Chapter 33 - Release
"Heheheh, so it's come to this."
Butcher Golche.
He let out a sinister laugh as his heavy footsteps echoed through Barungenia.
"Ugh."
It was Rin who gagged, as if nauseated by the sight.
"Rin Ciart. You, too, couldn't handle it alone, it seems."
"Wh-Who!"
Rin shrieked.
"I would've found a way even without you?! It's just that there isn't enough time..."
"I know, kid."
"Ki... What?! Hey!"
Ignoring Rin, who continued to fume, Golche stood before the person who had summoned him here.
"Future Demon King, Clay."
He uttered in a thick voice.
"Every time I see you, it feels unreal."
The Hero of countless battles, who had driven the demon race to the brink of destruction, now stood here.
"Though it feels even more unreal that you've gotten weaker."
Though he was thoroughly concealed by clothes, through several investigations, Golche could easily tell that Clay was no longer in the same physical condition as before.
"Golche."
Kardine, who had brought him, glared.
"This is the one who will become the Demon King. Mind your words."
"Too much fuss. He's not even the Demon King yet."
Golche looked down at Clay.
"Isn't that right?"
"You're right, Golche."
Clay looked up at Golche and said.
"But I hope you understand that your corpse-like body might be subjected to more stitching."
"Heheheh!"
Golche spread his arms wide and opened his mouth in a large grin.
"Indeed, he's definitely that man! The formidable one all demons feared!"
CLANG!
The saw in his hand fell to the floor.
"You're not here for a chat now, are you? Is it time to start modifying the body?"
"Something similar. I want to change my constitution."
Not all poisons work on all living beings.
Similarly, not all brands worked on all bodies.
"A body where the priests' brands etched on me will have no effect. With the investigations so far, I believe it's now possible."
At Clay's answer, Golche smiled so wide his mouth seemed to split.
"With your talent, you can do anything. Everything is ready. If you can endure the pain of being torn and reattached, or bent in ways that seem impossible to bend back."
It was a statement that sent shivers down the listener's spine, but Clay's reaction was calm.
"As long as the results are guaranteed."
"Good!"
Golche immediately turned to Rin.
"It begins, Rin Ciart!"
"Uh, huh?"
"To twist, squeeze, soak, and evolve the body, your magicology knowledge is also needed! I, too, require cooperation!"
In the process, which would take the form of surgery, Clay would have demon organs implanted, his spine replaced with one made from dragon bone, and receive completely new blood unlike anything before.
At that time, powerful potions would be needed to inject into Clay to prevent shock, along with magic to reduce the disparity between his soul and the new body.
All of this had to be meticulously planned, like the cooperation between a surgeon and an anesthetist.
"Clay, this will be different from human surgical methods. Healing magic, which has fixed you until now, will be useless."
Golche told Clay in a grave voice.
"You won't die, but the rejection from your body, which was chosen as humanity's hero, will be far more violent and peculiar than you might imagine."
"That's what I want."
A strange light gleamed in Clay's eyes.
"As long as it doesn't fail."
"Yes, that's enough!"
Golche cried out as if making a declaration.
"It begins!"
♧
How long had she fought?
Yuru barely managed to stand up, her body reeling with dizziness.
WHOOSH.
Her hair fluttered in the wind swirling through the canyon.
CLANG!
Before her stood a man, staggering as he slammed his sword into the ground.
"Indeed."
Maial.
The Guardian Knight sent to fight Yuru.
He was almost in rags, having taken dozens of magic attacks.
"But it wasn't enough."
Yet, he didn't fall.
His body, protected by divine blessing, had a different level of physical durability than an ordinary person.
'If my stamina had been intact.'
Yuru panted, looking at him.
She had used too much magic power without proper rest on her way here.
Magic Overload Phenomenon.
Over-absorbing and using more magic power than necessary was causing side effects in her body.
Her vision was blurry, and her head was spinning as if dizzy.
"Yuru."
Maial thrust his sword forward.
"This is the end here."
Perhaps his words were true.
The Guardian Knights possessed power optimized for slaying demons, but they were also adept at defeating those who showed hostility towards the Church.
If she could no longer offer any resistance, it would take mere minutes for her to vanish from the world.
'The end?'
Of course, that was assuming she could no longer offer any resistance.
CRACKLE!
Veins bulged all over her body.
Like a volcano erupting from the seabed, her veins turned red as if flowing with lava.
Her body heated up.
She exhaled wisps of heat, straightening her back.
"Maial."
Yuru's gaze was fixed on him.
"Do you truly believe in God?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm asking if it's truly right for you, who was born in a savage land and tasted the power of shamanism, to look to the same God as Kratia."
"Blasphemous."
Maial showed his displeasure.
"The God believed by the Holy State Alliance is all the same."
"Then Kratia accepts even the Primordial God?"
"That is not for me to discuss."
"It's quite a flimsy faith, accepting different things depending on the era."
Cheap provocation.
Maial took a step towards Yuru.
"No matter what you do, the outcome won't change. Let's not waste any more time."
SHING!
Light imbued Maial's greatsword.
"With this divine power, I shall cut down your disbelief."
Yuru said nothing more.
She simply stood still, waiting for him to approach.
She stood still,
And then,
CRASH!
At the moment Maial's greatsword fell with a roar, Yuru swung her fist sideways.
CLANG!
An attack that struck the side of the greatsword.
Ordinarily, it should have been nothing more than a typical level of resistance, but,
"!"
Maial's sword was repelled as if pushed by a monstrous body.
"Wh-What...?!"
At the same time, Maial's body swayed, following the greatsword.
It was an enormous impact.
A blow that could not come from a mage's body.
SPLAT.
It wasn't some hidden trump card.
Blood burst from Yuru's fist.
Her bulging veins burst and tore, spewing red blood.
No, it wasn't just blood.
'Magic intoxication...!'
For a moment, Maial saw it.
Yuru's eyes were unfocused as she stared at him.
Suffering from magic overload, she had deliberately drawn in more magic power and fallen into a state of intoxication.
When one becomes intoxicated, they temporarily and rapidly absorb surrounding magic power.
More than they can handle.
That was impossible unless one was prepared for death and completely released all unconscious defense mechanisms.
SWISH!
Yuru's fist swung one more time at Maial, who was grabbing his greatsword and falling.
BOOM!
With her body already in rags, using proper magic was impossible.
Yuru simply hardened her body with ultra-high-density magic power, drawn in savagely.
Just as salt is extracted from seawater and compressed to create firmness, she forced water-like magic power into her body, leaving only the core energy to combine, combine, and combine again, making her body as solid as an ore.
"Gah!"
Maial, struck in the flank by that punch, let out a large gasp.
He'd been hit.
He thought she had only hardened her body, but she had somehow drawn a magic circle on the floor.
As the magic circle, secretly drawn with her foot, activated, a large explosion erupted on Maial's body, who happened to step on it.
BANG! CRASH! BOOM!
Every spot he staggered onto had a magic circle.
Yuru continued to drive Maial into traps, swinging her fists.
"Im-Impossible...!"
Being pushed back by a mage in close combat was unthinkable for a Guardian Knight.
CRUNCH!
The difference in physical durability was stark.
Her hands, which punched and pushed him, quickly became covered in blood.
The strategy of combining blows and magic to attack the enemy was, from the beginning, merely a race against time.
"Have you become a moth to the flame!"
Maial spat out blood from his mouth and swung his greatsword.
The greatsword struck Yuru's body directly.
"It's done..."
It should have been over.
"Release."
At that moment, red light burst from her eyes, nose, mouth, and everywhere else.
The light soon turned blue, instantly covering Maial's body.
"Arghhhhhhhhhhh!"
The accumulation of magic power, which had been held back, collapsed, and an enormous amount of energy was released at once.
It wasn't magic.
It was a manifestation of pure energy.
However, it was like a munitions depot exploding in fire, not something released through a necessary process at all.
What burst forth, shaking Yuru's body as if to shatter it, was such a cataclysm.
"Aargh!"
"Save me..."
"Kyaaaaaaaah!"
The soldiers, who had already been swept away by Yuru's magic and were lying prostrate on the ground, were also caught in the explosion.
The entire area was devastated.
In that process, Maial, witnessing the cataclysm from the very front, was simply crushed by fear.
"Mon-ster. Such a..."
Maial's body, ablaze, slowly began to collapse.
Even divine blessing could not protect him from the power that ripped apart everything around it.
He tried to escape the gale by holding his greatsword, which gathered light, in front of him, but it was impossible for him to hide.
"What, on earth, are you...!"
One member of the Hero's Party.
Everyone knew she was a talented individual who used powerful magic, but no one knew she could cause such a rampage.
A rampaging mage loses form and instantly vaporizes.
The mage before him was thoroughly shattering such common knowledge.
The one crushed by fear right now was clearly Maial.
"Ugh, gaaahhhhhhhh!"
His armor shattered and scattered like dry ground, and his skin and muscle fibers tore like paper.
In that process, Maial finally realized.
'Primordial!'
This person was the one who handled the very source of the Primordial, the root of savage shamanism.
'Not just a mere mage...!'
Origin.
Maial's jaw flew off as he tried to shout that.
Everything was submerged in blue light.
Even her own form vanished, buried in the radiance.
♧
"This can't be."
Lilien, who had reached the swamp leading the Imperial Guard, hardened her expression.
They had been ambushed.
Bodies of Imperial Knights lay sprawled around.
Lilien immediately pulled out an arrow impaled in one of them and examined it.
"This is...!"
It was from Yapheon.
"They...!"
They had ambushed the returning Imperial Knights.
They had laid an ambush in this abandoned land beyond the Iser border, located between allied nations.
"You filthy wretches!"
Lilien cried out, seeing their atrocities which they made no attempt to hide.
"Hurry! We must save them!"
Five hundred Imperial Guard Knights moved in unison, following her.