Many soldiers who were nearby heard the first prince's declaration.
Perhaps some of them listened out of a sense of duty as soldiers, given that the words came from royalty—
—or perhaps for an entirely different reason. Perhaps his words had pierced somewhere deep within their hearts.
His words just now.
Even if someone like Ermes or Catia had said the same thing, it wouldn't have cut that deep. The power they wielded was too far removed—no matter what twists and turns they had gone through to obtain it, the soldiers, without exception, knew nothing of it. To the soldiers, Ermes and the others were inhabitants of another world from the very start; no matter what they said, the filter of that distance ensured their words could never truly resonate.
But the first prince, Helc, was different. Even given his status as royalty, the emotion most people in this kingdom directed toward him was pity and sympathy. From the moment he was born, he had been expected to reach abilities far beyond his station, and when he failed to do so, even the expectations that should have been placed on him were entirely swept away the moment the second prince was born.
In a word—the poor prince. That was how the people of the kingdom, and especially those soldiers who stood close to the royal family, perceived him. Helc was not someone to admire or revere; rather, he was someone onto whom they projected their own inadequacies and frustrations.
And yet, that very person. The person they had sympathized with and empathized with.
Had been thinking things like that. That every word he spoke came straight from the bottom of his heart—this was proven by the tone of his voice, the situation, and above all, by everything he had done up until now.
Ineffable emotions welled up within the soldiers.
But as if to crush all of that back into despair once more, every single one of them witnessed the moment Karma descended before Helc.
There was no chance of winning.
The instant he faced Karma, Helc realized this with perfect clarity.
First, the appearance was different. The general shape hadn't changed, but the overall silhouette emanated a shapeless, flame-like flicker. On top of that, the pulsation of magic power was on an entirely different scale from anything he had felt before. The mere presence of it was enough to make one's heart stop from the sheer pressure, and it was accompanied by a faint glow—this was no longer a Monster, no, it didn't even seem like a living being.
If he had to put it into words—divinity. Or perhaps a spirit. Combined with Karma's unnaturally perfect features, the being before him was so far beyond them that it seemed like an inhabitant of another dimension entirely.
He didn't know what had happened when Ermes and Lucius fought.
But the scene before his eyes proved it eloquently. This creature had defeated those two head-on—and what's more, had undergone some kind of definitive, transcendent evolution.
"Ngh... a..."
"You're scared, aren't you?"
One step closer, and the pit of his stomach froze with primal terror. Calma saw through it in an instant and smiled—a smile so beautiful it sent chills down his spine.
"Then could you just stay still like a good boy? That way I'll kill you in a flash and be done with it. Humans hate suffering, don't they?"
Fear. Pain. Even breathing in front of this creature was agonizing. He wanted relief—wanted anything, so long as it made the suffering stop.
He thought that instinctively. Calma's invitation, made with full awareness of that, now seemed like mercy itself. Salvation in the form of literal death appeared unspeakably sweet.
In truth, if he simply accepted, the pain would be gone in an instant. He knew from their previous encounters that Calma was not the kind to spin a cruel lie in a moment like this. So the right answer was to accept the proposal immediately.
Yes. Before an overwhelmingly superior being, it was beautiful to know your place and submit meekly.
Anyone who lived in this country learned that lesson and arrived at the same conclusion.
But—precisely because of that.
"...I refuse."
The words tore out of him with a pain that twisted the bottom of his stomach inside out. Pained, but sincere.
He didn't need easy salvation. He had chosen to keep suffering. He had sworn to his own nameless self that he would struggle more wretchedly than anyone.
With a firm pride, Helc declared as much.
"...I see. Then—"
"Ah—AAAAAGH!"
In an instant, Calma's eyes turned mirror-like as her magic power surged. In the fleeting moment before she could launch her attack, Helc screamed—breaking through his own cowardice—and fired the magic he had already finished Chanting.
"
The Great Serpent of the White Calm
"!!
His familiar Bloodline Magic. Inferior to everyone around him, and with all other forms of magic sealed away—it was the symbol of his inferiority complex, his curse. But he released it, because it was all he had.
...He knew. He knew that stubbornness and fighting spirit alone couldn't produce miracles. No wondrous development would unfold here—no magical awakening that would let him defeat Calma. More than anyone else, Helc could not possibly believe that magic cast in a situation like this could accomplish anything at all.
But still. Even if it was a futile struggle, even if it was meaningless resistance.
Even so—because he was the kind of person who would fight until the very end. With that grim resolve, he unleashed his magic.
"...Hah."
Calma regarded Helc with a completely dispassionate gaze.
The gap in their power was obvious. A spell like this was barely worth acknowledging. Even bothering to counter it with the same type of magic was too much trouble.
With his current body, even a direct hit from some minor spell wouldn't make him so much as flinch. There was no need to do anything—but even he knew that would be going too far.
So he simply knocked it aside with a burst of magic power alone.
It wasn't contempt, nor was it excessive caution—it was the perfectly calibrated response of someone who had a complete read on his opponent's capabilities. And by any measure of magical output, his assessment was utterly correct: the overwhelming magic power would blow the fragile Bloodline Magic away as easily as a candle flame—
—
did not happen
.
Rather, the magic that should have been blown away retained its full power, clashed with Calma's magic output, overpowered it, and struck true—and then.
Half of Calma's body
froze solid
.
"————————What?"
For the first time since being born, a new emotion surged through him—and for the first time, he found his voice.
"Wh—at"
He couldn't understand it.
First, the fact that such a weak spell had somehow overcome his overwhelming magic output was inexplicable. Well, that much was understandable—if it was just formless magic power, some kind of glitch could conceivably occur.
Thus, the most incomprehensible thing of all was what came after.
Why—why was Helc's magic dealing this much damage to him?
"Ah—gkh"
He tried to speak, only to realize that even that function had frozen over and was half-lost. What had felt like soaring through the sky moments ago had suddenly become like being slammed into the ground. The sensation he thought he'd discarded during his fights against Ermes and Lucius—the sensation that made him want to writhe in agony—extreme pain and suffering were seizing control of his body, and he belatedly realized it.
More than anything, the very person who'd caused it—Helc himself—was wearing an expression more shocked than anyone else present. His face practically said, I never expected it to go this far.
Incomprehension, vagueness, and discomfort. All sensations he had no tolerance for, served up to him at once.
Karuma let loose a scream in this moment that he had never once experienced in his entire life.
"Wh—what the hell is this—!!"
◆
"—
It worked
"
That sight.
There was someone who watched it with the only sure understanding.
"Honestly—gkh—it was a gamble, but—it worked perfectly. His Highness Helc helped by not giving up, and that fixation with the Monster's magic also contributed as a plus...gkh"
It was Ermes.
Ermes had taken a direct hit from Karuma's overwhelming magic power, sustaining serious wounds all over, yet the light of unwavering will still burned in his eyes as he fixed his gaze ahead.
The existence known as Karuma was a truly terrifying threat.
A complete upgrade over Ermes. The pinnacle of a receptive type who could observe an opponent's magic and reproduce it instantly, growing infinitely stronger the more magic he saw—learning, adapting, with no ceiling.
But... even so, there were areas where Ermes held the advantage.
The part that Ermes has and Karuma doesn't — that.
"You... didn't notice, did you?"
With a certainty different from Karuma's, Ermes declares.
"Through my battle with Lord Lucius, I learned just how dramatically, overwhelmingly, irreversibly—"
"—and how"
"dangerously"
"you've"
"evolved."
Now — the decisive moment. Covered in wounds, but there's no room to stay down.
Squeezing out every last ounce of strength he had left, Ermes charged forward — to seize with all his being the one and only chance of victory he could see.
Detailed explanation next time.
The counterattack begins here! Next chapter update scheduled for 11/26 (Saturday) — stay tuned!