will be carefully concealing."

Mr. Finn told me the answer from the start...!

Half in remembrance, it was only now that she really understood what Finn was telling her.

There was no perfect plan. That was right. Even now, with deities falling one after the other, with checkmate closing in, even on this board Lilly could see a single way out.

There was no guaranteed strategy. No invincible formation. What there was, was simply the commander's true motive pointing toward whatever goal they envisioned.

So right now, that-

Search, search, search! The smallest details of the battlefield, the remaining fighting strength, anything! Find any clue pointing to what Mr. Hedin's goal is!

Experiencing the flow of time at a heavily compressed rate, Lilly could taste

blood in the back of her nose, but even so, she added more fuel to the fire.

Pick up on his aim, his thoughts! And use them! If I can disrupt them, make him misplay a card...!

As her hazel eyes scanned the battlefield, reaching where Hedin had set up his base.

For just a one moment, time froze for her.

That's...

It was minor. A truly minor detail.

An intent that only Lilly, who was standing across the board from him, could have noticed.

"Mr. Hedin is close to his back lines...?

The cries of gods and goddesses blended with the shouts of adventurers still putting up resistance. The deities' ends. The sound of an impending conclusion.

The shining sun had long ago started its descent, but twilight was still distant. Tilting his chin toward the clear, blue skies, Hegni slowly looked back down.

"Allen will decide this match..."

Focusing his ears toward the eastern end of the island, the dark elf stood surrounded by adventurers he had hewn and sliced. Ouka, Chigusa, Bors, and the residents of Rivira. It was an execution ground. Every last one of them had been slashed, and all of their armor broken. The fallen people were almost all people whose patron deity had dropped out, so even if they could somehow stand back up, they wouldn't be allowed to fight any further.

Glancing for a moment at those whose eyelids didn't even flutter, Hegni's gleaming purple gaze faced forward.

"And yet, you still refuse to yield?"

There were only two other people standing in the execution ground where so many silent adventurers lay piled up.

"D-Daph...!"

"Hah...hah...! Cassandra, healing!"

Daphne wore a bloody dress as she shouted at the tearful Cassandra standing behind her.

Even while demanding support, she didn't take her eyes off the lord of war holding his pitch-black sword. It was a miracle her fingers were still attached, but she still gripped her shortsword and raised it, demonstrating her will to resist.

Cassandra, who had been constantly protected by Daphne and everyone else, whose eyes long ago filled with tears, cast her recovery spell with a trembling voice.

"Soul Light!"

A magic glow like sunlight shrouded Daphne, but it couldn't fully close her wounds.

It was a secondary effect of Hegni's curse weapon. The black longsword's blade, known for its murderousness, obstructed healing, slowing the process.

"I ask again. Will you still resist?"

"First-tier...adventurers...ask the strangest things...I haven't fallen yet, right...?!"

Twenty-two. That was the number of times Hegni had already slashed Daphne. Even though she had leveled up, Daphne was still just a second-tier adventurer. That she had endured so many attacks from a first-tier adventurer whose slash should have been a one-shot and was still standing went well past admiration and into the realm of the incomprehensible. Ouka and the others had fallen to the ground in one, or at most two slashes.

Part of it was of course that Hegni was merciful, holding back enough to make sure that she wouldn't die. But the biggest reason was Daphne's endurance. Hegni's eyes narrowed, and he stepped forward forcefully.

"Gh?!"

Unable to block the inescapable slash with her sword, she guarded with her left arm. And that was where the mysterious phenomenon started. Her arm, which should have been severed by Victim Abyss, instead deflected the blade. There wasn't a metallic clang, but a dull sound like a giant tree being hit by a blade. The attack's force hadn't been dispersed, though, so Daphne rolled across the ground pathetically, her breathing ragged as her left arm hung limply. But even so, she stood back up. The surface of her arm had transformed into what looked almost like gnarled tree bark.

"Your ability that's stopping my slashes...is that a spell?"

"...A skill. I happened to develop it because of Lord Apollo chasing after me... Though I think of it...more like a curse...'

She tried to manage a wry smile, but she couldn't quite pull it off.

This was Daphne's rare skill, Laurel Wreath. The effect increased her endurance when she was exhausted or on the verge of death. The skill's area of effect was discretionary, and every time she used it, her skin mutated. A tree- skin texture with a green, glowing leaf pattern-just like how her left arm had transformed. Like the spirit who transformed into a laurel tree to protect its body, Daphne was enduring Hegni's slashes using the power of her rare skill.

"If I activate it...my skin will be rough for a while...so I really didn't want to use it...!"

"A woman's concerns are much like the mysteries of the moon to me."

Even as she continued impudently, beneath her battle clothes, most of her skin had transformed into bark. Her body had started creaking unpleasantly, and the bark texture was reaching up her neck, and even to her left cheek. Her tortured body was having trouble controlling Laurel Wreath.

"Daph! Please stop! If you use it anymore...!"

Ignoring Cassandra's tearful plea, Hegni looked down at his sword.

"At this rate, you really will become a speechless, human tree. Why do you entrust your body to this hellish ritual and continue to endure my slashes?"

It wasn't as if Laurel Wreath could completely block Hegni's slashes.

In the last attack, a part of the bark covering her left arm had been cut away.

There was an amber-and-red nectar that seemed awfully like blood now dripping from the open wound. It was the same for the diagonal slashes on her legs, the horizontal cut on her shoulder, and the big gash running across her torso. Even with the blessing of the laurel tree, Daphne was not invincible. And it wasn't hard to see that she would suffer a terrible pain the moment she deactivated her skill.

Daphne's eyes were twisted painfully as she curled her lips slightly, as if he was asking a stupid question.

"Simple...buying a little more time...keeping a first-tier adventurer pinned down...! So Lilliluka and everyone else...can win this war!"

That was the reason she, and Ouka, and everyone else had stood their ground and been cut down. Having heard her answer, Hegni closed his eyes. When he opened them, his eyes flared with anger.

"I see. Then this is the end. I shan't entertain your shallow schemes any further!"

Contempt for one unworthy of being called a warrior, who abandoned chasing her own victory. But also an earnest respect for her dedication, offering up her own life for the sake of her comrades.

With both those thoughts in his hands, Hegni appeared right in front of Daphne and brought his blade down.

"Daph?!"

Cassandra's cry filled the air. Daphne's eyes widened in shock. The blessing of the laurel tree was broken as a fountain of blood sprayed into the air. Cassandra ran over and caught her friend as she stumbled backward, falling to the ground. Shuddering at the warmth of the nectar-like blood that spilled on her

arms, she lay Daphne down on the ground.

"Cass...andra...heal...ing...!"

"Don't talk, Daph! I'll-"

"Don't move."

Cassandra started to intone her spell, but a cold blade was pressing against her neck. Dumbfounded, she looked up and saw the dark elf standing there, the merciless lord of war's face looking down at her.

"If you use your magic, I will take that as a sign of resistance and continue to cut her."

"Gh...?!"

"If you want to save your friend's life, then throw down your weapon and surrender. Only then will I allow your healing."

It was an ultimatum. The final mercy of a dark elven knight who could slay Cassandra in the blink of an eye if he wanted to. Cassandra gulped and turned pale...as battered, rotting fingers grabbed her arm.

"Ignore...him...hurry...heal me...!"

"D-Daphne..."

Daphne was almost delirious. She was barely hanging on to consciousness. But cruelly, Hegni refused to wait.

"You have three seconds. Three, two, one"

And Cassandra-

"I'm sorry..."

Apologizing to Daphne and to Bell and everyone else, she threw down the rod in her hands.

"I surrender...! I won't fight...! So please...!"

Hugging the body of her friend, who was more badly wounded than anyone, she closed her eyes as the tears came.

Hegni silently withdrew his sword.

"Idiot...!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Daph...!"

Scolding her friend's choice, Daphne slumped down, as if she had finally run out of strength.

Cassandra kept apologizing through the tears as she exerted all of her Mind and activated her healing magic.

"There are no more enemies in this area... It took an unexpectedly long time,

though."

As if losing interest in a battlefield where none other than he remained standing, Hegni turned his back. While Cassandra was healing Daphne, she watched his back, the tears still filling her eyes.

This is the end for us...for the right wing...! And with Daph down...Lilly can't turn this around all alone!

The coalition's right wing, the northern end of the battlefield in the western ruins, had gone completely silent. As far as Cassandra could see, the only coalition forces left were Aisha's left wing, which had managed to link up with the survivors in the center. But that was nothing more than a candle flickering in the wind. The Gulliver brothers would crush them soon enough, shattering what faint hope remained.

The enemy base and the Andhrímnir are undamaged! All of the einherjar who charged through to the east are still there, too! Even if Mr. Bell is still alive... we're out of options! There's nothing we can do!

Having given up her right to fight so she could save her friend, Cassandra wept again.

I'm sorry for not fighting to the end. Her apology felt painfully hollow.

Would the last deity's flower scatter first?

Or would the last follower fall first?

Either way, this war game would end with Freya Familia's victory.

I'm useless.

What dreams, what prophecies.

The dream of twilight and the end that I saw last night was right. I couldn't

change fate...

"-Huh?"

Just then.

The wind blew.

A simple wind rustled through Cassandra's long hair as she held Daphne close.

It was the breeze that had been blowing through the ruins off the lake for most of the day.

A simple, unremarkable part of the weather that didn't merit a second thought.

The adventurers and the einherjar wouldn't even notice.

That was why only Cassandra recognized it as a prophetic turning point.

"The wind...the wind...the wind is...here?"

She remembered. The oracle that she had told Bell and the others. The hope racing through the twilight of destruction she had seen in her ghastly dream.

"The wind...is blowing..."

Guided by it, Cassandra looked up.

The blue sky.

A dazzling sunlight.

And far, far up in the air, a bird-like shadow had spread its wings.

And slowly, the wind descended-

"The wind blew..."

There was a soft tap as the wind touched down on the battlefield.

Hegni turned around.

The dark elf immediately noticed the greatest threat had just appeared. The lord of war was on guard as he immediately drew his dark blade again.

"Who are you?!"

As he was leaving the battlefield where the coalition's right wing had stood, he had spun, his black cloak whipping as he turned to face this newcomer.

They wore a long emerald cape. The hood was pulled up, hiding their face, but the long ears peeking out marked them as an elf.

The eyes gleaming from the shadow of the hood were sky blue.

"Identify yourself!"

The wind didn't identify itself.

"I will be joining the fight now. Have you made your preparations, comrade?"

The wind just drew her deep green wooden sword and asserted her desire to fight.

"Preparations? For what?!"

There was but one answer by the wind.

"To be cut down by me."

"Bite your tongue!"

A clash.

Both of them moved like the wind, and as Cassandra watched in shock, the dark green wooden sword and the pitch-black longsword slammed into each other.

"""Ghhhh?!"""

In the blink of an eye, blades clashed with a thundering boom, drawing the shocked attention of the last survivors of Lilly's coalition, Hedin's einherjar, and Heith's Andhrímnir.

What began was a furious sword duel. The emerald cape and black mantle danced wildly like a gale, leaving green and black arcs. Crash and offset, flash and reverberation. The wooden blade imbued with a bluish magic power and the cursed black steel crossed countless times, creating beautiful, sinister sparks.

"ZeeeAAH!"

Hegni's slash tricked his opponent's eyes, knocking back their hood.

What spilled out was beautiful, golden hair.

Natural blond hair tied back in a single ponytail that extended to the nape of her neck, Lyu let loose a loud shot as she countered.

"Haaaaaaah!!!"

"Guh?!"

Her emerald wooden sword pushed back the black curse blade, slicing a part of his mantle in the process.

The perfectly balanced back-and-forth of attack and defense continued. The adventurers and einherjar were speechless at the duel of elves that had suddenly started-meanwhile, on the city side, a shout rang out.

"Wh-who is thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis?!"

Ibly's obnoxiously loud voice was the impetus for a tidal wave of commotion that swallowed up Orario. Everyone from the discouraged residents to the ruffians leaned forward, drawn in by the beautiful elven figure on the mirrors.

In particular, the deities were causing a pandemonium, with joyous and sorrowful shouts.

"Whoa, hey, what, what, what?!"

"A helper for the coalition?!"

"The masked adventurer...what Leon!"

"Skip the routine!" "She's not even tryin' to hide it!"

"Hey, wasn't Gale Wind supposed to be dead already!"

"The Guild's spreading fake news!"

"And she's really going at it with our Dáinsleif!"

On Babel's thirtieth floor, the goddesses cheering for the coalition leaped to their feet, and the gods who backed Freya clutched their heads.

The elf rushing around at high speed didn't have a mask on her face. She didn't hide her identity and stood on the battlefield as a lone elf clad in gale winds.

The funereal silence from moments ago turned into an explosion of confusion and shock. Then came the smiles of all-knowing gods who could feel the uproar approaching.

-She is keeping up with my sword?!

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the person most shocked by this development was Hegni himself.

Blue eyes and a sharp blade.

He remembered. There was no way he could forget.

One of Freya's favorites Gale Wind, the elf from The Benevolent Mistress!

She was different from the time they had crossed blades during the Goddess Festival, when he had overpowered her to the point where she couldn't do anything to him.

Yes, she was keeping up. She was competing with Hegni in speed, in strength. And she wasn't clad in that mysterious golden light that increased abilities, either. This was her true, full-fledged status.

Hegni's eyes twitched in shock as his face twisted and he unleashed a slash.

Pushing Lyu back out of range, he roared-

"You're Level Six!"

The einherjar froze, unable to believe their ears as his question echoed across the battlefield.

"You leveled up twice?!"

Again, back in Babel.

"It's possible! It's definitely possible!"

Just as excited as the deities around him, Hermes laughed loudly.

"Lyu has fought! Ever since the day she ended the dark ages by herself!

She's fought this whole time! Even far from Astrea's side! A history and series of great feats no less impressive than Aiz and the rest of the first-tier adventurers!"

-The annihilation of the Evils' main forces that she had accomplished by herself.

-Defeating the Black Goliath on the eighteenth floor.

-The war game against Apollo Familia.

-All of the battles surrounding the Xenos incident.

-The bold push when she and Bell fell into the deep levels.

-And overcoming her destined enemy, Juggernaut.

She had made it through all of those deadly encounters, and those were just the ones Hermes knew about. They were all great feats even the gods had to acknowledge, trials that the goddesses so loved.

And more than anything, Gale Wind had already been at the pinnacle of Level 4 when she had gone missing five years earlier. At the time, it had been whispered that she was on the verge of leveling up. Considering how quickly Aiz had made it from Level 4 to Level 6, five years wasn't an impossible amount of time for Lyu to achieve her great feats. For the first time since the start of the age of the gods, a consecutive level up had occurred. A feat that even the record holder hadn't achieved.

Loki Familia watching from their home, including Aiz, stared in wonder.

"She always faltered and hesitated, but even so, all this time, she has sacrificed herself for the justice that she once believed in, saving Bell and so many other children time and again! Consecutive level-ups shouldn't be impossible!"

All the more so because she kept fighting under the restriction of being only Level 4.

The trials that would have been easier had she become a first-tier adventurer were instead all the more cruel and severe. So long as she continued to rack up more amazing feats so long as she kept gathering the highest-quality excelia- it only made sense that an unknown to turn the mortal realm on its head might be born.

And all of it was because she reached the answer represented by her justice:

hope

"You made it in time, Lyu...Astrea!"

Hermes had a satisfied smile seeing the long-awaited reinforcement he had helped before the war game finally arrive.

"I lost miserably, unable to do anything against you or against Warlord."

Beneath her familiar emerald cape, she wore shorts and long boots the color of a great tree and pure white battle gear on top. "So I couldn't afford to remain the same."

She had left Orario alone, on a journey to see Astrea. To update her status that had been frozen in time. To get stronger.

With Hermes and Asfi's information and help, she had reached Zolingam, the city of swordsmiths. The greatest sword-making city in the world, where the goddess of justice had gone five years earlier, waiting, believing that she would someday be able to help Lyu.

Thanks to that, the new weapon in Lyu's hand was both a coincidence and a natural outcome. Alvs Lumina, her wooden sword that had been destroyed in the battle with Juggernaut, was processed and reborn into the stardust sword, Alvs Iustitia. The fairy's new blade, crowned with Astrea's other name, the star maiden of justice.

"This time, I will claim victory...Dáinsleif."

Her quiet resolve summoned a gale. Before Hegni could fully recover from the shock, Lyu went on the attack. Her golden ponytail danced as she unleashed a series of attacks. Much like Hegni's longsword, whose reach could extend, her wooden sword was flooded with her magic power, imbued with her Mind Load skill, wielding a destructive power that was shocking for an elf.

In pure numbers, Hegni's strength should have been higher, but each and every one of his slashes was knocked away, sending a tremor into his dark hands each time.

"-Surround that elf, einherjar!"

Just then, an order flew from amid the healers in the back line.

Heith.

Quickly judging Lyu to be a troublesome element and taking things into her own hands, she ordered the einherjar forward.

"Heith! You would interfere in our duel?!"

"Unfortunately, I have no concern for your pride, Hegni! Nothing is more important than Lady Freya's glory and victory! Am I wrong?!"

"Gh...!"

"It is our duty to remove every minor uncertainty to offer Bell up to her!"

After gaining some distance from Lyu, Hegni had immediately roared at the healer, but when the goddess he worshipped was brought up, he could only

gnash his teeth.

Despite being just a healer, Heith was skilled. Stepping in to take command in Hedin's stead, she was thorough in snuffing any possible source of a counterattack. The coalition's right wing and center had long since been shattered, so the einherjar on the main battlefield swarmed to focus on the Level 6 Lyu.

It eased the pressure on Aisha's band, but in exchange, over forty second-tier adventurers surrounded Lyu.

Lyu calmly looked around at the cage of warriors. She was standing in the middle of their circle, targeted by arrows, staves, swords, and spears.

"...This is the grave of a knight not even allowed a duel. You may curse this moment and place, and our fate."

Once the signal was given, the wall of weapons would clip the fairy's wings.

Seeing the result that would soon come, Hegni regretfully lowered his blade.

"That's...! Ms. Lyu!"

"We will not allow you even the embers with which to set off a flare."

That was the sheer difference in the current balance of power.

On the one side, Lilly could do nothing but watch because she had no pieces left to move, while on the other, Heith coldly watched the fairy's imminent execution while the strongest army stood undamaged. The remnants of her clothes that had been burned by Mord were tied around her bare chest to give her a modicum of modesty.

Holding her arm out, she gave the order.

"End this, ein-!"

Or more precisely, she was about to give the order.

But before she could finish, Lyu whispered.

"I'm using it, Lady Astrea."

Yes.

There was a voice that rang only in her long ears, like a star falling from the sky. It was the goddess's smile. The blessing of the stars.

Holding the stardust sword Alvs Iustitia in both hands, she raised it to the heavens like a knight-like a battle maiden of the stars. Closing her eyes, she spoke the name of her new power.

"Astrea Record."

The next instant, a glimmer of starlight appeared.

"What?!"

"A magic circle?!"

No.

What bloomed at her feet wasn't the bore of a mage's proud cannon, it was innumerable hieroglyphs of light. The characters that governed the sword and wings of the stars, the same hieroglyphs as the status engraved on her back.

"Duty shall be fulfilled, and the scales shall be balanced."

Her lips intoned a scripture-like verse of justice.

"Casting...?!"

"It's magic! Don't let her finish!"

The einherjar's eyes widened, and then they swiftly leaped into action. Arrows and the blasts of magic swords were unleashed from all sides but they were all blocked by the starlight gleam.

"What?!"

The einherjar, Hegni, and Heith were all dumbstruck.

The field of light that extended a five-meder radius around Lyu blocked the rain of arrows and blasts of magic. The countless glowing hieroglyphs floating in the air like bits of stardust shrouded Lyu, forming a wall to protect her.

"A barrier?! No, a sanctuary?!"

There was no other way to describe it.

While Hegni's eyes widened, the elf's chant accelerated.

"Bastion of order, crown of the honest, evil-crushing torch."

Faced with a sanctuary that could defeat all attacks and with a psalm of the stars echoing in their ears, the einherjar impatiently charged. They attacked directly with swords, spears, and axes, trying to cut and push through the hieroglyphs of light, but it was meaningless. Not only could slashes and thrusts not pierce the barrier, they were actually pushed back..

"In the goddess's name, charging through space, bind the star traces to this land."

"Gh...Ooooooooh!"

Finally, Hegni became a black arrow. Casting aside the resignation and pity he had felt moments ago, he swung his black blade to tear through the star's protection. There was a massive spark, and for the first time, the sanctuary shuddered. Hegni's eyes flared, and he roared as the light's sparkle tried to push him back.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"

There was a shrill crack, like glass shattering, and he was through. The star's protection failed against the full strength of a Level 6, and Hegni closed the distance, swinging his sword at Lyu standing in the middle.

"-Justice returns!"

But Lyu was faster. She finished her spell. Her eyes flew open. As her sky- blue eyes were revealed, Hegni saw it. The fragments of stars that should have shattered.

The gleaming hieroglyph crystals. They gathered around Lyu before being absorbed into her. The vow of the stars had been completed. With the answer she had reached in her heart, Lyu called her name.

"Agris Arvensis!"

Crimson flame.

"Gh?!"

The stardust sword was wreathed in a bright red gleam as it sent Hegni flying. Thrown back by the attack, both his legs and his left hand tore through the ground as he skidded to a stop. Einherjar, adventurers, and deities were speechless seeing that red gleam.

"Flame enchantment...?! Impossible!"

With Hegni's shout, the dam burst. A shock that passed over those who didn't know, stirring up chaos among only those who knew that spell.

Beyond the island.

Watching far from the battlefield, when Shakti saw the scene, she murmured in a daze.

"...Alize?"

But before tears could leap to her eyes, Hegni's voice thundered through the air.

"That is Scarlet Harnell's-Alize Lovell's magic!!!"

The name of a disciple of justice who had fallen five years ago. That magic and the girl who fought evil using it were a crimson flower seared into a great many people's memories.

Hegni knew it, too. He remembered the gleam of Astrea Familia that swept through that dark age. And Scarlet Harnell's beautiful, blazing figure, the most brilliant of them all. Hegni Ragnar had secretly respected that girl's flame, which shone with an inner light he could never possess, and he would never forget it.

"How can you use her magic?! Answer me, Gale Wind!"

Clad in a noble flame, Lyu answered Hegni's anger simply.

"I completed my journey."

It was a long road. The elf who had lost every last one of her comrades, had been consumed by the flames of revenge, was once burned to ash, but lived on in stagnation until she at long last reached the end of her journey. Overcoming the darkness of the Dungeon, guided by a boy's pure bell, she found the path that led to the shore of light. Lyu Leon had reached the answer to her justice: hope.

"And meeting Lady Astrea once again, I inherited their wills. Nothing more."

In finding her goddess again, it had appeared, manifesting in her.

A new magic inscribed on her back. The flame imbued in her hands, feet, and sword swelled, as if in response to her newfound justice.

"I will say it one more time. I will hit you with all of us and this time I will

win!"

She launched herself off the ground. Her shoes were wreathed in flame as they tore through the stone. The next instant, an explosive flower blossomed, and Lyu became a flaming missile.

"Gh?!"

Faster than the second-tier adventurers' eyes could track, she appeared before a stunned einherjar and struck.

"Gaaaaaah?!"

Crimson flame exploded. The warrior fell in a single blow.

Her enchanted sword had knocked out a Level 4 human before he had a chance to react.

"Tammuz?!"

"How?!"

"In one attack?!"

Her blazing trail didn't stop there.

The flame enchantment on her feet was a lubricant and an accelerant.

Manifesting Scarlet Harnell's famed explosive acceleration, she bit deep into the flustered fighters of Freya Familia.

One slash, two, then three. A speed and sword that resembled the wind, accompanied by explosive blasts. It looked impossibly absurd, and yet it crushed five einherjar in an instant. With the pure strength and firepower that characterized flame elemental magic, whether it acted as a sword or a shield, she blasted her enemies away, equipment and all.

"Uu0000000000000oooooh!"

The einherjar, losing six comrades in the blink of an eye, roared a challenge. They were enraged seeing Lyu break through the encirclement only to charge straight at them instead of trying to get away. They answered with the swing of a greatsword, the loosing of an arrow, the thrust of a spear but it was all pointless.

The crimson fairy's flight tore through attack and defense alike.

"Fuuu!"

The wind's crack and the fire's roar formed a chain.

The einherjar were all scattered by Lyu, unable to do a thing. They were shot down one after the other as the mortal and divine spectators stared in wonder. If there was one fatal mistake that could be pointed to, then their inability to immediately work together had done them in.

If Hedin had been close by to assume direct command or if it were Loki Familia who prioritized cooperation and teamwork, then no matter how quickly the losses mounted, they would have been able to respond. But these were einherjar. Because their individual strength had been forged and tempered so much in the familia's crucible of combat, even if they could charge at the same time as their allies, they couldn't independently coordinate at a high enough level that might obstruct her movements or corner her.

And the current Lyu would never lose, not so long as she could continue her series of one-on-one fights.

Hegni was sure of it.

Because he could see her.

The crimson girl's face behind Lyu as she charged forward at high speed. He could see Scarlet Harnell smiling as she fought alongside Gale Wind. The fairy wasn't alone. The emerald wind and crimson flame danced together. They raged, as if they had always been together.

"Is that... Alize's magic?!"

Another bombshell landed in Babel.

There was no deity who didn't know Astrea Familia, which had been annihilated five years ago. Seeing Lyu use that powerful flame enchantment, deities leaped to their feet and shouted.

"She's using someone else's magic!"

"Can it be...summoning?!"

"Like Thousand Elf?!"

The gods and goddesses excitedly theory-crafted based on the one and only confirmed example of a follower with the broken ability use another person's magic.

"No, that isn't summoning."

But Hermes shot their theory down.

"That is inheritance."

He said it with utter confidence as he smiled, as if seeing something brilliant

and dazzling.

Their justice had returned. Like the countless gleaming lights in the night sky. The spirit and will of Astrea Familia that had once scattered and turned into stardust lived on inside Lyu.

Astrea Record.

That was the new magic Lyu manifested when she ascended to Level 6. A miracle for Lyu Leon alone that allowed her to inherit the magic of all ten of the followers who shared the same falna and had Astrea's ichor inscribed on their backs. A wild irregularity that exemplified the potential hidden in the mortal realm, an unknown up her sleeve. And a vow of the sword and wings of justice that she had been bequeathed. With a grin and the greatest excitement he had felt thus far today, Hermes also gave her a blessing in the form of applause.

"...Astrea Familia..."

"It's Astrea Familia..."

Below the tower, in Central Park..

When he saw the flames of justice reflected in the divine mirror overhead, a tear fell from a traveling merchant's eye. A couple who had been saved by the followers of justice during an age of darkness hugged their beloved daughter and wept. They were the fruits of justice. The proof that what those noble girls had done in the name of protecting the weak hadn't been forgotten. They didn't know why she was standing on that battlefield. But there was one thing they could do.

The crowd's tears transformed into a roaring wave of cheers.

"Distant forest sky. Infinite stars inlaid upon the eternal night sky."

And-

"Heed this foolish one's voice, and once more grant the starfire's divine protection. Grant the light of compassion to the one who forsook you."

And though she had inherited the justice of her comrades, Lyu's original

magic hadn't weakened.

"Concurrent casting...?!"

"S-stop herrrrrrr!"

The einherjar abandon any semblance of calm and swarmed Lyu as her voice and magic power resonated. But they couldn't catch her. Not only that, those who tried to approach her carelessly were struck down by explosions instead.

"Tch?!"

Hegni had been standing still in shock, but finally, in a frenzy, he slashed at Lyu.

Unlike the rest of the einherjar, he was a first-tier adventurer, and even Lyu couldn't easily evade him.

"Come, wandering wind, fellow traveler. Cross the skies and sprint through the wilderness, swifter than anything."

But parrying one slash, and then a second, she still proceeded with her cast.

High-speed casting while in high-speed combat. Hegni's expression twisted bitterly both at her skill, as great as any magic swordsmen, and her ability to not falter even under his attacks.

This fellow elf was more accustomed to singing than anyone.

And a magic circle even...!

There was an emerald-green pattern resembling a forest that had spread at her

feet.

It was a circle that raised the force of magic, the proof of an advanced mage.

Before she had gone missing five years earlier, Gale Wind hadn't had a mage's propensity.

Realizing she had even manifested a new ability, he also understood that the barrage she was about to unleash would send the battle into chaos.

Hegni should have been able to cut down an opponent who was splitting her attention between him and a cast, even if she was Level 6. But the crimson flower stopped him.

Just when he was one step away from breaking her stance, the flame enchanting her sword exploded, messing up his range and knocking him off balance instead.

The shock as he realized he couldn't stop her struck everyone watching from the outside, too.

She's too fast?!

Heith was astounded by the elf moving faster than her eyes could follow.

Strong...

As her opera resounded, Hedin acknowledged his fellow elf who was capable of standing beside them.

What is that?!

Lilly's eyes spun at the insane scene of the einherjar being overwhelmed.

"Imbue the light of stardust and strike down my enemy."

And the Level 6 fairy let loose.

"Luminous Wind!"

The mass of giant balls of light and green wind swallowed up the main battlefield.

"Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Leaping up, she unleashed a massive, wide-range spell from overhead.

Each gleaming piece of stardust had a tremendous destructive power, and every single einherjar caught by the attack was blown away, crushed, or swallowed up in a flash of light and wind.

The blast had been aimed not just at the front line but also at the back lines, where Heith and the Andhrímnir were not spared by the destructive swirl.

""What?!"ייי

"That magic...!"

"Lady Lyu?!"

The Gulliver brothers were stunned by the torrent of light and wind kicked up from the direction of the coalition's right wing, which should have been destroyed already. Aisha's and Mikoto's eyes shot open as well.

"...Lyu..."

Inside the goddess's house, when she saw the chain of flashes and explosions

far in the distance, even Freya, who had been unaware of the details of the battle, knew that the Gale Wind had appeared. As her bodyguards finally frantically returned, she hid what she was feeling in her heart as her silver eyes narrowed.

The tremor reached Bell where he was being pummeled by Ottar.

The sound of the explosion reached Allen's ears while he was hunting down more deities.

The shock wave even jolted Hestia as she frantically fled her pursuers.

The intervention of a single elf had shaken the whole ruins.

"You've done it now...!"

The only one who managed to escape the brutal storm of light was Hegni.

He had used his own super-short cast magic to cancel out the missiles of light and, unlike everyone else, had managed to evade the danger. He quickly looked around the surroundings.

The damage his allies had suffered was horrendous. The einherjar gathered in the north of the main battlefield were practically all knocked out of the fight, and several of Heith's Andhrímnir healers had been taken out by the blast as well, forcing them to focus on their own recovery and not maintain the battle lines.

The spell had marked the battlefield with a huge amount of debris. The blast was still echoing in his ears, and he had even lost sight of Hedin's position in the back.

Undamaged, save for his torn and battered cloak, Hegni preserved his dignity as a first-tier adventurer, but his brow furrowed as he grasped the enemy's true aim.

That wasn't a concentrated fire aimed at me, that was spread as far as possible! To scatter everyone else, to remove all obstacles!

Meaning that right now they were the only two people standing on this battlefield.

Meaning the conditions for their duel were set.

"-Let's fight."

"Ghhh!!!"

Breaking through the massive cloud of debris, accompanied by the crimson flame, Lyu approached from overhead.

Swinging his head up, his eyes flaring, Hegni had a face like that of a true tyrant as he met the star blade.

"Don't you look down on me!"

The black curse blade and crimson star sword met again.

A battlefield still shrouded by a curtain of debris.

There was no interruption, no intervention. The graveyard of knights that refused to allow a true duel had already disappeared.

And so the white and dark elves committed their body and spirit into defeating the enemy before them.

"HaaaAAAAA!"

""

"Slow! Weak! Pathetic!"

Hegni hammered all of his pride in his own sword at the impertinent elf trying to defeat him. Trading slashes with Lyu's flaming sword, he unleashed a twisting cut that broke his opponent's immediately raised gauntlet. Sparks flew, but even so, Hegni didn't take a direct hit from the explosive slash. The enchant that had such absurd firepower was a threat. But he already had a grasp on the flames' area of effect and how hard they hit when he traded blows with her while she was concurrent casting.

He saw clearly that Lyu's fighting style had a hole in it.

"Clad yourself in your friend's flame all you like, but my warrior-slaying blade will not be extinguished!"

Anyone who tried to make such a massive firepower explode at extreme close range would always be exposed to the danger of being pushed to self- destruction. Lyu couldn't control the output of the flames nearly as precisely as Scarlet Harnell had.

The petals of rampaging flame.

Gradually, with certainty, they were threatening him.

What...?!

The enemy's movements were speeding up...no. Hegni's reactions were slowing down.

His body was losing its ability to keep up with the movements he envisioned.

"-This is a war game."

Her sky-blue eyes saw it.

As Hegni wavered at the change in his body, Lyu stepped in herself and said it.

"Comrade, how many adventurers did that sword cut before you fought me?"

The moment those words hit his ear, a tremendous shock ran the full length of his body.

It can't...?!

His fingers holding the curse sword trembled. The cloud of dust was gradually fading. The curtain was rising. Hegni endured Lyu's furious attack while his eyes ran around the surroundings. Not to the fallen einherjar. Not to Heith and the other healers dealing with the wounded.

To the tactician Daphne covered in wounds, still sleeping in Cassandra's arms.

Her!

Her plan is...!

"Curse weapons demand a price in exchange for the great strength they

grant."

"Gh?!"

"In most cases, it is a lowered status, or a stamina cost!"

As Lyu correctly asserted, Hegni's Victim Abyss was a curse weapon. In exchange for the murderous ability to extend its slash range, it absorbed its user's stamina. And just like the wounds made by its blade, that damage was a curse that couldn't be immediately and fully healed by potions or magic.

Hegni had subconsciously been using his curse weapon too much. Against the coalition, an opponent like no other: an army of upper-class adventurers.

Against the rabble that had so recklessly challenged him!

"The people who fought you before me have whittled away at your strength!"

Lyu's proclamation landed with a painful blow, and this time Hegni blinked.

-Get cut down.

Given that order, Ouka, Chigusa, Bors, the residents of Rivira, and Daphne herself had all drawn one attack or more out of Hegni's sword. The adventurers who disguised themselves as prey to be hunted had lured Hegni into using up his stock of attacks.

"Daph...!"

Sitting on the ground, watching their furious fight, Cassandra wept as she hugged Daphne's battered body. Her tyrannical order had been all for this. Not to stall for time by keeping him there but to shave away at his strength, entrusting the rest to their allies. For that, they had allowed themselves to experience the hell of his slashes for as long as they could bear it.

Impossible...?!

Ordinarily, Hegni would never have done something so foolish as overuse his curse weapon. But starting from the furious battle with Tsubaki, he had fought the coalition's strongest fighters more than anyone else in Freya Familia, and subconsciously, he had gone astray.

The menacing Crozzo magic swords, the light that pushed a Level 5 blacksmith to Level 6, and then Daphne and her party that didn't know when to give up. Because he had experienced the coalition's strength firsthand and realized that if he made a mistake, he could be wounded-Hegni had grown aggressive without realizing it, rushing to annihilate all threats.

It was connected.

It was all connected.

Lilly had grasped the strategy, Daphne had implemented it, and Tsubaki and

the others had fought until the very end it all led to this moment. "If this were a pure duel, then the result would still be unclear."

There was a high-speed slash that knocked the sword from his weakened

grip, and it seemed like time froze.

"But this time, we will win!"

Thud.

She shouted as the tip of her sword pressed against Hegni's chest. The crimson flame enchanting her right arm and her sword flared to full bloom. Lyu unleashed a massive burst of magic as she shouted its name.

"Alveria!"

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?!"

The crimson explosion at the closest range possible sent Hegni's body flying. Burned, broken, and at the mercy of gravity, he slammed into a broken ruin.

Smoke rose from all of his limbs. His battle clothes had been scorched away. His unconscious eyes were covered by his disheveled hair.

A silence fell over the battlefield. A first-tier adventurer had been defeated. A Level 6 had fallen. The impossible had happened- bastion of the strongest. crack had formed in the

Everyone stood quiet, unmoving.

But that only lasted for a moment.

"Dooo0000000000000000wn!!! Dáinsleif is doo000000000000000000000W n!!!"

Over the mountains, Orario erupted.

"Down! Down?! Wh-wai-what?! A Level 6 is doooown! What?! Hooooo0

ooooooow! That's amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing!"

Ibly shouted in total confusion.

His throat grew hoarse, but he leaned out over his seat and continued to shout, and seeing him do that, the rest of the city joined in. And the adventurers. And even the deities roared.

"———————————————————"

The city shook. The ground quaked. That roar lit a fire in everyone who heard it. People in the surrounding countries leaped to their feet, wondering if an explosion had gone off in the city at the center of the world.

"They did it! They did it!!!"

Tiona shouted and shook Aiz's shoulders even as the girl's eyes were still glued to the mirror.

"They punched through Dáinsleif!"

Beside her, Tione leaped to her feet, in thrall to her excitement.

"One of Freya Familia's core members...!"

Riveria's and Gareth's eyes were both opened wide at the incredible feat that had just been achieved.

"-That's enough."

And Finn.

Braver smiled at the girl whose strategy had led to such a minuscule possibility.

"""""""Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!""""

Meanwhile, inside Babel at the center of the town, the deities were at a loss for words.

The gods and goddesses, those cheering Freya and those not, they all leaped to their feet, hugged the closest deity to them while staring in shock at the trembling mirroг.

A tremor shook the entire city.

The shooting star of justice landed in the middle of what looked like a game that was all but over and turned all of Orario into a raging inferno that couldn't be extinguished.

And amid all of it, Lilly allowed herself a little celebration.

Having achieved the absolute minimum requirement for victory that Finn had set for her defeating a first-tier adventurer-the prum girl forgot the current situation in her excitement.

Not einherjar. Not Andhrímnir. A first-tier adventurer. Both tactically and strategically, that was an absolute requirement.

This was the one person she had wanted. Lilly had focused on Hegni Ragnar.

The formation where Tsubaki and the smiths and then Daphne's party had fought so hard became the setup to a massive payoff. And the final push had come from Lyu.

It wasn't just a lucky punch. It was the hope that they had all dragged out with everyone's effort even while being crushed by despair.

"The flow is changing...! With this, the flow will change!"

It was just one victory.

But for the coalition, it was larger than anything, and for Freya Familia it was a more painful loss than any other. The loss not of a mere pawn, but an irreplaceable major piece, was sure to cause a disturbance.

In contrast to the city, the main battlefield fell silent as the Gulliver brothers and the other einherjar fighting against the left wing of the alliance stood in shock.

"Hegni...lost? ...No way...?"

Morale wavered, and even if Hedin had been there himself, the shock couldn't have been stopped.

Outside the survivors in the southeast of the main battlefield, the einherjar had been almost completely wiped out by Lyu's barrage. Panic started to spread, even to the main base, where the goddess sat in wait.

"H-Heith?!"

"H-Hegni! What should we?!"

The Andhrímnir were the same. The dedicated formation of healers and herbalists made up only of women cried out in confusion.

"-Silence!"

aaliim

Heith's rebuke quickly quelled the panic.

"We are the Andhrímnir! Those who satiate and heal the einherjar! Without end! No matter how often the warriors fall, we treat their wounds, smack them awake, and send them back out!"

The furious witch who worshipped the goddess silenced the panic that threatened to consume her charges.

"I will heal Hegni! He will rise at once! Rona! You and the others tend to the Einherjar! Our victory is unshakeable! There is no need to lose your presence of mind!"

""Y-yes, ma'am!"""

With Heith's scolding, the healers managed to regain their calm.

Using magic and items, the healers and herbalists worked together, hastily reading their treatments.

The coalition...and Gale Wind!!! You've really done it now! But even so, all that you did was down Hegni! Even if it hurts morale, it does nothing to change the state of the greater battle! We still overwhelmingly hold the advantage!

Internally swallowing a bitter pill, Heith pulled herself together.

They had finished healing their fellow healers who had been caught up in Lyu's barrage. Now the full force of the Andhrímnir could reestablish the line. They had supported the struggles in Folkvangr for years now, so they could handle that much.

And that was also a massive thorn in Lilly's side. Their failure to finish off Heith and the healers at the start was redounding painfully now, as the sparks of unrest were being quelled before they could turn into a blaze.

"I won't allow the flow to change! You will never find any hope!"

With loyalty to the goddess in her heart, she rushed to where Hegni had fallen.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa?!"

A thunderous explosion struck the Andhrímnir.

Heith was caught up in it, too.

"-Waaah?!...Huh?"

They had been bombarded.

A rain of magic was falling all around them, searing their flesh.

The Andhrímnir and Heith were being targeted with pinpoint accuracy.

That in and of itself was fine.

It wasn't ideal, but coming under attack was expected. The problem was the angle of the bombardment.

It was coming from behind them.

And it was a hail of lightning that was pelting them.

What?

There should have been no enemies behind them, and it was supposedly a direction they didn't need to worry about.

Heith slowly, awkwardly turned to look toward her familia's main base.

Standing there was a single white elf.

Of course he would be there. The marshal, holding his rhomphaia out with one hand.

Hedin Selrand.

He had placed Heith and her healers not too far and not too close, just inside the range where he could utilize the full strength of his magic and he was sniping them.

Huh?

Heith's mind went blank.

As she struggled for what might have been all eternity to comprehend what was happening, Hedin said only one thing.

"Struggle for eternity, indestructible soldiers of lightning."

A merciless declaration of destruction.

"Caurus Hildr."

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?! Wait, what?! Eeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!"

Ibly's shriek was unending.

He almost dropped his magic-stone microphone in shock while verbalizing what everyone in the city was thinking.

"Wait, wait, wait, what?! Seriously, what?! I can't keep up, what is going on, seriously, please, wait for me!"

Seeing the furious curtain of lightning pouring down on the Andhrímnir, the city exploded yet again. They had erupted like never before when Dáinsleif was taken out, but the incomprehensible attack by Hildsleif that almost immediately followed broke their brains' ability to process events.

No one could tell what was going on.

The first thing the masses suspected was that the divine mirrors had malfunctioned even though the deities roared that there was no way something like that could happen.

The adventurers understood what they were seeing was reality and were consumed by total confusion.

"Friendly fire?! Is this a blunder by Hildsleif?! Did he mistake friend and foe?! But he's still firing off shots...aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhh, I don't knooooooooooooooow! Help me out here, Lord Ganesha! What's going on!"

"That's Ganeshaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaааа?!"

"What do we do about this?!"

They couldn't get things under control. The commentators were less than useless. They were just hapless noisemakers at the mercy of the events unfolding on the battlefield.

Everyone in Orario watched dumbstruck, even the deities, and the exact same thought crossed their minds.

They just couldn't believe it.

Because there was no way that could happen with Freya Familia, who demonstrated such absolute fealty to their goddess.

"...He betrayed them...?"

Someone in the crowd in Central Park said it.

That one word gained momentum, transforming into a tidal wave.

"Hildsleif switched sides?!"

"R-rebellion?!"

"No way!"

"Don't be crazy!"

"There's no way! This is Hedin Selrand we're talking about!"

The most anguished cries came from his fellow elves.

He was cruel and stern, but he was a white elf more loyal than anyone. Many people couldn't believe he was a turncoat even with the truth staring them in the face.

"It's like Apollo Familia?!"

The masses had a powerful sense of déjà vu.

-No.

Lilly could say for sure this was different.

Though she doubted her eyes after seeing such an unbelievable scene, she could still firmly say that something else happened that time. The apparent betrayal during the war game with Apollo Familia was what the people in Orario and many of the coalition adventurers were probably thinking of.

But they were wrong. Completely wrong.

That was a strategy carried out by Lilly using her magic. The prum Louann hadn't actually betrayed Apollo Familia at all.

So this wasn't the same.

This was true madness.

"Is what Mr. Bell said really...?"

Lilly was dumbstruck as her thoughts flew back to what had happened a few hours earlier.

Before the war game had begun.

"Hey, Lilly...could you hear me out?"

After she had fired up the coalition, what the white-haired boy had seemingly made up his mind to tell her.

"I have a feeling Master...Mr. Hedin...will help us..."

Not just Lilly, Hestia and everyone else there was taken aback by what he had said.

"When the world was twisted, when I was cornered...while Master was battering me, it felt like he was also helping me."

"So he was battering you..."

"Well, yeah...uh-um, anyway! It was like he was talking to the real me, not Freya Familia's Bell Cranell...!"

-Whether you would be a heretic or not is irrelevant.

-Move forward. Standing still is what is unforgivable.

Those were the words he had spoken when Bell had been on the verge of losing sight of himself. And during the twilight in Folkvangr, with the bright setting sun at his back, he had shown Bell what seemed like the smallest of smiles.

In Bell's vague explanation, Hedin had carried out an unrelenting baptism, but it had felt like he was trying to guide a hapless pupil.

"Master seemed somehow different compared to Mr. Van or Mr. Allen and the others...but it's not like he will be our ally, either, though...that's probably impossible..."

Looking down at that, Bell struggled for the words to explain himself, before finally looking up.

"...Maybe, even before my date with Ms. Syr...Master was only acting for her sake... That's what I think now."

"So he might lend us his strength...to use us..."

Bell sounded like a pupil who couldn't fully comprehend his master, but even so, he still believed in him.

It wasn't a possibility that could be fully counted on, so as the commander of the entire operation, Lilly couldn't afford to just have faith. That was why she had answered, "The possibility of something like that happening seems to be impossibly low." And Bell accepted that, just asking her to keep it in mind.

"His hunch really...turned out to be..."

Snapping back to the scene in front of her, Lilly stared in amazement.

A fresh hail of lightning was falling on the Andhrímnir. Even far away from her perch on the mausoleum, she could see it. And that scene was proof that the possibility Bell had sensed was coming to fruition.

She didn't know what Hedin intended. His true intent was still shrouded in doubt. But cutting away all but the strict reality in front of her, the first-tier adventurer Hedin Selrand had-

"-Switched sides?!"

"AAAaaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaaaa!!!"

Heith let loose a voice somewhere between a roar and a shriek.

The cascading lightning continued to fall. Healers and herbalists blown away by the raining bolts slumped to the ground one after the other, while Heith alone shuddered as every emotion erupted inside her.

"What! What are you doing! What are you thinking, Hedin!!!"

Performing high-speed healing on her charred and scorched body, then batting one of the bolts of lightning aside with her rod, she glared straight at the elf in the distance.

"Shooting us, your allies! Have you lost your mind?!"

As if expressing her rage, her long red hair billowed free from its bindings.

After summoning seventy-eight magic soldiers, Hedin answered calmly.

"I am of sound mind. I would never misfire."

"Gh...?!"

"By my own judgment, I decided to annihilate you."

As if to support his statement, the magic circle at his feet swelled with more magic power. The coral-red eyes behind his glasses betrayed no trace of madness. With the thoughtful and intelligent gaze the Heith knew so well, Hedin had performed his brutal act with full understanding.

This time, another hundred white bolts of lightning appeared in the air, targeting her, as her fists trembled.

"You would betray Lady Freya?! You?! Her loyal retainer?! Even if the whole world turned against her, I thought you and the captain at least would always protect her!"

"Do not measure me by your selfish standards, fool. You make me sick," Hedin replied in annoyance. "And I have not the slightest intention of doing Lady Freya any harm."

"What?!"

And then he put it even more simply, so that Heith in her fury could understand it.

"I will sin for the sake of my devotion. That is all I am saying. Just like Hörn."

That was the name of Heith's fellow healer.

She didn't know how Hörn felt. But to Heith, she was a clumsy girl who annoyed her at times, who she looked after at times, who she sympathized with at times. One of the few people she had counted as a friend. And she had been a traitor.

"...You too...even you!!!"

She experienced the same feeling of betrayal she felt when she found out Hörn had betrayed the goddess. A traitor like Hörn. When she confirmed that, Heith cast aside all doubt and embraced a raging inferno of wrath.

"Have you no shame, apostate! Lady Freya's will is absolute! How can you speak of devotion while turning your back on it?!"

"Talking with zealots like you is tiresome. And a waste of time. Go to sleep."

The barrage of lightning began anew.

Even though Heith was the only one still left standing, the awful lightning strikes continued to fall.יייייי