Chapter 15: Lion of Steel (Patreon)

Anyone who knew Erika Blandelli understood that she was the very essence of Milan's finest, distilled into a single girl.

The young lady of the prestigious Blandelli family, whose ancestors had been Milanese for generations, she was beautiful and noble. From a young age, she had been immersed in profound cultivation, brimming with wit and talent—a girl as dazzling and magnificent as a rose.

The true identity of Erika and her kind lay with the descendants of the medieval Knights Templar who once roamed Europe—both knights and children of God—and the magicians who served the demon god Baphomet. Although many magical associations inherited the secrets of the Templars, the 'Copper Black Cross,' headquartered in Milan, was one of the strongest.

The report of unstable events occurring on Sardinia, Italy's southernmost island, had reached the 'Copper Black Cross' two days prior. It came from a local member, meaning very few associations on the Italian mainland were likely aware of the intelligence yet.

That was precisely why Erika had come here.

After arriving in Sardinia, she received further intelligence and hurried to the port of Cagliari. Just as she had stopped a suspicious individual to inquire about the Heretical God, a massive divine beast descended.

As a knight, the girl couldn't simply stand by and watch. So, grasping her beloved sword, she resolutely moved to confront the gigantic divine beast.

"Come! Lion of Steel, one who hosts the soul of a lion, the essence of strife within steel! Answer my hand and voice! Your name is Il Cuore di Leone... the brave one who inherits the name of the Lionheart King!"

In the next instant, amidst a flash of light, a sword suddenly appeared in the girl's right hand.

"I, the knight Erika Blandelli, swear here. I shall answer your loyalty with my valor and chivalry!"

The suddenly manifested longsword had a slender, beautiful silver blade. Bathed in the twilight sun, it shone like a ray of pure light, its keen edge a clear sign it was far more than just ornamental.

Now even more radiant in her transformed state, the girl charged toward the giant boar with her slender frame!

Though it was a struggle, she successfully drew the divine beast's attention, reducing the destruction and allowing the townspeople to flee.

Unlike the panicked crowds scrambling to escape, Haru, moving against the flow, maintained a perfectly relaxed expression.

Even though the disaster zone had become an inferno, with intense flames raging around him, not a single drop of sweat appeared on his skin. In stark contrast to the passersby stained with sweat and soot, he remained impeccably clean and handsome.

He traversed the ruins, casually swatting away rubble.

Haru strolled through the sea of fire, making no effort to avoid the burning flames. His cursed power seemed to form an invisible armor around him. His path forward was eventually blocked by a pile of collapsed construction materials.

Previously, these materials had been stacked alongside the warehouses, piled as high as the rooftops.

Now, they were just a mountain of debris, fiercely consumed by the surrounding blaze, presenting an extremely difficult obstacle.

Without the proper equipment, progressing further would be impossible.

But for Haru, was this even a problem?

However, before he could continue, he spotted Kusanagi Godou in the distance, finally arriving late and running into the ruins.

But being an ordinary person, he was clearly having a tough time of it.

Haru observed the raging flames and the giant boar wreaking havoc several dozen meters ahead. As if merging with the fire, the moment he stepped into the inferno, the cursed power around his body acted like an invisible hand, parting the flames and allowing him to pass directly through the debris.

Swiftly, as the blazing sea of fire parted and then closed behind him,

Haru arrived in front of the town's large cathedral. Only then did he finally halt his steps.

Next to this building of silence and piety—a place for offering reverence to the sacred and presenting one's prayers—stood a colossal beast, dozens of meters tall, a mountain of a black boar as immense as the Duomo itself.

It looked burly to the point of stoutness, with a powerful body, surprisingly slender limbs, and terrifyingly enormous tusks.

It was a completely different creature from any of its kind that Haru knew.

No matter how enraged a normal boar might be, it could never match this one's ferocity, its sheer menace. Its violent aura made it feel like a divine beast straight out of myth—something utterly fearsome, unlike anything he had ever encountered!

Just looking at it filled one with an immense sense of majesty and weight.

And this was merely a Divine Beast. A Heretical God would be far more terrifying and powerful!

Compared to this stone church, the giant boar seemed like the truly sacred presence here—a god of wrath, a god of destruction, a god of darkness!

"ROAR ROAR ROAR—"

After several earth-shaking, air-quaking roars, the giant boar demolished the great church as if it were made of paper.

Countless stone fragments rained down like hail, creating a storm of projectiles that swept in all directions.

"Kya!"

It was in this chaos that a golden figure was sent flying backward amidst the debris—it was the girl Erika, who had been questioning someone earlier!

That's right. What had made Haru stop wasn't the giant boar.

It was the golden-haired girl who had, at some point, come here to confront the Divine Beast.

But the outcome went without saying. Though the girl was exceptionally gifted and counted among the strong by human standards, she was still no match for a Divine Beast.

Even if it was just one of the Heretical God's avatars, it was not something an ordinary person could handle.

With a glance at the still-rampaging giant boar and the girl tumbling through the air amidst the stone fragments,

Haru’s figure instantly leaped into the air the next second, arriving beside the girl. In a classic hero-saves-the-beauty move, he caught her in a princess carry, holding her securely in his arms.

"Eek?! You are...?"