“This form...”
A spark of both fascination and pride glimmered in Ludger’s eyes as he looked at Hans.
The figure standing tall on two legs was completely different from the one Hans usually took when he transformed.
Normally, when Hans transformed using the beast’s essence, his form was half human, half beast—like that of a lycanthrope.
But the power contained in the fangs of the monsters of the Forbidden Realm or the divine beasts was far too immense, leaving little of the human form and turning him into something nearly beastlike.
When he took the divine beast’s form, his sanity still remained; but when he turned into the monster of the Forbidden Realm, even that vanished.
A complete beast.
Yet now—
Hans, having used the fang of the monster of the Forbidden Realm, was standing upright on two legs.
“Ohh.”
Pantos, arms folded, let out a low whistle of admiration.
He stood about five meters tall.
Much smaller than when he had fully turned into the monster of the Forbidden Realm, yet still enormous by any normal standard.
He stood tall on two legs, arms hanging at his sides; his form looked closer to human.
Over his black fur stretched a pitch-black armor, and from his back flowed a shadowy cloak that rippled like darkness itself.
On each shoulder sat a bone pauldron shaped like a wolf’s head, and his face bore the look of a black wolf—not bone, but flesh.
When Hans opened his eyes, a red gleam flared within them.
The air seemed to drop several degrees at once; everyone instinctively felt a chill of primal dread.
The beast form he had taken before had been terrifying and powerful—but not like this.
This was as if the enormous, powerful nightmare had been condensed to its purest essence, a thick extract of terror and strength.
If Hans were to lose control now, the danger would fall upon them.
At that thought, Alex unconsciously reached for his sword hilt.
Pantos, uncrossing his arms, clenched his fists as well.
And then, when Hans’s red eyes finally looked down at his own body—
“Uaaagh! What the hell is this?!”
Hans yelped in surprise and leapt straight up.
His leap was so powerful that he shot vertically upward and slammed his head into the high ceiling with a loud thud.
“Ow.”
Falling back # Nоvеlight # to the ground, Hans clutched his aching head.
Fragments from the cracked ceiling came crashing down on him in a small shower.
“Gah!”
The ridiculous sight shattered the tension that had filled the room.
Sheridan couldn’t hold back a short laugh.
“What the—made us all tense for nothing.”
“Yep. Hans is still Hans.”
Ludger stepped forward and asked,
“How do you feel?”
“Ugh... better than I expected, actually. I’d even say my mind feels clearer.”
Rising from the debris, Hans brushed his hair with his hand.
It wasn’t pain that bothered him—the sensations themselves simply felt strange.
“It’s just... everything feels so different.”
“That’s to be expected. Your body’s larger now, and unlike before, you’re containing that divine beast’s power while keeping a human shape.”
It might take a little time for him to adjust to that balance.
“Don’t worry. It won’t take long.”
“You sound quite confident.”
“Confident? Maybe that’s the right word. In this form, I can feel it. Call it instinct if you want—like a newborn creature knowing what it must do. I just... know how to move, how to act.”
“Good. Then let’s go put that newly awakened power to use.”
Ludger took the lead, and Hans followed behind.
At first, his steps were unsteady, the new body hard to control—but after only a few paces, his movements became fluid and sure.
And more than that—the strange sensations that had filled his body now felt natural, as if they’d always been a part of him.
So this is what it feels like to be strong.
Hans realized that his entire view of the world had changed.
And he knew what he had to do now.
Outside the walls of Galaharad Fortress, they saw the gate connecting to the outer city.
Rumble—
Right then, the massive gate opened, and the Holy Knights from the Second Inspection City surged in as reinforcements.
Spotting Ludger and Hans, they shouted something unintelligible—
“Hans.”
“Yes, brother.”
“From now on—”
The paladins and priests raised their hands, channeling holy power to invoke their sacred spells.
“In this blessed land—engrave a nightmare.”
From the wolf-headed Hans burst a flood of red light like an explosion.
The snarling wolf’s mouth curved into a long, sharp grin.
“With pleasure.”
Hans stepped forward, moving lightly, almost soundlessly for someone of such massive build.
He didn’t charge straight in.
Instead, he stopped a short distance away and knelt on one knee.
The shadowy cloak on his back spread out like a curtain, touching the ground.
Then it began to writhe, creeping across the earth and staining it black.
And then—
Awooooo!
From within the darkness, countless red eyes opened.
* * *
“The connection’s been cut?”
Far away in the home country, Salesin frowned upon realizing that all communication lines had gone silent.
Even if the inner fortress had already fallen, there were still many people left in the Theocracy of Bretus.
Not only paladins and priests—
but also the ordinary citizens of the Holy Nation.
Those citizens had served as Salesin’s ears and eyes.
But he now sensed those eyes and ears vanishing one by one.
The regular signals—from the First Inspection City to the Second—
all completely wiped out.
“Hm.”
Salesin propped his chin on his hand.
“What in the world did they do?”
Surely they weren’t slaughtering all the civilians?
“Well, that would work in my favor. It would strengthen our justification for slaying the Demon King and fuel the holy crusaders’ rage even further.”
But there were too many things that didn’t add up.
“Knowing his personality beneath the surface, I doubt he’d commit such atrocities.”
Ludger might have been willing to use unconventional means to reach his goals, but that wasn’t the same as mindless cruelty.
If conventional methods failed, Ludger found unimaginable ones instead.
He didn’t simply act within the rules—he broke them and laid down new tracks of his own.
That kind of man wouldn’t choose something as crude as mass slaughter to silence his enemies.
“Yes... he still has comrades, and there are plenty of capable people in this world.”
Not to mention, the demons allied with Ludger made even the impossible plausible.
“So you intend to fight with everything you have, then.”
Salesin grinned.
“Good. It takes at least that much to make your struggle against the hand of God worth calling a trial.”
* * *
Aileen and Ivelon moved quietly.
With war looming, the surroundings were under strict guard.
Even someone like Ivelon would draw suspicion if seen wandering about now.
“This way.”
Yet the two of them moved unseen, unnoticed by any eyes.
The two of them were moving through a secret passage built inside the Imperial Castle in the first place.
“When on earth did you make something like this?”
“There’s never any harm in being prepared for anything.”
It was an escape route built in case of an unforeseen situation.
To be precise, it had been constructed after the coup was stopped.
“I had hoped we’d never have to use it again after that day, but I suppose reality is never so kind.”
“Sister......”
“We’re almost there.”
When they opened the door at the end of the passage and stepped inside, a faint light streamed out from within.
Coming out of the cold, dark corridor, Ivelon widened his eyes at the warm glow filling the spacious room.
It was a modest place, but the faces gathered there were anything but ordinary.
“Archmage Clinton Rothschild. Commander Lutus Wardot. And the Lord Protector herself.”
The 7th-Circle Archmage, Clinton Rothschild.
The master of the sword, Lutus Wardot.
And the Lord Protector, Terrina Lionhowl.
“And even Erendir.”
A look of relief flickered across Ivelon’s eyes when he saw his younger sister.
He had been worried that even Erendir might fall under their enemy’s grasp, but meeting her here finally eased that fear.
There were others present as well.
Passius, Mandelina who was carrying out Aileen’s secret mission,
Leonhardt Kimbell, the Commander of the Coldsteel Knights, and his Vice-Commander Veronica.
And though not physically present, there were also those operating covertly outside.
“I’m glad you’ve all come.”
Aileen looked around at everyone gathered and nodded with satisfaction.
Compared to the entire Imperial family, the number of people here was small—
but each of their strengths alone could rival that of an army.
“As you all know, the Theocracy is controlling the leaders of various nations with a strange power. And now, they’re trying to start a holy war.”
“I did think something was off, but......”
Terrina bit her lip. She hadn’t thought the Empire could be cornered this far.
As the Lord Protector who had dedicated her life to the Empire’s defense, her sense of failure weighed heavily.
“Do not torment yourself, Terrina.”
It was Lutus who comforted her.
“This is something no one could have stopped. Good grief—mass brainwashing? There’s a limit to what makes sense.”
“Then, Your Highness, what is our objective?”
Clinton asked Aileen.
Even in this dire situation, his expression retained its calm kindness, though a hint of displeasure flickered in his eyes.
No matter how detached Clinton was from worldly affairs, it didn’t sit well with him that the Empire he served was being toyed with by someone else’s hands.
If he could, he would have incinerated Salesin the Holy Sovereign along with his priests and paladins that very moment—but Clinton restrained himself.
‘If I act rashly now, it won’t make things better. It’ll only make them worse.’
Salesin was no powerless man.
The divine strength he wielded would not be easily pierced, even by Clinton himself.
Once, he might have stepped forward anyway.
But after witnessing power beyond even the realm he had attained, he had no choice but to realize—
That even as a man who had reached the 7th Circle, in the grand scale of the world, he was still only that: a 7th-Circle mage.
‘I survived only because I didn’t get involved in that battle that day.’
Clinton remembered.
Ludger Cherish, walking toward him from afar, wrapped in a chilling aura.
‘The moment I faced that man, I couldn’t say a single word.’
Ludger had passed by him in silence.
But Clinton knew.
That Ludger had spared him.
That was precisely why Clinton now moved carefully and methodically.
The moment he showed even the smallest opening and fell prey to Salesin’s brainwashing, the situation would spiral beyond salvation.
“No matter how capable we are, our current strength is still far inferior to the forces that have gathered. The same goes for those we’ve managed to bring together.”
“Right. But if we openly refuse Salesin’s call and declare we won’t participate in this war, they’ll certainly try to brainwash us all this time.”
What they needed was the enemy’s complacency.
For now, they had to bow their heads and pretend to comply, waiting for the right moment.
“Until then, we join this so-called holy war—completely, and with all apparent enthusiasm.”
And when the chance appeared—
they would drive in a blade, sharpened and waiting.
* * *
“Are you truly going to be all right?”
Sedina and Vierno were leaving Seorn, heading toward the Elven Kingdom.
It was a choice they could not avoid. Members of the Lumenis Church had already arrived at Seorn; as demi-humans, they could not risk needless confrontation.
Moreover, even the Saintess and the High Priestess sisters had come.
Sedina was now the only one in the world who could communicate with the World Tree.
If she and the Priestess were to clash, the outcome would be far from trivial.
“Yes. I’ll be fine. Our teacher told us elves not to take part in the war.”
After the day Ludger brought Grander back,
he had spoken to Sedina separately.
He had warned her strictly—
under no circumstances were the elves to interfere in what was to come.
At first, Sedina had protested, saying they could fight too, but Ludger had been resolute.
“Our civil war’s wounds still haven’t healed. If we recklessly involve ourselves in another nation’s holy war, it will only shake our standing. He was being considerate of us.”
“Yes, I think so too. Professor Ludger is always thoughtful when it comes to others.”
“That’s why it hurts. Knowing that our teacher and his companions will be fighting, yet being unable to help them.”
“Why do you think there’s nothing you can do?”
Sedina turned toward Vierno, surprised by his words.
“What? What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said.”
Vierno smiled kindly.
“Sedina Plante cannot help—but Sedina Roschen can, can she not?”
“......!”
Sedina’s eyes widened.
She hadn’t imagined Vierno would say such a thing.
“But if I leave my post, and something happens while I’m away......”
“Yes. For us elves, that would indeed be serious. Which is why we’ve made sure you can go without worry.”
As soon as Vierno finished speaking, new figures appeared—
and Sedina’s face lit up when she saw them.
“How have you been?”
The elf with a black eyepatch over one eye smiled as he spoke.
That smile was like that of a lion.