Shirakome Arifureta Zero: Volume 6 (Light Novel)

1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-1-7183-1810-6
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 6, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Arifureta Zero (Light Novel)

Operation Revolution Tolls has finally begun, signaling the start of the Liberators' final battle with the church. As Miledi and her comrades fight their way up to the peak of the Divine Mountain where Ehit awaits, the true nature of the world is finally revealed to them. What choices will she make when she finally confronts Ehit...and what consequences will that have for the world of Tortus? Find out in the thrilling conclusion to the Arifureta Zero series!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shirakome, Ryo

Weitere Mitwirkende

Takayaki

Ningen

Leseproben

Chapter I: Total Warfare

To the people of the theocracy, the only thing notable about the public execution of the Liberators the church had caught was that it would further cement the victory the theocracy had achieved in the war with the republic. Death was the expected punishment for anyone who had aided the republic during the war. For the Templar Knights, however, this was a chance to reclaim their honor. They were hoping the rest of the Liberators would take the bait they’d set so they could thoroughly crush their greatest enemy once and for all.

But both the knights and the people were absolutely certain that today would mark a momentous day in the history of the church. The heretics who had plagued the theocracy for so long would be eliminated, and the glorious church would once more become the leading light of hope to humans all over the world.

Unfortunately for them, the Liberators proved to be a far larger threat than the church had ever anticipated. Quite literally too. The Liberators’ massive black battleship, which was shaped like a giant whale, was so large that it covered the entire capital city in shadow. The aurora beam it had shot out also obliterated the capital’s prized barrier, one of the very symbols of the theocracy’s absolute might. The barrier had been presented to God’s chosen people by Ehit himself, and in the theocracy’s long history, it had never once been penetrated.

The townspeople stared up in shock as fragments of the shattered barrier rained to the ground and a lone figure leaped off the massive battleship’s deck. As the figure drew closer, people were able to make out that it was a girl.

The light of the aurora had scarcely begun to fade when the girl wrapped herself up in a dazzling sky-blue sphere of mana. A moment later, a shock wave rocked through the city, followed by a voice that carried for miles.

“We are the Liberators! Those who fight against God’s will!” the girl bellowed as she floated unaided above the crowd, using neither wind nor magical barriers to support her. “Our ultimate goal is to free this world from God’s twisted games!”

Her gleaming white battle dress fluttered in the wind, the sphere of dazzling blue mana around her allowing her to utterly ignore one of the fundamental laws of nature.

“I am Miledi Reisen, the leader of the Liberators!”

Her transcendent, almost divine entrance made even the devout priests of the church momentarily think her beautiful. But her next words destroyed any reverence the members of the church might have inadvertently felt.

“And I am here to take the world back from you, Ehit!” she spat those words, as if disgusted by having to even say it, and pointed up at the peak of the Divine Mountain.

A clear declaration of war.

The common folk of the theocracy shivered in fear. Miledi’s very existence had overturned everything they thought they knew about the world. In their minds, heretics were weak, sniveling fools who could never hope to threaten the absolute authority of the church. After all, if anyone threaten it, it wouldn’t be absolute anymore.

However, Miledi had just boldly stated that she would drag Ehit off his throne. For the first time in their lives, they began to doubt that the church truly was invincible.

“Blasphemy! Our Lord’s power is absolute!” a furious voice responded from one of the twelve pillars surrounding the execution platform. It belonged to none other than archbishop Kimaris Sintail. Despite the heat in his voice, the look in his eyes was as cold as ice. The only outward sign of his rage—aside from his voice, of course—was the slight frown on his mouth. He pounded his staff on the pillar he was standing on, and the thirty-three priests on the other eleven pillars followed suit. They, too, looked furious that anyone would dare question Ehit’s authority.

Another dazzling circle of light formed above the execution platform, looking just like an angel’s halo. It then began to revolve and grow in size until it dwarfed the priests casting it.

This was the strongest composite light spell, Divine Wrath, transformed into a circle rather than a beam. In this shape, it could strike in all directions at once, allowing it to execute everyone simultaneously. No one had ever managed to resist the destructive light of Divine Wrath. And now the priests had all been apostleified, were drawing a nigh-limitless supply of mana from the earth via the pillars they stood on, and were equipped with powerful replicas of the Seven Sacred Treasures.

“Death to all heretics!” one priest roared. A second later, the halo of light contracted. Then, there was a violent flash...and the city was smothered in light.

Kimaris had prioritized executing the prisoners over fighting Miledi, likely just to spite her. The joy in his eyes as he gazed up at Miledi made it clear he wanted to relish in her suffering. But a second later, his joy turned to confusion.

“You really do revel in death a little too much, Kimaris.”

There was a small from below that made Kimaris look down at the execution platform. The light of his Divine Wrath was slowly fading away into nothing. The priests and the leaders of the various nations gazed at the newcomer in utter shock, but Kimaris’s face was twisted in pure hatred.

“So you came after all.”

Kimaris had no idea how this man had made it there, but he wasn’t about to deny the reality staring him in the face.

“Laus Baaaaaaaaarn!”

Framed by the disappearing light of the Divine Wrath, Laus smiled. A second later, a pillar of jet black mana erupted from him and he hefted his similarly black warhammer. With one swing he blew away the remnants of Kimaris’s spell. But as he saw what was on the now-visible execution platform, his jaw dropped open.

The priests, civilians, and foreign dignitaries were similarly stunned. Partly because all the heretics were unscathed, partly because the archbishop’s strongest spell—further strengthened by the boons he’d received recently—had been completely countered, and partly because it had been Laus Barn of all people who’d stopped Kimaris, but none of those were the primary cause.

“Splendid. I do love to make a dramatic entrance. There’s nothing quite like having everyone’s eyes on you,” Rasul said as he drank in everyone’s stares.

“Oh my! I didn’t know you had an exhibitionist streak, Demon Lord. The truth is, I also—”

Before Lyutillis could finish her thought, Rasul interrupted her by saying, “Your Majesty, please don’t lump me in with you. I’m simply enjoying the shock on everyone’s faces; nothing more. This is perhaps the greatest prank I’ve ever played in my life.”

“Can’t you two act a bit more dignified?” Laus asked in an exasperated voice.

“You want me to be dignified? Very well, allow me to introduce myself, then!” Rasul replied in a rather refined voice.

“He he, if you say so, Lau-chan-san,” Lyutillis added.

A pillar of bloodred mana erupted from Rasul as he boldly declared, “My name is Rasul Alva Igdol! I am the Demon Lord!”

Lyutillis straightened her silvery-white hair and added, “And I am Lyutillis Haltina, the queen of the Haltina Republic!”

It wasn’t just members of other races who’d come with the Liberators, but their respective leaders had as well. As that realization sank into the people watching, the two of them said in unison, “We are not enemies of mankind! In fact, we have come here today to assist the Liberators!”

Panic began to spread through the crowd of spectators. The scene before them was so unbelievable that they refused to accept it as reality. Demons and beastmen joining forces was already an impossibility, so how could they be here to protect a group of humans? For that matter, how could they assist the Liberators?

“This is the future we fight for,” Laus said, his voice carrying over the mutterings of the crowd. “We’ll create a future where humans, demons, beastmen, and all the other mortal races can live together in peace!”

That was, of course, the very thing that the church claimed was a grave sin.

“Former Holy Templar Knights Commander Laus Barn is here today as a Liberator!”

Complete silence fell over the city square. For a moment, the entire city felt more like the middle of a snowy plain or an empty desert than one of the most populous places in the world.

The king of their most hated foe, the queen of the race they had persecuted, and the knight who used to represent the unwavering might of the church had all joined forces when they should have been mortal enemies. According to the church, that should have been impossible, so the fact that it wasn’t was another crack in their claims of absolute authority.

“How dare you bring such a despicable sight to the city of God!” Kimaris howled, his face twisted in sheer hatred. However, he couldn’t deny that the display was having its intended effect. The people’s faith in the church rapidly wavered. Whoever had come up with this sequence knew exactly what they were doing.

Seeing the hesitation spread through the crowd, Kimaris ruthlessly shouted, “Nothing has changed, you fools! Our Lord still wishes them dead. All units, attack!”

He unleashed another Divine Wrath at Laus and the others. The...