There was a temple at the place I arrived.
The slightly unusual part was that the mountains, rivers, grasses, and trees around the temple had withered like a desert.
‘There doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous, so how did Giselle end up coming all the way here?’
This seemed like the kind of place one could not see when trying to find it, but that revealed itself when one was not trying to find it.
From the moment I stepped into this space, I could now feel it clearly.
The aura of Divine Beasts and the demonic energy of magical beasts.
Naturally, my gaze turned to the Golden Headband.
At some point, the Golden Headband had turned reddish, as if heated in fire. That did not mean I would blindly listen to it.
‘Just in case.’
The fact that Giselle could see it indirectly meant it was an object or arms.
Perhaps what I was about to do now was also to distinguish whether it belonged to a Divine Beast or a magical beast.
When I stepped forward, the whitish marble shattered like glass along my footprints.
CRUNCH!
When I entered the temple in earnest, moonlight began settling through the gaps in the broken roof.
And......
“What is that?”
When the moonlight finally washed away the darkness, a statue appeared, holding up a wooden sword behind its back with both hands.
After being startled by the sudden situation for a moment, I began looking at the statue while using flexible thought.
“It kind of looks like it’s taken root.”
Then the wooden sword also looked as if it were using the human as nourishment.
‘It was the sword.’
The unique aura of Divine Beasts and demonic energy were not coming from the entire statue, but from the wooden sword.
“If this is how it is, I can see why Giselle thought it felt similar. How should I put it? It’s really strange.”
This was my first time seeing such a case, and it was fascinating that something like this was possible. Because demonic energy was wrapping around the aura of a Divine Beast like an egg.
And the demonic energy flowing from the wooden sword had, overall, begun encroaching upon the statue.
‘She was lucky.’
If not for the instincts Giselle had accumulated through all her thefts, she might have suffered harm.
‘This really is strange.’
Because it was not a magical beast, but arms, I approached the statue.
“......Runes?”
Ancient runes were engraved on the wooden sword. The moment I saw them, one memory came to mind.
‘I have seen before that there is an object that looks like a branch or a staff.’
The specific explanations had differed, but there was one thing in common. It was made of wood, and runes were engraved on it.
“It looks like it’s Laevateinn.”
The staff and sword crafted by Loki that appears in Norse mythology. Depending on the case, it was sometimes mixed together with the demonic sword of fire used by Surtr, but judging by this, it was closer to the sword crafted by Loki.
If so, a nearly impossible situation like this was fully possible.
After all, Loki’s specialties were deceit and trickery.
‘So this was what he used to beat that rooster to death.’
And Laevateinn was an object Loki had personally created by engraving runes into a branch in order to beat the immortal rooster to death.
Since its appearance was not standardized like this.
‘I can think of it as changing freely.’
Like the Great Sage Equaling Heaven’s As-You-Will Staff, there was also a possibility it would change according to the user’s will.
The curiosity stirred by seeing a divine artifact for the first time was enough to make me want to touch it for no reason.
‘Forget it. Let’s just look with my eyes.’
However, I changed my mind. I did not know what would happen if I touched a divine artifact.
It was clearly different from the Golden Headband the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had given me.
And the biggest reason I was wary of Laevateinn was.
‘No matter what anyone says, this belongs to Loki.’
In truth, Loki was practically the starting point of Ragnarok. So strictly speaking, he was also an evil god.
‘The night walk was nice, wasn’t it?’
It was just as I was about to turn away. Suddenly, an indescribable sense of wrongness came from the statue.
“......!”
The statue had reacted to my aura. It felt as if it was resonating with the auras of the special abilities inside me.
Whoooosh!
The moment I turned back at that sense of wrongness, the statue was being erased as if scattering in the wind.
At the same time, killing intent drenched in demonic energy came from behind me.
“This is...... mine.”
A dry, cracked voice disturbed my ears. Of course, this much was not enough to surprise me.
“Did I say anything?”
***
BANG-!
My words were relaxed, but my body instinctively operated mana and launched a strike at the killing intent I felt.
However, that killing intent also vanished again, just like the statue from earlier.
‘Tricky.’
Without even giving me time to think, a strike that tore through the mana in the air surged toward me.
CLANG!
I barely blocked the strike with my arm, where I had condensed mana.
‘......Strong.’
If I had been even a little late, my head would have flown off. If I had failed to condense mana, my arm would have been torn away.
Sliiide!
At some point, a red line was engraved on the arm that had blocked the sword strike. It was a sharpness difficult to believe had come from a wooden sword.
And so, after allowing the second hit of my life, I faced the owner of the killing intent, who was not an illusion.
“Could it be.”
He was a person soaked in demonic energy, even the whites of his eyes dyed black. From his cracked lips, not blood, but crumbling powder scattered.
“Mine...... It’s mine. Don’t come closer.”
It was not a statue.
“......I was right. A Demonic human.”
He was a person who had been soaked in demonic energy and demonized.
It was my fault for not expecting there to be a Demonic human at all, no, for never imagining I would meet one here, and therefore failing to examine the statue carefully.
“......!”
My eyes, which had been quietly looking at the Demonic human, trembled faintly. It was not only because of the Demonic human’s appearance, which had decayed like an old mushroom.
It was because I saw something familiar on the Demonic human’s chest.
‘If that’s the Academy mark......’
Though worn out, there was an Academy mark on his chest.
‘That means he’s a student, like me.’
At that moment, dozens of swords shot up from the ground. Even though I could have avoided them easily, I deliberately did not.
Ssssss-!
Because the moment the blades touched my body, they scattered as purple mist.
For example, it was probably illusion-type magic. Even so, the magic’s precision was such that I would not have seen through it without the Heavenly Hound’s special ability.
Unlike at the beginning, I was now looking at everything around me with the Heavenly Hound’s eyes.
‘It seems he also cast the illusion magic spread throughout the forest.’
It had the same nature as the magic covering the ruins.
There was no way an ordinary student could cast illusion magic over the entire forest in the northwest.
If so, Laevateinn’s ability was.
‘There’s a high chance it’s amplification.’
I hid my own abilities and tried to grasp the opponent’s abilities. This was my attitude toward real combat.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Each time Laevateinn’s runes glowed purple, the illusion enveloping the temple rippled.
Shaaaak!
This time, spears rose from the ground and fell vertically toward me.
‘That won’t work anymore.’
This too was an illusion. The real attack was a sword strike coming up diagonally.
‘If I’m going to block, I should strike.’
I protected my arm with mana toward Laevateinn and operated my mana as if swinging a whip.
KABOOM!
Of course, I was the one sent flying by the impact, but in any case, I led the atmosphere into a brief lull.
Even though I was the one who had been sent flying, I spoke with the mindset of the person who had sent someone flying.
“Put that down first. It’s not something you can handle.”
Since ancient times, it had been said that divine artifacts, objects of gods, chose their own masters.
If one wished to take them despite not being chosen, one had to pay a heavy price.
Or else prove qualifications great enough to overcome that.
Then what about the arms of evil gods and magical beasts?
“That’s no different from a demonic sword.”
The saying not to even look at anything related to the Demonic had been passed down since ancient times.
It was then that a sharp voice, like metal scraping, rang out.
“I said it’s mine...... Mine!”
At the same time, the Demonic human burst out demonic energy in every direction as if going berserk.
“That startled me.”
It was a demonic energy so terrible that it was hard to believe he was human like me.
‘So this is a Demonic human.’
If it had this much influence on me, ordinary students would have fainted immediately.
‘That is the price of touching an evil god’s arms......’
A contradictory being who was human, yet not human at all.
What I had to do was already decided. I had to annihilate the Demonic human before my eyes.
Every Hero would do that, so there was no need to hesitate. There should definitely be no need.
“......”
However, the Academy mark on the male student’s chest made me fall into thought. It truly was still visible even now.
The words Giselle had once told me echoed in my chest.
“......Hmm.”
As she had said, that student might have simply wanted to graduate from the Academy and become a Hero.
I knew the value of that dream.
‘What should I do?’
Of course, if that student had touched it while knowing it was an evil god’s arms, then it would be right for me, who had inherited the special abilities of Divine Beasts, to step forward and execute him myself.
However, in this case, he had not tried to become a Demonic human in order to lead the world to destruction. He had merely been unlucky enough to get caught up in Loki’s prank.
I looked at the poisonous mushroom still huffing and puffing.
‘You regret it, don’t you?’
Was it because I tried to understand him? Strangely, I began to feel the student’s frail desperation.
There was not the slightest malice in that desperation.
Grit.
Strength entered my jaw on its own.
‘You must have expected even this.’
To be honest, irritation surged through me. At Loki, who played tricks on humans despite being a god.
“Since it’s come to this, should I try feeding him a nice screw-you?”
If I dealt with that Demonic human, things would end up flowing according to Loki’s intentions.
I looked up at the sky for a moment.
‘This is right, isn’t it?’
After hearing what the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had told me a few days ago, I had thought a bit about what I should do.
I thought that the war between gods and devils, Divine Beasts and magical beasts, had become fixed in the span of eternity. Perhaps to the point where they no longer even knew why they were fighting.
But this was also the same for humans. Simply because they were magical beasts or monsters, simply because they were Demonic humans, they would be annihilated and subjugated.
At that thought, I decided I would judge and act by my own standard.
Even if I made the same choice, I was confident my mindset would be different. This might not be the correct answer, and it might even be wrong.
‘Even if I’m wrong, it doesn’t matter. I’ll take responsibility for my own choice.’
So right now, I would.
“Wait a little.”
I intended to return that student’s smile and recover the dream he had lost.
However, it was certainly something beyond my ability.
“To think the day would actually come when I used this.”
My gaze naturally turned toward the Thunderbird’s mark. More precisely, I was looking at the Covenant of the Thunder God.
Originally, I had intended to use it if I met an enemy too powerful for me to handle.
‘It’s fine. I just have to become that much stronger.’
However, this was something that could be resolved. And I also had business with the Thunderbird.
‘I can ask how to use special abilities.’
I did not know how to call her, but strangely, words leaked out on their own.
“......Fulfill your covenant with me.”
There was not the slightest trace of regret in my tone.
***
Thunderclouds holding blue lightning energy surged like a tsunami toward the skies above the Academy.
FLASH-! FLASH-!
All the lightning-attribute mana and electricity in the Academy gathered toward the thunderclouds and sought an audience with their master.
Soon, the moment all light disappeared, a blue lightning strike of immeasurable scale fell toward the temple.
THOOOM-!
The impact sent dust rising through the area, and the temple that had already been on the verge of collapse was smashed apart splendidly.
Only then did the Academy’s light return. It had only been an instant. But to me, standing at the center, it had been a rather long time.
At that site, where the aftermath of the impact had not yet faded, a familiar voice reached me.
“......To think you would call me this soon. It seems I expected too much.”
Those were the Thunderbird’s first words to me after so long.
“It’s been a while.”
I did not shrink back. The sickle of the Thunderbird I watched was dripping with the blood of some unknown magical beast.
“I am busy, so state your business quickly......?”
Before she could finish speaking, intense anger boiled from the Thunderbird. She had discovered the male student who had turned into a Demonic human.
Soon, the Thunderbird spoke in a tone that sounded as if she found it so pathetic she wanted to kill someone.
“You called me because you could not even handle that lowly wretch......?”
Until now, the Thunderbird’s tone had been rough, but still friendly. Right now, however, it was only tyrannical.
‘I knew this would happen.’
I knew the Thunderbird’s nature, and I had known this would happen. Because of that, I had firmly set a wick in my heart.
“That’s not it. I called you because I want to turn that person back into a person.”
Tap.
The Thunderbird approached at lightning-flash speed and rested the tip of her sickle against my forehead. The Thunderbird looking down at me had no emotion on her face.
“......You dare hold mercy for a lowly thing subordinated to the Demonic in front of me?”
Unlike that expression, I could feel that her intense anger and killing intent had reached their peak.
‘This is fierce. Really fierce.’
It was the wrath of a noble being directed at a human.
“......?”
But for some reason, even amid this, I felt a sense of wrongness, as if she were trying to deceive me.