Before Ren could even raise his guard.

Before Elies could issue a single command to her spirits---

Just one phrase.

The Demon General of Wave, Mia, raised her right arm high toward the ceiling and declared:

"Forbidden Power Seal: 'World of Waves.'"

The brass-colored walls of the cathedral were instantly replaced by translucent, pulsating barriers.

"What the---!?"

Ren scrambled back from the eerily throbbing walls.

"Walls? Or some kind of barrier?"

"A demonic barrier, I'd say. We're trapped. Partly to keep us from escaping---but I think it's more to keep my subordinates from getting in."

"Sharp girl. I took you for a mere spiritual faith leader, but you're surprisingly cool-headed."

The Demon General of Wave gestured toward the pulsating walls with her gaze.

"I'd hate for anyone to spoil a good fight with unwanted interference. From this point on, no one enters or exits---ever. Consider passage sealed permanently, from both sides."

"Permanently? That changes if we beat you."

"True enough. ...If you can manage it!"

The demon kicked off the floor with a thunderous boom. By the time that sound reached Ren's eardrums, Mia had already closed the distance to Elies.

"She's fast!?"

"First time facing a combat-type demon? If you thought every demon relied on spellcraft, you were dead wrong."

Mia scooped an uppercut from below.

The demon's fist---it hadn't physically touched the floor at all. Yet the instant her punch grazed past it, the stone shattered as if struck by an invisible force, disintegrating into countless fragments.

(The miasma that clings to demons?)

No. If it were miasma, an ominous fog would be enveloping her body, the way it had with Achendia. What the Demon General of Wave was emitting from her entire body was an invisible "wave" that warped the air like a heat haze as it surged forward.

"Don't mistake my Wave Echo for a mere shockwave."

The demon general's fist slammed mercilessly into Elies's chest.

"------...ah...!"

"Elies!"

The girl's body was about to fly backward like a scrap of paper. Ren barely managed to circle behind her and catch her in time.

But.

He couldn't stop the momentum. Crushed under the impact of catching Elies, he was slammed into the cathedral wall while still holding her.

"Ow---! Elies, hey, Elies!?"

"You don't... have to shout in my ear... I can hear you."

The demon general's fist had connected dead-on.

Elies's ritual vestments had been torn to shreds and dissolved into nothing.

Her body could have sustained devastating damage. But defying Ren's fears, the holy maiden rose to her feet on her own, though she swayed.

She could move.

No---the fact that she was even conscious after taking that hit was nothing short of a miracle.

"Are you okay to stand?"

"If you... hadn't shielded me on instinct, I wouldn't be. I was out... for a few seconds there."

Hunched over, Elies glared at the demon in front of her.

"More importantly, stay on guard. That demon's fists carry an outrageously vicious force. It cut straight through the divine protection inscribed on my vestments and the defensive spells I'd put up myself."

"You issued commands to your spirits reflexively?"

The Demon General of Wave said this with a straight face.

She pointed at Undine standing before Elies, and Sylph floating overhead.

"Sylph's Breath neutralized my Wave Echo. Then Undine's water blast nearly cancelled out the fist's impact entirely. Quick thinking---close to the best possible counter."

"Best possible, she says..."

Elies wiped her split lip with the back of her hand.

"I nearly blacked out over here."

"No, it was impressive."

The Five Great Disasters clenched her fist, replying in an almost gleeful tone.

"My Wave Echo's special trait is 'barrier penetration.' Demonic miasma, angelic wards---nothing can block my destructive force from seeping through. No human has ever stood back up after taking it head-on, and no one has ever managed to cancel the wave itself. But---what will you do about this?"

Debris lay scattered across the cathedral floor.

Razor-sharp rock fragments, jagged as fangs, floated into the air one by one under Mia's Wave Echo. Then they transformed into grotesque black projectiles---

"Black Demon Rounds."

The black fragments, charged with powerful miasma and Wave Echo, fired from midair like bullets.

"The water---"

"Elies, don't move!"

Ren cut off the holy maiden mid-sentence and dashed across the cathedral.

---The spirits are a last resort.

The spirits were the only means of fighting back against an overwhelmingly powerful foe like a Five Great Disasters, and depending on how they were used, could become a trump card. The Demon General of Wave knew this and had to be on guard for it.

...That's exactly why we can't show our hand until the last possible moment.

...Now isn't the time.

He threw himself into the storm of projectiles.

"Ren!?"

"Fool. You'd charge headlong into my demon rounds?"

The holy maiden's scream and the demon's voice.

Without answering either, Ren fixed his gaze on the swarm of black projectiles hurtling toward him. He stared down the fragments, launched at terrifying speed by Mia's Wave Echo.

...I can hit them.

...Compared to the flaming meteors Achendia rained down---

"Too slow!"

His sword flashed, deflecting a black projectile.

The fragment ricocheted upward into another one, which changed trajectory midair like a billiard shot and knocked yet another projectile off course. That one slammed into the next, and the next---a chain of collisions cascading through the barrage until every last fragment shattered and disintegrated.

A single stroke.

That one swing had knocked down nearly every projectile aimed at him and Elies.

"You---that technique!?"

"It's no technique. ...I never had anyone to practice with. So every day, all I did was this kind of training. That's it."

---On rainy days, he'd cut through falling raindrops.

---On windy days, he'd swing his sword at pebbles dancing in the gale.

It didn't matter if the fragments were coated in demonic miasma. Flying debris was just an extension of cutting down wind-blown gravel.

"Damn you, Achendia... The intel she gave me---watch out for the spirits from ancient summoning arts and the Brave Hero's sword? What garbage."

The high-ranking demon thrust one arm forward, taking a stance like a Fulltype. Despite her furious tone, her eyes began to gleam with the feral hunger of a predator.

---An afterimage.

Mia left a flicker of shadow and vanished. She darted across the floor and brought a knife-hand strike crashing down toward Ren's head.

A thunderous crack.

The sheer aftershock made the air itself groan.

Certain she'd hit her mark, the Five Great Disasters' knife-hand had destroyed---the floor where Ren had stood a split second before.

"You reacted? A mere human swordsman kept up with me?"

"A little while ago, that would've hit me dead-on."

The wind pressure from the knife-hand sliced against his skin.

Ren had circled behind Mia, crossing paths as she struck.

...Thank you, Fear-senpai.

...For all those training sessions. Without them, there's no way I could've reacted in time.

"First, watch how I move. Then imitate it."

The Archangel's body techniques.

His body moved as if remembering them. No---she'd trained him so it would.

Even if this was a one-in-a-hundred fluke at his current level, without that training, he never could have pulled off that one success right here, right now.

"Hah!"

"Clever brat."

Ren's sword struck from behind.

What deflected it was the massive tail jutting from Mia's lower back. The tip grazed his blade, the impact hit like a boulder slamming into his arms, and his follow-up came a beat too late.

In that instant, Mia had already spun to face him.

"I see. No wonder Achendia took a liking to you. In that case---"

"You think you can turn your back on me?"

Pressing a hand to her bruised chest, Elies thrust her finger at Mia.

"Undine!"

The holy maiden's roar.

Answering that noble cry, the spirit with the translucent blue body raised both hands.

...A tiny splash.

Four droplets fell from the ceiling. The instant one drop landed on each of Mia's hands and feet, they swelled into massive water ropes that coiled around her body, binding her in place.

"O tranquil words, echo again and again, and appear!"

Golden spell circles blazed to life simultaneously on both the ceiling and floor of the cathedral.

Aimed at the Demon General of Wave, now stripped of her freedom by the crushing water currents---

"Pierce her!"

A bolt of divine lightning. The thunderbolt struck with such blinding radiance that even Ren, standing nearby, lost his sight for an instant. It seared across the brown demon's entire body.

"Gah---!?"

The Demon General of Wave cried out in agony, overwhelmed by lightning far beyond anything she'd anticipated.

She didn't drop to her knees, but her body staggered.

---Elies Sia Rin Kale. The last Ancienter of the modern era, and a holy maiden.

---A girl who also possessed the highest-ranked abilities of any Aria in the world.

Her surprise counterattack caught even the highest-ranking demon completely off guard.

And the holy maiden's assault didn't end there.

"Follow up, Sylph!"

A raging gust erupted.

Invisible wind blades sharp enough to cleave the cathedral's inner walls sliced through Mia's body and her light armor thousands of times in the span of a heartbeat.

"...Damn you---!"

Purple blood poured from wounds all over her body, yet the Demon General of Wave still didn't stop.

Wave Echo converged.

She brought her fist down toward the floor---brimming with a "wave" that was pure force made manifest.

A release of destruction that would engulf not just the cathedral, but the entirety of Holy Land Canaan.

"I'll take this whole place down with---"

"Before that, you go down first."

Before the fist of destruction could fire.

Ren had already raised the sword in his hand. And---

"Salamander, give it everything you've got."

"Everything I've Got!"

Salamander materialized on Ren's shoulder.

The spirit, shaped like a small dragon, responded with an eager chirp. The moment its eyes glowed faintly, sparks flickered in the air and erupted into a towering pillar of flame, which then converged onto Ren's blade.

---A flaming Spirit Sword.

A scorching crimson blade blazing with searing heat.

The crimson sword-flash mowed through the Demon General of Wave.

"......!!!"

The brown demon let out a soundless scream.

Her body was hurled against the cathedral wall, crashing into the very barrier she had erected. The impact traveled through the wall and brought the cathedral ceiling crashing down.

The Five Great Disasters vanished beneath a mountain of rubble.

Silence. Ren watched the heap of debris for a moment.

"Is it... over?"

He wiped the sweat dripping from his chin.

...That hit felt solid.

...So why won't this trembling stop?

He thought back to dodging that knife-hand by a hair's breadth.

He'd avoided the direct strike, but in the instant they crossed paths, Mia's Wave Echo had grazed his skin---and a searing pain had ripped through him as if every inch of his flesh was being torn away, chased by a wave of bone-deep cold.

A force from another dimension entirely. If even a single part of his body had fully absorbed Mia's Wave Echo, he'd have collapsed without any hope of resistance.

"We won... right?"

He said it as if trying to convince himself.

"Elies, how are your injuries?"

"...Maybe I should have studied healing too."

The girl walked over, supported by Undine. She looked around at the translucent barriers still coating the cathedral walls and sighed.

"I wish this barrier would hurry up and disappear."

"She said it was impossible to escape, but... this thing will go away, right?"

"Yes. My spells definitely connected, and your spirit-infused sword was a clean hit too. That's more than enough to bring down even a high-ranking demon."

She nodded, then looked up at the spirit perched on Ren's shoulder.

Salamander.

At the moment, the spirit was idly poking its own cheek with its small beak, looking bored.

"Your spirit is smart, you know. Getting it to imbue your sword with power from such a simple command... Normally, asking a spirit to create a spirit armament on the spot is incredibly difficult."

"Oh, you mean the sword?"

The crimson blade still radiated a brilliant glow.

"It's always been like this. I don't actually know what commands to give Salamander or Gnome. They just move on their own, so I trust them and let them do their thing."

"They move without commands!? The spirits just... act on their own, every time?"

The holy maiden's eyes went wide.

"No way. That's not..."

"Hm? Is that a problem?"

"It's the opposite. Think about it---imbuing a sword with a spirit's power means you're essentially asking a spirit to form a spirit armament on the spot. For a spirit to do something that complex of its own will... there's no record of it even in the holy land's secret texts."

The girl stared at Salamander without blinking.

"Individual variation among spirits? Or something unique to you? Either way---"

"So that's your power, is it... Ren..."

A murmur like a curse.

A voice brimming with strength and an indescribable wave of power echoed through the silent cathedral.

"The demon general!?"

"No way---after all those attacks, she's still---"

Ren and Elies spun around at the same time. Before their eyes, the heap of rubble crumbled with a rumble, and the brown demon crawled out from beneath it.

"How humiliating. This is the first time humans have wounded me this badly."

She cast off her shattered armor, exposing her body.

An androgynous frame, neither distinctly male nor female. Her arms and legs were so slender it was hard to say whether she or Elies was more delicately built.

---Burns and lacerations carved painfully into that slight frame.

---The marks left by Elies's spells and Ren's sword.

Purple blood trickled down her thighs, pooling at her feet---the bleeding was that severe.

...There's no way she can still fight.

...Even if she barely managed to crawl out from under the rubble.

"You're thinking I can't fight with wounds like these---that's the look on your faces."

Mia's smile was almost innocent.

Then something writhed beneath the Demon General of Wave's skin.

Physical regeneration.

The muscle tissue around the lacerations from Ren's sword began splitting and expanding at a visible rate, sealing the wounds shut. The injuries from Elies's spells healed the same way.

At the sight of it---

"...I see. The demon described in the old Canaan stone tablets... that was you."

Elies murmured in a strained voice.

"Deep in the vast underground of the Underworld, there exists a demon that humans can never defeat. ...An evolving monster. No matter how deep the wound, it recovers instantly---and grows stronger with every injury. A demon with a body of terrifying power. The only one of its kind in the world---a unique hybrid of dragon and demon."

"You're well-informed."

Mia traced a finger along a wound that had already stopped bleeding.

---A Boundary Demon, possessing both demonic miasma and a dragon's body.

No distinction between male and female. In Mia's body, even the boundary between dragon and demon didn't exist.

That unstable heredity meant she couldn't use demonic spellcraft or a dragon's Breath. But in exchange, the whims of fate had granted this Bastard a terrifying trait.

That was---

---

"Ren, get back!"

Elies stepped forward at the same moment she shouted.

"Pierce!"

The highest-tier aria she'd shown earlier.

From the ceiling and floor of the Hall of Prayer, twin yellow spell rings blazed to life simultaneously, and bolts of lightning crashed down across Mia's unarmored body.

But—

"Impressive aria. It even comes close to demonic spellcraft. I'm surprised human aria has progressed this far without my knowing. But I've already memorized it."

Not a single burn mark. Not a scratch.

The Demon General of Wave walked calmly forward, utterly unharmed, through the blast of a highest-tier aria.

An evolving monster.

The more they fought this demon, the more unmanageable she became.

"...You really are the monster I'd heard about."

Elies bit down and took a step back.

"I've memorized your attacks. Now it's my turn."

Killing intent swelled outward. The invisible wave emanating from Mia's entire body expanded all at once, a massive shockwave that rattled the Hall of Prayer to its foundations.

...No matter how much damage we deal, she just recovers.

...The more we fight, the more her body builds up resistance to our attacks. An invincible body.

This was the Five Great Disasters.

Cold sweat traced down Ren's cheek as he stared at the true power before him.

He'd known the Demon General of Blaze, Achendia, had been holding back when she fought him at Galia Flame Mountain. But he'd never imagined that the demons called the Five Great Disasters were monsters this far beyond human comprehension.

For three hundred years, she had contested supremacy against the former Demon King, Elise — a candidate for the Demon King's throne in her own right.

Stronger than the current Demon King—

The words Elise had told him when they first met came back to him sharp and clear.

---

"Hey, but why would something that strong go against the current Demon King?"

"Because it's stronger than the current Demon King."

"No way—!?"

"Way. In terms of raw power, I was number one during my Demon King days — but the Five Great Disasters are second."

---

And so.

"Got it. Makes sense now, Elise. No wonder even the current Demon King has a hard time dealing with her."

Ren exhaled a breath that wasn't quite a laugh.

"You don't look frightened."

"Unfortunately, you're not the first one I've run into with that kind of absurd, unreasonable strength."

The Demon General of Blaze, Achendia.

The Dragon Emperor, Calra.

The goddess Resflaze.

And then there were the Dragon Princess, Kyelse; the Archangel, Fear; the former Demon King, Elise. And above all else, the Brave Hero, Eleline.

He knew the people who stood at the very peak of this world's long history.

"...Elies."

He kept his voice down to just barely enough for the girl behind him to hear.

"Can you do object transfer, not just spirit summoning?"

"Of course."

"Then hold onto this."

Without turning around, he tossed the gem he was gripping to the holy maiden who'd answered without hesitation.

The former Demon King's orb. A catalyst for ancient summoning — tree resin crystallized from a thousand-year tree in the Underworld, with Elise's own power sealed inside it.

"This orb...!? What — what is this — something with power this strong as a catalyst?"

The holy maiden stared at the gem in her hands.

"You felt it just by holding it. Good, that saves time. I was hoping I could transfer that thing myself, but I've never actually seen the real deal."

"The real deal?"

"Yeah. You'd understand if I called it the trump card for driving Mia out of here, right? If we can summon that, it's probably the only way we can stand against the Five Great Disasters at full power. ...So I'm leaving it to you. I'll hold out until then, no matter what!"

The cracked floor of the Hall of Prayer.

Ren charged straight at the Demon General of Wave — Mia — who was now radiating an even greater killing aura than before.

"Ren!?"

"I'm counting on you, Elies. You're the only one who can turn this fight around!"

He sprinted across the floor.

"You're coming at me head-on. You still think you have an attack that can get through?"

"Who knows."

"—Then I'll force it out of you."

Mia crouched low. She dropped to all fours like a beast, and from that position she launched herself — flying at him with terrifying speed.

One arm thrust forward, Wave Echo surging through it.

The air itself warped like a heat haze around it, and the thing tore through floor and wall alike as it bore down on him.

...Can't take that head-on.

...That's a hit even I absolutely can't block.

He jammed his toe into one of the cracks in the floor, used it as a pivot, and twisted his upper body like a top. Half a rotation. He wrenched his body to the very limit of what a human frame could bend.

The Demon General of Wave's Wave Echo grazed his clothes as it passed.

"You can even react at that speed...!"

"Not bad for a split-second move, right?"

The Demon General of Wave, her back now turned, spun around the instant they crossed paths.

At the same moment, Ren brought the Crimson Spirit Sword down in a diagonal slash as they passed each other.

...Sssss.

A low, dull sound of something scorching.

"I see — a single strike from a spirit still falls short of full immunity..."

Mia caught the Crimson Spirit Sword's blade with her bare palm.

He could see the edge cutting into the surface of her skin. But it wouldn't go any deeper. This terrifying Bastard's body was being sliced by the Crimson blade while simultaneously regenerating its composition.

A spirit-infused sword.

Against Mia's "invincible body" and its regeneration — an even match, right now.

...My sword had the edge a moment ago.

...Just one hit, and she's already built up this much resistance?

What would happen on the third strike?

The anxiety that crossed his mind shoved his thoughts sideways for a split second.

"Ren!"

Elies's scream.

The instant that call snapped him back, Mia's kick was already coming for him.

Blocking it was suicidal.

There wasn't enough time to dodge it by a hair the way he had before. So Ren's answer was a full-power leap backward — out of range of the bronze-tanned bare foot sweeping through the air. But.

"You think that's enough to dodge?"

A mocking smile crossed Mia's lips.

Dragon Claw.

The razor-sharp claws growing from the tips of Mia's toes had just barely reached Ren's clothes.

——Wave Echo conduction.

"Gah——!?"

His body felt like it was exploding from the inside out.

The shock and pain that crashed through him from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes were so intense Ren genuinely thought that for a moment.

...Just a few millimeters of a scratch.

...And it hits this hard...?

A moment of blackout.

When his awareness came back, he'd already been blasted into the rear wall.

He'd braced for the impact with no time to cushion it — but at the very last instant, between him and the wall, something wet and spherical had appeared.

"...Undine?"

Water Cushion.

The blue spirit's water mass had formed around him like a cocoon, absorbing the impact.

"Thanks. Really."

"Was I of help?"

Undine answered with a composed, adult smile.

Standing beside her was a girl with lapis lazuli-blue hair.

"You're reckless."

"If I don't do reckless things, she's not the kind of opponent who'll even let me stall for time..."

The dizziness and nausea from the Wave Echo hit were bad. He bit down hard to keep himself from dropping to one knee the second he let his guard slip.

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost... I've never transferred anything like that before, you know."

The holy maiden gripped the former Demon King's amber tightly.

The amber was flickering. The ancient summoning spell was activating — Ren could feel that much even from here. The only question was whether the spell would finish in time. Or whether—

"Don't tell me that was your last trick!"

Mia raised one hand.

The invisible "wave" that surged forward was neutralized by Sylph's Breath.

"Hold on — five more seconds!"

Everything happened at once.

The holy maiden's declaration.

The Demon General of Wave leaping high toward the ceiling. Ren swinging his sword upward to meet her.

——Wave Echo Fist.

——Crimson Spirit Sword.

The fist swung down from above and the sword swung up from below collided in midair.

The shockwave born from that impact shuddered through the air and sent cracks racing across every wall surface, from the ceiling of the Hall of Prayer to the walls on all sides.

"...Ngh!"

"Finally showing some human weakness."

Mia landed on the floor and, with just two fingers, caught and held the two-handed sword Ren was wielding — and was pressing it back with total ease.

"The fundamental weakness of a human body. That fragile physical frame, Ren — that is your decisive weakness as a swordsman. The decisive gap between you and me."

"...Human weakness, huh."

Ren answered through clenched teeth, facing Mia as she closed her free hand into a fist.

"Maybe so."

"What?"

The affirmation came back too fast.

That unexpected response made Mia's expression go hard.

"What are you trying to pull, Ren."

"I'm human. I don't have a supreme body like yours, and I can barely use aria at all. But that's exactly why I have to make do with everything I've got right now!"

"...What are you saying?"

He didn't answer that.

Ren poured every last bit of his strength into the Crimson Spirit Sword, and said just one thing.

"Hey — right, Elies?"

---

——Open, Gate of the Underworld. Return this one to where they belong——

---

Dark radiance.

Four Obelisks, their triangular spires evoking the claws of some great beast. Between them, in the center, a pitch-black mist had manifested in solemn silence — a gate to a place without end.

"The Gate of the Underworld!? You can't mean — you transferred it here!"

Mia spun to face the gate that had appeared behind her.

For the first time, something that looked like panic crossed her expression.

"You — saint!"

"I have a name. It's Elies. Don't you think it's a little absurd, being called a saint by a demon?"

The girl gripped her gleaming amber.

---

"I've found spirit dwellings no one else has discovered yet, and gateways leading to Heaven and the Underworld too."

---

Words Elies had spoken right after they met in the cathedral.

That one line was the key. Only Ren had heard it — the Demon General of Wave who had attacked later had no way of knowing it.

Meaning—

Elies, the holy maiden of spirit faith and the leader of one of the world's top-ranked Parties, "Sacred Vessel of Canaan Pilgrimage" — she had already found a Gate of the Underworld before. Which meant that in theory, it was possible to transfer it here using ancient summoning.

And.

"Hey, Demon General of Wave. This is your first time fighting a spirit, isn't it."

"...So what."

Mia stared him down, her expression fierce, still gripping his sword between her fingers.

"You've already received my sword twice. I can no longer be harmed by—"

"Then this time, I win."

At Ren's ankle, clinging close, was a small figure in a brown coat who hadn't been there a moment before.

"You've never been punched by a Golem made by Gnome, have you?"

"...Don't tell me."

A massive presence materialized right beside the Five Great Disasters. The shattered walls, floor, and ceiling rubble broke apart into grit and sand, and it reshaped itself into a towering copper-red figure.

"Done! Hey, Done!"

"Yeah. Better than I could have asked for."

Gnome bounced up onto his shoulder.

And.

"Demon General of Wave — your body is certainly a threat. But in a battle fought only once—"

"We win."

Before the brown demon could even react.

The Golem's massive arm, swung from point-blank range, blasted her clean through — no chance to defend — and sent her flying into the Gate of the Underworld.

——The Gate of the Underworld.

The entrance that transfers those who reach it into the underground realm.

And the Five Great Disasters, more than half her body now embedded in the pitch-black gate — her expression carried the first emotion she had ever shown as the demon called the Demon General of Wave.

"...Allow me to give you one piece of advice."

A bottomless, fearless smile.

The battle had finally ended. Both Ren and Elies were sure of it — yet her gaze was so defiant they felt a chill run down their spines.

"Once I'm gone, the barrier I erected will fade as well. It was a barrier meant to keep unwanted interference out — but even after I'm gone, don't lower your guard right away."

"Mia? What do you mean by—"

"The humiliation of this battle — I will not forget it. If you ever come to the Underworld, I will absolutely demand a rematch. Ren, and Elies — assuming, of course, that you survive what comes next."

A low, quiet laugh echoed through the Hall of Prayer.

When that sound faded.

The Demon General of Wave — and the Gate of the Underworld — had dissolved into particles of light and were gone.

---

The cathedral, the Hall of Prayer——

Bathed in the rainbow light streaming through the stained glass, the altar gleamed with the color of polished brass.

"...The fight after this? What was she talking about at the end?"

Ren slid his cooled sword back into its sheath and gazed blankly up at the ceiling.

Cracks ran across it in every direction.

The cathedral, adorned with solemn carvings, had fallen eerily silent — as if the battle before had been a lie. The only sounds were his own breathing and the faint breath of the girl standing beside him.

Nothing happened.

The Wave Echo barrier that had covered the cathedral walls was gradually fading. Before long, Elies's subordinates waiting outside would be able to enter.

And then there were Kyelse, Fear, and Elise.

Crossing the ocean for a round trip between continents was no small feat, but for those three, it wouldn't take long.

...There's no danger.

...Right — we should be reuniting with our allies any minute now, and yet...

His throat was parched dry from the tension. And what was this chill — this gnawing unease gripping his chest?

"I'd like to think it was just a sore loser running her mouth, but——"

Elies brushed aside the bangs plastered to her forehead with sweat.

Having taken a direct hit from the Demon General of Wave, cast two powerful spells on top of that, and even pulled off the reckless feat of transferring the Gate of the Underworld here — exhaustion was etched deep into her face.

"We're the ones who had to rely on tricks. Honestly, if someone told me to fight that monster head-on right now, I wouldn't be able to think of a way to win."

"Same here. She might be the first opponent I've ever wanted a rematch with this little."

A unique hybrid of dragon and demon.

An evolving demon. Just the thought that a rematch in the Underworld was possible made him want to shudder.

So then——

Could the words left behind by such a monster really be just bluster? Just a sore loser's bark?

"...My subordinates should be arriving soon."

The holy maiden pointed toward the Wave Echo barrier as it continued to thin.

"The barrier will disappear before long. Until then, I'll have Undine and Sylph stay close, just to be safe. Bear with it a little longer."

"Yeah..."

Above Ren's head, Salamander hovered on standby. At his feet, Gnome waited as well.

Himself and Elies. Plus four spirits. They just needed to hold this formation a while longer. Then this suffocating tension would finally break.

Ren swallowed hard and made his way toward the sunlit altar.

He narrowed his eyes against the warm light.

"Elies, do you always come here to pray and stuff?"

"I do. But setting that aside——"

The girl looked up at Ren from directly in front of him as he stood beside the altar.

Her expression carried a hint of exasperation.

"Speaking as the holy maiden — that altar is off-limits to everyone except me. I've never even allowed the top officers of the Sacred Vessel of Canaan Pilgrimage up there, you know?"

"Seriously!? W-Wait, you should've said that first!"

He scrambled down from the altar in a hurry.

"No, uh... with the whole Five Great Disasters thing, I just thought I'd feel calmer somewhere with sunlight. The altar looked nice and warm, so I kind of... just..."

It was because of that spine-chilling cold. He'd thought that standing in the sun might stop his body from trembling. His feet had carried him there without thinking.

"So, uh..."

"I was joking. I just felt like saying something a little mean. As for the altar — Nebirim might have scolded you if she'd been here, but if nobody saw it, there's no problem."

The girl with lapis-blue hair softened her expression into a gentle smile.

Then she placed a hand over her own chest and took a quiet, deep breath. And then.

"That wasn't a bad bit of teamwork."

The holy maiden said it with a cool, composed smile.

"Fighting as a member of the Sacred Vessel of Canaan Pilgrimage — I actually have almost no experience with that. I'm always in the back of the party, just watching my subordinates fight."

"Well, yeah, you're the holy maiden. It'd be a huge deal if you got seriously hurt."

"Exactly. Which made it all the more nerve-wracking. Fighting alongside someone I'd just met, of all things — and against a Five Great Disasters-class arch-demon, no less. ...But I was a little happy."

"Happy? About that fight?"

"That's not what I mean. I was actually going to say this first, but——"

The girl let out a slow breath.

Then, as if choosing her next words carefully, she paused.

"I feel like I've finally met a kindred spirit. Don't you feel the same?"

Undine and Sylph.

And then Salamander and Gnome, manifested above Ren's head and at his feet respectively.

Four Primordial Spirits.

Elies gazed across the miraculous sight — four spirits gathered in one place, beings that had all but become legend.

Her eyes seemed to be staring at some far, far-off horizon——

"Before they called me a holy maiden, I was all alone. When people saw me talking to spirits, every adult around me looked at me like I was something disturbing. They whispered — 'Is she hearing things? Has she been cursed?'"

"......"

"The voices of spirits that no one but me could hear. In the end, it wasn't until I could freely summon spirits and they acknowledged my aptitude as an Ancienter that I had a single person who understood me... I'll be honest with you. Part of the reason I rushed to bring you here was personal. I had no idea what kind of person you'd be until we met, and I'm not so selfish as to ask you to sympathize with what I've been through. I just... I simply... wanted a companion I could talk to about spirits — about anything and everything."

A lonely smile, one that even carried a hint of melancholy. For this girl hailed as a holy maiden, it was a smile born from over a decade of unbearable solitude.

——She had finally found a kindred spirit.

——The two of them were the only ones in the world who understood.

That was why she had summoned him here.

She had wanted to talk, just the two of them — without even her subordinates from the Sacred Vessel of Canaan Pilgrimage present.

"That's why I was happy. That's all it was."

"...I see. Well, more than teamwork, I feel like I'm the one who got saved."

How should he respond?

After wrestling with it, Ren offered a wry smile and a shrug.

"But still, you're way more amazing than me, Elies. I'll come clean too — asking you to summon the Gate of the Underworld was such a reckless——"

His words cut off mid-sentence.

——Something was wrong.

Without any warning at all, it had closed in directly behind Ren.

"......!"

Gnome, who had been at his feet, shuddered violently and clung to Ren's ankle.

The air froze. The temperature that sunlight had warmed plummeted to extreme cold in an instant. Every spirit — Gnome included — went still at the same time.

But more than any of those warning signs.

...Wh... at...

...Something's behind me?

What Ren felt at his back.

It was a sense of void on a completely different level from any person or being he had ever encountered.

The Five Great Disasters.

Dragon Emperor Calra.

The Goddess Resflaze.

The pinnacle of the world's beings — he had felt their overwhelming presence before. But this was something set apart even from them. An ominous malice so profound that his very instincts recoiled, wanting to deny its existence.

"......"

He turned back toward the sunlit altar. And there——

A massive, humanoid something stood gleaming with radiant light.

"————"

In one hand, it held a cross-shaped lance forged from condensed light.

Its head had no features. The only detail was where its eyes should have been — dark voids of pitch-black set into the luminous monster.

...This thing?

...What the hell is it...

The glowing entity had descended onto the altar and stood utterly motionless. It spoke no words. Whether it was even looking at anything with those hollow eyes was impossible to tell.

But one thing he could say with absolute certainty.

The staggering hostility radiating from this being.

It was an existence fundamentally incompatible with him — no, with every living thing in the world: humans, angels, demons, dragons, and all the rest.

"I came here chasing a certain someone."

The words the Demon General of Wave had left behind.

In other words — the barrier Mia had erected around the cathedral had served a dual purpose: blocking Elies's subordinates from interfering, and, as a consequence, keeping this luminous entity from getting in as well.

Now that the barrier was fading, the entity had appeared.

If that was the case——

"Ren, get back!"

The holy maiden's scream.

By the time Ren understood the meaning of her words, it was already too late.

"Veiz Claw."

A radiance that put even sunlight to shame. A murderous light, intent on incinerating everything it touched, erupted from the entity's entire body — aimed straight at Ren.

Light, fired directly at him.

The instant Ren registered that fact, the sinister heat ray filled his entire field of vision.

He couldn't dodge.

The moment he unconsciously realized that, his vision blurred for a split second.

By the time he came to.

The holy maiden — Elies — had shoved him aside and shielded him, taking the killing blade of light herself. She was already down.

"Eli... es?"

"...............Run.........."

Blood sprayed from her mouth as the girl was flung through the air. She landed on her back, jerked once, and went completely still.

It took an impossibly long time to process what he was seeing.

And it took even longer to understand what it meant.

Elies — the holy maiden who had fallen protecting him. The fear of how badly she was hurt. The terror of the luminous entity before his eyes. Every emotion churned together in a maelstrom, and through it all——

"...Why... dammit..."

One feeling. Hotter than anything else, it drove Ren forward.

It was a surge of self-blame more intense than anything he had ever felt.

"Shouldn't the roles be reversed...? Why is a knight... getting shielded by a girl his own age... someone that fragile...?"

Holy maiden or not, the fact remained that Elies was a teenage girl.

It was no different.

Holy maiden or not, she was no different from any ordinary girl attending an academy in the city.

Physically weaker than a man. And that seemingly unshakeable resolve — surely, deep down, it hid anxiety and fragility of its own.

And yet——

"But I was a little happy. I feel like I've finally met a kindred spirit."

She had said she was happy to meet him.

Revered as a holy maiden in a land of spirit worship, yet burdened all along by the pain of being understood by no one — a girl who had yearned for someone who could truly understand.

And right before his eyes, she had——

"That is precisely what concerns me."

"Sister Kyelse, and then the Archangel Fear and the previous Demon King Elise — a party with all of them. Don't you think you alone are the one who doesn't belong?"

"You fall into danger, and to save you, Sister Kyelse falls into danger too."

"Can you say with absolute certainty that will never happen?"

The words of Dragon Emperor Calra echoed through his mind — like a prophecy fulfilled.

They had been neither a lie nor an exaggeration. Those words were a genuine concern, spoken from Calra's true heart. He understood that now, with painful clarity.

"......"

Yes — humans...

Humans were fragile, fleeting creatures.

No miracle could grant them an indestructible body like the Demon General of Wave's.

Just as the girl hailed as a holy maiden had been felled by a single attack.

Just as the swordsman hailed as the strongest Brave Hero had died before reaching thirty.

——There were no exceptions.

——And that was no less true for him.

Unlike the long-lived races — angels, dragons, demons — someday, in less than a century, before even a century passed, he too would fall ill and end up bedridden. That day would come.

He understood that.

But even understanding it — even so.

"...I... I swore I'd get stronger, didn't I!?"

The uncontainable impulse tore through his throat and broke free.

He bit his lip.

He clenched his fists so hard his nails dug into his palms — and still, Ren could not stop the drops spilling from both eyes.

——He had admired the tales of the Brave Hero's adventures.

——Someday, he wanted to journey across the world just like him.

With irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind companions by his side.

Saved by his companions, saving them in turn — reaching for horizons of a new world that no one had ever seen. A wish held since childhood. Not a single day had he forgotten it.

And that was why this was a first.

Never before had he lamented his own lack of strength this deeply.

And never before.

Never before had he wished this desperately for the strength to protect someone.

"...I..."

The boy called Fake Brave Hero stood frozen in place.

The luminous monster's heat ray bore down on his defenseless form once more——

In that instant.

Deep within Ren's heart.

"As moonlight ripples upon the surface of a winter lake, the water mirror reflects all things equally — light and night alike."

That was when he heard the voice.

"Then surely you can feel this light, too? Surely you can evade it? Now — take that first step."

He turned.

Following Undine's beckoning gesture, Ren threw himself into motion.

The killing blade of light sliced through empty air.

He dodged the light — the ultra-high-speed attack that even the Demon General of Wave couldn't evade. The pseudo-spirit of light froze at the boy's impossible movement.

"...Undine? Was that you — just now, talking to me?"

Undine cradled her master, the holy maiden Elies, in her arms.

The girl made of translucent blue offered no answer but a silent smile.

And she wasn't the only one.

"Can Still Run? Faster. Feel The Pulse Of The Earth!"

Gnome clung to his ankle.

And then a translucent, floating spirit beat the small wings on its back furiously.

"Hurry, hurry — save Elies!"

"...Sylph?"

"Sylph doesn't know you yet. But she's a friend... Elies is a friend. So Sylph will show you the wind's path. Just this once. A special exception — because it's to save a friend!"

Their voices rang out with unprecedented clarity, unprecedented fluency.

Whether it was unique to Undine and Sylph as individual spirits, or a personality forged through years of communion with the holy maiden Elies — he couldn't say.

But one thing was certain——

"Want me to light it?"

Before Ren could answer, a crimson glow kindled in the sword gripped in his hand.

The Crimson Spirit Sword.

Salamander, perched on his shoulder, spread its wings in a powerful beat.

"You guys..."

Four Primordial Spirits.

All four of them had gathered around a single boy.

Not as subordinates following his command.

But as teachers — offering their secrets, their wisdom, to guide him.

"......"

In Undine's arms, the holy maiden Elies continued to breathe, faintly, even as consciousness had left her.

There was still time. If he could treat her wounds quickly and let her rest, he could save her. That hope remained.

The moment that realization struck, the tears pooling in his eyes receded as well.

"Yeah — I'm okay... I won't hesitate anymore."

He never wanted to feel regret again.

He never wanted to feel this way again.

And so.

"...There's no time."

Watched over by the four spirits, Ren turned to face the Light-Form Higher Being.

"Thirty seconds. That's all I need to take you down and save Elies."

A boy once called Fake Brave Hero.

This was the moment that boy swore a lifelong vow to himself.

"I'll get stronger. Strong enough to not lose even to the Brave Hero. Strong enough to protect Kyelse, Fear, Elise — everyone around me. ...I'm done being the one who gets protected."

Yes.

Right here, right now——

Before the spirits at his side, the boy declared it with everything he had.

"Bring it on, you puppet of light. I can't afford to be the Fake Brave Hero anymore!"