(I barely made it in time…!)
While blocking the sword Belia swung down to kill Shion, I let out a sigh of relief in my mind.
"Kh! Orun!? You were supposed to be at the Second Farm—how are you here!? I put up a teleportation-blocking barrier around the capital!"
Belia was clearly shocked by my intervention.
So he really had known that I defeated Stieg.
In that case, his surprise was understandable.
Just two hours ago, I had been facing Stieg on a remote uninhabited island far from the Nohitant Kingdom.
On top of that, Belia had deployed a teleportation-blocking barrier around the capital—the exact opposite of the one I had spread to prevent escape from the island.
But the current me no longer needed to rely on teleportation to cover super long distances at high speed.
…Well, it was an extremely forced method, and right now my entire body was screaming in protest.
"Relying only on a teleportation-blocking barrier? You really underestimated me!"
I poured strength into my sword and pushed back the one Belia was holding.
"Tch!"
Belia grimaced and leaped backward to create distance.
I immediately followed up with magic.
"—Shot + Penetration!"
A magical bullet with enhanced piercing power struck Belia.
"Guuh!?"
It was an attack powerful enough to easily pierce a human body, but it could not penetrate Belia, who possessed the special ability Eternal Invariance.
I had expected as much.
Along with the magical bullet, Belia was steadily driven away from the royal castle until he slammed into the outer wall surrounding the capital.
More precisely, into the massive block of ice covering the outer wall.
"Sorry I'm late."
Using the time I had bought by blasting Belia far away, I apologized to Shion while nullifying the force field of Belia's special ability.
Now freed from the binding, Shion staggered slightly but quickly regained her balance.
"It's fine. I believed you would definitely come, Orun."
Shion gave me a bright, carefree smile.
"I'm the one who should apologize. I really wanted to handle it with my own strength, but the best I could do was create an environment where you could go all out without restraint."
If Belia and I had clashed at full power, the aftermath alone would have caused massive damage to the capital.
But because Shion had sealed the entire capital in ice, I no longer needed to worry about collateral damage around us.
"No, it was more than enough. I wanted to respect your feelings too, but I really wanted to settle things with Belia using my own hands."
"I see. It's revenge for your parents and the people of your village, after all. I'm a little tired, so I'll leave Belia to you. I'd only get in the way right now, so I'll withdraw first."
"Got it. Thank you, Shion."
After finishing my conversation with Shion, I confirmed that the damage from the super long-distance high-speed movement had been fully healed by Self-Healing, then headed toward the outer wall where I had sent Belia flying.
It seemed Belia was also coming toward me, and we clashed a short distance from the royal castle.
In an instant, the distance between us closed.
"—Magic Sword Unity, Alteration."
I swung Schwarzheze, now transformed into a magic sword, at Belia.
The sound of clashing blades rang out.
The impact from our swords caused the surrounding ice to shatter or crack, but because Time Regression was constantly being applied to the ice block, it immediately restored itself.
"You came out yourself just to be killed by me? I'll kill both you and the White Demon right here!"
As our blades locked in a contest of strength, Belia spoke with gleaming eyes.
"…Have you already forgotten? Ten years ago, I was the one who cut off your left arm. I'm far stronger now than I was back then. There's no way you can stand against me anymore! —Third Form: Mont Drive."
From the locked-blade position, I changed the magic sword from a long sword into a greatsword.
The sudden expansion of the blade threw Belia's balance off slightly.
Using that opening, I circled behind him with rapid movement.
"Wha—!?"
I then brought down the greatsword-form Schwarzheze.
Just like when I had cut off Belia's left arm ten years ago, I swung the sword—but the blade did not pass through his body. Instead, it slammed powerfully into the ice block.
(As expected of Eternal Invariance. It looks like he hasn't stayed exactly the same as ten years ago.)
I followed up by releasing magical power as a slash.
"Heavenly Flash!"
"Kh! Don't underestimate me!"
Belia shouted as he activated his special ability.
He was probably trying to pin my Heavenly Flash in mid-air the same way he had immobilized Shion.
"I already know… that trick. —Annihilation."
By deploying a repulsive force field that countered Belia's stopping force field, I caused mutual annihilation.
With nothing left to obstruct it, the Heavenly Flash struck Belia.
The explosively expanding shockwave assaulted him.
At that exact moment, Belia's magic—an enormous lightning bolt—came crashing down from above, aiming straight at me.
—However, since I had already sensed the omen of the spell with Magic Power Tracking, I easily dodged the lightning.
When the smoke raised by the Heavenly Flash cleared, an unharmed Belia glared at me with a hateful expression.
"…That was August's…! Why can you use that?"
In the era of the fairy tales, after the battle against the evil god ended and humanity moved into the world of the laws, what awaited them was conflict between ability users and non-ability users.
To quell that conflict, August created a nation that accepted ability users.
A nation that gathered ability users would naturally possess immense national power.
Even though he was the hero who had sealed the evil god and created this world, the non-ability users should have opposed it.
The reason they did not was because August possessed a technique to neutralize special abilities.
All Things in Creation is the ability to "know all things and weave them."
If it is a power that allows one to handle what one understands, then it logically follows that it can also handle the opposite power.
"Who knows? One thing I can say is that the power August wove definitely exists inside me."
From the previous Shot + Penetration and the series of attacks just now, I had also come to understand the mechanism of the Eternal Invariance that protected Belia.
Next, I would be able to cut him.
"…You really are annoying! Even here… you insist on getting in my way!"
"Yeah, of course I'm getting in your way. You tried to kill Shion. You're trying to kill my disciples, everyone in the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky, and the people of Tsutrail. You released magic beasts onto the surface and are still spreading misfortune across the world even now. There's no way I'd let someone like you run free!"
I kicked off a foothold of magical power and closed in on Belia.
I tried to slash at him, but a pitch-black, sludge-like magical power began spreading at his feet.
The black magical power changed shape, and countless thorns shot up from the ground beneath Belia.
"—!?"
I barely reacted in time and tried to dodge, but several thorns grazed my body.
(This magical power… Don't tell me it's the evil god's!?)
While I was shocked by the completely alien magical power unlike anything Belia had used before—
"I'm not the same as I was ten years ago either!"
Belia was already closing in.
He swung a sword wrapped in the same pitch-black magical power as the thorns.
I blocked it with my magic sword and used the momentum to create distance from Belia.
"So when you had the Hero conquer the western Great Labyrinth, you stole a portion of the evil god's magical power. The reason you're trying to break the evil god's seal is…"
As I muttered my thoughts aloud, Belia continued with an excited tone.
"That's right! So that I can become the 'King of the World' by devouring the evil god's power!"
"…So that's why you betrayed August?"
"Yes! That man wanted coexistence with demons—the enemies of humanity. Demons turned against the humans who gave birth to them. Creatures that feel no gratitude should all perish without exception! That's why I will become king and destroy the demons!"
What August had wanted coexistence with were only the magical lifeforms known as fairies who cooperated with humans.
Demons who opposed humans were not included.
Of course, if demons had sought coexistence, he would have reached out, but the conversation with Stieg earlier had made it clear that such a path did not exist.
…Ah, I see. To Belia, there is no distinction between fairies and demons.
Belia had hated all magical lifeforms consistently ever since the era of the fairy tales.
I had heard from August in the otherworld that the battle against the evil god in that era had been extremely fierce.
It was understandable that Belia, who had lived through that time, would hate the evil god and demons.
Those feelings had been exploited…
"Don't you realize the contradiction in what you're saying?"Gxsmx