1
Istalsil Outer Keep, third floor — the Celestial Mirror Chamber.
Light from the ceiling fixtures reflected again and again off polished grand mirrors, filling the space with a beautiful, solemn atmosphere.
Illuminated by that dazzling radiance was a single boy.
"...You're Zelbright?"
"————"
The black-clad swordsman held his profile toward him, silent.
But his imposing bearing declared more clearly than any words that Ren's intuition had been right.
Knight King Zelbright.
The man who stood at the apex of all seventy-two members of the world's largest knight order — Elmekia Dusk.
Short-cropped ash-grey hair. Cold, luminous black eyes.
A full head taller than the average adult man, with a powerfully muscled frame visible even through his black battle attire. Armor was ornamental on him. Even the two-handed sword still sheathed at his side might have been something this man never truly needed.
His own body, honed and tempered beyond all limits — that was his supreme shield and spear.
His very bearing said as much.
...But what is this... feeling?
...Just standing in the same room, my whole body hurts like it's on fire.
Tense air — even that expression felt lukewarm against the crushing pressure radiating from the man before him. It was overwhelmingly aggressive, enough to choke the breath from his lungs.
Unlike any dragon, angel, or demon he'd ever faced — a bare-blade intensity, a presence that pressed in like drawn steel.
Facing that man, Ren said, "The Three Sages of the Epitaph said you're the only one with the authority to stop the Eidos."
Ren took a step forward.
"I know it's asking the impossible, but I have to ask. Please — stop the Eidos."
"————"
The Rank One swordsman said nothing.
Ren took another step toward him.
"My spirits were terrified in front of the Eidos. ...There's something wrong with that monster. It probably shouldn't exist in this world."
The Three Sages of the Epitaph had claimed they could control those artificial spirits.
But was controlling that monster — harnessing it — really the right path? Could taming that thing truly become a trump card against the return of the End War?
"You raise what you think is a kitten, and it turns out to be a lion. That's what it feels like to me. Manufacturing those things as weapons is far too dangerous."
Knight King Zelbright held his profile still, not moving a muscle.
As Ren stepped one pace closer—
"So please, stop the Eidos—"
Zelbright vanished from his field of vision.
...Huh?
Without a moment to speak a single word, without even a chance to draw his sword—
Ren had been blown into the wall of the Celestial Mirror Chamber.
A shock that severed consciousness at its root.
"..........hh..........ah..........!.........."
Pain and destruction rivaling the blow from Dragon Emperor Calra's tail ravaged his entire body. Ren crumpled to the floor, unable to even break his fall.
"————————————"
Tiny, tiny shards of mirror rained down from the cracked wall surface. They settled like snow on the back of the boy who lay collapsed on the mirrored floor.
Echoing sound.
The faint tinkle of mirror fragments shattered into a thousand pieces, falling and rolling across the floor.
..........Me?
...Am I... lying on the floor right now?
Mirror shards, raining from the shattered wall onto the floor.
That sound shook his fading consciousness awake—
"Gh...!"
Ren came to.
He was on the ground. His jacket was torn nearly in half diagonally, from his right shoulder down to his left flank.
The instant he'd stepped into the Knight King's range, he'd been slashed in a diagonal cut at a speed beyond anything he'd ever experienced.
...Right.
...Did this guy in front of me... cut me down?
He pressed his hands to the floor and staggered to his feet.
Every motion full of openings.
But the black-clad knight made no move at all — he simply looked down at Ren with cold indifference.
"An angel's protective ward. When the Three Sages of the Epitaph separated you, Archangel Fear placed an emergency Marking on you. But if this is all an angel's protection amounts to — it shows your limits."
Knight King Zelbright.
The man who stood at the pinnacle of the world's greatest knight order — Elmekia Dusk — looked down at Ren, unsheathed two-handed sword in hand.
Eyes utterly devoid of mercy.
Meeting that gaze, Ren finally understood the Knight King's intent.
"...So... from the very start... you never had any intention... of talking."
He clenched his jaw against the searing pain from shoulder to chest, using his sword as a crutch to raise his head.
The bruise from the sword strike showed through his torn clothing.
...Fear's protection? A Marking?
...I don't understand, but — what would've happened without it?
"Talk about what?"
The Knight King stood with his massive steel greatsword in hand.
A sword of such crushing weight that even veteran swordsmen needed both hands. He held it in one, leveled horizontally, as if it weighed no more than a dead branch.
"Where do you stand?"
"............"
"This is Elmekia. An outer keep that guards the royal family's main castle. You are a lone intruder who snuck in. Is conversation necessary? Is there room for negotiation?"
An emotionless voice.
Addressed in that tone of absolute severance — a voice that rejected everything — Ren understood.
Knight King Zelbright was nothing like anyone else in Elmekia Dusk. More than that, he was fundamentally different from every opponent Ren had ever faced.
Take Dragon Emperor Calra, for example.
Even the lord of the dragons, who had come to reclaim Kyelse from the Valley of the Dragon, had at least issued a warning before fighting — "Leave the Valley of the Dragon."
And yet Zelbright, despite being the same species — human — was different.
...From the moment we met, there was nothing but battle.
...He's human, like me. But he feels more distant than any dragon or demon.
A son of the path of conquest, starved only for the collision of opposing wills.
More alien than any dragon, angel, or demon Ren had ever encountered. That was the heretical overlord, Zelbright.
"You mentioned the Eidos. I don't know what the Three Sages of the Epitaph whispered in your ear, but—"
The man watching him with that merciless stare raised one eyebrow slightly.
"I have no interest in those toys. Their management is left entirely to Rank Four — Naphress."
"...What!?"
"Though I am the only one who knows Rank Four's location. In that sense, the Three Sages' words were not entirely wrong. And the fact that you're here means you rejected the Three Sages' temptation. However—"
Frozen eyes like a bare blade.
Without losing that gleam, the man who stood at Elmekia's apex curled the corner of his mouth ever so slightly.
"Foolish. Rejecting the power of the Eidos."
"What do you—"
What do you mean?
The half-formed words were swallowed by the gale that erupted before him.
"You lack the strength to choose your means."
With a step powerful enough to crack the floor, the black-clad Knight King had already hoisted his two-handed sword high overhead before Ren could even raise his own.
...In a single instant, faster than I could react—
...He closed the distance in one step and had his sword raised!?
Cold sweat traced the back of his neck.
"DanGer!"
Gnome's shriek snapped him back.
He had to put distance between them — any distance at all. Without a thought for being cornered against the wall, Ren threw himself backward with everything he had, driven by pure flight instinct.
Beneath his feet.
The greatsword's tip stabbed into the floor mere centimeters from his toes. Then—
The castle screamed.
From the point where the two-handed sword pierced the floor, the Celestial Mirror Chamber's floor split clean in two. The shockwave embedded in the blade propagated as a crack through the floor, shattered the grand mirrors along the walls, and reached the ceiling to destroy the chandelier overhead.
A single blow that shook not just the third floor but the entire outer keep.
And then.
"...Ow!?"
A spike of pain shot through his eardrums, and Ren couldn't help but cry out.
A sonic boom.
The sword, swung down with superhuman speed and monstrous strength, had torn through the air with such force that it produced a thunderous blast far beyond any mere rush of wind or sound wave.
...You've got to be kidding!?
...A single sword stroke carries destructive force on par with the highest-tier spells!?
If a human Aria tried to produce this level of destruction through spellcraft, it would require a lengthy, complex ritual and intense concentration. By contrast, higher beings like dragons, angels, and demons could manifest the equivalent of humanity's greatest spells with a single spoken Kotodama.
And Zelbright—
Instead of a higher being's Kotodama, he had achieved the same thing effortlessly with a single stroke of his sword.
"A spirit weapon. A sword imbued with a spirit's power...!?"
"I have no need for such toys."
The Knight King lifted his blade.
"It's an ordinary steel sword."
"...Don't screw with me!"
Not because he thought the words were a lie.
Precisely because he could tell from the Knight King's demeanor that it was the unvarnished truth — that the greatsword was exactly what he said, a plain weapon with no tricks — Ren had screamed on impulse.
"RuN!"
Gnome clung to his shoulder.
With the spirit's guidance — powerful strides fueled by the earth's Breath — Ren slipped past Zelbright's massive frame and left him behind.
"You caN—"
"If that's the extent of what the spirit taught you, you're just as limited."
Zelbright's massive frame, right in front of him. The man he should have left behind.
How was the man who'd been behind him now standing in front of him?
A tap.
His shoulder touched the wall.
"No way..."
He hadn't outrun Zelbright at all — he'd been herded.
Zelbright had deliberately left an opening to let him pass, waited, then closed the distance in an instant and circled ahead. All to corner him at the far end of the Celestial Mirror Chamber.
When had he—!?
A frame that massive, that much muscle. And light though it was, armor was still armor. Combined with Knight King Zelbright's own body weight, the total was considerable.
Yet Ren hadn't noticed a single movement until the man was already in front of him.
"Ngh...!"
He gripped his sword in a desperate haze, barely able to breathe under the crushing pressure.
But his target wasn't the Knight King — it was the glass at his feet. He flicked the tip of his sword upward, scooping shards from the shattered chandelier off the floor.
Glass bullets.
"Projectiles?"
Faced with a hail of glass fragments launched at point-blank range—
"What game is this?"
The two-handed sword swept up.
The Knight King mirrored Ren's exact motion, striking the glass fragments at his own feet into the air with his blade.
A cascade of clear metallic rings echoed through the chamber—
"...No... way."
Glass shards collided in midair and shattered.
Every single fragment Ren had launched had been knocked out of the air, reduced to even smaller pieces that pattered down to the floor.
Ren couldn't find any more words for what he'd just seen.
Speed that outstripped Gnome's guidance.
Destructive power surpassing the Spirit Sword of Flame from an unremarkable steel blade.
But what truly stunned him was the glass interception just now.
The sword technique Ren had polished desperately at Holy Fiora Journey Academy — this man had reproduced it at a higher level of precision after seeing it once.
"What kind of training have you even done...?"
Silence.
And then.
"Nothing."
The emotionless Knight King's murmur. This time, Ren truly lost his words.
...Nothing... at all?
...The swordsmanship I worked so hard on... every single day... trained until I nearly died...
Something cracked deep inside — a cold, brittle sound echoing in his heart. Like the foundation at the very bottom of a carefully stacked tower of blocks was starting to crumble.
The next instant.
The Knight King's sword swept him aside, and Ren's body was slammed into the distant floor.
"Gh, guh...ah...!?"
He pressed a hand to the searing pain in his side.
A slick, wet sensation, and drops of crimson spattering the floor.
"Ah — right. ...So that's what it is...!"
What flashed through his mind was a single prophetic remark from Sword Saint Shion.
The Knight King waiting ahead is the polar opposite of you — the words he couldn't help but recall now cut into his chest like shards of glass.
...I thought if I worked hard enough, I'd get stronger.
...Strong enough to protect my companions.
That had been the goal he was striving toward.
He was still inexperienced now, but by learning from Kyelse, Fear, Elise, and the spirits — by earning their guidance — he could grow stronger. He'd believed he could.
But here.
Here stood a swordsman who seemed to mock that belief — "born the strongest."
Knight King Zelbright. So far beyond the norm, so heretical, that even the Three Sages of the Epitaph could only call him an overlord incarnate.
Take Kyelse.
In the sense of being born the strongest, she was probably the same. But the Kyelse he knew cared deeply for her kin in the Valley of the Dragon, and agonized over her position as Dragon Princess. Even with the power to command every dragon in existence, she possessed delicate, fragile emotions as well.
But this man didn't have even that.
"You are the same as the knights of this city. Mired in impurities."
"...What... did you say...?"
"I don't deny the means of gaining strength. Spirits, the Three Sages' Eidos, O-PARTS — if they make you stronger, use them. But look at you. Right now, lying there in disgrace. That is reality."
Zelbright didn't deny the means of pursuing strength.
Eidos, O-PARTS, even underhanded traps — any of it was acceptable.
But the strength obtained through those means was too weak. Not a single person had been able to stand before Knight King Zelbright.
And so Zelbright dismissed all of it as worthless "impurities."
Nothing came close to the path of conquest he sought.
Everything was nothing more than a mass of distractions.
"The Brave Hero's second coming. I held a sliver of expectation, but—"
"............"
Approaching footsteps.
He glared back at the contemptuous gaze, but his whole body was locked in spasms of pain.
A body that wouldn't move.
Even biting down on his lower lip, even clenching his fists until his nails dug into his palms, Ren couldn't move from his prone position on the floor.
...I have to... stand up...
...I can't... just lie here... not in a place like this...!
If the knight fell, who would protect the party?
If he couldn't move, who would stop the Eidos from running wild?
Through his blurring vision.
Ren lay face-down, listening to the Knight King's approaching footsteps.
The Spirit Sword of Flame still clutched in his hand.
2
Istalsil Outer Keep.
The Arcane Domain: Spirit Play Box—
"Wings are no good either, then. How about that tail?"
Her skirt fluttered.
With the refined grace of a polished dancer — elegant and beautiful — Fear kicked her leg straight up.
"I'll crush it."
A heavy thud.
Her heel smashed through the floor and pulverized the bedrock deep below. But the golden Eidos whose tail should have been crushed didn't so much as flinch.
"Ow...!"
It was Fear who jumped back, clutching her own knee.
Rejection-Eidos — it reflected all physical phenomena. Strikes, throws, joint destruction. She'd tried every martial technique she could think of, and all of it bounced right back at her.
"How's it going?"
"No luck. There really aren't any weak points. From head to tail-tip, its entire body has physical interference capabilities. What about your side, Elise?"
"No good. I tried everything I could think of, but there's no way to nullify spell reflection."
A beautiful demon with striking brown skin.
Her reddish-brown eyes were fixed on the entity she'd been fighting — Anti-Eidos.
Fear could sense that Elise's Demon King spells had fired hundreds of times, yet this entity, which reflected spell phenomena, still drifted through the air without a care.
"But."
The demon girl brushed blood-matted bangs from her face with casual elegance. Licking the wounds carved into the back of her hand by thousands of light blades—
"The equilibrium is already broken. It's finally time for a fun counterattack."
"Oh? So you noticed too, Elise?"
"If you mean 'noticed,' I knew the instant my first spell was reflected. Though it seems the verification took us both some time."
"Yes, and I'd say we're thinking along the same lines."
Fear straightened her battered collar and replied in a calm tone.
"The groundwork for victory is laid. All that's left is to finish it."
"Understood."
Turning her back on Demon Imperial Princess Eliselis, who leapt into the void, Fear charged the golden monster once more.
'Ies......orb......mihhya......lement■■……■■■■……■■……■■■……'
The Rejection-Eidos beat its jet-black wings.
Void Kotodama.
The unreadable language chanted from the Eidos's mouth transformed into "something in the shape of words," corroding the very space as it closed in on Fear.
"Wings."
The Archangel spread her pure-white wings.
Centered on Fear, thousands upon thousands of luminous feathers scattered across a radius of dozens of meters.
The next instant.
Fear's scattered feathers began vanishing one after another as they touched the Void Kotodama.
...I can see it.
...The places where the feathers remain — those are outside the Void Kotodama's range.
A path of light. The route illuminated by the glowing feathers. She threaded through gaps barely wide enough for her body and charged straight for the golden Eidos.
'Arma■■'
Thousands of golden light blades materialized around the Eidos.
Their edges turned toward Fear—
"So that's your play."
It had cut off her retreat with the unavoidable Kotodama, sealed her escape routes, and now unleashed a full-sphere barrage of light blades.
...Light blades that pierce defensive spells.
...And in this situation, there's absolutely no way to dodge them all.
Golden blades rained down.
Fear caught them by sweeping her pure-white wings around herself like a net.
A heavy impact.
Dozens of light blades embedded in her wings.
They detonated inside them, becoming heat that surpassed molten rock, scorching the angel's wings.
"............"
The angel girl clenched her teeth against the pain and kept running.
Battered wings. Every blade raining toward her head, neck, and legs — she intercepted them all by sacrificing her own wings—
"Now then — time to return the favor."
She folded her light-blade-pierced wings.
And Fear had reached the golden monster's face.
"Shatter."
A fist that warped space itself.
The heavenly barrage that had destroyed the Triumphal Gate in a single blow struck the golden Eidos. But this was the entity that reflected physical phenomena. That destructive energy rebounded straight back at Fear.
"...Gh... heh! I knew it!"
It was the golden-haired girl who laughed.
Even as her own destructive energy wracked her with agony, her voice brimmed with indescribable joy.
"Once more, then."
The Archangel unleashed an even heavier blow.
It bounced back and wounded Fear again.
"Wonderful. It's been so long since I've hit someone with everything I have and they didn't break."
The angel girl pushed her disheveled hair back.
"But I imagine you're about to break, aren't you?"
'————'
"Near-perfect physical reflection. That's your trait, isn't it? But what a shame. If it were truly perfect reflection, you could have made me suffer a bit longer."
Fear's smile declared victory.
"I know the force of my own fists better than anyone. At first it was just a faint sense of something off, but the more I tested it, the more certain I became. The destructive energy you reflected was just a tiny bit weaker than the force I put into each punch."
Physical reflection as a form of interference.
But it wasn't perfect. The overwhelming destructive energy in Archangel Fear's fists had exceeded the Eidos's interference threshold by the slightest margin.
"What escaped your interference was probably less than one percent of my fists' destructive energy. But that means damage is accumulating on your end too."
It could reflect ninety-nine percent of the destructive energy. But the remaining one percent slipped through, building up inside the Eidos.
"If I keep hitting you, I'll take nearly all of the destructive energy myself — but you'll take that remaining one percent or so. That's all I needed to know. After that, I just have to be ninety-nine times more stubborn than you."
She slowly raised her right hand.
Pure-white radiance burst from the Archangel's wings. A heavenly glow that obliterated every shadow in the pitch-black chamber, and that light crossed the void to converge on Fear's right fist.
A convergence of "power" in the shape of light.
Holding up that brilliantly shining fist—
"Elise, are you ready on your end?"
"Been waiting."
Behind her, Eliselis had seized the Eidos by its wings. In her hand, too, was a massive black lance — her own Demonic Aura and spell-power compressed into physical form.
"Sing, all ye people."
The angel girl intoned, her voice ringing clear.
"I am the Morning Star. My white wings are the symbol of great power and the gospel of glory. The herald of Heaven's wrath. The arcanum thus brought forth is—"
"The one and only holy round."
"The one and only demon round."
Archangel Fear's fist shattered Anti-Eidos.
At the same moment, behind her, Rejection-Eidos was pierced by Eliselis's black lance and dissolved into countless motes of dust.
"...Phew. Managed to beat them."
Fear patted herself down and let out a breath of relief.
"Hm, no physical reflection? I was braced for injuries bad enough to keep me down for three days and nights."
"It ran out of power before it could interfere. Expected, but still a relief. Getting badly hurt by my own spells — no thank you. ...Besides, that was a close call."
Eliselis dropped her shoulders, looking exhausted.
Her Demonic Aura bled from her body like air from a balloon, and her bewitching form shrank rapidly back into the small frame of a young girl.
"...Ahh. That was rough. I'm not taking another step today."
Elise plopped down on her rear.
"Fear, carry me?"
"I'd love to, but my whole body hurts too much to move. Let me rest for a bit—"
A blast of wind.
Not ordinary air, not demonic aura — the raw overflow of power from an absolute presence that had suddenly appeared in this space.
"Hm...?"
"That presence — don't tell me...?"
Fear and Elise both turned to look.
"Return to flesh, take form once more. I am the Dragon Princess. I abandon this human shell!"
The dragon in the shape of a human girl roared.
A solemn howl.
The silver-haired girl's form blurred for an instant, and from her entire body, a dazzling silver-white radiance—
"...I've had enough."
What appeared was a majestic silver dragon, wreathed in mystic light.
Wings adorned with feathers as pure and white as an angel's. A body that gleamed with a silver-white luster tinged with blue — more fragile and pristine than pearl.
"No matter how many times I punch it, kick it, crush it — it regenerates and runs, regenerates and runs... I can only take that as an insult. ...Fine. I accept your insolent little provocation. You'll regret making me angry!"
Beautiful — and overwhelmingly commanding.
But more than that, there was an absolute spiritual "rank" to her that words couldn't capture.
The great silver dragon slowly drew in a breath.
Seeing that, Fear's and Elise's faces went taut.
"W-wait, Kyelse! Don't tell me you still haven't figured it out!? These things' interference has a pattern — if you exploit it—"
"What a pain."
The Heavenly Silver Dragon flicked her head dismissively.
"Anyway, step back, you two. It's a bit dangerous where you're standing."
"Whoa! Wait, Kyelse — your Breath from that angle is gonna hit us too!"
"W-we'll get caught in it!? Elise, let's run — wait, you liar, Elise! You're running just fine!?"
The two of them bolted at full speed.
And then.
"Return to the dream that circles the world."
A world of light.
The last remaining Eidos was annihilated before it could even interfere.
The closed space known as the Spirit Play Box that had surrounded it vanished too, dissolving as though it had been an illusion from the start.
A dragon's Breath — a wavelength that belonged to neither spell nor physical phenomena.
"Hmph. See that? My victory."
Kyelse, back in the form of a silver-haired girl.
She refastened the headdress that had come loose during her transformation.
"A flawless, indisputable win. This is what you'd call......ow!"
"Don't give me that 'see that.' What were you going to do if we hadn't gotten away in time?"
The one who rapped Kyelse on the head was Fear.
The underground Arcane Domain.
It sat even deeper than the underground facilities Elies's group had been searching for, but the aftereffects of Kyelse's Breath had left a gaping void where the castle's very foundations had been.
A tremor.
"The castle — it's about to collapse, isn't it? Let's get out of here."
"Then we regroup with Ren. It's been too long already. Elise, you said you located Ren earlier. Can you tell where he is now?"
"............"
"Elise?"
"...Not yet..."
Eyes closed, Elise stood stock-still.
Biting her lip faintly, the brown-skinned girl clenched both small fists tight.
"...The fight isn't over."
She opened her eyes.
Gazing up through the ceiling and beyond, the demon girl spoke — to someone who wasn't here.
"Ren — stand up."
3
Istalsil Outer Keep, third floor — the Celestial Mirror Chamber.
It was a room where the ceiling, walls, and even the floor were all made of enormous mirrors.
The beautifully polished grand mirrors reflected the light from the fixtures over and over, making the space look less like a knight's training hall and more like a resplendent ballroom.
In that beautiful space—
"The Brave Hero's second coming? Open the lid and this is what you find."
Kicked upward by Zelbright's toe, Ren's body sailed through the air like a scrap of thread.
From the moment he was launched until he slammed back into the ground, he couldn't so much as break his fall, let alone scream.
All that escaped was a small, choked sob.
Pain consumed his entire body, drowning his consciousness. He wanted to get up, but he couldn't move a single leg.
"The Fake Brave Hero. The Three Sages of the Epitaph called you that. An apt nickname, as it turns out."
Approaching footsteps.
He could feel the contemptuous stare, but the spasms wracking his body wouldn't stop.
...Fake... Brave Hero......?
...No... that's not... I can't... stay like that anymore...
His frozen hand still gripped the Spirit Sword of Flame.
The sword's flame hadn't gone out.
He stared into the bright, mystical fire—
"Ren."
"...Huh?"
A massive shadow emerged in the firelight of the Spirit Sword.
Right beside where he lay—
An impossibly enormous magical beast's shadow was looking down at him.
"...Cerberus!?"
"It's okay. This is my familiar. It's on your side."
A bright, cheerful young voice.
"Elise?"
"You're pretty beat up, huh?"
A mischievous little exhale, carried through the shadow of the beast.
A bright, innocent voice. Was it just his imagination, or did it carry an unusual gentleness?
"The former Demon King and her familiar, is it?"
The shadow of the Cerberus.
The man who commanded Elmekia Dusk glanced at the shadow that had crawled up through the cracks in the Celestial Mirror Chamber's floor and continued, sounding bored.
"A demon who was wounded in the End War and forced to reincarnate. You call yourself a Demon King and that's what you amount to. A loser, and even the familiar is a dog — what kind of joke is that?"
"Big talk. From some kid who doesn't know a thing about the End War."
Elise's voice was defiant, brimming with spirit.
"More importantly — you sure you want to just stand there looking smug?"
"About what?"
"Ren's going to stand up. And he's going to challenge you again and again. You really have time to be this relaxed?"
"...Foolish."
A sigh laced with contempt escaped the Knight King.
"Is that meant to be a warning? Or a feint to draw my attention to this man? This man has no will left to stand."
"Sure. If I hadn't seen Ren fight, maybe I'd have thought the same thing."
Words woven from absolute trust.
"Ren—"
A voice, gently taking shape.
It spread through the Celestial Mirror Chamber, resonated, and traveled through the silent castle.
"Ren's fought so hard. When he drove off Demon General Achendia, when he got through to Dragon Emperor Calra, when he was fighting that light monster in Canaan — I was watching. We were far apart, but I kept you in my Spirit Sight the whole time. So I know. ...Do you remember what Calra said?"
"Dragon Princess, Archangel, former Demon King — having all three at your side. That was permitted only because he was Sword Emperor Eleline. You, a mere forgery wearing his face, have neither the strength nor the ability to draw others to you to achieve what he did."
Words that Dragon Emperor Calra had spoken over Kyelse.
He still remembered them vividly.
"I understand how Calra felt. After all, she knew the real Eleline. Compared to him, any human would look pale. I felt the same way. Because Ren overlapped with the Brave Hero too much — that's exactly why I was uneasy..."
Was there any meaning in continuing to travel with this Fake Brave Hero?
Had she saddled herself with an impossible burden?
"Kyelse and Fear have accepted you, but I don't really know you yet, Ren."
The beginning of the journey.
He remembered being told that on the grassland right after first meeting Elise.
"If I hadn't sensed a single spark of potential in Ren, I would've left him behind — even if Kyelse and Fear objected. I didn't want to drag him into a reckless adventure and get him killed. That's how I felt at first... and that's exactly why I feel this way now. You've done so well, carrying that label of 'Fake Brave Hero' all this time."
At Galia Flame Mountain—
Demon General Achendia had acknowledged her own defeat and returned to the Underworld.
"See you, Ren. Look after Lady Elise for me, okay?"
She'd left Elise in his hands. That was the parting she'd entrusted him with.
In the Valley of the Dragon—
Dragon Emperor Calra had stood as judge, and in the end, she had listened.
"Please take care of Lady Kyelse."
Entrusting Kyelse to him — the Dragon Emperor, too, had left him with those same words before departing.
And in Heaven—
Goddess Resflaze had done the same.
"I find myself wanting to entrust something as well. To one who served Heaven so faithfully, I shall entrust Heaven's most precious treasure — my Goddess's Seal. Never forget the weight of that Seal."
She had believed in him and placed the Goddess's Seal in his hands.
"Remember. You've already passed the trials of dragon, demon, and angel. They each entrusted you with something precious."
Everyone had doubted him at first.
They compared the Fake Brave Hero — a boy who merely bore the shadow of the great Brave Hero of the past — and found him wanting.
But they reconsidered. Every one of them realized the same thing: the boy called Fake Brave Hero didn't carry only Eleline's resemblance.
"They all figured it out. If there's something you could call the 'qualification of the Brave Hero' in Ren — it's not Eleline's face."
"...Huh?"
"You haven't noticed? But someday, you'll figure it out yourself."
The former Demon King let out a soft, amused breath.
"Until then — keep walking. You're still on your journey, right?"
"Do you intend to continue this farce?"
The Knight King's dry voice.
"I listened, thinking it might be something worthwhile, and it's just encouragement? Empty words. This man has no will to stand. And even if he did — what would it matter?"
All of it, futile.
Before a gulf in power as vast as heaven and earth, there was no meaning in standing.
"Even the leader of the demons has lost her mind."
"You think so? But Ren will stand. He has a reason to. I know that much."
Two declarations collided.
And in their wake—
"Sophistry. As if such a reason could—"
"I was happy. When Ren said he'd protect us, back in Canaan — I was happy."
A faintly bashful little exhale.
The demon girl, confessing shyly — her one, simple magic word.
"Come on, Ren."
"...............You don't... even have to... tell me.................."
Breath shaking raggedly.
Forcing his spasming knees to obey.
Ren had risen to his feet, sword as his crutch.
"...From the start... that was... the plan..."
"Why do you stand?"
The Knight King — a man of iron will.
The man who had shown not a flicker of emotion until now went wide-eyed for just an instant.
"I cannot comprehend it. Why, with those wounds, do you stand? Why do you rally against something so meaningless? There is nothing to be gained."
Lose the will to fight. Surrender.
That had been the fate of every swordsman who'd challenged Zelbright. Despair at the insurmountable gap in power, then flee or swear allegiance. No other option had ever existed.
"...Were you even listening... to what Elise said?"
"What?"
A boy's voice — frail breath carrying every ounce of strength he had.
He wrenched the sword from the floor where he'd planted it as a support.
"Why do I stand? Because I have people I want to protect — obviously!"
He screamed with everything he had.
"The helplessness of not being able to protect my friends — I never want to feel that again! That's right, Zelbright — even if it's a reason you could never understand!"
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