[Ugh, you really took a beating.]
Antero pressed his ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ face, frowning hard.
No — not Antero. That purple shimmer. Undoubtedly the incarnation of a god.
'But that isn’t just an incarnation. It’s possession.'
When a god incarnates normally, the human’s self and the god’s presence coexist. Heldre was like that. Renzo was like that.
But now Antero’s movements and voice were completely seized.
It reminded Frondier of the second princess Salle possessed by Odin.
“Who are you?”
Frondier asked.
The one possessing Antero glanced at Frondier’s face for a moment, then shook their head.
[Why do you look so thrilled, you pervert.]
“Thrilled? What are you talking about. I’m terribly tense about a new enemy appearing.”
Frondier said it, but his eyes glittered.
Antero exhaled a sigh beside him.
[......I am Bune.]
“......Bune?”
At first Frondier thought it a strange name.
'Was there a god called that?'
Of course, Frondier did not know every god. Which gods would show up in this world was something even he could not predict.
But the problem was that the name “Bune” did not feel entirely unfamiliar to Frondier.
'I’ve heard it. Bune, Bune... what kind of god is that?'
Frondier watched the one calling themself Bune, lodged inside Antero, in silence.
Then he realized.
Why the name Bune did not feel strange.
And why it was hard to pin down who or what that god was.
“......The 72 Demons!”
Frondier shouted, and Bune’s eyes twisted.
[What the hell are you, remembering that old list in full?]
“It’s not an old record to me.”
Frondier answered, but he was genuinely surprised.
'A demon, not a god?'
The shimmer rising from Antero was surely proof of incarnation.
But what appeared was not a god but a demon. A powerful being said to be one of the 72 Demons.
'Is that a trait of the demon called Bune? Being at the rank of a 72 Demon would make that possible...'
No. Not possible.
Frondier already understood.
From the fact of who stood opposite him being a demon, he intuited the possibility at once.
“......Divine power and demon power....”
Frondier had realized a moment ago.
When divine power and demon power collide, Pandemonium opens.
So although they differ, they share commonality as coequal concepts.
“So it’s the same for demons.”
Just as gods grant power to humans.
Demons also grant power to humans.
[Tsk. That’s why I didn’t want to come out.]
Bune clicked his tongue at Frondier’s expression. He had intuited it from the start. If he revealed himself, Frondier would inevitably reach this conclusion.
[Listen, human. Now you know, right? Why this one is a Paladin.]
Bune pointed at himself with his thumb — at Antero’s body.
[This one has me. That’s why he could rise to Paladin. Curious now, isn’t it?]
With a demon’s power backing him, Antero was strong. Frondier could not reconcile Antero’s weakness with that fact — unless Bune had been hiding.
It sounded plausible at a glance.
But—
“You won’t get away with that.”
Frondier said.
“I remember what Antero himself said a moment ago.”
Antero had spoken: strange.
He could not understand why, having always won, he now suffered defeat.
“That fellow attributes every past victory to his own strength.”
If Bune had simply lent Antero power in the ordinary way, Antero wouldn’t make that mistake.
“Antero doesn’t know you exist.”
[......Hah.]
“Why? How could Antero not know you, when he has always been victorious until now? And if that’s possible, why would you do it on purpose? Are you imitating a kobold bugbear or something?”
[I’ve told what I will tell. I won’t step back today.]
Bune said that, then took a step back. The light movement carried a polished aura, preparing his body to flee at any moment.
Frondier smiled.
“Do you think I’ll let you go?”
[......You want to fight me?]
A question crept into Bune’s tone.
[Human. I know you’re strong. I might even be killed by you. But you don’t really want to see blood, do you? That’s why I tuned my power so I wouldn’t kill this one.]
Bune even raised both hands.
[See? Consider this a declaration of surrender. I don’t intend to fight you. I apologize for this brat acting ignorant and running amok. How about we end it here today?]
Bune was utterly the opposite of Antero.
Like a mother tidying up after a troublemaking son.
Frondier thought for a moment.
'He did stall for time for sure. Students are probably still in the gym, but a few might accidentally come this way.'
Because Atlas’s campus required a long walk from the classroom building to the cafeteria and gym, the chance that students would see this duel now was low.
The noisy racket inside the gym and the clash of auras would mask detection from that direction.
But there was no guarantee it would stay that way.
'...Still.'
It would be a shame to let this slip.
Bune — a demon holding many facts Frondier did not know, and for some reason protecting Antero.
“......Of course.”
Frondier opened his mouth.
As he spoke, both corners of his mouth formed a clean smile.
At that smile framed before the demon, the demon’s eyes twitched.
“Of course. I don’t intend to kill.”
[......You. That smile, that tone.]
Bune hardly listened to Frondier’s words. He just watched his eyes.
He tried to read Frondier’s intent from that gaze, to predict the next move.
—No. It could not be read.
Clack!
The instant Bune realized that, he moved. From frozen stillness to high-speed motion with almost no sign. Using the same body, but the precision was so different.
“Normally, that sort of motion might let me overlook it.”
KWA—AAAH!
[Ugh!]
A black wall shot up in front of Bune in an instant. Bune froze in surprise.
How? Frondier had seen the speed of this black liquid before. Even so, it shouldn’t have reached him from beside Frondier this fast.
Frondier supplied the answer.
“You forgot what you were standing on.”
[......!]
Indeed.
This place was the Heukcheon Frondier had prepared to keep Antero from falling.
For Frondier, who wields Heukcheon like limbs, Bune was literally on the palm of his hand.
“Don’t worry. I don’t plan to fight.”
KWA—AAAHHH!!
Heukcheon filled the space around Antero in an instant; it covered the surface to trap Antero inside a black cubical frame.
“Menosorpo.”
Frondier spoke, and drew a precise image toward Antero.
Menosorpo
Void Weaving
Rank — Unique
Craft
“Wave.”
Frondier’s craft overlaid the shape of the Heukcheon.
And once this point was reached, a being inside the craft could not leave by their own will.
“Even if I don’t fight, I need to know your strength.”
Frondier looked into the craft. He coldly regarded Bune’s flustered figure scanning his surroundings.
“Sorry. I’d like to fight you the way you want, but—”
Then Mom would scold me.
***
Bune realized the moment he was trapped.
Checkmate.
A decision hadn’t been announced yet, but this was a defeat. It was only a matter of when Frondier declared it.
[......Even so, what the hell is this space?]
Bune expelled aura to test it — a demon’s characteristic control over aura.
Thwack—
His aura struck the wall with a dull sound and vanished. The wall bore not even a scratch.
Even if he had struck ten times harder, likely no mark would remain.
[Damn it. I admit defeat, but what is that human doing? A demon?]
Bune surveyed the area.
No ray of light entered, but a murderous presence pressed from all sides. Demons are more familiar with aura than humans; that meant their detection was acute.
Bune could roughly gauge the innumerable traps laid in the craft.
Then a voice echoed inside the craft.
“Ah, ah. You can hear me?”
[......What is this, what are you doing?]
“Sorry. I can’t let you go. Stay right there for a while. I’m moving you.”
[Moving?]
Bune looked at his feet.
He felt nothing special. The space did not feel as though it was shifting physically.
'This space is not physically made. Maybe it’s a fragment of a grand spell where a magical concept erupted into reality...'
No idea how a human could do such a thing, but that completely ruined Bune’s plan.
[......Fine.]
Bune decided and spoke.
[I’ll tell you everything you want to know. You can’t escape here anyway. You want information, right?]
For now Bune would follow Frondier.
Right now what mattered was whether Antero lived or died.
If he resisted here, Antero’s throat could be cut. He didn’t even know how much movement was allowed, how far he could walk.
“Ah.......”
But Frondier hesitated awkwardly, then said,
“Sorry. I can’t do that.”
[What?]
“One of the pieces of information I want isn’t something you can tell me with words.”
Crrrrick.
Clack, clack.
Heavy footfalls and something far exceeding Antero’s bulk slowly approached from all sides.
'...Golems!'
Bune lowered his stance and watched the perimeter.
He shouted,
[Hey! I said I’d give all the information! We don’t have to fight now!]
“One of the things I want,”
Frondier’s voice continued as the golems crept closer,
“isn’t something you can tell me by speaking.”
[......What?]
“I want to know how strong you are.”
Even as Frondier’s voice was heard, the golems came nearer.
The closer they came, Bune fully understood the level of the golems arrayed around him.
'...What is this. Each one is...'
Meanwhile Frondier spoke.
“You always gave Antero victory. That’s why Antero became a Paladin. So you must be, you — you are the true measure of a Paladin’s prowess.”
[......You bastard......]
“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to kill.”
Bune flared aura from both hands. Even now his momentum surpassed a fully armed Antero.
But whether that was enough, Bune himself did not know.
“If you give me sufficient information,”
Frondier said.
After seeing Frondier’s smile earlier, Bune had felt incredulous.
But Frondier finally voiced it.
“In exchange, I will spare Antero’s life.”
[You blasphemous words of Satan, you—!!]
