Zeus looked to Elodie when his authority was blocked.
'Inies!'
Elodie, beloved by five gods—gods not of Olympus.
That power made even the chief god turn his head.
And that wasn’t all.
'One of the combined spells was made elsewhere. Frondier still has an ally!'
Elodie’s spell had an eerily fast construction time. Even for her, finishing a spell of this scale faster than Zeus’s authority was impossible. There had been help somewhere.
'However, if they think that will last forever—'
The moment Zeus turned his gaze to strike lightning again,
Aster stood before him.
“!!”
Kkaaanng!!
Two weapons collided. Excalibur and Astrape. A harsh metallic scream and heat blooming from friction.
“Aster, do you dare point a sword at me!”
“This isn’t pointing. It is cutting.”
Kugugugu─!
The powers dwelling in each weapon were evenly matched. The wielders were not.
Aster, the Hope of Humanity. In contrast, Zeus was not in his true body. There were limits to the strength he could produce with that flesh.
'I can cut him.'
Aster now held two Excaliburs. Either one had power enough.
Taang!
And Aster shoved Astrape aside.
At the same time, his eyes flashed, his blade gleamed. Excalibur’s edge drove on the diagonal for Zeus’s opening.
Whoosh─
Pajijijik!!
“Kwaaagh!”
But the one who screamed was Aster.
Just before cutting Zeus, the god’s figure suddenly vanished and Aster was engulfed in a searing shock of lightning.
Blink!
Aster looked back. Zeus was there.
He crossed a linear distance in an instant and scorched everything between with lightning—whoever or whatever it was.
'Truly a god of the sky. Even in a borrowed body he can wield this much!'
Aster lightly tightened his still-tingling hands and rolled his neck left and right.
At that sight, displeasure spread over Zeus’s face.
'He shook off paralysis after just that much movement.'
Of course Zeus wasn’t using the whole of his native strength. Even so, this should not have been endured so easily. He had hoped at least one of the two Excaliburs would drop from Aster’s hands.
Meanwhile Aster, seeing Zeus’s space magic, grew complicated in his head.
'I don’t know much about magic, but can he use that Blink whenever he wants?'
If Zeus could use it freely at any time—
If so, it was hopeless. No matter how Aster swung his sword, he wouldn’t even graze him.
Above all, lightning itself had a paralysis effect. One mistake and he really would drop his weapon. If he failed next time, Zeus’s strike would probably skewer him.
'...No, he can’t use it recklessly.'
Aster watched Zeus move.
Except for that moment, Zeus hadn’t used that leap. If it were a power he could use as he pleased, he had no reason to save it when he needed to reach the capital as quickly as possible.
'I can’t see it with my eyes, but it’s a spell that needs its own preparation.'
Aster took his stance again. The two Excaliburs still shone with clear light.
At that sight, Zeus’s senses stood on end.
'Ilseom.'
Aster intended to use Ilseom.
Ilseom, now possible without taking a middle guard. He meant to drive it at Zeus. Faster than Blink.
'Arrogant, Aster.'
Zeus’s Blink, fittingly, boasted the speed of lightning.
Even if Aster’s Ilseom was fast, it could not surpass lightning. Aster himself would know it.
In other words, Aster did not intend to beat Blink’s speed; he intended to arrive before Zeus’s activation.
'The Blink is already prepared.'
Now Blink would trigger literally at the speed Zeus blinked his eyes.
And Astrape, which he would fire at Aster after the Blink, was already thrumming and pulsing.
'Can you arrive faster than this, Aster.'
“...I’m coming.”
And Aster, foolishly, gave a signal. It was like a voluntary declaration that he would use Ilseom.
Aster did not take a middle guard. Both hands on the sword settled gently down.
A posture that seemed to be simply standing still.
Just like that.
—Ilseom.
In an instant, he reached Zeus.
A loosened posture that made it impossible to gauge the timing.
From stillness to top speed in a single beat.
However.
Pajijijijik─!!
Zeus read even that. As he shifted with Blink, he poured electricity over Aster.
'You overestimated your own technique, Aster!'
Zeus drew the hand gripping Astrape back. Once he fired it, Aster would be finished.
The Excalibur with which Aster had swung Ilseom lost its light and fell still.
And the remaining Excalibur—
—that sword still shone.
Ilseom.
Kwaaaang!!
“!!”
The Astrape Zeus was about to fire smashed into Aster’s blade.
Crack, cr-rack!!
The unprepared flesh of Zeus screamed. The arm holding Astrape had bones break and joints wrench out of place.
'Ilseom in succession...! How is that possible!'
Zeus’s eyes chased Aster, who had already flashed past him.
And Aster,
Seogeok─!
cut Zeus’s arm as he passed him again.
He had avoided worse purely on instinct; thus it stopped at the arm.
'Ilseom again!'
Already three in a row.
Aster had never intended to strike before Blink.
He only aimed for the opening after Blink.
“You cur! What trick—”
Seogeok!
This time, the leg.
Aster had no leisure to answer.
Zeus’s defeat had become clear.
In the midst of it, Zeus’s eyes followed Aster’s swords.
Losing this fight was fine. This wasn’t his true body.
But he had to carve the reason for the defeat into his eyes.
'...The swords are alternating,'
The sword using Ilseom changed each time.
When one lost its light, the other shone.
'Don’t tell me, that’s what—!'
– Legend of the Rock: Excalibur absorbs the wielder’s mana and life force to choose a worthy master. The mana and life absorbed become Excalibur’s power as-is.
– Legend of the Lake: By giving this sword to King Arthur, the Lady of the Lake declared his becoming a hero. The one who holds this sword shares mana with the lake. So long as the lake does not run dry, the wielder’s magic will not be exhausted.
The mana needed for Ilseom was stored in the sword and amplified by the Legend of the Rock.
The instant Ilseom was unleashed, mana was supplied by the Legend of the Lake and, together with the amplified mana, shifted to the other sword.
Mana being recharged and mana being amplified. Two synergies working as surplus created an infinite rotation.
In short, this technique was not something Aster could originally use.
To use this technique, it was absolutely necessary—
'Frondier! You wretch!!!'
In one of the two blades Aster held—
He felt the presence of a black-haired man.
Seogeok─!
And at last.
“Huff, huff! Huff!!”
Aster cut Zeus’s neck.
He panted for breath, trying to calm the lightning damage and the backlash from using Ilseom in succession.
Only after his breathing and pulse finally steadied.
“...I’m sorry.”
Aster offered an apology. To someone he did not know.
The human Zeus had possessed. He’d had no choice but to take that neck.
And even after this, Zeus would not die; he felt painfully how unfair this battle was.
Fweee—
And the corpse Zeus had possessed dropped, Astrape vanished from its hand at some point as it fell.
Thud!
The human body which Zeus had left hit the ground,
Crunch, craaack!
and was trampled.
Countless footprints pounded over it,
“Do not lose them!!”
A sharp voice swept the battlefield, cutting through the wind.
“Catch Frondier!”
“Atena! Frondier is dead! What order is this supposed to be!”
“I’ll explain later!!”
“I will demand the reason afterward!”
“I know—just go!”
At Atena’s command, the gods who followed her charged toward the 72 Demons at a brutal pace.
“Do not let them break through!!”
“Block them!!!”
The 72 Demons moved while protecting Frondier’s body. Frondier’s companions chased around them.
Keeping some distance as she ran, Selena shouted in a rough voice,
“Gregory! Has it not been ten minutes yet?!”
[Almost there!]
“Countdown!”
Kaaak─!!
Kaaak, kaaak!!
Gods and demons sprinted. Answering them, the crows cried in a flock. Sand and dust rose from the ground, and shouts and hollers like screams.
“Mei! Get over here now!”
Selena looked back.
Tiny-bodied Mei ran as hard as she could, but the distance from Selena widened a little at a time.
“Mei! Change your form!”
“N...o...!”
Ever since fixing her appearance, Mei now extremely refused to change it. She ran with all her might on that small body.
But her speed was lacking.
Then.
“Have I not shown you this yet?”
Mei’s body suddenly lifted and drew close to Selena.
Elodie was alongside them.
Elodie had lifted Mei with her magic.
“Mei, I never showed you flight magic?”
“...I can float. You can’t just do everything instantly. And you do it different every time, Elodie, it’s confusing.”
Mei spoke as if a little sulky.
Heh heh, Elodie smiled and looked to Selena.
“Selena! You’ll move together with Mei, right?”
“Yes!”
“Good, I’m leaving her to you!”
When Elodie pushed her hand lightly, Mei and Selena drew closer to each other.
Selena shouted once more.
“Gregory!”
[!]
Gregory’s crows were at Selena’s side, at Riri’s side, at Arald’s side, and alongside the 72 Demons protecting Frondier.
The crows cried out in unison.
[Three!]
Mei and Selena, their fingertips touched.
Shadow transfer.
[Two!]
The two reached Frondier’s side and made contact with his body.
[One!]
Immediately after—
“!!”
All the 72 Demons who had been protecting Frondier spread their wings at once and scattered in every direction.
To the gods chasing the demons, it looked like a swarm of bats dispersing.
“...What...?”
And in the place left after the demons scattered, there was no one.
No demon had taken Frondier away.
And thus Frondier vanished into thin air.
“Haa...! Haa...!”
Atena arrived a bit late. Catching her breath, she stood in a daze.
The other gods thought to chase the fleeing demons but gave up.
Frondier was already dead. The only one desperate now was Atena. The others had merely followed her orders.
With the King of Demons dead, the demons’ strength would be greatly broken. Their objective was not to annihilate the demons.
“Atena. It’s enough now. This is our victory.”
“...You call this victory?”
Atena returned a question to those words.
To feel so differently in the same situation!
“Our mission—no, our destiny—have you forgotten? You speak of victory when we have not even chosen the owner of the Golden Apple? Frondier just twisted destiny!”
“...Destiny returns to its original course with time. The Moirai do not teach us the whole of fate. We proceed only by tracing the outline of a vast picture. You know this, Atena.”
He was right.
Even if the Golden Apple had not yet been decided, perhaps that simply meant it had not begun. Today might not have been that day. It was true Aphrodite had forced things quite a bit.
But Atena could not accept it.
“But Frondier is still alive...!”
“Atena.”
The one who stepped forward then was Aphrodite.
“Why have you been saying that since earlier?”
“Aphrodite...!”
Aphrodite looked at Atena with cold eyes.
“I killed Frondier.”
“Aphrodite! Frondier is—!”
“To begin with, you.”
Aphrodite’s gaze turned on Atena.
It was a look so thick with suspicion it moved toward conviction on the other side.
“Why do you [N O V E L I G H T] think Frondier is alive?”
