Chapter 21 - Regret Leads to Distrust
"You're going directly too?"
Beatrice looked surprised.
"What if something happens when you go there?"
"Are you worried that a problem might arise if I meet an old colleague?"
"Of course I am."
She sighed.
"It's still not clear what that person's objective is. Rather than you moving directly..."
"To cover up the fact that we kidnapped Neville, we need to make others distrust Yuru."
"Wouldn't she have already lost everyone's trust the moment she kidnapped Neville?"
"I'm not talking about that kind of thing."
Everyone would know that Yuru was no longer a hero of humanity.
But that didn't mean everything Yuru said would be proven false to humans.
"We need to make everything Yuru babbles about lose credibility."
"What do you mean..."
Beatrice, who was about to retort, fell silent.
She had suddenly realized something.
"I see."
She gasped.
"So you're going to show yourself."
"Precisely, my appearance as not an undead."
The living, healthy Clay, who possessed the actual soul of Clay.
"Are you confident you won't waver?"
To Beatrice's question, Clay replied with an expressionless face.
"I was already distrusted and killed by that person. A dead person doesn't come back to life. There's nothing for you to worry about."
"Yes, I suppose so."
His body might have come back to life, but Clay the Hero died then.
So whatever Yuru babbled about, it would no longer matter to Clay.
Because she was neither a colleague nor anything else.
"Alright, let's go together."
Beatrice said to him with a much lighter expression.
"Now I'm curious about what happens next."
♧
"How absurd."
Hiss.
Like holy water poured on a demon, heated steam was rising from Yuru's body.
"You used magic on me?"
Yuru's chilling gaze turned towards Neville, who was slumped on the ground.
"Huff, huff..."
He was breathing heavily, looking up at her.
"I succeeded."
He had succeeded in gathering holy power through prayer and casting a counter-magic spell.
His gaze swept around.
The charging ghosts had vanished.
The door through which the ghosts had been coming closed because the caster lost concentration.
"That power was made to be used against demons."
Yuru said, wiping the blood flowing from her mouth due to the recoil of the interrupted magic casting.
"It's not for use in situations like this."
"You are nothing short of a sin."
Neville spoke, barely calming his trembling body.
"My holy power was used for its proper purpose."
"Neville."
Yuru straightened her bent body.
"I'm just trying to put everything back to normal."
Her hand drew a magic circle in the air again.
"You have a responsibility too. You owe your life to the Hero."
"This is not the life he saved me for."
Neville gritted his teeth.
"If you were going to go this far, you should have acted before he died..."
"Shut up."
Yuru's eyes glowed coldly.
"Even if I had acted then, Clay would have died anyway."
"At least you should have denied it."
"What?"
"You didn't even believe him."
At Neville's words, Yuru's body instantly stiffened.
Her lips trembled.
As if she wanted to protest something.
"All the evidence pointed to the Hero."
Yuru ultimately revealed her persistent distrust.
"So this is partly his fault too."
"Then..."
"But,"
Yuru's eyes wavered.
"I want to see him."
She clenched her fist.
"So I shouldn't have cared about being a heretic or anything. It would have been better to just become a criminal with Clay. Better than enduring this."
"You are utterly pathetic."
Neville frowned.
"He would have wanted you to believe he wasn't a criminal."
"Quiet."
Yuru raised her hand again and drew a magic circle in the air.
"I didn't ask you to judge. You just have to do what you need to do."
"Tower Master!"
"Reccomancy!"
Thump!
The magic she had just used was cast again without any additional steps.
Thump, thump, thump!
Hearing the sound of a door being knocked somewhere, Neville swallowed dryly.
'Now, it's over.'
He had successfully cast magic by drawing holy power through prayer.
Although he had bought time that way, he couldn't use magic again.
'That crazy woman.'
The moment he cast the counter-magic, Yuru reflexively used a parrying spell to reduce its power and defend, while simultaneously chanting a counter-spell of her own.
Because of that, Neville could no longer move his legs.
'Recovery is useless.'
To bypass the Blessing of Recovery, she cast a gravity spell on the ground where Neville was.
Since it wasn't a spell cast directly on his body or a curse, the Blessing of Release didn't activate.
The ground's pulling force simply intensified, so Neville couldn't stand up and could only frown.
'Is this the end?'
It was then, as Neville let out a small sigh, seeing the ghosts emerge again.
"Go back."
Screeeeech!
Suddenly, at the Dragon Speech that echoed through the air, the ghosts were directly banished.
♧
A red dragon.
The being with the highest status among the demons after the Demon King.
One of the Four Heavenly Kings, Beatrice.
The lingering images left by the banished ghosts scattered like dust and disappeared with her wing beats.
"That's..."
Neville's pupils, widened as if they would tear, looked up at the dragon with a gaze of fear.
"Beatrice?"
The most powerful force of the Demon King's Army had appeared here.
"How on earth..."
The Demon King's Army had already collapsed.
They had suffered near-annihilation at the hands of the Hero's Party and the Holy Knights, and now only scattered demons remained as remnants.
Most of the Four Heavenly Kings had been defeated by the Hero's Party, and only Beatrice had vanished without a clear victory or defeat.
Rumors had circulated that she had suffered fatal injuries in battle and died, but now it seemed that wasn't the case. Moreover,
This was Yapheon.
A savage land belonging to the Holy State Alliance.
There was no way one of the Four Heavenly Kings could enter and exit so freely.
"Beatrice..."
Yuru, turning her gaze to the suddenly intervening Four Heavenly King, stared with wide eyes.
"You were alive?"
"What a foolish question. I was never dead to begin with."
Beatrice said, mocking Yuru, and slowly flapped her wings.
"Coming from you, who was just calling forth the souls of the truly dead, it's quite ironic."
Clench.
Yuru's expression twisted.
"Shut up."
She said to Beatrice.
"It's absurd enough that you suddenly appeared to interfere, and now you're spouting nonsense."
"Perhaps you came here to find a place to die."
Beatrice chuckled.
"Since no one is looking for you, you have no choice but to move yourself."
"Get lost."
Yuru spat out with a sharp voice.
"If you want to die, crawl into any nearby place. The Holy State will eagerly grant your wish."
"You've gotten much harsher in your words since I last saw you, child from the Tower."
"Don't call me that!"
CRACKLE!
Yuru's left eye turned red and glowed like a star.
The engraving she had directly etched into her eye to immediately cast magic had activated.
BOOM!
An explosion occurred at the spot she targeted with her gaze.
"!"
An explosion occurred on Beatrice's right wing.
Beatrice, momentarily staggering, quickly flapped her wings and circled near Yuru.
CRASH! BOOM!
The engraving continuously initiated explosion magic, chasing the evading Beatrice.
"You still show absurd power."
Magic continuously cast based on overwhelming magi supply.
An ordinary mage attempting such a feat would be unable to handle the depletion of magi and would soon cease their attacks.
BOOOOOOM!
An explosion landed precisely inside Beatrice's wing.
Yuru, confirming Beatrice's altitude dropping, rushed forward.
CRACKLE!
This time, her right eye glowed.
If the left eye was for attack, this one was for defense.
With the effect of the engraving on her right eye, which glowed even bluer, Yuru instantly donned armor made of magi.
A blue light enveloped her entire body.
CRUNCH!
She didn't use it for defense.
Instead, she hardened her fist and swung it at Beatrice, who had just landed on the ground.
Beatrice, who had momentarily staggered from Yuru's attack, which involved leaping high and striking her cheek, suddenly regained her focus.
"Are you done?"
"!"
"It hurt, but..."
Beatrice's tail whipped through the air like a lash, striking Yuru.
WHACK!
Yuru, shot away like a ball, fell to the ground, bouncing and rolling several times before coming to a stop.
"To catch me, you'd need to use your boasted Grand Magic."
"Cough!"
Yuru coughed out dust-laden phlegm and lifted her upper body.
"That damn woman..."
Her expression was clearly filled with rage.
Whoosh!
But her gaze shifted from Beatrice to another place.
Beatrice also turned her head, following her gaze.
There stood none other than Crown Prince Neville.
Tap!
Yuru got up and ran towards him.
"No, you don't."
ROOOOOOOAR!
Breath.
Yuru could no longer take another step and stopped, halted by the flames spewed by the legendary dragon.
The rapidly rising flames formed a wall, separating Yuru and Neville.
"Take your hands off the Crown Prince."
Beatrice said with a resolute voice.
"I don't know why you kidnapped the Crown Prince, but if you push it any further, you won't be able to return to your Tower again."
"I have no intention of returning."
Yuru gritted her teeth.
"Why did you suddenly appear and interfere? This person is the Crown Prince of Kratia. He's your enemy."
"The war is already over."
"Are you joking?"
Yuru opened her mouth with an incredulous expression.
"Demons and humans are eternal enemies. Especially the Holy State Alliance. What's your true intention in coming here and spouting such nonsense?"
"Does the true intention matter? If what you say is true, then I'm also your enemy."
"Yes."
A magic circle began to be drawn on the ground where Yuru stood.
"In that case, I'll have to give you the appropriate treatment."
WHOOSH!
A magic circle was drawn in an instant, and then another magic circle was drawn on top of it, and then a new magic circle was drawn on top of that.
Overlap, condense, fuse.
Seeing her begin to combine several magic circles, Beatrice once again gathered flames in her mouth.
"I don't intend to just stand by while you prepare your Grand Magic."
ROOOOOOOAR!
Breath was fired.
Yuru stomped on the ground.
THUMP!
The ground, pushed back and raised like a wall, blocked the Breath.
However, that was merely a temporary measure.
The ground, pushed by the Breath, turned to dust, and Yuru abandoned maintaining the magic circle and threw herself to the side.
A scorched line on the ground.
Beatrice looked back at Yuru.
Yuru bit her lip.
Without her party, it was difficult to fully exert her abilities.
But Yuru had no intention of backing down here.
Because she needed the Crown Prince to summon Clay's soul and settle it.
Only the Crown Prince had such a body.
"Just get lost! I'm currently..."
It was then.
"Yuru."
A voice she shouldn't hear was heard.
"First time seeing you since I died."
What appeared in Yuru's eyes, frozen in breathtaking surprise, was Clay descending from Beatrice's back and stepping onto the ground.