Book 19 Chapter 26
Lambard Workshop,
Former Aristocrat Extermination Battle (5)
The roar of the Mad Dragon soon pierced a hole in the sky with its breath of light.
That light pushed back the sandstorm covering the horizon, opening a path that extended to the night sky beyond, brilliantly unfurling countless mirages and auroras.
The afterimages of that light glittered like snow, showering down upon everyone on the battlefield—
‘My energy is returning…?’
‘My magic is being replenished…?’
‘My wounds are healing…?’
It was warmly caressing the bodies, minds, and souls of all who had been groaning before the dominion of darkness.
“Kkyuung, Kkyuung!”
Rin, who had been pushed to her physical limits and whose fingers were twitching while exhausting all her magic potions, also experienced the same healing phenomenon.
‘This is a Divine Dragon…’
Is that what true ultimate power is? The path ahead is truly long.
And truth?
Does it mean I'll be able to use runes freely? Merging and dividing? But now is not the time to think about such things.
“Rin, don't worry about this here!”
As Rin was about to unleash her magic, Friede's shout struck her ears.
“Rista will be back soon! Until then, we'll deal with this guy, so you stop the enemy reinforcements from coming! The Mad Dragon Exalted is here too!”
Even with the Mad Dragon joining, the battle situation was not overwhelmingly eased.
The number of Annihilation Squads…
Perhaps recognizing the Mad Dragon as a threatening presence, they split into 49 units all at once!
“Holtranks, retreat three steps! Reconstruct the defensive formation around the Mad Dragon Exalted!”
At Paladin Riven's command, the sight of the fairy soldiers moving in perfect order was truly art itself.
The formation, shaping into a hedgehog with shields and long spears, instantly moved three steps backward as if moving a toy.
Sasa Simian clasped his hands at the center of that formation and offered a soul-carving prayer. It was the same prayer as Shurigan's, offered to the heavens.
“Sasa-nim will prevent this area from becoming a desert by the power of the Annihilation Squad. Endure without yielding before that ancient evil, just as our ancestors did! We, who hold the courage to defy the dominion of evil, are the first descendants!”
That 300 fairy soldiers forming the Holtranks formation blocked a demon army ten to twenty times their number is not a legend (傳說) but a truth (眞實).
‘Truly, they're unbelievably reliable fellows, except for being hopelessly arrogant.’
One strange thing for Friede was the Mad Dragon Haraderiman's status.
Something is different.
Unlike when she was appointed as a priestess and offered her greetings at the Papal See, her power was considerably weakened.
‘Did she send a clone? No, by all appearances, it's her main body…’
Therefore, Haraderiman provided support from the rear rather than fighting the Annihilation Squads on the front lines. It wasn't a complete retreat, but rather, she took over Rin's position.
Of course, even if her power was weakened, she was fundamentally a being of an entirely different caliber from mortals.
Compared to Rin, the support was not lacking in the slightest—no, it was even more powerful and flawless.
「Rel bur Dubem Kas!」
As the radiance of meditation clashed with the sands of annihilation and space-time trembled wildly, the struggle against the former aristocrats began once more.
* * *
「For Haraderiman to have grown enough to send you here, Karanden would be truly delighted if I told him. Though he wouldn't show it.」
The Blood-Red Sun Shurigan was like a symbol of benevolence (仁愛).
If someone could love all people with a mother's heart, it would surely feel like this.
Rista, surprisingly, felt the warmth of a mother from Shurigan—a warmth she had thought she would never receive again.
‘But this feeling is strange. It's somehow familiar. I feel like I've sensed a similar aura somewhere before…’
And Rista couldn't possibly have had contact with ‘Those Who Came’ like Eos.
‘And somehow… doesn't she resemble Shuan?’
If Shuan's hair had been fully blood-red, they would have looked quite similar, but this thought itself felt very blasphemous.
「Hmm, and the city I'm trying to build here will become that famous, you say? Hearing that makes me want to put even more effort into it.」
Shurigan rejoiced purely like a child at the mention that this land would be filled with people and that civilization would flourish.
Perhaps she had many other matters to attend to, as she would start to ask a question only to issue another command elsewhere.
In historical texts, the reason Shurigan was called the Blood-Red Sun was said to be because the tears she shed for the pitiful and sorrowful reality of this world were like blood. Rista realized that this was an unexaggerated truth. Perhaps it was even an understated assessment.
「I don't think our work failed. So I'm not particularly curious about it.」
When asked if she wasn't curious about what happened to ‘Those Who Came,’ Shurigan emphatically shook her head.
「Because you are here. The fact that you, who know how to love other lives and love friends, are here, simply makes me inexplicably happy.」
However, Shurigan's appearance seemed close to that of a wreck. This was likely because she expended all her energy daily purifying too many worlds.
Shurigan is famous for having carried out world purification with her partner, ‘Noble Moon, Maxentia.’
For Shurigan and Maxentia's power had the authority to breathe life into lands rotting away in the abyss.
「I apologize for disturbing you. You must be busy too. I also have my own duties… Ah, one last thing.」
“Yes?”
「Is there a child named ‘Eos’ recorded in the future?」
Eos? Who is that?
She wasn't an Eldia hero, nor one of ‘Those Who Came,’ and Rista had never heard of her.
Would Friede know?
“I'm sorry. My companions might know… I'll be sure to ask when I return.”
「No, it's fine. If she isn't recorded, does that mean she lived a normal life and died? If so, I might even be happier…」
Rista, not understanding what she meant, looked at Kaduel, who quietly smiled, pushing up his goggles.
「That is the name of the child currently in the womb of Maxentia Exalted. He is the son of the two of them.」
Shurigan muttered to herself repeatedly about something before finally leaving with a smile that was both joyful and sorrowful.
「Thank you very much for delivering the good news. In return, I will lend you Eldia Alma and Bete. I will take charge of replenishing supplies, so you two look after this friend.」
After Alcaeus saw Shurigan off with a respectful salute, he finally looked at Rista.
「What we can teach you is not swordsmanship. Your swordsmanship has already reached the stage of completion in the mortal realm.」
The swordsmanship training from the two Eldia heroes began.
「You said your weapon was an imitation that couldn't exert its true power, but that statement is half right and half wrong.」
“What do you mean?”
「Our weapons, which you call holy swords, were forged by our Master who refined the Genesis Psalms into blade form.」
Genesis Psalms?
The Psalms Friede uses?
「Naturally, the sword's abilities are influenced by those Psalms. Only by drawing out the power of the Psalms can one draw out the true power of the sword.」
「We sense a faint fragment of the Illumination Psalms (闡明詩篇) in your weapon. It's more like molecular particles, barely even a fragment.」
“Illumination Psalms? That's a Psalm I've never heard of.”
「It is the Psalm of Enuel and her dedicated weapon, Sharillion. The content of the Psalm is the story of the Genesis Gods who established the order of the created world through ‘commands’.」
Kaduel continued Alcaeus's explanation.
「Therefore, the power of the Illumination Psalms also allows one to interfere with providence itself through commands… No, it's not just interference. It becomes possible to control it. You must also become capable of doing that.」
How could she possibly use the power of Enuel, the master of valorous tales who sliced the sky, cut mountains, and parted the seas?
「The power of the Illumination Psalms is command. It's a swordsmanship that draws strokes across dimensions to make that command recognized by providence, but it's not a power a mortal can dare to imitate.」
“Then what should I do?”
「Normally, there's nothing you can do. But you can use the fragment of Haraderiman residing within your body as a catalyst.」
“Were even the Three Divine Dragon Exalted beings forged from Psalm fragments?”
「All beings forged by our Master are like that. Ain would be different, I suppose. However, since Haraderiman's fundamental nature comes from a Psalm different from the Illumination Psalms, it will be impossible to fully draw out the power of the Illumination Psalms.」
As disappointment clouded Rista's face, Alcaeus shook his head.
「The Illumination Psalms are the highest and strongest of all Psalms; being able to use even a fragment of it with a mortal body is remarkable.」
“…!”
「Let's conclude the explanation here. From now on, I will infuse the power of my Psalms into all your energy points so that you can feel that power.」
Alcaeus said with a somewhat cautious demeanor.
「However, you might die from the shock.」
「But Commander, this is the only fastest method. You awakened even Shurviel, who was late in awakening her power, this way. And I believe in this Rista's talent and ability.」
“I'll do it. Please let me. I'm not afraid.”
Rista stepped forward, placing a hand on her chest first.
‘There's no time for hesitation.’
For even now, her companions would be fighting with all their might beyond the boundaries of time.
「Very well. But the Commander's warning is by no means empty words, so concentrate. So that the power of the Psalms doesn't backflow and shatter your soul.」
Kaduel placed a hand on the middle of Rista's back as she sat in the lotus position.
At that moment, that single moment.
The universe (宇宙)? Celestial bodies (天體)? Nature (自然)? An indescribable aura of power, perhaps to be called the light of creation, began to surge throughout her body, and her eyes flashed open.
「The power you are feeling now is not your own. It is the miracle of creation laid across the entire world. The ability of the Psalms is to make that miracle your own power.」
It seemed that how that power was utilized differed according to the content of the Psalm.
Enuel's power was the Illumination Psalms.
Enuel was said to use the power of the Illumination Psalms through a method called [Imprint Slash], but the two Eldia heroes said they could only explain the principle, as they could not imitate it because the Psalms engraved in their souls were different.
「…This is Enuel's ability as registered in my archive, but can you understand it?」
Kaduel, who had thoroughly explained the power of the Illumination Psalms and Enuel's combat data, spoke. Rista nodded.
“It's similar in principle to Spacetime Slice?”
「I don't know what a Spacetime Slice is, but if it's similar, that's fortunate.」
“It's similar, but the fact that one has to create several of them in an instant to complete a stroke… makes me realize anew just how great the difference between that person and me is.”
In short, it meant that Enuel nonchalantly unleashed Spacetime Slices dozens of times simply as a prerequisite for activating her technique.
‘The power I thought of as an ultimate skill was merely a basic technique for a true hero.’
Rista tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword with a bitter smile.
‘Can I do it?’
She had completely discarded such doubts in the process of becoming a hero. Rista had long ago changed ‘I can do it’ to ‘I must do it’.
‘Let's do it, let's try.’
Isn't it fortunate, rather?
Because the principle is similar to Spacetime Slice.
If it weren't, she would never have been able to understand it just from the explanation.
‘Every challenge, joyfully!’