Join our separate discord server now: The Imperial Of BL
138
How reassuring those words were.
From that day on, Leriana was able to completely shed the anxiety that had unknowingly remained inside her. It was just a verbal promise, but the weight of a god’s words was heavy, and she could feel that much thick trust.
But now…
“…Stop.”
Stop. Don’t touch it. Please.
Her eyes shook violently as if hit by a storm. The faint hope that had lingered was long extinguished. Her voice, barely squeezed out, cracked miserably, and even that sound was so weak that it faded away before long. It was a plea that no one heard.
The Holy Sword on the experiment table hummed briefly. To Leriana, it sounded like her sword’s scream. It was the same when the blade trembled and scattered faint light. Save me, rescue me… That’s how her friend was crying out.
“Now then, where shall we…”
The disciple’s voice, not hiding their excitement, snapped her back to reality. Her whitened mind returned a little. Her hand, which had been trembling helplessly, slowly clenched into a fist, and her slow exhale warmed the cool air of the underground prison.
This was the final resolve for what was about to unfold.
‘I have to do it.’
Casia, Rohan, Arpel… and even the god.
No one can solve this situation. So, to overcome this crisis, she had no choice but to believe in herself. As she watched the filthy energy, nauseating enough to make her vomit, gradually approaching her sword, Leriana squeezed her eyes shut.
She pulled out the plan she had only vaguely formulated.
She recalled the disciple’s words that the Holy Sword hadn’t responded while she was unconscious. If the sword showed no reaction, there would probably be a problem with the experiment that woman was trying to conduct.
In other words, if she fainted again, she might be able to stop the experiment that seemed about to begin at any moment.
The method wasn’t that difficult. Instead of pushing out her holy power, she would stop it from reacting to the specter’s power. Since it was holy power that moved on its own to protect her body, if it stopped arbitrarily, her condition would surely worsen quickly.
It might not stop at just fainting; her body might really be in danger, but…
‘It’s okay.’
She tried to soothe the faint anxiety rising inside her. Although it was just a hypothesis, it was the most likely method at the moment. It would be okay, it would just be like falling asleep for a moment, there wouldn’t be any problem… That’s what she told herself.
When she wakes up again, that’s when she’ll really think of a way to escape. She also needed to check if Casia was safe. If she could see the outside safely, she wanted to talk with Rohan without running away. She wanted to apologize to Arpel too.
Leriana closed her eyes and looked forward to the future. It would surely be a near future. Without any problems, with a smiling face… she would be able to face the people she cared about.
After taking a shallow breath, she was about to grasp the holy power that was working hard to protect her body.
<Stop.>
The holy power, which had been gradually slowing down without much difficulty in response to her will, began to rotate fiercely again. Her breath stopped and her body trembled at someone’s voice that seemed to be directly implanted in her mind.
“…Ah.”
The voice, filled with an irresistible pressure and terrible kindness, didn’t feel like it belonged to this world. It was a mysterious voice that no one would dare to imitate, yet Leriana felt familiar with it. A faint sigh escaped between her parted lips.
A warm voice overlaid her confused mind.
‘But don’t worry. Your companion won’t be in such danger.’
These were words she had recalled once before. The little resentment that had bloomed in her heart faded away with frightening speed.
‘The god doesn’t make promises carelessly.’
It’s a vow from the two gods who created the world. Even if it was a lightly made promise, its weight couldn’t be light.
That’s what the high priest had said when she met him after talking with the Celestial God and leaving the prayer room. At the time, she couldn’t understand what he meant and just nodded, but now she could understand.
The words she thought were just momentary consideration, just comforting her when she was anxious, were actually a promise he had made.
Crackle.
With this realization, a sharp light burst from the Holy Sword. The disciple tilted her head at this unfamiliar reaction. It was such a trivial sensation that she might have believed it was just static electricity, and she didn’t seem to feel anything strange.
“That’s odd… There was no mention of this happening.”
She muttered in a puzzled voice.
She had begged the main church to obtain the records of the Demon Sword experiment conducted long ago in order to properly carry out this experiment. She had read it so many times that the edges of the old paper were completely crumbled, but she hadn’t seen any mention of such a reaction.
Just her imagination? Just in case, she scribbled down the anomaly on a piece of paper she had brought with her, using a quill pen, but couldn’t shake off the thought. Even great objects created by god could generate static electricity, couldn’t they? She chuckled briefly at the absurdity of this dissonance.
“Miss, shall we really start now~?”
The disciple, having put down her quill, called out to Leriana, who had gone quiet, in a cheerful voice. Her upturned corners of the mouth were heavily tinged with a sense of superiority and satisfaction. Has she resigned herself? It seemed it would be quite fun to see those pretty pink eyes, once like jewels, completely lifeless.
She pulled the stand with the test tube full of concentrated specter power. If the sword experiment was successfully completed, it might be good to experiment on the saint’s body as well.
It was an area that no one had dared to challenge before, so if she could proceed safely, she might gain tremendous prestige.
Thus, as she was about to insert the Holy Sword into the test tube, dreaming of a sweet dream that would never come true.
The Holy Sword before her eyes emitted a dazzling light.
“What…!”
<It seems you’re taking us for fools, spawn of the impure.>
A heavy voice reverberated inside the underground prison. It was a clear voice that seemed to penetrate the mind. Although it was just one sentence, the majestic voice instilled an insurmountable rank in the listener’s mind.
Her body stiffened and chills ran down her spine. Not only could she not move a finger, but the disciple momentarily forgot how to breathe. In that instant, she realized. To the absolute being who had uttered such scathing words in a monotone, she was a trivial existence not even comparable to an insect.
Crackle.
The sound she had mistaken for static electricity echoed in her ears again. The disciple slowly raised her head. Dust fell from the cracks in the ceiling and settled on her head.
“Ah…”
Oh god.
The woman sighed lowly. Soon, everything before her eyes turned white.
***
Following the remnants of divine power left in Casia’s body was easy. Despite Rohan and Arpel pushing their speed to the limit, Casia managed to keep up with them.
Whether her body had fully recovered without any problems, or if she was just enduring with willpower, was unclear… Rohan glanced back at her occasionally but didn’t slow down. No one was asking for consideration he arbitrarily showed.
“It’s getting stronger. We must be close.”
Arpel took charge of tracking the energy. While Rohan could also track it without much difficulty, he was no match for Arpel, a sword that had been given the divine power itself.
When he opened his eyes after closing them for a few seconds and nodded in one direction, Rohan and Casia immediately changed course. Casia bit her lip and took a deep breath.
The expectation that they were really close now, the worry that Leriana might be badly hurt, the murderous intent towards the one who had taken her. Conflicting emotions surged up randomly, making her head spin.
That’s when the anomaly occurred.
A massive energy swept past where they were running. The wind died down, and the chirping of birds suddenly stopped. It seemed as if everything in the forest was instinctively shrinking back and holding its breath, unable to even think of resisting the overwhelming pressure.
<It seems you’re taking us for fools, spawn of the impure.>
What they heard next was a voice that remained clear in their minds.
The holy power contained in that single sentence was tremendous. Rohan, whose face turned pale a beat later, looked back at Arpel, but strangely, the holy power sweeping through the forest passed by without causing him any harm. To be precise, it avoided him on its own.
“…Could it be.”
Rohan’s lips moved briefly. Could there be any being capable of doing this besides a god? The voice that still seemed to be echoing in his mind was utterly unfamiliar, but the energy it exuded resembled someone. Rohan recalled the Demon God he had spoken with not long ago.
Then, a flash of light appeared before their eyes. The whole world turned white as if the forest and sky had transformed into light. The fierce wind could be felt on their fingertips for a moment.
BOOM―!
A massive roar that deafened their ears erupted from nearby.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
