The Magnificent Battle Records of A Former Noble Lady
Chapter 19 Creutz
It was Syltina's voice which resounded throughout the area.
Amidst pure darkness, where one can't tell left from right, only that voice could be clearly heard.
"Feel the karma which can never be forgiven. I will now bestow upon you my judgement."
The moment Syltina had finished, the spreading darkness gathered right on top of Rufhana village and compressed into a sphere the size of a palm.
"Repent."
Syltina swung down her raised, right arm.
Matching her movements, the sphere of darkness also started heading down towards the Rufhana village and burst open just before reaching it.
The fragments of the burst, darkness sphere advanced through the village as if they were living creatures.
Its destinations were the demons staggering around the village — and the moment it hit them, it turned into black flames and engulfed the demons.
All the demons hit by the flame were burnt up in a moment to the point that they didn't even leave any ashes.
Unleashing otherworldly screams, the demons were burnt one after the other.
All the screams which came from various parts of the village disappeared within the span of a few minutes.
"Wh-what exactly…?"
Miriane muttered in confusion, as she had been observing the whole thing from the start.
"That's Syltina and Creu's compound magic… Here we go."
Arhalt explained, while swinging down his blade and using magic upon the demons which were able to escape the dark flame.
"The compound magic consisted of darkness, fire and wind-where darkness and fire are Creu's attributes. Syltina was in charge of the wind."
"Darkness, fire and wind… but, Creutz-sama… what exactly is…"
All the demons in the village were probably swept clean. The dark flame again changed to just darkness and started gathering on top of the Rufhana village.
"That's Creu's real form."
"Eh?"
"He is darkness itself. The abyss which lies in people's hearts, that which lies deep within every living being — he is what every living creature fears instinctively. He's also the despair which doesn't let even the slightest ray of light pass by and the peace which wraps everything up. That's what he is. Sylty's familiar, Creutz."
"Darkness itself…"
"He doesn't have a 'form'. So he can turn into whatever he wishes. Even a human, a horse, a cat or a bird. However, and exactly because of that, he can't actually become anything. It's a pity, isn't it?"
Arhalt said, looking fondly at Creutz, who had now returned to the sphere shape.
"The flame he produces burns up everything. Whether it has life or not, whether it's right or wrong, whether it's justice or evil, pretty or dirty — those trivial things do not matter. He just turns everything he touches to nothingness. Whenever Creu is taking a certain form, his strength is restrained to a certain extent. That was also the case with the bandits, remember? That time, Creu's flames just burnt them, it didn't eradicate them. And also, me or you or the saint-none of us received a single injury. That's because Creu regulated it like that. But, when he returns to his original darkness, the restraint is no longer there. He attacks with his flames indiscriminately, in chaos, with full force. Syltina is the one who controls that."
The darkness expanded and contracted in the shape of a sphere, slowly taking a form.
"She restrains and guides that darkness with her wind magic such that nothing other than demons are harmed. To restrain such an enormous amount of darkness and to control it-a tremendous amount of concentration, mana and mana control is needed. Syltina, who does that always-"
"Ah-"
Her body started falling, abiding gravity.
But just before it hit the ground, the darkness (Creutz) which still hadn't finished taking a form, came in between her body and the ground.
"Always faints."
Arhalt finished saying with a sigh and cut down the last demon in sight to meet up with the others.
"Now, Creu, give me Sylty."
"You can't do much in that state, right? Give me Sylty and take your form. It's not like it's over yet."
Even though Creutz hadn't yet taken a form, it was obvious that he was reluctant to hand over Sylty. But he did end up handing her over eventually.
"Now, then. Tyl!"
"Yes."
"Check if there are any escapees."
"Understood."
After undoing the prison of wind blades, Tyltinkul headed towards the Rufhana village alongside the wind.
After laying down Syltina on the ground, Arhalt turned to face Miriane.
"Miriane-sama, can you put up a barrier around the village with your light magic?"
"Ah-ye-yes."
Seeing her nod and activate her magic, Arhalt now turned to face Creutz.
"Alright, you're almost close to a human form."
"Master, there are no demons left. I have confirmed their annihilation."
Tyltinkul, who had went to the village to confirm, came back and reported to Arhalt while he was giving a satisfied nod looking at Creutz human-like silhouette.
"Alright. Then, after you're done taking a human form properly, wake up Sylty and let's make the saint purify the place. Hurry."
"You don't need to tell me that…"
A low voice, directly resounding in their heads, was directed from Creutz.
"If you are able to talk then it won't be long now… And so, saint, please prepare for the purification."
After replying to Creutz with a smile, Arhalt turned to face the dumbfounded Akari, who muttered in a daze.
"Purifi… cation."
"Right, purification. We need to purify this land. That's your job, right?"
"My… job…"
"…Saint?"
Arhalt tilted his head, hearing Akari just repeat his words in delirium.
"….I… I… ca…"
"Mm? What?"
Not being able to hear Akari's words, Arhalt came closer to properly listen to her and aligned his body to face her downward facing face.
"….Ca… not… I can't! I can not do it! There's no way I can!!"
"Wha?"
"It's impossible! Because I… I don't even know these… I didn't even do any purification before! E-even magic… I can't do anything other than heal a small wound… This…"
"….This, what?"
To Akari, who was crying and shouting, Arhalt's response was simple and cold.
"You're the 'saint'. You yourself took that responsibility and title upon yourself and came to this journey, right? Don't go spouting nonsense saying it's impossible or that you can't do it at this point."
"It was the king who told me to go for the journey!! It's not something I wanted!! And, I didn't even know it would be this dangerous!!"
"Even if it's a path shown by someone else, it is you who decided to tread on it. Don't blame others for it."
"Wh-what are you…"
"Besides, in this 'world', this kind of danger is ordinary. Although demons are very rare, there are a lot of bandits, robbers, pirates and even wars between countries. At this point in time… after 2 years of coming to this world, you talk such bullshit…?"
"B-Because I have never even left the royal capital… I am not even from this world in the first place!! Then why do I have to go so far and face these dangers to save the people of this world!?"
"Then should I kill you right here, right now, saint-sama?"
"Heeee!!"
A cold, cold bloodlust drifted.
"As for me, I don't care the least about what happens to this country. In fact, I even think it would be good if it gets destroyed. However. You must not forget, right? That the fact that you can stand here right now is… because of the people of this world."
"I… That, I know!! That's why I also happily accepted! But… but even then…"
"But, however, although, still… you're all about those, aren't ya, saint-sama?"
"Sylty."
Even after being completely exhausted, Syltina stood up properly on her feet and followed Creutz in front of Akari.
"I will say this again but, we accepted the request of protecting the 'saint' and that's why we are here. 'Be the guard of the saint who purifies the corruption from this country'- that was the request made to us. In other words, we won't protect a useless spoilt child from another world who can't even do purification. If you were to abandon the purification here and run away, we wouldn't be responsible for your safety anymore. Well, I don't really know how peaceful this other world is but from what I have heard from you, you were probably raised at a place far from conflicts and so this bloody, violent, chaotic place doesn't probably suit you. Please, go ahead and run."
"Eh?"
"Just run saying 'but, however, although, even still' and whatever. I, too, just like Al, don't care a bit if this country falls to ruins. We don't care a bit. The request we accepted was just to guard the saint, not to forcibly bring back a fleeing saint to make her purify a corrupted land and as such, even if the king were to ask us about our responsibility, we don't have such responsibility to bear. We would just leave this ruined country."
She finished saying, indifferently. As she just kept on speaking, it was how unconcerned she sounded that made it feel terrifying.
"Syltinsama! Wouldn't that be too irresponsible!?"
"Irresponsible? Exactly in what way, Tedrsama?"
"Do you plan on abandoning a request you have already accepted?!"
"Abandon? Us? You're wrong about that. It is the saint who will be abandoning it first. I am talking hypothetically, about what will happen if she were to abandon being a 'saint'."
"There's… there's no way Akari-sama will betray us, betray this country!!"
Towards the yelling Frackt, Syltina just gave an expression of exasperation.
Did he not listen to the conversation up till now?
Did he not listen to the conversation which was going on so close to him?
Or does he have some sort of a mental disorder?
Either way, Syltina half-seriously thought that it would be better to make him see a doctor.
"Akari! Now, show them your wonderful power!!"
"A, ummm, I… I… Ha…!!"
"Akari!?"
"Ah, you dealt the final blow, prince."
Syltina said, while looking at Akari's back expressionlessly as she fled to the forest.