I was never supposed to be here in the first place.

I was supposed to enter a prestigious combat division in the capital Astreion, work moderately while earning a large salary, swing my sword only occasionally for amusement, and live a peaceful life.

Right now, I should have been soaking in a grand bath while enjoying wine and cheese.

But the dreaming thunderous star forced an oath upon me, and today I stand atop Rebellion’s ballista tower.

Far away, I can see the mutant demonic beast.

Though the clouds hang low tonight, it truly is a grotesque tree of bones and flesh standing so tall that its head touches the clouds.

I state this with certainty.

A rational life is a life spent fleeing farther away from that thing.

An efficient life is a life spent fleeing faster from that thing.

Yet if one asks whether such a life is truly a realistic life, I think the matter requires deeper thought.

How could a continuous stretch of nothing but running away be called a “life”?

Kwaaaaang!

Dozens of tentacles swayed like wheat in a windy field, tearing apart earth and buildings alike.

I checked the condition of my body.

Thanks to Thunderbolt Body surpassing 2,300%, there was still no sign of neural overheating.

Rather, my mind was coldly clear.

【True Energy Guidance (20%)】

I drew up my mana to its limit and spread my Bio-radar.

Woooong!

Rebellion’s urban geography was engraved across a black background in a lattice of white lines.

City walls, main avenues, insulae, alleys, plazas. And above them, the superhumans of the great houses shone like constellations.

【Telephone Conversation (01:35)】

I cast my words toward those superhumans.

“I am Kyrie of Astreion Astreos. Do not be alarmed; I am speaking through an electric arts authority called ‘Telephone Conversation.’ I will kill that mutant demonic beast. I ask that you focus on preventing regeneration and controlling the crowds.”

If wisdom meant avoiding danger, then a wise life would be one that never became entangled with such superhumans or such monsters in the first place.

Ah, when exactly did I become this foolish?

Lamenting that fact, I waited for their replies.

You truly are an Astreos.

The answers returned from every corner.

The first reply came from Saint Deneb.

An Inquisitor cannot someday turn tail before the one he wishes to interrogate. I shall hammer at that monster until the hammer inside my heart breaks.

I could feel his emotions toward me.

Wariness, anger, and unmistakable admiration.

Those emotions suited his reverent yet trembling voice perfectly.

You are still young, so there is no need to bear the burdens of all creation alone. Yet if you still insist upon advancing alone, then this old apostle of the Myriad Star shall support your shoulders. The rain of starlight shall shine even in darkness, so become the lightning you wish to be.

Saint Sirius’s voice echoed like the resonance of the heavens.

I felt both slight sorrow and warm admiration within it.

I knew it.

Erica’s voice was as sharp and resolute as a cutting wind.

That is why I chose to marry you. You, whom everyone cannot help but love.

Yet the emotions carried within that voice resembled a spring breeze.

As expected of my little brother.

Andromeda answered heartily.

Honestly, I’m worried sick, you know? No, seriously. If it were up to my heart, I’d rather strike you with heavenly tribulations just to stop you, but what can I do? Even your big sister would have done the same.

I felt both the determination that I absolutely must not be allowed to go and the overwhelming certainty that I absolutely had to go.

I’m proud because you are my little brother. I’m fulfilled because I am your big sister. You know that, right?

I also felt a degree of fulfillment I had never experienced before.

The lightning of Astreos strikes in an instant, while the earth of Terra endures countless ages, yet now I understand that they are all the same heart. I shall bind that monster, so my lord may split it apart.

Tyren’s voice was as weighty as a mountain of stone.

A masculine boldness came through clearly.

You always make this humble one’s heart race.

No matter how I think about it, elder brother should have been born into Flammerios.

The harmony of Vicher and Vichera, the twin guardians, heated my chest like the heart of a flame.

Flowers bloom beautifully like flowers and fade beautifully like flames. Everyone looks upon us marksmen with pity, but I do not feel pity. Because I know that flowers that never bloomed even once, and flames that never burned even once, are far more pitiable. We sisters who chose ourselves not through blood, but through precepts, shall likewise choose to follow Your Highness Kyrie through the choice of we sisters ourselves.

Blue Hydrangea’s resolve came last.

A sense of duty as firm and disciplined as her voice itself flowed through.

I let out a short breath.

Voices mixed with madness, conviction, and greed echoed inside my head.

Everyone agreed.

I did not know why.

Actually, I did know.

Because every great-house blood relative except me was a deranged romantic living not upon reality, but flying through the night sky.

Then perhaps the wisdom required was not the wisdom needed to live in reality, but the wisdom needed to fly through the night sky.

I checked the Balsam Shot hanging from my harness and threw myself from the ballista tower.

Whoosh!

Weaving together the pulling force and repulsive force of magnetism arts, I pushed beneath my feet and glided nearly three hundred meters through the air.

Tatadak!

Even after landing, I immediately began sprinting down the main avenue.

“Who goes there? It’s dangerous! Don’t come this wa— huh?”

An officer of Rebellion blocked my path.

“Yes. It is dangerous. Fall back.”

“Y-Your Highness…?”

“Leave it to me.”

He recognized me and turned pale.

I thought that if he were in his right mind, he would flee the moment I gave permission.

“No, I shall not do that. I am deeply grateful for your concern. Truly, deeply grateful.”

…This bastard must be insane too.

I shook my head and ran past him.

All the Elector Princes were outstanding warriors.

Each of them knew what they could do and what they excelled at.

The twins of Flammerios clasped hands and smiled.

“Brother.”

“Yes.”

Ascending Flame Dragon.

Fwoooooosh!

A pillar of fire descended from the sky and swallowed the torso of the fused doctoral candidate.

The flames spread like a dragon’s wings, burning the monster’s tentacles.

Nearby Red Knights added heat rays to the pillar of fire, intensifying the inferno further.

“Because of you, I have to worry about my little brother again! You must pay the price for offending my mood, yes?”

Andromeda clenched her fist in the sky as though grasping and dragging something downward.

Heavenly Thunderbolt.

Kwaaaaaang!

A pale flash pierced through the monster’s shoulder and descended, shaking even the earth.

“Grant that we become not the sun that drives away darkness, but stars that shine even within darkness.”

Saint Sirius clasped his hands together in prayer.

Meteor Shower.

Shwaaaaaaa!

Fragments of light poured down like rain, slicing across the night sky.

The rain of light repeatedly pierced the monster’s spine, skewering the tentacles and scattering them apart.

Step!

“Thirsty?”

Narji stretched both hands forward.

“I’ll dry you out.”

Wide-Area Dehydration.

Juuuuuk!

Streams of blood erupted like fountains from every wound on the fused doctoral candidate.

Blood-mixed vapor scattered through the air.

There were also Elector Princes devoted to defense.

“This queen shall exercise the freedom to steal away your freedom.”

Erica threw out a mischievous joke while extending both palms forward.

Wind King Barrier.

Whoooosh!

Walls of wind arose across every avenue.

They blocked the citizens who were trying to become lunchboxes for the mutant demonic beast under the influence of the mental wave.

Thung! Tudung!

The people bounced back as though striking invisible walls and rolled across the ground.

Thunk!

“Winter halts all things.”

Severic muttered as he plunged his greatsword into the ground.

First Frost.

Jjeojeojeojeok!

White ice spread instantly across the roads.

Citizens running toward the mutant demonic beast slipped, collided with one another, and collapsed in heaps.

“Terra decides where one may go and where one may not.”

Tyren ground his teeth and stamped his foot.

Boom!

Saturn.

Walls rose along the avenues, blocking the crowds trying to rush toward the fused doctoral candidate.

“Hold them back!”

“Isolate that thing!”

The commands of the Elector Princes rang out one after another.

Their authorities intertwined, piercing the encroached body and halting the steps of the mentally stolen crowds.

Sky and earth, fire and water, wind and ice mixed together as the battlefield filled with light and thunderous noise.

Kyrie sprinted at full speed while looking up at the scene.

A night sky glowing like an aurora.

Bitterness and pride spread across his face at once.

So even a day like this comes.

Born as a bastard in the red-light district, he now stood upon the same stage as those born sons and daughters of Patriarchs.

People he had once believed he could never even stand beneath.

Yet his wish was only for the final act, the curtain call.

Kuuuuung!

Huge.

As he reached the center of the city, the fused doctoral candidate encroached filled Kyrie’s vision.

Even after being burned by pillars of flame and pierced by lightning and meteor showers, it still stood strong.

A body even larger than the skeletal overlord King Among Flowers.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Every footstep caused earthquakes.

“He’s coming!”

“Stop Kyrie!”

The encroached surged forward from the avenue ahead.

Struck by mental waves and stripped of their human shells, they had become half-human, half-beast forms mixed with beaks, claws, and feathers.

They had already crossed a line from which even holy water could no longer return them.

“This library forbids intruders!”

“Do not interfere with our experiment!”

The bachelors mixed among them still retained human appearances, but grotesque organs protruded and writhed from their arms and shoulders.

The angle.

Kyrie frowned while observing the mutant demonic beast.

The densely packed stone buildings meant he did not currently have the firing angle necessary for Electromagnetic Railgun.

He would have to break through them and push closer.

“Do you require assistance?”

Step! Step! Step! Step! Step!

At that moment, the marksman school cadets marched forward, their red coats billowing.

At their head stood Blue Hydrangea, smiling with a chill yet alluring elegance.

“Go back!”

Kyrie cut her off firmly.

“You have already been encroached once before. Just as ice splits along its grain…”

“Thank you for your concern.”

“It’s not concern! If you become encroached, you’ll shoot me in the back first.”

“But how could we retreat after being paid so much? Blood-price is worth gold, so gold-price ought naturally be repaid with blood-price.”

“Seriously?”

“A cadet who distinguished herself on a battlefield where all the Elector Princes participated is rare even among us sisters. It is obvious how many times this single line of experience will multiply the value of the sisters under my command, so how could I possibly flee?”

Blue Hydrangea clung to him smoothly.

Clack!

She loaded her musket while beginning to speak.

“We are the marksman school! The continent’s finest mercenary corps contracted to the beautiful White Flower Star! To retreat because we might die would be disgraceful!”

“Sisters!”

“Beautiful until we fall!”

“Bloom like flowers, fade like flames!”

“I offer my flower-like life to this flame!”

The cadets raised their muskets together.

“Prepare to fire!”

[“Diffusion technique.”]

[“Penetration technique.”]

[“Explosive technique.”]

Starlight bloomed from every muzzle.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Kyaaaaak!”

“Kkeeeek!”

The encroached were torn apart as they screamed.

“Please don’t shoot me in the back.”

Swallowing a sigh, Kyrie once more charged toward the monster’s heart.

“Please don’t become encroached.”

Hoping the marksman school cadets would continue blooming.

“Finally!”

At last I broke through the stone buildings and reached beneath the mutant demonic beast’s feet.

As I inhaled, the stench of blood ravaged my mind.

I drew out a single bullet from my harness.

The sacred object of the marksman school given to me by Blue Hydrangea, the Balsam Shot.

I immediately prepared Electromagnetic Railgun.

Woooong!

Strengthening my body with neural acceleration, bodily enhancement, and sword aura reinforcement, I raised my mana.

Woooooooong!

I prepared acceleration through an enormous magnetic field, wrapped the shot in ionized gas, and accumulated repulsive force as well.

I would end everything with this single shot.

With that resolve, I aimed at the mutant demonic beast.

“Stop!”

“We cannot allow an ignorant Blue Knight like you to trample the product of intelligence!”

At that moment, white-robed bastards crawled out from somewhere.

They wore metal nameplates engraved with the title “master of the Hall of Purity.”

Their faces still retained human form, but their eyes were consumed by madness even greater than that of Blue Knights.

[“-----!”]

[“--, --!”]

Mental waves burst forth immediately.

I could endure them.

But it was impossible to maintain the precise concentration necessary to fire Electromagnetic Railgun.

“You reality-defying sons of bitches!”

I spat out the curse as though biting my tongue.

Swoooosh!

At that moment, the mutant demonic beast lowered its head.

The grotesque eyes hanging in clusters like grapes along its neck all stared directly at me.

A chill ran down my spine.

Fwoooooosh!

An absurdly gigantic tentacle split the air as it descended.

My legs would not move.

Because every nerve signal was focused on enduring the mental waves.

“Kyrie!”

At that moment, Nereus charged in like a golden bear.

He summoned lightning.

Flash!

Scarlet lightning descended.

The masters of the Hall of Purity were blown in all directions, and the Heavenly Thunderbolt that followed shoved the mutant demonic beast’s tentacle aside.

Boom!

The gigantic tentacle smashed the ground, shattering the stone pavement, while a shockwave mixed with debris surged like a tidal wave.

Kugugugugung!

Nereus fiercely wrapped himself around me and blocked the shockwave with his own back.

Violent wind and sharp fragments swept past us.

He blocked every fragment with his armor and his back while grinning savagely.

“With only one eye, your field of vision is narrow!”

“It means I know how to focus on one thing.”

I let out a hollow laugh and shook my head.

“I don’t know how focused you were, but forgetting your own life is grounds for point deduction! If we were still at the academy, tonight’s top score would belong to me.”

“No.”

Seeing this bastard trying to beat me even in this situation restored my sense of reality.

“I think the bonus points for killing a great demonic beast would more than make up for that deduction.”

Step!

I aimed the Balsam Shot at the mutant demonic beast.

Woooooooong!

I accumulated magnetic fields, wrapped it in ionized gas, and released the repulsive force stored to the limit.

Kwakwakwakwakwakwa!

Orange and turquoise light intertwined in spirals as they fired outward.

[“------!”]

The mutant demonic beast staggered and collapsed like a giant tree whose roots had been severed.

“Ha.”

The strength drained from my body, and I collapsed to the ground.

It was the first Electromagnetic Railgun I had fired without assistance from someone or something else.

The eastern sky was slowly beginning to brighten.

The long night had finally ended.

It was dawn.

Chapter 217

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