Chapter 174 - The Sin of Greed (3)

The monster flying through the air. The hungry ghost baring its sharp teeth. The creature charging forward with its entrails trailing behind it—all their bodies blossomed into pure white.

And they were not alone. Every monster within the reach of Alon's mana disintegrated into white and crumbled away.

It was not spectacular. There was no deafening explosion. It was neither forceful nor overwhelming.

They simply scattered.

Like a snowman slowly melting with the arrival of spring, every monster within Alon's mana field merely became a handful of snowflakes drifting through the air.

The monsters. The hungry ghosts. The creatures. The tree that had endlessly spewed them forth.

And—

"This can't—be—"

—the apostle was no exception.

Just as the laws of nature applied equally to everything in the world, the magical space Alon had created imposed its laws equally upon all.

Alon stared at her. She was watching her own body slowly crumble into tiny pieces, as though she could not comprehend what was happening.

"Ugh—"

Desperate to escape, she drew upon every scrap of mana she had to resist Alon's all-freezing mana. Unfortunately for her, it froze the instant she summoned it.

"This power—"

Her voice, trembling with disbelief, fell silent.

CRACK!

The apostle's frozen white face cracked and scattered. With that, nothing remained in the vast cavern.

"..."

Rine stared blankly at Marquis Pallatio's back. At the marquis forming seals with six arms of ice behind him, his coat billowing, covered in ice crystals. At the silent awe he had inspired.

Meanwhile, Alon finally released his seal, nauseated from squeezing his mana to its limit.

'... I think I'm going to throw up.'

CRACKLE!

As soon as he released the seal, the six hands behind his back became snowflakes like the monsters and drifted away.

'... Fortunately, it worked as expected.'

Alon recalled the apostle vanishing into pure white snowflakes, disbelief etched on her face.

Two conditions had allowed him to defeat the apostle this time. First, the space was small enough for even his mana to cover it entirely. Second, he had already anticipated that the apostle would let her guard down. After all, he knew her objective was to push Rine to her mental limit and awaken her as a Sin.

'And this time, the spell's weakness was neatly offset.'

The spell he had created with Penia was extraordinarily powerful.

Once someone was trapped within mana expansion reinforced by three or more linked seals, escaping required either mana powerful enough to sweep Alon's away entirely or an absurd degree of physical strength.

That was not all. By forcibly twisting the mana's molecular structure to increase its elemental responsiveness within the enclosed space, Alon could reproduce the effects of a single tiny spell throughout the entire area his mana covered. And he could choose whichever spell he wanted.

Yet even a spell this powerful had a clear weakness: the mana prison itself was extremely vulnerable to impacts from outside.

There was no way to escape Alon's six-seal spell from within. The expanded mana restricted the opponent's physical strength, while the mana molecules hardened by his seals not only interfered with the captive's magic but obstructed the very act of manifesting it.

But those effects only applied inside. From the outside, Alon's mana prison was like a balloon. The moment an external mana blast or physical strike hit it, the molecules maintaining the prison would fall out of alignment, causing it to collapse.

'... I'll have to find a way to shore that up soon, too.'

Both Alon and Penia already knew how. Quite simply, he needed to link the seals without expanding the mana in the first place.

But that was impossible for Alon as he was now. Even using all his mana was not enough; he had to expand it as well to secure the necessary range.

In any case, the cavern had just barely fit within his range, and the apostle had let her guard down. That had allowed him to imprison both her and all the monsters, eliminating any variables.

'... Still, that was excellent for its first use in actual combat.'

Alon was deeply satisfied that the first spell he had created himself had manifested properly. Naturally, none of that showed on his face as he turned his impassive gaze toward Rine.

"Are you all right?"

"... Yes, I'm all right, Godfather."

Despite her words, Rine's complexion did not look particularly healthy.

"Let's head back for now."

A faint note of concern colored his voice.

####

Alon woke Evan, who had been lying unconscious, and left with him and Rine. Having missed everything while unconscious, Evan soon heard what had happened from Rine.

"You die if you listen to her?"

"Yes. She speaks of things that must never be heard."

"... What does that mean?"

Unlike Evan, who tilted his head in utter incomprehension, Alon understood immediately. He had heard about such things and had experienced something similar himself in Laxas.

'... Though I never imagined someone would use that knowledge itself as an attack.'

Alon looked at Rine and hesitated briefly at her troubled expression.

'... She certainly seemed to know the apostle.'

Judging by Rine's earlier reaction and his own deductions, the apostle was undoubtedly connected to her past.

"Rine."

"... Yes, Godfather."

Her response came a little slower than usual.

Alon studied her face. Some color had returned to it, but another emotion flickered in her eyes—a tiny trace of anxiety, unconsciously betrayed. Noticing it, he considered for a moment before reaching a decision.

"... You've been through a great deal. Rest when we get back."

He decided not to press Rine about her past. Of course he was curious, but it was plain to see that she did not particularly want to discuss it. Even so, if Alon asked, she would surely answer him earnestly. He did not want to make her speak about something she would rather leave unsaid.

"Thank you, Godfather."

Rine bowed her head.

To anyone else, it would have looked like thanks for his concern. But Alon could easily tell that she had understood his intention and was thanking him for his consideration.

"...? What is this all of a sudden? Am I being left out?"

Unable to grasp the subtle atmosphere, Evan merely looked back and forth between Alon and Rine in bewilderment.

By the time the sun was setting, Alon had returned to Lartania, where he encountered Deus, back from the labyrinth.

"You got out sooner than I expected."

"Yes. It was easy to find my way, so I found what I wanted and came out quickly."

A thoroughly pleased smile rested on Deus's lips, suggesting he had obtained what he wanted.

"Did you get what you wanted as well, my lord?"

"Yes."

Alon nodded, fiddling with The Foot That Runs Through the Past in his pocket.

In truth, he should have returned only after finishing his entire conversation with Kailas. Strictly speaking, it would have been more accurate to say that he had obtained only half of what he wanted. Yet there was one reason he could readily say that he had succeeded.

'I can meet Kailas now without going there.'

Alon recalled what Kailas had said just before he left the inner world.

["Don't worry, boy. Even if you leave now, I'm already connected to this place. Activate that medium, and you'll be able to summon me here again. We can continue our conversation then."]

It had been a very brief exchange. Of course, he would need to replenish The Foot That Runs Through the Past's mana to use it again, but that was not much of a problem. Barring any major incidents, a month would be enough to fill it, even at the slowest pace.

'... Come to think of it, in Psychedelia, you could only use The Foot That Runs Through the Past by going there. Why was that?'

Alon had only a moment to ponder this newfound question.

"My lord."

"What is it?"

"You can look forward to it."

The corners of Deus's mouth rose ever so slightly as he puffed out his chest with a touch of confidence, like a child hoping for praise.

"... I'm grateful you're preparing a gift, but don't overdo it."

"Understood."

"So, now that you've finished your business in Lartania, are you heading home?"

"No. I have some business in Laxas, so I'm planning to go there."

As Deus added, "It seems there are materials I need there," Alon briefly wondered whether he had listened to anything he had just said.

Just then, a welcome voice he had not heard in a while reached his ears.

["Hmm—how refreshing."]

Alon looked down. Basiliora had emerged after uncharacteristically remaining quiet inside the ring until their return to Lartania.

["... Waaah! What's this fellow doing here?!"]

Basiliora recoiled in horror the instant he spotted Deus.

"This is...?"

As Deus frowned at the little snake, Alon explained.

"It's Basiliora. Do you remember what I briefly told you on our way to Lartania?"

Deus thought it over, then struck his palm with his fist.

"He really has become small, just as you said, my lord."

Deus looked Basiliora over with obvious interest.

["What are you looking at?!"]

In contrast, Basiliora flinched, his eyes brimming with hostility. Their attitudes could not have been more different.

As Alon watched, realization flashed through his mind.

'... Ah, that's understandable.'

Come to think of it, hadn't Deus helped him capture Basiliora?

'He certainly might bear a grudge.'

Alon nodded, recalling that Heinkel was the reason Basiliora could not say much to him, either.

"Hmm—"

Deus continued looking at Basiliora without much reaction to his fit, then chuckled softly.

"He's cute when he's this tiny."

["What?! Who are you calling cute, you mere human!!!"]

Apparently stung by the word, Basiliora began raging even more wildly.

"... Cute?"

"Yes."

"... That?"

It was an incomprehensible appraisal(?). Despite taking Basiliora around with him every day, Alon had never found him particularly cute.

'... Isn't Blackie the cute one instead? Ah—'

Come to think of it, while Deus's younger sister Silli had marveled over Blackie before, Deus had shown no reaction at all.

'His tastes are a bit—'

Only then did Alon realize that Deus had a peculiar sense of aesthetics.

"Yes. He's so insignificant that it's cute."

["GRAAAAAAAH!!"]

"... I see."

####

Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Coloni...

"... So, according to you, incarnate gods might actually exist?"

"Rather than saying they might exist, it would be more accurate to say that incarnate gods truly do exist."

"Can you stand by that statement?"

"Yes."

As Karmakses III listened to the scholar's opinion, he was arriving at a strange truth.

'... Marquis Pallatio really is—a god?'