Chapter 326: Irrational Inverse Domain (Patreon)

Square, ethereal buildings rose from the ground one after another. They were skyscrapers that belonged to no era of this world, their Mana-formed neon glare flickering before fading to a twisted, dreamlike grey-white.

Most of the soldiers were lifted by the sudden, almost solid illusions, and men and horses tumbled in confusion, at a loss.

Those charging forward began to drift slowly backward, those standing still gradually lost their weight and floated, and weapons meant for the enemy wounded comrades instead.

Their bodies acted against their will, yet every mind stayed strangely clear.

The same thought echoed in everyone's head: "What on earth is happening?"

Half a million soldiers spread across the plains, and a single wave of a hand had thrown them all into disarray. The laws of physics in this stretch of the world had fallen into complete chaos.

As for the army's mages, the moment "Nanoda" switched from absorbing Mana to releasing magic, they lost all control of their Mana. The spell formations of their attack spells misfired, sparking currents and small explosions on the spot that nearly wrecked their staffs and robes.

This was one of the final unfoldings of Paradox Magic: Inversion.

The twister of the world's truths: the Paradox Inverse Domain.

"Cough… guh… How is this possible?"

Invisible force crushed Haston's internal organs. The Hero in White barely kept his feet thanks to the support of his Holy Power, and the twin swords felt heavier than ever when he raised them.

"This Holy Power is as annoying as ever."

The look in "Nanoda's" eyes was utterly cold.

For the first time, Haston felt fear on the scale of despair. It was the look one gives an ant, and under that gaze and the pressure of her Mana, he had begun to tremble faintly.

Her Mana was like an invisible giant hand reaching down from the vault of the sky and clutching the entire army in its palm.

A single thought, and he would die.

Haston smiled. It was as if he were back beneath the house crushed by the great fire, watching the boy who hid in a corpse's arms, hand clamped over his mouth, trembling all over, not daring to make a sound.

"Even so… I'll kill you, Demon Race!"

He forced himself forward under the pressure. Blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, his eyes and his ears, and the twin swords trembled ceaselessly in his hands, as if trying to break free.

"The same words as back then."

"Nanoda" watched the blood-stained white figure struggle toward her step by step, and seemed to sigh inwardly.

She lowered the hand she had been about to raise and smoothed her white hair instead.

"If it were 'her', she probably wouldn't hate humans the way I do. She'd try to end this battle with the fewest possible sacrifices."

By the time the next words left her lips, "Nanoda" had already flashed in front of Haston and simply kicked him in the stomach.

The twin swords finally slipped from the Hero in White's hands. His Holy Power went out like a snuffed candle, throwing off only a few thin golden threads.

It was as casual as kicking over a big ant on the roadside. "Nanoda" lightly drew back her foot.

"I don't belong to this world."

She was speaking to Haston, who lay on the ground.

"Strictly speaking, although I have the form of the Demon Race, inside I should be human. But none of that matters now."

"I just want to tell you that I won't kill you this time. Tell those countries in the central region that if there's a next time… I wouldn't mind seeing them wiped off the map."

It was a threat laced with something that looked very much like hypocrisy.

Even with Nanoda going this far, Haston still held his head up, teeth gritted.

"I know what you're going to say. Kill one Hero in White, and other Heroes will step forward. But have you ever considered that even the Hero Himmel, who destroyed the Demon King, couldn't wipe out every last member of the Demon Race? So if one Demon King dies, won't another rise in his place?"

The anger on Haston's face began to fade, replaced by growing surprise. He wasn't afraid to die, but how could this Demon Race know his thoughts so well?

"Until one side vanishes completely, you and I hold the very same belief. That's why I'm disappointed in the world, and in myself."

"Nanoda" reined in her terrifying Mana and killing intent.

"Even so…"

Haston propped himself up with one hand, trying to rise, while his other hand reached for the sword that had fallen nearby.

Seeing this, "Nanoda" curled her thumb in toward her middle finger, spread the rest of her fingers, and gave Haston on the ground a light flick.

A surge of Mana wrapped around Haston and his twin swords, lifting that blood-stained white robe and hurling him straight into the air. And that wasn't all. Once he reached a certain height, the Hero turned into something like a jet helicopter and "flew" off into the distance!

"Better to just say goodbye here. If I finished you off, 'she' might end up repeating her mistakes."

"Nanoda" watched the white speck dwindle in the sky, and a trace of weary exhaustion showed on her face.

"All of you, get lost."

Her voice was not loud, yet it reached the ears of every one of the half-million soldiers, and every violently pounding heart skipped a beat against its owner's will.

In that moment, "Nanoda's" magic was lifted.

Her flying white hair swept past the collapsing illusory buildings, past the soldiers with fear and bewilderment on their faces, past the war horses drifting slowly down from the air.

"Nanoda" turned toward Gaderia and walked away without looking back.

It was as if toppled building blocks were being stacked back up again.

The half-million soldiers of the Central Alliance stood rooted to the spot in silence. They flexed their recovered hands and feet, or quietly checked their earlier injuries, and the eyes they turned toward Nanoda's retreating back were full of deep wariness. Fear of the unknown coiled around their necks like a rope.

They waited until Nanoda's back had disappeared.

"Abomination." "What was that?" "Lord Hero!" Small, noisy murmurs rose from the ranks.

No one knew who it was that shouted "Retreat!", but the cry drowned out every other voice.

Following the direction in which the Hero in White had vanished, the Alliance army surged back like a returning tide.

———————

On the Eastern Front, Qual gripped a soldier's head in one huge hand and lifted him with ease, then crushed it like a juicy grape.

Killing Magic unfolded precisely around his body and struck every enemy who came near, while Defensive Magic stood ready at any moment to turn aside attacks from the human mages hidden in the enemy ranks.

He was like an invincible tank on the battlefield, forcing a road through the great host by sheer strength.

"Hm? That is… the King?"

An impossible-to-ignore presence, an enormous pull, the pinnacle of magic.

For an instant, Qual's focus on controlling his strength and his magic scattered, and he hesitated.

He could feel it: something extraordinary had happened on the central battlefield.

Even from this far away, the faint residue of Mana carried on the breeze made his whole body tremble slightly, as though he had been shocked by lightning.

_____

Walnut’s Note: This was the last chapter published.