Numerous towers sprout as if from the depths of magic circles.
Layers upon layers of walls are also created, seemingly connected to those towers.
The scene resembles a prison.
A formidable structure that one could even call a prison castle, its imposing form exuding pressure.
The castle, which should be the stronghold to protect its inhabitants from external enemies, has sworn an oath to never let those within it escape.
The countless walls stand in the way of escape.
The many towers serve as watchtowers, ensuring no one can overlook those confined.
However, for Aiwa and the Divine Sword, such physical walls are no more than scrap paper.
They pose no obstacle, merely targets that happen to exist.
“…”
“Do you like my castle, my dear?”
Yet, Aiwa’s every nerve is on high alert, despite the castle appearing to be mere decoration. She has meticulously set up a comprehensive warning network, ready for anything.
The Divine Sword does not interfere.
What can be seen, can be seen.
The gun muzzles protruding from the towers’ numerous windows can be sensed.
“Yes, very much.”
Beyond those windows lie masses of killing intent, meant to destroy anyone who enters.
To the Undead King, standing on the chaotic ground, surrounded by Knights and addressing her in a tone completely opposite to his earlier demeanor, Aiwa replies with a smile utterly devoid of fear.
“It’s a truly wonderful castle.”
Feeling an unparalleled sense of bliss by the fact that the killing intent is directed at her, Aiwa sincerely praises the Undead King’s prison castle.
“It is an honor to be praised by the first Hero. This is a new castle, and it gains prestige by having its Master as its first guest.”
Hearing this, the Undead King laughs heartily, appearing to be in good spirits.
He hasn’t shown this to anyone.
Not even the Demon Lord has ever seen this trump card of the Undead King, a first for this world.
“Hey! What are you spacing out for! Hurry up and escape from here!!”
A voice shatters the pleasant conversation.
A voice that rebukes them, saying this is no time for leisurely talk.
The Undead King understands the danger of this place better than anyone, but it is likely the Divine Sword that senses the danger here more intuitively.
Aiwa, who had been trapped in the prison castle without doing anything, or rather, being invited by the Undead King.
The Divine Sword, unable to accept this situation as unavoidable, orders Aiwa to escape with frustration.
“It’s impossible.”
“Impossible?! You can do it!!”
She states with certainty that she “cannot” do it, not that she “doesn’t want to.”
The Divine Sword is aghast at this fact.
The strongest, the undefeated.
The Hero, who has survived countless battles, reigned as the strongest sword of God, and overcome any situation, declared that escaping from this place was impossible.
“Right? Undead King? This is already the depths of chaos. You call it a prison castle, but it’s essentially a prison at the bottom of the deep sea, isn’t it?”
Aiwa states her reasoning, and a suitable reward awaits her.
The Undead King’s response, with a sly smile, is a single word.
“Correct. Even if you were to defeat me here, this castle would only disappear. The end result awaiting you would be to be swallowed by chaos.”
“Are you saying it’s a technique that includes self-destruction?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I will definitely kill you.”
A “sure-kill technique” is written as a technique that guarantees death.
It is a technique that demonstrates the Undead King’s resolve, to achieve that outcome even if he is defeated and falls.
The depths of chaos.
No, even at this very moment, escaping from the steadily sinking prison is not just difficult.
It is a desperate technique that leaves no sliver of hope, calling it impossible.
Even Aiwa, who could move freely within the chaos, probably couldn’t crawl out from there.
“But, unfortunately, the undead cling to life greedily. Only you Masters will die here.”
And so, the time for enjoying conversation comes to an end.
“Decay. That is all you Masters can do.”
That is the Undead King’s signal, restarting the battle.
Magic bullets are fired again from the gun emplacements.
What was previously anti-air fire from the ground now intensifies with the added height difference from the towers, pushing Aiwa’s evasion to its physical limit.
“Hey, what are you going to do?! This happened because you were enjoying the fight!!”
Unlike when the magic bullet arrays first appeared, she can no longer just parry. She is now increasingly forced to cleave through them, her evasion efforts increasing. The Divine Sword chides her for the current situation, but Aiwa, without changing her expression, simply expresses her desires.
“I have no intention of doing anything. I only fight with such strong individuals. I serve and worship the Sun God solely for the enjoyment of that.”
“Haa?! You’re going to die too if this continues! Do you understand that?! If you die, you won’t be able to fight anymore! Is that alright with you?!”
“If I am to perish at the end of a battle, then that is simply my limit. It is the law of nature. I will be proud to have fought an opponent stronger than me, accept it, and die.”
“Don’t joke with me!!”
To die fighting.
Is that what she desires, or is that why she fights?
To know this, one would need to understand Aiwa’s inner heart, but for the Divine Sword, those words are undeniably difficult to accept.
If it continues like this, the best outcome is a mutual destruction with the Undead King.
The worst is to simply decay, swallowed by the Sea of Chaos.
The path to the ideal outcome for the Divine Sword—defeating the Undead King and surviving—is currently blocked. For the Divine Sword, who possesses a thirst for life and wishes to at least survive, thoughts of “I must do something” race through its mind.
“I’m not joking, you know?”
While her initial composure hasn’t broken, Aiwa’s body is feeling an increasing burden since being cornered in this domain. Sweat starts to trickle down her forehead.
She has a sense of this feeling.
“You speak with such composure, ’tis fitting of a Hero.”
“Magic absorption, no, in this case, it should be life absorption? You’re trying to interfere with my soul, aren’t you?”
“Perhaps your insight is exceptional, or perhaps it was simply obvious to us undead, as it’s a common practice?”
“For an undead to possess the skill to interfere with my soul, now that I have become a Seraph, is quite rare.”
This prison itself is designed to favor the Undead King.
Of course.
Who would set up their own domain to be disadvantageous to themselves?
A faint feeling of weakness.
This is nothing less than Aiwa’s power being drained.
If a considerable number of soldiers had wandered in here, they would have quickly withered and become mummies.
Only because Aiwa is among the top-tier powerhouses can she withstand this interference.
For now, it is merely a slight sensation.
However, if this steadily accumulates, it will eventually become impossible to move, which is a clear certainty.
At that moment, it will be the end of Aiwa’s life.
And Aiwa suspects that magic bullets and life absorption are not the only true strengths of this prison.
“Cackles. Don’t provoke me too much. It just makes me want to offer more elaborate fare.”
“Yes, please do.”
And even as her body is assailed by a mild feeling of weakness, her heart becomes increasingly exhilarated.
Is this the nature of a Hero, or innate talent?
The more cornered she becomes, the more Aiwa’s heart blazes.
She eagerly anticipates what she will gain from this battle.
“Turning that delighted smile into despair seems rather laborious.”
“I learned in life that enjoying that, too, is part of it.”
“You have lived longer than I, so the weight of your words differs.”
Magic bullets continue to fly without pause, and she is enduring the prison’s interference.
However, they carry on their conversation while fighting, as if they were old acquaintances.
Thanks to their supernatural physical abilities, they can hear each other’s voices without shouting. The exchange is so calm, it’s hard to believe they are trying to kill each other.
However.
“Hmph!”
“To come for my head even in this situation, you are admirable, even as an enemy!”
That killing intent is undoubtedly genuine. Aiwa creates a momentary opening and darts through the scarce space to reach the Undead King, intending to plunge her blade into his neck. But the Knights of Oblivion won’t allow it.
They, who are focused solely on defense, deflect her blade and counter-attack. Aiwa is not allowed to stop fighting by the rain of magic bullets.
A brief stalemate. If she had stopped for even a moment, the Magic Bullet of Hound would have pierced her barrier, and other magic bullets would have ravaged her limbs in an instant.
They don’t let her.
Is this the nature of a creature called a Hero?
Despite her calm expression, her eyes gleam fiercely even in this dire situation.
There isn’t a single speck of “giving up” in Aiwa’s eyes.
Rather, nothing but the will to win this match is visible.
“In that case, I too cannot hold back!!”
The Undead King, having fully grasped the opponent’s intent, foresees that he has used all his hidden tricks.
If he holds back, his head will be cut off. He quickly activates the full functions of the prison castle.
“Doesn’t a prison usually have features like these?”
He then measures the timing to activate one function after another. The moment he deems it right, he deploys a magic circle and unleashes its effect.
“Gravity magic!!”
“I know.”
As she plunges into the space, Aiwa’s movements slightly but noticeably slow.
From there, the spear rain, utilizing the gravitational acceleration effect of the gravity magic, showers down from the ceiling at high speed. As she evades, deflects with the Divine Sword, or attempts to counter with magic.
“You won’t get away with it.”
With a flick of the Undead King’s fingertip.
“!”
“What is it this time!?”
The prison begins to rotate, its top and bottom inversions.
Chaos, in its true nature, may have the concept of gravity within its space, but it lacks the constraint of gravity itself.
The Prison Castle, submerged in chaos, has created the concept of gravity within itself, but it can manipulate that law at will.
The spears that were thought to be falling now accelerate and shower down again.
And in addition to that, chains linked with metal pieces jangle and extend.
Their ends are like bear traps.
They show a clear intent not to let go once they bite onto limbs.
If caught, it’s over.
In this battle, they believe that even the slightest mistake could cost them their lives.
“Next!!”
For the Undead King, who has learned to control this, it doesn’t matter whether the world is inverted, and what was once below is now above.
While instructing the gun arrays to increase their magic bullet firepower, he activates more of the prison’s functions.
He directs chaos into the central section, and a flood-like function further reduces Aiwa’s evasion range.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute!!”
“I’m not waiting.”
Aiwa’s decision to change her attack pattern was swift.
She quickly cloaks her body in divine power and begins to accelerate. The Divine Sword senses Aiwa’s intention and tries to stop her, but she is not one to heed such warnings.
She plunges into the Sea of Chaos with a splash. Magic bullets strike its surface, but they only create ripples and do not reach her.
She continues to dive towards the Undead King, but.
“It’s been accounted for.”
The Undead King’s voice is inaudible, but Aiwa, colliding with an object that should not exist in the Sea of Chaos before her, instantly realizes there was a trap here too and slightly alters her course, heading towards the surface.
An explosion occurs instantaneously.
In the Sea of Chaos, explosions link up one after another, a chain reaction on a scale that would be abnormal if it didn’t inflict damage, even within the chaotic sea.
“You won’t get away with surfacing!”
In the meantime, the Undead King unleashes a grand magic that should not be used in such a confined space.
It doesn’t matter if it’s chaos.
Manipulating chaos with one hand, he creates a flow like a sea current, attempting to slightly restrict Aiwa’s movements. He calculates Aiwa’s position from the exploding area.
“!”
Without a sound. At the moment he identified the spot, a composite magic was unleashed.
Four elements: Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth, plus eight more: Lightning, Ice, Light, and Darkness.
This is what is called Eight Elemental Magic, a spell that combines all attributes.
This magic doesn’t even allow for slight deceleration within the Sea of Chaos.
It reaches Aiwa, who is sinking in the sea, without losing its power, and unleashes its destructive force.
“Still more!!”
Judging this to be the time to press the attack, the Undead King deploys multiple magic circles, as if to release all the magic power he had accumulated.
These thirteen magic circles, deployed with the declaration, “That was just a feint, this is the main event,” are of the same scale as the previous pillar of magic, as Aiwa would know by seeing the magic circles.
However, Aiwa, submerged in the Sea of Chaos, cannot notice them.
And she cannot stop them.
This spectacle can be described as divine judgment, a sight that is nothing but irony to the Undead King.
The raining magic hammers. This is not just a single instance.
The prepared magic circles, one after another, unleash the Elemental Magic, the Undead King’s maximum firepower, like a waterfall, as if to obliterate Aiwa along with the Sea of Chaos.
Today’s Word:
The outcome cannot be known until it is witnessed. Even if you believe it to be certain.
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*The first volume of the book is published by Hayakawa Bunko JA.
It was released on October 18, 2018.
The e-book version was released on October 31 of the same year.
Volume 2 was released on December 19.
The third volume was released on February 20, 2019.
The content includes revisions and additions to the material originally posted on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, with the inclusion of unpublished interlude chapters.
Please also look forward to the new releases!
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