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Istalsil Outer Keep, Third Floor — the Celestial Mirror Chamber.

Once, this had been a place of longing for those who aspired to be swordsmen.

A gathering place for chosen swordsmen.

But at some point, this glorious training hall became the possession of a single man.

The appearance of the one called the Knight King. That man was overwhelmingly, impossibly strong.

So terrified were the senior knights of even standing before him that they abandoned their training in the Celestial Mirror Chamber. One by one, without anyone telling them to, they departed from the glorious training hall.

But here, now—

"Bravado?"

"Nah, you're wrong. You just can't understand, that's all."

—there was a boy who pointed his sword directly at that man.

From his right shoulder down to his left flank, the bruises from internal bleeding had swelled painfully, and his right side was stained with blood. Both were wounds inflicted by the Knight King's sword—proof that Ren had been utterly overpowered.

"...Sorry. Did I worry you?"

Ren.

Do your best—?

Gnome clung to his ankle, looking up at him. Salamander floated just overhead. Ren gave a small nod to the two spirits watching over him.

"Yeah. I'll do my best."

The Spirit Sword of Flame.

He slowly raised the sword wreathed in brilliant flames to a horizontal guard.

"Elise, sorry."

What for?

"Three Eidos are heading your way. I know how to stop them, but... it's going to take a bit more time."

You're slow.

The former Demon King's wry laugh echoed through Cerberus's shadow.

We're already done over here.

"Huh?"

Just so we're clear—me, Kyelse, and Fear have no intention of making you worry about us right now. Just focus on your own fight. That's all you need to do.

"...Got it."

You've got a good look in your eyes now. Seriously, humans catch on so fast.

The former Demon King's voice carried a faint melancholy.

With it, Cerberus's shadow began to fade.

Like snow melting in sunlight, the demon beast grew faint, pale, dissolving into nothing.

Well, do your best. We'll be there soon.

Leaving those words behind, the demon beast vanished.

What remained was a boy gripping a crimson spirit sword, and the black-clad Knight King facing him.

"That expression... doesn't seem like relief."

"I'm relieved, yeah. But there's still something left."

Ren shot back quickly, glaring at Zelbright as the Knight King slowly raised his sword.

The Eidos were gone and his companions were safe. That was the best news he could ask for—but it didn't solve the fundamental problem.

"Elmekia Dusk can manufacture Eidos as many times as they want. Am I wrong?"

"And what difference does that make?"

"I have to make them give up on Eidos entirely."

"I don't see how you could manage that."

A shockwave blasted out with a thunderous roar, once again shattering the mirrors of the Celestial Mirror Chamber into a thousand pieces.

The sword of the conquering king—destroying the wind, splitting the earth.

Against it—

Ren charged forward himself, closing inside that reach.

...Right.

...Earlier, I tried to dodge backward on reflex, and I couldn't evade it.

For an instant, fear had seized him, freezing his body.

That was exactly why, this time, he had to be the one moving forward. There was no chance of victory otherwise.

"Foolish. You're throwing yourself away."

"Nah—I just want to get close enough for my sword to reach."

There was no way he could block the Knight King's greatsword. No way he could evade it completely. That being obvious, the choice to back away and avoid the sword simply didn't exist.

All it would do was burn time, and put him at a disadvantage as his stamina depleted.

...Get into close range as fast as I can, even if it's just a second.

...Until my sword can reach.

A blade grazed past his face.

The edge sliced a single layer of skin from his cheek, and red welled up slowly from the cut. At the same time, Ren slipped past Zelbright's sword at last.

"Hah!"

He thrust his sword at the black-clad swordsman with everything he had.

It traveled barely a few dozen centimeters before it was knocked diagonally upward.

"...Guh!?"

The shock traveled from his elbow to his shoulder.

The sheer pain and vibration nearly made him drop his sword.

...This much impact from just our swords touching.

...How insanely strong is this Knight King?

He'd slipped past the downward stroke by a hair.

But the moment Ren went on the attack, Zelbright had already recovered his blade with terrifying speed. That returning stroke had knocked Ren's sword away.

"You're nothing but an impurity."

A two-handed greatsword swept horizontal through the air.

Ren's stance was broken from having his sword deflected. A strike even faster and heavier than before closed in on his defenseless torso.

"It's useless."

"I told you... I can't lose!"

He brought his sword upright and caught the silver flash from the side on his crimson blade.

A dull creak echoed.

He couldn't even come close to blocking it—couldn't even tilt his blade to deflect the force.

"...Hah...!"

Ren was blown away, slammed into the hard floor once more.

He hadn't just hit his back. The recoil from trying to push back the Knight King's sword for even an instant had left his shoulder and elbow swelling blue with internal bleeding.

"Nothing has changed."

Roused by the former Demon King's words through her familiar, he had risen—and still the result was the same. Ren was still on the ground, and Zelbright was still standing over him.

"...No—the future has changed."

He stood up.

Before the watching spirits, his whole body trembling in small spasms, he rose to his feet for the third time.

"The future?"

"Better than before, right?"

He wiped the blood from his split lip and cut cheek with the back of his hand.

"One blow. This time, I blocked your sword. Here I am on the floor again, but this time I can stand up on my own... That's something I couldn't do before. I couldn't do anything—just got cut down."

A moment of silence.

Zelbright tilted his head slightly.

"I don't understand. You're nothing but a common criminal. What do you hope to achieve here and now?"

"...I'm done being called the Fake Brave Hero."

Pushing through the pain wracking his entire body—

Ren pointed his sword at the black-clad Knight King.

"If I can't do anything against you here—I'll have failed everyone who believes in me. I can't give them anything back. I won't accept that anymore!"

Rather than simply following where the legendary Three Princesses led—

He wished to become someone who supported them, the way Eleline once did.

"Zelbright, you asked me earlier. Why don't I rely on the Eidos when I'm so weak? Why I'm being picky about methods when I'm not strong enough to afford it."

"You have a clear answer?"

"I do. I'll walk the path I believe in. I can't choose something I think is wrong."

The spirits that had grown close to him.

Kyelse, Fear, and Elise—who had invited him into their party.

Because he wanted to keep walking with them, he couldn't stray from the path.

"If the day comes when I'm leading the party—I can't let myself take a wrong step while I'm at the front, can I? So I'll walk straight. That's how I'll become someone who can lead them."

And then he charged.

Watched over by the spirits, carrying the crimson sword.

"You don't have the capacity for that."

"It's not about capacity!"

Zelbright brought his sword up from where its tip rested on the floor, lifting it with raw strength alone.

At that rising blade, Ren gripped his spirit sword with both hands and swung down with all his might.

Silver and red. The steel of the two-handed greatsword and the steel of Ren's blade crossed with a high, clear ring.

—The Knight King used one hand.

—Ren used both, putting his full weight behind the swing.

Yet the Knight King's sword didn't stop for even a millimeter. The rising greatsword smashed Ren—spirit sword and all—into the ceiling.

"......"

He couldn't resist at all. His head and back slammed into the ceiling mirrors.

He would black out. At the very least, he wouldn't be able to move an inch. Certain of this, Zelbright turned his back on the boy, his interest fading.

That was—

—the single miscalculation of the heretic conquering king.

"What are you... turning your back for...?"

"!"

Zelbright spun around. What he saw above him was the boy, pinned against the ceiling.

Nothing different from what he'd expected. Head and back smashed into the hard mirrors, and—

...Are you okay?

No.

A massive amount of sand had wedged itself between the mirror and Ren. It had served as a cushion, protecting him, saving his body from the impact.

"Gnome!?"

Emotionless shock spilled from the Knight King.

Here in the Celestial Mirror Chamber, fragments of shattered mirrors and broken stone from the walls—destroyed by Zelbright—littered the ground.

For Gnome, who could manipulate earth and minerals, gathering those fragments and reconstructing them into a cushion would be simple.

And Zelbright had anticipated that much.

—It was possible as the spirit's power. But Ren, the master, would never give that command.

—Concentrating all his attention on his sword, issuing a snap command to his spirit was impossible.

The conquering king, wise as well as mighty, had read the situation perfectly and concluded that spirit defense wouldn't happen.

And yet—

"Spirit! An existence of your caliber moved on your own initiative—to save a human!?"

Spirits lent their power only to those who could hear their voices.

That was what Ancienters did. They heard the spirits' voices and commanded them, drawing out their power.

Conversely—even an Ancienter couldn't make spirits act without commands.

That was the conclusion the Three Sages of the Epitaph had reached. The answer produced by exhaustive research into ancient summoning arts in the Divine City Sieramiris.

That was the Knight King's single miscalculation.

He had been wrong about the relationship between humans, the world, and spirits.

...Ren?

"Yeah. Thanks."

He landed on the glass-strewn floor.

With a nod to the anxious spirits, the boy stepped toward the Knight King.

"I see."

With an excitement he hadn't shown before—

Zelbright, who had remained motionless until now, took a step backward. A larger retreat than Ren's advance. To push away Ren's range and create his own one-sided advantage.

"So that is your qualification."

The heretic conquering king understood.

A possibility Ren possessed that the Three Sages of the Epitaph, entranced by their false constructs, could never comprehend.

His features so closely resembled the Brave Hero's—that was innate.

But it had brought him no glory. All that resemblance had given the boy was the mocking title of Fake Brave Hero.

If there truly was something that could be called the "qualifications of a Brave Hero" within Ren—it wasn't something granted by heaven.

"Everyone noticed it. If there really is something in Ren that could be called 'the qualifications of a Brave Hero,' then it's—"

Boundless ideals.

The "aspiration toward the Brave Hero" that Ren had treasured more than anything else throughout his life.

...Called the Fake Brave Hero, ignored by everyone.

...That's exactly why I longed for the real Brave Hero more than anyone else—kept wishing for companions to journey with.

And so he knew.

The preciousness of having companions—Kyelse, Fear, Elise—who had offered him their hands.

The bond with the spirits who had grown close to him.

He knew what he had gained in his life, and what it meant to protect those things.

That was Ren's qualification. That was the potential worthy of becoming the next Brave Hero—and those who had witnessed the real Brave Hero three hundred years ago had recognized it.

That was why the Demon General of Blaze had entrusted Elise to him—

Dragon Emperor Calra had entrusted Kyelse to him—

The goddess of Heaven had entrusted her Seal to Ren.

"Then answer me."

Moving forward, the boy raised his sword to strike.

The Knight King, reading his movement instantly, swung his own blade up from below.

"Leading a dragon, a demon, an angel, and even spirits—where do you intend to go!?"

A clear, ringing metallic sound.

A beautiful resonance of clashing steel echoed through the Celestial Mirror Chamber like a musical note.

A sword tip spun through the air.

It was the tip of the spirit sword in Ren's hands.

Broken in two from the base. Even with Salamander's power, it couldn't match the Knight King's greatsword. A merciless conclusion.

"That's your limit."

"—No. Not yet."

"What?"

Before the Knight King, the bladeless sword clattered as it rolled across the floor.

"You asked where I'm going? That was decided long ago."

...The world Eleline saw.

...I just wanted to walk the same horizon that Brave Hero traveled—to see it for myself. That was all I ever wished for.

What Ren gripped in his left hand was a golden orb.

The former Demon King's amber. A divine implement for activating ancient summoning arts—its effect was object summoning.

"This is my last."

The catalyst glowed.

What appeared in Ren's hand was a single sword gleaming with translucent azure light.

"The Brave Hero's sword—Spirit Sword Vierge!?"

"My final strike."

A dull-colored greatsword versus a spirit sword gleaming like a jewel.

Steel met steel—

The shattered tip.

Watching his greatsword scatter into a thousand fragments, the Knight King murmured quietly.

"I see. It had already been melting from the inside."

The heat of the Spirit Sword of Flame.

Each time their blades crossed, the greatsword's steel had melted a little more.

No matter how many times he was struck down, he kept getting back up to cross blades one more time. Even knowing he couldn't win, he still resisted. The boy's actions had held a clear purpose.

"Weapon destruction. You bet everything on breaking my sword from the start. You think that evens the score?"

"............"

"A draw. That's what your face says."

There was no answer from Ren.

True to his own words—

Having exhausted all his strength and willpower, the boy had already collapsed unconscious on the floor.

—Even if he couldn't defeat the Knight King, he would shatter the Knight King's sword.

As if declaring that, even unconscious, he still gripped his own sword.

"The time has come."

Ancient Castle Istalsil crumbled.

It was then that a shock—enough to bring down the outer keep itself—rumbled up from deep underground.

The earth's trembling wouldn't stop.

"...The shaking is coming from the ground supporting the castle?"

Not the first basement level. The Arcane Domain deeper still—the facility where the Eidos had been bred—had been annihilated without a trace.

Nothing short of that scale of destruction could cause tremors this severe.

"This place will collapse too."

The Knight King glanced at his own reflection in the cracked mirror—the irreparably destroyed greatsword in his grip—and murmured.

"And what will you do?"

The conquering king looked down at the boy lying a few meters away. He had burned through all his strength and willpower—his collapse was from reaching his absolute limit.

And now the ceiling was falling.

A massive mirror broke away along with the stone above it, dropping toward the boy as huge chunks of rubble.

And then—

"Ha ha!"

The Knight King laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!! So that's how it is! That's what happens! Oh, will of the power that swirls through this world—you show some consideration for once. A fine entertainment you've arranged!"

Spirit Sword Vierge.

The sword, still embedded in the floor, had become a support—a shield protecting the boy from the rubble.

But that miracle—the spirit sword deflecting the rubble—wasn't why the Knight King laughed so loudly. Such a thing was mere coincidence. A one-in-ten-thousand stroke of luck that had happened to come around.

What truly demanded attention was—

"Spirit sword—so even you choose this man."

Yes.

The very existence of the Brave Hero's sword, still remaining here.

"Even ancient summoning arts aren't omnipotent. No matter how capable a summoner, a summoned object will eventually return to its original place as time passes."

Yet Spirit Sword Vierge hadn't vanished.

Why hadn't it disappeared?

There was only one possible reason. The summoned spirit sword itself had recognized this place as its rightful one—at this boy's side.

Zelbright had realized that.

That was why the Knight King had laughed aloud.

...Finally found the second.

...A worthy adversary, second only to Sword Saint Shion.

To satisfy his endless thirst for conquest, he needed worthy adversaries. And the Knight King had found his second.

"Gnome. And Salamander."

The spirits still nestled close to the fallen Ren.

Even with their master unconscious, even with the power of ancient summoning arts severed, they remained here of their own will, watching over Ren.

"Spirits. Guardians who have existed since the dawn of this world."

To those two, Zelbright spoke.

In his hand, the great sword with its broken blade.

"Tell your master this: I'll give him the Encore on the Isle of the End. But the day he claims that Encore will be the day he and I settle our score for good."

The Celestial Mirror Chamber crumbled.

Into that collapse came the voices and footsteps of several girls.

"Elise, are you sure it's this way!?"

"I checked with my familiar, so I'm sure. Fear, come on, run faster!"

"Please stop poking my cheeks to hurry me along, Elise. I could actually run faster if I dropped a certain someone I'm carrying on my back, you know?"

The Three Princesses of the End War.

The Knight King felt no doubt that they had defeated the Eidos.

"They're nothing but fragments of fiction."

Zelbright turned his back.

As the three girls' voices drew steadily closer—

The Knight King vanished, unseen by anyone.