Chapter 35 - Crushing
10 min read ·
With something so obviously wrong, the masked man immediately threw open the window. Light flooded the pitch-dark room.
Aiden squinted outside. Judging from the view, they had to be in an extremely tall building, practically a tower.
Yet even from that height, the masked man let out a groan as he looked down at the ground.
“... The Lionhearted?”
Even from this far away, something caught the eye immediately.
A woman was walking toward them, trailing white energy so thick it resembled fog. She stood out unmistakably among the drab, squat buildings.
No one based in the Empire could fail to recognize that supernatural power. Pure-white energy. The symbol of the Lionhearted.
And...
...
With every step she took toward them...
...
That haze of energy grew larger.
Now spreading to engulf almost everything around it, its sheer presence exerted tremendous pressure.
An entire city block shook in time with her footsteps. Crushed beneath her supernatural power, the buildings' frames and cladding shuddered and screamed.
“... Mommy.”
The sight was so dizzying that someone involuntarily let the word slip.
A walking supernatural power plant. A one-woman army. The Empire's battle opener, always the first to charge onto any battlefield.
Seeing her like this made it perfectly clear how one person could carry all those descriptions.
“... You just called that your wife. Don't tell me you're the Lionhearted's husband?”
“Isn't it obvious? So please, even now, just listen to...”
“But...”
The masked man who had asked the question spoke triumphantly.
“Even the Lionhearted won't find it easy to rescue you.”
“...”
As Aiden sighed in near-total resignation, another triumphant declaration followed.
“This building has been reinforced with every defense imaginable. Even a gigantic magical beast would have trouble bringing it down.”
He sounded positively proud. They probably hadn't skimped on the defenses.
After all, these people had been bringing all manner of goods into the capital under the protection of the imperial prince and the minister of administration.
It was hardly strange for their base to be equipped with all sorts of things.
But...
“That would be because it's a gigantic magical beast.”
Aiden remained skeptical of their assessment.
For the simple reason that...
“That's the Lionhearted out there, remember?”
What followed proved entirely consistent with his words.
▣
In the original game, Noel Astria Seamus was always portrayed as someone whose combat prowess placed her in the top tier, no matter the time or circumstances.
The setting was so full of monstrous individuals that calling her the undisputed strongest would be a stretch. Still, there was no denying that she was a monster who would command respect wherever she went.
Which, put another way...
... Meant that in the present circumstances, at least, they clearly had no real means of stopping her.
“Hey, a woman coming somewhere like this all alone ought to—eeeek!”
A thug who had been about to pick a fight clammed up in terror.
The capital's black market housed every variety of dangerous character. Yet the instant they saw Noel slowly walking down the main street, even they scrambled to flee in panic rather than provoke her.
Considering how Katya had been treated on her earlier visit, it might have seemed astonishing. But anyone who saw what Noel was radiating now would react much the same way.
Confronting a visibly enraged predator the size of a house might offer a small taste of that feeling.
Noel's eyes were fixed on one of the tallest buildings in the capital's black market.
The place Katya had told her Aiden was being held.
“...”
Noel stopped walking.
That alone sent a boom reverberating through the surroundings, as though a bomb had gone off.
BOOM
“Hah...”
As she adjusted her breathing, pure-white energy suffused her vocal cords.
To those nearby, she would probably sound as if she were whispering to someone. But to the people inside that tower, her voice would likely be louder than a megaphone.
It was extraordinarily refined energy manipulation.
“I don't know who you are.”
When someone like her spoke with hostility so intense it seemed to tear at the skin, it inspired something beyond mere fear.
“I don't know what your intentions are, either.”
The air rumbled. Merely speaking, she exerted a savage pressure on everything around her, more than enough to make the fainthearted lose consciousness.
“But I know who you have. Give me back my husband. Then...”
Her next words fell like shards of frost.
“... I'll at least let you live.”
“...”
“...”
The people inside the tower exchanged glances.
What followed was an exchange that certainly couldn't be faulted for its speed.
“... Can we win?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then buy us time. Throw everything we've got at her.”
In all honesty, given the atmosphere Noel was radiating, the courage displayed in their response deserved some recognition.
The fact that several iron pillars flew toward her in lieu of an answer to her ultimatum was proof enough.
Suppression Pillars. The same items previously used against Katya. They weakened the supernatural powers of anyone inside their barrier.
Their effectiveness had already been demonstrated when they dampened Katya's monstrously powerful abilities.
The problem was that the Empire's strongest knight stood before them.
And she was called the strongest for a reason.
...
...!!
The energy drifting around her instantly condensed into a single point.
Before the Suppression Pillars could even begin resonating, the pure-white energy gathered around her took shape, enveloping the iron pillars.
Then Noel clenched her fist as though wringing something out. The pure-white energy began spinning violently in response.
In an instant, those treasures—carved from spirit wood and refined repeatedly by first-rate shamans—were...
!
CRUNCH
... Crushed to pieces, as easily as twisting apart sorghum stalks.
“...”
“...”
... Good heavens.
The people inside the tower stared with their mouths hanging open.
They must have used at least twice the number sent for the attack on Katya. Seeing her neutralize them in an instant was enough to drive anyone out of their mind.
'Just how much power can she put out...?!'
Energy might have the advantage of producing raw output more easily than other supernatural powers, but doing anything like that required enough physical force to uproot a small house whole.
And she had done it without a vow to a god, without any particular movement?
“Th-that's in-insane—”
“Quit gawking and throw everything at her!”
“But all of this is merchandise our client requested...!”
“We're dead anyway if we can't get out of here. This isn't the time to worry about consequences!”
“Even if we want to use it, we need time! We have to stop that woman from coming any closer somehow...!”
Those frantic cries made it immediately clear just how grotesquely extraordinary her feat had been. People who had at least managed to remain coolheaded descended into confusion in an instant.
And, as always, confused people were prone to making the worst possible decisions.
“Let's use this, then. He's what she came for in the first place!”
Someone pointed at Aiden.
“... No, no, wait a minute. That's a really bad idea—!”
“Use him. Tell her we'll kill him if she comes any closer!”
Before Aiden could talk them out of it, however, someone dragged him, chair and all, over to the window and shoved him into view.
“Damn you, just try coming closer! I'll cut his throat right—”
But before he could finish, Noel's eyes caught sight of Aiden, battered and covered in blood.
“...”
Ah.
It's over.
Though they were far apart, that thought instinctively came to Aiden as he saw the murderous intent filling Noel's eyes.
Such ferocity entered her gaze that, for an instant, he could have sworn scarlet flames had flared within it.
“Law.”
A vow of divine protection was murmured softly from her lips.
The pure-white energy already spilling out around her grew even stronger.
Then the scenery was crushed flat in an instant.
At least, that was how it looked.
Her presence was so overwhelming that the entire visible world seemed to sink beneath it.
Even those nearby who weren't her direct targets screamed and collapsed in unison. Their legs had all given out.
“I swear.”
The moment those words left her mouth, the energy radiating from her condensed into a single point. The supernatural power that had seemed to press down on the very world gathered in the sword beneath her hand, even creating a momentary vacuum.
“To my enemies, fear.”
Then she drew her sword. With a light motion, Noel cast a slash into the air.
Space itself warped.
“Huh?”
Someone watching from inside the tower made a blank, stupid noise.
It was probably a delayed reaction, born of failing to understand. Something along the lines of: What on earth is she doing?
No one could blame him.
What followed was hardly something that belonged on a human scale.
The next instant, the ceiling tilted askew.
Dust and dirt pattered down into the room.
Then...
“... Uh.”
Someone uttered what sounded like a dying gasp.
“Uh, uh, aaaaah—!”
People screamed and tumbled in every direction as the entire room tilted.
Only then did everyone understand what was happening.
The whole tower was twisting and collapsing.
The spire was so tall they had to crane their necks to see its top. This was the very building whose countless defensive reinforcements they had just boasted of so proudly.
With a single effortless slash from where she stood, she had cut cleanly through it on a diagonal, as though slicing a vegetable with a kitchen knife.
“...”
What kind of woman am I engaged to?
As that thought occurred to Aiden, pandemonium erupted around him.
Unfortunately, they were extremely high up. People screamed and scrambled desperately to avoid falling out.
They clutched at window frames, steel reinforcement, objects—anything they could grab to keep from falling.
!
The woman responsible for the scene came flying toward them in a single bound.
As Noel landed on the still-precariously-balanced floor, the faces of everyone nearby turned pale.
To them, it must have looked as though death itself had descended.
... And that impression probably wasn't far off.
“...”
Surveying her surroundings with scarlet flames in her eyes, Noel raised her sword again. Murderous intent filled the air around her, sharp enough to seem to tear the skin.
Everyone who saw her must have been looking back over their lives. This would be their grave...
“Dame Noel, Dame Noel! No! You can't kill them!”
And so it would have been, if someone hadn't managed to rush over and latch onto her.
The instant Noel recognized Aiden, who had somehow freed himself from his bonds and clung to her as though hitching a piggyback ride, she flinched and turned to him.
“... Aiden?”
“Please, control yourself! I'm fine, seriously!”
“...”
Her murderous intent vanished without a trace.
The scarlet flames burning in her eyes disappeared in an instant as well.
Instead, in stark contrast to that menacing air, all the color drained from her face.
Her whole demeanor abruptly became soft and fragile. Anyone looking might have thought her a teenage girl who had just seen her first love badly hurt...
“... A-are you all right?”
... The world of marriage was truly mysterious.
To think the woman from a moment ago could turn into this woman.
The change was so abrupt that the masked men, who had just seen their lives flash before their eyes, couldn't help thinking it.
“Oh, yes. I've just got some pretty nasty cuts.”
At that, Noel's gaze swept over Aiden's face.
It was covered in blood, which kept dripping down and soaking his clothes.
“...”
Red flames surged up in Noel's eyes once more.
Seeing her reach to draw her sword again, Aiden clung to her with all his strength in alarm.
“I told you, I'm fine!”
... It took several dozen minutes before Noel finally managed to calm down.