It had been confirmed that Prince Taurus was an enemy, but there was no way to reveal his true identity.
While there had been rumors about his poor character, they had been nothing more than rumors, and outwardly, he was a promising alpha male who had reached the level of an Aura Master.
Though he looked a bit fierce, his appearance wasn’t particularly bad, and as a prince of a nation, he lacked neither power nor wealth.
If I had recklessly accused him of being suspicious without any evidence, I, who had no ties to the imperial family, would surely have been sentenced to death for defaming royalty.
If I had revealed that I was an Aura Lord, it might have reduced the confusion… hmm…
“It would be nice if there were a way to force that man to reveal his power…”
In reality, the only thing that could be considered evidence was the sensation I had felt when shaking hands with him.
Even that had been so tightly concealed that unless one had skills on my level, it would have been impossible to notice.
I had no idea what the source of that power was, but one thing was certain; it was nothing good.
“Wait… handshake?”
Come to think of it… when all our club members had exchanged handshakes with him,
There had been one person who had not shaken hands with the prince.
More precisely, it would have been more accurate to say that the prince had deliberately avoided shaking hands with that person.
The Saintess.
Although it could be explained that he had refrained from touching the holy Saintess and instead had bowed his head out of formality, it felt unsettling that it had been none other than Prince Taurus who acted that way only toward the Saintess.
“Dad told me. But he said the results were strange. They found traces of mana that had never been seen before. Or rather, is it even right to call it mana?”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know the source. It’s as if it doesn’t even belong to this world. There’s some suspicion that it might be the power of the demons that supposedly existed during the mythological era, but that’s just a story from thousands of years ago—”
“Wait a moment. Could you say that again?”
“Hmm? Which part? The mythological era? Or the demons?”
According to the noble lady, a very long time ago, approximately 3,000 to 4,000 years ago from now,
During the period when civilization was first being established on this planet, there existed not only various different races like humans, beastkin, and elves,
But also one more race. The “demons”.
At a glance, they were hardly any different from humans,
But unlike humans, they had black skin and inverted eyes, the opposite of human eyes.
However, appearances aside, they were a gentle and non-aggressive race, no different from humans in temperament.
But then, everything changed when the king of the demons, the Demon King, declared that he would replace the goddess and become the god of this world.
He possessed one unique power: madness.
This strange power, which could strengthen others at the cost of their reason, was a special ability that only he could use.
He corrupted his own race using the power of madness to build an army,
declared war on all the other races, committed massacres, and turned the survivors into his own slaves.
The Demon King could steal the power and vitality of those consumed by madness.
And with this power, he sought to reach the threshold of becoming a true god.
Unable to stand his atrocities any longer, the goddess eventually wiped out all the demons,
And the Demon King’s body was torn apart until not a trace of him remained. A kind of moral tale about good triumphing over evil.
However…
“Don’t tell me… you think the Demon King is behind this incident?”
“I’m still at the stage of suspicion, but… it’s possible.”
“But this is a myth from thousands of years ago! Among scholars, it’s considered just a kind of fairy tale meant to amplify the authority of the Church of the Goddess.”
“Who knows? It might be a fairy tale based on true events.”
Right after that, I went to find the Saintess.
“You want me to officiate the wedding, and even bless it with divine power?”
“Please! There’s no one else we can ask but you, Saintess.”
“But even so…”
It was true that if she stepped forward here, the matter would be resolved quickly, but it could also spark controversy over collusion between the Saintess and the imperial princess.
She, who must not take sides, would already cause a major uproar if she just appeared at the princess’s wedding.
“If we emphasize that you and the princess were close friends, it should be fine. They’ll just think you’re granting a final favor to someone you won’t be able to see again anyway.”
“Hmm…”
“Please, I beg you.”
I knelt down on the spot, and the Saintess grew flustered, frantically waved her hands, and urged me to stand up.
“Ah, seriously! Fine! I’ll talk to the High Priest, so please, get up already!”
“Thank you! Oh, and one more thing. Absolutely! No matter what happens, you must infuse divine power into Prince Taurus.”
“Ah, fine! So stop rushing me… Why are you so obsessed with Prince Taurus anyway… Don’t tell me, you like him?”
“……”
“I-I’m just joking, so please don’t look at me like that! Really now… how could someone show such genuine killing intent toward a Saintess? No one’s ever looked at me like that before…”
Having secured the Saintess’s promise, I simply waited for the day of the wedding to arrive.
***
“Kyyaaaaaah!!”
As expected…
From the rooftop of a building near the garden, I was watching Prince Taurus unleash the power he had been hiding, all in real time.
I had been worried that, being a Master-level, the prince might quickly catch on, but perhaps he was still human after all. He stood there dumbfounded in the face of the sudden emergency.
If he had reacted even a little faster, it would have been difficult for the Saintess to approach him.
Fortunately, before the prince could realize what was happening, the Saintess managed to infuse divine power into his body, and as the rampaging power became too much for him to control, he revealed his true form to everyone, which in turn justified my actions.
“You damned bit*h!!”
“Eek—!”
When the prince realized that the Saintess was the cause of his rampage, his eyes turned wild, and he tried to smash the spot where she stood with a much larger fist.
Baangg—!
“?!”
“Whew. That was close.”
“Y-You are…?”
Fortunately, before the Saintess could be crushed flat like a dried squid under the prince’s fist, I rushed in and saved her just in time.
To the Saintess, it must have felt like I had teleported to her side.
She had been ready to face death, yet when a masked man she had never seen before saved her, she simply stared up at me with wide, round eyes, completely stunned.
“Please leave. It’s dangerous here. Knights! Protect the Saintess!”
“Y-Yes! Let’s go, Saintess!”
“W-Wait!”
Leaving behind the Saintess, who was being dragged away by the knights and growing smaller in the distance, I turned my gaze toward the one wreaking havoc across the garden.
Prince Taurus who was still unable to calm the rampage surging within him continued his destruction while letting out pained, guttural sounds.
“That power… it couldn’t be!”
At that moment, I spotted the Emperor standing next to me, not even trying to flee as he stared fixedly at the scene.
It was as if he understood the source of the dark, oppressive power pouring out of Prince Taurus; rather than running, the Emperor simply stood there with blazing eyes as he glared at the prince’s rampage.
The surrounding knights desperately tried to usher him away, but it didn’t seem easy to forcibly drag off the enraged Emperor, who was clenching his teeth in fury.
The Emperor… does he know something?
I didn’t know exactly what that power was, but seeing the famously cold-headed Emperor lose his temper like that made me think it might be tied to some deep scandal or dark secret of the empire.
Or perhaps… it was related to the death of the empress?
“Your Majesty. Please flee. This place is danger—”
“Kraaaaaaaaagh!!”
Shiiik—!
Slaash!
The rampaging prince, who had been stomping and collapsing everything around him, hurled a massive piece of building debris straight toward us.
Fortunately, I managed to cut the debris down with a single strike. Watching the wreckage split cleanly in half and fall away, I shouted at the Emperor to run.
“Your Majesty, this place is about to be half-destroyed! If you stay here, I can’t guarantee your life, so please, flee at once!”
“I am fine!! More importantly, my daughter…! Bring me my daughter!!!”
“What?!”
The Emperor was suddenly worrying about the princess?
No, more importantly, where was the princess?!
Fortunately, the princess was still alive.
She must have quickly noticed the prince’s transformation and worked to evacuate everyone, but it seemed she had tripped and fallen in the process; she was now lying on the ground. Thanks to that, she hadn’t been noticed by the prince.
“I will rescue Princess Asteria. So please, hurry.”
“…I’m counting on you.”
I didn’t know why he was suddenly concerned about his daughter now, but first things first, I had to save the princess.
I quickly ran to her side and helped her up.
“Are you alright, Your Highness?”
“I’m fine. I just scraped my knee a little… But what about you?”
“That’s not important right now. We have to evacuate—”
“You bastard!!”
Damn it.
“I was finally! Finally about to seize my rightful place… and you ruined it all!!”
Prince Arturus who was shrouding his hand with a dark, sticky aura that resembled corrupted energy, charged straight toward me.
Damn… Was he a martial artist?
Boom!!
Bang—!!
Each blow landed with the force of a cannonball.
I held the princess in my arms as if cradling a child, and bounced around and dodged the prince’s blows.
“Hhng… Ugh!”
“Please hold on a little longer. I’ll get you to a safe place soon—?!”
At that moment—
Boom!
Clang!
“What the hell is with this arm?! Where did that come from?!”
A punch came flying at me from an impossible angle.
I had thought I was predicting every movement of his muscles, but faced with a situation that defied all logic, I hurriedly drew my sword and blocked the sudden appearance of a third fist.
Even though I used aura to block the punch, the sheer mass of it was overwhelming. It felt like just blocking it was almost too much to handle.
“Oh? You actually blocked that. Normally, they’d die from a single blow, but you might be a little more capable than the rest.”
“…What are you, a monster?”
The prince, looking like something I’d seen somewhere before, had two additional arms sprouting from his back, and both his body and fists had grown far larger than normal.
His eyes were inverted, with the whites and irises swapped, and he drooled like a rabid dog. He looked completely out of his mind.
“Now then, you fu*king brat… How about you return my bride?”
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