Chapter 167 : Gate of the Heavenly Realm (1)
Gate of the Heavenly Realm (1)
'This can't be happening. This is impossible!'
Pontiff Violette denied reality as he watched the scene unfolding before his eyes.
How could something so utterly absurd happen?
"Y-Your Holiness!"
Cardinal Kaedillen, his right-hand man, called for Violette in a trembling voice.
He didn't say anything more, but it was easy to guess what he was about to say.
'Is that really a human?'
The angels—beings who greatly surpassed humans—seemed trivial in comparison.
Over thirty angels couldn't even brush the hem of Grancesia's robes.
They were relentlessly beaten back, falling and screaming, barely able to react.
Just like ordinary people.
'And even Seigon...'
Setram's ultimate weapon, created over a long period.
The man facing Seigon, whom none thought could be stopped by anyone but the Twin Poles Sword Ban Sylvest.
'That sword art is not Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art.'
Moments ago, that man had been using martial arts; now, he was wielding a sword. And it wasn't with awkward skill, either.
It bothered Violette that the gauntlet had turned into a sword, but more than that, it was the man's bizarre skill that unsettled him.
For a human, mastering both sword and fist to the highest degree was simply impossible.
Yet this man's swordsmanship was overwhelming.
'Impossible.'
Violette simply couldn't accept the entire situation.
Why was this happening to him?
He was so close—Setram's glory was right before his eyes!
[You have failed, child.]
"......!"
Violette's eyes flew wide at the voice that seemed to strike his head.
And it wasn't just Violette. Every cardinal present in the place... No, perhaps every believer in Ilishad at this very moment heard it as well.
"N-no! I haven't failed yet!"
He fell to his knees and cried out to the sky, but now he knew nothing he did would matter.
His god had warned him long ago.
[In the end, such is fate. No matter how much changes, the larger framework remains the same.]
"O, Altair."
[There is no need to worry. This time, I shall deliver you all.]
Salvation.
Violette knew exactly what that meant.
'This time, he says...'
By the time he questioned the implication of Altair's enigmatic words—
Violette's consciousness was already gone.
* * *
Blinding white light flashed and clashed in midair.
Sword Ki forged with holy power, and brilliant white flames burning fiercely.
The radiance was the same, but the effects entirely different.
"Falling Sun."
A technique of the Sunwheel Ascendant Heaven Sword, based on the Moon Severing Divine Sword's basic form 'Falling Moon'.
A white orb formed at the tip of the sword, wielded like a flail.
Kwa-kwa-kwa!
Seigon dodged by rolling his body.
He didn't quite escape unscathed; his skin flushed red and blistered, but that was only temporary—the wounds healed almost instantly.
"Grrr!"
Lowering his body with a beastly growl, Seigon swung the greatsword he held in both hands horizontally, then spun his body like a windmill and swept the sword in a massive arc.
"Hup!"
I quickly bent back to dodge.
I couldn't face that directly without Peerless Sword Deltode.
I could still use the Heaven-Slaying Arms, but not on an even footing like before.
'Instead...'
The wound on Seigon's chest was still eating away at him. Cracks repeatedly appeared and healed, and it interfered greatly with his movements.
'The Sunwheel Ascendant Heaven Sword must be just as troublesome for him.'
Though he had strong regenerative powers, the Sunwheel Ascendant Heaven Sword literally burned and seared the wounds.
If he took a direct hit, it would melt his body beyond any chance of regeneration.
Kang! Kang-kang!
We traded blows while dodging the flying debris from the battle between Grancesia and the angels.
Seigon's sword was so fast and fierce, his senses so sharp, it bordered on precognition.
'Strong.'
But his mind was endlessly lacking.
An intensely unstable existence.
Neither fully human nor fully angel, he could not cross the 'wall'.
He had reached the pinnacle of controlling his body—Five Aggregates—and replaced Only Mind with superior senses.
But he could reach no further.
Which made him the perfect opponent for me.
'I see it.'
The Eye of Insight was gone, so I couldn't see all the flows like before.
But thanks to Only Mind, I could feel things I hadn't before.
His breathing, the movement of his muscles, even the path of his sword.
I watched and read him. I still couldn't see what was hidden, but at least I understood perfectly what was visible.
'Just a bit more.'
After using the Eye of Insight for so long, I still retained some of that sense. Before it faded, I had to break through the wall.
Whoooo!
I felt the intense flow of Seigon's movements.
I tracked it, moving my pupils to follow it.
Flows I used to see clearly—I searched for them.
Still, I couldn't see many flows as before, but at least for a single human before my eyes...!
Kang-kang-kang-kang!
"...!"
Seigon's eyes widened.
To him, it must have seemed like I was predicting his every move.
And the more clashes between our swords, the more disadvantageous it became for Seigon. Heaven-Slaying's power was flowing into him through his sword each time.
"Kyaaaa!"
Trying to shake it off, he exploded all his remaining strength in one final burst.
Just like the other Inquisitors, his body erupted into flames.
"Thank you."
Thanks to that, I smiled.
A torch is always easier to see than a matchstick.
Because he blew all his power, I could see the flow with certainty.
The once blurred and faint flows became clearer; I could feel strings like fine threads running steadily.
The flow of holy power within Seigon's body.
Within that flow, I saw the Heaven-Slaying force breaking in.
And I saw the flame of life resisting it.
"Hidden Star Sword, First Technique."
As the sword, burning with the massive heat of the Sunwheel Ascendant Heaven Sword, was overlaid with a silver light that lightly quivered.
When following an unfamiliar flow, the sword art most ingrained in me was still the best.
"New Star."
The fastest sword strike I could unleash rode Seigon's flow and surged forth.
Ka-ga-ga-gak!
A silver flash sliced right through Seigon's greatsword and, in an instant, dug into his thick neck.
"Farewell."
Slice!
Setram's greatest sword, and Fabian's archrival.
Seigon Ganest's head was severed and fell to the ground.
* * *
It was over.
Watching Seigon's head roll across the floor, I felt a pang of bitterness.
Seigon, who was used without ever even being truly human, seemed pitiful.
'Still...'
Thanks to him, I found a clue.
I couldn't use the Eye of Insight perfectly, but at least I regained a little sense of it.
"Is it over?"
Grancesia quietly sidled up and asked.
"Hmm? Well...."
I turned to answer absentmindedly and lost my words. Because of the brutal condition of the angels known as apostles of god.
'Wow, I never thought I'd feel sorry for angels.'
I saw angels stuck into the floor, others hanging by their heads from the ceiling, swaying.
The ones simply sprawled on the ground had swollen, blue faces, writhing like caterpillars.
Worst off was the angels' commander, the guy who'd called Grancesia a wench.
'An angel's body can even fold like that?'
It was hard to describe, but seeing that, so beautifully, almost artistically 'folded', sent chills down my spine.
Maybe this guy actually has a worse personality than Mersaya?
As if reading my thoughts, Grancesia's eyes narrowed.
"You're thinking something bad about me, aren't you?"
"No, Ma'am."
"Why the sudden polite speech?"
Staring at the scene before me, I felt even my manner of speaking adapt.
"Well, anyway..."
I tore my gaze from the wretched angels and turned to Violette and the other lackeys.
They looked completely out of it, their faces frozen in fear.
"... Huh?"
But something was strange.
It didn't seem like they were just terrified of Grancesia and me. Their gazes were directed at the sky.
"How annoying."
Watching the frightened fools, Grancesia ground her teeth.
From her reaction, I could guess why they looked like that.
"It's Altair, isn't it?"
"Correct."
"Did all your memories return too?"
At my question, Grancesia nodded slowly.
"Yes. I even found all the dirtiest ones."
"Then now..."
"He'll personally descend, surely."
At Grancesia's words, I scanned the faces of the frozen humans.
Pontiff Violette and the cardinals who followed him already had no life force left in their eyes.
Judging by how Grancesia wasn't taking any action, it wouldn't make a difference if I did anything to them now.
It was right then that Violette's expression changed completely.
"Yes. You're as clever as ever, my daughter."
Violette's lips, twisted in fear, curved into a gentle smile.
Instinctively, I knew.
That was no longer Violette, but something that had descended into his body.
"Since when was I your daughter?"
"Ever since you were called the Saintess, no?"
"Horrible joke."
Grancesia shuddered as if truly disgusted.
Violette—or rather, Altair, who had entered his body—looked at Grancesia as if amused, then turned to me.
"O master of the sword, you have finally made it here."
"... Finally?"
That remark, laden with a peculiar nuance, made me suspicious.
As if he'd predicted this outcome all along.
"Are you saying you knew I would come here?"
"No, I didn't know. Sadly, the power to see the future was not granted to me."
Even Altair, called God, was not allowed to see the future?
Realizing that, I knew just how overwhelming Rutia's precognitive dreams and the Demon King's 'future foresight' abilities truly were.
"Then what did you mean earlier by 'finally'? Didn't that mean you expected me to come here?"
"I didn't expect it."
He said this, then gave a strange smile.
"I heard it."
... Heard it?
The moment I wondered who could have told him, one being surfaced in my mind.
"O master of the sword, did you know? The one destined to hold that sword wasn't actually you."
Altair spoke lightly to me as I quietly listened.
"There was meant to be another man—the true protagonist of this world."
At those words, I felt certain.
The Calamity of God, god Altair.
He knew Fabian.