Chapter 59: You Dare to Command ? (4)
From above, spear bombardnts rained down, and from all sides, the immortal skeletal soldiers continued to restrain her.
As a result, Clina found herself unable to escape from the area.
‘…So it’s co down to a battle of endurance, huh.’
Letting out a faint sigh, I glanced toward Rubia.
anwhile, countless fragnts of information surged irregularly through my mind.
Holy Magic — Divine Magic.
Magic based not on mana, but on faith.
One of the three great systems of magic that upheld the world’s balance.
Within the Empire, it was more often called Divine Power or Miracle.
It went without saying that most nations had long acknowledged the existence of Holy Magic.
The only exception was the Empire — only Ribenia continued to deny it to this day.
‘Truly, this is what you’d call a desperate asure.’
As corrupt as the Imperial governnt was, they weren’t complete fools.
They must have realized long ago how contradictory their stance was.
And yet, they absolutely could not admit it.
For the simple reason that—
Acknowledging it would an denying the very core of their people’s identity.
‘That’s the greatest powder keg of the Ribenia Empire.’
This land called Arbenia, where Ribenia was located, had always had the highest rate of beast outbreaks among the four continents and four seas.
For over eight hundred years, in fact.
Those who had long suffered under the scourge of beasts were united by nothing other than faith.
A religion that worshipped the One God, Abenail.
That religion had existed even before the Empire was founded; later, it changed form and beca known as the Ribenian Orthodox Faith.
The problem lay in how that process had led to the denial of the guardian gods themselves.
The mont the Empire adopted that monotheistic faith as its state religion, such an outco was inevitable.
‘If only it had stopped there….’
But the daring Empire went one step further.
While denying the guardian deity, Paladion — the pri ally of humankind — it also denied the very existence of demons.
Claiming that faith and magic could never coexist, the Empire stubbornly refused to recognize Holy Magic.
Even under normal circumstances, Holy Magic was far rarer and more demanding than conventional magic.
And in a nation that refused to acknowledge it at all, learning its principles or thods was nearly impossible.
For those reasons, it was exceedingly difficult to find a Holy Magic user within the Empire.
Even within the Magic Tower, which held a certain degree of extraterritorial autonomy, the sa rule applied.
Given all that, riel and Gustav’s shock was only natural.
Rubia Magnus. There were many words to describe her — studious, theoretical, diligent — but faithful was not one of them.
“How in the world is that girl using Holy Magic…?”
“Faith doesn’t necessarily have to be directed toward a god, does it?”
“What? What’s that supposed to an?”
Ignoring Gustav’s furrowed expression, I turned my gaze toward Rubia.
She was using two types of Holy Magic simultaneously.
One was the Divine Immunity ntioned earlier.
The other was Divine Enchant — a spell that granted a target the holy attribute.
Tiing!
Cheng!
The command I’d given to the skeletal soldiers was simple and clear.
‘Use any ans necessary to strike Clina White’s body.’
A straightforward tactic, really.
Every evil spirit possessed innate resistance to certain attributes.
High-ranking spirits, in particular, had near-absolute resistance to all attributes except those of darkness and evil.
Thus, the only beings capable of inflicting aningful wounds upon them were other demonic entities.
No matter how weak they were, black magic was still black magic — and demonic entities were demonic entities.
Even if those skeletons were summoned from a low-grade grimoire, if their numbers approached infinity, the story changed.
That is, if the opponent weren’t Clina White.
“How could re rusted weapons of skeleton soldiers possibly damage this body’s barrier…!”
As she desperately tried to deny reality, I threw the truth right back at her.
“For soone at the pinnacle of evil spirits, you seem rather unsettled. Surely, this isn’t the first ti you’ve seen a holy mage.”
“…There’s a Holy Mage here in Mallet?”
“Hm… Well, I suppose it’s possible you didn’t know. You have been rotting away in seclusion for ages.”
“You dare…!”
With a furious scream, a trendous gust exploded from Clina’s entire body, crushing the surrounding skeletons into dust.
I stepped in front of Rubia, who was preparing to cast a barrier spell, and faced the charging opponent head-on.
“Kh…!”
Barely deflecting the blow, I countered with a slash that drove her back several ters.
Then, a volley of spears rained from behind, forcing her even further backward.
“Tch…!”
Clatter, clatter!
As she steadied her stance from the shock, the skeletal soldiers once again sward her from all sides.
“Sir Eugene!”
“I’m fine. Stay focused — it’s not over yet.”
Regaining my stance, I fixed my gaze on Clina.
The invisible barrier that had surrounded her entire body had already crumbled by more than half.
‘…I couldn’t see it before.’
My sensitivity to mana detection must have sharpened after continuously using black magic.
From beyond the bombardnt and the mass of skeletons, Clina’s voice rang out in disbelief.
“In this era, a human capable of destroying my Sacred Armor exists? That’s impossible!”
Sacred Armor.
One of the most well-known holy spells — a magic that manifested a sacred armor around the body.
Her shock was understandable.
The one who had rendered Clina White’s body inviolable was none other than the forr Master of the Magic Tower, the Great Sage Aleph Abdiel.
However—
“…It seems you’ve overlooked sothing.”
The very fact that her protection ca from the Great Sage’s magic was precisely why a flaw existed.
“In Holy Magic, what matters most isn’t mana or mastery.”
Crack, crack…!
“If malice completes black magic, then faith is what completes Holy Magic.”
“Ghhk…!”
“And,” I continued,
“The more one masters magic, the less faith remains — that’s common sense among magicians.”
To that, Clina roared in outrage, utterly unwilling to accept it.
“Nonsense! No amount of faith can possibly bridge that gap!”
Buried beneath shards of bone and spearheads, the Queen of Banshees reached her hand toward Rubia.
“Woman! What god do you believe in? What is it that sustains you?”
To Clina’s desperate question, Rubia answered with a face full of conviction.
“…It’s not a god.”
Her eyes—
Were quietly fixed on .
First — neutralize the Derit with Divine Immunity and operate the skeletal soldiers at full capacity.
Second — use Divine Enchant to imbue their weapons with the holy attribute, depleting Clina White’s Sacred Armor.
The result of executing those two strategies perfectly was this:
“…Impossible.”
Clina unleashed a powerful gust, driving back the horde of skeletons all at once as she scread.
“You an to tell this inviolable body has been pierced? With such cheap tricks?”
Even if the attacks were connecting, skeletons alone could hardly inflict aningful wounds.
But if the strikes numbered not ten or a hundred, but a thousand—ten thousand—then….
“There’s no such thing as absolute inviolability in this world.”
I dashed forward, plunging into the ranks of still-reorganizing soldiers.
From air to ground, I gathered every ounce of energy from my leap into a full-force downward strike.
“And once a body has been wounded once—”
She crossed her arms in defense the instant she saw it.
“—it’s all the easier to make the cracks spread.”
At that mont, I had a secret technique allowing to deliver two attacks simultaneously.
So, I brought Lukezax down while striking her abdon with a skeleton’s spear.
“Khk!”
Her stance had been unsteady, so it didn’t pierce through, but the impact was enough.
Proof enough was the look she now wore — a face of disbelief — as she staggered back half a dozen steps.
“…Unbelievable.”
The emotion etched on her expression bordered on awe.
“What… are you two?”
Her gaze moved between and Rubia.
“A fallen human and a zealot.”
“……”
That was her answer to the final question.
There was no longer a trace of hostility or killing intent in her.
It ant the battle was over.
I closed the grimoire I had opened and tucked it into my coat, severing the mana link that had bound to it.
The skeletal soldiers lted away like mist, as if they had never existed.
Realizing that the fight had ended, Rubia was the first to lower her wand and staff, and the others followed, silently pointing their wands to the ground.
Clina crossed her arms, glaring disdainfully at the magicians behind .
“You spoke of coexistence with evil spirits, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“But do you truly think that’s possible? That humankind, who until now have done nothing but exploit evil spirits, will ever truly choose coexistence?”
Clina White.
As the proud Queen of Banshees, she had once aided humankind in many ways.
But what she received in return was betrayal and oppression.
Perhaps she had co to find so asure of peace in this place only because she had endured too many trials already.
That she couldn’t bring herself to trust humans anymore was, in a way, perfectly natural.
But even if she couldn’t trust—
She could still choose coexistence.
“Because otherwise, both sides will perish. Humans and evil spirits alike.”
“…And what if there are those who say they’d rather perish to beasts than stand with us?”
“There might be a few like that… but they’ll be the minority.”
“Oh? And what makes you so sure?”
“When pushed to the edge, humans will even join hands with their enemies — that’s just how they are.”
Don’t believe in humanity itself; believe in the nature of humans.
“……”
Though her face still brimd with doubt, she didn’t question further.
Instead, she lowered her head as if in resignation.
“There are parts of this I find unsatisfying… but you pass, Eugene Carter.”
“…Then, shall we form the master–servant pact?”
“Let’s.”
Recalling my mories from the Player days, I stepped toward her.
As I began to kneel, Clina reached out a hand to stop .
“The master shouldn’t be the one to kneel.”
Then she lowered herself instead, bending one knee gracefully.
“…Are you sure about this?”
“I shall dwell within your mortal vessel. Naturally, it is proper that I do so in this way.”
“……”
Of course, there was no reason to refuse.
With practiced grace, she took my left hand and pressed her lips lightly against it.
A faint smile touched her lips.
“Until the very end… I do hope you’ll make it entertaining.”
“…That depends on how you behave.”
At that mont—
Clina White’s entire body began to fade, scattering into motes of light and dust that drifted away.
The remaining traces of mana flowed into my Mana Heart.
As proof of the contract, a small sigil began to form upon my chest.
I watched the sight silently and nodded slowly.
This was the mont in history when, for the first ti, an individual succeeded in commanding a top-tier evil spirit.
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