Chapter 100 — Look at You, You Idiot!
"Heh… hahahaha—"
Standing in the oncoming gusts of wind, Grausam laughed openly, his scorn undisguised.
"Lord Elias, aren't you overestimating Frieren—and underestimating me?"
"Aren't you doing the same?"
Elias replied calmly, his tone edged with mockery.
"Grausam, you tried to lure me in using so-called bonds—but in doing so, you underestimated the bond between Frieren and me."
"Tell me—what kind of person do you think I am in Frieren's eyes?"
"She might pile every foul, vicious word in the human language onto me."
"Frieren longs for me to become the exact opposite of what I am."
"And yet—she can't even imagine what it would look like for those words to truly fall away from me."
"That contradiction…"
"…is the greatest flaw of all."
"Heh… hahahaha…"
Grausam paused for a moment, then smiled with renewed confidence.
"Oh, that much I understand."
"'A demon who has pursued humanity for a thousand years.'"
"An existence like yours is a contradiction no matter whether it stands in reality—or in a mental world."
"But unfortunately—"
His gaze turned cold as he looked toward Frieren standing in the open fields.
"A magically constructed mental world is, at its core, a contest of mana."
"Even if Frieren senses something is wrong—"
"her pitifully weak mana is nowhere near enough to resist Paradise itself."
"…Weak, you say?"
The corner of Elias's mouth curved upward.
"Grausam, it seems that when you possessed Yuna, that hollow shell—so utterly lacking in magical talent—ended up misleading your judgment."
"…What do you mean?"
Grausam's voice dropped.
"She's nothing more than an ordinary—"
"Just watch."
Elias cut him off with a soft chuckle.
"At the very least, her teacher firmly believes this—"
"That elf named Frieren…"
"…will always exceed your expectations."
Grausam was about to retort—
when his gaze suddenly froze.
Frieren had turned around.
The expression on the elf's face—
Was that… disappointment?
Impossible.
That expression should never exist in Paradise.
Before his stunned eyes, Frieren walked first toward the fake Flamme.
She looked up and forced a faint, bitter smile.
"Yes… Master Flamme."
"My parents and my entire family were slaughtered by demons. I grew up with no one."
"Sometimes, I imagine how nice it would be if you were my mother."
"Now that I see it—"
"Even if you take off your armor, put on homey clothes, and wear your hair gently like this…"
"…it actually suits you pretty well."
Then she turned toward the fake Elias.
Her expression twisted—half mockery, half disbelief.
"Pff—hahahahahahaha!!"
( ^∇^ )
"Look at you, you idiot!"
"You're grinning like a complete moron!"
"And what's with the glasses—who are you pretending to be?!"
"I'm dying—this is hilarious!"
"Absolutely killing me!"
In the distance, the real Elias and Grausam exchanged a silent glance.
"…" "…."
"See, Grausam," Elias said calmly.
"I told you—Frieren would notice the contradiction."
"…I miscalculated."
Grausam's voice turned cold.
"If I'd known this would happen—"
"I should have erased you from Paradise entirely from the very beginning."
Grausam remained outwardly composed.
"But even if she realizes it—ugh!"
Before he could finish, an overwhelming surge of mana erupted from Frieren, several times stronger than before.
She merely swept her hand through the air—
and the phantom images of Flamme and Elias were erased instantly, as if wiped clean.
Sensing Grausam's sudden silence, Elias calmly explained:
"It's mana restriction."
"Frieren suppresses the mana leaking from her body to less than a quarter of its true output."
"It wouldn't fool your real body, of course—but deceiving empty shells like those was effortless."
"…Mana restriction…"
Grausam ground his teeth.
"That despicable trick…!"
The next instant, his expression twisted unnaturally, his lips tearing into a feral grin.
"Heh… so what?"
"Even if she releases all her mana, she still can't contend with Paradise itself!"
"I poured enough power into the Tear of the Azure Sea to trap her here for ten full years!!"
Grausam roared, his distorted pupils snapping toward Elias.
"Lord Elias—can you even imagine what Frieren would become after ten years trapped in here?!"
"…That?"
Compared to Grausam's hysteria, Elias remained eerily calm.
"I honestly can't imagine it."
Then—he smiled.
"Because you won't be able to trap her."
The moment his words fell—
Frieren lifted her gaze toward the sky.
"Hah… it really is a beautiful world."
"I wouldn't mind staying a little longer."
"But…"
"There are so many wounds in the world—real wounds—waiting for me to face them."
"That's the meaning I chose to pursue."
—BOOM!
Frieren's mana surged upward like artillery fire, slamming straight into the heavens!
"…Impossible?!"
In the blinding light, Grausam watched in horror as a crack tore open across the sky.
"My… Paradise…"
"How could it be shattered so easily—"
"It's a matter of mana."
Elias answered calmly, this time wearing a sly smile.
"Didn't you say it yourself, Grausam?"
"In a mental world constructed by magic, the deciding factor is mana."
"What you didn't know is…"
"One particular incident greatly weakened the mana contained within the Tear of the Azure Sea."
"…What incident?!"
"What are you talking about?!"
As Grausam's face grew more grotesque by the second, Elias recalled the past with quiet ease.
"No matter how great a plan may be…"
"Nothing is ever foolproof."
"You couldn't have known…"
"That while the Tear of the Azure Sea was being transported to the Holy City, it was stolen by a treasure fox—"
"—to reinforce the seal of a demon."
"Sealed… a demon?!"
"That's right."
Elias continued smoothly.
"That demon was sealed by me two thousand years ago—a great demon from the Mythic Age."
"Over time, the sealing ground became the treasure fox's lair—until recently."
"When the fox sensed the seal weakening and the demon about to awaken…"
"It followed the mana trail, stole the Tear of the Azure Sea from the caravan, and used the gem's power to reinforce the seal."
"That was when most of the gem's mana was drained away."
"In other words, Grausam—"
Elias looked up at the fractured sky.
"At this very moment…"
"Your Paradise is already on the verge of collapse."
Grausam's face twisted completely, abandoning all pretense.
"This is absurd…"
"H–How could this possibly—"
"—Crack… crack… shatter—!"
Fragments of the sky fell like broken glass.
Watching them drift down, Frieren smiled softly.
"…Looks like it's time to go."
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