Servant Of The God Of Destruction

“I am the one who destroyed this country. Gahahahaha! These past few years have been truly fun! First, you create a small crack—whether in the organization or in human relationships. Watching everything gradually crumble from there… was the greatest pleasure!”

Caesar laughed loudly in ecstasy with his arms spread wide, then turned his gaze to the Emperor behind him.

“You’re a fool too. You never even realized your own subordinate was destroying the country, and you still believe the nation is in its best state like this.”

The Emperor, who had been addressed, simply stared blankly as if he could not properly understand Caesar’s words. Although the curse placed on him was not extremely strong, its long-term accumulation might have had a considerable effect.

“Hey, Caesar! Where’s the delicious food!? And there aren’t any women either!?”

Then, the next moment, he shouted that while looking around.

“This is kind of scary…”

“Perhaps he barely has any will of his own anymore.”

“Perhaps the Emperor has become nothing more than a being that carries out whatever Caesar tells him.”

Rebecca, Ann, and Hubert murmured those words while frowning as they watched the Emperor. I nodded in agreement, and when I shifted my gaze from the Emperor back to Caesar—he was raising his sword toward the light with an amused smile curling his lips.

“Today seems like it will be the greatest day. Watching things gradually crumble is enjoyable, but I’ve been wanting to destroy something with my own hands for a while now. Let’s end this country today. And first, you lot…!”

Caesar kicked off the ground and, apparently targeting me first, swung his sword while casting a spell.

“Fire Burst!”

I barely managed to extinguish the explosion-like flames spreading over a wide area with water magic, and while everything was obscured by steam, I relied on the sound and Lady Seremees’s voice to block Caesar’s sword.

“Tornado!”

I blew away the steam with wind magic as both an attack and a clearing move, and at that moment Ann fired Rock Bullets toward Caesar, while Rebecca shot an arrow from behind the cover.

While Caesar dealt with those two attacks, Hubert circled behind him and brought down his greatsword toward Caesar.

“Hah!!”

The attack was blocked by a wall of ice, but the fact remained that Caesar had been forced entirely onto the defensive. At this rate, the four of us might actually win.

That hope surfaced, and my lips rose into a smile before I realized it.

“Who… are you people?”

This time Caesar asked that question toward us. But we had no obligation to answer, so we remained silent while searching for an opening.

Ernesto and the others had already left the hall, and as long as we avoided destroying the building, we could freely use wide-area magic. Perhaps we could lure out an opening that way…

“Ice Lance Rain!”

I cast a spell that rained down countless ice spears within a narrow area. When Caesar jumped sideways to escape, I aimed at that moment and fired a Thunder Ball.

If lightning magic hit directly, his movements should slow down… but that expectation was dashed as the Thunder Ball was blocked by a wall of earth. However, this time a Fire Tornado from Ann’s magic descended upon Caesar from above.

“Seriously, having so many opponents is annoying!”

After easily deflecting Rebecca’s arrows and Hubert’s greatsword, Caesar shouted that with anger showing on his face. Then he pulled something like a bottle from his pocket and threw it toward us.

“Luca! That’s a curse! Trap it with wind magic and use Dispel!”

Just before the bottle shattered, Lady Seremees’s voice rang out, and almost instinctively I manipulated the wind skillfully, containing the spreading cursed mist.

However, dispelling a strong curse required an appropriate amount of time.

“Everyone! I need you to buy me about a minute!”

“Understood!”

“Leave it to us!”

“I’ll stop him!”

As the three of them took positions to protect me, Caesar widened his eyes in surprise before revealing irritation.

“…You knew about the curse? I thought no one had noticed, but to think someone on the enemy’s side knew about it. —And you, how many attributes can you use?”

Caesar stared at me with suspicion. Had he realized I was a divine servant…? That worry crossed my mind, but I had to focus on dispelling the curse now, so I trusted my companions and concentrated on the curse before me.

“You think I’ll let you dispel it…!”

Right after that shout, a massive impact echoed through the hall, shaking the building slightly. I wanted to check the battle situation, but if I lost focus it would take even longer to complete the dispel, so I forced myself to concentrate only on what was in front of me.

It’s fine—trust them. My companions are strong.

Never before had I felt this impatient with the speed at which I could refine magical power. Not yet… I still needed more magical power to completely dispel it. Even if the curse itself was weak, the amount of mist was considerable.

Just a little more, just a little—now!

“Dispel!”

As I shouted and activated the spell, the black, ominous mist vanished successfully. The moment I confirmed that, I raised my gaze—and saw Hubert, badly injured after being overwhelmed by Caesar.