Chapter 2 — 사자(獅子)
Part 2, Chapter 21
Lion
Elric turned his head with a puzzled look.
He’d never once heard Mephisto’s voice tremble like this.
But then—
‘He’s smiling?’
Mephisto wasn’t just shaking.
He was smiling.
‘I’ve never seen him like this.’
Not once, in all the time he’d spent with Mephisto.
Not when they met Izazel—no, not even when they’d faced most strong foes—had he ever seen that expression.
A snort, or no reaction at all—that was his norm.
He might look like this now that he’d lost his strength, but once upon a time he’d been one of the Great Demon Kings.
No matter how strong the opponent, they rarely satisfied him.
And yet Mephisto was smiling at the man across from them, eyes alight?
Anyone could see it: a blatant thirst for battle.
As if realizing his slip a beat late, Mephisto put his solemn face back on and spoke.
『Does this era still birth monsters like that? How unexpected.』
Elric’s face hardened.
‘That strong?’
If Mephisto was saying this much, it meant the opponent truly was that formidable.
‘Who is he?’
Elric narrowed his eyes.
Names of the continent’s famed powerhouses flashed past.
But among them, none fit—none who would stir Mephisto’s fighting spirit, and also have cause to be here.
“Urgh…!”
Just then, Bel, who had blacked out, came to.
He forced himself to show proper respect.
Teeth clenched as if to hold his pain in—and yet somehow he looked frightened.
Maybe that was why his already pale face looked even paler.
Seeing it only tangled Elric’s thoughts further.
‘Bel, the Cub Lion, lowering his head?’
Following that thought, a single person came to mind.
‘…No way.’
Elric stared, disbelief plain on his face, at the man who had come to stand right before Bel.
Bel slowly lifted his head and spoke.
“Your Grace, the Grand Duke…!”
Grand Duke.
At that, Elric’s eyes flew wide.
There was only one person the Cub Lion could address like that.
One of the continent’s four great powers, the grand ducal house that epitomized martial arts and swordsmanship: the Lion Grand Ducal House.
Its founder, said to have lived for over a hundred years.
The lone man called the strongest under heaven of the age.
The Golden Lion.
He had descended upon Huilan.
* * *
‘…Right. If it’s the Golden Lion, it tracks.’
Only now did it all make sense to Elric.
Mephisto acting out of character, the Cub Lion bowing in fear.
If it was the Golden Lion, that explained everything.
‘But why is he here…?’
As far as Elric knew, the Golden Lion almost never left his own seat of power.
In the past few years especially, he’d practically vanished from public view, rumored to be in seclusion….
Tzzzt!
Even as questions piled up, Elric drew a fresh ice spear just in case.
This was the man who had brought despair to the Azure Lion and trial to the Crimson Lion.
Now that Elric had taken those two under his wing, they were fated to be enemies.
All the more so now that he’d put down the Cub Lion, the one called even the Golden Lion’s hound.
More than anything—
『Blond hair and green eyes? An obnoxious head and gaze.』
The Golden Lion had the exact same features as Elric.
[And what of it.]
『Don’t tell me he’s a fellow Mervinger?』
[How could he be.]
If he were, the house wouldn’t have fallen so easily.
Even if somehow he were—
‘I’d know.’
As far as Elric knew, the only living Mervingers were himself and his sister, Heize.
『Good to hear. He might finally be one to stir this king again; had he been a Mervinger on top of that, my interest would’ve died.』
Mephisto bared sharp fangs as he studied the Golden Lion.
Thuk!
The Golden Lion reached Bel, who still knelt with his posture lowered.
Bel flinched.
Emotionless green eyes looked down on him.
Though the man was said to have lived over a century,
there wasn’t a single wrinkle—eyes as young as any youth’s, yet pupils so deep you couldn’t take their measure. Bewitching.
To Bel, it was nothing but terror.
“They say the mission is absolute, that failure can’t be tolerated.”
A faint smile touched the Golden Lion’s lips.
“And what, pray tell, is this?”
On the surface he sounded genuinely curious.
Bel knew better.
The reality was different.
Rumble—
A wave of qi pulsed from the Golden Lion.
A weight crushed down on Bel’s whole body. Blood burst from his nose and mouth.
“Gah!”
He was flattened to the floor as if by an invisible hand.
Even so, he strained to hold his posture.
He didn’t look like he could last.
Crack! Crackle.
Ominous sounds came from both arms braced against the ground.
Bel’s trembling grew more violent.
And just before he lost his balance and collapsed completely—
Whoom—
The Golden Lion drew his aura back in.
“Hah! Hah!”
Only then did Bel manage to gasp for air.
Both arms were broken, and he’d lost so much blood he looked liable to die any second.
The Golden Lion looked entirely unbothered.
“Now talk. How did it come to this?”
At his question, Bel’s head dropped even lower.
The floor beneath him was soaked a deep red.
“I—I am sorry. If you give me one more—”
The instant he opened his mouth, something flashed.
Ssk—
Thud, roll roll!
Bel’s head tumbled, absurdly easy, across the floor.
A face that didn’t even know how it had died.
Fwoooosh!
A fountain of blood misted the air.
Sigh.
The Golden Lion let out a breath and shook his head.
“I asked what happened. Why start spouting nonsense?”
He’d struck so fast that Bel’s body didn’t hit the ground until long moments later.
Thud!
The second son of House Neresta, the Cub Lion whose infamy had spread across the continent—
His futile end.
“…”
『H-heh, hahahaha! He’s mad! Is he perhaps of the Fiend clan or something? I like his temperament!』
Elric’s expression grew grave.
Even if the man had failed, to cast aside a loyal retainer who’d served at his side for years so mercilessly—
And the fallen was still of Neresta blood. Even if the Lion Grand Ducal House outranked House Neresta, you didn’t just kill him that easily.
It made Elric’s struggle to spare him pointless.
His fist clenched before he realized it.
Mephisto, if anything, seemed to approve.
“You there.”
Whether or not he knew what Elric was thinking,
the Golden Lion turned his gaze their way. His face was still impassive.
“You’re quite capable. Did you receive the Azure Lion’s token?”
Under the mask, Elric’s features twisted.
‘How did he know?’
He’d done everything to hide Herman’s traces.
How did he know?
The Golden Lion’s bombshell didn’t end there.
“As it happens, the Cub Lion’s seat is vacant.”
“…?”
“Care to take it?”
“…!”
“If you want, I can even take you as my disciple.”
“…”
Do you reach enlightenment if you hear madness long enough?
Elric had to swallow down the bile that rose to his throat.
Offer him the Cub Lion’s seat?
He’d killed the man with his own hand, and now he said that?
Strongest in the world or not, Elric didn’t care for the way the Golden Lion bent all affairs to his whim.
“Handing the Cub Lion’s rank to someone whose identity you don’t even know…? The imperial family won’t sit still.”
Just look at what Elric was doing now. To them, he was no different from a rebel.
He’d protected the people of Huilan from the imperial army.
And he was wearing a mask.
Offer the Cub Lion’s post to a man whose face you don’t even know?
It made no sense.
But—
“Ha, hahaha!”
The Golden Lion laughed as if it were nothing.
“The imperial family? What of them. I do as I please.”
His lips smiled, but his eyes were cold.
As if to say: Who would dare object to my decision?
Seeing it, Elric was sure.
‘Arrogant.’
Pride.
Whether it was the imperial family or anyone else, he didn’t see them as people on his level.
They were beneath his feet.
—What kind of person is the Golden Lion?
Elric had once asked Herman.
The sort of man who could cast off the Azure Lion and the Crimson Lion, both among the continent’s top masters, without batting an eye—who could he be?
—Person… is a stretch.
—What do you mean…?
—You’ll understand when you meet him. When you meet him.
“So your answer? Decided?”
Spoken as if refusal were unthinkable.
Elric snorted.
“What if I don’t need it?”
“Hm?”
Perhaps not the answer he’d expected.
The Golden Lion cocked his head, then nodded.
“I see. Then it can’t be helped.”
He wasn’t going to press.
From that, Elric was certain.
Even the offer of the Cub Lion’s seat was nothing more than a passing amusement to him.
To someone who lorded it over the world, the world was a plaything.
And then—
Srrring—
He slowly drew his sword.
“You seem fun, but unfortunately this is where we part. I made a promise to my daughter. I can’t just let you go.”
Wooooom—
Crackle, crackle!
The moment the Golden Lion flung open his limits, a tremendous wave of qi whipped into a gale. Thunder-qi welled within it, ready to swallow the sky.
Wreathed in golden thunder and tempest,
he was every inch the “Golden Lion.”
Elric could feel the intent: to tear him apart here and now.
‘This is bad.’
He ground his teeth.
Reason shouted for him to run.
To face the man before him was dangerous.
So he should flee, however he could.
But—
‘An opening. This is an opening.’
Something in his chest burned to fight.
A chance to push further.
And above all, he had a promise to keep with Trang.
‘I could escape if I really tried… but the aftermath would be obvious.’
He didn’t know why a man who almost never ventured out had come all the way to Huilan, but the reason was obvious.
‘To wipe Huilan out.’
Which meant what he had to do was obvious, too.
“【Inhabit】.”
He attempted possession.
Damir.
Light wrapped around his body, and snowy wings unfurled from his back.
Flaaare…!
But he wasn’t done.
“【Inhabit again】.”
This time, Nahatram.
Strength flooded his arms; his dynamic vision sharpened. His body tensed, every sense honed to a razor.
Double Casting.
To take in two of the Winter Six at once put a brutal strain on his flesh.
『You don’t mean—』
Sensing Elric’s intent, Mephisto’s eyes flew wide, but Elric was already chanting a third time.
“【One more—inhabit!】”
『Madman! You’ll house three of the Winter Six? Are you trying to die!』
Mephisto shrieked, but—
A massive magic circle blossomed behind Elric and began to turn. Mana streams whirled around him.
Mia’s grand magic, too.
Triple Casting. Just bearing three possessions at once made it hard to breathe, his body heavy as lead—
But Elric felt his spirit soar, godlike.
“How adorable.”
The Golden Lion chuckled at the sight. His skin prickled, if only slightly.
And then—
Flaaash—
As if they’d arranged it beforehand, the two of them charged straight for each other.
The Magician Who Devoured Talents