The One Entrusted. The One Who Gives Up. (3)
Eibon pulled the short dagger from his coat and entrusted it to Takuto.
Takuto accepted it silently and drew it from its sheath—only to find no blade there.
“What is this?”
“If she falls to the Demon King, you should use that. I devoted my entire life to its creation.
The blade will manifest when you pour mana into it. But it can only be used once.”
This was the very thing Eibon had forsaken the world for and secluded himself underground to develop.
Eibon had always been filled with regret. He had lost his comrades, his lord, even his beloved family. Nothing remained.
Blinded by the name of "the strongest," he had been powerless to protect those he should have. To ensure he never made the same mistake again, he devoted himself to research. That research was how to destroy the Demon King.
The Demon King cannot be destroyed. Because the power of the Spirit King, the host of that force, cannot be destroyed. Even if the Demon King is slain, the power will simply dwell in another person. That person, too, will one day become the Demon King. This has been the tragic cycle since ancient times.
At first, everyone uses the power of the Spirit King for someone else's sake. They believe it can serve the good of the world. But the truth is—it is a tainted power.
Long ago, the Spirit King and his dearest friend sacrificed their lives to repel an invading evil god back to an adjacent world, where the goddess sealed it.
In that battle, the beast who had been the Spirit King’s friend perished. As the Spirit King faced death, he saw potential in humanity.
Civilization had collapsed, and humanity was on the brink of extinction. At that time, he met a dying young girl.
The Spirit King died beneath the World Tree, the girl before his eyes doing her best to live even in a world coming to an end.
"If my power may serve humanity…”
Originally, the fault lay with mankind. They created the gate to another world in an attempt to dominate it, allowing the evil god to cross over. But the Spirit King accepted that it was simply a part of human history. He bore no grudge. The true culprits were long gone. The girl before him had committed no sin.
And so he gave her his remaining power, and passed away at the roots of the World Tree.
The second Spirit King used that power to save many, ending her life beneath the same World Tree. She had been an elf.
But the Spirit King's power would later reappear in others. At first, it was a blessing. But over generations, it began to change.
When the evil god was driven into the adjacent world and sealed, it had pierced the Spirit King's core with one of its claws. That tainted the Spirit King's power.
And once again, humanity repeated its foolishness—and a new Demon King was born.
The Spirit King, corrupted by the evil god... The Demon King seeks the extinction of all intelligent life. To fulfill the evil god’s wish.
Eibon learned this truth.
“The Demon King is born from the corrupted power of the Spirit King. Then if we eliminate the cause of that corruption…”
“… The Demon King would end?”
To put an end to the repeating tragedies, Eibon abandoned his humanity. But that, too, was a mistake.
His research advanced steadily. However, the magic needed to destroy the Demon King required an immense amount of mana.
Once called a great archmage, Eibon had enough mana to repel even strategic-level spells that used the lives of an entire city as fuel. But now, that power was spent merely to maintain his own existence—he could only use magic at the same level as any ordinary magician. So, he began researching mana reactors.
But like most people, he fell into the ancient people's trap and ended up creating reactors with no potential for further development. The mana output was far too low. Enraged by the malice of the long-dead ancients, Eibon cursed their legacy.
To make matters worse, only that flawed, dead-end design remained in the present.
Improving the reactors was impossible—and worse still, reactors themselves were extremely difficult to handle. Eibon considered building multiple and using them in parallel, but his experiments failed at the theoretical level.
Mana reactors resonated with each other. When placed nearby, they caused resonance phenomena that generated violently unstable mana—so wild it became unusable.
A technological breakthrough was needed. But due to a lack of information, Eibon went down the wrong path. He tried to improve the flawed, ancient design.
Alicetia, understanding this problem, rebuilt the theory from scratch and created an entirely new kind of reactor. But Eibon, fixated on improving the existing design, wasted decades on fruitless effort.
However, meeting Alicetia changed everything. In her domain, he had access to limitless mana. There, he finally flourished, creating the dagger capable of destroying the Demon King.
“Stab this into her heart. If you do, you might be able to destroy the Demon King.”
“Might…?”
Takuto frowned.
“There’s no way to test it. We don’t have a Demon King handy, after all. I can’t guarantee safety either.
If you don’t want to use it, stop her before she turns into the Demon King.”
An item with no guarantee of safety or effectiveness. But if Alicetia fell, he would have no choice. In the worst-case scenario, Takuto might have to kill her.
“I’d really rather not have to use this…”
“I don’t mind. But if left alone, the Demon King will destroy the world.”
Having entrusted it to Takuto, Eibon turned to leave. If Alicetia truly fell to the Demon King, he wouldn’t even be able to approach her.
“Takuto, hurry! That dog’s about to lose it!”
As Takuto accepted the dagger from Eibon, the aircraft engine was already roaring.
The monster pilot, Ace, was in full “Let’s fly! Hell yeah!” mode and clearly not about to wait.
Takuto hurried aboard and closed the hatch. Ace probably would’ve taken off even if the hatch was still open. It was a dangerously wild monster.
At the same time, chaos was erupting in the control tower.
“What’s going on? That aircraft doesn’t have clearance for takeoff!”
“Stop, Ace! Don’t launch on your own!”
“Wah-woof!”
“… No good. I have no idea what he’s saying…”
For the record, a proper translation of Ace’s words would be: “Nope, I’m flying, baby!”
His brain was entirely consumed by an overwhelming desire for the sky.
But letting the prototype royal aircraft lift off on its own was a serious problem. That machine wasn’t powered by a reciprocating engine—it was equipped with a jet engine, a machine of the future. If even a single part were shot down and recovered by the enemy, the consequences could be dire.
“Let them go.”
“Lord Grantz! But…”
“I’ll take responsibility. Worst-case scenario, I can offer them my head and they’ll let it slide.”
As the heart of the Kingdom’s technological division, Grantz’ “head” was a high price indeed. The controller was about to protest, but upon seeing the look of resolve and hope on Grantz’ face, he could say nothing more.
He understood then—that craft was flying for the sake of something worth staking Grantz’ life on.
And so, Takuto and the others took off for the battlefield.
Almost at the same time, Alicetia arrived at the front lines.
The Imperial Army had completely surrounded the Kingdom’s border fortress and was actively attacking. However, the powerful barrier protecting the fortress held firm, and although parts of the walls had crumbled, the Empire, having assumed the fortress was practically defenseless, found themselves bogged down in an unexpectedly drawn-out assault.
Despite being surrounded, the defenders had nowhere to run, but with steady air supply lines and the Kingdom’s troops being battle-hardened, their morale didn’t waver.
Even so, Alicetia’s expression was one of defeat as she looked upon the scene.
“… We’ve lost.”
There was a critical location Alicetia absolutely had to secure—a grassy plain near the fortress on the Empire’s side. But the Empire had not stationed troops there.
This meant they had predicted that Alicetia would descend in that exact spot.
Though officially attached to the military, Alicetia wasn’t a trained soldier. Her position existed more for the provision of technology and securing of budgets. She hadn’t been educated in tactics. In essence, she was more a bureaucrat—albeit the Kingdom’s kind of bureaucrat tended to be muscle-brained anyway.
Even so, she had to land there. The Empire had already noticed the flying Helios. While shaken by the sudden appearance of an ancient dragon on the battlefield, it hadn’t caused significant confusion. After all, it was just one dragon. Even if they couldn’t kill it, they were confident they could drive it off.
In truth, Helios was an ancient dragon, but a rather weak one—driving him off wouldn’t be difficult.
Had he acted on his own, he likely would’ve been seen crying as it fled… if he wasn’t following Alicetia’s orders, that is.
“Helios, land.”
“Understood.”
Helios descended on the designated location.
The Imperial Army, spotting Alicetia—their target—on the dragon’s back, sneered. In their minds, they had already achieved victory, having forced the once-defiant Kingdom army into retreat behind their fortress. The sudden appearance of a little girl riding a dragon wouldn’t change anything. In fact, coming out so openly made her look foolish.
Capturing Alicetia would turn a commoner into a count. A noble could earn the hand of the Emperor’s daughter and become a duke. Rich rewards awaited.
But then, the Imperial soldiers froze.
“… Come forth.”
Alicetia waved her dragon staff horizontally. From the ground, rising as though called from the earth itself—Alicetias began to appear. All identical in form.
The grotesque sight, and the murderous intent emanating from Alicetia, shook them.
Still, the Imperial forces tried to steel themselves. There weren’t that many clones. They could still win—so they told themselves.
“Come forth, Golem Legion.”
A massive ornate door appeared beside Alicetia. So opulent it took the breath from the soldiers—many tried to estimate its cost and fell silent. Even noblemen stood aghast. It made the grandest doors in the imperial audience chamber look shabby in comparison.
But that door contained the entirety of Alicetia’s intellect.
No one opened it, yet it swung wide.
Thud, thud, thud—a rhythmic marching echoed.
Confused and frozen in place, the Imperial troops watched as golems emerged in neat formation.
And then they realized: an enemy army had appeared before them.
“G-get ready to intercept!”
They didn’t yet understand how threatening the enemy was, but the sight of the eerie clones and Alicetia’s terrifying aura drove the commanders to shout orders.
Snapped out of their stupor, some soldiers rushed toward Alicetia’s army.
“… Helios. Sweep them aside.”
Before the Golem Legion could finish forming up, Helios opened his mouth at Alicetia’s command and fired a breath attack toward the Empire’s troops. But the blast was completely blocked by a magical barrier deployed in front of the front lines.
Alicetia let out a sigh at the ease with which it was blocked. Coote shot Helios a scornful glance.
Both he and Alicetia could shatter a barrier of that level effortlessly.
As things stood, Helios was deemed combat ineffective.
This was expected. That’s why backup enhancements had been prepared for Helios.
She’d let him take the first strike to protect his pride.
But now, having his pride wounded in front of an army, Helios hated the Empire with a burning passion.
He considered himself the mightiest of dragons—an ancient dragon among dragons.
Tears welled in his eyes, but no one mentioned them. Not even the Imperial troops.
And with that, the curtain rose on the opening salvo of war.
What do you think about this chapter?
