Chapter 3

Flash!

[Here we are. This is Kion.]

“What? Already? Did we seriously arrive in another world?”

[You really are suspicious of everything, aren’t you…]

She extended her hand, pointing up toward the sky.

[Even now, you still don’t believe it?]

“…No.”

Two moons loomed in the dark night sky—both far larger than Earth’s, one big, one small.

[The larger one is the elder sister, Lumina. The smaller one is the younger sister, Merina. Different in size, but they always rise and set together.]

“Ah…”

I stared up at the alien yet beautiful sight. Seeing my reaction, she seemed pleased, softening her tone as she continued explaining.

[By the way, a day here on Kion is the same as on Earth—24 hours by universal standard. A year is 365 days. The planet’s mass and volume are almost identical too. Mass is about 1.02 times greater, volume about 1.17 times.]

I tore my gaze away from the moons, frowning slightly.

“Don’t you think that’s a little too convenient?”

[If you want to nitpick, why not start with how you—a foreign lifeform—are breathing just fine here?]

“…Fair point.”

[Anyway, details later. So? Which Demon King do you want to fight first?]

“You said there are four, right?”

[Yes. Akathastasia of the North Continent, Notos of the South, Anatore of the East, and Disis of the West. Most people just call them the North, South, East, and West Demon Kings.]

“I don’t know a thing about them. You recommend one.”

[Sigh… well, you’ll die regardless. Might as well start with the closest.]

“Where are we right now?”

[The North Continent.]

“So the North Demon King?”

[That’s right. Anyway, hold on tight. I’ll teleport us.]

I stared up at the massive fortress of ice before me—its towers reaching so high the tips touched the clouds.

“…That’s the Demon King’s castle?”

[Yes.]

“That was quick.”

[Be grateful. If we’d gone on foot, you’d have had to cross over three hundred kilometers of Demon Territory.]

“Demon Territory?”

[An area swarming with the North Demon King’s monsters.]

“I see. Teleportation’s convenient. Still, lend me a real sword. If I’m fighting this so-called Demon King, a fork isn’t going to cut it.”

[…]

“What’s with the look?”

[Let me ask one last time. You’re seriously just going to charge in like this? No preparation? No allies?]

“…”

[Please, take your time. The moment you came to Kion, your cancer was already cured. That means you have time. I don’t want to see someone with your talent waste it out of sheer stubbornness.]

“…”

[This world is full of mysteries you’ve never known. Learn them. Grow stronger. Find allies to make up for your weaknesses. If you do, I swear—you’ll be remembered in Kion’s history as a great hero. Alright?]

I twisted my lips into a crooked smile.

“Take my time? How long—one year? Ten? Don’t tell me one year here equals a day back on Earth.”

[The flow of time is one-to-one.]

“So it’s the same. You’ve got to be kidding me. My mom has less than half a year left. Why the hell do you think I followed you here?”

[…]

“When my mom dies, when my sister dies, are you going to bring them back to life?”

The angel bit her lip, chewing it hard, before sighing deeply.

[…Fine. You hardhead. Here.]

Whish!

She conjured a sword and tossed it to me.

“Your tone’s getting shorter.”

[I’m pissed. Really pissed. And come on—don’t you think it’s weirder that an Archangel would speak to a human politely?]

“Archangel or whatever—you remember how our little ranking match ended, don’t you?”

[Ranking match? That was Earth. Here, I’m in full-power mode. Want to try being shattered into six pieces and launched into orbit at escape velocity?]

Hmm. She did sound confident. Truth was, her aura felt completely different now that we’d crossed over.

[And for the record, among the Lumina Church faithful, I’m famous. My name’s even in their holy texts. The Pope himself bows when he sees me.]

“Lumina Church? Same name as the moon?”

[That’s because the boss lady is the goddess of that moon—ah, forget it. Talking theology with someone about to die is pointless. Anyway, you wanted a sword. Go play hero.]

I smirked faintly, running my hand down the blade she’d given me.

“Oh…”

It was ridiculously well-made. Perfect balance, flawless hardness, razor sharp. Not a single flaw.

I gripped it in a reverse hold and flipped the switch.

Click.

The heavy grinding noise echoed in my head.

“Phew…”

I lowered the blade, exhaling slowly.

Exhilaration. Overwhelming exhilaration.

The feeling was sharper, stronger than ever. Savoring it, I asked the angel:

“All set. Shall we go? You staying here, or coming with me?”

But for some reason, her response wasn’t words. Her jaw hung open in shock.

“What’s with you?”

[Since when… could you use mana?]

“Mana? I don’t mess with that chuuni stuff.”

[Then what is that?]

“That? What do you—huh?”

I stopped mid-sentence, staring in shock. From the sword in my hand, white flames blazed to life, roaring upward.

“What the hell is this?”

[What else could it be? Mana. And such clean mana, at that…]

“This is… mana?”

And the moment I became aware of that unfamiliar force, the world itself changed.

Whooosh…

A radiant tide of light flooded everywhere.

It was brilliant, flowing through every corner of existence—through the sky, the earth, and even along the blade in my hand.

“Ah…”

I instinctively understood what it was.

Mana. Power drawn from the Lifestream that makes up the world itself.

And perception—observation—gives birth to existence.

From some unfathomable distance, a voice whispered to me:

Open your eyes.

…

My body trembled with overwhelming ecstasy.

Mana poured into me, celebrating its own “birth,” reforging my inadequate flesh. It lifted my realm, my comprehension, my very soul.

And I realized—

This was the place I was always meant to reach.

Fsshhhhh…

Light streamed down my back.

One… two… three… four… the number kept growing.

Wings of Light.

Not the same soft, white feathers of an angel, but proof all the same: wings that marked my transcendence beyond the mortal.

[Angel? Archangel? Principality? No… higher than that?!]

Eyes closed, I basked in the endless current of mana flowing through my body and soul. Only when her frantic voice reached me did I slowly open them.

I glanced at the ten-meter-long blade of blazing white flame in my hand, then swung it once, horizontally.

Flash!

Everything caught in its path was cut away. The sky. The wind. Even the clouds drifting far beyond the horizon.

A hazy smile crossed my face.

“So that’s what it was… I’d always felt something missing. No matter how much I gained, half of me felt hollow. I thought it was strange—that I should be able to rise higher, yet only my technique improved. I assumed it meant I had limits. That it was a lesson in humility. But no… I wasn’t lacking. Earth simply didn’t have this.”

[…]

“I see now.”

[Potestates…? My god, just by crossing into a world where mana exists, you advanced four ranks in an instant? That’s impossible…]

…

I counted the wings of light stretching behind me like a silver-white galaxy.

— Five pairs.

Then I glanced at the angel. Behind her, only two and a half pairs of wings—five wings total.

“…Ah. I get it now.”

[Wh-what’s with that look?]

“This? The look a two-digit master gives when staring down a five-wing weakling.”

[Wha—I’ve never felt this humiliated in my life…]

“Oh right. Didn’t you say you wanted to settle our ranking?”

The angel snapped her head to the side.

[I-I never said that!]

“…”

“…”

I stared at her as sweat dripped down her temple… then chuckled.

“Fine. I’ll let it slide since you’re cute.”

[C-cute…?]

“Anyway, with this much power, I don’t need to step into the castle.”

[Then… what are you going to do?]

“Call them out.”

[How?]

“Like this.”

I raised the blazing sword high and swung it with all my strength.

Claaaang—!

The diagonal arc of flame slashed across the fortress.

Rumble…

The massive upper half of the ice castle groaned, then slid away under its own weight.

BOOOOOOM!!!

[Dear heavens…]

And then—

GUOOOOOOOOOOONG…

A low, oppressive frequency, too deep for human ears, rumbled through the air. From the sundered fortress, something began to crawl out—its limbs bound by black chains.

“Wow…”

A towering figure took shape, a woman sculpted entirely from gears of ice. Some no larger than a fingertip, some as vast as a house, all meshing together to form her face, body, flowing hair, and even a dress that fluttered as if alive.

“That’s… the Demon King?”

For the first time in my life, I realized I was standing before an equal.

[Yes. That is the North Demon King, Akathastasia.]

…

The North Demon King, Akathastasia.

A colossal aberration, a hundred meters tall, made from uncountable ice gears.

The instant I laid eyes on her, I understood—she stood at my level. Like me, she had reached completion, filling the missing half with mana, the power of “mystery.”

[Why are you looking at the Demon King with such sentimental eyes?]

“I don’t know… I feel like we could be friends.”

[What nonsense is that…?]

“Forget it. Any advice? Attack patterns, weak points, something?”

[There aren’t any.]

“What do you mean, none? They’ve existed for two hundred years. Surely there’s data.”

[Data? No one’s fought them!]

“Then who did you fight all this time?”

[Like I said—their monsters. Even the so-called heroes here have never laid eyes on a Demon King.]

“So for two centuries, you’ve just been knocking on the door? Don’t tell me it’s the same in the other continents too?”

The angel bristled, about to retort—when a flare of light flashed from the cluster of gears that seemed to be the Demon King’s head.

Instinctively, I grabbed her and leapt aside.

BOOOOOOOM!!!

A pillar of light slammed into the earth. The eternal ice vaporized instantly, replaced by a boiling lake of magma more than a hundred meters wide.

[I-I could’ve dodged that myself—urk!]

I ignored her, darting through the rain of descending beams. Kicking off the air, I wove through three dimensions, my blazing white sword carving arcs that split space itself—slashes that shredded everything caught in their path.

KRKKKKKKKKK!!!

But this opponent was no ordinary foe.

Tens of thousands of ice gears shattered and crashed down—only for new gears to surge up from within, repairing the gaps seamlessly.

Then the bombardment intensified.

KWOOM-KWOOM-KWOOM-KWOOM-KWOOM!!!

“Kh—!”

Dozens of light pillars fell each second, threatening to turn the world into a sea of lava. I twisted, changed directions at blinding speed, evading again and again. But limits closed in fast.

I shouted at the angel clinging to me.

“I can’t fight with extra baggage! You’re off!”

[W-wait, what?! Kyaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!!!!]

The angel receded, along with the Doppler effect.

“…Phew. Now then. Round two, Demon King.”

Unburdened, I stopped dodging like before. Instead, I swung my sword to glance away the bombardments and strode straight toward her.