Chapter 68 - It Was Out of the Question
After confirming that Elenoa had withdrawn from the throne room, Louis's eyes changed abruptly.
"It is deeply regrettable to disregard Ars's kindness, but this cannot be helped."
He released a sinister magical power.
"Ars? Who is that?"
"My former adjutant. You read the letter from Grenol, didn't you? Realizing the crisis in the Royal Capital, he seems to have entrusted Claire and Gilrem with the innocent Prince and expelled them from the capital. ……I wondered why I didn't see Ars on the night Grenol was crushed, but now I see."
"…………"
"Protecting the royal family is the duty of a court mage, yet it is a painful thing."
"You bastard…!"
To begin with.
Louis extended his right hand forward. He slid his finger through the air as if drawing a line from left to right. In doing so, he created three spheres. The red, blue, and yellow spheres were each about the size of a clenched fist.
With just a glance from Louis, they shot forward.
Kyuu,
A high-pitched sound rang out, and they plunged into the Hero's Party, exploding.
Flame, cold air, and electricity. Each sphere was formed by compressing its respective attribute to an extremely high density, swirling within.
Hasumi immediately rolled across the floor, dodging the flames while grabbing the dual swords she had dropped.
The electricity struck the Healer Emiel's rod directly, inducing paralysis, and trapped the Martial Artist Faras's left shoulder in ice. But without panic or commotion, Emiel's healing and recovery spells were applied.
"Why are you doing this!?"
"Asking that will change nothing."
Louis felt not even a hint of guilt. Looking at this young man now, he even found it strange that he had ever considered him a 'companion.'
——In truth, he understood.
Everyone present understood. Now that Elenoa had become an enemy, there was no way they could defeat the Demon Lord Louis.
Calm down, calm down, Hasumi chanted to herself. Even as he sneered once, she observed him with such intensity that she burned his beautiful face into her memory, staying alert, conscious of every signal circuit in her body.
Calm and composed. Equanimity. The opponent is a traitor. The opponent is an enemy.
Trying to fill herself with only the necessary emotions, Hasumi whispered negative sentiments to her heart.
Love is not needed on the battlefield.
Crush that weak heart, which would crumble at the slightest breeze.
"If I defeat you, I can speak with Elenoa, can't I?"
"If she wishes it."
"……I see. In that case……"
But.
Even so, Hasumi could not deny the heart of the girl who cried out, wanting to flee.
Let those who mock her for being cowardly do so.
The courage to face an unbeatable opponent is the same as recklessness.
Charging forward is a far uglier folly than cowardice.
"Here I go……!"
Even so, Hasumi kicked off the ground.
＊
What does one think when swinging a sword?
The most important thing is to imagine the moment of success.
But facing Louis, Hasumi could not see even a fragment of a future where she defeated him.
The result was a disastrous defeat, too pitiful to watch or speak of.
The Hero's companions were in tatters. Everyone had been slammed hard against the stone walls at least once, and there was not a spot on them without bruises.
Her whole body ached, and she wondered if some bone might be cracked. Still, since she could run, her leg bones were probably not broken.
In contrast, the Demon Lord's black coat tassels had not even been severed, nor had his hair been cut or flown about. Damaging his cheek seemed like a dream.
He avoided the sword with just a few steps back. The trajectory of the knight's sword was seen through, and Hasumi's dual swords, which repeated complex slashes many times, felt as if they were only cutting afterimages. Bored with the exercise, the Demon Lord did nothing but cover himself with a barrier.
It was such a state.
She didn't even know if the Demon Lord's HP was decreasing. In the status window that only became visible once recognized as an enemy, it displayed 'HP: ????'.
One understands only after becoming an enemy.
The Demon Lord is strong.
It was convincing to say that he had confined all the disasters of this world within himself.
An absolute blackness that could not be touched by even a single speck of dust.
"Ugh……ku"
Her limbs did not move comfortably. They did not move as she wished. Irritation bred impatience.
Hasumi pulled her leg back greatly and, with all her strength, charged at Louis.
——Is this attack okay? Will it hit properly? Will it be blocked? ……No, don't be weak-hearted, don't lose in spirit, don't lose, don't hesitate, don't hesitate, you must not hesitate……!
Hasumi no longer even hid her tears. Her body trembled, her heart was a mess, broken and tattered, yet she could do nothing but run toward the enemy.
Louis gently extended his right hand and smiled sweetly.
"Come here."
He tempted her gently.
This was cruel.
"Ah……,"
For the weak girl who had fallen in love with him, it was nothing but poison—sweet, bitter, and cruel.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
——Don't be deceived, don't let myself be deceived. To stop my attack for something like this, never!
Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate.
Hatred will turn into willpower.
If your strength is insufficient, overwhelm it with emotions far more intense.
While shouting a voice that was neither a scream nor a wail, Hasumi raised her blade and leaped at Louis.
His gentle smile suddenly changed to something cold, and his outstretched right hand pointed at Hasumi.
Cold particles formed around Louis.
Kikyu, pikyun, pikyun. A grotesque sound was made.
Ice particles drifting loosely behind him gathered in several places, each compressing with a gugyu sound and raising a shriek. Thus, impurities were removed, they became transparent, drew spirals with a kirikiri sound, and transformed into beautifully twisted blades of ice.
"Go."
He signaled with his fingertips to the two hundred and sixty-eight completed vulgar objects—ordering them to pierce Hasumi.
Hasumi did not flinch.
She had a skill that could read the trajectory of enemy attacks.
She could read the trajectories of all incoming attacks, dodge them, and break through.
Though she could not remain unscathed, she found a path that was not unreasonable.
——Front right, immediately retreat and go right again, then go left for three steps……and then straight ahead!
Having decided this, Hasumi avoided the incoming ice blades. One grazed her side.
She dashed, but before her right sword could reach Louis, it hit a hard wall.
Louis looked amused just a few centimeters beyond the blade, which she pressed against with all her might.
"Ugh……ku"
She could not pay attention to chipping the blade.
Without pause, she gouged the same spot with her left sword. She intended to break the barrier little by little. With this overwhelming difference in power, if she could drag it into a battle of endurance, it would be a great victory. It would be best if she could sever even one of Louis's limbs.
Bou,
A magic circle appeared at Hasumi's feet.
Hasumi clicked her tongue. She kicked Louis's barrier hard with her toes armored in holy iron, and using that momentum, she retreated.
A moment later, a vortex of flame erupted at the position she had just occupied.
As part of Hasumi's combat style, she admonished herself not to pursue too deeply. Dual swords cannot hold a shield, and if a large technique misses, the opening afterward is significant.
Faras's fist, clad in lightning, approached above Louis's head.
"Yo……to!"
His agile movements resembled Bis.
From a posture with his waist greatly twisted, he swung his fist with enough force to crush Louis's skull. But just before the fist made contact, it was blocked by an invisible wall, and sparks scattered and vanished between the fist and the barrier.
Faras bit his lip, which he had been clenching, until it bled.
Overpowered by the ridiculously hard barrier, he was blown away. Just before hitting the stone wall, he adjusted his posture, placed both feet on the wall to kill the impact, and landed with a ton.
"Ugh……haa……"
Faras, who fought with only his fists, was covered in far more blood than the others. It was his own blood.
He inhaled oxygen deeply and exhaled carbon dioxide.
With a fierce look in his eyes that was unimaginable from his usual playful atmosphere, he spat out the blood in his mouth. He wiped his lip with his sleeve. Then, he threw a word at Louis that Louis would call 'ill-mannered.'
"Damn you…!"
It was a word from the heart.
Understanding that feeling, Louis deliberately said nothing.
There was no chanting at all.
The essence of the magic of Louis Stylus, the Demon Lord with too bad a personality, remained unseen.
＊
"Did you know Hasumi's feelings?"
Emiel asked. He had exhausted his magical power.
"I knew them. Was there some inconvenience?"
Louis answered, still standing in the same position, having moved no more than ten steps since the start of the battle.
He also knew the feelings Emiel and Faras held for Hasumi.
"You are the worst, you…!"
"Because I am the Demon Lord."
Louis did not intend to actively toy with Hasumi's heart, but if the person he loved had turned toward another man and been deceived, he certainly might not have been able to remain calm.
"Even so, you are all too weak. It is out of the question."
As he spoke, Louis looked around, and the Hero's Party was in a miserable state.
The holy iron armor was shattered beyond recognition, and the 'Fairy Hair and Platinum Robe' worn by the Healer—the equipment boasting the highest defensive power—was also stained with blood. The magical power that Louis called "barely existent" had run out.
"Still……"
"……Your will is strong. But your body cannot keep up."
Louis sighed in exasperation at Hasumi, who tried to stand.
"You would do well to learn that there are things that cannot be dealt with by feelings alone."
Louis's eyes were like darkness boiled down and solidified.
No matter what emotions were contained within them, they were pitch-black eyes that no one could fathom.
——Shiver.
That strangeness dropped ice down Emiel's back.
"You saw my memoirs, didn't you?"
Louis asked Hasumi quietly.
The Hero listened as if from afar.
Her vision was red, and she could not focus on such things.
She looked at her own blood, drawing spots on the stone floor illuminated slickly by flames.
The room, which had felt cramped when standing, now felt immeasurably wide when she could not stand.
——Memoirs. What was it, ……a diary? What was it, ah, that……thing I saw in the ruins.
She felt as if her rough breathing did not belong to her. Her extremely calm thought processes worked in response to Louis's voice.
"The 'her' in that diary, ……do you understand now?"
——Her.
Hasumi moved only her lips.
She could still recall the text she had only been able to read once. She did not remember all the contents, of course, but she remembered that the 'name' of the person never appeared throughout.
Hasumi's body reached its limit, and she collapsed onto the floor with a splash. Her vision became so blurry that she could not even make out the outlines of objects.
The Demon Lord chuckled.
"Her body was restrained, her wings were torn off, her hair was cut, she was abused, her younger sister figure was killed, and thus she came to hate humans. That is Elenoa Stylus—the fairy who is my foster parent and wife."
"Ugh……!"
"To me, lives other than hers seem trivial. Humans are the ones who caused this. ……That said, I have killed all the humans involved in that incident."
——Gakin.
A sword was swung down at Louis's back.
Turning slowly, there stood Alois, covered in blood. He distorted his handsome face and roared,
"Did you……kill my mother and father…!"
Louis narrowed his eyes. In the depths of the knight's eyes, burning with revenge, there was another emotion.
Reading it through the scattering sparks.
Hatred for having his parents killed, sadness, anger at betrayal, and a slight jealousy.
"See, you can only think of your own revenge. I really liked you for that!"
Louis laughed.
His pupils dilated, the corners of his mouth raised, ferociously. With a face Elenoa had never seen before.
"What you are doing now is almost the same as what I do. How does it feel? When you have too many emotions to handle, your head hurts terribly, doesn't it?"
Alois did not answer.
He glared at the Demon Lord, who was both his parent's killer and his love rival, was blown away, and spat blood.
He stood up again.
"Your foster parent declared that revenge is meaningless."
"…………."
"But this sort of thing isn't about logic, is it?"
Alois took a deep breath,
"Shut up!!!! Die!!!!!!!!!!"
Louis blinked, surprised.
The spirited Alois raised his sword again.
Hasumi, Faras, and Emiel also stood up again. They focused, readying their prey, and then—.
And they lost unceremoniously.
"This is the end."
A circle appeared from beneath his feet.
An asymmetrical magical formation woven from hundreds of straight lines and thousands of delicate curves. Sinister yet elegant, the ultimate finished product.
Across the entire floor of the room. So that there was no escape anywhere.
The blue light, reminiscent of the moon, represented the despair of the Heroes. No one knew what kind of magic it was. The flawless beauty, running as lines beneath their feet, chillingly reminded one of pure 'death.'
"Well then, farewell."
Inside a barrier that protected only himself, the Demon Lord waved his hand lightly.
New light extended from beneath his feet. Black light traced the lines laid out earlier, crushing the blue.
Before they reached the outer circle,
"……Oh?"
Louis raised his voice, and the black light stopped abruptly.
Then he looked at the door defenselessly. As if gazing intently at the direction leading to the throne room, he muttered, "……If you say so." In the silent room, the tone of voice whispering to a beloved person echoed well.
He waved his hand once, and the magic circle vanished completely.
The magical power poured into the magic circle, though still in progress, had spread to the final stage. The amount of magical power involved in such a huge magic must have been unimaginable, yet the skill to manipulate it as if breathing and make it nothing was—.
Emiel abandoned any further thought.
No matter what, no matter how one lived, one could not understand such a monster.
"She showed you mercy."
Mercy.
Hasumi, prostrate on the ground, could not react.
Whether Louis activated the magic or not, death would be inevitable if things remained as they were.
Louis thought for a moment, looked at the door again, thought again, and eventually threw a small bottle at Hasumi. Wind magic carried it. The bottle shattered above Hasumi's head, and its contents poured down on her.
It was a potion.
Hasumi, who had no energy to get up even if her wounds healed, looked at Louis while lying down. Her eyes held none of their initial light; there was only a girl dragging her heart, broken into pieces by a cruel betrayal.
"……Did Elenoa hate me all along?"
"I do not know her heart, but you are the first Hero she tried to save by opposing me."
Louis answered concisely and placed a teleportation magic circle beneath each of them. The one beneath Hasumi was more complex and larger than the other three.