History's most powerful rogue, in addition to possessing various offensive magic items, was also equipped with magic items to ward against attacks. The ornament he wore, a circular pendant, was called the Greatshield of the Dead.
Previously, when he'd brought low Vikeon the Smoldering, the truly invincible magic tool had nullified the dragon's black breath and protected not just his body but the periphery around him, too.
While it shielded him, the immense erosion and pain that occurred as compensation for its activation rendered him unable to fly or attack, but as long as he was in the middle of a rapid descent, this wasn't a big drawback.
"Found him! Kraaa-kraaak, found Alus the Star Runner!" "P-p-pursuit… Go!"
The wyvern soldiers swarmed Alus as he flew at low altitude, weaving through the city. Alus found both their speech and behavior altogether unusual. It struck him less that they were unintelligent but more that their language ability was simple and invariable.
"...Really creepy."
Kio's Hand, launched from Alus's hand, pierced through three wyvern soldiers simultaneously, sending them crashing into the river.
The streets were turned into a sea of fire. Ethereal flames ran through the city. Alus controlled the Ground Runner, setting fire to more of the city and hindering the ground forces' rapid response.
That was his plan.
If sniper fire from the minia was Regnejee's method of attack, then he simply needed to fully dismantle the means.
Instead of high up in the air, where they could target him from the numerous spires, he flew low. He lured enemies into the spaces between the spires and other buildings, defeating them all one by one, now that they were cut off from the marksmen and their reinforcements. He had used his trump card in the Greathshield of the Dead because he had bought enough time to allow the Ground Runner's fireballs to spread.
"Consider the source and take countermeasures." They were words his minia friend had once told him.
Even while he faced off against famous legends across the world, Alus the Star Runner was always thinking and always forming countermeasures.
He believed that itself was true strength. "…I'll counter this. That's right…"
"Did you think you could escape?"
The voice came from behind him. Alus craned his neck to face it.
Regnejee was descending upon him, accompanied by several dozen other wyvern soldiers.
"I didn't escape the flock like you did. That's why…your escape ends here. You're going to be killed by the same swarm you escaped."
"…You say escape, but…you escape from your enemies, you know," Alus replied sullenly.
"…So that means you think of your own swarm as your enemy." "Scum."
The independent rogue never once cared about his swarm. From birth, he had been a heretic, outside the wyverns' realm. To Alus, Regnejee's insistence on belonging to the swarm, after so many decades had passed, was nothing more than a joke.
"Here is where you burn to death, Three-Armed Alus."
The vanguard wyvern soldiers went into action. Their monotonous advance was easily knocked down with a flash from the luminous blade.
The lower altitude, lined against the buildings, made it impossible to pressure Alus on all sides like the wyvern soldiers had done before. They were forced to settle on a single direction. The carcasses of the wyvern soldiers descended to the city streets…
…and then burst. "...…Explosives."
The abrupt blast caused his stance to falter, and in that second moment, the next charge came rushing at him. A mad army, where no one valued their lives. In essence, they were charging at him precisely to die. Diving into the conflagration, simply so Alus would be caught in the aftermath of their explosions.
"…What is this?" Alus spoke with irritation while holding off against the nightmarish and relentless assault.
"...This is absurd… These aren't wyverns…"
They weren't free. The soldiers had none of it—none of the traits wyverns possessed that made them wyverns.
The explosions continued. The luminous blade glimmered, rending the air in a flash.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! That's right! They aren't wyverns anymore!"
There was a disquieting sound of wings that Alus hadn't heard until then.
"Kekexy ko kuyukha. Kirikiker. Kenhaor—" (From Regnejee to the Eupa wings. Dizzying canopy. Damp money—)
Mixed up with all the chaos, a battle-deciding situation unfolded.
At the center of the force, Regnejee spread his wings wide.
"—Kotastenon—"
There was smoke trailing up among the red flames. Though, this wasn't smoke but an extremely small and fine type of swarm. Wyverns weren't the only things residing within the spires, towering over the New Principality of Lithia.
Regnejee the Wings of Sunset released another army that lurked within the city.
"Fool. You're a pathetic idiot. Did you think you fled in this direction of your own volition? Why don't I tell you something interesting—?"
"…!"
Alus twisted his body in midair. The smoke was poisonous. He felt a definite foreign substance infiltrating his body with every breath.
"A certain species of pincer bugs is naturally attracted to the smell of burning pollen. These bugs are being controlled by my Life Arts. Back in Mage City, you burned through quite a number of my soldiers, eh?"
"...Gnnnaaak."
"You've inhaled smoke from the kindled straw. The residue from those suicide explosions is stuck to your lungs, too. Those suicide attacks led you here, to the bugs' hunting ground, flanked by their nests on all sides. Those puny thoughts of yours…from the very start, anything and everything has been entirely in line with my predictions. I don't need nearly as many of them, compared to poison gas, to be effective."
The bugs noisily began overtaking Alus. The soldiers' forward charges had all been to pin Alus down at that location so the nauseating insect swarm could take hold of him.
His mobility couldn't do anything to shake off the insects gathering inside his body. He couldn't incinerate them with his luminous blade, either. Neither gunshots nor whip attacks was an effective solution.
"What do you think will happen?" Regnejee jeered, looking down from high above at the rogue, in agony but still continuing to put up a fight.
The New Principality of Lithia's airborne army was a swarm of wyverns deprived of their own will. What exactly had the genius leader done to maintain his flock, despite having it taken from him during the True Demon King disaster?
"They'll bite through your palate and nostrils…before devouring the
freewill center of your brain."
Regnejee the Wings of Sunset was a genius beyond compare.
A Life Arts prodigy, capable of conferring behaviors and traits to insects unimaginable in the natural world. That was the true form of his abnormal power to command a flock and make them transcend their natural instincts.
By controlling bugs to debase other wyverns until they had truly insectile cognitive function, he was able to give them a Life Arts treatment, instilling a blind subservience within them. He absorbed a number of other wyvern flocks like this, thus creating his current army.
A command of wyverns. Also capable of ruling over a horde, exceedingly animalistic in nature—a tamer.
"Let me guess what you're thinking right now." "…What…think…?"
"That's right. Unlike earlier, I've come up to the front so my Life Arts can reach you. You think you can just use your last spurt of strength to attack me by surprise and cut off the head of command, don't you?"
"…Countermeasure…"
If the insects were blocking Alus's respiratory tract, making it impossible to breathe, that meant there was little time left before they tore through his palate and infiltrated his brain. Though it was possible that, deprived of oxygen, the deluge of wyvern soldiers would tear him to shreds first.
"...!"
"Draw your enchanted light sword."
The rogue unsheathed his enchanted light sword and slashed at Regnejee. A gamble in his final moments. Regnejee had seen right through this, too. Using several wyverns as sacrifices, he escaped upward, along the terrain.
"Meaningless, scum."
Even if he managed to kill Regnejee, it wouldn't change Alus's doomed
lot.
The bugs had already infiltrated his body. Their Life Arts–bestowed
directives wouldn't disappear even if the Life Arts user was eliminated. He would simply have his brain devoured from the inside, helpless to do
anything to stop them.
"Kekexy ko kuyukha. Kirikiker. Kenhaor. Kotastenon." (From Regnejee to the Eupa wings. Dizzying canopy. Damp money. Disturb.)
Alus shivered as, once again, even more bugs swarmed his body.
His attempt to close the distance with his final struggles and the position he flew into had both been within Regnejee's expectations as well. From the start, Alus's attack was never going to reach Regnejee, protected in his defensive formation.
His final attack sapping his remaining strength, the enchanted light sword slipped down from Alus's hand. His musket and the sack that collected his limitless magic items dropped to the ground.
The magic items, the foundation of Alus the Star Runner's unparalleled power—
"..."
Alus vacantly looked up to the sky above. It was no longer within reach.
"Your life was meaningless. The treasures you collected and your fame, too," Regnejee said, looking down at Alus.
"Do you know how to sing? I found a real treasure. Greater than any of yours."
"...Upward," Alus muttered as the swarming bugs obstructed his breathing.
He wasn't looking up at Regnejee. "...I thought…"
Instead, he was looking at the spire behind him. "What…? I've had you beaten from the very—"
Moving their fighting to the lower altitudes meant there was a spire in every direction. The nation of the New Principality of Lithia had these wyvern lodgings sprouting up all over the city, like a forest.
Realizing where Alus's eyes were fixed, Regnejee also turned to look at the spire behind him.
"..."
He turned to regard the blind spot at his back, where, as long as he watched Alus from up above and was protected by the wyvern formation, he
didn't need to worry about any danger.
Just what was Alus the Star Runner talking about? If Regnejee had to guess what the other wyvern was thinking, then—
—I thought you'd flee upward.
"I've won already, though."
Enormous flames were pouring down from the spire's peak.
The magic item of flame, which moved in accordance with its owner's will—Ground Runner.
Rushing from inside the spire up into the heavens, it burned Alus and Regnejee together, both located at the zenith of the magic item's path, with its monstrous heat.
"…You talk too much, Regnejee."
The showdown with the wyvern leader was decided. Alus looked at the dozens of wyvern soldiers, hollow shadows of what they once were, piled on the ground. A light cough, and pieces of seared bug carcasses fluttered down. Despite having his body engulfed in the roaring blaze, Alus's only injuries were the burns inside his respiratory system from breathing in the blistering air. The instant before he was going to be incinerated with his opponent by his own attack, he activated the only remaining magic tool he had left—the
Greatshield of Death.
Sitting at a distance beyond the range of his attacks. A lethal swarm of bugs buried inside his body.
Alus hadn't predicted either of these gambits. Nevertheless, he was a rogue who had invariably responded to every single battle scenario, no matter how far beyond his abilities of conjecture, he had ever faced.
"...…If you'd kept quiet, I would've had a bit more trouble."
—Minimal defensive coverage. To protect only himself. The flames he had purposefully rained down had incinerated everything but his own body, with the swarm of insects invading him unsparingly exterminated.
He had needed to temporarily forfeit the enchanted sword and sack to ensure they weren't caught up in the river of flame.
"..."
Flying down, he recovered his treasures.
Meanwhile, a winged silhouette departed into the night sky, leaving the
fire-scorched earth behind.
From the ground, engulfed in the conflagration, Alus saw a winged silhouette depart into the night sky.
His whole body covered in severe burns, Regnejee seemed to be flying toward the central stronghold's spire.
The wyvern who'd chosen freedom simply watched him depart. Though it was not an act of mercy.
"...…Farewell."
The Lithia nighttime, once bustling with activity, was now even brighter, though the illumination came from flames of destruction.
Many houses burned in the chaos, with citizens unable to find anywhere to hide, terrorized not only by the flames but the colossal tarantula that had broken through the defensive line and the military force that had infiltrated the city after it.
Two figures were running through the spectacle, shimmering in the heat. "Elea! The city's burning! Wh-where did this fire come from?!"
Elea grimly surveyed the scene. Right now, the head of operational command in Mage City was the Twentieth Minister Hidow. Even if she assumed he had mobilized his forces in response to the Cold Star's surprise attack, he was not the type of man to go with any operation that involved reducing residential areas to ash.
In other words, this inferno is either due to the Mage City soldiers running wild or a separate factor… Did some other force start the fire? Whatever the cause, Aureatia is probably going to take advantage of the confusion to bring down the New Principality…
The situation was swiftly deteriorating. If the soldiers indeed were running amok, allies or not, they were dangerous.
"…Elea."
Out in front, Kia abruptly stopped.
Her gaze had landed on two soldiers heading in their direction, and they
clearly didn't belong to the New Principality.
They seemed to have gotten separated from the main force's movements and were conversing with each other, their bloodied swords hanging low in their hands.
"Hey. Look. There's a woman. She's a New Principality girl, yeah?" "Stop. Focus on the task at hand. She's not even a soldier."
"Like I give a damn! Our city was destroyed by these bastards! They're all guilty!"
One of the men raved, his eyes bloodshot. Elea could hear Kia gulp, faced with the threat before them.
Elea looked for an escape route. It didn't appear that many roads had been spared from the spreading fire, but they weren't in true danger. With the power of the World Word, it would be simple to drive the two men back, but
—
If they're Mage City soldiers, they're allied with Aureatia… I need to dispose of every witness of the World Word's power, but without some excuse, it'll prove thorny down the line…
"You two… Okay, girls, stay right there…!"
The agitated man brandished his sword and threatened the pair. He began to draw closer.
Kia spoke up with a bit of a tremor in her voice. "Elea."
She only needed to give Kia her permission, and she could easily render the man powerless. Kia simply saying the words don't move would do the job.
"Hold on, Kia. I… First, let me try talking to him."
"What do we have here? Fighting over girls at a time like this?" "Huh?"
Elea heard the low voice come from directly behind her—without any prior warning to its presence at all.
Abruptly wheeling around, she saw a skeleton wrapped in a tattered cloak lingering behind her. She had absolutely no idea how or when he had gotten so close.
The skeleton twisted his white spear and turned his hollow black sockets toward the men.
"Sounds fun. Let me join in."
"Stay out of it! A construct bastard like y—"
His words were cut off. His tongue was sent flying, together with his decapitated head.
"Eek!"
The other man was given only enough time to react to the tragedy. His carotid artery had been sliced through, mere seconds prior.
No one there even registered the spear's movements. Between the skeleton and the soldiers, there were two houses' worth of distance, with Elea and Kia standing in the middle.
"Now then."
Beside the corpses, the skeleton slung his spear on his shoulder and appeared to size up Elea and Kia.
The name of the spearman, the architect of the scene of slaughter before them, was Shalk the Sound Slicer.
"Neither of you look to be from Lithia, either. Who are you?" "..."
"Silence, eh? Literally quieter than the dead, aren't you?" As he joked, Shalk twirled his long spear around again.
Even Elea the Red Tag could plainly tell just from the skeleton's presence
—the opponent before her was on an entirely different level than any warrior she had seen. If he felt like it, resistance or escape would be impossible for Elea and Kia.
We need to act first—have her tell him die.
Even constructs created from carcasses had a transient life, formed from Word Arts. The World Word's orders still should have an effect. But would Kia be able to say it fast enough?
This skeleton's spear was faster than speech. Could she direct Kia's actions without speech?
"I—"
Kia spoke up, her voice stiff.
"I came from the Eta Sylvan Province to study. This woman, she's my teacher…so, um, you saved us…right? Thank you."
"..." "But."
Kia's turquoise eyes looked at the two, now silent, soldiers. "But I don't think you needed to kill them, you know."
Shalk briefly stopped moving. "Kia!"
"What? He didn't! They hadn't done anything! We could've handled it much better ourselves!"
"Heh-heh. Ha-ha-ha-ha."
The skeleton's shoulders shook. He was laughing. "…You're right. That little lady there is right."
Again shouldering his blood-dyed spear, Shalk pointed off in one direction.
"The New Principality soldiers are evacuating people to the east side.
They'll get you out. The fire over there is still faint." "...What's…your name?"
"It's gone. At least, the one I had when I was alive is."
Dodging a clash with the fearsome spearman, the two took a moment to hide themselves in an alleyway. They needed to pay attention to avoid more encounters like the last one.
"…Kia. You really should escape with me. I understand you're worried about Lana. But you see now, don't you? This…isn't the time for childish self-indulgence."
Elea crouched down and rubbed Kia's cheek. The young girl nodded. "…You're right."
—Kia knew nothing—that the horrible sights before her were scenes of war or that the woman she was trying to save, Lana, was a target Elea needed to kill. She was a foolish elf from a primitive forest who didn't even think of questioning anything. Still, though, Elea asked herself—
What if I were her?
If at some point…there had been a single person, an adult she could trust, to shield her from the malice in the world, how would she have ended up?
No…I'm sure I would have had an even more wretched life. No one is on your side in this world. All I have is my own power. I, with my own hands, will find happiness…
Elea's mother, a prostitute, had been kept as a mistress to an Aureatia aristocrat and had lived out her days without ever earning a single reward. Elea had no intentions of ending up the same way. Making use of every
possible method at her disposal while shouldering dirty work like assassination and espionage, she had finally seized her chance.
The World Word. Truly genuine and unparalleled power, for Elea's sake. The girl glanced up and looked Elea in the eyes.
"…Still, please let me save her." "Kia…"
"I can't stand it… I can do anything, except save a friend? If I don't do something here, I just know when I grew older…I'll definitely regret it."
Kia's small fingers grasped Elea's hand on her cheek.
"So come with me. Teacher. I'll protect you, so watch me do the right thing. I want you to come with me no matter what…Elea!"
"..."
Elea closed her eyes as an inexplicable idea, irrational even to herself, came into her head.
She had no reason to dispose of Lana the Moon Tempest. Lana wouldn't be able to go back to either Aureatia or the New Principality now. There would be no reason to tell anyone about Elea's connection to the World Word, nor was such an opportunity likely to present itself.
"I'm invincible anyway. I want to be happy."
Elea felt the warmth Kia's body and a slight tremble through her fingers. Elea wanted happiness. That's what she was always hoping for.
"…Yes. That's a good point."
Elea smiled. As she ran her hand over Kia's blond hair, her tender turquoise eyes brimmed with tears.
"I ended up being the one taught something today. You're my best student, Kia."
Guided again by the detecting piece of cloth, they set out running through the middle of the disaster. Even as the atrocities of war unfolded both in the air and on the ground, none of the damage reached the two of them, just as Kia's words commanded.
Once the war had started, the situation would quickly be settled through an unimaginable dimension of terror and fear. Whether in victory or defeat. Ironically, it also served to prove the righteousness of rule via the overwhelming individual strength to which Taren the Punished ascribed.
"Hey, Elea! We'll still be able to go back, right…? Back to when everything was peaceful?"
"Well…"
"For the city Lana loved so much to end up like this, and, well…Lana's suffered so much, too! It's awful, isn't it?!"
"Yes…quite terrible."
Kia's and Elea's backgrounds were worlds apart from each other. Kia didn't understand a thing. The Eta Sylvan Province where she had grown up was one of the few frontiers to escape the atrocities of the True Demon King. She knew nothing about how irrevocable tragedy and terror were in the current age.
"…I hope everyone can return to normal."