Read Daily Updated Light Novel, Web Novel, Chinese Novel, Japanese And Korean Novel Online.
Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Light Novel) - Volume 1, Chapter 4: What Wakes With a Start
Volume 1, Chapter 4: What Wakes With a Start
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
“Alright, we’ll set up camp here. Groups one and two, secure a water source. Groups three and four, you’re on meal prep. The rest of you set up the tents,” their commanding officer yelled.
The troops moved here and there to carry out his orders.
At around the time the sun hit its highest point in the sky, Ryner and the others had arrived at their destination.
Ryner looked around. What he saw were plains and woodlands far into the distance, with not much else. It was no wonder this area was considered the frontier. Certainly, it was unlikely that Estabul’s soldiers would come all the way out here.
“The sun feels good, and it seems like we’ll have lots of free time. This is great,” Ryner said. He sat down on the spot, letting the warm sun wash over him.
“Hey, you better help set up some tents too!” Tyle said from beside him.
“It’s a pain, so I don’t wanna.”
“You wanna die, bastard?”
“Whoa, don’t kick me, hey! I’m against violence! Ah, owow… Hey, Kiefer, say something to Tyle for me. I’m a liiiiitle tired today so get him to let me rest for a bit.”
Normally, Kiefer would yell “Stop being an idiot and help out!” but today she just stared into nothing with dark eyes. “Huh? Ah, sorry, I wasn’t listening… what was that?”
It was so unlike her. Ryner and Tyle exchanged a look.
“Kiefer,” Tony said. “The guy you’re always punching says he doesn’t wanna help set up tents. Can you do your thing?”
“That’s right,” Fahle said with a smile that ran a little mischievous. “Say something wife-like or other to him, won’t you? Do something, Kiefer.”
“Okay. Ryner, help set up the tents. It bothers everyone if you don’t,” Kiefer said. Usually when someone suggested there was something between her and Ryner, she reddened and fiercely denied it. But now her face was somewhere between sad and lonely, and her words came out without their usual passion.
Ryner, Tyle, Tony, and Fahle all looked at each other. Then Tyle gripped Ryner’s neck.
“Uwah! Tyle, what’re you…”
Tyle kept squeezing his neck. He moved to by Ryner’s ear where Kiefer wouldn’t be able to hear. “You bastard… Did you do something to Kiefer!? She seems really down!”
“I-I didn’t do shit. Besides, why do you think I’m the reason she’s down?”
“W, well…”
While Tyle faltered, Fahle became strangely giddy and spoke in the same hushed tone. “It’s because she has a crush on you, obviously. She’s so transparent that it doesn’t even matter how or where you look. Obviously anything that’s got her this down has to do with you, Ryner. Do you know what’s wrong? Have you said anything lately that might’ve hurt her?”
Ryner recalled what’d happened in his room before their departure. “Ah…”
“So it was you!!”
“Gyaaaaaahh!”
This time he was pulled into a joint lock by Tony and Fahle. Just as he was on the brink of fainting, he heard Sion’s voice.
“Ahaha. Whether we’re on the battlefield or not, you never change, Ryner. Sorry. How about I help you? I bet setting tents up alone is tiring,” Sion said, smiling wryly.
In the end, no one in their side of group six was really setting them up though…
Ryner was nearly past the point of forgiveness - he had to apologize to Kiefer tonight so that she had a chance to forgive him, but he had to stake the tents, too. So maybe he was already past the point of no return.
“Sion, sir, groups one and two will secure the water source.”
“Sion, sir, our groups - three and four - will take over meal prep. Expect us back from hunting by nightfall.”
The students each came to Sion to make their reports. Seeing this, the commanding officer yelled in vain. “Report that stuff to me!”
“We’re off now then, Sion!”
The twenty-four people who made up group four separated from the group.
All one hundred and twenty people gathered here were allies from Sion’s organization. Ryner only really knew their faces. They weren’t good at remembering names, so aside from their group from school and the others who made up their new group six, they didn’t really know anyone’s names.
Sion, in comparison, had their names and entire profiles memorized.
“You fight the hard battles, don’t you?” Ryner asked. It was exactly the response one could expect from a guy who only worked hard at being a pain like Ryner.
Not that it particularly mattered.
Once the tents were for the most part set up, Sion addressed them. “Tyle, Tony, Fahle. Could you set up tents for the people in groups one and two who’re confirming the water source, too?”
“Why do we have to set up tents for people in other groups, too?” Tyle complained, clearly dissatisfied.
Sion looked to Ryner, who instinctively scowled. “Even if you stare at me like that, I’m not putting up any more tents. It’s such a pain, and anyway, I’m tired…”
Sion smiled broadly. “Ryner, I understand that it’s your nature to be tired. Thanks for helping out until now. You and Kiefer don’t have the best complexions right now, so why don’t you rest in the tents for awhile? Well then, I’ll go help set up groups three and four’s tents. Fahle, why don’t you come with?”
Tyre smiled brightly. “Oh, I get it. Okay, I’ll go. Tony, Fahle, let’s do our part!”
“Yeah.”
“Heheh, yes! ♡”
“I’ll be going now too, Ryner,” Sion said. He left, grinning.
Ryner watched him go, dumbfounded. Then he looked to Kiefer, who still looked down, at his side.
“Uu…”
He’d been had. His listless face scrunched up, troubled.
It was his first time seeing Kiefer like this. She was always so bright, and always took even the smallest opportunities to meddle with Ryner’s life.
Right now, she just looked horribly uncomfortable…
Geez… This was such a pain…
“Uh, um, so,” Ryner started, a bit shrill. “Today sure is sunny…”
Ugh, that was horrible. His mind was completely blank when he tried to think of even a single sensitive word to tell her.
Kiefer didn’t reply.
Feeling overwhelmingly defeated, Ryner continued. “Ah, um… w-well, then, I guess I’ll go take a n—”
“Ryner,” Kiefer cut him off. Her voice shook, but was still somehow firm. Her expression was earnestly cornered. With a voice filled with determination, she continued. “Ryner… would you run away with me?”
“Eh?”
That was all Ryner could say to her sudden question.
But Kiefer didn’t mind. She grabbed Ryner with both arms, tightly hugging him. “Ryner, come with me? Not with Sion. With me…”
“Wait, Kiefer. What’re you—”
“I… love you, Ryner.”
She finally said she loved him. Clearly.
“I love you, Ryner,” she repeated. “Since I came to the academy, I’ve always loved you… you’re the only one who’s ever supported me. I was always alone… I really… wasn’t supposed to make any friends. I wasn’t supposed to trust anyone.”
She was all worked up, and Ryner didn’t know what to say to her. She wasn’t supposed to make any friends?
“But Ryner, you… never had any motivation at all, didn’t think about your country at all, weren’t trying at all, nevermind your hardest, but you were okay with all that… I ended up liking that… I ended up falling in love with you. I know I shouldn't have, but I did. So Ryner, do you hate me? Or do you…”
She stared into Ryner’s face. She was crying. She gripped his arms tighter, but… he was looking at her the same as always - with hollow, listless, dry eyes… that lacked motivation for anything and everything.
“I…” His eyes were horribly dry. Horribly, to the point that it was painful.
“Ryner…”
Kiefer closer her eyes and raised her head. He met her pretty eyes. Looked into them. Saw his own listless eyes reflected. His abominable, cloudy, dark eyes.
It could be said that death itself resided in his eyes. That calamity resided within them.
Those with his eyes were detested…
“A-ahaha. What’s up Kiefer? It’s one joke after another with you today…”
Ryner forced his dry voice to laugh as he separated himself from Kiefer.
This was such a pain. Really, everything was…
Kiefer let go without any resistance. “You’re right… I really am someone who can’t have anything… I understood that… I understood that, and yet… I really am an idiot.”
Kiefer’s eyes reflected nothing. It was like she was already dead.
It was hard not ot be troubled looking at her. “No, Kiefer, that’s not—”
“Even so, I don’t want you to die. I want just you to… I’m sorry, Ryner… I couldn’t protect you…”
With closed eyes, Kiefer began to write letters of light in the space before her. “I dedicate the words of our contract - give birth to the beast of light sleeping within the atmosphere!”
A huge ball of light was born before her.
It was magic… but completely different from the magic circles of Roland.
“Hey…”
This was abnormal. Kiefer was supposed to belong to Roland. She wasn’t supposed to know how to use this magic that Ryner had never before seen.
To begin with, magic from each country took a completely different form. The trigger, the composition, and the technique all varied. So normally, people couldn’t use magic from other countries. That’s how it was supposed to be…
The ball of magic that Kiefer had created floated slowly for a moment, then burst into a bright flash that soon disappeared into nothing.
Ryner stared, dumbfounded. “What did you do, Kiefer?”
She didn’t reply. She just stared with her dead, sad eyes. “Goodbye.”
She ran.
“W, wai…”
Sion approached from behind. “What was that light? Ryner, just what—”
Then, without warning, it happened.
The upper half of someone’s body was thrown before him.
“Huh…?”
It was literally just their upper half. Their bottom half must’ve flown somewhere out of view.
“Wh-what!?” Sion yelled.
The empty air filled with screams.
It was a strange spectacle.
Troops carrying huge scythes like that of a god of death’s rose in with breathtaking speed, their aerodynamic red armor leaving afterimages in the plains.
And… in their journey towards camp, they left the heads and torsos of Ryner’s allies strewn one after another through the landscape.
It was a hellish landscape…
“Estabul’s Magical Knights!?” Sion screamed. “Why are they here!?”
Ryner grimaced. No matter how he looked at it, the magic Kiefer used had to be some kind of signal. So Kiefer had summoned them? So Kiefer was a spy from Estabul? But why?
They were a group of friends organized by Sion, not an esteemed army. No, in the first place, they were a troop built to be cannon fodder. He couldn’t think of single a reason why Estabul would send a spy to infiltrate them, and even go out of their way to destroy them with their Magical Knights…
So why? Why was any of this happening right here, right now?
Ryner thought and thought. “Ahh, I don’t know! And it’s a pain anyway! Why’d any of this happen!?”
He couldn’t get used to the idea. Soon he was hysteric. The situation was only growing worse.
Sion surveyed the scene. “Shit! We’ll all be annihilated at this rate. Everyone, retreat! Escape into the forest somehow, and be prepared!”
The battle changed to the tune of Sion’s order. Their troops, who’d been frozen in fear and disbelief, began to move towards the forest. Sion confirmed that they were obeying, then turned to Ryner.
“Ryner!”
“Huh?”
“We’re going to survive!”
“Ah, um… yeah!”
They set out in a run.
Once they made it to the forest, Ryner and Sion held their breath in the shade of the trees.
They didn’t see a single one of their allies. That was why they thought they’d finally separated themselves from the battlefield. Even so, they couldn’t relax their bodies.
“…They’ll definitely find us here, too,” Sion whispered.
“You think so?”
“Yeah. Our opponents are Magical Knights. There’s no way they’d let us run away this easily.”
“What? But we’ve put lots of distance between us! They shouldn’t come all the way over here, right?”
“Maybe, but we’re…”
“We’re what?” Ryner asked.
“Hey, Ryner. How many of them do you think there are? I couldn’t get a good look, but there were at least twenty…”
“No. There were fifty,” Ryner said easily.
Sion met his eyes, surprised. “You were able to count them all in that situation?”
“Like hell. But I heard one of them yell, ‘You idiots think you can get away from fifty Magical Knights?’ with a nasty grin, so I figure there’s gotta be fifty, you know?”
“Ah, I see,” Sion said, nodding. “Hm… I wonder how many people have managed to get away. If they got the people who went to confirm a water source and find food, then there are probably around one hundred people still out there…”
“…Probably. Is there something you’re trying to say?”
“Tyle, Tony, Fahle, and the others are among those hundred.”
“You…”
“Kiefer is probably among them, too. What do you think, Ryner?”
Ryner sighed. “Geez, you’re such a pain. You’re trying to say that you wanna go save them, right? But how? They’re Magical Knights, and there are fifty of them. You plan to waltz right on in there to fight ‘em? They’ll definitely kill you.”
Sion nodded. “Yeah. The only way to save them is to get them away without a fight.”
“That’s pretty impossible, right?”
“But we have to do it.”
“Uwah… see, I’m bad with that kind of responsibility.”
Sion’s expression had completely changed. Now he wore a sharp, belligerent smile, his whole body stiff. “Certainly. You’re exactly right, Ryner. Escaping without a fight seems impossible.”
The crunch of a long sickle cutting a tree trunk resounded through the underbrush.
“Foound youuu!”
It was one of Estabul’s red Magical Knights. They sprinted from their hiding place like the bubble surrounding them had burst.
The knight watched, head spinning to face them. But it was no use. There were two more knights standing in the other direction.
Ryner grimaced. “This is the worst…”
Estabul’s Royal Magical Knights were the symbol of death itself. Perhaps that was true of those who had been knighted no matter the country. Their single troop had the power to change the tide of thousands of battles. The second they appeared on a battlefield, their band of death gods slaughtered the enemy, leaving mountains of bodies in their wake…
The only people with the power to oppose them were other Magical Knights.
Only Roland’s Imperial Magical Knights could oppose Estabul’s Royal Magical Knights.
There was absolutely no way that Ryner’s class, still students who hadn’t yet graduated, could go neck to neck with them… They existed in a different world from even Sion, their top student. Everybody knew that.
To be seen by a Magical Knight meant they would soon die.
“Ryner!” Sion yelled. “You try and get away! I’ll stay here and—”
“Man… this is seriously a pain,” Ryner said, suddenly calm. His mellow eyes surveyed the situation. They fixed on the cruelly grinning Magical Knights.
“It’s okay if you wanna ruuun, you know,” one of the knights said lazily. “Let me have some fun, Roland mutts. I’ll kill you reeeaal quick.”
Ryner didn’t move.
“Whaat, have you already given up? Isn’t it booooring if you don’t even run? Well, it’s not like you could actually escape from us, though, so I guess you’ve got good judgement.”
Sion grabbed Ryner’s shoulder. “What’re you doing!? Run! Even if it’s impossible, you can’t give up!”
Sion tried to lead him to run an impossible race.
Seeing that, the Magical Knight laughed. “Aren’t you guys funny!”
“Beddum, don’t play with the dogs for too long before you kill ‘em,” one of the other two knights said.
“Let’s make it quick,” said the last one.
They lifted their massive scythes and began to swiftly close the distance between themselves and Sion, heavy armor be damned.
“Shit… we won’t be able to get away,” Sion mumbled. His feet stopped where he stood. He let go of Ryner’s shoulder and began to draw a magic circle in the air before him. “I wish for thunder - Lightning Flash!”
A violent light sprouted from his magic circle and made its way towards one of the Magical Knights.
But while Sion had been drawing his magic circle, the Magical Knights had been writing letters in the air. It had a completely different shape than Roland’s magic.
It was the exact same as what Kiefer had used. So that was Estabul’s magic…
The knight recited the incantation. “I dedicate the words of our contract - give birth to the beast of malice sleeping within the earth!”
His whole body shimmered, then accelerated towards them. Its speed made Sion’s magic lose track.
“Gh…”
Sion tried to switch targets to the next Magical Knight, but…
“Hyahh!”
He was overwhelmed, unable to even move. The Magical Knights rushed forward, grabbing him by the hair of his scalp.
“Guahh!?”
The impact was so violent that his legs began to collapse, and he felt as though he’d lose consciousness entirely. But they wouldn’t let go of him.
“Hyahahaha! Die, ya bastard!”
Sion’s back was slammed into a tree.
Ryner raised his arm to the sky.
With unbelievable speed, he began to draw letters in the air.
“I dedicate the words of our contract - give birth to the beast of malice sleeping within the earth!”
He charge towards them with the same unbelievable speed of the knights themselves. He closed the distance between himself and the knight who had Sion against a tree, and sent a kick straight for his head.
The Magical Knight groaned as the impact blew him away. The vigor Ryner had managed to kick with was enough to surprise anyone. Even a Magical Knight of Estabul would call it impressive. The knight’s body hit the ground then bounced up and hit it again several times before losing momentum. When it stopped, it didn’t move again. Looked like he’d fainted.
“Hey, are you alright?” Ryner asked Sion.
“Ah… yeah. More importantly, that spell…”
Ryner sighed. “You already know, right? Geez. I didn’t want to use this, you know. I haven’t for seven years…”
“…Then it was really—”
The remaining two knights cut Sion off. “Y-you… Why can you use Estabul’s magic!?”
“What are you!? Are you one of Estabul’s people, too!?”
“B-but we never heard about a male spy in Roland.”
Ryner faced them with a bored expression. Like they were just a chore to him. “Mm? I’m not an Estabulian spy, so of course you wouldn’t have heard anything about me.”
“Th-then why can you cast our magic?”
Then… one of the knights turned to look at Ryner… no, at his eyes.
“H, hey… Look at his eyes…. his eyes are…”
The second knight stared at them, too. His eyes that entirely lacked motivation, even in a situation like this.
Black eyes, with a faint red pentagram atop his pupil.
They stared with amazement. With fright.
“That pentagram means that h-he’s got the Alpha Stigma, right?”
“Ah!? T-Th-then we’ll be stricken by calamity… hiiih!”
“Alpha Stigma!” They screamed.
The words he heard after revealing it were, just like always, steeped in fear and hatred…
They’d completely lost their composure. With shaking hands, they began to trace letters in the air.
“I-I dedicate the words of our contract - fire the beast of light dancing within the hea…”
“I-idiot! He’s got the Alpha Stigma, you can’t use magic! He’ll steal it from Estabul!”
It was already too late. The power of his spell was already expanding before them.
All Ryner did was look at it. With the same listless eyes as always, he stared - at the method, the composition, its properties, and its power. Everything.
Then Ryner’s hand danced in the sky, his movements so nimble that they were difficult to follow. “I dedicate the words of our contract - fire the beast of light dancing within the hea—”
““—vens!””
Since Ryner was copying the knight, his words were a split second slower. But his spell fired first. A dog-like beast took shape above Ryner’s head. It barrelled towards the two Magical Knights.
“H-he’s a monster…”
The beast violently crashed into them. They lost consciousness from the impact.
Ryner confirmed that they’d passed out, satisfied with his work. “Even though I made it weaker for them, they still called me a monster…”
Just like that, the battle easily ended.
Ryner alone had defended them from three Magical Knights.
That was the power of the Alpha Stigma… the power of Ryner, who was a million years behind anyone else in school.
“You!” Sion yelled. Without warning, he struck Ryner’s face.
“Uwah! Huh, what? What’s that for, all of a sudden?” Ryner asked, rubbing his newly injured cheek.
“Stop the tired act! With that power, you could defeat all fifty of the Magical Knights! Then none of our friends would have to have died, right?!”
“Don’t be an idiot. There’s no way I can beat all fifty of them! The only reason I could get these three… no, these two so easily is because they got sloppy when they saw my Alpha Stigma. I’m telling you, fifty’s impossible!”
“Even so, if you took that power to the battlefield, we could do something…”
Ryner turned his back to Sion and sighed deeply. “Geez, listen to you. Look, I’ve got a lot going on too. And it’s been seven whole years since I’ve used this, anyway… and—”
“Shit! What am I doing? Sorry. I got too worked up over losing so many of our friends at once…”
“…Yeah. I get it.”
“Let’s go save them.”
“Mm…”
WIth that, they returned the way they’d came.
But a voice soon called out to them.
“Hm. So this is your doing?”
They raised their heads. Another Magical Knight had appeared in front of their eyes.
No, wait. This wasn’t just another knight. The shape of his red armor was a little different, and he was horribly, horribly calm about the situation. He stared at the three Magical Knights laying behind Ryner.
“Oh, so you defeated three. How’d you manage that? I didn’t think you guys had that kind of power…”
Ryner and Sion tensed. The man standing in their path was clearly different from the others. He was diligent, and left no room for surprise attacks.
Another Magical Knight soon appeared behind the first.
“Commanding Officer. We’ve killed everyone to the north.”
As he spoke he noticed Ryner and Sion, as well as the three Magical Knights behind them…
“Wha!? Beddum’s gang!? Y, you bastards did this? Just what—”
“Quiet, Lax. I was talking. Now then. You’re the ones who defeated those Magical Knights, aren’t you?”
Ryner and Sion faltered.
The man’s tone was courteous, but his face was that of a savage beast’s. What’s more, there were already two more Magical Knights here. If they kept coming, then… even if Ryner possessed the Alpha Stigma, they’d still be killed…
Ryner moved first.
He suddenly drew letters in the air, reciting the words to Estabul’s magic.
But the man wasn’t surprised. He studied Ryner’s eyes.
“Oho. You don’t see Alpha Stigma all too often. Is that how you beat my subordinates, you Rolander piiiig?!”
Killing intent radiated from his body, but he didn’t move. His eyes fixed on movement behind Ryner.
“All soldiers rise. Rare animal spotted. Capture it.”
Dozens of knights lept from the trees.
Ryner shouted instinctively and lost focus on his spell. There was no way to win against this many enemies…
Sion was struck and sent flying first.
“Sio… ouah!”
Ryner was kicked in the spine and collapsed forward. Someone’s foot crushed his head.
“Ghh…”
It was the beast-like man they’d called their commanding officer.
Ryner couldn’t move. The kick to his spine had messed up his sense of balance, and it still hadn’t returned. And there were all these Magical Knights…
Even if he managed to fight, there was no way he could win…
The pressure against his head increased. Ryner could feel his consciousness getting further away.
“Hahaha. Alpha Stigma’s like a wives’ tale. But it’s not that it’s all that rare. I’ll gouge your eyes out and add them to my collection.”
Ryner looked up at him with his listless eyes.
So a worthless guy like this was gonna gouge his eyes out…
His eyes…
Ah, but…
That might be a good thing. They’d always been such a burden.
They’re what made him both hated and feared.
Ahh… it was all such a pain.
He wondered if it’d hurt when they were gouged. Oh, but he was gonna die anyway, so it didn’t really matter. But if possible, he’d really like it if it didn’t hurt…
Another violent strike to his head. The man did it casually, like it was natural, but it hurt like he was being crushed.
“What’s with you? I wanna see more panic in those eyes. Let me have some more fun with it, yeah? I need to blow off some steam. That traitor girl had us come all the way here, and for what? To fight some shitty Rolander brats? To top it all off, you had the nerve to piss me off.”
He kicked Ryner’s head again.
“Guh…”
The impact cut the inside of his mouth. Everything was going blurry. The man’s words spun around in his head. The traitor girl… Kiefer?
Ah… was she able to get away?
Was Sion…?
His foot slammed into Ryner’s face again. He couldn’t even groan anymore. Even the pain was starting to fade away. He just felt numb. Horribly okay with everything, no matter what it may be…
He’d always hated trying his best anyway… even thinking about it…
Ryner’s head was grabbed by his hair and lifted.
“Hey, monster. You seriously piss me off. I hate guys who’re quick to give in. At least run. That way I could have some fun. What’s with those eyes, anyway? Alpha Stigma? Haha. Laughable. Well, whatever. Hey, let’s take a look together. Look, it’s your friend.”
The man twisted his head around his surroundings by his hold on Ryner’s hair.
Sion and Kiefer had been caught with their arms behind their backs, forced to stand.
Kiefer met Ryner’s eyes for a split second before turning away. Sion was glaring at Ryner… no, the man who’d caught him with hateful eyes.
“What do you think when you look at them? Eh, monster?”
Ryner didn’t answer. He didn’t have the strength to answer anymore.
The man struck him again. “If you don’t understand, then I’ll tell ya. We killed ‘em all. Hahaha. These two are all that’s left.”
“Then… then… Tyle… and Falhe,” Sion whispered in shock.
Ryner didn’t feel anything in the face of that revelation. His head felt oddly cold, and he just didn’t care about anything at all…
“Hey. Your eyes are blanking again. Boring. I guess no matter how many of your allies we kill, it means nothing to a monster.”
Mon… ster…?
That word spun through his head.
Right. He was a monster. He’d always been told he was a monster. A monsterous monsterly monster. A filthy monster. When they saw his power, they called him a monster. If he unleashed his power, he was called a monster…
Fear. This was fear.
Even if people died, even if his friends died, he was a monster that couldn’t even cry…
His worries cleared.
Bam bam bam bam clear clear clear.
“It’s no use. This guy’s not even responding,” the man said. “Guess I kicked him in the head too many times. Haha. Whatever. We’re done here, so let’s clean up and go home. Kill the lad with the silver hair. As for the girl… do whatever you want with her. But leave some for me.”
“Guahh!! Guh… uu…”
They hit Sion. Hit him and hit him and hit him.
It was a strange sight. While laughing merrily, they ganged up on him and hit him over and over again.
He’d die if it kept up.
Ryner watched, eyes vacant.
He’d die… they’d die…
Sion, Kiefer, Ryner, everyone…
His consciousness slipped further away. Even further.
If only he feared it.
Further…
Screams and cheers resounded. Kiefer’s screams, and the men’s cheers…
“Stop! It hurts!”
They’d swarmed around her.
Ryner’s eyes narrowed. Narrowed, and… completely emptied. He felt nothing. Nothing was important to him. Everything that was had already returned to nothing.
That was fine.
It was fine.
It was what he’d wanted, right?
His senses began to clear. They cleared and cleared and cleared and cleared and the world’s entire composition spread across his eyes. Its numbers, graphs, patterns…
People would die. But that was fine.
Now, it was time to end it. End everything. Just like he’d wanted.
Open the floodgates, kill them all.
Until everything his eyes could see had disappeared…
“Ah, ahh.”
Even though he lacked consciousness, Ryner’s voice leaked through his lips.
So what? It didn’t matter what happened anymore.
Everything was fuzzy. Vague. Everything should just disappear. If people lived, if they died - it was all such a pain.
“Ah, aaaaaaahhhhh hahahahahahahhahahhaa!” Ryner laughed. Like he’d gone mad.
The men turned around in sync to look at Ryner, eyes filled with suspicion. “What’s up with him? He suddenly lose it or what?”
They stared at him. “Hey…”
“Wh, what’re you doing?”
Ryner’s eyes were open, a red pentagram fixed directly over them. Pentagram. Pentagram. Pentagram. It wasn’t just one. They repeated endlessly within his eyes.
Suddenly, one left his eye. It clung to one of the knights.
“Huh? What’s thi…”
He didn’t have time to speak. A voice descended on him.
“Don’t cut me off. I’ll turn your molecules into sand. There’ll be nothing left of you.”
A strange ping ran out, and the knight turned straight into sand, his form collapsing in on itself.
“What!?”
“Bastard! What did you do!?” The Magical Knights yelled, agitated. They moved to surround Ryner. “What was that just now? Magic? Was that magic?”
Ryner didn’t respond. In contrast to how he’d laughed madly before, now he didn’t even open his mouth.
And yet…
“A god. A demon. A wicked god. A hero. A monster. Which will you scream? Which will you scream? Hahahahaha.”
That voice resounded. That laughter resounded. It had descended directly into their minds.
It was a voice that made them uneasy. It made them despair.
“What is this, what is iiiit!?”
“K-kill it!!”
The Magical Knights fell into a panic. Each one began to cast his own spell. If they all crowded together and fired like that, there would surely be sacrifices among their own as well. But they didn’t hesitate. All their eyes had room for was fear for what stood before them.
“I dedicate the words of our contract - fire the power of the spirit hidden in air!”
They all cast the same spell. As their words finished, blue twisters swirled through the air and shot towards Ryner.
“Die, monster!”
“Estabul’s strongest spell will turn you to dust!”
“Magic? You call something this simple magic? Hahahaha.”
Ryner raised his hand. A pentagram spilled onto it from his eyes. It shone in bright red.
“Parse existence - release.”
The blue twisters heading for Ryner were destroyed in an instant. No, not just the twisters. The Magical Knights themselves received the spell’s aftermath.
The Magical Knights didn’t have the time for words. All they could do was watch, completely overwhelmed.
This wasn’t the level of a monster.
It was…
“…A god…” One of the knights whispered, a shiver running through his body.
Ryner spread his arms and that voice resounded. “In the beginning, there was destruction. We didn’t create, bless, or save. We just erased until everything was pure white.”
Ryner moved.
He grabbed one of the men by their head, pressing the pentagram on his palm into his scalp. “Crumble.”
Just like that, he crumbled.
“Hih, heeeehhh!!”
One of the knights made to escape, but Ryner easily caught him, pressing that brand to him. “Break.”
Just like that, he broke.
“Ha… ha… hahahaha. Disappear. I’ll crush you, split you, make you explode.”
As he spoke, he crushed, split, and exploded the knights one after another. The matter that made up the world obeyed everything that voice said. Without resistance, it was crushed, split, exploded.
Several of the Magical Knights were completely frozen in fear. Others frantically chanted incantations in an attempt to fight back. But it was useless.
“M, monster. Are we gonna be killed!?”
“Ruuun!”
The Magical Knights began to sprint, frazzled.
“You can’t run. I will erase you. Erase everything. Everything…”
A girl was reflected in Ryner’s - no, the eyes of that being. It couldn’t be called Ryner anymore.
Kiefer and Sion. They were watching in astonishment. Their eyes reflected terror, fear, and loathing.
It was horribly unpleasant.
A sharp pain pierced through his mind. He didn’t think he should erase that. It would be easy to erase them, crush them, or break them. Ryner raised his arm, but it just sent shivers through his body.
He couldn’t do it. Couldn’t kill them. His body wouldn’t move.
Why?
“Wha…t…” The voice resounded. “What… is this? Why is my power… the pentagram… disappearing? Why…? The contract is… wrong, everything disappear…”
Ryner started to move again. He took slow steps towards Sion and Kiefer. He grabbed their throats, each in one hand, and pulled them up.
“Ah… Ry… ner… stop…”
“Guh…”
Ryner faltered at the sound of their voices. His strength was leaving his body.
That happened earlier, too. He’d weakened when he thought of killing that girl then too. He strained his body, trying to capture his strength. While he strangled Kiefer and Sion, his voice rang out weakly. “You’re… in danger… you’ll die, my power is… leaving… close my eyes…”
“Ry…neeer!” Kiefer screamed.
A pain so deep he thought it’d kill him spread through his body. He wrinkled up his face, like he was desperately trying to resist it. His face distorted as his body was wrecked with shivering.
“Sto…p… Don’t close them…”
Ryner’s eyes managed to close halfway. When they did, his grip suddenly weakened.
Sion didn’t miss his chance. He tore himself free from Ryner’s hand, then fought Ryner’s hand off of Kiefer’s neck. “I see, so that’s how it works, is it?” Sion mumbled to himself. He brought his hands to Ryner’s face… no, his eyes. “I’m gonna close them.”
For some reason, a smile rose to Ryner’s face at the sound of that voice.
“Stop… you—”
The voice abruptly cut off.
Nobody spoke for some time after. Then, Ryner took Sion’s hand. “You saved me.”
Sion studied Ryner’s face, but averted his eyes like he was trying to escape.
Kiefer quietly looked at his usual mellow… no, his usual sad eyes with amazement, then looked around her surroundings from her spot on the ground. Normally, one wouldn’t believe the scattered sand was really a mountain of Magical Knights’ bodies…
It was unbelievable, as far as scenes of massacres went.
Ryner looked at his hand. The pentagram was still clinging to his palm. “Still there, huh…”
After confirming that Ryner had returned to normal, Sion set to assessing the situation - the mountain of bodies, Ryner, and Kiefer, who he settled on. “Making you my ally was a mistake. The fact that Tony, Tyle, and Fahle - our friends - died is also my mistake. The fact that war broke out… the fact that I’m not currently king…” Sion’s eyes narrowed.
A great rumbling stirred from the earth. In the far distance behind them, a cloud of sand had sprung up.
A huge army flying Roland’s national flag was advancing towards them.
The army.
A herd of people all assembled for no reason but to kill others.
Only one word came to Ryner’s mind to describe them. “Worthless,” he muttered.
