Chapter 88 - Duel (2)

The pain continued.

His nose was crushed completely. Crimson blood sprayed everywhere. The kick that followed drove his head into a nearby wall, sending cracks spiderwebbing across the point of impact.

'He's... toying with me...!'

The prince gritted his teeth at the thought.

If Aiden Kellermain wanted to defeat him, he could have done so long ago. That was how overwhelming the gap between them was.

This wasn't even a fight. His opponent was crushing him like an insect!

"S-stop...!"

Another blow.

His regenerated teeth shattered and scattered before they even had time to settle into place.

Then another.

A fist struck his abdomen, sending a clot of blood surging up his throat.

The beating continued, until pools of blood dotted the floor. Blow after blow after blow.

"—"

At last, a vicious hook to the side of his head sent the prince sprawling.

As he vomited yet another clot of blood onto the floor—he had lost count by now—Aiden looked down at him in disgust.

Even after being battered this badly, the light had not left the prince's eyes. Anyone could see that he had no chance of winning, yet his gaze still held the resolve to see his actions through to the end.

"... You're one stubborn bastard. Do you want to blow up the capital with your own hands that badly?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"What?"

Incredulous, Aiden looked between him and the rocket inside the spire.

"I've always been told I have a good eye. Do you know what that mea—"

The prince's head slammed into the floor before he could finish. Aiden had mercilessly stomped on it.

"If you've got something to say, sum it up in five lines or less."

"..."

"I'm beating the shit out of you right now, remember? Who the hell are you to lecture me? Get to the point."

"..."

... It was hard to tell whether this man had a rotten disposition or a good one, considering he was at least willing to listen.

Coughing, the prince spoke.

"There is something I realized the very first time I encountered them."

He had a good eye. He could read the flow of events.

In other words, the prince could perceive the essence and likely future of anything he saw.

What a man like that had realized upon first encountering demons was this:

"... Their power has no end, Mr. Aiden."

Humanity would be defeated.

Brutally, helplessly, without even a chance to strike back.

The might the demons had quietly amassed over countless years truly defied imagination. Their leaders, in particular, all possessed terrifying power.

"I was given a promise. If I cooperated, the Empire, at least, would be safe from the calamity they would one day unleash."

"..."

"I'm trying to protect the Empire. In my own way."

Thus, everything he had done ultimately served to protect the Empire.

"... And so."

He took a vial from inside his clothes. It was the one the masked female demon—the Magician—had left with him.

The moment Aiden saw it, his expression twisted, as though he immediately understood just how dangerous it was.

'A demon-transformation potion...!'

He had vaguely suspected such a thing might exist.

If there were potions made by that Puppeteer fellow that turned people into magical beasts, then the game's demon-transformation potions, which made humans into something resembling demons, could exist too.

"Wait, that's...!"

"I..."

With those words, he declared,

"No matter what anyone says, I will protect the Empire."

Before Aiden could do anything, the prince shoved the vial into his mouth.

At that very instant—

—...

—...!!!!!!!!!!!!

Black demonic energy erupted from the prince's entire body.

▣

"... I believe it's time I returned your words to you, Mr. Aiden."

Clothed in black demonic energy as though it were a suit, the prince slowly rose as he spoke.

An immense quantity of demonic energy seethed throughout his body. The power was so overwhelming that simply releasing it seemed enough to crush weaker creatures under its pressure.

"It seems the tables have turned. You won't be able to act quite so relaxed n—"

The prince's triumphant words broke off, probably because he had noticed Aiden's face as he listened.

"..."

Not a muscle in Aiden's face moved.

... And looking at it sent a chill through him.

Wasn't this exactly the same expression Aiden had worn earlier, when he experienced the prince's capabilities and pronounced him far weaker than expected?

"... Huh. I thought you'd at least get some special ability."

And the words that followed were unmistakably in the same vein.

"Didn't you just get a little stronger, with slightly more powerful supernatural energy?"

"... What of it? With an enhancement of this magnitude, dealing with you will be eas—"

Letting the words go in one ear and out the other, Aiden opened his system window.

If it was merely a potion that boosted raw stats, he had those too.

Power-up potions potent enough to overcome even the Lionhearted's drug resistance, with long-lasting effects to boot.

-System Message

▶ Purchasing 3 Supernatural Power Enhancement Potion Sets from the Point Shop.

▶ All remaining Points will be consumed!

As the message flashed before his eyes, several sets of potions appeared out of nowhere in Aiden's arms. He uncorked them all and downed them in one go.

Immediately, the output of supernatural power pouring from his body skyrocketed.

Even at a glance, he clearly seemed several times stronger than he had been while fighting the prince moments earlier.

The increase even seemed greater than what the prince had gained from the demon-transformation potion he had drunk at the cost of his human dignity.

"..."

"..."

A peculiar silence passed between them.

How to put it?

After making such a grand show of his resolve, only to watch his opponent casually catch up right before his eyes... even Aiden would probably have reacted much the same way.

"... Doesn't that more or less even things out?"

"..."

"You must've risked your life drinking that thi—"

"... G-grr—!"

The prince attacked with a cry that suggested he was on the verge of losing his mind.

For once, Aiden could understand his sense of unfairness. That didn't mean he could simply let the attack hit him again.

Taking a deep breath, he deflected it, strode over, and knocked the prince's jaw sideways.

... The scene was identical to the one before.

Summed up in a single sentence, it would probably go like this:

"Buddy."

"..."

"Did you think becoming a demon would get you out of a beating?"

"..."

... Life was so fucking unfair.

The thought came instinctively to the prince.

For a genius who had always stood above others and looked down on them, this had to be an entirely new feeling...

"Even so, I—"

But perhaps it could only be called obsession.

The prince staggered to his feet yet again. His entire body was wrecked, he was vomiting blood, and he could barely twitch a finger, but still he rose.

Watching him, Aiden clicked his tongue inwardly.

'Stubborn bastard.'

He seemed to be mustering this superhuman determination because he genuinely believed this was the best course for the Empire.

But once he decided to wipe out so many human lives, right and wrong could not simply be set aside.

"... Arden Brimstone Lionel."

Aiden quietly called his name.

Panting, the prince raised his head at the sound, then flinched. He had known Aiden Kellermain for quite some time now, but this was the first time he had ever received a look of such naked contempt.

"You're just a coward. Stop trying to make your actions mean something."

Honestly, it pissed him off.

He needed only to think of Teresa, asleep within his Soul Connector.

Even in death. Even after losing her mind.

There was someone who had given so much of herself that she couldn't so much as damage her country's flag.

And this so-called imperial prince...

"... What do you know about the—"

"I don't need to know," Aiden growled.

"It's not that complicated. People dying is bad. People not dying is good."

"..."

"I don't know what grand national vision you're chasing by negotiating with those lunatics. But to me, you look exactly like them."

The world ran on a very simple principle.

Innocent people had no reason to die. Whatever the purpose. Whatever the circumstances.

"... Are you saying you'll stand against them? Against those monsters with their sights set on the entire continent...!"

"Of course I will."

The immediate answer cut the prince short.

"If the people around me will get hurt otherwise, then I have to. Isn't that obvious?"

He didn't know how—what means he would use to accomplish it.

But he would always arrive at the same conclusion. It was the very reason he had taken on the task of saving the world in the first place.

If it had to be done, he would do it.

He didn't know how he would do it. He didn't know how things would turn out. All he could do was devote himself to whatever lay before him at the time.

But he believed it was right. He believed ordinary people like his family deserved to live ordinary lives.

And so he simply refused to compromise.

No matter who his opponent was or what they threatened him with.

That was how Aiden lived.

"..."

The prince stared up at him blankly.

His lips visibly pressed inward as he realized that these were not empty words.

"If you get it, just stay down. Don't try anythi—"

As he spoke, Aiden looked toward the rocket inside the spire.

Its engine was beginning to ignite. Apparently, launch preparations had finished while he was fighting the prince.

He tried to turn toward it.

Tried, of course, meant that he could not.

"... Oh, seriously."

It happened right then.

"I didn't want to get involved."

An unfamiliar woman's voice rang out, and everything stopped.

▣

The masked woman—the Magician—irritably swept her hair back.

'Ah.'

Releasing the demon-god fragment into the capital and bringing the humans inside under their control was the first step in the chain of dominoes that would follow.

'Aah.'

If he still couldn't get it done after all the support she'd given him, she would have to step in herself.

Her footsteps clicked against the floor while everything around her remained frozen.

'Aaah.'

The magic she was currently using—Time Stop—ranked among the most powerful techniques that employed Mana.

Normally, it was an ability she had to invoke her true name to use. What would happen when she used it in a mere human body instead?

With her true name unleashed, her Mana would multiply severalfold, so it would be no problem. But while she was mimicking a human like this, using it alone would probably leave her suffering the aftereffects for months.

'Couldn't even do one simple job properly...'

This was all that useless bastard's fault.

She looked down in disgust at the prince lying on the floor.

"Ugh."

She sighed and closed her eyes.

As she breathed deeply and concentrated, the demonic energy circulating through her body began to pulse violently.

This was the crucial part.

Spatial Partition.

She would exclude the rocket inside the spire from the effects of her current spell. Even while everything around it remained frozen, it would launch as normal.

In any case, once this launched, it would all be over.

What it contained was a fragment of a god, no less. It wasn't merely powerful. The moment it exerted its influence, the entire situation would be settled.

"..."

Sweeping her hair back, she glanced at Aiden.

'... If it has to be done, you'll do it?'

Easy to say, when he could do nothing once real demons stepped in like this.

She sighed and rested her chin on her hand. All she had to do now was wait.

Once she sent the demon-god fragment billowing into the air, it would all be over. Someone like him would simply be swept up in the phenomenon and die.

A deep sneer spread across her lips.

It would be funny in its own way if he just stood there and only realized what had happened once everything was ov—

"—?"

—Funny.

It should have been.

Surely.

"...?!"

Time was stopped.

... Yet Aiden's eyes were tracking her directly. Seeing that, the Magician went rigid.