The silt of the wilderness is transformed into a meadow of steel.
They had witnessed the Holy Knights' frenzied violence before, but the miracle before them was enough to make even the Demon Lord Caracael cringe.
A miracle that mended the world. If it were just turning dirt into steel, it would have been a bit of a spectacle.
But
This is no mere trick of the eye.
[My lord. That is──]
The landscape changed with the Iron Oath.
[That's not the end of it.]
Caracael looked at the humans, small as earthly worms, but there was a presence that made even a Demon Lord like himself nervous.
Layers upon layers of the highest magical barriers that would make even the Magician Queen cringe, preparing for the enemy's actions. But Caracael felt uncomfortable.
"Fall first."
[────!!]
The next moment, Caracael and the Archdemons realized they were being pulled by something.
It was an overwhelming gravitational pressure, far beyond planetary gravity that crashed the Archdemons who were flying with their wings.
-Kaaaah!
All the evil beings who were arrogantly flying in the sky crashed to the ground.
Reversal of gravity? Generation of attraction?
No, these are not laws of physics.
Holy Knights are lawbreakers. They rewrite the laws of the world according to the divinity they believe in.
[Iron and Blacksmiths.]
Caracael willed his magic.
Alchemy
The artifacts containing 'iron' that he wore all over his body had their nature changed.
With that, each and every one of the artifacts that were dimensional treasures were reduced to useless trinkets.
[Lord…!]
The Archdemons changed the nature of the trinkets on their bodies to follow the Lord's lead. These are artifacts they've worked so hard to create, but they can't help it.
All the 'iron' in this holy place is controlled by them.
[Indeed, your judgment is swift, fiends]
The timbre of the voice was not human.
It was not merely a change in appearance, but a change in content.
He had taken on the nature of gods in his human body.
Holy Law──
The pupils of the Archdemons' eyes filled with horror.
Until now, the Holy Knights' holy power had been centered on their bodies but now, that knight is changing the landscape itself, radiating an infinite amount of holy power.
It is the beginning of a miracle that seems to have gathered the power of the entire world.
A glowing hammer is swung. The hammers carved into the landscape fall toward the demons.
Great Magic
The barrier deployed by the five Archdemons is a formidable one, a great wall of invincibility that can never be broken. But──
-Bang!
The hammer smashed through the barrier and crushed the demons. With a single blow, the two Archdemons burst into horrific shapes.
[What…!]
[This can't be happening!]
Demons of Wisdom and Exploration, masters of magic casted an absolute defense by using a formula that was perfected after tens of thousands of years of research by sages with the highest magical power.
However Antoine broke not one, but five of them at the same time?
Their bodies tremble from the terrifying attack that makes them want to deny reality.
They know they won't survive the second attack but worst of all, even those who just survived that blow seem to have been shaken to the core.
It is terrifyingly strong. How can mortals who can't even live a thousand years possess such great power?
[Surprising]
And yet the Lord of Wisdom is alive and well.
[....]
Antoine clicked his tongue at the strength of the demon that had been struck by the direct hit. The nearby Archdemons had been crushed, but the Lord had taken the blow and was unscathed.
The absolute strength of the destructive power wielded by the Iron Concept had transformed the moment it met its barrier from a bending of the laws to a mere blow
[Let it begin, the greatest battle of this century is yet to come]
With a wave of his hand, Caracael activated the magic circle carved into the expanse.
* * * * *
-Kiie-e-e-e-e-e!
-Forward!
The forces of evil cry out. Forward.
-Strike!
-Hold on until the magic is complete!
The forces of righteousness call out. Defend.
-Kwakkakkakkakkakk!
A hail of magical blades strikes the ground.
It seems that no living creature can survive the intensity of the Demon Lord and Archdemons' magic.
Holy Law
Holy Law
But even more powerful than magic is the holy power of this land.
[Crush it!!]
Embracing Heto, the God of Iron and Blacksmithing, the Holy Knight crushes his foes from the front. The aftermath of his hammer blows against the Demon Lord is enough of a disaster for them.
"...."
Beatrice watched them go, building her magic circle.
In the battle of the Demon Lord against Divinity the demons and freemen were swept away and killed by the aftermath alone.
In the midst of a battle that artificial intelligence had determined to be a dead end, they had blossomed into a miracle.
'It's definitely gotten easier.'
Beatrice's magic staff was still constructing a simple gate to leap through space.
It was a spell that normally wouldn't be possible with Caracael intervention but the Lord of Wisdom was too busy battling the Divinity of Iron and Blacksmithing to pay attention to this.
"Lord Yappy, how's the work progressing?"
-86% progress.
Beatrice was in such a hurry that she entrusted Yappy with a magic circle that she would have done entirely with her own hands.
But she's not willing to compromise her prudence for a one-time opportunity. If it's just a matter of drawing a magic circle and she trusts Yappy to recreate it perfectly from data.
"The moment we deploy the magic circle, he'll know it's there. We need a way to buy time until Lord Antoine returns."
-Suggested.
Yappy explained the plan to Beatrice, and she nodded.
"What are the odds of success?"
"2.714%."
"That's much better than before."
They were hopelessly low odds but knights are willing to throw themselves off a cliff of 0%. Then──
"As a magician who's supposed to be sober, I shouldn't say this, but... let's pray for a miracle."
She, too, was a miracle worker and a saint in the service of God.
* * * *
Caracael magic poured forth and each one was a disaster: earth crumbling, heavens splitting, the end of the world.
With a wave of his hand, he conjures up horrific disasters that no mortal can withstand.
[Strong]
But not the Holy Knight. No, the hammering of the blacksmith, a god himself, crushes the Demon Lord's magic.
Lightning bolts are absorbed by the hammer and hurled back, and flames rising from the ground are contained by the iron earth.
Before the Demon Lord is a saint who performs one miraculous feat after another.
Indeed, the strongest species in the dimension and the most powerful creature on earth, feared by even the demons.
No wonder Demon Lord Glacier chose to flee from Randolce Plain.
If even the Holy Knight of Iron and Blacksmith is this good, what kind of monster is the Grail Guardian, their pinnacle?
[The pinnacle of your kind, he must have the power to defeat a lord.]
He admitted it but that's why this invasion was the right thing to do.
If these monsters were to increase in number and eventually spread their divinity throughout the dimensions, the demons would not be able to withstand and would be defeated.
This was a dimension with humans so beloved by the gods.
They were worthy of love, worthy of strength. But──
[Not enough. You cannot reach me.]
The humans, after all, were a vessel too small to contain the full power of the divine.
[End of analysis. Die.]
Caracael was about to shoot a deadly spell.
-Diversify!
A mecha approached through the chaos of the battlefield. It was the stellar iron hull of the Yakt Spinner, which Caracael had pierced.
-Self-destruct sequence initiated. Core forced to runaway.
At that moment, Yappy's fuselage forced its own power reactor to explode, a fission reaction far beyond the technological capabilities of Earth humans.
-Kuwaaaaaaaaaaah!!!
A massive blast of heat and explosion engulfs Caracael. For a moment, the light from the explosion engulfs the world and blinds him.
[A nuclear explosion… such a primitive prank!]
Caracael unleashed a new spell with his left hand, even as he deployed his right.
The vast explosion was compressed and contained, like being sucked into something.
Compressing a simple thermal blast is as easy as breathing for him; it would take at least a divine flame to strike him.
A low-level nuclear fission would be blocked with a single finger of magic.
──────!!
[Hmm?]
That was it. The explosion was gone.
[My lord! They've opened the gate!]
Indeed, they had. Caracael stared at the silvery woman who had opened the gate.
The human understood how the gate worked.
[You're going to run away.]
Very few can travel through a short-range leap gate and Caracael realized that they plan to abandon all the soldiers and knights here.
[Arrogant, did you think you could escape me?]
At best, Beatrice's short-range leap gate could be closed immediately with Caracael magic. But──
"Destroy the evil species!"
"Protect with your life!"
The Holy Law of Flame swings toward Caracael but that's not all. The knights hurl their holy spears enhanced by the holy power of the land at Caracael.
[Abandoned ones, indeed…!]
Caracael parried their javelins, releasing the thermal energy contained in his left hand. Combined with his mana, a terrifying explosion of what could only be described as a mana nuclear explosion hit them.
[Too late. But──]
Thanks to this, the gate could not be closed and Caracael stretches out his right hand, which was building up his magic a moment ago.
A beam of death rushed towards the people throwing themselves towards the gate.
* * * *
A crack appeared in the center of the city, and the gate opened.
"Whoa…!"
-Whoosh!
Poured out of it were three people and a horse.
"It… worked!"
Beatrice was relieved that she had managed to escape and Yappy updated the database with this miraculous achievement.
"Hmm...."
-Hmm?
A groan was picked up by the high-powered sound system. The pulsation of the thumping heartbeat they'd been picking up earlier faded.
"Lord Antoine?"
Beatrice stares at him, noticing the anomaly as well.
The Holy Knight of the Iron and Blacksmiths stood steadfast despite the gaping hole in his heart.
"Apparently…it wasn't perfect."
Antoine scratched his head, even as he stared at the dripping blood.
"Lord Antoine, hurry up and treat him…!"
Beatrice tried to help him up, but Antoine waved her away.
"Go to the forge."
"What?"
-What?
Even as the two stood there puzzled, Antoine strode toward the forge carrying the moon shards that had cost the lives of many soldiers and knights.
Arriving, he picked up a hammer from the forge, ignoring the sound of the blacksmith priests.
"From now on I will forge stardust."
-Unavailable. Your life activity will cease shortly.
"It was ordained from the moment you descended from divinity into mortality."
It was a miracle only a living demigod with a Lionheart could have pulled off.
Only a living saint could maintain that temporary miracle o, to put it another way, in this fleeting moment Antoine is a "dying demigod."
"Holy Knight of Iron, time is running out for this master, and he has only one chance to teach his pupil."
-....
"I will show you once. This is my first and last lesson."
Antoine raised his hammer.
-Bang!
"I set out on the path to receive the quest."
Even if his missing heart can't produce oxygen.
-Bang!
"Along the way, I met the future Lionheart King, and we shared an honorable journey."
Even if his trembling arms can't power the hammer.
-Bam!
"I was taught by the greatest blacksmith of all, and I challenged him."
Even when his bloodshot eyes can't even see.
-Bam!
"In the end, I did not surpass him, but my sword-bearers have slain the enemies of the kingdom, and my spear-bearers have defended it."
He didn't doesn't stop but moved slowly and intensely, as if to inscribe each movement.
-Bang!
The iron is forged with the divine will.
His every action is history.
"I have shared glory with the greatest of kings, the Lionheart King, and I have been loved by the gods and honored beyond measure."
The hammering continues.
His blurry vision now turns to the next blacksmith.
"Put your faith in iron. Imagine the future you will create with your hammering. The sword you forge will cut down the kingdom's enemies, and the armor you forge will protect your comrades."
He throws his hammer, a very old, worn, saccharine hammer with the history of a blacksmith.
"A weapon is a tool for killing, but in the right hands, it is a shield to protect the world."
May the sword and shield you forge protect the world.
The holy power in his body scatters as the life force he'd held on to is gone, and his hair has faded to a blazing white.
His crumbling body leaned against someone else's, unable to keep from collapsing.
"...."
He felt a heartbeat and Antoine knew who it belonged to.
"Is it Sir Leon....?"
"Yes, it is Lord Antoine."
"In a man's arms…Gildus would be disgusted if he saw it."
"Who would doubt a man with children?"
"That too."
"And your son… do you have any words for Aren?"
"...."
The words made Antoine pause for thought.
He was a great father, a loving husband, and a brilliant teacher.
He had given his son love, respect, and instruction, so if he had anything else to say-─
"To the end. Defend the kingdom, defend the king!"
Just his life's attitude.
"...."
Leon sighed, staring at the flame of his friend that had been extinguished in my arms.
"I'll tell him your last words."
In Leon's 85th year Sir Antoine, Holy Knight of the Iron and Blacksmiths ascended.