Pulverization

It was a strange enough scene just to look at, and in the middle of it the masked man flung the window wide open. Light poured into a dark room that hadn’t held a scrap of daylight until then.

Aiden squinted out. Judging by the view, there was no doubt about it: they were high up in a building tall enough to call to mind a tower.

Yet even from up there, the masked man looked down at the ground and let out something close to a groan.

“…The Lionhearted?”

Even from this far away, there was a ‘something’ that caught the eye at a single glance.

A woman was walking this way, shedding a stark white ki so thick it looked almost like fog, plain to see even through the gaps between the drab low buildings.

It was a power that no one whose name was on the Empire’s register could fail to recognize. Pure-white ki. The symbol of the Lionhearted.

And.

— …

Every time that woman came one step closer.

— … …

the haze of ki spreading around her grew larger and larger.

By now it had spread until it all but blanketed the area, and the sight alone gave off a tremendous pressure.

A whole city block shook in time with her steps, and the frames and cladding of the buildings rattled and screamed under the weight of that power.

“…Mommy.”

It was dizzying enough to watch that somebody let the word slip without meaning to.

A walking supernatural power plant. A one-woman army. The Empire’s opener of battles, the first into the fray on any field.

How one human being could carry every one of those names only made sense once you’d seen a sight like this.

“…You. You just looked at that and called her your wife. Don’t tell me you’re the Lionhearted’s consort?”
“Isn’t it obvious? So while there’s still time, would you please listen to what I’m…”
“But.”

The masked man who’d asked the question spoke up triumphantly.

“Even the Lionhearted won’t find it easy to carry you out of here.”

“…”

Aiden let out a sigh that was close to resignation, and another triumphant line followed.

“This building’s been reinforced with every protective measure there is. Even a super-large magic beast would have trouble bringing it down.”

You could hear the pride in his voice, and he was surely right that they hadn’t defended the place by halves.

After all, these were people who’d been dragging all sorts of goods into the imperial capital under the protection of the Prince and the Administrative Minister, so it wouldn’t be the least bit strange for their home base to be fitted out with this and that.

But.

“Sure, against a super-large magic beast.”

Aiden stayed skeptical of their opinion.

And with good reason.

“I’m telling you, that’s ‘the Lionhearted’ out there.”

What followed went exactly the way those words said it would.

Inside the original game, the fighting power of the human being called Noelle Astria Simmers was always depicted as reaching the uppermost tier, no matter what point in time or what setting she was put in.

The setting teemed with too many monstrous people for her to claim the unrivaled number-one seat, so calling her the strongest outright was hard. Yet there was no denying she was a monster who’d be respected wherever she went.

And that, put another way.

…meant that in the present situation, at least, there was plainly no way to stop her head-on.

“Hey, a woman coming to a place like this on her own is gonna— Hiiiiiiik—”

Some punk who’d meant to start something clamped his mouth shut in terror.

The imperial capital’s black market was full of vicious people, but the moment they saw Noelle walking slowly down the main street, they were too busy scattering in blind panic to even think about picking a fight.

Given how Katya had been treated when she came here a while back, it was an astonishing sight. But anyone who saw the air around Noelle just then would have reacted much the same way. Come face to face with a house-sized predator in a plain rage, and you might get a taste of that feeling.

Noelle’s eyes had lifted and fastened on one of the tallest buildings in the black market, the place where Aiden was being held, as Katya had told her.

“…”

Noelle stopped walking.

That alone sent a thud rolling out through the area, as if a bomb had gone off.

“—Hah—”

She adjusted her breathing, and pure-white ki settled into her vocal cords. To anyone nearby it probably sounded like she was whispering to someone, but to those inside the tower it would carry louder than a loudspeaker. It was ki control of the utmost refinement.

“—I do not know who you people are.”

So when someone like that said it with a hostility that felt like tearing skin, there was something in it beyond simple fear.

“I do not know what you people want, either.”

The air rumbled. Just from her speaking, a savage pressure bore down on every side, strong enough to rob the faint-hearted of their senses.

“But I do know who you are holding. Give my groom back. If you do—”

Those words.

“—I will at least spare your lives.”

fell after them like frost.

“…”

“…”

The people inside the tower exchanged looks, and right after came an exchange of views that was hard to fault, for speed at least.

“…Can we win?”
“Not a chance.”
“Then at least buy us time. Throw everything we’ve got at her.”

Honestly speaking.

Given the air Noelle was giving off just then, you had to grant them the nerve they showed in their response. When her words dropped like an ultimatum, they answered by sending several steel pillars flying in around her.

Suppression Pillars. The same things that had been used on Katya, objects that weakened the supernatural power of whoever stood inside their barrier. They’d already proven their worth by breaking the momentum of Katya, whose power was of that monstrous class.

The problem, if there was one.

was that the Empire’s strongest Knight, standing in front of them, was called the strongest for a reason.

— …

— …!!

In an instant, the ki drifting around her condensed into a single point. Before the Suppression Pillars could even begin to resonate, the pure-white ki gathered around her took shape and wrapped itself around the steel pillars.

Then Noelle closed her fist as though wringing something out, and the pure-white ki began to spin violently with it.

And the moment she did.

That treasure, carved from spirit-wood and refined over and over by first-rate sorcerers, in one stroke.

— CRUNCH!

With a grinding snap.

was crushed flat, every last one, like a twisted reed.

“…”

“…”

…Good heavens.

The people inside the tower watched with their mouths hanging open. They’d poured in at least twice as many as they’d sent when they ambushed Katya, and watching it all neutralized in a single stroke was enough to drive a man out of his mind.

Just how high is her output—!

Ki was said to have the edge over other supernatural powers in how easily it produced output, but pulling off something like that still took physical force on the level of tearing a small house out whole.

A thing like that.

With no oath offered to a god, and hardly any motion at all?

“Th-that’s in-insa—”
“—Quit gawking and throw everything we’ve got at her!”
“But these are all goods the client ordered—!”
“If we don’t get out of here, we’re dead anyway. This is no time to worry about the fallout!”
“We need time to use them! Somehow we’ve got to keep that woman from getting any closer—!”

The screams alone made it plain how grotesque a feat they’d just witnessed. People who’d kept their composure even so fell into confusion all at once.

And as always.

People in confusion are prone to the worst judgment.

“Let’s use this guy, at least. He’s what they’re after in the first place, isn’t he!”

Someone pointed straight at Aiden as he said it.

“…No, no, hold on. That’s a really, really bad ide—!”
“Use him. Tell her we’ll kill him if she comes any closer!”

Before Aiden could get a word in to stop them, someone dragged him over, chair and all, and shoved him up against the window.

“Damn you, just try coming closer! I’ll cut this bastard’s throat right no—”

But before that sentence could go on.

Noelle’s eyes caught Aiden, a bloodied wreck.

“…”

Ah.

It was over.

Far off as she was, Aiden saw the killing intent settle into Noelle’s eyes, and the words came to him on instinct. A ferocity settled into her gaze, enough that for an instant it seemed a bright red flame had flared up in it.

“Law.”

The oath of Law-keeping was murmured quietly under her breath, and the pure-white ki already drifting around her grew stronger still.

Then.

In an instant, the scenery was stamped flat.

At least, that was how it looked, because a person stood there whose presence was so overwhelming that the whole visible world felt as though it were sinking downward.

They weren’t even her target, yet the people nearby screamed all at once and sank where they stood, the strength gone from every pair of legs.

“I swear it.”

And the instant those words ended.

The ki that had been pouring out condensed into a single point. The power that had seemed to crush the world gathered into the sword her hand rested on, so that for a moment even a vacuum formed.

“Fear, upon our enemies.”

Then the sword came free, and Noelle scattered a sword strike through the air with one light motion.

Space itself warped, whole.

“—Huh?”

Someone watching from inside the tower let out a blank sound. It was probably the kind of reaction that comes when understanding lags behind, something along the lines of, what on earth is she doing?

You could hardly blame him.

Because what followed was something that could hardly come out of human specifications.

The next moment, the ceiling tilted askew, and dirt and dust came pattering down into the room.

And then.

“…Uh.”

Someone spat the word out like a death cry, and at the same moment

“Uh, uh, uhhhhh—!”

people screamed and went tumbling this way and that, because the whole room had tilted.

Only then did everyone understand what had happened.

The whole tower.

was twisting and collapsing.

A spire so huge you had to crane your neck back to see the top. A structure someone had just bragged about, saying it had been reinforced with every protective measure there was.

And with a single slash, swung lightly from where she stood like a kitchen knife going through vegetables, it had been sheared clean through on the diagonal.

“…”

Me. Just what sort of woman have I gotten myself engaged to.

As the thought came to Aiden, pandemonium broke out all around him.

It was a high-rise, of all things, so people were rolling about and screaming as they tried not to fall out of it. Window frames, rebar, loose objects, anything at all they could grab, everyone thrashing not to fall, and in the middle of it all

—!

the one who’d caused it all came flying this way in a single bound.

When Noelle landed on the floor, which was still barely holding its balance, the faces of the people around her went blue. To them she must have looked like a reaper come down from the next world.

…And that wasn’t so far off the mark, either.

“—”

Noelle looked around with crimson flames hanging in her eyes and raised her sword again. Killing intent that felt like tearing skin filled the space around her.

Every one of those who saw it must have been looking back over their own lives. This was where their grave would be…

“Dame Noelle, Dame Noelle! No! You can’t kill them!”

And so it would have gone, if someone hadn’t somehow hurled himself at her and latched on.

Aiden had somehow worked loose the ropes binding him and clung to her back as if asking for a piggyback ride. The moment she registered him, Noelle flinched and looked back at him.

“…Aiden?”
“Hold back a bit, seriously! I’m telling you I’m fine!”

“…”

The killing intent cleared away entirely, and the crimson flames in her eyes vanished without a trace.

If anything, the color drained clean out of her face, the very opposite of that fearsome air. The mood went soft and limp in an instant, too. Anyone watching would have thought she looked like an adolescent girl who’d just seen her first love get hurt…

“…A-are you all right?”

…The world of married couples is a truly mysterious thing.

That the woman from a moment ago could turn into this one.

The change was so abrupt that the masked men, who’d just watched their lives flash before their eyes, couldn’t help thinking so.

“Ah, yes, I’m just pretty badly hurt, that’s all.”

At that, Noelle’s gaze swept over Aiden’s face. It was caked in blood, and what dripped off it had run down and soaked even his clothes.

“…”

Red flames welled up in Noelle’s eyes once more, as though they were spilling over.

When he saw her about to draw her sword again, Aiden went pale and clung to her with everything he had.

“I’m telling you I’m fine—!”

…It was some tens of minutes later that Noelle finally calmed down.