Selena knew that Aster would attack Frondier.
Because last night, Frondier had told her in advance.
“Aster will probably attack me.”
“......Pardon?”
At first, Selena couldn’t understand what Frondier was saying.
She had anticipated that Aster would come this way, but that he would attack Frondier?
Selena asked,
“When you say ‘probably,’ what kind of probability do you mean?”
“Around ninety percent.”
So that’s what he calls “probably.” This man.
“Why would Mr. Aster attack?”
“For one, because I’m going to guide him that way.......”
Frondier gave a wry smile there.
“Aster doesn’t like me.”
“......Sorry?”
Frondier often said strange things, but this one went beyond strange—she simply couldn’t understand it.
“Mr. Aster dislikes you, Lord Frondier? It sure didn’t look that way.”
If anything, isn’t the one who evaluates Frondier the highest Aster? Frondier knows that too. He himself turned himself into the wall Aster has to overcome and accelerated his growth.
“I know Aster rates me highly, but in truth Aster’s situation is an enormous stressor.”
“Stress, sir?”
“Selena, of all the training you’ve done so far, what was the hardest?”
“......Enduring torture.”
“......No, not ‘painful and miserable’—‘difficult.’”
At that, Selena tilted her head with a low hum.
“......Cutting mana flow with needles, after all. You have to hit a single moving vital point with considerable accuracy.”
Most who are struck by Selena’s needles crumple like puppets with strings cut. That’s because Selena reads the opponent’s mana flow and severs it. If it lands properly, combat incapacity is certain; mishandled, they die from shock.
Frondier nodded and asked,
“Then what do you think it would be like if, up to now, that technique still didn’t succeed?”
“Well, that would be tremendously...... Ah.”
There, Selena understood.
What the stress Aster now bears actually is.
“Aster and I are in the same year, and we’ve known of each other’s existence since first year. Our images were polar opposites. And before we knew it, both of us graduated and are doing our own work.”
In other words, at least two years have passed.
In that time, Aster has never once had the conviction that he has surpassed Frondier.
“Challenging a task with a clear goal—if you keep at it for two years, a person gets exhausted. But Aster doesn’t even know what my level is. He doesn’t know whether I’m stronger or weaker than he is.”
Aster fights Frondier’s wraith.
He fights an opponent who is by definition stronger than himself—an opponent he is by definition bound to lose to.
'This is similar to Elodie’s trauma. Especially in the point that the opponent cannot be defeated.'
The trauma he had seen in Elodie’s dream. Aster’s feeling when he looks at Frondier is probably the same.
Selena blinked in surprise at those words.
“......I never even thought of that. He’s never shown any sign of it.”
“Well, Aster is strong, and kind, and diligent, and righteous, and handsome.”
“The last part has nothing to do with it.”
“And slightly insane.”
“......That’s the important part.”
Seen from the outside alone, Aster is an extremely flat character.
From a game’s perspective, this is all too natural. Aster is the protagonist the player controls.
But in a world that isn’t a game—from the perspective of reality, Aster is rather chilling.
Flat characters are only permissible in games.
A character who does not succumb to countless hardships, pains, and adversity, who does not grow indolent, who does not become sullied, who does not fear. A character who shows no weakness, stands up straight, and leads everyone.
A character untouched by all evil and filled only with all that is good.
This is usually called “flat,” and thus a person who ought not to exist in reality.
'In that sense, Aster is what you would call insane—but there’s no way that continues forever.'
Of course, if Frondier had heard how Aster talks when confronting enemies, he might have reconsidered “goodness,” but he hasn’t seen that yet.
“Then should we prepare in advance to stop Mr. Aster?”
“No—we have to make him bring out his full power. Even if he attacks me, he won’t come to kill me.”
“......Is this really a proper plan?”
“There’s no such thing as proper. You just keep it rolling somehow.”
And this part is trickier than it sounds.
The reason Aster won’t try to kill Frondier is, of course, because they’re friends and comrades—but ultimately it’s because that is Aster Evans.
To draw out Aster’s full power, a reason of equal weight is necessary.
“You mean you’re going to make Mr. Aster angry?”
“No, steering Aster’s emotions is impossible. Whether it’s anger or anything else.”
Frondier stated it flatly.
Changing Aster’s emotions is impossible.
Frondier had often done such things, but with Aster, it’s useless.
“Aster can only bring out his full power by ‘necessity.’”
“Necessity, sir?”
“First, it has to be a situation where Aster himself has to bring out his full power.”
This is the basic premise. Aster fights to match the opponent’s ability whoever the opponent is.
Frondier’s face, as he said what came next, looked a bit lonely.
“And I have to be confirmed as the enemy.”
****
Two Excaliburs boiled as they sought to slice each other’s space.
'Aster is kind and righteous, but he doesn’t get swayed by sentiment. Even more so if the other party is me.'
Frondier spared no mana. He poured most of himself into Excalibur.
'Whether friend or comrade—if the opponent in front of him right now is an ‘enemy.’'
Frondier looked into Aster’s eyes. Aster does not hide his emotions. He doesn’t even try, and he has no need to.
No doubt about it. Aster intends to cut Frondier.
He feels that if he doesn’t, he will die.
Then—
“I’m here.”
A little farther off, someone sprang out of Selena’s shadow.
It was Mei.
“Mei! Cutting it close!”
“You called me to cut it close.”
Mei still spoke with a detached face.
At the crow’s signal, Mei had simply moved. She wasn’t late.
Mei looked at Frondier.
She sent him a voice transmission.
[Frondier, I’m here.]
[Good. Wait for my signal.]
Frondier, receiving a voice transmission with Aster right in front of him.
All preparations were complete.
'Good!'
Seeing that, Selena got ready.
This was Frondier’s original plan.
Frondier, the King of Demons, is wiped out without a trace by Aster’s attack—so goes the story.
This war is a fight between gods and demons. At this time when Frondier has declared himself the King of Demons and the 72 Demons have bowed their heads, if the King of Demons dies, the war will end.
You can’t kill a demon who’s already dead.
To make this possible, Selena’s shadow transfer and Aster’s all-out attack were indispensable.
'If I match the timing with Mr. Aster’s attack as is and transfer—!'
Right before Aster’s attack lands, she evacuates with a shadow transfer in combo with Mei.
It’s a dangerous gamble, but it’s the only way to stop the war.
All that remained was to wait for Frondier’s signal, which would be sent by voice transmission.
And just then—
'......All we have to do now is run.'
Frondier looked at Aster.
Aster had not one speck of doubt.
The opponent he had worked endlessly to surpass—Frondier. He had finally declared that he and Aster were enemies, and was about to clash with full power.
After more than two whole years, Frondier’s back—the wraith he had chased—was finally within reach.
Frondier looked into those eyes.
Aster’s eyes are blue.
He knew all too well that they are blue eyes.
'......Ah.'
Damn it.
You stupid brat.
You’re probably the biggest fool in this world, Frondier.
Weaving, Heukcheon
Rank — Main-Role Divinity
Mjölnir
In Frondier’s other hand, a hammer was gripped.
“?!”
“Frondier!”
Mjölnir, utterly unnecessary in this situation where he should be running.
The meaning was obvious.
“Aster.”
Crackle, KZZZZTTTT!!!
Mjölnir drank lightning and roared.
Excalibur in one hand, Mjölnir in the other.
“If you can’t block this, stop playing the hero!!”
“Block it?”
Aster’s middle guard received that surging momentum with nothing but composure.
He had planned to use only Excalibur’s power, but Aster changed his mind as well.
He would go with Ilseom.
“If I’m going to cut you, why are you telling me to block it?”
A vein stood on each of their faces with a twitch.
And then—
Shwiik─!
“Ilseom,” stepping forth in a split instant, and—
KAAANG!!!
“Jeong,” struck down with the hammer, crashed toward each other.
Seeing that, Selena bit her lip.
'Ilseom came out late. Lord Frondier waited for himself to attack first.'
There exists no method for Frondier to outpace the speed of “Ilseom.”
Therefore, if Frondier were an ordinary enemy, he would have been cut by Aster’s Ilseom before he could try anything.
In other words, Aster deliberately held back.
He waited for Frondier’s attack to burst forth.
With the resolve to cut all of it with Ilseom.
'......The one who gave up on running, and the one who ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) could cut first but waited—'
Selena’s face twisted strangely.
'I honestly don’t understand either of you!'
KZZZZZTT!!
Frondier’s Jeong is a ranged attack, but Aster’s Ilseom is a technique that throws his whole body.
“Grrrk......!”
Ilseom, which until now had cut through every bit of distance on a straight line, was stopped midway for the first time.
It was the combination of a god and a hero—two weapons. On the other hand, Aster held only a hero’s weapon. No matter that it was Excalibur—this time the opponent had Excalibur as well.
'There’s no way he can cut through—'
Selena thought, and—
Kkrajik!!
Aster cut through even that thought along with it.
“!”
Aster’s Ilseom pierced Jeong and reached Frondier.
The momentum of Ilseom still had not stopped.
'Got you!'
In that moment, Aster thought.
His power breaking through Frondier’s full strength and arriving.
At this rate, Frondier would be cut.
Within his common sense, it was impossible for Frondier to cope with this.
Then what should he do? Should he forcibly twist the trajectory like when he faced Renzo? If so, his body would be ruined again.
But rather than cutting Frondier—
'......No.'
At that moment, Aster looked at Frondier.
Aster does not read facial expressions.
He simply believes.
Frondier’s face—unchanging, impassive, languid.
And above all, to Aster, Frondier is like a wraith.
In that instant—
Tuk—
Something Frondier threw flew straight at Aster.
It looked like a jewel.
'What is this......?'
Before he could react, Ilseom shattered that crystal, and—
KWHOOOOOOOM─!!
A storm of mana swollen all at once exploded between the two.
“Kh......!”
At last the momentum of Ilseom subsided; Aster, at the sudden pressure of mana, stepped back.
'My mana is still there......!'
Just as Aster had received others’ Ecleksis with his body.
What Aster had cut, having received all of Aster’s power, raged.
There, Frondier reached out a hand.
Weaving, Heukcheon.
“Oh!”
The one who made a sound then was, strangely enough, Cybel.
In that instant, Frondier and Cybel each heard a very similar sound.
Kkiririk─
Clack.
