Chapter 56 - The Calamity of the North (2)
"Are you truly going to continue?"
At the far eastern border of Hanumeyer.
They had long since crossed it and entered the Demon Realm.
"You still need more time to recover. Please reconsider…"
The knights urged.
They had encountered all sorts of demons on their journey here, but fortunately, none of them were particularly strong.
This was because someone had already crushed the demons before them.
Realizing that a calamity was nearby, the knights had no choice but to offer sincere advice to their sovereign.
Nevertheless, Selbaro, the Emperor of Hanumeyer, did not answer immediately and looked to his side.
"I believe you understand the situation. Do you still wish to proceed?" "Yes."
She had already entered the Demon Realm. Perhaps this was the only time they could enter with such little resistance.
"I will continue."
Tia said to Selbaro with determination.
"It might be difficult if we don't act now."
As Selimia rampaged through the Demon Realm, the attention of the demons was focused on her. If they didn't seize this opportunity to enter the Demon Realm, they might lose a great chance.
"Understood."
Selbaro asked no more questions.
When he gestured, the knights also stopped their pleas. They simply moved forward in silence.
And after a long time, what they encountered was…
"W-what is that?"
"What in the world…"
"What happened?"
A scene of slaughter, with demons lying dead everywhere.
CRACK CRACK CRACK!
But their gaze soon turned towards the sky.
There, Freezing was flying through the air, spitting out ice.
"Freezing?!"
"His Majesty definitely killed it, didn't he…!"
Selbaro held his breath silently.
He instinctively knew how that Freezing had appeared.
"Selimia."
Hearing the name he muttered, Tia moved forward alone again.
"Leave a few tens of men and go help. I will follow soon."
Selbaro, whose movements were sluggish due to his incomplete recovery, quickly gave orders to his knights.
Although they hesitated for a moment, not knowing the situation, they soon followed their sovereign's command and chased after Tia.
Tia's expression hardened as she took in the sight of the approaching Freezing.
'It's a shell.'
She could feel no life force; it was a simple summon.
Despite its threatening appearance, its actual destructive power might not be very high.
"It's dangerous!"
The knights of Hanumeyer hurried to catch up with Tia.
"We don't even properly know the situation! We must scout first!"
"Just wait a moment, we will find out!"
But Tia did not stop.
"If I were going to do that, I would have brought my own soldiers."
Tia had come to Hanumeyer alone.
And she had not called her own soldiers for this expedition.
To move as discreetly as possible, she had traveled alone, with only the help of Hanumeyer, a country whose intervention in a northern Demon Realm subjugation would not seem strange.
This was an unprecedented event.
For the ruler of a nation to do something so reckless.
The Hanumeyer knights shouted, unable to understand her.
"You must not! If you continue…"
ROOAARRR!
Freezing flew down in an instant and let out a frosty breath in front of her.
"!"
Tia paused, then frowned as she watched Freezing soar again.
Freezing was preventing them from crossing this point, as if concealing something ahead.
"It's coming again!"
Seeing Freezing fly towards them again, the knights spurred their horses and charged.
The slashes created by the arcs of their swords flew towards Freezing.
CLANK!
But they failed to cut through Freezing's body, which had become even harder due to the condensed ice.
"Get away, get away!"
"Agh!"
A few knights were caught by Freezing's feet, lifted into the air, and then fell to the ground.
ROOAARRR!
The following breath from Freezing knocked the knights off their horses.
"P-please save…"
The knights touched by the breath began to freeze one by one.
They struggled, but that was all they could do. With their bodies gradually hardening, they could only let out silent screams.
And as Freezing was gliding down as if to shatter them,
"Fiat Lux."
FLASH!
A single streak of light shot from the sky and plunged directly into Freezing.
ROOAARR!
Freezing, whose wings were pushed by the light, crashed to the ground.
ROAR! ROAAARR!
As it tried to stand up again, an even stronger light struck it.
When Freezing began to melt, staggering from the heat contained in the light, the soldiers' eyes widened in astonishment.
"W-what is that…?"
Their gazes turned to the side.
Standing there was Tia de Mezzeler, her entire body glowing golden.
"Dissolve—"
As she opened her mouth again, the light split into several streaks and cut Freezing's body parts cleanly off.
Aghhh….
Freezing's monstrous cry stopped for a moment.
Freezing's body was now cut into pieces by the light and melting away.
"I-it can't be."
"What is that?"
"C-could it be…"
From the knights' mouths, one of the forgotten heroes was mentioned.
"A Saintess!"
A Saint, known as one of the pillars saving the world alongside the Hero, a being who appeared only a few times throughout history, and whose emergence was a mystery.
And such a being was now incarnated in the body of Tia, the Empress of Iser.
"A Saintess?"
Selbaro, arriving late and witnessing the scene, also opened his mouth and muttered in a tone of awe. This was an unexpected situation for him as well.
"So that's why she could come alone."
It was unthinkable for the head of a nation to roam the Demon Realm alone. No matter how much help she had from another country, it was incomprehensible.
But if she was a Saintess, it made perfect sense.
"Clay."
Tia, who had defeated Freezing and was melting the bodies of the knights, had a brilliant blue gleam in her eyes.
"I'm coming for you now."
FLASH!
A path of light was drawn. Melting the frozen ground, the path extended forward, reaching the front of a man and a woman who were clashing a demonic sword and an ice sword.
Clay, and Selimia.
Tia headed towards the two of them.
♧
Clay was in a fierce battle.
CLANG! CRACK! CLANG!
The demonic sword he held kept breaking Selimia's ice swords, but with each break, Selimia created a new one.
"It won't work."
Selimia said with a fierce expression.
"I will keep making new swords until I break that one."
Her goal was limited solely to the Shiltnaro that Clay was holding.
"Give me that sword."
CRUNCH!
Clay silently broke yet another ice sword.
Then, Selimia stomped the ground with her foot.
The solid-frozen ground instantly half-melted and became slippery. Clay, who stumbled slightly, plunged Shiltnaro into the ground to regain his balance.
"I touched it!"
In a flash, Selimia grabbed the hilt of Shiltnaro.
CRACK CRACK CRACK!
With her hand placed on top of Clay's, Selimia froze the sword.
"How about that? I've got you completely, haven't I?"
"…Then you can't move either."
Clay sighed, his expression completely unfazed.
"Your hands are warm, for someone who wields cold."
"!"
Only then did Selimia realize the sensation of touching Clay's hand, and she stuttered in surprise.
"T-that's not strange. My body isn't made of ice."
"I thought it might be."
After all, the current Selimia only imitated the original Selimia, so her body's composition couldn't be said to be the same.
But as their bodies touched, Clay realized something.
This Selimia was an incomprehensible being who had even reproduced the original's physical body.
"The more I learn, the more intriguing you become."
At those words, Selimia's eyes wavered, and she finally shouted.
"The sword! Give me the sword right now!"
"The sword?"
Clay tilted his head.
"Which sword are you talking about?"
"!"
Shiltnaro had vanished from their hands.
And what appeared was Shiltnaro in her humanoid form.
"Get away from him!"
BANG!
It was a simple punch.
But that was only what it appeared to be; it was no different from a normal attack from a demonic sword.
"Kugh?!"
Selimia was pushed back.
A vicious look appeared on her face.
"I'm all you need by your side, Lord Clay…!"
The two began to fight hand-to-hand.
As Clay blankly watched this chaotic battle between his own sword and the great calamity who had frozen the entire northern Demon Realm, he felt another energy approaching.
"...?"
Clay turned his head.
'Holy Power?'
Immense Holy Power.
It was a power that surpassed his own during his time as a Hero.
'Just... who…'
He wondered if the Holy State Alliance had already dispatched someone, but a being of this magnitude shouldn't exist at this time.
Just as Clay frowned, a streak of light appeared, melting the frozen ground.
"!"
"!"
Shiltnaro and Selimia's gazes also turned that way.
FLASH!
And in an instant, they threw themselves aside to avoid the overflowing light heading towards them.
ROOAARRR!
The ice chunks, pushed back by the light, piled up like giant snow mountains.
"You…"
Clay's eyes widened as he saw the person who suddenly appeared from within the light.
At the end of his gaze was a person he had cherished and loved so much, perhaps even more than himself.
"Clay."
Golden hair, like a halo.
Two brilliant blue eyes, like a star-filled sea, were looking at Clay.
"You were here. Truly."
The Saintess, Tia de Mezzeler.
Clay's lips parted as he faced this form he had not even known existed during their childhood.
Reunion.
That emotion was more immediate than any feeling about the unknown facts.
CRUNCH.
However, Clay closed his lips and clenched his fist.
"Tia."
Dismissing all other emotions, he immediately faced reality.
Demon King and Saintess.
The two had met at a point of perfect opposition.
"It seems you became a Saintess without my knowing."
"...Yes."
"I won't ask if you had that power when I was executed."
Though he had suppressed it, Clay couldn't help but bring up the past.
He continued speaking.
"Whatever the case, what's important is that you've appeared at this point."
Clay had now become the Demon King and was on the move.
He had come out to increase his new forces, and in the process, he had encountered the Saintess.
"How does it feel to know you've become a clear enemy?"
He had to speak only of what was necessary.
"I'm asking what you think about me being alive in this form, as those who returned to Iser must have told you."
Nevertheless, he couldn't just say what was necessary.
"What are you thinking, standing there, Tia de Mezzeler?"
"..."
Tia gave no answer.
She, too, didn't know what she was thinking.
"Clay."
After a long silence, the words Tia finally uttered were,
"I was not a person who could endure everything."
It was nothing but a single, anguished cry.