Chapter 110 - Team Competition (3)

“... M-monster.”

“Well, if you don’t back off, I might actually turn into one.”

As Alester pushed up his glasses and said that, every royal who had banded together to attack him turned deathly pale.

The heap of people already sprawled on the ground probably lent their reaction more than enough justification. But more importantly, they all understood perfectly well that he had yet to use even half his strength.

“... Damn it...”

“We gathered everyone we could, and still...”

Their bitter muttering was entirely understandable.

Everyone here had distinguished themselves to some degree in the preliminaries and had confidence in their abilities. Their opponent was none other than Alester, the first prince. They had both the ambition and the ability to band together and try to bring down a man like him.

But that was all.

The man before them was a genius capable of reducing an alliance of such people to a mere nuisance.

They must have seen him alone and thought it was their chance to attack. That was precisely what Alester had been counting on.

‘... I’d feel bad if the others got hurt for nothing.’

Casualties were inevitable in combat, and Alester did not want to impose that burden on the people he was grateful to have following him.

Besides, an “alliance” of this caliber was a burden he could shoulder alone without much difficulty.

“...”

“... Damn it! He’s looking down on us!”

Realizing from Alester’s attitude just how little he thought of them, a few seethed with anger and raised their weapons again.

Even they faltered the instant he let divinity rise around him.

Flames.

Colorless flames symbolizing “purification”—divinity of the utmost purity, the mere sight of which made their optic nerves feel as though they were shriveling.

Several royals stood out for the supernatural powers they wielded.

Julius and Mylène were among them, and though Katya was not participating in the succession ceremony, her divinity too had an unmistakable presence.

But of them all, Alester’s remained the truest to divinity’s essential nature.

The most traditional, the most orthodox, and the most fiercely burning.

Flames that incinerated everything they touched.

His divinity seemed to proclaim that he was the one destined to stand at this nation’s pinnacle.

“I won’t hurt you. Provided you promise to forfeit and withdraw here and now.”

“...”

After witnessing that, no one could possibly still choose to resist.

Seeing them all lower their weapons to the ground, Alester sighed with relief and looked up at the sky.

‘... What a sick sense of fun.’

The thought came unbidden as he looked at the “scoreboard” floating overhead.

The Pontiff had placed it there.

Part of its purpose was undoubtedly to rank the leaders, but it was very likely also a way of pointing out “high-value prey” and urging everyone to hurry up and hunt them down.

-Territory Standings

1st. Alester (41%)

2nd. Drexler (20%)

3rd. Mylène (13%)

4th. Felicia (10%)

5th. Elisha (7%)

.

.

.

Alester himself held a commanding first place. That was only natural, since people were probably claiming territory in his name all over the grounds.

His supporters were not as tightly knit as Julius’s, but they were overwhelmingly superior in numbers and scale.

Even in the succession ceremony, a conspicuous number of people preferred to pledge loyalty to him and reap whatever scraps came their way rather than seek advancement for themselves.

‘... What’s this?’

For precisely that reason, however, Julius’s complete absence from the standings was utterly baffling.

Had he been eliminated already? That exceedingly crafty younger brother of his?

‘Did he run into Mylène early on?’

That, at least, would make sense.

Even Alester found the prospect of facing her one-on-one daunting.

Otherwise, it would have to be someone so overwhelmingly powerful that they could not only defeat Julius head-on, but prevent a man with so many tricks up his sleeve from even escaping.

Apart from Mylène, the only person capable of that was—

“...”

Alester narrowed his eyes slightly as a certain tired-eyed man came to mind.

Aiden Kellermain, was it?

Yet his name was nowhere on the board. It was as though he had no interest in claiming territory at all.

Given his performance in the preliminaries, Alester had expected him to place in the top five at the very least.

‘... Perhaps that man will tip the scales.’

Even if he had no interest in claiming territory himself, he could easily cooperate with someone else to achieve his own ends.

And if that was his intention, his involvement alone could upset the balance of power in an instant—

[Territory standings updated.]

“...?”

That message appeared on the scoreboard overhead. The display that followed brought a strange look to Alester’s face.

-Territory Standings

1st. Alester (41%)

2nd. Aiden (37%)

Alester’s eyes widened at the percentage that had soared in a single instant.

Only one explanation came to mind.

Apart from Julius, there was only one person capable of creating a shift of this magnitude.

“...”

As he stared at that percentage, Alester’s eyes abruptly narrowed.

The sudden increase was impossible without absorbing someone else’s entire share.

Only one explanation came to mind.

‘... He’s taken everything Mylène had!’

Given her complete indifference to other people, she could not possibly have approached Aiden with an offer first. Nor would she ever participate in the ceremony with such enthusiasm.

He must have brought her something that piqued her interest.

Or perhaps he had ambushed her. Or taken advantage of her rather vacant disposition to swindle her...

‘... What in the world happened...!’

Alester gritted his teeth, turning the question over in his mind.

That man might be plotting something utterly devious against Mylène...!

▣

“Good,” Mylène said blankly.

“I beat him, so give me your answer. You’ll have lunch with me this weekend, right?”

“... Yes.”

“Good. Then I’ll hand over all my territory, just like I promised.”

“... Yes.”

Aiden answered in a nearly strangled voice.

Well.

It was astonishing enough that she was handing over her territory so casually, but all she had asked in return was a single meal.

“Then what should we eat? Is there anything you like?”

“... I like Far Eastern noodles.”

As he answered, Aiden stared aghast at the man twitching on the ground.

Drexler, was it? The man who had held the second-largest share of territory until a moment ago.

He had probably attacked Mylène thinking that defeating her would let him overtake Alester for first place.

And after one second of fighting her, this was the result.

‘... No.’

Calling it a fight gave this Drexler fellow far too much credit.

It would be more accurate to say he had ended up like this one second after Mylène “noticed” him.

By temperament, Mylène was not someone who would gather a large following.

She was neither obvious leadership material like Alester nor possessed of Julius’s understated charisma.

What sustained her place as one of the succession ceremony’s three leading contenders was her personal might alone.

More precisely, it was not her overall combat prowess, but the ability derived from the “nature” of her divinity.

“...”

Aiden looked around.

The ground nearby was seething black from the effects of the battle that had just taken place.

Her divinity instantly transformed “everything” it touched into lethal poison.

‘... What an insanely broken ability.’

Divinity far outstripped every other supernatural power in offensive strength, but even among its varieties, Mylène’s was an exceptionally sinister one specialized in killing.

One touch, and it was over.

Rather than simply poisoning a target from within, it was “lethal poison” in an almost conceptual sense—something closer to a curse, imbued with enough toxicity to dissolve its target.

He supposed classifying it as divinity was not too much of a stretch, given that it melted its targets much as flames did.

With that in mind...

‘I absolutely have to copy it.’

... Aiden was at least aware that having that be his first thought upon witnessing such an ability meant his mind was gradually going off the rails.

“How strange.”

From her perspective, that reaction was probably only natural.

Mylène quietly mulled over those words as she looked at Aiden.

“Aren’t you scared?”

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t.

The divinity she was emitting was so deadly that, if she wished it, a single touch could kill him instantly.

The man lying over there would not die, but he would suffer more than enough pain to leave him traumatized.

And as far as Aiden knew, the heavy armor Mylène always wore was a restraint she imposed on herself because she never knew when that ability might run out of control.

A time bomb that could kill every person nearby the moment it went off. That was Mylène.

“...”

Yet Aiden merely chuckled.

Well, she was frightening, but...

“I’ve dealt with someone worse.”

“... What?”

“I mean, you’re mild by comparison.”

At the very least, Aiden knew what it was like for someone to treasure the attention they received so much that they would pour everything they had into holding on to it.

And having met someone like that, he felt he could not simply leave a person like Mylène alone.

Besides...

“... Somehow, I think you could become a good friend to her too.”

Mylène tilted her head, but Aiden simply continued to smile gently at her.

▣

“Ah-choo!”

Katya sneezed and rubbed her nose.

“... Your Highness. How can you sneeze when you can’t feel anything?”

“None of your business.”

She had felt as though someone was talking about her, and it had come out reflexively.

... Somehow, it had simply felt like the thing to do.

As Katya grumbled to herself, Noel slowly stroked her chin, considering their present situation.

“... How should I put this?”

“Hm?”

“I’m starting to wonder exactly what Aiden thinks our relationship is like.”

In truth, even the most generous description could hardly call their relationship good yet.

But when Aiden looked them straight in the eyes and said he was counting on them, even they could hardly disregard his request and start bickering...

“Does he not care as long as we get the job done? Put us together and these childish arguments are inevitable...”

“... Shut up. See anything?”

“Nothing yet.”

Aiden had told them to report any unusual signs in the vicinity, no matter what they were, even if it meant interrupting the succession ceremony.

‘... I don’t know what you have in mind.’

He had been unable to tell them what form those signs might take or how they would appear, since he did not know himself. But he had insisted that he needed their help.

Recalling that, Noel narrowed her eyes.

Even among superhumans, her raw physical capabilities could match anyone’s. Whatever it was, if something changed for the worse, she would certainly be the first to detect it.

‘... Except for that damned Magnus, of course.’

That was, excluding the man whose capabilities had made her wonder whether he was a demigod rather than a human.

At that thought, Noel smiled wryly and scanned their surroundings.

But fortunately—or unfortunately—the “unusual signs” Aiden had mentioned were immediately recognizable even without such superhuman capabilities.

“Hey, hold on.”

“Yes?”

“What’s that?”

Noel turned in the direction Katya was pointing, and her expression slowly hardened.

The sky—

Was turning black.

It was much like the sight they had witnessed once before in the capital.