"How unpleasant."
Far away, Arphia muttered in a displeased voice as she felt the countless gazes through the crystal, prickling against her skin.
"It's always like this during a War Game. Why make such a fuss about it now?"
"It was unpleasant then, and it's unpleasant now."
The feeling of being watched one-sidedly was unpleasant no matter how many times she experienced it.
Even more so because it felt as if she had been turned into nothing more than a spectacle.
Melhen, the port city. In a place that still looked like a ruin, with debris piled high, many heroes and warriors had gathered and were all staring in one direction.
Aside from the cloudy sky making things a little dim, it was a place where only the cool wind and the sound of waves breaking could be heard.
But everyone here knew.
They could feel it beyond those clouds: the incarnation of violence was coming, ready to smash everything to pieces.
They felt it in their skin, in their instincts, in their souls. They had felt it.
On the faces of those who had been certain of victory until they arrived here, unease began to surface.
Could it be. Maybe. Were they going to lose this battle—
"Why should I be reduced to a spectacle in the first place?"
"It's different from a War Game."
It was different from a War Game, where they had simply been treated as something to watch.
"This is a safety measure, isn't it?"
So people can run away quickly if we lose.
The Empress's voice said that, and though it did not tremble, it held no satisfaction either.
She thought it was only natural. She, too, had felt a great deal of displeasure at this situation, but once she arrived here, that feeling vanished completely.
Even the air felt different.
The Empress, who could casually roam the deep levels of the Dungeon, had been overwhelmed for an instant by the heavy atmosphere.
This is dangerous. She did not know what was dangerous, but it was terribly dangerous.
Everyone thought the same thing. That this battle might end in a one-sided defeat.
That maybe that device really would become their final safety measure.
The Empress, the giant, and everyone else thought the same.
"Nonsense."
Except for one person.
"You're going to let something like that go where Meteria is?"
Her eyes flashed, so fierce that anyone looking would feel a chill.
"Don't talk nonsense. I'll tear you apart right here and now."
At Arphia's words, the Empress's eyes widened slightly.
"So this girl can say things like that..."
A mage who, together with her, had vied for first and second place in Hera Familia.
A woman who suited Hera Familia perfectly: a venomous speaker, arrogant and haughty, yet colder and more rational in judgment than anyone else.
That woman was burning with fighting spirit. No—she was burning with killing intent, ignoring even the resonance of her soul.
"Did something happen?"
Before she knew it, she was asking that.
Even if she thought of it as a fierce struggle for Meteria, the Empress simply asked calmly if there was some other reason.
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"It's strange. I thought you'd prefer moving Meteria somewhere else from the start, rather than leaving her in Orario."
"Nonsense. Do you not know Meteria's condition?"
She did know. Hera had thrown a fit, insisting that she not take her eyes off her for even a moment.
Since Meteria became pregnant, the Empress had watched over her for such a long time that it would not be an exaggeration to say she had spent the most time by her side.
"It looks like she'll give birth soon."
"And you know that, yet—"
"Exactly. That's why she should have been moved."
Arphia fell silent. Because that was exactly right.
If Arphia lost, the chances of Meteria, whose birth was imminent, escaping in time were extremely slim.
For safety's sake, it would have been better to move Meteria outside the city in advance. Hera would not have objected either.
And yet they had left Meteria in Orario and gone to the battlefield...
"Who is it? Did you get a man or something?"
"...It's because of my nephew."
"Oh, really?"
The Empress thought she was already being overly protective over a nephew who had not even been born yet.
She was about to grin and tease her, but that never happened.
The Empress's expression vanished. So did everyone else's.
Their relaxed expressions from moments ago froze over with fear, and all eyes turned in one direction.
The peaceful sea breeze began to mingle with a black aura.
"...It's here."
Beyond the screen, the rabbit saw it.
The manifestation of the end, the thing that would destroy everything.
A black body, darker than the storm clouds, descending through them.
Its size was smaller than expected. It could not even be compared to Leviathan, and it was smaller than Behemoth as well.
And yet no one could feel at ease.
Because though its body was small, the Black Dragon was the greatest thing of all.
Its overwhelming presence gnawed at the world.
As despair settled beyond the screen and everyone forgot even how to breathe, the wind blew.
A black wind that would sweep everything away.
The instant the Black Dragon's wings beat and were about to sweep the heroes away—
"[Gospel]- [Satanas Bellion]!"
Sound raced forward, as if to stop the black wind.
The two forces hurtled toward each other at terrifying speed, collided in the blink of an eye, and after a tense struggle, both burst apart at the same time, as if by agreement.
It was canceled out. And it was canceled out in return.
Arphia's full-power magic, undone by a single beat of wings.
And then the wings beat again.
"What—"
Before Arphia could even prepare her next attack, the black wind surged in again, catching her off guard. In that split second, it came right up to her face.
Arphia was almost swept away by the black wind as it was.
"Not a chance!"
Woom— The space warped, and the wind passed harmlessly by the expedition force.
Throb—!
"What the...?"
Her body felt like it was creaking from the inside.
With only one defense, it felt as if a huge chunk of her strength had been torn out of her entire body.
Cold sweat ran down the Empress's cheek.
She had thought it was strong, but it was far stronger than she had imagined.
It was casually firing off attacks like this. No, not even attacks—just wingbeats. And the two strongest mages in this place had to give everything they had just to stop them.
To think it could keep unleashing such things one after another as if they were a passive ability.
It was obvious that if they let those wingbeats continue, total annihilation would come before long.
"Then we'll destroy the wings first."
Waver. Far above the Black Dragon's position.
In a place outside the Black Dragon's field of vision, the space trembled, and in an empty spot, a giant man appeared.
He held a massive pillar and wore thick leather.
"[The Sound That Rings the Skull]."
The giant's magic came crashing down from the sky.
Like a bolt of lightning, he plunged toward the Black Dragon. BOOM! With an enormous shockwave, the Black Dragon's altitude dropped in an instant.
The giant—
"..."
The giant's expression hardened. The sensation in his hand was not normal.
'I was going to smash it.'
He had not expected to end its life with that one strike. But he had attacked as if he intended to.
He had aimed straight for the head, the weak point of any living creature, expecting at the very least to break a few scales. For a feat of the giant's usual caliber, that was an almost timid thought.
But even that modest hope was not granted.
Looking at the scales that had not even been scratched, the giant swallowed dryly. At any other time, he would have been the one overwhelming his opponent, but in this moment, he was the one being overwhelmed.
Thud—! The Black Dragon and the giant fell together.
Correction. Not together.
The Black Dragon, struck by the giant's full-power blow, lazily swung its tail as if annoyed.
That alone made the giant feel as if a massive meteor had fallen on him.
In truth, a meteor would have been better.
"UOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
With a thunderous shout, he swung the pillar in his hand and knocked the Black Dragon's tail aside.
KAGAGAGAGAGAK!!!!
He tried to knock it aside.
The pillar and the tail spewed sparks as they tried to force each other back. Trembling at the hardness of a body part that should not have belonged to any living creature, the giant roared again and poured even more strength into stopping the Black Dragon's strike.
The struggle, which had been slowly tilting, reached a stalemate. Good. If this was enough...
The moment the giant thought that, something changed.
It was not even really a change. The Black Dragon simply twisted its body a little. That was all.
It put a little more force into the tail that had been swinging in such a clumsy posture.
And with that alone, the tense struggle tipped over in an instant.
"What the—!"
The giant gasped. In his eyes, what he had been holding was no longer a pillar.
Adamantite. Unlike orichalcum, it did not deal as much damage, and unlike mithril, it did not conduct mind especially well. Its defining trait was its indestructibility.
It was not that it could never be warped. It could bend, or even crack.
But it was a weapon that would never break, no matter what. That was its nature.
That obvious law had just been smashed without a care.
Thump! The tail struck the giant dead on. Like a ball, he was sent flying far away in an instant. He broke through the ground, split the sea apart, and was hurled until he was finally driven deep beneath the water.
"..."
Silence fell. One of the strongest fighters had been sent flying without even being able to raise a hand or foot.
The overwhelming difference between child and adult, stretched to an impossible extreme.
Only then did everyone there understand what true despair was.
Thud. One half of the pillar, drifting in the air, fell to the ground and shattered the silence.
The battle had not even begun yet.