Chapter 308

If someone had even pulled out Adamas and moved it, that meant they had endured at least some of the Anomaly's Curses.

‘It can only be His Majesty.’

In the timeline where Killian had not been present, Simon had not taken Adamas.

Lucy Eurasia had seemed to know about it, so it could not have been through ignorance.

He had known, yet had been unable to possess it.

To enter the space between the Barrier and the Boundary, one needed the help of at least a High Priest.

Hoka de Murus was too incompetent to have power sufficient to affect the Barrier.

‘Lokia can do it.’

In practice, a being at around 9-Star could neutralize the Barrier to some degree.

‘There are only enough beings around 9-Star in this world to count on one's fingers.’

There was also a way to cut the Barrier, but Simon would not have welcomed that either.

‘In the end, Simon did not wield Adamas.’

Perhaps the Monster Lord had moved first before Simon could finish deliberating.

And many things had changed in this life.

Simon, who had not acquired Adamas, had now obtained it.

The Monster Lord had not fully taken Damian's body.

And Killian had reached 9-Star and was here in the northern frontier.

If the things sealed within the sword had not changed, Simon would come into contact with the Anomaly's Curses as well.

If he overcame them, he would likely master 9-Star.

"That fool Edan has ended up meeting his descendant in quite an amusing fashion."

Killian could picture him taking pride in a descendant who stood at the same level as himself.

He only hoped it would bring some small joy to Edan's long suffering.

And Killian still had something to resolve.

The Barrier was behind him, and the Boundary lay before him.

In the past, Murus had said that Adamas was the stake that guarded the Boundary and the Barrier.

‘Even he did not know why the sword was there.’

Styx had not told him.

He had merely guessed that the Lord had done something.

Yet the sword, which had been playing some unknown role, was gone.

There was bound to be a change.

Killian infused Mana into his eyes and observed the place where Adamas had vanished.

He felt nothing.

He observed with Divine Power.

He sensed nothing.

"If there had been anything, Simon and Lokia would have taken measures."

He fused the two powers and concentrated his mind.

Then.

A small crack appeared where the sword had been.

It was neither Mana, Divine Power, nor Evil Energy.

If he had to classify it, it resembled the Anomaly's Radiance, but even that was uncertain.

In any case, with Adamas—the stake—gone, even the Boundary was being greatly shaken.

A crack slight enough that even Lokia, the High Priest, had failed to recognize it.

‘It is highly likely to slowly grow until it renders both the Boundary and the Barrier meaningless.’

The feeling that it had to be resolved now grew strong.

Shing.

Killian drew Anima.

"I came to retrieve one sword and may end up losing another."

Muttering that he should have brought Damian's Pisaro if he had known this would happen, Killian drove Anima into the ground.

The crack of unknown nature transferred to Anima.

Rumble.

The fairy folk's famed sword began to absorb the crack.

The hand holding the sword shook violently.

It was a crack he could not even perceive with either power alone from the start.

He would not be able to stop it completely like this.

Killian activated his Mana Heart and Hollyheart at the same time.

Blue and grey.

The two powers rising like heat haze—Blue Mana and Grey Divine Power—wove together like warp and weft, filling the crack.

He concentrated and did his utmost not to let it slip away.

Then, a light flashed.

The surrounding space was dyed pure white.

It felt as though he had entered a Mind Image World.

"A trap?"

[It is not a trap.]

Killian turned toward the voice.

Someone who should not have been there stood before him.

A faceless humanoid well over two meters tall.

"Lord."

[I am not the Lord, though.]

"……"

Regardless of Killian's reaction, a mouth formed on the formerly featureless face and curled into an arc.

[It is a pleasure to meet you.]

The Lord held out his hand.

[You who changed the rules of the world.]

There was not the slightest killing intent in his voice or manner.

It was an absurdly calm greeting.

"Hardly a pleasure."

Keeee—

Killian released Haki.

The space trembled from the revelation of his Existence Force alone.

Rumble.

A Barrier made of Divine Power enclosed the surroundings.

It sealed the space completely so that the being could not flee.

[Oh?]

The Lord reacted as though he were seeing something amusing.

Without taking any action, he simply watched the Barrier close around him.

It was a weakness that looked too obvious.

Even if it were a trap, Killian could not afford not to seize it.

Shing.

Anima appeared in Killian's hand.

He took his stance and unleashed a single stroke.

"Palantir."

The 9-Star Mana condensed in the sword produced a wave.

Then.

Slash!

Blue Mana cut through the Lord.

The faceless body was severed in two.

It was not only the physical body—the form it had assumed—that had been severed.

Palantir was a sword strike that cut essence.

It should have left a wound in the depths of his soul.

The imperfect bodies of Gods could never endure it.

Even so.

[To cut Divinity with a Mortal's body.]

The Lord reacted without concern and looked at the half of his body that had been cut away.

[You have made something interesting.]

‘I definitely felt the cut.’

There was no way the sword he could now use completely after reaching 9-Star had failed.

[There is no need to be so surprised. Your sword cut properly. However.]

The Lord continued.

[Now that the future has changed, would it not have affected other places as well?]

***

Rumble.

The entire area trembled.

"……"

Ashirian de Silvana.

The queen of the fairy folk watched the shaking Divine Tree.

As a member of the Kingdom Alliance, she was currently preparing for the Monster Wave at the southern frontier.

Even a single 8-Star Knight was precious, yet Simon Eurasia had rejected reinforcements.

Fortunately, Eurasia and Cornelia, the Alliance's main pillars, had entered the Empire's heartland after repeated victories.

From now on, the true war would begin.

Then an earthquake like this had occurred.

"This is strange."

Rundel, the Guardian of the fairy folk, spoke.

Reports were arriving in real time that similar events were happening in the territories of the other tribes as well.

"It is dangerous to maintain synchronization in this state."

"I know that much."

She replied in a somewhat irritated voice.

If a backlash occurred while she was synchronized with the Divine Tree, her level might be permanently damaged.

Then her brows drew together.

"This Mana……"

Someone was attempting to contact the Divine Tree.

Once she identified the owner of the Mana, her mood eased somewhat.

"Allow the approach."

At Ashirian's permission, a Gate opened before her.

Rundel brought a hand to the sword at his waist in preparation for the worst.

Charles emerged from the Gate.

"I greet Your Majesty, the Queen of Elvenheim."

Charles bowed in the manner of the fairy folk.

They had built a relationship when they formed the Kingdom Alliance.

"Did you Warp across the Continent?"

For an individual to operate a long-range Warp Gate was something even Hegel Cornelia could not do.

Only one chosen by a Magic Tower could do it.

It proved once again that Charles was the Violet Magic Tower's true successor.

"What brings the famed Violet Mage here?"

"Sir Killian has appeared."

"Killian……?!!"

Ashirian's voice rose with excitement.

"Where had he been and what had he been doing for the last two years?"

Charles explained that she had contacted him through the Extermination Squad, and that Damian Eurasia had had his body taken by the Monster Lord before recovering it.

"The Monster Lord…… So he has been born after all."

She had suspected it inwardly, but lacked evidence.

Even when King Simon had told her not to take the field and to prepare for the Monster Wave, she had thought it excessive.

"But it turned out as he said. He told you to prepare for the Monster Wave as well, did he not?"

With the king of the mountain ranges born, a Monster Wave would be inevitable.

"The Wave will happen, but he said it will not happen immediately."

Charles explained that Killian had wounded him, buying them at least three months.

"I see."

Ashirian nodded.

"But if that were all, there would have been no need for you to come this far. We have not wasted our time either."

They had been preparing sufficiently.

"Resolving the current phenomenon must come first."

"I know well how thorough the fairy folk are."

Eurasia at the eastern frontier, Cornelia at the western frontier, and Elvenheim at the southern frontier.

The Kingdom Alliance could wage war without worry because it trusted one another.

"Sir Killian said that at this rate, the Kingdom Alliance will collapse."

He had delayed the Monster Lord's advance, but said that Simon could not defeat the Emperor by his strength alone in the end.

As long as the three Magic Towers remained intact, Simon could not affect the Emperor at all.

She, too, regularly received reports about the strange White Magic Tower, Black Magic Tower, and newly built Red Magic Tower.

And in the end, those Magic Towers would hold Simon Eurasia back.

"Did he see the future?"

"Yes. He said that there will be no true victory for the Kingdom Alliance unless both the Monster Lord and the Emperor are defeated."

"Defeat them both."

"Fortunately, he even told us a specific method."

"A method?"

"They have three Magic Towers, so he said that the Kingdom Alliance should answer with three Magic Towers as well. As it happens, we have two."

The Holy Tower, Light Spire, and Cornelia's Violet Magic Tower.

And then.

Her gaze turned to the Divine Tree Wigdrazil.

"Are you saying we should turn the Divine Tree into a Magic Tower?"

It was something that Krusty Heinrich, then the White Duke and First Prince, had planned in the past.

There was a trace of displeasure in Ashirian's voice.

Wigdrazil was the medium that connected the fairy folk to Goddess Silvana, and a symbol of the monarch's status.

It also contained tremendous power sufficient to become a Magic Tower.

"We will not build one from the beginning. We only intend to modify it enough that it can serve as a Magic Tower."

Even so, it would no longer be the exclusive possession of the royal family as it had been before.

That also meant departing from its old meaning.

Ashirian soon shook her head.

‘I was the one who wanted to open the fairy folk to the world.’

Yet when such an opportunity came before her, she instinctively pushed it away.

‘One cannot deny one's blood.’

"This is not a matter to decide immediately. As you can see, Elvenheim must first resolve this sudden disaster……"

"No."

Ashirian interrupted Rundel.

"We will modify the Divine Tree into a Magic Tower."

"Your Majesty! This is not a decision to make so suddenly……"

"It is something we should have done long ago."

She met Charles's eyes.

"What preparations have you made?"

"Cornelia's mages and Eurasia's dwarves will work together."

"You do not mean Pyrope of the Aden Mine, do you?"

"Meisters are not common."

Sigh.

Her face tightened as she remembered the arrogant dwarf's face.

Her deliberation did not last long.

"Proceed as quickly as possible."

Plans were exchanged on the spot.

Materials and people would move through the Silvana Temple.

‘You have taken a step at last, Killian.’

The Eurasia army led by King Simon had entered the Empire's heartland.

If they accelerated their work, they could complete the Divine Tree's modification by the time the army reached the capital.

Amid the accelerating war.

‘What are you doing now?’

Charles began taking steps to change the future.