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Translator: thursdays Editor: Yahiko PR: LightBrin
6.
The wedding hall was thrown into chaos.
“Kyaaah!”
“Good Lord, w-what is…”
In the sunsetting horizon, there was a fissure.
The red sky shattered like a glass window. Blood dripped through the cracks. I reinforced my eyesight with aura and looked up at the sky.
[The apostle of ‘The Ox that Harvests Ruins’ has manifested.]
There was a girl with a huge hammer.
[The apostle of ‘The Warhorse of the Eternal Plains’ has manifested.]
There was also a general on a pegasus that was flapping its wings.
[The apostle of ‘The Evangelist of Everlasting Happiness’ has manifested.]
Young children danced strangely, holding hands.
“W-what…”
The wedding guests looked at everything in shock. The cracking red sky alone was an unbelievable sight, and with the unidentified beings coming out of the cracks, they couldn’t pull themselves together.
Except for three people.
“They’ve arrived.”
Raviel, the Heretic Questioner, and I were ready to fight back. Among us, Raviel was the one who had the power to command others.
“Special ops, assemble and protect the guests! Imperial Spirit Troop, gather the civilians! My vassals, evacuate the guests!”
My bride and duchess of the empire, Raviel, yelled at the bewildered guests—specifically, her vassals. People’s shoulders flinched.
She was rallying the troops.
Strangely, when Raviel called them out, they magically came out of their daze. There was no better person than the head of the second noblest family in the empire to use that “magic.”
“Blue Lion Knights, form your ranks!”
“Your Excellency, just what are those—”
“Save your questions. Stay alert and observe the enemies. You are the protectors and leaders of the empire. If you’re going to act up in front of me, relinquish your titles! Understood?”
“U-understood!”
Raviel organized the hall in an instant. Even the soldiers and nobles who were not under her command obeyed her orders.
They felt something, instinctively. They didn’t understand why the sunset in the sky was shattered nor why some unknown apostles appeared, but they knew if they followed Raviel Ivansia’s voice, they could get through this situation.
“Can you figure out their abilities?”
Raviel asked the Heretic Questioner after rattling off a series of instructions.
“Yes! Just a moment!”
The Heretic Questioner made some hand signs. A white light flared from his hands. The light stretched out into the sky like a beam, and in an instant, it passed over the apostles from the other worlds.
“Mm. Analysis complete! First of all, that lady with the giant hammer over there—”
However, the Heretic Questioner couldn’t finish his words. Did she interpret the beam as a challenge? The apostle wielding the hammer jumped from the sky.
Her blonde hair fluttered as she slammed the ground with the huge iron hammer.
Booooom!
The ground was literally upturned. Screams echoed.
The wind pressure of the strike alone caused a tornado to form. The red and white flowers that had been imported from the southern part of the empire for the wedding were whisked messily into the air. Amid the hundreds of flowers, blooming and scattered, the apostle’s eyes burned red.
-Raviel Ivansia!
Her eyes and voice were somewhat familiar.
-I won’t give you a thing!
Shockingly, the apostle looked exactly like the Lady of the Golden Silk.
“L-lady of the Golden Silk…?”
“Why does she look like that?”
The guests chittered suspiciously. The Lady of the Golden Silk was a celebrity, too, even if she wasn’t as famous as my husband. It was natural that many people recognized her face. Some of them astoundedly looked back and forth between the apostle and the Heretic Questioner.
“Hmm.”
The Heretic Questioner quietly muttered, “This isn’t good.”
“That’s probably the noumenon of the Lady of the Golden Silk.”[1]
“Noumenon?”
“Put simply, it’s like the devil is grasping onto her soul. Instead of borrowing the power of the Constellation, she’s giving it the entirety of her abilities, appearance, and memories! Aha. That lady probably had a wish she really wanted to fulfill, no matter the cost. Interesting…”
The recipient of the Heretic Questioner’s interest was swinging her hammer.
Whooosh!
People were blown away by the wind pressure of the hammer. However, the knights who had learned martial arts endured with clenched teeth. They were still confused, but they had realized one thing. The woman who resembled the Lady of the Golden Silk was not their ally.
“S-stop her!”
“Protect the guests!”
“Obey the duchess’s commands!”
The emergence of a clear ‘enemy’ rallied our forces. The strongest warriors of the empire, whom Raviel had invited as guests and security for this day, rushed forth with their swords raised. Their movements were refined. It was an advanced pincer attack.
The Golden Silk scoffed.
-Whatever. You all follow Raviel Ivansia’s directions, anyway.
Dozens of warriors attacked at once.
-I’ll destroy everything before I give anything up to her.
Dozens of blades carrying Auras rained down simultaneously, but twang…! The blades bounced off the Golden Silk’s skin.
“What…?!”
Dumbfounded cries scattered the place. The Golden Silk was not injured a bit. Some warriors pressed on, unfazed. They swung their swords again, but it was no use. Every sword was blocked by the clothes the Golden Silk was wearing. Auras could only singe the Golden Silk’s clothes.
-Ox that Harvests Ruins!
The Golden Silk struck with the hammer.
-Give me your blessing!
Squish! Crushed under the hammer, one fighter burst like a watermelon. Blood splattered. Before the blood could even fall to the ground, the Golden Silk swung her hammer again.
“W-wait—!”
Another head was smashed by the hammer. Plop! Blood spouted, again and again. The slaughter continued relentlessly. In the midst of their colleagues’ deaths, warriors desperately tried to attack the Golden Silk’s blind spots, but not a single knife pierced her skin.
“Everyone, be careful!”
the Heretic Questioner shouted.
“She bears one of Mutia’s blessings, [The Invulnerable Body]! She cannot be wounded. Aha. Technically, the effect [reduces 99.9% of physical harm to the holder]!”
A body that cannot be wounded.
“You won’t be able to damage her significantly unless your strike can tear down a mountain’s peak! Good luck!”
-Raviel Ivansiaaaa!!
The fighters were bewildered. Among them was the old gentleman who would be my adoptive father for today only, the imperial grand chamberlain and commander of the special operatives.
The old man, who held the position of the strongest in the empire, spoke as if it were absurd.
“Tear down a mountain peak? Who could do such a ridiculous thing?”
“You’re right. It’s really too much. But if we can’t do it, we’ll all die!”
The Heretic Questioner laughed prettily. If someone were to capture that smile in a picture, one might forget that people were being demolished by a hammer at the same time. That crazy psychopath.
“That one alone is a monster,” Raviel sighed, “but the other ones are also coming down.”
My husband was right. That apostle, who may have been the spirit or body of the Golden Silk, was just one of the enemies we had to fight. Maybe she was even the easiest enemy we had to deal with.
-Unfortunate ones.
A ruddy sunset.
The general on the pegasus descended slowly with his back to the sky.
-You can blame that pitiful girl. Blame the one who lived in the first life of that girl, and blame that young man. They are the reason you will be trampled under our hooves. You all should be sad.
The general looked at the Golden Silk, the Heretic Questioner, and, lastly, me. I couldn’t see his face because he was wearing a thick helmet.
-Soldiers of the Warhorse.
The general raised his flag high. A red glow permeated from the flag.
-Awaken.
That moment, translucent specters were summoned by the general. Dozens, hundreds, thousands. Maybe tens of thousands of ghosts.
-Guoooh…
-Guuh, uuuuhhh…
Everyone was speechless.
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