Vol. 1 Chapter 2 – Balbat von Naia

I imitate Balbat’s move and advance my black horse slightly forward.

It becomes a situation where the generals are glaring at each other.

“I am Balbat von Naia, the second prince of the great Naia Kingdom! You lowly Ortenos cur, daring to tread upon our Naia territory uninvited! State your name!”

I see. So this is how Stellar-class beings begin their introductions.

Incidentally, it is Naia that is trespassing on the territory, so Balbat’s accusation is completely baseless.

I rub the surface of the gold coin with my right hand and tighten my core.

“I am Shalka de Ortenos. Perhaps I misheard, but it sounded to me as though an insolent usurper like you dared to claim the royal surname『von』, Balbat『de』 Naia. Would it not be wiser to correct yourself and try again?”

I hurl these provocative words at Balbat.

Now then, can Balbat remain calm after being provoked by a child more than a decade younger than him?

“Fuhaha! For a half-baked Ortenos whelp, your bravado is impressive! But you, are you not the descendant of that pathetic runaway woman whose kingdom was stolen by that usurper?”

I carefully observe Balbat, who has begun to speak so boastfully.

Judging from his personality, I had expected him to explode in anger immediately, yet the fact that he dismisses my words as mere childish nonsense shows he might be more composed than I thought.

No, actually, I must have already diminished his forces considerably with the《Intimidation Orb》, so it is certain that he has taken a fair amount of psychological damage as well.

Most likely, realizing that I am younger allowed him to regain his composure.

Balbat, having grown overconfident, continued speaking.

“You and your kind, who once revered that woman as your lord, she fled pitifully into the Empire, did she not? And in the end, I hear she debased herself, flattering those gold-bloated Zakrian pigs, spreading her legs for them and was impregnated with their filthy spawn! That filthy whore and the pigs she served — their wretched descendants are none other than you Ortenos trash! Enough already! Perish together with those Lanecki scum! Then, kneel before the glorious Naiaaa!”

I told myself to stay calm, warning the part of me that nearly boiled over at Balbat’s cheap provocation.

Behind me, my subordinates were clenching their jaws so hard that blood seeped from their lips, tears of blood streaming down their faces.

Especially Getrad — he had been one of the people directly involved in the royal usurpation incident back then. The humiliation he must have endured is beyond imagining.

As the Defender of Ortenos, the least I can do for them is to make Balbat regret every word while I tear his life away.

To increase my chances of success, I first need to shake Balbat’s spirit as much as possible.

“We bow to no one, and we yield to no one. Sixty years ago, you fools failed to capture Ilmina von Ortenos, the rightful heir to the Ortenos royal line. The flame left behind by that great heroic spirit still burns within us, unextinguished and unbroken, passed down without a single deviation. This flame will never fade until it has severed the heads of you Naia dogs and every fool who dares raise a hand against Ortenos.”

“Wh–! Enough of your nonsense!”

I could feel my words carrying a surge of magic, drawing out Balbat’s agitation.

Magic truly is a mysterious thing. It is deeply, intimately tied to one’s emotions.

Among the nobility, it is frowned upon to display emotions carelessly.

However, for those who lead factions, mastering their emotions and weaponizing them is a different matter.

The clumsy provoke only discomfort, but the skilled can turn emotions into a force of attraction.

“Are you afraid of us, descendant of usurpers, Balbat de Naia? While you sat pampered upon your false throne, playing at noble society, we have endured unending hardship, swallowing bitter suffering and drinking muddy water to survive. We are proud dire wolves, sharpening our fangs so that at any moment, we can tear out your throat.”

“Shut up! It’s Balbat von Naia! Correct yourself, you stray cur!”

‘Perfect. The bait’s set. Time to use what Getrad told me.’

It won’t be an honorable move.

Getrad hesitated slightly before explaining it to me, probably out of concern for my mental well-being, but such sentiment is unnecessary now.

Call it cowardly, call it underhanded — if it guarantees victory, then I will choose that path without hesitation.

“By the way, Balbat, how is your dear little sister doing these days?”

“!!”

They say Balbat has two breaking points.

One of them concerns his younger sister, the First Princess of the Naia Kingdom.

Apparently, this ties into some part of Balbat’s… abnormal proclivities, so he tends to avoid the topic altogether.

“I’ve heard your sister has lustrous hair like woven strands of gold, and that she’s a beautiful, delicate young lady. Is that true, Balbat?”

“…Shut your damn mouth! Don’t you dare talk about that damn bitch!”

The way he spat out『that damn bitch』caught my attention.

For someone who supposedly tormented her, there seemed to be too much hatred in his tone.

“Well now, if she’s truly that delicate and charming, I can understand, as a fellow man, why you wouldn’t want to let her out into the world. But actually attacking her? That’s another matter entirely, Balbat.”

“…You bastard, if you say one more word, I’ll kill you!”

He knows I’m provoking him, yet he hasn’t snapped completely.

He’s clinging to his noble composure — barely — but I can sense he’s close to breaking.

“You really are a hopeless case, Balbat. Tell me, why did you start preying only on young, innocent girls? You weren’t always like this, were you?”

“Wh… What the hell did you just say!?”

As expected, this is the real trigger.

Balbat’s second breaking point is this —

“Ah, I see now… You were abandoned, weren’t you? The fiancée you once loved ran away from you. That must’ve been a shock, huh? …Even so, your fetishes are completely deranged, Balbat.”

Balbat’s trauma concerning women — that’s the other pressure point.

“BUH—! I’LL KILL YOOOOOUUUUUU!”

With a thunderous roar, Balbat completely loses control, his magic bursting violently around him.

Near his『tanden』, the magical『gate』blazes with an intense, radiant light.

[Tanden” (丹田, たんでん) refers to a concept in East Asian cultures, particularly in martial arts and traditional medicine, that signifies the center of the body, energy, and spirit]

◇◇◇◇

Among the nobility, it is often said that『love does not exist』.

Parents decide their children’s fiancés and obedience is expected. To resist would risk escalating into a conflict between entire houses.

However, this creates a significant contradiction.

After all, nobles are still human. They naturally fall in love.

And when someone is born with the immense magical power of a Stellar-class being, a certain thought inevitably arises.

『Why should someone as powerful as me be forced into a marriage I didn’t choose?』

This simple idea takes root in many Stellar-class nobles.

Because of this, they tend to fall deeply, sometimes obsessively, in love with a single person.

For that reason, the arrogant, prideful nature of the nobility often clashes terribly with the rigid system of arranged marriages.

I don’t know what kind of relationship Balbat had with his former fiancée, but for her to have run away… that alone speaks volumes.

Balbat’s trauma explains why my words struck so deeply and why his control shattered so easily.

The shock Balbat suffered from living a life of obsessive, twisted love must have been immense.

I have no intention of sympathizing with him but I suspect the reason he developed a taste for young girls was because he began seeking someone who would never defy him.

Scandals like Balbat’s are far from rare in noble society.

The saying『Love and passion are fleeting』simply does not apply to the nobility.

“Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill…!”

Balbat cursed like a madman, rapidly condensing a massive amount of magic power inside his body at an explosive pace.

At the same time, however, Balbat was clearly exposing a weakness.

‘So, what should I do?’

I hesitated, uncertain whether I should just finish Balbat off instantly.

Because… there was another Stellar-class figure I had spotted in the south earlier and that bothered me.

If they were here to observe me, then I couldn’t afford to reveal too many of my abilities.

But, of course, an enemy isn’t going to wait patiently while I make up my mind.

‘…No time to overthink this.’

Before long, Balbat’s hair began to shine with a brilliant emerald-green light.

When a Stellar-class being enters full-blown combat rage mode, their body hair shifts to match the color of their magical attribute whenever they channel magic.

Balbat now thrust his right hand forward, preparing to unleash his spell.

“Shalka-sama, what’s going on?!”

Noticing that I was moving differently from what he expected, Getrad called out to me.

“…Getrad, we’re changing the plan. Sorry, but follow my instructions.”

“Hmm… I see. You have something in mind, then. Very well, Shalka-sama, I’ll place my trust in you.”

“Good. That helps. …Everyone, brace yourselves! A wind spell is coming! Use your Mana Shields to deflect it!”

I truly was glad to have Getrad by my side.

I immediately relayed orders to the entire unit, and the military officers began channeling magic into the bayonets of their rifles.

The tips of their blades gleamed as thin membranes of mana formed at the edges.

《Mana Shield》is a technique that creates a thin, temporary barrier of magical energy, specifically designed to deflect incoming spells.

I, too, poured magic into the pipe-like conduit of my weapon, forming my own Mana Shield.

“Disappear, Ortenos trash!”

Balbat unleashed a blade of invisible wind from his right hand.

It was a wide-area wind spell — an indiscriminate storm of slashing strikes — tearing through the ground and trees, leaving destruction in its wake.

‘This is…’

It was my first time seeing the magic of a Stellar-class being used in actual combat through my Mana Shield.

The way it gouged deep scars into the earth with a roaring sound was reminiscent of an aerial bombardment.

“Fuhahahaha! Die, die, die, DIEEEE!”

Balbat continued releasing wind spells relentlessly, like a broken doll stuck on one command.

If one of those hit me directly, even I would probably take some damage.

‘…So this is the typical firepower of a normal Stellar-class.’

After watching his magic, I concluded that Balbat was not the same kind of being as me.

In other words, his magic could not possibly deliver a decisive blow against me.

That didn’t mean I could afford to get careless, though.

“Everyone, just hold out a little longer! He can’t keep this up for much longer!”

“「Ggghhhhhh!」”

I was slightly worried about the military officers, but thanks to their current Mana Envelopment Doping state, they were managing to deflect even Stellar-class magic without any issues.

‘If we keep stalling like this, we should get through without suffering too many losses.’

After a while, Balbat’s attacks finally stopped.

“Don’t move! Stay on guard for a possible follow-up strike!”

Dust clouds rose all around us, cutting off our visibility, so I ordered everyone to stay alert.

I had already locked onto Balbat’s position using《Mana Detection》, and so far, he wasn’t moving.

After a while, the dust clouds finally settled.

“You managed to deflect all of my wind magic…? No, I see now — you must have deployed a Magic Barrier, didn’t you?!”

Balbat looked at our minimal losses and wore an expression full of suspicion.

Then, as if something had just occurred to him, he began speaking smugly.

“Hah?”

I tilted my head, not understanding what Balbat was going on about.

Magic Barrier refers to a spell that creates an invisible shield capable of completely nullifying magical attacks.

Its defensive capabilities are excellent, but the mana consumption is so absurdly high that I don’t normally use it.

It’s not like I have a problem with my mana reserves — I just prefer to save my mana whenever possible.

“Fuhahaha! There’s always a few idiots like you! Fools who, out of some soft-hearted concern for their subordinates, waste their mana and end up collapsing from mana exhaustion like complete morons!”

“…”

I really had no idea what Balbat was talking about.

My mana reserves were completely full and if anything, I had been forcing my men into harsher defensive measures rather than protecting them.

“I’ll give you credit for annihilating the ten thousand troops I left behind. But clearly, you overloaded your mana envelopment, didn’t you? Coming onto the battlefield without even properly mastering mana control was your fatal mistake!”

“…Ah.”

I see now — Balbat must have seen my abnormally dense mana coating and decided I was just some brat who couldn’t control his magic properly.

Why he insists on interpreting things in a way so convenient for himself is beyond me, but if he wants to keep misunderstanding, I won’t stop him.

Balbat’s hair shifted again, this time turning a deep crimson, as his entire body became wrapped in a red aura of mana.

He must have just applied《Physical Enhancement Magic》to himself.

Physical Enhancement Magic is a technique that empowers one’s body, improving both strength and resistance — an offensive and defensive spell in one.

“The game’s over! A brat like you deserves nothing less than being cut to pieces by my blade!”

Balbat drew the sword hanging from his waist.

Among nobles, the true essence of combat lies in close-quarters battle.

The moment Balbat leaned forward and kicked off the ground, his figure vanished from sight.

“Shalka-sama!”

“I know. Everyone, lay down suppressive fire!”

I heard the strained voice of a female officer behind me, but I calmly issued commands to the soldiers.

The rifles the officers carried weren’t designed for regular bullets — they were weapons made to fire 《Magic Bullets》.

To a Stellar-class being, such projectiles were no more threatening than being pelted with paper shuriken, but constant prickling attacks still served as an effective distraction and a source of irritation.

“Tch!”

Faced with the spread of coordinated suppressive fire, Balbat clicked his tongue and leapt high into the air, clearly abandoning the idea of breaking through head-on.

His point of descent was right where I stood.

“Die, Ortenos!”

An overhead slash.

Very well, I’ll meet it head-on.

I matched Balbat’s sword trajectory with the long pipe I held in one hand.

“Haaah!”

The instant our melee weapons clashed, our magic collided as well, and the very air around us trembled.

It was like trying to catch a falling star with my bare hands.

The ground beneath us cracked under the pressure and collapsed slightly with a heavy thud.

We exchanged blow after blow. Clang! Clang! The dull metallic sound reverberated as if blunt weapons were being smashed together.

Our weapons are known as Star Arms, forged from a special metal that does not break, even when wielded with the full, physically enhanced strength of Stellar-class beings.

They are also the only weapons capable of killing a Stellar-class.

My pipe was custom-made by the Ortenos family’s master blacksmiths but Balbat’s sword, no doubt, was also a masterpiece in its own right.

“Hah! What’s wrong, Orteeenos?!”

“Tch…!”

I pretended to barely hold my ground against Balbat’s relentless strikes.

This, too, was deliberate — an act to withhold unnecessary information from the unknown observer monitoring me.

“Die already, you little brat!”

“Uwah…!”

After exchanging several more blows, Balbat’s sword finally knocked my pipe aside, forcing me backward until I was cornered against a rocky outcrop.

“Haa… haa… Ortenos brat… you’ve done… better than I expected, I’ll give you that.”

Balbat, panting heavily, taunted me while catching his breath.

But I figured I had acted weak long enough.

“In that case, Balbat… mind if I ask you something?”

An enemy is most careless at the moment they believe they’ve won.

I decided to see if I could squeeze some information out of him.

“Ah, sure, I’ll indulge a dead man’s last question! I always act generous to those who’re about to die. But if I don’t like what you ask, I’ll cut you down right here and now!”

It seemed that, now that he thought I was beaten, Balbat’s tension had eased a little — his tongue was loosening.

Good. I’d take advantage of it.

“Then I’ll ask… what exactly is your goal here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? To make me the next king of Naia!”

“But Naia’s royal line is matrilineal. You shouldn’t even have the right to inherit the throne.”

“There is a way! If I kill Urgoll with this operation, I’ll achieve something even Grandmother herself couldn’t accomplish. After that, they won’t have any choice but to acknowledge me!”

So Balbat’s aim was, indeed, the throne.

The Naia royal house was historically matrilineal and male heirs were rare. But in this generation, the queen bore four sons in succession before finally giving birth to a daughter.

This deviation had fractured centuries of tradition and opened the door for men like Balbat to claim a right to succession.

“And what do you plan to do about the princess? Even if you defeat your grandfather, she’ll still be an obstacle.”

“Hah? What do you think? I’ll cooperate with the Hoshiros Marquisate and have her killed, of course!”

The Hoshiros Marquisate borders Ortenos on the northwest, separated by the frontier. They are one of our oldest enemies.

If what Balbat said was true, that would mean Hoshiros held a deep-seated grudge against Naia’s royal house.

But… was such an alliance even plausible?

“I see.”

“When I become king, I’ll personally send every last one of your family members to the afterlife. You can rest easy and die knowing that much!”

“…Hmph.”

Sure. The only one going to the afterlife here is you, Balbat.

I was about to think of my next question when Balbat spoke again — and his words stopped me cold.

“…But the next Ortenos heir, Ermia, is an exception.”

“…Hah?”

Ermia… my most beloved little sister.

To hear a name that is sacred to me — a name I revere as though it were divine — come from the mouth of this filth before me…

My voice came out low and sharp before I even realized it, a reflex born from pure instinct.

“You suddenly got all worked up, huh? …Ah, I get it now. That’s right, you’re Ermia’s half-brother, aren’t you? Kukuku… this is priceless! When I take control of Ortenatris, I’ll make sure to march there carrying your head!”

“…”

I’m letting my killing intent leak. That’s no good.

If I let myself be provoked by scum like this, it only proves I still lack discipline.

I’ve put on enough of a struggle for appearances already. All that’s left is to crack his skull open and be done with it.

“I wonder what Ermia will think when she sees your severed head, huh? Fuhahaha! Just imagining the famous White Princess crying her eyes swollen makes me shiver with excitement!”

“…”

Balbat’s face twisted into a sickening grin, drunk on his own deranged fantasies.

Every time Ermia’s name left his lips, my chest burned and my thoughts grew restless.

I remembered that day, six years ago — the day I saw Ermia drowning in grief.

And the oath I swore to myself: that no matter what happened, I would protect her.

“Slaughtering your entire family before your eyes sounds fun, too. Ermia, though… she’ll make the perfect toy. I’ll enjoy her for a long, long time, I bet.”

…Ah, I see. There’s no saving this man.

I can’t let him live.

A thick, tar-like blackness surged within me, drowning out every other emotion, staining my vision crimson.

In that moment, I remembered something important: I, too, am a noble.

“…What… did you just say?”

…No, wait. Calm down.

Don’t ruin everything here. My rational mind struggled to rein me in.

And yet, somewhere deep inside, a colder version of myself whispered that there was no longer any point in thinking.

Balbat’s reply was already obvious to me. I didn’t need to hear it — but I asked anyway, to confirm it.

“Ahh? Ain’t it obvious, you bastard?! The『White Princess of Ortenos』, the so-called『spitting image of the late Ilmina』you Ortenos dogs worship so much… I’M GONNA RAPE HER MYSELF!”

…So, you’re the kind of existence that deserves to have your very bones soaked in terror and agony.

I unconsciously loosened the cord at my collar with my left hand, while my right clenched the pipe so hard it creaked under the strain.

◇◇◇◇

‘…The atmosphere changed?’

It was as though gravity itself had multiplied and pressed down upon everything, a black, viscous heaviness in the air.

It was similar to the killing intent of a Stellar-class on the battlefield, the kind that pricks the skin like needles — yet this was far heavier.

Having fought in countless battles, Balbat immediately sensed that this was something entirely unnatural.

“Ready yourself, Balbat.”

The boy before him, so young he could hardly be called a man, rose like a phantom wraith, his voice sharp and bristling with menace.

That vague, cloudlike impression from before was gone without a trace.

‘…What is this quality of mana?’

It was a rough, grating mana, like that which nobles manifest when provoked into dragging forth their darkest emotions.

Balbat, who reveled in cruelty, should have been familiar with such a sensation. Yet the boy’s mana now stirred a primordial fear deep within him.

Though shaken by the drastic change, Balbat tried to regain the initiative with further provocation.

“What’s the matter? Did hearing me say I’d rape your sister upset you that much? Don’t get cocky! You, who just a moment ago couldn’t even control your mana properly, don’t you dare order me around!”

“I’ve no intention of wasting more words on you. If you refuse to ready yourself, I’ll split your skull like a tomato and end this here.”

No, it wasn’t his imagination.

The boy’s presence was unmistakably akin to those Stellar-class nobles who lived solely for battle, their instincts sharpened and free of hesitation.

Still, what of it? Nobles often awakened such instincts when their lives were threatened.

But no amount of scrambling could bridge the gap in power now.

“Hah! Don’t get ahead of yourself, brat! The one losing his head will be you!”

“…Here I come.”

Shalka lowered his stance — then vanished in an instant.

The force of his kick was so immense that tiles and rubble heaved upward, and clods of earth exploded into the air.

“Hah?”

A startled sound slipped from Balbat’s mouth.

In almost a single step, Shalka had already closed the distance to him.

“…Die.”

“! Tch—!”

Shalka’s Star Arm, a pipe-like weapon, was already raised high overhead, poised to come crashing down.

When Balbat’s eyes met Shalka’s cold, golden gaze, a chill ran down his spine and sweat burst across his skin.

‘This strike… this is bad!’

If he failed to deflect it, that blow would absolutely end him.

“Uwoooooh!”

Balbat moved almost purely by reflex, raising his sword into the weapon’s path to brace for the impact.

Had his battle-honed instincts not been razor sharp, his skull might already have been crushed by that first strike.

But his composure ended there.

As Shalka’s weapon came down without a shred of emotion, Balbat hallucinated the image of a giant star plummeting from the heavens to crush him.

‘Wh… what the hell is this!?’

Instinct alone had forced him into a defensive stance against that death-bringing strike.

The next instant, their Star Arms collided with a heavy, resonant crash.

Mana clashed against mana, producing a piercing, metallic shriek that rang through the battlefield.

Balbat gripped his sword with both hands, straining with a desperate expression as he tried to withstand the colossal strike.

“Gwooooooh! H-heavy! So damn heavy!”

The sheer weight of it made even his Stellar-class body scream in agony.

If he let up for even a moment, he would be crushed flat, smeared into the ground like a stain.

‘Damn it! At this rate, I’ll be flattened!’

The force coming at him head-on was unbearable.

In the next instant, Balbat chose to divert and deflect the blow rather than take it directly.

“Raaaaaahhh!”

With a desperate shout, he tilted his sword to the left, redirecting Shalka’s strike.

Shalka’s Star Arm smashed into the earth instead, driving deep with a thunderous roar and carving a massive crater into the ground.

A violent shockwave rippled out in all directions.

‘Shit! I need to put distance between us!’

While Shalka’s weapon was buried in the earth, Balbat lashed out with a kick and leapt back to disengage.

But suddenly, something felt wrong.

His balance was off, and before he realized it, his body toppled forward to the ground.

‘Hah…?! What just happened?’

He cast his eyes toward the strange sensation in his left arm and froze in horror.

The end of his left arm was… gone.

The cross-section was mangled, as if it had been minced into pulp.

The moment he comprehended what had happened, searing pain surged through him.

“A-a-aagh! It hurts! Fghhh—uuugh! Hhhaaaaghh!”

…He had dodged. He was sure he had.

And yet the boy before him had unleashed a power far beyond anything Balbat could have imagined.

“Wh… what the hell is this?! What the hell’s going on here?!”

For Stellar-class beings, their physical strength scales proportionally with the mana they carry within.

And Balbat was one who prided himself on his abundant mana — enough that, even against other Stellar-class foes, he could usually overpower them in close combat.

But Shalka was different. His strength was something aberrant, on an entirely different plane.

“I thought I put quite a bit of power into that, but I guess you managed to deflect it. You’re more stubborn than I expected, Balbat.”

“～～～～!”

Balbat’s face contorted, his terror only mounting as he realized those words weren’t meant as provocation. Shalka had spoken them honestly, without arrogance.

The difference in their power was that absolute.

Even Balbat’s desperate, all-out defense had amounted to nothing more than the resistance of an ant in Shalka’s eyes.

“…What the hell are you, really?!”

By now, even Balbat couldn’t delude himself into thinking this was just some noble brat.

“I already introduced myself. You’d better remember it.”

“That’s not what I’m asking! That power just now — what the hell kind of trick was it?!”

Shalka leveled his Star Arm — a weapon nearly twice his height — straight at him, his golden eyes devoid of emotion as he advanced.

That figure… it seemed like something out of a demon king.

…There must be some trick. No, there has to be.

“There’s no trick. I just hit you with a little bit of seriousness.”

“Don’t lie to me! I know damn well you’re that witless firstborn! There’s no way some mere so-called Defender brat could have more mana than me!”

Balbat pressed a《Healing Spell》onto his severed arm.

With a grotesque sound like time rewinding, the limb regenerated back into place.

‘…Close combat won’t work. I’ll have to crush him with magic.’

Balbat gathered his mana, preparing to unleash his maximum firepower on Shalka.

This time it wasn’t a sweeping, wide-range attack like before. He compressed it into a single, razor-sharp blade of wind.

This should be enough to grind even a Stellar-class opponent into minced flesh.

“A magic duel, is it? Fine by me.”

The calmness in Shalka’s voice filled Balbat with a sick premonition.

But a man never wants to believe the information that most threatens him.

‘…No, impossible. After that mana coating and the Magic Barrier, there’s no way he has anything left!’

Balbat bet everything on the assumption that Shalka was already running out of mana.

“Die, you little brat!”

Balbat unleashed his ultimate wind blade.

But Shalka didn’t move to defend.

Instead, he thrust his right hand forward — as though he intended to meet the spell head-on.

“You fool! Your pathetic magic can’t possibly break—”

Balbat’s words cut off mid-sentence.

Because he saw it — an overwhelming density of mana condensing around Shalka, so heavy it warped the air itself.

That was when Balbat realized that all of his assumptions had been fatally wrong.

Mana gathered into Shalka’s right hand, compressing tighter, tighter… then unleashed.

“――Meteor Ray.”

From Shalka’s palm exploded a colossal beam of light, thicker and more powerful than anything Balbat had ever seen.

His wind blade was erased instantly, death rushing upon him in the blink of an eye.

‘Hah?’

A blinding brilliance swallowed his vision whole.

If his reflexes had been even a fraction slower, he would already have been consumed and obliterated by that beam.

In the instant death loomed closest, Balbat’s sharpened survival instincts found him a single way out.

“…! Magic Barrier!”

Pouring out what remained of his mana, Balbat erected the greatest defense he could muster.

At the last possible moment, a dense wall of magical force appeared between him and Shalka’s Meteor Ray.

“bwahhh, that was too close!”

Behind the barrier, Balbat collapsed to the ground, cold sweat gushing down his face.

The sheer density of mana in that spell left him utterly overwhelmed.

“Haa… haaah? Hah, hah, hahah… I was dead, I was dead, that was death right there…”

Driven by terror, Balbat tried to calm his breathing, struggling to take stock of the battlefield.

‘I get it now! That brat… he’s carrying an absurd, impossible amount of mana!’

That explained the monstrous strength.

The only reason Balbat had lasted this long was because Shalka had been holding back.

He should have realized it earlier — during their melee exchange.

But his arrogance had blinded him.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it! What the hell is that monster?! Since when did Ortenos have something like this?!”

Shalka wasn’t just Stellar-class. He was beyond it.

As far as Balbat knew, the only beings who had ever surpassed the Stellar-class were his late grandmother, the war god Urgoll, and the great hero of Tsetia.

Even then, Balbat wasn’t sure if those three truly possessed the same vast well of mana that Shalka now wielded before him.

‘One Stellar-class isn’t even close to enough against something like this!’

Balbat was no stranger to combat.

It was precisely because of that experience that the Hoshiros Marquisate had entrusted him to face Urgoll.

Their calculation was that four Stellar-class combatants would be enough to bring Urgoll down and Balbat had agreed with that.

But now, looking at this monster before him, he dreaded to imagine just how many Stellar-class would be needed to subdue Shalka.

“Shit… what do I do? I have to run. But can I even escape? Damn it all! Tch—ahh, pain!”

As he racked his brain for some way to survive, a searing pain suddenly scorched through his left arm.

“A-ah… what the hell…?”

Balbat looked down at the source of the agony.

His left arm — had been burned pitch-black, carbonized into charcoal.

“Hah? Haaaaah?!”

He had no idea what had just happened. Confusion clouded his every thought.

When he glanced back toward the Magic Barrier, an unbelievable sight greeted him.

The supposedly impenetrable barrier was slowly, steadily crumbling.

“Why…? The Magic Barrier is supposed to be the absolute defense against magic, isn’t it…?”

A voice of despair leaked from Balbat’s throat.

It must have been where the beam leaked through the fractured barrier that had seared his arm.

At this rate, the Meteor Ray would burn straight through the barrier and reduce him to ash.

‘Do or die — I have to jump sideways! Go! Go! Go! Do it, now!’

Balbat hurled himself out.

The timing coincided perfectly with the moment when the Magic Barrier was entirely swallowed by the light.

His judgment was sound but his left leg did not make it in time.

“Gyaaaaaaaaahhh!”

A scream tore out of him, one unlike anything he had ever uttered before.

His left leg was engulfed by the beam, carbonized to charcoal, then crumbled apart into pieces.

Agony, pain beyond death itself.

“Cure… I need a Healing Spell…!”

He tried to squeeze out what pitiful dregs of mana he still had left, to cast the spell — when suddenly, a powerful Mana Wave ripped through his abdomen.

The sensation was unmistakable.

The『gate』of his mana had been sealed.

His body went numb, and he could no longer properly weave mana together.

“W-what…?! What the hell is this?! I can’t use magic?!”

He could not release mana.

It was something he had never experienced before.

He had known mana depletion before but this was different.

This was as if mana itself had been utterly erased from his body.

“Hah… hah… haaah… Aaaaaaghh!”

Faced with such an abnormal condition, Balbat hyperventilated.

A Stellar-class’s body is made powerful only through mana.

If it is stripped away, they become no different from the very『stardust』trash they look down upon — fragile, weak, pitiful.

For Balbat, a Stellar-class and a royal, this was the most unbearable humiliation imaginable.

“Hurts, doesn’t it, when you can’t draw out your mana, Balbat?”

The brat’s foot entered his vision.

Stripped of mana detection, he hadn’t even noticed how close Shalka had drawn.

“Gghh… you… what did you do to me?!”

“I hit the『gate』of your mana directly with an《Intimidation Orb》. You won’t be moving for a while.”

“Hah?! Hitting the『gate』directly is impossible! And I’m Stellar-class! There’s no way that could happen!”

“Ah, so you really don’t understand it yourself… I’ll have to be careful too, then.”

“Hah? What are you talking about…?”

The『gate』is no larger than the tip of a little finger — a tiny organ within.

It should be impossible to intentionally target it.

Such a thing would only be possible if emotions had been so thoroughly shaken that the flow of mana itself became fully visible.

Ordinarily, restraining a Stellar-class was only achievable by carving a sealing curse directly onto an unresisting opponent.

But Shalka had shown no sign of using such curse magic.

For Balbat, this was entirely unknown territory.

“Prince Balbat!”

“Don’t move. Try anything strange and I’ll crush his spinal cord.”

“Ghh…!”

Nephtis had tried to rush forward but the brat’s threat froze him in his tracks.

Right now, Balbat’s life and death were completely in Shalka’s hands.

His left arm and left leg burned away, his magic stripped, his body paralyzed.

‘Damn it, damn it all! Am I really going to die here?!’

The thought was unbearable.

To die at the hands of some incomprehensible monster like this — never.

But in the golden eyes glaring down at him, there was no hint of mercy.

◇◇◇◇

‘Well, that’s about enough.’

I had rendered Balbat completely combat incapable.

Between the massive 《Meteor Ray》 that burned away his left leg and left hand, he couldn’t move at all anymore.

Balbat had been more skilled than I expected.

Considering he managed to withstand my sure-kill combinations twice, being able to finish him here was no small victory.

‘Before the final blow, I should force some information out of him.’

By luck, I had managed to take him alive. There was no reason not to make use of the chance.

I crouched down and grabbed him by the hair, yanking his head up.

When I peered into his eyes, I was surprised to find that his fighting spirit had not yet completely vanished.

“Gghh, nghhh—”

“Balbat, you can no longer do anything. If you don’t want to die, then tell me everything you know about this operation.”

Of course, there was never any real choice of sparing his life but threats had to follow the form.

“Peh! Go to hell… Ortenos brat…!”

Balbat spat in my face.

His saliva slid down my cheek with a wet splatter.

Even without magic, the fact that he still had the guts to curse at me was impressive.

I raised my estimation of Balbat a notch.

“Balbat, you’ve already lost. If you talk, you won’t have to suffer anything worse.”

“Like hell I’ll talk… Ortenos scum…”

“…So be it.”

I hadn’t wanted to do this in front of the officers but as things stood, he wasn’t going to talk.

I would have to persuade him with a slightly… heavier hand.

“Balbat, right now you can’t even weave your mana.”

“Hah?!”

“Right now, you’re no different from stardust trash. What do you think will happen if you’re bathed in my mana in this state?”

“Wh-what do you mean, hah! Y-you can’t mean—!”

When I gave him a wicked grin, Balbat seemed to realize my intent.

I crudely gathered mana and let just a small amount seep into him.

In his current state, even that little was more than enough.

“Gghh! Wh-what is this—?! Gyaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Balbat shrieked like a beast.

It was as though the screech of a fork dragged across porcelain had been magnified a hundredfold, an unbearable sensation that began gnawing into his brain.

“St-stop it, stop! M-my head, my head’s g-going—going to break!”

“Your operation. Who is the mastermind behind it?”

I had already assumed that this Naia invasion scheme was not of Balbat’s own making.

For two reasons. First, his personality made it hard to believe he could plan something so meticulously.

Second, there was no real advantage for the Hoshiros Marquisate in backing him.

Balbat’s relations with the Naia royal family were poor. Supporting him as king would only risk incurring their wrath.

Therefore, the only way it made sense was if the true mastermind had offered some reward significant enough to justify such a risk.

“Ghhkkk! I—I won’t tell you! Nghh, no, stop, STOP IT! Aaaaghhh! Alright! It’s me, it’s my fault! Hhhhgyaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Balbat was still resisting, so I increased the pressure a little.

His wretched death-cries echoed through the battlefield.

‘Hmm… still hard to control properly.’

Because my mana reserves were so vast, I was terrible at delicate manipulation like this.

It was like trying to squeeze out a single drop of water from a faucet that would gush full force with the slightest twist.

A single mistake and Balbat would be sent straight to the heavens.

“Tell me. Who was it that connected you with the Hoshiros Marquisate?”

“Hiiihh! Nghhh, damn it, damn youuu…!”

Shaking all over, Balbat finally pointed a trembling finger at one of the officers.

So, it was that one.

A plain-looking soldier, the one who had tried to rush to Balbat’s aid when he collapsed earlier.

‘Really? Is that man truly the mastermind?’

On second thought, there was no way an ordinary officer could control a Stellar-class by himself.

It was only logical to assume that someone stood behind him, pulling the strings.

I mentally added that Naia officer to my list of suspects.

“Well answered, Balbat. Then let me ask you one more thing.”

“What the hell! You said if I talked, you’d stop—!”

“Hah? I never once said I’d stop at just one question.”

“!!!!”

Balbat glared at me, but he no longer had the will to resist.

That was how effective persuasion by mana truly was.

“Who were the actual operatives in this mission? There were you and the three Stellar-class from Hoshiros. Were there any others?”

“…No. Just four of us.”

Only four?

Then the Stellar-class that had been tailing us all this time must not have been part of Balbat’s group.

“Balbat, your arrival near Pekion Village wasn’t a coincidence, was it? You moved as though you already knew we’d be here.”

“…Hmph.”

Balbat gave only a snort, saying nothing.

“I’ll take your silence as confirmation. We advanced quickly, with no delays in our march. That means the only possibility is that there’s a traitor or a spy within Ortenatris, feeding information to you.”

“Fuhahahah! …Indeed!”

Still, I judged the spy theory unlikely.

Ortenatris checkpoints were strict, and the city’s outer walls were equipped with magical tools that detected mana signatures.

Sneaking in without being discovered would be next to impossible.

“Then who was it, Balbat? Who passed you our information?”

At my question, Balbat grinned with a warped expression and opened his mouth.

“Fuhahahaha… I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

I wondered for a moment if he was deceiving me, but he didn’t seem to be lying.

“The bastard wore a black robe of cognitive obstruction. I couldn’t see a face, a name, not even whether it was a man or a woman.”

“Tch. Cognitive obstruction? Then who the hell was it?”

If they needed cognitive obstruction, that meant they were someone who couldn’t reveal their identity publicly.

Since such robes were forbidden items, carefully regulated to prevent circulation among the nobility, it meant only a noble faction or armed group with resources could be behind it.

“…That one called themselves『Lynx』.”

“『Lynx』? …Never heard of them. And yet you trusted the words of such a shady figure?”

“Yeah. Didn’t seem like they were lying. And since you really did show up, that means their intel was genuine.”

“Where did you meet this Lynx?”

“Well, that’s…”

From then on, Balbat strangely began to answer my questions more straightforwardly.

I didn’t get much more useful information, so the matter would have to be pursued later — with the officer he had pointed out earlier.

This time had gone well by chance, but in the future it would be better to employ a persuader with finer mana control than myself.

“I’ve asked most of what I needed.”

“Then let me ask you one thing in return.”

“I have no obligation to answer any of your questions.”

“Hah, you’ve no intention of sparing me anyway, do you? Then telling you one thing for the road won’t bring me any curse in the afterlife.”

“…”

He already knew he wouldn’t survive, and yet he spoke with composure.

It was unsettling.

I had no intention of letting him live but I couldn’t help but wonder what he was getting at.

“On our way to Fort Ronchant, we were ambushed by a mysterious Intimidation attack. By now, the only one I can think of behind it is you. Well? Was that you?”

“Who knows.”

“Hah! You’re a poor liar. How did you get so much mana, brat? Where did you acquire that kind of power?”

Balbat’s fine features twisted into a slimy grin as he eyed me suspiciously.

Something about his phrasing caught my attention.

He spoke as though he were certain I had acquired my mana after the fact.

“My mana has always been like this.”

“That’s a lie. I can tell. But I can’t explain when or where you got that kind of power. And for an Imperial noble, it’s geographically impossible!”

Geographically? What in the hell was he talking about?

Don’t tell me this idiot was secretly an intellectual.

He’d played the fool all this time — he could stay that way, for consistency’s sake.

“Geographically? I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Tch. This is why I can’t stand ignorant little brats like you.”

Suddenly, Balbat started pulling a knowledge-mongering act.

It was true that House Ortenos was a newcomer among the nobility, focused on nothing but crushing Naia. Compared to other houses, their scholarly knowledge was lacking.

But for someone like me, who once lived in an age of information, that kind of arrogance was infuriating.

“And I can’t stand a pretentious pseudo-intellectual like you. Just hurry up and tell me everything you know.”

Though it grated on me to indulge him, I felt compelled to listen.

Because somehow, I sensed that what he was saying could unravel the mystery behind my own vast mana — something even I didn’t yet understand.

“Ortenos doesn’t have a corridor leading into Lost Grenia. Which means your possessing that much power is clearly unnatural!”

“Lost Grenia…?”

I found myself repeating the words unconsciously.

―――Lost Grenia.

They say it is an environment utterly unfit for human habitation.

They say fearsome monsters lurk there.

They say ancient relics lie buried there.

Lost Grenia is considered one of the most mysterious regions on the entire Atla Continent.

Geographically, it refers to the icy mountains north of the Tsetia Khanate, which lies to the Empire’s north, and north of the western Empire’s Weskeneel region.

But that is only the western side of the continent.

Lost Grenia also extends across the Shario Bay, the largest bay on the continent, to its eastern side.

And the Naia Kingdom lay connected by land to that eastern Lost Grenia.

“Tsetia? Or perhaps you went through Weskeneel to get into Lost Grenia?”

“Who can say.”

Balbat kept running his mouth, but honestly, I had no idea what he was talking about.

Still, I was beginning to piece something together — it sounded as though there really was some kind of method in Lost Grenia to amplify one’s mana.

“…That reaction… don’t tell me, you really don’t know anything?”

Tch.

Am I really that easy to read?

I was sure I hadn’t let it show on my face.

‘Should I play dumb? …No, pointless.’

“Yeah, and what of it?”

I turned the question back on him, feigning nonchalance.

“…Then that means you’re not a Replica…? No way. Could it be… you killed an Origin? Impossible! That should be unthinkable… and yet, that mana of yours—”

“?”

Balbat suddenly began muttering to himself, then froze as if he had reached some revelation.

His eyes widened, and he looked at me with an expression as solemn as if he had uncovered a hidden truth.

I tilted my head, utterly lost.

“Don’t tell me… you got that mana six years ago, during the Naia–Ortenos All-Out War?”

Balbat stared at me as if beholding something unbelievable.

――The Naia–Ortenos All-Out War.

At that time, tensions between Ortenos and Naia had been steadily escalating and six years ago they reached their peak.

Suddenly, Naia’s great armies surged forth, dragging not only the Ortenos Marquisate but also its vassals — the Nevrim Barony, the Aelshene Viscounty, and the Lanecki County — into the largest war either side had ever seen.

As the name suggested, it became a struggle for the very survival of both houses, and the Ortenos Plains where we now stood had been soaked red with blood.

In the end, the war reached a siege at Ortenatris itself, where dozens of Stellar-class lives were lost.

Among them was Elena, Ermia’s mother.

Though Ortenos scraped out a narrow victory, the cost was immense. The castle town lay in ruins, forcing the region to begin anew from a pile of rubble.

Not all the aftermath was grim, however.

Postwar reconstruction in Ortenos proceeded smoothly, and in just six years, its economy achieved a dramatic V-shaped recovery.

Today, Ortenatris could be said to be more vibrant than it had ever been before.

The reasons for this were many but those are a matter for another time.

Now, Balbat was suggesting that I had gained my overwhelming mana during that war.

“No. You’re wrong.”

I denied it immediately.

Truth be told, part of me wanted to clap and shout well done at his guess. But what foundation did he even have to make such a leap?

From our brief exchange alone, I couldn’t see how he had connected the dots.

But it was becoming clear: Balbat held information we didn’t.

‘Wait… am I letting him talk too much?’

I felt myself paying too much attention to Balbat’s words.

And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to cut him off.

Too many things about what happened six years ago remained shrouded in mystery.

And besides, who could say if I would ever again have the chance to hear such things straight from the mouth of an enemy Stellar-class.

“That year, the reason the Naia Kingdom army went so far as to incite the nobility and march against Ortenos… was because we acquired a certain piece of information.”

“A certain piece of information?”

“You must have heard it too. The rumor that spread around Ortenos and Naia. That in the fifty-fourth year of the Naia royal calendar, or year 146 of the Imperial calendar,『Ortenos will vanish』. A prophecy.”

“…Ah, that ridiculous doomsday nonsense.”

Just as in my previous life with Nostradamus’ prophecies, this world too had its share of absurd predictions.

In the years leading up to the all-out war, Balbat’s so-called prophecy spread with unnatural speed.

I had dismissed it as nothing more than a foolish superstition, but I remembered clearly how those around me trembled in fear of the prophesied day.

Of course, nothing of the sort happened — though entirely different problems did arise, but that was another matter.

In any case, prophecies in this world were a troublesome thing to deal with.

“Oh, and by the way, it was the Naia Kingdom itself that spread that doomsday tale.”

“Why spread such a baseless lie?”

“Because it wasn’t a lie. Prophecies are predetermined futures. That’s why we marched into Ortenos so boldly.”

There it was.

For some reason, people in this world clung stubbornly to their prophecies.

But if someone of Balbat’s standing believed in them so firmly, perhaps I had to reconsider.

If even those in power treated it as absolute truth, then maybe it was founded on something real.

“You seem awfully devoted to this prophecy of yours.”

“Fuhahahah! Devoted? I confronted them directly. There was no lie.”

“Them? Who are you talking about?”

“The Heir of the Oldest Stellar Bloodline — the Kaname of Divination Stars.”

“The Kaname of Divination Stars? What is that supposed to mean?”

“Fuhahahah, who knows…”

Balbat only chuckled darkly.

Clearly, he had no intention of answering further.

Getting this much out of him was already close to a miracle.

I considered pressing him harder, but felt little inclination to do so.

If only he would speak more clearly, perhaps I could piece it together.

“But in the end, the prophecy was false, wasn’t it? Ortenos did not perish.”

“Fuhahahah! And that’s what makes it strange! Prophecies have never been wrong before. Which is why we believe some irregularity must have occurred.”

“…An irregularity?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Six years of investigation turned up nothing… but today, looking at you, it finally clicked.”

“…”

“…You, six years ago, during the Star—”

Balbat’s words cut off abruptly.

Perhaps I really should have finished him sooner.

For a moment I had felt almost exhilarated, thinking I might finally put an end to the mystery of what had happened to me six years ago.

And in that moment—my mana sensing was late.

“Fuhahahaha! Brat, looks like luck’s on my side after all!”

Curiosity kills the cat.

Balbat’s left arm and left leg regenerated in an instant with a grotesque sound.

“…Ah, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

He must have regained his mana with the passage of time.

Smoothly, he wove his magic and fired a wind spell at the ground.

Dirt and dust filled the entire area, smothering our vision.

――The second round had begun.

‘…This one’s entirely on me.’

Losing sight of Balbat, I cursed my own softness.

I had thought it strange how readily he was answering my questions near the end — of course, he had been stalling for time, waiting for the chance to free himself.

“Shalka-sama, reflections can wait! For now, prepare for the attack!”

“…I know.”

I wanted to click my tongue at my own lack of focus, but Getrard’s voice brought me back to my senses.

…Calm yourself. Stay sharp.

At once, I activated mana sensing.

‘Damn.’

I caught the presence of a rapidly approaching mana signature.

A human silhouette suddenly appeared before me.

Just in time, I raised my pipe to intercept Balbat’s strike.

“Fuhahaha! Fine reflexes!”

Balbat swung again and again, then instantly disengaged.

If only he had chosen to flee outright, I could have finished him with long-range magic. But no — he intended to persist with close combat.

“A noble, playing the assassin?”

“Fuhahah! Call it what you like. But I won’t be careless again. I’ll kill you for certain!”

Hit-and-run tactics, then. Troublesome.

I thought of blasting away the spot where his mana flared — but then I noticed.

“With this, you won’t be able to cast, will you?”

“Tch… crafty bastard.”

The line of fire for my magic had my officers standing within it.

So magic was off the table.

‘A counterattack, then?’

But he had already measured my reach. The moment I moved in for a kill, he would break away. In this kind of obstructed vision, landing a decisive strike was difficult.

The way he clouded the field, probed at my weaknesses, it was clear Balbat had plenty of real battlefield experience.

‘Yes… finishing Balbat here was absolutely the right choice.’

It was hard to imagine Naia having many others of his caliber.

Only my senior brother-in-training, Eucrane, could match Balbat’s level.

If I could kill him here, it would lessen the damage Ortenos would face in the future.

But as it stood, I lacked a finishing move.

‘No helping it. I’ll use that.’

I drew a single gold coin from my pocket and clenched it in my fist.

Pouring mana into it heavily, I set it between my index and middle fingers.

At the next clash, everything would be decided.

◇◇◇◇

‘That brat… what the hell did he just do?’

Through the swirling dust, Balbat could sense Shalka weaving mana.

And yet, no spell seemed to manifest.

‘A bluff? …No. Better to watch carefully.’

Balbat gathered mana and unleashed a wind spell toward the source he sensed.

He felt it hit, but it must have been blocked by a『shield』.

‘Magic won’t settle this.’

Continuing hit-and-run tactics like this would only drag things out.

He was troubled by whatever Shalka had been weaving… but he couldn’t figure it out.

‘Run? Should I run?’

No. Turning his back on Shalka would be fatal.

His instincts screamed the truth at him.

‘――I have to kill him here. If I don’t kill this brat now, Naia is finished!’

Balbat slammed his foot into the ground and launched into a desperate assault.

Using his height advantage, he slashed down from above, spun into a horizontal cut, and followed with relentless strikes.

Shalka’s handling of his staff was skilled.

‘Damn it, he can block even this? He’s not just strong, he’s got technique too!’

Shalka’s strikes were frightening, but once Balbat got close, that long staff became unwieldy against a sword.

Balbat judged he could press the advantage and continued his flurry.

But by then, he had already walked straight into the trap.

――An Imperial gold coin?

From Shalka’s right hand, a single gold coin slipped and spun through the air.

Out of place on this battlefield, it tumbled, flashing in the dust as it fell.

Shalka stepped back and began deploying a『shield』.

‘What is he—?’

Balbat couldn’t understand Shalka’s intent.

But the next instant, he realized.

The coin struck the ground, bounced—then blazed with blinding light.

‘A massive mana reaction! Damn it, a shield—!’

――The Imperial gold coin detonated in a thunderous explosion.

◇◇◇◇

I had tried to restrain the blast so the officers wouldn’t be harmed, but it still caused greater destruction than expected.

Thick black smoke curled high into the sky.

“Khahh, khhh… Did I get him?”

I confirmed that the 《Mana Bomb》 had triggered properly.

A magic that creates a powerful explosive by imbuing a highly mana-conductive material with special mana.

The detonation can be set to occur at a chosen timing or under specific conditions.

This time, it had ended up being a self-destructive gambit, but thanks to my high mana resistance — and activating another『shield』— the damage to me was virtually nothing.

Balbat, on the other hand, likely hadn’t even had time to summon a shield. He would have been blasted apart, suffering catastrophic damage.

“Well then… did that finish Balbat off?”

As the smoke cleared, I spotted a human leg protruding from behind a rock.

The ground around it was soaked in blood. He must either be dead or critically wounded behind that boulder.

I walked forward to confirm the corpse.

But midway, I noticed something was wrong.

“…A leg?”

What lay there wasn’t Balbat’s corpse at all — just a severed human leg.

‘Damn it, a trap.’

The moment I realized—

Behind me came the crash of rubble shifting.

I turned, cold sweat breaking down my back.

What I saw was Balbat, bloodied, standing with only a single arm and a single leg left, yet still raising his sword.

Such tenacity.

He must have hidden himself among the rubble, suppressing his mana to the very limit in order to evade my mana sensing.

Faced with such resolve, even in an enemy, one could only call it admirable.

“Got youuuuuu!”

Balbat roared as he charged.

For the first time, I felt the presence of death, and every nerve in my body came alive.

It was perhaps something close to what they call a deathbed vision.

Balbat’s movements appeared unbearably slow.

Without thought, I gathered an explosive surge of mana and poured it into my pipe.

Blue-white lines ran along the pipe, and from its tip burst forth brilliant light, shimmering like a nebula.

“Hah…?”

If one were to state it plainly, it was nothing more than the difference in physical performance — I simply moved faster.

Lowering my stance, I swung the pipe in a countering horizontal arc.

That strike severed Balbat’s Stellar-class body, star weapon and all.

“Guhh…”

With a wet thud, Balbat’s upper body collapsed to the ground.

From his sundered body poured forth a torrent of blood.

Left as he was, Balbat would surely die.

And yet, because of the strength of a Stellar-class body, he would linger for some time.

I felt a faint pang of reluctance, but decided to grant him a swifter end.

“…So, you were… a Demon-Extinguishing Mage… after all… Gohh… But this radiance, this… light…”

Balbat uttered strange, troubling words, but there was no longer any need to prolong his life.

I raised the pipe overhead.

“Wait… don’t… don’t kill me… Y-Yes, that’s it… I could even join you… If you and I joined hands, we could seize this entire continent in our grasp…”

Balbat began to beg for his life.

But I would not stumble into the same trap twice.

“…Sorry. I decided long ago I’d end you here.”

It wasn’t as though I hesitated to kill but still, the words slipped out like a poor excuse.

Perhaps it was a final courtesy to the man who would die for my sake.

And so—

I severed his head.

◇◇◇◇

As usual, I swung the pipe to fling off the blood.

The shimmering mana that had been venting from its tip hissed away with a faint shuuuu… and vanished.

That was when I noticed my hand gripping the pipe was trembling.

It must have been the sheer weight of cutting through a Stellar-class body — the sensation lingered like a numbing ache.

It was like the sting one would feel after striking a slab of concrete with an iron pipe.

‘…A body fundamentally unlike a fragile thing that breaks with a single blow. A body far tougher, even, than Balbat’s… and mine is one of them now.’

When I compared my former self to the Stellar-class self I had become, I shivered faintly.

I understood well enough that in this world, physical strength was of supreme importance.

But I couldn’t shake the fear that I was losing something human in the process — humanity itself, perhaps.

‘…Well. It’s too late to dwell on that now.’

The time I’ve spent in this world has already overwritten my former values and ethics many times over.

‘…I want to see Ermia.’

The thought slipped out unbidden.

My dearest sister, with whom I had grown up since infancy, who had supported me through suffering and hardship.

For Ermia, I would even cast aside my humanity if need be.

Before I realized, the trembling in my hand had stilled.

“…He’s not still alive, is he?”

I turned my gaze toward Balbat’s still-warm corpse.

The first Stellar-class I had ever killed.

He had been so tenacious that I half-expected him to start moving again even now.

Just to be sure, I tapped the fallen head’s temple with the tip of my pipe.

“Phew… he’s properly dead.”

At last, I could exhale.

I suppose I’d been intimidated by the very existence of the Stellar-class all along.

Until now, I hadn’t truly believed I’d be able to fight in earnest — or take a life.

“…My congratulations on the subjugation of the usurper’s bloodline.”

“Getrard.”

“…Shalka-sama, the victory cry.”

“Ah, yes, of course.”

Getrard offered me words of praise, though his expression was stiff.

I had been a bit too free with my methods.

I couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of the scolding that surely awaited me.

But for now, I had a duty to fulfill.

I raised my voice.

“I, Shalka de Ortenos, have slain the enemy commander, Balbat!”

“Oooooooohhhhhhh!”

The officers roared their cheers in unison with mine.

…Like something straight out of a Sengoku war tale.

“Shalka-sama… your orders?”

“Mm, right.”

So soon — barely had the words left my tongue.

Before us still remained the remnants of Naia’s army, centered around a thousand Satellite-class soldiers.

“B-Balbat-sama is…”

“Damn you! You killed Balbat-sama!”

“M-Maybe… maybe we should run?”

The Naia remnants were already at the height of chaos.

Their morale had collapsed and some had begun to flee.

I couldn’t allow them to scatter, only to become bandits around the borderlands.

“Everyone, annihilate the Naia remnants! Take the commanders and any of the arrogant ones alive!”

I amplified my voice with magic and gave the order to the officers.

“Uooooooohhh!”

The Naia army, having lost its commander, was nothing more than a rabble of crows.

Against the five hundred cavalry empowered with my mana coating, they were no more than scraps of paper.

◇◇◇◇

“Phew, somehow we’ve achieved our objective.”

Watching the officers clash with the Naia remnants, I let my mind wander.

The duel with Balbat had been full of the unexpected. Though I never truly struggled, there were several moments that forced me to focus hard.

As a first battle against a Stellar-class, it had been tough but precisely because of that, it was a fight full of lessons.

Perhaps it was a blessing that my opponent was Balbat, a man I could kill without hesitation.

‘Still… what was that final strike?’

The technique I unleashed in desperation as Balbat closed in.

I poured an absurd amount of mana into it, and somehow the blow had been strong enough to cleave even through a star weapon.

The absurdity of it — performing a『slash』with what was essentially a blunt pipe — was not lost on me.

“Another mystery added to the list.”

The dazzling, otherworldly mana that burst from the tip of my pipe had been different from the red glow of body reinforcement or the hues of other elemental magics.

And Balbat’s final words echoed in my mind.

『So you were… a Demon-Extinguishing Mage…』

―――A Demon-Extinguishing Mage.

It made the most sense to assume that term was tied to the sheer volume of mana Balbat had been so fixated on.

I would simply have to uncover the truth, piece by piece.

If no one knew, then perhaps I could research it at the Academy.

But more immediately…

“I really should give that new technique a name.”

Like《Intimidation Orb》, it needed a proper, cool name.

After all, I was likely the only one in this world capable of using it. Even something ridiculously embarrassing would be fine.

Annihilation☆Star-Cut, Shiny Shiny Illusion Attack, Glittering Blade, Annihilation Nebula Slash: Eliminate Nebyura Slash…

…Wait, hold on.

If someday I had a son or daughter, and I passed this down as a secret technique… what would they think?

Me:『My son, the time has come to teach you… the Shiny Shiny Illusion Attack.』

Son:『…』

…Yeah, that’d be bad.

I couldn’t risk saddling them with a terrible name.

My naming sense was utterly catastrophic.

If my children had to chant a technique name while blushing in shame, it would jeopardize my dignity as their father.

…Better to take my time and think of something worthy.

“Well then… I can’t leave this alone any longer.”

There was still one last task before me.

Glancing at the officers hammering the Naia remnants, I once again activated detection magic.

Sending out a mana pulse, I pinpointed the mana signatures in the area.

And there, ten kilometers south — an unidentified Stellar-class.

“…So, there’s still one more. How leisurely of him.”

I would label this one Stellar-class A.

Thanks to Balbat’s stubborn resistance, I had already revealed more of my hand than I would have liked.

And since Stellar-class A’s allegiance was unknown, I couldn’t afford to leave him unchecked.

I worried for Grandfather, but now that Balbat’s march on Ronchant Fortress had been stopped, that standoff should remain just that — a standoff.

Which meant, if I was to uncover the identity of Stellar-class A, now was the best opportunity.

“Tch, guess I’ll be working overtime for once.”

I whistled with my fingers to call my steed.

Hihiiin!

“Easy, easy. I’ve got one more job for you, Dolly-chan.”

With a quick hop, I vaulted onto Dolly-chan’s back.

Just as we were about to set off, Getrard stepped in front of me.

“Shalka-sama, where exactly do you intend to go?”

With his body glowing with the red streaks of mana-coating doping, Getrard looked like a raging demon.

A chill of cold sweat ran down my back.

‘Hmm, this is gonna be hard to explain.’

If I tried to convince him, I’d have to start from the detection magic, and honestly, I couldn’t be bothered.

Nor could I think of a reasonable excuse why a commander like me should act alone.

“…Something came up that I need to confirm. I’ll be back within the hour.”

“Without an explanation, I cannot agree.”

…Of course.

Well, it wasn’t fair to call Getrard stubborn.

If anything, it would be more convenient later to have spoken plainly now.

So I decided to tell him about the existence of the unknown Stellar-class A.

“…I understand the situation. If that’s the case, then please, allow us to accompany you.”

Getrard agreed that confronting Stellar-class A was necessary, but he refused to let me go alone.

Not that it was unexpected.

“No. I’ll go by myself.”

“Why? To go alone is far too dangerous!”

“Because I can catch him on my own. If the cavalry all pursue, Stellar-class A might slip away.”

The distance was about ten kilometers.

To close it would be difficult even with mana coating.

And if he crossed the border, there would be no way to chase him further.

“…Even if I try to stop you, you’ll go?”

“Yeah.”

I met Getrard’s eyes with firm resolve.

Naturally, I was prepared to fight if the unknown Stellar-class turned out hostile.

“…Then forgive an old soldier for some nagging. First, my congratulations on defeating the Naia bloodline. And I accept the explanation about the unidentified Stellar-class. But I must say this: your lack of caution is grave. Why did you not sever Balbat’s head the moment he was incapacitated? Have you forgotten how many Stellar-class Naia felled in the war six years ago?”

“…I prioritized information. Not killing Balbat immediately was my weakness. Forgive me.”

To Getrard, one’s life outweighed information. His creed was that Naia must always be crushed completely when the chance arose.

“To show mercy to a Naia is impermissible. Complacency, in time, will become the disaster that strikes you down. Yes, I know well you hold vast mana, Shalka-sama. But there are many Stellar-class who will fight with cunning tricks like Balbat. A Stellar-class such as Lord Urgorl — vast in mana yet tempered with battle experience — could just as easily stand before you as an enemy someday.”

“…Yes. You’re right.”

If I fought Grandfather now, who would win?

In a prolonged fight, I would hold the advantage. But in a swift decisive battle, his experience might well overwhelm me.

“Please be aware of this, Shalka-sama. You overestimate your own power too easily. Never again act as you did before the enemy today.”

Getrard’s tone was harsh, but just.

“…Yeah. I’ll carve it into memory.”

The words struck home so hard that the hierarchy felt reversed.

Truly, someone like Getrard, who could speak to me without holding back, was invaluable.

At the same time, though… I had no intention of changing my ways.

If I had done as Getrard said, I would never have obtained the information I did. To be destroyed out of ignorance is something that must never be allowed to happen.

Certainly, Naia remains an enemy that must be crushed. But to prevent unforeseen circumstances, information must be seized, no matter the cost.

“Yes, please make sure to truly reflect on this incident. I will be reporting the entire course of events to the Master, so be prepared for that.”

“…Eh.”

So my lecture from Father was now guaranteed.

Most likely, my first task after returning to Ortenatos would be to attend the『Council of Lords』.

Whether I was denounced or praised was yet unknown, but depending on how I conducted myself, my evaluation within Ortenos could shift drastically.

“…And, I have one suggestion.”

Suddenly, Getrard revealed the face of a strategist.

That sly smile, like a wicked old devil, was hard on the heart but if he was an ally, he was most reassuring.

“What is it?”

“How about this: we march immediately and take Bangwall Fortress.”

The unexpected proposal caught me off guard.

“Bangwall Fortress? Why there?”

“Bangwall Fortress is one of Naia’s critical strongholds. If we capture it, we can greatly hinder any Naia army attempting to cross the Elhoro River.”

“…Hm.”

That much was true. Naia would lose its bridgehead position west of the Elhoro River, while we would gain an overwhelming advantage.

Better to secure it ourselves than leave it in enemy hands; the value was clear.

“Furthermore, with the enemy’s main force focused here and at Ronchant Fortress, Bangwall Fortress should now be left undermanned. This is the time to strike.”

“I see. But I will soon be temporarily absent. What do you intend to do during that time?”

“We will return first to the hills of Pekion and join with the citizen militia. After that, we will march on Bangwall Fortress and begin the siege.”

I see… after I deal with Stellar-class A, I would regroup with them at Bangwall and conduct a joint assault.

It was certainly a bold plan.

Had I been alone, the thought of seizing Bangwall Fortress would never have even crossed my mind.

Having a strategist like Getrard truly was a blessing.

It might end up adding yet another achievement to my name, but after slaying Balbat, one or two more wouldn’t change much.

“…Very well. We’ll go with that plan.”

“Shalka-sama, I beg you, take care. And above all, do not forget what I have already said to you…”

“Are you done scolding me already?”

“Yes. I’ve said all I needed to.”

So saying, Getrard smiled like a kindly old grandfather.

Truly, a terrifying old soldier.

“Understood. Once I’m finished, I’ll head straight to Bangwall Fortress. But if any unforeseen situation arises, you are to return to Ortenatos at once. Clear?”

“Yes, understood.”

I seized Dolly-chan’s reins and spurred her into a gallop.

Thus the two-pronged operation began. But since I had chosen to act alone, I would have to catch Stellar-class A without fail.

“Dolly-chan, this is going to be a heavy load, but bear with me.”

Hihiiin.

I cast a certain spell upon Dolly-chan.

It was the very first original spell I had ever devised, one that was extremely restricted in use — a sort of forbidden magic.

Difference Between『von』and『de』in Noble Titles

In many fictional and historical settings — especially those inspired by European aristocratic systems — prefixes like von and de indicate different ranks or origins:

“von” (Germanic origin) → implies high nobility or royal bloodline.

Literally: “of” or “from,” but often used exclusively for royal or ancient noble houses.

In this setting, Naia’s royal family traditionally uses “von” to signify their sovereign status.

“de” (Romance origin) → often denotes lesser nobility or even non-royal landholders.

It can still mean “of” or “from,” but lacks the prestige associated with von.

So, switching someone from “von” to “de” strips away their royal dignity and downgrades them to common nobility at best. Hope you understand.