It was Maia who was bewildered by Plimene's words.
"Plimene? What do you mean? Do you know that guy by any chance?"
A man openly approaching while radiating a dangerous aura. He was definitely an archbishop of the Eternal Divine Church, possessing power stronger than the bishops they had faced so far.
No matter how capable Plimene was, she couldn't have met an archbishop of an organization that had been secretly hidden until now, so it must have been their first meeting. However, judging by Plimene's reaction, she seemed to know that archbishop very well.
That curiosity didn't last long. Because the archbishop called Phillis smiled brightly at Plimene and greeted her.
"Yeah. Long time no see. Sister."
"……!"
At the word "sister," the witch Maia's eyes widened enormously.
"Plimene. Did you have family?"
Plimene didn't answer. Right now, she didn't have the capacity to respond to the surrounding situation. Her younger brother, whom she thought had died decades ago, had suddenly appeared and with the power of an outer god dwelling in his body at that.
Plimene simply couldn't accept that reality.
"Phillis. Is it really you?"
"Huh? Hahaha. You're stating the obvious. Of course it's me. Since I look the same as before, shouldn't it be easier to recognize me?"
Phillis smiled brightly, asking what she was talking about. His pale skin, delicate appearance, and somehow melancholic atmosphere. It was a look that didn't suit this terrible scene at all. That's why Phillis' appearance felt even more grotesque.
This isn't good. Just as Delford was getting quite tense from the threatening scent emanating from his opponent, he saw Basilio beside him trembling.
"Lord Basilio?"
"Philiiiis!!"
It was the first time. The first time Basilio had let out such an angry roar. At his sudden action, both Maia and Plimene looked at him in surprise.
"What the hell! Why are you alive?! Why are you!"
Basilio's black cloak fluttered. Intense magical power began swirling around him as magic was completed.
A piercingly huge ice pillar created in midair shot toward Phillis like a cannon.
-Crack!
However, the ice pillar was swallowed by red mist during its flight and decomposed like powder on the spot.
Basilio raised his hand. Purple lightning swirled around his right arm. The end of the massive lightning transformed into a dragon's head and opened its maw.
-Crackle!
Just as the lightning dragon was about to shoot toward Phillis.
"Why am I alive, you ask? You're stating the obvious. It's because I never died in the first place."
Before they knew it, Phillis was standing right in front of Basilio.
"……!"
When exactly? Just as Basilio was bewildered, Delford moved.
He pulled Basilio's cloak backward and launched wolf claws toward Phillis. Archbishop Phillis stood still in place even while watching this. It wasn't that he couldn't react and dodge, but that there was no need to.
-Slash!
Delford's claws, which could cut through even steel sharply, passed through Archbishop Phillis' body like a ghost. Delford's eyes widened in surprise at this sight. Because Phillis was standing there calmly as if nothing had happened.
What was that just now? There was definitely a feeling that the attack had connected, yet he was so calm?
"Hmm. I'd like to catch up on old times since we're meeting after so long, but if the reaction is like this, I get really hurt."
"Phillis! What's going on here! Why are you alive, and why are you with these heretics!"
Plimene shouted with a tearful voice.
The locket of the necklace around her neck swayed accordingly. The photo of Phillis contained in the locket had appeared before her eyes, but she couldn't be happy at all.
"Isn't that obvious? I never died in the first place. No, I almost died but survived by taking their power."
Phillis' voice was as calm as if stating an insignificant fact.
"Of course it took time to accept, but thanks to that, I was able to rise to a high position. Look at this body."
Phillis showed his smooth right hand.
"The gaunt, weak body of the past is nowhere to be found. There's no reason to live in the agony of death while suffering from illness either. Of course, the same goes for youth. “
Phillis said while tapping his cheek with his hand.
At that moment, massive flames engulfed Phillis. Plimene's body trembled at the sight. It was Basilio who had used fire magic.
"Ahahaha. This is hot. Isn't this too much even if you can't say hello happily after meeting for so long?"
Phillis revealed himself from within the flames. He was completely unharmed without a single wound despite being in the high-temperature flames.
'No. He's not unharmed.'
Delford noticed that Phillis' skin was regenerating in real time. It only appeared that he wasn't wounded because his regeneration speed was faster than the burning speed from Basilio's magic.
'My attack earlier wasn't deflected either. At an unimaginable speed, the area cut by my claws rapidly regenerated.'
The power to regenerate immediately upon being cut. While the characteristics of the Eternal Church's corrupted ones were said to be specialized in regeneration, Archbishop Phillis' level was exceptional.
'If I got a little more serious here.'
Crack. Tendons rose like writhing snakes on Delford's hand. His claws became longer and thicker than before. Delford soon abandoned the thought and suppressed his arm that was beginning to transform.
Even if he got serious, he wasn't confident he could kill that guy. Rather, the people around might get caught up in it. His family was also inside this space.
Whether Delford thought so or not, Archbishop Phillis looked at Basilio with an amused laugh.
"Hahaha. What's wrong? Why are you so angry? Brother Julius."
"Shut up!"
"No. Now you're using the alias Basilio instead of that name, right? While hiding both your face and identity. Did things get bad between you and sister?"
"I told you to shut up!"
-Whoosh!
Countless ice spears pierced through Phillis' body. But Phillis still didn't erase his smiling face. The embedded ice spears fell out on their own and dropped to the floor with a thud.
"Unexpected. I didn't think you two would end up separated like this."
"Phillis…… This is a joke, right? This isn't your will, right? So those heretics kidnapped you and made you like this, right?"
To Plimene's desperate question, Phillis shook his head.
"Even sister, who's usually cold and rational, becomes like this when family is involved. You're wrong, sister. I wasn't kidnapped, nor was I experimented on."
"What do you mean…….?"
Plimene's pupils trembled greatly at an answer completely different from the facts she knew.
The end of Phillis that she remembered was that he went to the battlefield with his sickly body, was kidnapped by the Eternal Church, and met his end as an experimental subject.
That's what she was told and the one who conveyed that fact was none other than Basilio.
Plimene lived with her younger brother Phillis. The place where the two lived was a typical residential house in District 30 of Tirna City. It was narrow and unsanitary, but they couldn't complain about it.
It was the most decent place they could find with the money they had.
Plimene didn't like such a life. That's why she devoted herself to studying. If she became a civil servant of Tirna, if she rose to a higher position, she could live a much better life than this.
Fortunately, Plimene had both the clever mind for it and sufficient motivation to work hard. Of course, her ability to focus on something to this extent was also for her one and only family.
"Cough. Cough. Sister, are you okay?"
Coughing dryly, her younger brother Phillis opened the door and came out.
"Phillis. I told you to lie down."
"Even so, if I just lie down like this, I'm being a burden to sister."
"You're not at all, so just rest."
Plimene supported Phillis and immediately laid him down on the bed. The old cheap bed creaked, but it was better than having nothing.
"Sorry, sister. Because my body is like this."
"You don't need to be sorry at all."
Plimene's younger brother Phillis had been sickly since childhood. He was smaller than children his age, his skin was pale, and his limbs were thin.
He had constant minor illnesses and also suffered from chronic conditions. Plimene had devoted all her efforts to caring for such a brother since she was young. Her determination to somehow make money and succeed was to safely care for her one and only brother.
Plimene stroked Phillis' forehead.
"See. You still have a fever."
"I'm fine."
"I'm not fine. Just lie down and get some sleep."
"I was lying down continuously until just now. It's actually getting tedious."
Phillis looked out the window with a distant gaze. Beyond the hazy, dirty window, people were moving around energetically. Of course, that wouldn't be entirely positive. Most people living in this area were busy just making ends meet each day.
But Phillis still wanted to walk around outside with his own two feet.
"Phillis……."
Plimene, who wasn't unaware of her brother's feelings, could only call his name wistfully. Because it was already difficult for her to arrange money for Phillis' medicine, and surgery was beyond her reach.
'I need to take the exam and pass quickly.'
Though Plimene was only in her mid-teens, she maturely and calmly decided what she needed to do. Then the bell rang with a ding-dong sound.
Plimene was startled for a moment. She wondered if it might be the landlord nagging about rent.
But with Phillis here now, she couldn't ignore such a doorbell.
When she steeled herself and opened the front door, a bouquet of flowers was suddenly thrust toward her.
As she stared at this with a blank expression, the young man holding the bouquet peeked his head out to the side.
"Strange. I heard that girls usually like it when you give them flowers."
He was a tall, handsome man with distinct features. He seemed quite bewildered that the expected reaction didn't come. Plimene let out a hollow laugh at this sight.
"Julius. Stop fooling around. You startled me coming without any notice."
"Fooling around! This is my sincerity!"
"And why did you bring flowers? We don't even have space to put them."
"I didn't buy them. I just casually snatched them from the laboratory."
Julius was a promising mage. And he was also Plimene's lover.
"Anyway, no flowers. They'll wilt soon."
"Oh my. More importantly, how is our Phillis doing?"
"Julius!"
Plimene couldn't stop Julius from entering on his own. Julius with the bouquet headed toward Phillis' room as if it were natural.
"Phillis. How have you been?"
"Ah. Brother Julius. Long time no see. But what are those flowers?"
"Pretty, right? I improved the breed so they smell good too. If you keep these around, you'll feel good."
When Julius handed over the bouquet, Phillis received it and smelled the fragrance. Phillis' complexion improved considerably with the gentle fragrance that pushed away the stuffy air in the room.
Julius spoke quietly to Plimene, who was watching from the doorway, so only she could hear.
"It's a flower improved with magic. It emits a fragrance that calms the mind and also has the effect of purifying the surrounding air. You can keep it in Phillis' room."
"You……."
‘Did you do this on purpose for Phillis?’
As Plimene couldn't say anything, Julius found her expression quite cute and chuckled, poking the tip of Plimene's nose with his index finger.
"There's that expression again. Plimene, your smiling face is the prettiest, you know?"
"……Even if you compliment me like that, I'm not particularly happy about it."
Despite saying that, the corners of Plimene's mouth were gradually rising.
"Still, since you're a guest who came all this way, I can't turn you away at the door. Rest for a while."
"Ooh. Can I eat food made by you for once? I missed it."
"If you missed it, come often. Don't just hole up in that magic workshop for days on end."
"Huh? Don't tell me you're saying that because you were lonely? Ah, I didn't realize that. Ow! Wh-why are you stepping on my foot!"
"Oh my, sorry."
Julius and Plimene chuckled and chatted with each other. For Plimene, such times with Julius were one of the few happy moments that made her temporarily forget this exhausting reality.
But as conversations usually came to an end, she would once again recognize the gloomy, gray-filled reality and become even more depressed.
Julius, who noticed her expression, asked.
"Is Phillis' physical condition still bad?"
"Yes. We're managing with medicine somehow, but the chronic illness is the problem."
"Don't worry about surgery costs. I can pay for them. Did you forget? I'm a mage."
"Do you think I don't know that you don't have much money either? Even if you're a promising mage, you're still in the learning stage now."
"Ahem. Since I'm a genius, I can rise quickly anytime. I can make money quickly too."
"I'm doing that too. So I don't want to be a burden."
Plimene was stubborn about such things. Though it was sometimes frustrating, Julius knew that he had fallen head over heels for this side of her.
"Just don't overdo it."
In the end, that was all the advice he could give her.
It would probably be okay. Since Phillis' condition wasn't worsening, if time just passed somehow like this, they would be able to treat his illness.
"But why is it so noisy outside?"
Julius looked down below the window.
"Extra! Extra!"
A young boy was scattering newspapers from his arms in all directions while shouting something. People who picked up the newspapers began murmuring among themselves after reading them. A somewhat ominous atmosphere flowed through the air.
"What's happening?"
To Plimene's question, Julius opened the window and used wind magic to bring over a newspaper into his hand. His expression hardened as he read the article on the front page.
"It's war."
Neighboring countries had declared war on Tirna.