“Next.”

Silence descended along with the Apostle’s low voice.

And with it, what came into view was the headmaster, still dead after being compressed.

And—

“......!”

Penia’s face as she stared at it in disbelief.

Seeing the strange fear flash through her eyes, Alon turned his gaze and looked at the Apostle.

‘How did she do that?’

Forcibly shaking off the chill that rose as though trying to infect his mind, Alon continued thinking.

At the same time, what Alon recalled was the situation from just moments ago.

Alon, Penia, and the headmaster had been facing off against the Apostle.

And unlike the ominous atmosphere she had been releasing while threatening to kill them, the Apostle herself had shown no particular movement as she watched them.

Then, during that standoff, the headmaster had suddenly used magic against the Apostle.

And finally, the headmaster had met his death.

In that instant, before Alon and Penia had even properly noticed.

“.......”

Alon swallowed his breath.

Unfortunately, there was no fear from the fact that the headmaster had died.

What made him feel chilled was the time it had taken for the headmaster to reach death.

Yes, time.

Alon and Penia only realized the headmaster was dead after he had already died.

Despite being right beside him.

Even in this very moment, when they were preparing Reverse Heavens and magic respectively so they could fight at any second, they had failed to notice the Apostle’s attack.

And that meant Alon and Penia could not prepare for the Apostle’s attack.

“......”

They stared at the Apostle before them with even more tense expressions.

Watching the two of them, the Apostle gave a small laugh and faced them in return.

Then, as though mocking them for being frozen in this moment, she said—

“Do you know something?”

And casually spoke to Alon.

“No matter how badly you ruin the ritual, unfortunately, He will descend.”

Alon did not answer.

As though there was no need to even entertain the conversation, he simply kept his mouth shut.

But even at Alon’s silence—

“Even if you ruin the ritual and He descends without obtaining all of His power, the descent itself is certain. And once that happens, finding His power inside here will not be difficult.”

She continued speaking with a deep smile.

“Ah, still, who knows? If you deal with me quickly and run away, maybe you might live. Well—through orthodox methods, that would be impossible.”

“.......”

Hearing her words, Alon thought calmly.

‘Is that true? ......No, there’s a high chance it is.’

Alon had been sensing an aura that had begun growing stronger and stronger from a certain point onward. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

An aura thrashing as though something might quicken at any moment.

Right now, Yutia and Rine had smashed through the cultists’ side, and that intense aura had instantly been cut in half, but the aura was still rampaging.

In other words, unlike what Alon and the others had expected, the descent of the Karma of War was certain, and what they had done was the process of weakening the Karma of War.

But even if things differed from expectation, it did not matter.

What Alon needed to do had not changed.

And in the end, this moment was the best possible time to deal with the Karma of War.

“......Hoo.”

Alon let out a sigh.

Softly, as though calming himself.

Then he looked at the Apostle.

The Apostle was still smiling as she watched him.

Looking at her, Alon began thinking based on one fact he had discovered.

‘The Apostle doesn’t move. No, more precisely, she can’t move.’

After releasing her aura before the battle, the Apostle had not moved again.

That was still true now, and it had been true when the headmaster had been compressed to death in an instant.

She had only stood in place, staring at the dead headmaster as though amused.

From her, he could sense no movement and no flow of aura at all.

The only thing he could sense was the aura she had spread near the compressed headmaster’s body, surging.

Then that meant she truly had done nothing.

When his thoughts reached that point, Alon recognized a new fact.

‘The Apostle isn’t Divine blood.’

That was right.

She was, in the end, only a being borrowing the power of the next stage after Divine blood: Karma.

Alon also understood that because it was the power of Karma, it could be qualitatively different from the power of Divine blood.

After all, he had fought Divine blood that had reached the second stage, but not yet touched Karma.

Irrational and abnormal power.

Alon clearly understood that.

Even so, a being who merely “borrowed” that power could not possibly wield such overwhelming force.

So the Apostle before him was likely not using “power” in the literal sense, but the “ability” of the Karma of War.

If she had been using its power, there was no way Alon and Penia would still be alive right now.

“.......”

And so Alon gathered the clues.

The Apostle, who had not moved until now.

The headmaster, who had been compressed to death the instant he launched an attack, and the Apostle who had watched it as though delighted.

He recalled the Apostle giving him information that should have held no meaning for her whatsoever, then inferred its meaning.

And then—

‘Hup—!’

He recalled the headmaster suddenly bringing out magic.

He recalled the Apostle twisting her lips as though she had been waiting for exactly that.

And finally, recalling that she was an Apostle of the “Karma Throne of War,” Alon—

“......It’s a rule.”

—soon reached a conclusion and looked at her.

And he saw it.

For an instant, the face of the woman who had been smiling stiffened.

“A rule?”

“Yes. A rule.”

He had reached a conclusion, but he was not certain.

However, the moment he saw the look in her eyes for that instant, Alon realized his deduction was correct.

“......You found me out.”

The Apostle gave an incredulous laugh as she said those words.

But that lasted only a moment.

“Impressive. But what will you do? It’s already—”

Wooooooooong—!!!

“—too late.”

Along with the Apostle’s words, Alon felt an enormous resonance.

And in the next moment, he saw it.

The night sky, which had grown dark before he knew it—

Craaaaaack—!

“!”

“!”

—beginning to open, as though spreading its jaws.

####

The sky opened.

It looked as though something were tearing the sky apart.

It also looked as though the sky itself were ripping open its mouth.

And what could be seen behind it was—

Shiver—!

—a dark abyss, a bottomless pit where nothing could be seen.

“Ah— Aaaah— Finally— Finally—!”

At the same time, the Apostle before Alon, filled with rapture, knelt and shouted while staring up at the sky.

And as Alon blankly stared at that enormous abyss, feeling overwhelmed—

“?”

Alon felt a slightly strange sense of dissonance.

He had certainly never seen that sight before.

The sky tearing open like a gaping maw.

The abyss like a bottomless pit inside the torn sky, seeming to stimulate humanity’s most primal fear.

It was all his first time seeing it.

And yet, even so, Alon clearly felt a familiarity with that abyss-like void.

As though he had already seen it several times before—

No, from the beginning, that place—

Craaaack—!

At the sudden sound, Alon erased the thoughts he had been having without realizing it and looked ahead.

There stood the Apostle, kneeling with a mad smile while staring up at the sky, as though she no longer cared about Alon or Penia at all.

And there—

A man—

No,

A dragonkin was standing.

A dragonkin with a body clearly in human form, wearing black armor as dark as pitch, like black skin.

And—

“Ghk—”

At the voice coming from beside him, Alon turned his gaze and looked at Penia.

Seeing Penia’s eyes bloodshot red, as though the mere presence of that being made it hard for her to breathe, as though even looking at the existence before them was not permitted—

“Blackie—!”

Alon immediately pushed Penia behind him and called Blackie.

[Kkyu—!]

As though understanding Alon’s intent, Blackie instantly clung to Penia like armor and immediately carried her away.

After confirming that, Alon looked ahead again.

‘......Insane.’

A chilling sensation.

His heart felt as though it were pounding madly.

Until now, Alon had certainly been tense about the Karma Throne descending, but he had not felt fear.

Because he had once fought a being that had only just reached the next stage after Divine blood before.

But he realized that had been a misjudgment.

That thing was on an entirely different dimension from Bringing-In Night.

‘A monster.......’

Because that was what it felt like.

A monster.

‘Does this make any sense?’

Alon thought, almost dumbfounded.

Alon and the others had clearly succeeded in ruining the ritual, and they had also succeeded in weakening it.

Yet what had appeared was a being so eerie it sent chills across his entire body.

Then if that thing had gathered its power in earnest—

“Ah...... Aaaaaah! Great One! This lowly servant dares to offer greetings to the Great One!!”

While Alon was thinking, the Apostle’s voice reached him.

Her face filled to the brim with rapture, she was shedding tears as she looked at the Karma Throne of War.

She truly looked as though she had come face to face with a god.

And at that sight, Alon frowned.

The situation was not good.

He already had to deal with the Apostle, and now the Karma Throne had descended on top of that.

But as though it had no interest in what Alon was thinking, the Karma Throne of War silently looked down at the Apostle gazing up at it.

[I have been watching what you did.]

It said so.

Its very voice carried a rank that made instinct scream warnings just from hearing it.

At those words from “War,” she lowered her head as though filled with rapture and yet feeling fear at the same time, then opened her mouth—

“I am sorry! Great One! But please do not worry! Everything is already prepared! The academy has been ‘separated,’ with all the Apostles dividing the space, so if You slowly absorb the sacrifices, then—?”

Crack—!

In the next moment.

The Apostle stopped speaking.

At the same time, Alon’s narrowed eyes widened for an instant.

The reason was—

because the Karma Throne of War had crushed the Apostle’s heart with a hand covered in a black gauntlet.

“My god?”

The Apostle spoke blankly, as though unable to understand.

But he looked at her with eyes that were utterly cold.

[Do you think I would forgive you for using the power I granted for sacred war to instead exploit the rules and defile war?]

Saying that—

Crush-crack—!

The Apostle’s body burst apart in that state.

And after shaking off the thing that had become nothing more than chunks of flesh as though it were pathetic, the Karma Throne of War immediately fixed his gaze on Alon.

[I will apologize.]

“......Apologize?”

[For using rules created for sacred war not to wage war, but as power in themselves.]

He soon lowered his head.

And the moment Alon once again became certain his own deduction had been right—

[Also, I will take responsibility for it.]

The Karma Throne murmured solemnly, then raised his right hand as it was.

Shaaaaaak—!!

And tore off his own left arm.

At the same time, blood poured out as though bursting, splattering across the black armor.

Watching the red blood flowing from the empty left shoulder flutter like a cloak—

[This should be enough.]

“.......”

Alon held his breath.