Chapter 54 - Gilli - 2

The Chief of the Noir had entered the Great Forest.

Immediately upon hearing this, Bera had tried to send Renée back to Aedrin’s roots. To him, it was only natural. Apart from her divine powers and the sheer amount of divine energy she possessed, she was a girl whose fighting ability approached zero. Wouldn’t bringing her along be dangerous?

But...

“I can at least help.”

At those words, Bera had no choice but to yield. More precisely, Renée sounded so resolute that there seemed no chance of persuading her.

Bera assessed their available forces.

Mari was unavailable. They needed to leave some strength with Aedrin in case anything unexpected happened. Norn and Hella would have to remain beside Renée once the fighting began.

That left only himself and some fifty elves able to fight.

“How many Noir are there?”

“... More than a hundred, I would say. Roughly two hundred of our siblings followed Gilli, and we have killed about a hundred of them since then.”

Fifty against a hundred.

Though they were outnumbered two to one, Bera considered it a relief.

“When the fighting starts, pull all the elves back.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They’ll get in the way.”

Bera looked at Friede as he spoke.

“I’ll fight alone.”

Friede’s expression stiffened at his words.

* * *

Sanctuary was not a divine power that always worked to his advantage.

How could it be? If the restrictions he imposed to create a favorable battlefield put his allies at a disadvantage, the consequences would be disastrous.

Its restrictions were so severe that it could become a liability in group combat.

That was Sanctuary.

Thus, Bera reasoned that if he had to create a battlefield that might disadvantage his allies, he should withdraw them all beyond Sanctuary and have them provide support from the rear.

A hundred enemies might outnumber them two to one, but that difference meant nothing to him. Better to fight alone and have the remaining fifty protect Renée.

Running with Renée in his arms, Bera stopped when he saw figures in the distance.

His eyes narrowed.

The approaching group were undoubtedly Noir. The vagrant in their midst with long, trailing gray hair would be Gilli.

“Saintess, I will return shortly.”

“... Bera.”

“You have nothing at all to worry about. I will not fall to a force of that size.”

Renée clutched his collar tightly.

Then pure white divine energy rose around her. Without another word, she planted a small measure of her divine powers within his body.

What she wished for was luck. She bestowed the smallest bit of luck so that a stray arrow would not wound him.

Feeling a strange sensation seep into his body, Bera looked at Renée.

“... Thank you.”

“You must be careful.”

“Yes.”

Bera glanced at Friede, checked the elves following behind them, then drew his sword.

“Take good care of the Saintess.”

The words were directed at Friede. The moment he had spoken, Bera launched himself toward the enemy without looking back.

* * *

On the way to Aedrin, Gilli frowned at the lone figure blocking their path.

The figure was wrapped from head to toe in a dark robe.

Gilli knew at once who it was.

‘An apostle.’

It would not be the apostle of abundance. The build alone was different.

Judging by the information their siblings had gathered, this was probably the apostle of oaths who had recently entered the Great Forest.

Gilli looked past Bera. There stood the siblings they had missed so dearly, and a girl in pure white.

“... How fortunate.”

A crooked grin spread across Gilli’s lips. What an unexpected windfall. With the Saintess here as well, their homeland could return to the days of its former beauty. That green, bountiful land would be theirs again.

Gilli trembled faintly with mounting joy, then looked forward again.

A hand reached inside their clothes and found a dagger. It was the dagger prepared for this day, refined over nearly thirty years.

CLICK.

Gilli drew the dagger.

“My siblings!”

The cry rang out. Gilli stepped forward once more, toward the fulfillment of a long-awaited wish.

* * *

The enemy was approaching. Just as Friede had said, there were around a hundred of them.

The battlefield put Bera at an overwhelming disadvantage, yet he did not shrink back in the slightest.

He had always fought alone, and he had won those battles.

But that was not all.

Bera focused on the presence he sensed behind him.

‘What I must protect.’

It was there, at his back.

This time, the exhilaration that coursed through his body whenever he fought was absent.

This was not a battle for himself. It was a battle to protect what lay behind him, to uphold the most fundamental of duties. A battle for the light he had always pursued.

Neither retreat nor negotiation entered his mind.

He merely tightened his grip on his sword and tensed every muscle in his body.

The enemy drew nearer.

Those who had been two hundred paces away were closing in, pushing through withered vegetation and scattering fallen leaves with every running step.

A hundred paces became fifty, then thirty.

Watching them approach, Bera spoke.

“I proclaim.”

His voice reverberated through the entire space. Ash-gray divine energy enveloped it.

At that same instant, the Noir reached him.

SLASH!

Bera cut down the three Noir charging at the front and continued laying down his rules.

“From this moment on, no one who enters this Sanctuary may leave it.”

HUMMM.

A restriction imposed in a god’s name. Even elves who had lived for countless years could not escape it.

Bera deflected an arrow flying in from afar and cut down another two charging Noir as he continued.

“Furthermore, everyone within Sanctuary must continue fighting until only one living person remains within it.”

He kept speaking as his sword struck again and again.

“Accordingly, all who continue fighting within Sanctuary shall receive inexhaustible vitality. Their abilities in swordsmanship shall also be enhanced.”

Once again, the space reverberated. Savoring the sensation of his body and swordsmanship becoming sharper than before, Bera cut down another Noir.

“Anyone who violates these rules shall pay with the extinction of their life.”

The feeling of cutting flesh and cleaving bone made the battle all the more vivid.

With killing intent targeting him at every moment, his senses were honed sharper than ever.

“All these rules shall be enforced in Rushan’s name.”

SLICE!

A Noir’s head was severed.

The rules were complete.

Golden rules appeared in the ash-gray space. At the same time, Bera abandoned the defensive stance he had maintained and charged straight toward Gilli.

THUD!

His footfall carried a weight unlike before.

* * *

Friede could understand none of what was happening.

‘Why...?’

Why had the Saintess come all this way? Why had that escort gone forward alone?

Why were they making such irrational decisions?

Friede watched Bera cutting down the Noir.

He had been rational throughout. He had weighed countless factors and regarded Friede with suspicion.

Why would such a man make this absurd decision and fight a battle with nothing to gain? Friede could not understand it at all.

The thirst welling up within felt as though it were burning Friede’s throat.

The questions that refused to yield an answer seemed to turn Friede’s insides upside down.

With an unseemly grimace, Friede looked at Renée, who stood praying with her hands clasped.

Pure white divine energy faintly surrounded her body. Friede was not so foolish as to miss that she was preparing something.

A trembling hand swept over Friede’s face.

Then came the realization.

‘... Am I trembling?’

Only belatedly realizing it, Friede stared blankly ahead, face contorted even further.

‘Why?’

Friede could not even understand the reason for this trembling.

Yes, none of it made sense.

Not what was happening now.

Not this Saintess, nor that escort.

... Not even Friede’s own self.

The elf who had amassed countless experiences over thousands of years now felt like an imbecile who knew nothing of the world, overwhelmed by the emotion sweeping through their entire body.

* * *

SCREEECH!

The sound came from the collision of sword and dagger.

Having blocked Bera’s sword, Gilli ground their teeth hard enough to make them crunch audibly.

‘What...!’

What absurd strength was this? Feeling their knees slowly buckle, Gilli swiftly invoked a spell.

Mana flowed.

The instant thorns sprang up from the fallen leaves beneath Bera’s feet—

WHOOSH!

Bera leaped upward. Even then, his swinging sword was sweeping across another sibling’s neck.

Gilli quickly retreated and scanned the battlefield.

Of the hundred siblings, fewer than half remained.

If only he would collapse from exhaustion. But this damned ash-gray space continued feeding vitality into both the apostle and the Noir.

Gilli understood Bera’s intent at once.

He was confident that, with limitless stamina, he could cut them all down. That confidence must have prompted him to raise this barrier.

Gilli tightened their grip on the dagger. There was no thought of humiliation.

They knew what apostles were.

Were they not beings clad in divine power, power that rendered innate limitations—the weight of years or the superiority of one species over another—meaningless?

‘Under ordinary circumstances...’

Of course they could not win.

Gilli examined the characters engraved into the dagger.

They were blinking with a faint red light.

Gilli’s brow furrowed.

‘... Too soon.’

It was still too soon.

Far too soon to use this dagger. It was meant to sever Aedrin, the shackle they had once regarded as Mother.

It had to be saved until they reached her.

But...

“Aaaaaargh!!!”

“Aaah!!”

There was no time to spare.

Their siblings were dying.

The siblings who had endured hardship together for their long-held wish were being torn apart by that apostle.

Eyes bloodshot and gleaming, Gilli took the dagger in a reverse grip.

‘Not here...!’

Their long-held wish could not end in a place like this.

Reluctant though they were, they had to use it here. Once they tore this apostle apart, the Saintess would be there behind him.

If they seized her, they could fulfill their wish without the dagger.

Watching Bera hurtle toward them once again, Gilli twisted their face and drove the dagger into their own heart.

THUNK!

[-----!]

A ringing filled Gilli’s ears. Everything in their vision stretched endlessly.

The approaching apostle elongated. Though he was clearly advancing, his body stretched backward, making him appear to be retreating.

THUMP.

The heart gives its final beat. The dagger piercing its center chews up and swallows Gilli’s life.

As the last of that life seeped into the dagger, Gilli could feel the souls of the siblings buried in this land.

Within that endlessly stretching instant, that moment like infinity, Gilli spoke.

‘My siblings...’

The time had come to fulfill their long-held wish.

* * *

An ominous red light burst forth.

As he raced toward Gilli, Bera sensed the anomaly and spread a barrier of sword energy.

BOOOOM!

A deafening blast erupted as the light collided with the sword barrier.

“Urgh!”

A groan escaped him at the impact, but Bera had no time to pay it any heed.

All his attention was fixed on the phenomenon unfolding before him.

On the red light surrounding him on every side. His eyes widened, and his breath stopped short.

It was not fear.

Nor was he startled by his opponent’s unexpected move.

‘This is...’

That red energy.

It was the energy itself that shocked him.

Bera knew this red energy.

No—more precisely, it would have been strange if he did not. He was surely the only person on the continent at present who knew what this light meant.

His pupils trembled.

The light of the war that had engulfed the entire continent in despair in his previous life.

The light of destruction that had ultimately annihilated half the continent’s nations.

‘... The Demon King.’

This ominous light belonged to the Demon King.