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Side Story Chapter 126

“Cardinal Kurz again, huh?”

Kurz seemed to have resigned himself to his fate and had quietly ceased his struggles.

“Among the stories I heard from the Great Temple, this one was the funniest,” Bel abruptly said.

“…What?” Kurz quickly looked up. The others looked back and forth between Kurz and Bel as well, wondering what was going on.

“I didn’t ask so I would have someone to hold accountable. Besides, I found new entertainment.” Bel shrugged.

“Is… war just a form of entertainment to you?”

“Gah—I can still change my mind and kill all of you, so enough with the nagging. You know, it’s you people who made me like this.”

Kurz flinched.

During the First Continental War, Zactor, the Martial Emperor, had been forced onto his knees, dealing a devastating blow to the Hubalt Empire. Ever since then, some people in the Empire had set their hearts on raising a warrior that could go up against the Martial God.

Of course, the idea had been met with opposition from within Hubalt. The previous Pope; Chrysler, God’s Knights; Christian, the White Lion; Cardinal Erman; and Lilith Aphrodite… Those so-called pillars of the Empire had shamelessly screamed that the Empire should befriend Avalon; they claimed that the only way to maintain the continent’s peace was to support Joshua Sanders.

That was why the nobility of Hubalt and high-ranking members of the Great Temple had assembled their forces in secret, creating the Four Paladins and the Battle God.

“I thought about this a lot, but I feel like you and I will get along the best, Cardinal Kurz,” Bel said, much to the confusion of the priests.

“What in the world are you babbling about?”

“For a person who calls yourself a priest, you’re quite sly, and you have a strong desire to rule over people. Above all, I found every one of your plans interesting. ‘Save the continent in god\'s name!’ Hahaha, that basically means you can’t be satisfied with one empire, so you want the entire continent at your feet!”

“…How long are you going to mock me?” Kurz shook his head. “Just kill me.”

“Kill you? No, I’m going to do the opposite, actually.”

Kurz blinked, confused, but the narrative Bel spun out wiped away his confusion with a blast of shock.

“Starting today, there is no more Great Temple in the Hubalt Empire, and the same goes for the entire damned caste of priests.”

The three cardinals and high priests still alive to hear Bel boggled at him.

“H-How dare you speak such blasphemy…?!”

“Aren’t you afraid of god’s wrath?”

“You will suffer the wrath of heaven!”

They were cursing Bel, but he just grinned. “So what is your god doing right now? Her loyal followers can die any minute right now, but your god isn’t seen anywhere.”

“Ugh…”

“No, is there even a god in this world anymore? Ah, I guess there are.” Bel confidently pointed at himself and chuckled. “The Battle God is here, and the Martial God is in the country next to us.”

“Ho-How dare you…!”

“Anyone who has a problem with me should speak now. I’ll snap your neck,” Bel threatened with an annoyed frown.

Just as expected, no one answered.

“You’re all just a bunch of pretentious fools; all bark and no bite… In any case, I’ll take that as a yes.”

Bel nodded. The cardinals and high priests trembled in fury, but Bel was just getting started.

“Cardinal Kurz,” Bel said.

“…Speak.”

“Since there is no more Great Temple, there is no more Pope, either, which means you’re the sole ruler—the emperor—of this country from now on.”

This was the most shocking thing Bel had said so far. The gathered faithful swooned in dismay, almost as if his words held physical weight.

“Wh-What…?” Kurz stammered.

“Didn’t you hear me? You’re now the emperor of Huzact, the Martial Empire.”

“Wh-Why don’t you do it…?”

“Me? Why would I take such a cumbersome seat?”

Kurz had been gravely mistaken in believing that Bel was the same as him. The warrior was anything but—in fact, Bel transcended the desire to have political power, but he was obsessed with fighting. He lived up to his title of “Battle God”.

‘…This isn’t so bad.’

Kurz flinched at the sudden, unbidden thought. Bel easily noticed Kurz’s reaction, drawing a chuckle from him.

“Wh-Why are you laughing?” Kurz demanded, bristling.

“No reason. I just thought I picked the right man.”

“…Are you insulting me again?”

“Insulting you? I don’t think so.”

“What in the world…”

“If you talk about getting insulted with a grin on your face, no one in the world would think I’m insulting you.”

“Ahem.” Kurz clapped his hand over his mouth.

“Heh.” Bel turned around with a quiet chuckle. “Now, we should get ready, Your Majesty.”

“Get ready for what?”

“Shouldn’t we take revenge?” Bel smiled crookedly. “Our neighbors dared to invade our borders; what would they think if our emperor did nothing?”

Kurz grew even more confused. What invasion? Weren’t they the ones doing the invading, not Avalon?

“Huh? You haven’t heard the news?” Bel tilted his head inquisitively. “On my way back to the capital, I captured the wicked enemies that murdered our Border Guards.”

“Wh-What?”

“I secured the evidence we need, so get ready for a war—now.”

“W-Wait!” the cardinals and high priests shouted, but Bel ignored them and strode away.

“What in the world…?”

Those left in his wake stared blankly at each other. The other two cardinals beside Kurz looked indescribably grim.

“Gosh, he keeps on saying nonsense, so I can’t stay level-headed…”

“No more Great Temple? What kind of ludicrous statement is that? We need to regroup our people before that monster starts something again!”

“Do you think we can win?”

“We have to try even if we lose—or are you going to obey that shameless monster?”

The two cardinals looked at Kurz.

“Don’t you think so too, Cardinal Kurz?”

Even after the Pope was ousted, the position stayed vacant. That came down to a single reason: no one was willing to cede the papacy of the Hubalt Empire. Despite proclaiming to, as priests, have transcended the desire for political power, they were the ones who were most greedy to rise above all others.

However, that time was over.

“…Ahh, that’s right. We can’t get rid of the Great Temple just like that,” Kurz answered.

His compatriots’ faces brightened up.

“Yes! I knew that Carinal Kurz would share our opinion.”

“Of course we should preserve the Great Temple. There are still people who fail to realize that the tide of the battle has already turned against their favor and continue. to babble. The Great Temple which they love so much is necessary to incarcerate those people,” Kurz continued.

The priests stared at him, stupefied.

“Incarcerate? Wh-What are you talking about…?”

Kurz turned to them, wearing an ear-to-ear smile. “Obey him if you don’t have the power to defy him. That is the way of this world.”

* * *

Seilm tightened his grip around his spear. Despite the strike flying toward him, Selim didn’t want to dodge because he wanted to feel the progress that his brother had made.

Kireua’s eyes widened. One—just one—thrust of Selim’s spear split Kireua’s attack in two, just like that. The bifurcated masses of aura struck the ground harmlessly.

What Selim had done would have been impossible unless he had cut the flow aura in Kireua’s attack in exactly the right place. There was only one way that could be possible.

“You used the mana optical enhancement technique…?” Kireua blankly murmured.

“…I see. You’ve learned it too, Kireua.”

Selim’s eyes were shining with blue light, the tell-tale sign of mana being used to enhance his vision.

“…Well, I expected that,” Kireua admitted. “There’s no way you can’t do what I can.”

Selim shrugged. “It’s only been five years since I learned how to use this technique.”

Five years. That was a remarkable accomplishment to say “only”—Selim was merely a teenager five years ago. That also meant that there was a five-year discrepancy in experience between Kireua and Selim.

“Ugh, Mr. Perfect,” Kireua grumbled.

That was the end of their conversation. Right after that, Selim disappeared. From left to right and from bottom to top, Selim moved so fast that it seemed as if there were dozens of him. Every thrust of his spear was accompanied by a sonic boom.

Kireua’s eyes immediately turned red, and then he could follow the movement of Selim’s spear, allowing him to perform something he hadn’t even been able to try in the past.

“Ohaaaa!”

The knights who had been watching the fight quietly exclaimed to each other. It was hard to keep track of Selim’s assault, but Kireua dodged all of his brother’s attacks with carefully calculated movements of his head. He didn’t take a single step from his position.

The flurry of blows finally ended with Kireua parrying away Selim’s spear.

“This feels like crap. Do it right—or do you think I’m still the same loser whom you always defeated?”

Selim flinched. “…That was never my intention.”

“But that’s not what your attacks are saying.”

“Do you remember the day His Majesty first started watching our spars, Kireua?”

“What?” Kireua scowled. He’d much rather forget his childhood in the Palace.

Selim straightened, leveling his spear at Kireua. “That one day. If I think about the one day that I failed to win, it’s only right that I hold nothing back.”

“What in the world are you talking a—”

The air around Selim changed. Kireua stumbled backward without thinking because it felt like a giant wall was blocking his way—no, a ferocious beast was coming at him.

‘It’s serious now.’

Kireua fixed his grip on his sword. His attention was fully on this moment, the battle, and his opponent, such that he could not even hear the crowd cheering.

-Kireua.

Coal spoke for the first time since Kireua had exited his subconscious realm.

‘…Stay put, Coal. I want to finish this fight on my own.’

Despite Kireua’s firm voice, Coal distracted him once again.

-This isn’t the time.

‘I can do it. I can win without your hel—’

-That’s not what I’m talking about. I can feel another power of Evil Sin nearby.

Kireua stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw dropping.

“What?”

He was too late—a brilliant ray of light cut through the air, headed directly for him.