Arc 9, Part 40: "Flash Remnade"

—At the hands of Roy Alphard, the Sin Archbishop of "Gluttony," Otto Suwen was forced to withdraw from the front lines in vain.

As the possessor of the "Divine Protection of Soul Language," the man who had mastered it more than anyone in history had fought exactly as he declared, branding Aldebaran’s group as enemies of the world and causing them great suffering.

Precisely because of that, the conclusion of his lonely battle was brought about by a ruthless suppression—thorough, helpless, and leaving no room for a counterattack.

His words were sealed, his actions were sealed, his tricks were sealed, his ingenuity was sealed, every weapon he possessed was sealed away, and finally, even the "memories" that made him who he was were stolen. Otto Suwen was utterly and completely defeated.

Even Otto, when Aldebaran’s group moved in earnest to shut him down with such full force that he had no time to devise a countermeasure, had no way to overcome it.

Since he could not predict that the opponent would attempt a counterattack, nor where they would strike, the formation of a trap zone using his specialty—his Divine Protection—could not be established.

Therefore, there was no move the ambushed Otto Suwen could make—his final plan was nothing more than a "last-ditch struggle" prepared in case he was attacked.

—He had simply left instructions for the Zodda bugs to take flight all at once so that his allies would know the location where he was defeated.

“Al... that guy knew about Rem even before we met in the Empire... even before his ‘memories’ were eaten by ‘Gluttony.’ There’s no doubt about it.”

This was the opinion "Imaginary Subaru" had offered while they were in the middle of refining the plan for the surprise attack.

With his arms crossed and sitting cross-legged in mid-air, "Subaru" wore a grim expression. Looking at him, Petra recalled the loop in the Royal Capital from his memories, where Al and Rem had first made contact.

That was back when Subaru had committed a terrible blunder at the castle and was desperately trying to make up for it.

From Petra’s perspective, Subaru’s reckless behavior was quite awful, though not enough to make her lose hope in him. However, Subaru himself remembered it as a source of burning shame that made him writhe just thinking about it. In fact, everyone present at the time must have frowned at Subaru’s outburst; aside from Petra, only Rem, who had been blindly devoted to him even then, could have looked at him without disillusionment.

Regardless, Subaru, unable to escape that loop of negative emotions, had visited Priscilla’s mansion seeking a way to save Emilia from the Witch Cult’s attack.

There, Subaru received an unimaginably harsh and cold reception from Priscilla, but the crucial contact between Al and Rem occurred right as they were being driven away from the mansion.

The specific reason was unknown, but—

“Al called Rem by Ram’s name by mistake, and he seemed incredibly shocked by it himself. Even when I asked Rem, she said it was her first time meeting him.”

"So, Mr. Al unilaterally knew about the two of them? Because they were a rival camp in the Royal Selection, he researched them thoroughly... or something?"

“You think Al was the one in charge of sensible Royal Selection countermeasures in the Priscilla camp? I don’t think the possibility is zero, but that doesn’t really matter. The important thing is the single point that Al knows Rem. In other words—”

"Just like all of us, if Mr. Al sees Big Sister Rem, his 'memories' will fall into confusion."

“Exactly. —If I had to name it, it’s a Flash Remnade.”

"Subaru" snapped his fingers inaudibly and winked, and Petra gave him a thumbs-up in return.

Honestly, she felt some resistance to treating Rem like a flash grenade, but Petra and the others had already confirmed with their own bodies that there was no countermeasure against this "backflow" of memories.

There was a tendency for the impact to be greater for those with deep relationships and feelings, like Petra-in-Subaru or Ram, but even a slight opening is still an opening.

All that remained was to take advantage of that opening—

"Let’s show Mr. Al. —Just how angry we really are."

—Here, let us offer an explanation for Roy Alphard, the Sin Archbishop of "Gluttony."

Using his nature as "Vile Eating" and the Authority of "Gluttony" that had birthed many tragedies, Roy had completely neutralized Otto Suwen, who had tormented Aldebaran’s group. That "Eclipse" did more than just incapacitate Otto; it chewed up the entirety of his twenty-two-year life journey—joy, anger, sorrow, and everything else—and devoured it all in one breath, licking the plate clean.

Gulping down his meal, which lacked physical form, Roy evaluated Otto Suwen’s life with a precision and freshness exceeding that of reading a "Book of the Dead." He judged it as a two-star meal, slightly heavy on the seasoning, having overcome a fair share of hardships and tasted a decent mix of joy and sorrow.

The fact that he evaluated his prey in such a way suggested he had inherited the "Gourmet" spirit of his fallen brother, Ley Batenkaitos. That aside, eating "memories" meant it was possible to know the target’s way of thinking, their philosophy, and even what they were plotting or planning in the heat of battle.

Therefore, normally, even if there were a lingering sense of victory or accomplishment after defeating Otto, he should have been able to easily perceive the surprise attack planned immediately afterward.

However, that did not happen. —Because Otto had not shared the specific details of what his comrades would do after he was defeated.

Otto Suwen had simply believed. That if he just gave the signal that he had been taken down, his friends would not let it go to waste.

Because he had bet everything on that simple, strong bond that wasn't even a formal plan—

"——It is a pleasure to meet you for the first time, Lord Aldebaran."

It was, quite literally, an event that occurred in the space between blinks.

Close eyes, then open them. In that split second, a blue-haired girl intervened. Not only Aldebaran, but Yae, Roy, and even "Aldebaran" could not react.

A foreign object that shouldn't be there appeared suddenly without a trace. That fact alone was enough to steal a fraction of a second from battle-hardened warriors, but the one for whom this became a fatal blow—the one for whom it lasted more than just a fraction of a second—was Aldebaran.

"————"

It was a phenomenon that did not occur for Yae, who had no prior acquaintance; nor for Roy, who was outside the scope of his own Authority; nor for "Aldebaran," who, while sharing memories, possessed a different soul.

The blackened "memories" engraved in his brain and soul were stimulated, and with a sensation as if something that had been removed was being forcibly shoved back in, Aldebaran’s consciousness was dyed white.

As someone once said, it was a memory flash grenade.

"—Lord Al!!"

Called by a high-pitched, desperate voice, he was caught by a hand reaching out from beyond his whitened consciousness. However, that did not save Aldebaran from his predicament.

"————"

His feet, which should have been firmly on the ground, kicked empty air. Aldebaran realized his body was being buffeted by a fierce wind, losing track of up, down, left, and right as he began to spin.

With his uncontrollable body, he looked at the dazzling sun still hanging in the blue sky above—and as his dark eyes were scorched by its brilliance, Aldebaran realized something else.

—That he had been teleported into the sky by some method and cast outside of his "Domain."

"—Tch! Domain Expansion, Matrix Redefinition!"

While re-establishing the "Domain" that had been forcibly severed, Aldebaran gnashed his teeth. He had been led right into the enemy’s trap and successfully forced to update his Matrix. —With this, he could no longer return to the moment before the surprise attack.

However, if his judgment to update had been delayed, Aldebaran would have lost without any recourse. Aldebaran’s Authority was invincible, but that was only within the established "Domain." If he died outside of it, he would not be granted the chance to retry, just like any other life.

"————"

Swallowing the premises he had been given, Aldebaran’s consciousness converged on reality. Since he had been forced to update the Matrix, everything that happened from here on would be, for Aldebaran, a treasure and a calamity, a tailwind and a headwind, good and evil.

"The sky...!"

The sound of the wind roared in his ears, a violent sensation of floating battered his entire body. He had no memory of being launched, yet he was falling from a great height—the formal procedure had been skipped.

For a moment, the Authority of the strongest "Witch" flickered in the back of Aldebaran’s mind, but no. —If the opponent had been that "Witch," the phenomenon would be different. He wouldn't just be tossed into the sky; more importantly, he would have been killed a hundred times in the time it took him to blink.

Therefore, he deleted that possibility from the list of worst-case scenarios. As he narrowed down the possibilities, he simultaneously gathered information on his surroundings. Currently, the most immediate anomaly near the wind-tossed Aldebaran was—

"—Lord Al."

It was Yae, clinging tightly to Aldebaran’s single arm. Just before being launched into the sky, she had lunged at Aldebaran while he was frozen by the "memory flash grenade," and she too had been sent from the forest into the sky with him.

Whether to see this as good luck or bad, Aldebaran sorted through what he could and couldn't do with Yae there, and chose the first thing he needed to do. That was—

"I will adjust our posture! Lord Al, do not let go of me—"

"Oof."

Almost at the same moment Yae tried to do something about the fall, Aldebaran opened a medicinal packet in his mouth and swallowed the poison. He saw Yae’s crimson eyes widen, her expression turning to one of shock as she looked at him. But since he had already downed a lethal dose, there was nothing to be done.

"I'll hear about it later."

As bloody foam spilled from the corner of his mouth, staining the inside of his helmet with the taste of iron rust, Aldebaran’s consciousness was tossed about by the wind—

"—Tch."

He knew it would happen, but reality welcomed him back with the roar of the wind as if it were a continuous event. Opening his closed eyelids again, he saw the same hateful brilliance of the sun—after glaring at it intensely, Aldebaran grasped his surroundings: he was in the sky, hundreds of meters up.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

Teleportation, instantaneous movement, warp. —No matter how you described it, the effect was the same, but as something that acted upon space, it was a field of Yin Magic that required numerous conditions to be a "Super Magic."

If one meticulously constructed a formula and created a field with it firmly engraved, a limited warp connecting door to door would be possible within that space. Or, even without prior preparation, if the caster could imagine the coordinates of the destination and was willing to burn out their Gate to send the target away, they might be able to issue a one-way ticket just once.

In short, the phenomenon that sent Aldebaran and the others into the sky was at a level impossible to achieve even with magic, meaning some other "cheat" was involved. He had never heard of a Divine Protection that could physically interfere with others to this extent. Of course, there were beings like Reinhard who could take a seemingly trivial Divine Protection and use it in an abnormal way, turning it into a terrifying weapon for combat—

"—This is different. But if it’s an Authority..."

As far as Aldebaran knew, the existing Authorities of "Wrath," "Gluttony," and "Lust" were held by Sin Archbishops, while "Sloth" and "Greed" were held by Natsuki Subaru. If Aldebaran’s own Authority—which should be called missing, extra, or stolen—was the exception, the remaining possibilities were "Pride," and then "Vainglory" and "Melancholy." —Since no one should be able to master the last two, the only remaining possibility was "Pride."

"Is 'Pride' here? Did it manifest? Did they join? —No, that doesn't matter."

Whether someone Aldebaran knew had been chosen as "Pride," or someone he didn't know had joined as "Pride," the thing to consider was the possibility that the owner of an Authority had become an enemy. Aside from Natsuki Subaru and Reinhard, the only ones who could threaten Aldebaran with such unknown abilities were undoubtedly the owners of Authorities—the destroyers of concepts, permitted to twist the rules of the world and trample upon them at will.

"—Alright, I've calmed down."

Is the time for flailing around in panic after being led into the enemy’s trap over? The roaring wind seemed to ask him that, and Aldebaran replied. He was at least able to organize the current situation in his mind. Of course, the reality of being thrown into the sky, the regret of dragging Yae into it, and the sensation of his consciousness being pushed aside by the restoring "memories"—none of that had changed.

But as long as he didn't truly die, it was a bargain. That was Aldebaran’s life. If he could give his head, body, and heart a moment to breathe in exchange for a throwaway life, it was a cheap purchase.

"—Lord Al."

Looking at Yae clinging to his arm, her tied hair fluttering violently like a happy dog's tail, Aldebaran’s thoughts moved to the next phase. He had to reach the ground while keeping himself and Yae alive. To do that—

"I will adjust our posture! Lord Al, do not let go of me—"

"No, that's my line."

As Yae tried to act on her own judgment in mid-air, Aldebaran forcibly pulled her to his chest to stop her. Since he had used his right arm for that, he rapidly generated a stone prosthetic—something he was getting used to making—and held it above his head. Instantly, a powerful impact struck the prosthetic arm from directly above, accelerating their fall.

It was a blow from a terrifyingly vicious mass of iron that resonated heavily even through the artificial arm. Amidst the tremendous sound of the wind, it was a threat preceded by the sound of chains dancing like slithering snakes. Contrary to its name, it was a spiked iron ball shaped to put people to sleep forever—

"—Prepare yourself!"

Beyond the iron ball that had been slammed into him, a blue-haired girl fell as if carrying the sun on her back. The opponent who had significantly reduced Aldebaran’s advantage and raised the signal for the start of the battle—Rem—howled. Slowly protruding from her forehead was a single horn. The mark of the Oni race, proof of being one of the decisive battle races created to wipe the traces of the "Witch" from this world. But more than that, for Aldebaran, who had remembered her existence, she held another meaning. That was—

"In the first place, the story's already different just from the fact that Miss Rem is alive!!"

Leaping into the air as she had prepared to do, her maid outfit’s hem fluttering, Rem gripped the handle of her morning star tightly and glared at Al and the others below.

—So far, the surprise attack had functioned perfectly according to plan. Exposing Rem’s form before Al, and snatching him away with "Compression" while he was frozen by his lost judgment. By doing so, they succeeded in separating Al from his allies and bringing him to a place where his sudden movements would be restricted—the sky, a location they had quickly agreed upon. As for the crucial timing of the strike, it helped that Otto, who had been tracking Al’s group while launching guerrilla attacks, had prepared a signal for when he was defeated. That signal was synonymous with the moment Al’s group had defeated the formidable Otto and allowed even a tiny bit of tension to slacken.

"I was treated very well by Lady Priscilla. As one of those who cherishes Lady Priscilla, I cannot overlook Lord Al’s outrages any longer."

Those were the words Rem had used to express her will when opinions were raised against her heading into a direct confrontation with Al. Ultimately, it was just a matter of the mindset that formed the foundation of her resolve, but it was Rem’s genuine feelings and the core of her unwavering motivation for this battle. Of course, right next to that core was the existence of Subaru, who had been captured by Al. In fact, that might be the real core. —No, Lady Priscilla is also a core, so there are two cores. I will apologize to Lady Beatrice later.

At any rate, with such determination, Rem’s participation in the direct confrontation unit against Al was decided. Strategically, there was also the fact that they couldn't see a vision of Rem being particularly useful on other battlefields, but beyond the initial "memory" shaking, there was a high possibility that Rem would be specifically effective against Al. That possibility was exactly—

"In the first place, the story's already different just from the fact that Miss Rem is alive!!"

The moment she slammed the iron ball down from above, Al, who had blocked the heavy strike with his stone prosthetic arm, shouted as he caught sight of Rem. Despite being buffeted by the roaring wind, the words reached her clearly, and Rem felt certain that the relationship with Al—which she didn't know but had heard about from Petra—was working.

"In my incompetence, I cannot recall any connection with you, Lord Al, but..."

She had checked with Ram as well, but Ram’s connection with Al seemed to be limited to having exchanged a few words in the Royal Capital once before the Royal Selection officially began. They hadn't had any meaningful conversation worth remembering, and even what they spoke about was vague. Most likely, the connection between the sisters and Al was one-sided, coming only from him. But—

"To say such a thing is hurtful! When we were attacked by Arakia in Guaral, the ones who saved us were Lord Al and—"

She paused her words for a moment, but Rem gulped down her hesitation and,

"—Lady Priscilla, was it not!"

Rem deliberately brought up Priscilla’s name, plotting to provoke Al’s agitation. Rem felt a sense of self-loathing for exercising the worst kind of pettiness she could think of. However, she hardened her heart and gaze, telling herself this was necessary to stop Al’s outrage.

"————"

In response to Rem’s provocation, Al did not raise his voice but chose a stifling silence. Inside the pitch-black iron helmet, Al’s expression, covered by the faceplate, was invisible, and the light in his eyes was unknown. She couldn't even tell how much pain Rem’s words had caused him.

"—Here I go!"

However, Rem did not wait for Al’s reaction and resumed her attack without giving him time to rest. Rem had already set her priorities. From the start, compared to Ram—who was excellent, a genius, and a step above every other being in the world—Rem was a clumsy, mediocre girl who was a step behind in everything. If such a Rem desired something more than ordinary, she just had to pursue the best way to achieve it. For the time being, Rem was good at closing her eyes to things of low priority for the sake of things of high priority.

"Huma!"

An incantation; with it, mana interfered with the world, and magic manifested as an impossible phenomenon. Unlike Emilia’s Huma, which manipulated heat and created ice by freezing moisture in the air, the type of Huma Rem specialized in was one that created water in the void with magic and outputted that created water as ice from the start. Neither type of Huma was inherently superior, but the Emilia-type Huma, which utilized existing moisture in the air, required less mana and had the advantage of remaining in place after fulfilling its role, allowing for reuse. On the other hand, Rem-type Huma required more mana to create new water and was often returned to mana without leaving anything behind after use.

Looking only at this explanation, the Emilia-type Huma might seem overwhelmingly superior. However, the Rem-type Huma had its own powerful advantage. That was the ability to create ice in the desired shape and location without being affected by the amount of moisture or the quality of the water in the air—

"—Haaaaaa!!"

Kicking off an ice platform she had created in mid-air, Rem lunged fiercely at Al and the others. By creating a Huma with fixed coordinates, an impromptu foothold was made that wouldn't break even if Rem braced herself with all her might. The power of the morning star unleashed after gaining even a moment’s footing was incomparable to one thrown while merely twisting her body.

There was no mercy in the iron ball that spun violently toward Al. If it hit, it would easily shatter a human body. Responding to the kindness of Subaru, who had polished it every day with affection, the ball approached Al with a sense of joy from Rem’s hand—approached, approached, approached—

"I won't let you."

At the moment of impact, that iron ball of affection was caught from the front by countless threads. Looking closely, it was the crimson shinobi in Al’s arms, who had twisted her body around to glare at Rem—the incredibly powerful thread-user who followed Al. The shinobi, held from behind by Al, spread the threads released from her outstretched hands into a mesh, catching the iron ball softly like a cushion.

That skill was impressive, but it wasn't what Rem focused on most. In the first place, the plan for this surprise attack to launch Al into the sky was intended to completely isolate him from his allies. The fact that she had intervened was crazy. —No, "crazy" was wrong. Rem knew why she was able to do it.

Despite everyone being enveloped in a blankness of consciousness by Rem’s sudden appearance, she had left enough room to reach out into that blankness and actually put it into action. What had made her do that—

"—That is love!"

"No, it's not!!" "You're wrong!!"

At Rem’s shout of conviction, Al and the shinobi yelled back almost simultaneously. In that opening, Rem forcibly pulled back the morning star that was about to be taken and recovered the iron ball from the shinobi, who hated having her posture disrupted. To prepare for the next attack, Rem created multiple new footholds and kicked them to catch up with the two as they plummeted. However—

"It's scary that you can keep up, but every strength has a weakness, you know?"

Regaining her composure after her expression had once stiffened, the shinobi who had thrown the threads smiled enchantingly. The threads released from her hand headed toward the ice footholds Rem had created in the air. Al and the others, who had been in a situation where they could only be buffeted by free-fall after being suddenly tossed into the sky, were likely trying to regain their posture using the footholds Rem had made. From what she had heard, the shinobi’s skill was even higher than Rem’s own. If the disadvantage she had given the opponent was compensated for, the gap in strength that should have been somewhat closed would be reversed in an instant.

"I see, I understand. I am full of nothing but weaknesses."

Therefore, Rem would not let the opponent compensate for that disadvantage.

"—!"

Hearing Rem’s reply—no, the sensation she had once grasped vanished like a mist, and the shinobi’s expression was once again stripped of its composure. The ice foothold she had tried to use as a starting point had vanished as if it were a dream or an illusion. Of course, it was neither. It was mana. Rem had simply returned it to mana at her own will. This was the great difference between the Emilia-type, which stayed frozen once frozen, and the Rem-type, which only froze when she wanted it to and was easy to clean up—even though they were both Huma.

"To put it simply, Rem is more aggressive."

Before Rem’s eyes, the shinobi lost the destination for the force she was about to apply and lost her balance. Al, who was holding the shinobi, was also caught up and began to lose his balance, but he still reinforced his cracked prosthetic arm with additional layers and blocked Rem’s subsequent iron ball strikes a second and third time. There—

"—Teiyaaa!!"

—Emilia’s long leg, flying in from diagonally below, slammed its toe, armed with an ice boot, mercilessly into Al’s defenseless back.

—The division of Aldebaran’s group.

That was an absolute prerequisite that could not be let go when facing a group rebelling against the world—a group that rivaled the Witch Cult, or even surpassed it in terms of instantaneous momentum. The surprise attack to clear that condition could be said to have gone according to plan ninety percent of the time. The ten percent deviation—the existence of the shinobi who chose to be dragged along—acted as an uncertain factor that marred the plan, but excessive worry would only be poisonous.

Each would fulfill their assigned role to the maximum. Without that trust and resolve, the plan to stop Aldebaran’s group would not stand.

"—I mean, you've all got such irresistible looks in your eyes, it's enough to make anyone shiver."

As he spoke, Roy Alphard, the Sin Archbishop of "Gluttony," swung his dangling arms back and forth, a sadistic smile on his face as he looked around. In the surrounding area, figures appeared one after another, as if replacing Al and the others immediately after they were sent away—the warriors gathered to defeat Aldebaran’s group were standing there. All of them met the Sin Archbishop’s gaze without flinching, causing Roy to instinctively lick his lips.

"It's good, it's really good, it might be great. But, you know, with so many of you gathered here, the force trying to do something to us might just get wiped out in one go, right?"

"—Hah. Why don't you show a little more cute fear and cower instead? Unless you want to die the same way as your brother who died at the Sand Tower."

"And also, are you guys even into magic beasts? If not... I think I'm your natural enemy."

Among the warriors, a figure holding her own elbows and a figure stroking her braid responded. Even to that unmistakable hostility, Roy did not hide his smile, trembling with the anticipation of a feast.

"Y-You've gotta be kidding me... You bastards, can't you see the form of the 'Divine Dragon'!? Do you know how much the Royal Capital was ravaged...? There's no way to win!"

In contrast to the excited Roy, it was Heinkel who spoke with a pale face and a trembling voice. As he said, he relied on the majesty of the "Divine Dragon," and while standing right at its feet, he desperately raised his voice with a hateful expression against the hostility directed at them. His appearance was exactly that of a "human borrowing the dragon's authority," but as a matter of fact, Heinkel’s claim was not wrong. If one were to stand in the way of the absolute power of the "Divine Dragon" without a plan, what awaited was ruthless destruction and the end.

"However, that is only if one is without a plan."

"—Tch, you giant old man."

"That giant old man knows the 'Demi-Human War.' I will not show mercy twice to those who direct hostility toward me. —I will have Felt back."

Facing the breathless Heinkel, whose eyes were darting around, the giant figure stroked his bald head and declared. Heinkel’s face stiffened at the giant’s declaration, but there was another shadow that stirred. None other than the "Dragon" itself, which had been singled out.

“I hate to say it, but man. I’m shocked at how much I’ve been on the receiving end until now. I’m really starting to feel what it means to have the whole world as your enemy.”

The "Dragon" possessing that majesty put a hand to its head with an unusually human-like gesture. While radiating a presence that would make most living in the Dragon Kingdom prostrate themselves just by seeing it or being near it, it was an existence that could only be seen as something entirely different. At the very least, to the eyes of those who knew the real "Divine Dragon," the incongruity was obvious.

"Though, unlike the bigwigs of the Kingdom, I won't panic about the image of the 'Divine Dragon' being ruined or its brand value dropping. —Buuut, I wonder about my friend next to me. I suspect he might have quite a few thoughts on the matter, wouldn't you say?"

"No, Master, there is no need for concern; it is a groundless worry. It would be farcical for me to line up words about a past I have already cast aside. Weakness."

Before the dragon shell that did not fit his own stature—not of body, but of heart—"Aldebaran" narrowed his golden twin eyes as he looked down at those who did not fear him. Among those standing in his way, he concentrated his consciousness on a small shadow slowly stepping forward. Naturally, Roy and Heinkel also turned their attention to that figure. He didn't know how she had come to stand in such a position, but he understood it without it being put into words. —That she was the representative of the will in this place.

Gathering that attention, she—Petra Leyte—pointed a finger toward the heavens and announced:

"—It’s total war. You can just go ahead and lose soundly, okay?"