Beatrice's expression quickly returned to normal.
“Well, it doesn't matter. Use whatever tricks you want~”
She leaped lightly down from the altar, landing on the temple steps and looking down at the oncoming Esper.
“Look, Beya is getting closer to Esper~ Come closer to Beya—”
Then, her gaze shifted.
It fell onto the Black Tide beneath Esper.
The Black Tide was parting.
As if cut by an invisible blade, the black liquid beneath Esper parted to both sides.
It wasn't pushed away by force, but was retreating on its own.
“...What?”
For the first time, Beatrice's smile cracked.
The magic stone.
The silver-and-black striped stone Noelle had left on her.
The stone used for communication, for channeling mana, and for establishing a link with the Deputy of the Mage Tower.
It was glowing.
Not with Noelle's silver-black color.
But with a deeper, older color belonging to someone else.
Orange.
It was the orange of the Chief Grand Mage of the Mage Tower, Wald.
Noelle had said that channeling mana into the magic stone could strengthen one's compatibility with 『Wisdom』.
Thus, while activating her three Authorities just now, Esper had also spared some effort to channel mana into the magic stone, causing her compatibility to climb continuously.
The higher the compatibility, the harder it was to raise.
Conversely, the lower the compatibility, the easier it was to raise.
-54%.
The value when she had just begun channeling it.
-30%.
The value when she was restricted by the Black Tide.
-12%.
The value when the sun fell.
0%.
The value when the Terminal Spiral swept out.
From this point on, even raising it by a fraction more required everything Esper had.
But for Esper, just this fraction was enough.
At this very moment, amidst the aftershocks of the Terminal Spiral's explosion, upon the body of the Beast of Blood, and at the instant the runes of the Forbidden Fruit lit up once more—
The compatibility turned positive.
1%
『Authority: Wisdom: -57% - 1%』
『Connected』
The name of Wald's Authority Manifestation in the Era of Covenants was:
“『Authority Manifestation: Laplace's Demon』”
【Begin Reading】
Esper's pupils lit up.
An orange light swirling with countless streams of information.
She saw it; she read it.
The rules of the Black Tide, the rewritten content.
The rule-rewriting of 『Genesis』 consumed the Black Tide and could only be activated after making others come into contact with it.
The rule Beatrice had established was: All attacks directed at the rule-maker will have their efficacy suppressed as much as possible, to the point of being nearly non-existent.
In this single instant, Laplace's Demon understood and analyzed this rule.
In Esper's vision, everything transformed into constructs assembled from countless streams of information and code.
And as long as she thought, as long as she willed it, she could dismantle and crack them with her sheer resolve.
“Do it like this here...”
At the same time, Noelle was also assisting with the analysis in her mind.
And so, the information engraved into the Black Tide was rewritten, its control stripped away.
Even if only for a brief moment—even if only for a split second.
Even if Beatrice had only paused for a fraction of a second in her surprise! Even if the constraint and interference of the Black Tide had only lifted for a mere instant!
Esper had already closed in right in front of Beatrice!
“You...”
Beatrice took a step back.
This was her first time taking a step back in this game.
Meanwhile, Esper trod upon the parting Black Tide, charging toward the temple.
Charging toward the person she had to save.
At the same time, holy light erupted.
It was no longer the targeted beam fired by the Dawn Sun, but a torrent of pure white bursting from right in front of Beatrice.
An all-directional, indiscriminate, hemispherical shockwave blasting outward in all directions, centered on the temple altar.
Noelle's shield began to wail the moment it came into contact with the light.
“The highest concentration of...!”
Dense cracks rippled across the surface of the Mana Barrier, only to be reinforced by a second layer, then a third, and a fourth.
But every single layer was burned through within fractions of a second of forming.
Noelle was risking everything.
And Esper was risking everything as well.
Laplace's Demon was analyzing.
The frequency, wavelength, energy density, diffusion pattern, and mana consumption curve of the holy light—a torrent of data flooded her brain, dismantling, calculating, and decompiling with every passing frame.
But Beatrice didn't hold back this time.
A Rank Seven capacity, but a Rank Nine comprehension. The woman with the deepest development and most profound understanding of holy light unleashed a wave of light that, even when locked behind a Rank Seven valve, leaked droplets that could burn through steel plates.
Information overload.
The speed of analysis couldn't keep pace with the speed at which the holy light burned through.
The speed of the shield's repair couldn't catch up to the speed of its destruction.
And so, it leaked in.
A single drop.
The holy light leaking through the cracks in the shield was as thin as a hair, merely grazing the corner of Esper's forehead.
Yet, her skin visibly scorched red instantly.
But far more agonizing than the physical toll was the mental strain.
The overloaded stream of information flooded her brain, such that before her eyes, auditory and visual hallucinations of her past began to surface.
Seventeen years old.
She heard Fina's voice.
“Get out.”
She stood in the corridor of the Demon King's castle, opposite the girl she longed for day and night.
“Fina...?”
“Get out!”
That was the first time she had ever seen Fina lose control like that.
Then, a bit later.
In the Catori family's territory, she walked outside all by herself.
Her older sister's voice came from behind her.
“Where are you going?”
She didn't look back.
“Anywhere is fine, as long as you're not there.”
And then she left.
A few days ago.
In that woodland.
The Pope stood before her, rust-colored armor obscuring all her expressions.
“Twelfth Saintess, Kaylar.”
Kaylar knelt before her, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
“Sheltering foreign races in the name of a Saintess, using an Authority without the Pope's permission, and deeply collaborating with foreign races...”
The Pope's tone sounded like she was reading a grocery shopping list.
“Thus, the Twelfth Saintess is declared guilty of 『Apostasy』.”
Her hand gripped Kaylar's neck.
As Kaylar was dragged away, she still wanted to smile at Esper outside the door.
She wanted to make this wave look casual, as if saying, “It's fine, see you next time.”
But the curve of her lips only made it halfway before failing to go any higher.
Then the door closed.
Esper closed her eyes.
Partings.
Nothing but partings.
Wherever she went, partings followed.
Her sister, Fina, Kaylar.
She couldn't keep any of them.
“I've had enough.”
Esper opened her eyes.
The holy light was still burning. The shields were still shattering. The analysis was still running.
But she didn't care anymore.
She took a step forward. The Beast of Blood beneath her was reduced to a blurry outline, looking as if it might crumble at any moment.
Yet, it still carried Esper forward.
Another layer of the shield shattered. The holy light grazed her shoulder, burning through her coat and scorching her skin.
She smelled the scent of her own burning flesh.
Yet, she still pressed on.
“I won't let it end like this.”
The tip of the Holy Sword pressed against the Black Tide, carving a line forward.
“I am Esper, and I am your Hero.”
The holy light burned her cheek. A sharp pain traveled along her nerves to her brain, only to be washed away by the data stream of the analysis.
“You are Eladia, and you are my Saintess.”
Beatrice stared at Esper, her eyes wide.
“You...”
“Beatrice, I've heard enough of your talking.”
She walked right up to Beatrice.
She walked right up to Eladia.
“Ela.”
The Holy Sword swung down.
In this instant, every obstacle blocking the two of them shattered into invisible fragments and scattered away.
The Beast of Blood pounced forward, its body completely purified in midair.
Yet Esper still pressed forward.
She gazed into those golden eyes, and into the clear azure blue shrouded beneath them.
“I've come to save you.”
Rate on N.U.
