Chapter 88: Arc Blade (3)
[lissa.]
[…….]
[What should we do?]
The Old Butler’s voice rang in my ears.
But lissa, called the Black Empress, could not take her eyes off the scene unfolding before her.
‘Handling the Arc Blade……?’
A dazzling light surged up from the sword’s hilt.
That human must have been the one who made the Arc Blade suddenly fly through the air.
‘Andreina……. Don’t tell …….’
lissa’s eyes turned toward the figure seated beside the weapon’s owner.
It was protected so thoroughly that she could not see through the mask, but she knew by instinct.
That child with the cute Lesser Panda Hologram had to be her youngest younger sister.
The reason for that guess was simple.
‘Have you found that man from the prophecy?’
lissa bit her lip tightly.
The single sentence her second younger sibling, an outstanding prophet, had uttered before dying.
The prophecy that had never left lissa’s mind since that night.
‘No. It’s not certain yet.’
Denying the thought, she shifted her gaze again.
‘I need to confirm it for sure.’
If that person really was the man of the prophecy.
Then he would certainly possess a special ability of his own.
With that thought, lissa narrowed the space between her eyes.
Light collided.
One was golden light raised through a stolen miracle.
The other was multicolored light ford from mana.
From the clash of the two lights, a blinding flash burst forth, so intense that it was impossible to see even an inch ahead.
“…….”
The sharp golden strike shattered into pieces under the multicolored sword light.
Through the scattering rays of light, Garcia’s expression flickered past.
“Oh……. So this is the power of the Arc Blade?”
Rather than flustered, the man smiled as if intrigued.
In response, Diesel tightened his grip on the sword’s hilt again.
‘……As expected, its condition isn’t good.’
Compared to what had been in my older brother’s mories, the output was incomparably weaker.
Not just the output—the overall condition of the sword was extrely unstable.
A few more swings, and it looked like it would break completely.
[I will move.]
At the sa ti as Garcia’s opening attack, the others began to act as well.
The Physical Guard Net charged first at the Old Butler.
At the sa ti, an unusual surge of mana could be felt from the mage seated in the upper VIP section.
“Interesting.”
Garcia did not remain idle either.
Taking a stance with his golden sword, he rushed toward the seating area where Diesel stood.
But sothing entirely different blocked his path.
[Where do you think you’re going……!]
The female lee Mage who had agreed in advance to stall for ti.
Perhaps because of Garcia’s attack just now, her mask had broken, revealing half of her face.
The eyes exposed that way shone a deep brown.
‘A Slow-type lee Mage.’
From the lee Mage’s outstretched knife-hand, a transparent slowing barrier like a soap bubble ford.
When Garcia’s sword touched that barrier, it slowed as if caught in slow motion.
“Hm……. You’re using an annoying ability.”
〈I will provide attack support.〉
The Type-15 Lightning Spirit Yuter, who had been softly emitting a blue glow, also moved.
Holding pure lightning-type mana in its hand, it released it straight ahead.
KWA-BOOM……!
Along with a trendous thunderclap, a bolt of lightning struck Garcia square in the chest.
But it was not as effective as expected.
‘He’s protected by a miracle.’
The miracle of the ‘Santiago Knight Order,’ which Garcia was known to have belonged to.
A holy armor personally bestowed by Yahweh was protecting him.
‘How can an excommunicated knight wield a miracle of that magnitude…….’
The reason was unknown.
More important than that was what kind of armor it was.
Narrowing his eyes, Diesel read the miracle.
‘Since it’s a manifested miracle, breaking the inscription is impossible…….’
A special defensive armor that only grew harder the more attacks it received.
To pierce that armor, a powerful single blow was needed.
‘With the output from earlier, that’s hopeless.’
To succeed in Diesel’s plan, a situation where lives were at risk had to be created.
With that in mind, he examined the Arc Blade once more.
“Haha……! Interesting. Very interesting.”
The man abandoned the sword, which was moving sluggishly due to the slowing barrier.
Then, with his fist clenched, he struck the lee Mage in the abdon.
“……!”
She hurriedly raised her other hand to defend.
Another slowing barrier ford, making Garcia’s punch sluggish.
“Oh, you’re pretty fast?”
Several exchanges followed.
Garcia’s powerful straight punches were thrown in succession, but all were blocked by precisely placed slowing barriers.
But perhaps he was adapting.
Attacks that had initially seed almost frozen gradually picked up speed.
On top of that, when he picked up the discarded sword and began unleashing sword strikes, beads of sweat rolled down the lee Mage’s forehead.
“What, is that all you’ve got?”
[…….]
“Guess I’ll have to take back what I said about this being fun.”
Even to soone ignorant of magic, it was obvious that the slowing barriers had weakened.
Boredom returned to the excommunicated knight’s face.
But.
[Now!]
At Diesel’s signal, a massive slowing barrier unfolded.
The rippling barrier wrapped around Garcia like a cocoon.
“Oh……ho…….”
A single decisive blow prepared while maintaining exchanges with minimal force.
Diesel did not miss that opening.
Stepping on the railing, he leapt high and charged toward the stage.
Power poured out from the Arc Blade.
‘Now I get it.’
Diesel could read the flow of mana contained within the Arc Blade.
My older brother, who had possessed the power of the seed called ‘Eyes that Perceive,’ must have been able to see this mana flow as well.
That was why it had been a weapon he could wield.
The mage who had infused mana into the Arc Blade was at least a four-star-class powerhouse.
The Radiance-type mana bestowed by such a person was far purer and more noble than Diesel’s own.
The problem lay in how it was handled.
‘The mana-guidance function isn’t perfect yet.’
Depending on how mana was arranged, the power of the blade this weapon generated varied wildly.
However, my older brother had not possessed the ability to manipulate mana itself.
That was probably why a weak ego had been engraved into the weapon.
‘It can’t be helped—this ti I’ll do it myself.’
Diesel had the ability to do so.
The ability to manipulate mana more delicately than anyone else.
FSSHSHSH……!
Once again, multicolored radiance surged up from the Arc Blade.
A blade imbued with far stronger mana than before.
‘It’s not perfect, but…….’
This was enough.
Soon, a radiant sword strike plunged down toward the excommunicated knight’s shoulder.
“Hmm……. That looks like it might hurt a little.”
The blade moved, brightly illuminating Garcia’s face.
But there was no trace of fear on the man’s expression.
“It can’t be helped.”
Instead, there was only a chilling smile.
PAAANG……!
Along with it, an overwhelming force burst out without warning.
Diesel, who had been falling through the air, was flung away and slamd into a distant wall.
[Kuh……!]
The guard who had been facing the Old Butler stepped back for a mont.
It wasn’t because of what happened to Diesel.
It was because an unusual presence was emanating from Garcia.
[This is that…….]
A sinister aura spread out in all directions.
“It’s been a while.”
That was—
A power that had erged from the deep subterranean depths of the Celestial Realm.
A wicked kind of miracle that had once been thoroughly tabooed under the na ‘demon.’
“To take on this form.”
The power of a demon called ‘Abaddon,’ the King of Destruction who yearned for ruin within the bottomless abyss, descended upon Garcia’s body.
“Sorry, but you’ll have to die quickly.”
The excommunicated knight’s ghastly gaze swept over Diesel.
“Once I’ve invoked this power, I need to end it fast.”
[Why.]
Diesel pushed himself up from the shattered debris.
[If you use that, does soone co chasing after you?]
“…….”
Demonic power that must never be revealed to the world.
That excommunicated knight Garcia wielded such a kind of miracle was already a well-known fact.
[Diesel.]
Sis, who had been surveying the surroundings through the Electrosphere, reported to Diesel.
[Just as you intended, there’s movent from the Inquisitors’ side.]
At her words, Diesel gripped the Arc Blade once more.
A group that road the entire world, exercising extralegal authority—the Inquisitors.
Their noble duties were varied, but there was one thing that took priority above all else.
That was—
‘Stopping the descent of an evil god.’
That was why they were faster and more sensitive than anyone else when it ca to detecting demonic power.
‘With this, half the plan has succeeded…….’
If there was one minor problem, it was that I had to hold out against a being empowered by demonic force until the Inquisitors arrived.
“Hahahaha……!”
Garcia burst into loud laughter and looked at Diesel.
“You were aiming for this from the start?”
Then suddenly, his expression drained away.
“Impudent bastard.”
Along with it, the sword that had been flashing gold was dyed in an entirely different color.
“How dare you try to use ?”
A deep crimson aura seeped out from the hilt all the way to the tip of the blade.
“I don’t know how you managed to wield the Arc Blade, but…….”
[…….]
“Soone like you only needs a single strike.”
Facing that power, every hair on Diesel’s body stood on end.
‘This is…… far more dangerous than I expected…….’
Was this the might of a nad demon?
The aura spreading out around Garcia instantly invaded the seating area.
[Ugh……!]
[Kughk……!]
People it touched collapsed one after another.
They didn’t just lose consciousness—they twisted violently as seizures wracked their bodies.
[I have to stop this right now……!]
[H-how do we deal with that power…….]
Diesel quickly organized his thoughts.
One card he could use right now.
To form a half-spiritization with Yuter, the Type-15 Spirit.
Whether Yuter wanted it or not wasn’t an important question.
I had never asked before, but if it refused, I had the power to force it into compliance.
The problem, however, was that Yuter was a ‘lightning’ spirit.
Given their inherent nature, there was no way my body could endure half-spiritization.
‘With Nereid, it worked without any strain because she was a water spirit…….’
On top of that, Yuter was an extrely high-ranking Type-15 Spirit.
It wouldn’t be strange if I died from the backlash of half-spiritization alone.
‘In that case…….’
There was one thod that was a bit more certain than that.
One where I didn’t need to worry about backlash at all.
A thod that could literally be called a ‘miracle.’
‘An otherworldly miracle…….’
The final bulwark I had prepared in advance for monts like this.
‘But if I do that, another problem will arise.’
There were too many eyes watching, especially nearby.
Among them, the most botherso were, naturally, the two mbers of Despotis.
In the worst case, it could even draw strange suspicion from the Inquisitors who would arrive shortly.
They had always been wary of unfamiliar powers.
Judging from my older brother’s mories, it seed best not to get too entangled with the Inquisitors.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
A sneer crept across Garcia’s face.
It was the expression of a child who had found a toy he could easily play with.
“I’d love to play with you a bit more, but as you know, I don’t have the ti.”
The man gripped the dark red blade in his hand.
“If you think you can endure it, then try.”
Soon, Garcia twisted his face into a grin no human could ever make.
Along with it, he raised the demonic power clenched in both hands high overhead.
‘I have to decide.’
In the end, Diesel reached out his hand, about to write the opening lines of a miracle formula.
But at that mont—
[Garcia.]
“……?”
An utterly unexpected figure stepped in between us.
“You…… what are you.”
The hacker of Despotis known as the Black Empress.
lissa stood in front of Garcia.
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