Epilogue
Deeper still, past the foreign tribe’s stronghold.
I pressed on through a cave of cold, bare rock.
“…Well now. Will it be an ogre that comes out, or a snake?”
From deep within, a faint flow of magic reached me, one I knew. From the moment I stepped into the tribe’s dwelling, I’d been aware of it. No, he’s got no intention of hiding it. Or rather, it’s as though he’s inviting me in… That’s the scent this challenging magic carries.
Trusting to the flow of that well-known magic, I went on through the cave that sprawled like an ant’s nest, dimly lit by luminous moss. Through a long, long descent, and where I came upon an underground water vein, the scene changed. It seemed I’d stepped into an underground ancient ruin.
—A hemispherical underground space, a hundred meters or so in radius. At its center, a structure like an ancient Aztec ruin. Climbing the stairs to its midpoint, I found an entrance to the interior. And after some twenty meters down a passage, I came out into a great chamber.
“…Sasha?”
A chill in the air. In the center of the sprawling stone room stood a huge block of ice. And within the ice, frozen solid, half-naked, eyelids shut, was Sasha.
I see, so Sasha wasn’t giving off magic to lure me in, but to call for rescue from a prison of ice.
“…Who did this to you?”
Even as I spoke, I shattered the ice block with a dispelling spell. At once, with a clatter, it flew apart.
“Truly, it was cramped past bearing… and who did this to me, you ask? The one with any chance of doing me this much harm, in this age… save for yourself, there’s but one other. The Fire God Emperor. Well, done in by a boy, and there’s no living it down, hm.”
How long he’d been frozen in the ice I don’t know. But there wasn’t the least sign of weakening in him; he seemed no different than ever. Well, this one’s a monster among monsters, so there’s little point wondering at it.
“In any case, glad to see you well. But, Master, you had that Extra Level summoning magic, didn’t you?”
“…Ha. Otogi Fantasia, was it? That got beaten to a pulp by the brat, past all mending.”
“That’s absurd… that outrageous spell of yours? How in the world was it cracked?”
At my question, Sasha shrugged and heaved a sigh.
“It was eaten.”
“…Eaten?”
“Thanks to which, the collection I gathered over ages beyond counting—my bug-cage of phantom demons—stands empty.”
In that moment—I felt sweat spring from every pore of my body, and I spun around.
“Hey, long time no see, Ephthal.”
“…You have got to be kidding me.”
There stood a beautiful boy with long red hair. His age about the same as mine now. And glimpsed at his brow, past the fringe half hiding it, a scar… Yeah, he’s younger, sure, but the trace of him is there, and the scar’s in the same place.
—By one name, the Hundred Flame.
—By another, the Outside Magician.
And this fellow’s most famous epithet is—
“Long time, Fire God Emperor.”
Without saying Cliff, I called him by his epithet on purpose.
“Ha, how coldly formal of you. Won’t you call me Cliff, the way you used to?”
“Thanks to your worthless doings, I’m the one put out here.”
“Still, it’s a truly strange bond, isn’t it, Ephthal.”
“Yeah. Truly.”
Then the Fire God Emperor swept his long hair up with his left hand, showing the pointed ears particular to an elf.
“—Bridget. Ever since you took my little sister to wife… yes.”
“‘Dear brother-in-law, it’s been far too long’… would saying that satisfy you?”
“Ha, you really haven’t changed a bit. That you don’t know, that you can stay so blithe in a moment like this, I’ve never found so hateful as I do now.”
“What you’re scheming is no concern of mine, but—”
I glared, but there wasn’t a fragment of any sign he felt the weight of it. With the same airy manner as ever, the Fire God Emperor shrugged.
“Why did you kill the Ice God Emperor?”
There are any number of things I want to ask. But the first thing that has to be settled black and white is, beyond doubt, this. Because, depending on his answer, it’s decided without argument that this guy is my enemy.
The Fire God Emperor thought something over a while, then turned his gaze sadly to the ceiling.
“Beings that hold no aptitude for magic, the birth of the Demon Lord. It all began there. The Magia Burst I made using the Ice God Emperor is, in the end, no more than a byproduct. Yes, only by changing the very way this world is does the road to the Ideal open.”
“Slippery as ever, you bastard… quit the runaround and answer the question. Why did you kill the Ice God Emperor?”
“My parents, my child, my friends, and the Ice God Emperor too… I’ve offered up everything that could be called the other half of me.”
And in that moment.
Sasha, who’d been standing beside me, began to walk toward the Fire God Emperor.
“Hey, Master, I get how you feel, but if you’re going to start a brawl with this guy, do it after we’ve finished talk—”
Just as I started to say it, the skin crawled all over my body. Because the Fire God Emperor was even wearing a smile at the approaching Sasha. What’s more, not a sign that he’d built any spell-formula to intercept. And Sasha, the same, not slipped into any attack or guard stance either.
Sasha walked right up beside the Fire God Emperor. With a pat on his shoulder, Sasha turned slowly back toward me. And then—
—an offensive spell-formula, assembled at ferocious speed. Its target not the Fire God Emperor but… me.
“Hey, cut the jokes, Master.”
“’Tis no joke.”
Straight-faced, not a brow so much as twitching, Sasha went on.
“I told you just now, did I not? The Otogi Fantasia was eaten by this boy. So, you see, the collection I must have back, I must have back from this very boy.”
“What… does that mean?”
“You’ve no objection, I take it? Cliff?”
“None. I’ve observed a great deal, but—Ephthal’s stubbornness seems not to have changed in four hundred years… he’ll lend my words no ear. So—this is no longer needed.”
“Hey, you two… what the hell are you talking about?”
“It’s not as though I was frozen in the ice against my will, you know. This ruin is a facility for refining the Scarlet of Hades, and I was pouring magic in to bring it online.”
At last… I was starting to read the situation. But by the time I’d noticed, it seems it was already too late. Sasha hadn’t been asking me for rescue; in the plainest sense, he’d been luring me in. The reason I’d kept so at ease even when the Fire God Emperor showed himself was that Sasha was there. No matter the foe, there’s no one alive who could handle me and Sasha both single-handed. But… it seems the Fire God Emperor’s position and mine were completely the other way around.
“In short—I have surrendered to this boy’s command!”
Before Sasha’s eyes a huge coffin appeared, standing upright on the ground. This is a technique Sasha favors when drawing out the power of darkness. At once, the coffin’s door swung open with a heavy, grinding creak. Amid the overwhelming pressure of magic pouring out, I flicked a glance at the Fire God Emperor, and he too had already finished readying for battle. Both of them looked able to wield a Level 10 this very instant.
You have got to be kidding me. One of them alone is trouble enough… and these two mean to come at me together!
—This is bad… this is really bad!
“Farewell, then, Ephthal. Level 10: Undead Emperor Sasha.”
And so Sasha’s Level 10 was loosed, straight at me.