After returning to his room, Frey immediately drew Asuraâs summoning circle.
This was so he could summon him at a momentâs notice.
Then, he immediately began to pay close attention to his surroundings.
ââŠâ
No one had followed him, and there was no one revealing any hostile intentions towards him.
Frey frowned.
âWhy did she let me go?â
Leyrin had definitely noticed the divine power hidden within his body.
He had no doubt about that.
Nevertheless, she didnât attack him but instead sent Frey back upstairs.
Her reaction didnât make any sense.
There was no trace of hostility at all.
She hadnât even sent someone to follow him.
âIs it because she can kill me at any time?â
No.
That wasnât it.
That wasnât the feeling he had gotten from her reaction.
But could there be any other reason?
Frey replayed his memory of the scene.
âLeyrin was surprised to find Indraâs divine power in my body.â
That was understandable.
But then she panicked.
âŠWhy did she panic?
With Leyrinâs power, she shouldâve been able to overpower him easily.
It would be even easier for her to kill him.
Even if he had reached 8 stars, it was still impossible for him to win in a head to head clash with an Apocalypse.
âDid she see my stage?â
Had Leyrin realised that he was also an 8 star Wizard?
No, that wasnât possible either.
Even if he didnât know much about divine power, he knew that it was impossible for Leyrin to have sensed the mana he was concealing.
ââŠâ
That was not it either.
Frey kept thinking.
Questions popped up one after another.
All of his previous assumptions were wrong. This meant that he had taken the wrong step from the start.
Frey closed his eyes.
Since he couldnât reach a conclusion, he needed to change his approach.
He diverted all his energy to thinking.
A drop of sweat rolled down Freyâs face.
If he had the brain of a normal person, this sort of repetitive thinking would have already burnt it out by now.
Since his previous assumptions were incorrect, he relentlessly calculated and narrowed down the possibilities.
After an unknown period of time, there was only one thought left in Freyâs mind.
âŠWhat if it wasnât that she didnât want to take action but that she couldnât take action?
âAvatar.â
He opened his eyes.
It was an avatar, not Leyrinâs true body.
A being who only had a small portion of the main bodyâs power.
It was strong enough to wipe out tens of strong fighters, but it was not strong enough to defeat the current him.
In general, there were only two reasons why a Demigod would use an avatar. When it was trying to hide its power and when it could not move its main body.
Frey believed it was the latter.
It would make the most sense if the Leyrin he had met was just an avatar, not her main body, and it would also mean that her main body was unable to move at that moment.
After all, she was either weakened or had limited strength.
He couldnât be sure, but Frey believed it had something to do with the other Apocalypses who were fatally injured.
She wasnât confident.
She wasnât confident that she could perfectly deal with Frey in her current state.
That was why she sent him back.
She was trying to buy time by pretending she didnât notice.
âHmm.â
That last part was particularly important.
Leyrin wanted to buy time.
He didnât know why, but that fact was obvious.
If so, it meant Frey had to move faster.
âI have to completely revise my plan.â
Frey left his room.
Before long, the entire Blake family would be overturned.
Probably by his own hands.
Before that, there was a man whose position he had to confirm.
* * *
The Livindak Mountains.
Located near the Silkid Desert, it was one of the most rugged alpine regions on the continent.
Even monsters, known to be able to survive even the harshest of conditions were nowhere to be seen as this place consisted mostly of barren, rocky mountains where vertical cliffs of dizzying heights were endless.
It was a barren land where not even weeds grew.
Atop the mesa(1) on Mount Roxeo, there were transcendent beings.
Kooo.
Not one but four. A skeleton, a ball of flame and a scorpion.
The one thing they shared in common was their enormous size that seemed to surpass imagination.
And standing in the center of these huge beings was one whose body was devoid of any common features.
White light constantly flowed from this featureless figure and illuminated the surroundings.
Lord.
And the three Demigods who had been severely injured by Riki.
[âŠ]
The white light that was exuded from Lordâs body was slowly being absorbed by the other three.
He was sharing his divine power.
An ability that only Lord had among all the Demigods.
Riki.
The power of the sword.
In this world, there was nothing that couldnât be cut by a sword wielded by him.
This was clear by the fact that he had even been able to cut the barrier Lord had created.
If it wasnât for Lordâs help, these three would have already died painful deaths.
It was then.
Leyrin appeared beside Lord.
She solemnly watched this scene of divine power being transferred.
ââŠif it wasnât for this, I wouldnât have had to use my avatar.â
There was only a small amount of divine power left in her body at that moment because Lord had extracted most of it and infused it into the bodies of the other three.
If Leyrin had been at full power, then it would have been a simple task to capture Frey, who sheâd found in the family, and extract information.
But it couldnât be helped.
After all, she couldnât just ignore her siblings who were on the verge of death.
âLord.â
[Leyrin, whatâs the matter?]
When she heard his words, Leyrin couldnât help but sigh.
âThereâs a problem.â
[Those words arenât pleasant to hear.]
Especially in the current situation.
[Tell me.]
âAn enemy appeared in my lab.â
[An enemy?]
âA man with Indraâs lightning energy. No other details are known, but he is currently a threat.â
[âŠIndraâs lightning.]
Indra was one of their kind who had died already.
In fact, Riki had killed him while he was hibernating due to his Apostleâs death.
Lordâs eyes appeared.
[He is connected to Riki.]
âThatâs right.â
[Donât kill him. Capture him.]
ââŠthat would be best, but itâs not as easy as it sounds.â
Leyrinâs grumbling was natural.
The opponentâs strength was unknown, and she was currently in the weakest state sheâd been in in centuries.
It was impossible to make a move hastily.
âIf I were to leave this placeâŠâ
This was truly an absurd situation that sheâd never experienced, even in her thousands of years of life.
She couldnât make a move.
Lord was also aware of Leyrinâs current crisis
He spoke calmly.
[I will send some of the others.]
Leyrinâs eyes lit up.
âHow many will you send?â
[âŠThere are three of our kind near the Kastkau Empire. I will send them.]
Three Demigods.
That way, even if the man with Indraâs lightning could overpower a single Demigod, he would still be captured.
âThatâs more than enough. How long will it take them to get there?â
[None of them know how to use Space-Time movement, so it will take about three days.]
ââŠthree days.â
Leyrinâs expression darkened once again.
This was because even three days felt like an eternity for her at that point.
After all, this wasnât a situation that she could stall by running away.
The Blake family residence was the place where the research on Illuminium was steadily progressing.
If it was destroyed now, it would cause a huge disruption to the mass production of the Illuminium when they were currently only a few steps away from continental domination.
In addition, her own Apostle, Leita, was there.
âIs he aware that Leita is my Apostle?â
She wasnât sure, but⊠the chances were very high.
When Leyrin had grabbed Freyâs arm in the basement and he realised that she had sensed the lightning in his body, the first place he looked was towards Leita.
She was certain that if she made a move at that moment, he would have immediately killed Leita.
âDid he find out from Rikiâs Apostle?â
She thought about the masked man who had been standing behind Riki during the meeting not long ago.
No, now that she thought about it.
Lord himself had gone to kill that man.
After he returned, Lord hadnât said anything, but Leyrin didnât believe that a single Apostle would be able to escape from Lord.
Moreover, Demigodsâ powers could not be replicated.
Except for Lord, there were no Demigods who could use two powers.
The same was true for Apostles.
That said, it was possible that Frey had learned of Leitaâs identity through his own independent investigation.
It was also possible that he was taking a gamble by aiming at Leita.
âThen is he the one Riki left just in case something happened?â
So he gave him Indraâs crystal.
Leyrin clicked her tongue.
Indraâs main body was dead.
This meant that the lightning power in that manâs body was no longer borrowed power, but it had instead become his own power.
With time and âopportunityâ, it was possible for his power to go beyond the limits of Apostles.
And because he was a member of the Blake family, he also had the ability to use mana.
âThis is difficult.â
Leyrin never thought that a creature born from her own actions could make her feel such a way.
It wouldnât be easy to endure the next three days.
(Note:
1. A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain.)