The Eminence in Shadow, Vol. 2 (Light Novel) Read online

  Alpha draws a pill from between her breasts, then flicks it with her nail.

  After arcing through the air, it lands on the ground and knocks against Nelson’s shoe. The pill is red, and Alexia recognizes it as a kind she’s seen before.

  “The Cult has used these to support their endeavors, but the source of their true strength lies elsewhere. After sealing Diablos’s flesh away and experimenting on it for ages, they were able to come up with another drug.”

  The scene changes.

  Now they’re in a white laboratory. Men in white robes are crowding around a desk, waiting anxiously.

  Finally, a single drop of something falls into a small bowl.

  “That shiny red liquid is said to be akin to Diablos’s own blood.”

  The liquid does, in fact, resemble blood and emits a vibrant red glow.

  The men celebrate and cheer, and their representative imbibes it.

  “By consuming that liquid, one gains tremendous power…and an eternally youthful body. It seems our hypothesis was right on the mark.”

  Alpha’s gaze shifts to Nelson. He silently looks down, trying to hide his face.

  “Now then, does anyone here think the robed man over there”—she points to the man in white at the end of the group—“looks a little like our friend Nelson?”

  “…That can’t be!” cries Alexia. She looks at Nelson’s face.

  But Alpha is right. Nelson’s face is a perfect match for that of the man robed in white. They’re more than similar—the two are undoubtedly one and the same.

  “Would you please tell us the name of this marvelous drug of yours?”

  “…Beads of Diablos,” Nelson mutters.

  “Why, thank you. However, these droplets were imperfect. They had two major flaws.”

  Alexia has already picked up on one of them. In the present, Nelson is bald. But the Nelson of the past…

  “Acting Archbishop Nelson used to have hair. It looks like ‘eternal youth’ has some drawbacks.” Alexia laughs.

  “That’s not it,” Alpha rebuts her.

  Nelson agrees. “Stress made my hair fall out.”

  “I’m sorry,” apologizes Alexia.

  “The first of the two major flaws is that the pills have to be taken at regular intervals or the effect wears off. Am I wrong?”

  “Once a year, yes.”

  “I suspected as much. And the second is that only a tiny number of them can be produced at a time.”

  “That’s right. Twelve a year.”

  “Twelve? That reminds me, aren’t there twelve members in the Knights of Rounds?”

  “Heh…” Still hanging his head, Nelson laughs.

  “There are twelve knights in the Cult called the Knights of Rounds who have powers far beyond those of its other members. Everyone in the Cult hopes to join the Rounds, seeking the power and eternal life that accompany the title. Isn’t that right?”

  Nelson lets out a throaty laugh.

  “The Cult devotes resources to perfecting these droplets. The key to doing so lies in the descendants who’ve inherited the blood that runs through Diablos’s sealed body and the heroes. People like me. People who’ve inherited a strong concentration of Olivier’s blood.”

  “Precisely. I am Nelson the Avaricious, the eleventh member of the Knights of Rounds.”

  When Nelson lifts his head, his eyes are glowing red.

  Sensing a surge of magic, Alexia readies her guard.

  That’s when a jet-black blade runs through Nelson’s heart. In the blink of an eye, the woman who’d been restraining him has mowed him down.

  Nelson’s body goes limp and collapses to the ground.

  “Sorry, Alpha. Thought it’d be best if I hunted him.” Her voice sounds somewhat listless.

  “Delta…”

  “I’m good at hunting. Back at the mountain with the boars, I—”

  “Shut up.”

  Delta glances around, realizes she messed up, and covers her mouth.

  “Now, take a better look at your prey.”

  Nelson’s corpse is cracking apart. It crumbles from the ends, then vanishes into nothingness.

  That’s not how people are supposed to die.

  It almost looked like a mirror shattering…

  “He’s coming,” warns Alpha.

  Delta’s reaction is simultaneous.

  The moment before the longsword can cleave her in two, Delta drops to the ground.

  Then, as the blast wave reaches all the way to Alexia, Delta leaps up like a beast.

  Her fangs and the sword cross paths.

  “What are you, an animal…?”

  “I’m good at hunting,” Delta responds to Nelson’s query with a bestial laugh.

  Her large fangs drip with blood, and Nelson’s cheek is torn. However, he seems unconcerned as he wipes the blood from his face. The wound has already healed.

  Delta extends her ebony katana out as she drops into an animallike stoop.

  She’s immediately interrupted.

  “Delta. Wait.”

  Hearing Alpha’s voice, she twitches in surprise.

  “Your ears are showing.”

  “Ah…!”

  Delta’s animal ears are sticking out from an opening in her bodysuit.

  She frantically tries to hide them, but her pale buttocks end up exposed when she does, revealing her wagging tail.

  “A therianthrope…,” murmurs Rose.

  “Hey, um, Alpha, I feel like my magic is being sucked away.”

  “That’s because we’re close to the Sanctuary’s center.”

  The one who replies to Delta’s question is Nelson.

  “The Sanctuary is our territory. The closer you get to it, the more power you’ll lose.” His voice cracks. At some point, his body split into two, but before they know it, he’s back to one again. “I’d hoped to get you all a little closer to the core, but…this will be plenty. Now, allow me to introduce myself again.”

  As he effortlessly balances a longsword as tall as he is on his shoulder, Nelson gives a small bow.

  “I am Nelson the Avaricious, the eleventh member of the Knights of Rounds. You will regret baring your fangs against the Cult.”

  There are no vestiges of a clergyman in his expression. His face is that of a savage warrior.

  The scene changes.

  They’re now in a space that’s endlessly white. The sky, the ground, and even the area beyond the horizon line are all level and blank.

  Alpha and Delta square off against Nelson.

  Nelson’s body flickers, then splits into two.

  Still crouching, Delta inches forward and slowly closes the distance between them.

  Alpha’s arms, on the other hand, are crossed, and she isn’t even holding her weapon. Instead, she’s staring at the two Nelsons, almost as though she’s observing them.

  “…Hah!” As Delta exhales, she goes on the offensive.

  From the way she’s stooped over low, she looks like an animal dashing along the ground.

  Then, barreling forward, she swings her ebony katana in a wide sweep.

  The katana in question is far longer than a person is tall, and her attack has no technique or craft behind it. Just pure, unbridled violence.

  Wind follows the force of the impact.

  The destructive wave strikes Nelson and sends him flying.

  He seems to have been able to block the blow, but astonishment is written all over his face.

  “What kind of monster are you…?”

  Delta laughs.

  She’s about to go for a follow-up attack, but at that second, Nelson lashes out to stop her. As she dashes forward, a longsword bears down on her from the side.

  “One down.”

  “Wha…?”

  As Nelson holds his longsword aloft, an ebony katana bursts through his face.

  At some point, Alpha made her way behind him and cut into his body. She slices his neck.

  There’s no sound. No bloodlust. Ju
st Nelson’s head toppling through the air.

  Blood gushes from the wound and stains the white ground.

  The next moment, though, the corpse shatters like a broken mirror and vanishes into the ether.

  “The body felt human—from the way it moved and smelled. Part of how the Sanctuary protects itself, perhaps?” murmurs Alpha as she gazes at her sword, from which the blood has completely vanished, too.

  “Precisely.” Hiding his astonishment, Nelson stands at the ready. His body splits into two, then again into four. “It seems I was a bit careless. Perhaps four will do the trick.”

  One of them hangs back, and the other three Nelsons charge.

  Delta barrels into their midst.

  She doesn’t care about being outnumbered or that she’s at risk of being surrounded. All she sees is prey.

  “So you’re just a simple brute…,” Nelson chuckles.

  Delta laughs, too.

  Then, she smashes the frontmost Nelson to pieces, longsword and all.

  However, the other two move to box her in, and they level attacks at her.

  The two longswords slice through the air horizontally, bearing down on Delta like a pair of scissors closing around her.

  With her avenue of retreat cut off, Delta blocks the longsword in front of her with her katana, then twists her neck to turn her head backward.

  Then…she catches the blade coming up from behind her in her teeth.

  When she brings down her canines, the longsword snaps with a dull ring.

  “What…?” Nelson is dumbfounded.

  While he’s rubbing his eyes, Alpha kills the two of him remaining.

  “That’s impossible…”

  Most of Alpha and Delta’s magic is supposed to be restrained. With the power of the Sanctuary, they shouldn’t have been able to control or manipulate it. It should have been impossible for them to put up a decent fight.

  Yet even under these restrictive conditions, they downed several Nelsons.

  It defies all common sense.

  “Did the two of you really awaken on your own…? That technique was supposed to be long lost…”

  Alpha replies with a smile.

  Delta, on the other hand, seems to be having difficulty controlling her bodysuit. She grabs the slime with her hands, then manually stretches it over her breasts and lower body into a simple suit of bikini armor.

  Her face and body are only minimally covered, but Delta nods regardless, clearly pleased with herself.

  “W-well, this is totally what I expected from you…” Nelson’s voice trembles a little. “Come, then—let me show you my true power.”

  His body multiplies.

  This time, the number dwarfs his past displays. There are well over ten of him, probably close to a hundred.

  “So much prey…” Delta grins ecstatically and, sure enough, charges into the fray.

  “You don’t even understand you’re outnumbered, you stupid animal?!”

  But as Delta and the Nelsons collide, his face twitches.

  Several of the Nelsons go comically flying through the air.

  “HRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!” Delta howls, which echoes like cruel laughter.

  The slaughter begins.

  From a safe distance, Alexia gazes in shock as Delta spins her ebony katana like an electric fan.

  Delta’s sword work is unlike Shadow’s, and it’s different from Alpha’s and Epsilon’s.

  She has no form or technique, simply unbridled violence. It diverges from what Alexia considers strength.

  It makes her want to ask, Are you really okay with that?

  However, the fact of the matter is that Delta is powerful. Preposterously so.

  Alpha joins in as well, and in the blink of an eye, the Nelsons are exterminated.

  “How? How could you do that so easily…?”

  “You were a researcher, weren’t you?” asks Alpha, sounding oddly sympathetic. “Even with infinite copies, there’s still only one brain. And humans aren’t smart enough to effectively control multiple bodies at once. By the time you get to a hundred, they’re little more than scarecrows.”

  Delta slays the final copy. Her tail wags as she strides forward.

  “One left…,” she snarls.

  A brutal smile is glued to her face. For all intents and purposes, she resembles a bloodthirsty beast.

  “Aaah…!” Nelson cries, shrinking back.

  “It looks like there’s a limit to how many copies you can make,” Alpha says dispassionately as she watches him.

  She’s right. Nelson doesn’t have the strength to produce any more copies.

  And that’s why…

  …he finds himself calling upon the Sanctuary’s final guardian.

  “Come to me! And quick…!”

  In response to his pathetic plea, the air rips to shreds.

  Light spills forth from the opening, then coalesces into the shape of a woman. A woman who rather resembles Alpha…

  “Olivier…,” Alpha murmurs.

  There stands the great hero. However, there’s no strength in her eyes. They’re hollow, like glass beads, and appear sad.

  She steps in front of Delta, as though to protect Nelson.

  Delta laughs.

  Strangely, though, she doesn’t charge or inch closer.

  She merely surveys her prey through bloodshot eyes, as though making light of her.

  “Olivier, the great hero… So you really are…” Alpha bites down on her lip.

  Delta licks her lips, wiping up her drool.

  But then they’re interrupted.

  “Alpha, we’re finished with the investigation!”

  A voluptuous woman clad in black appears. For whatever reason, though, she’s a good ways away.

  “Epsilon… I suppose that means our preliminary survey is over.” Alpha turns around and begins walking.

  “A-are you trying to escape…?!” yelps Nelson, audibly relieved.

  “We’ve no interest in taking the life of a weakling. Our objective was to cut off your power at its source. And now, we’re better informed as to the Sanctuary’s defenses. All that remains is to go pry it open.”

  “Y-you think I’ll just let you get away?”

  “Oh? Will you indulge us in a wild chase?”

  “Eek!” Nelson takes refuge behind Olivier’s back.

  “Delta, we’re leaving… Delta!”

  When Alpha grabs Delta by the scruff of her neck, Delta shakes her off and bares her fangs.

  “Grrr!!”

  “Excuse me?”

  With a start, Delta returns to her senses. “Grrr. I’m sorry…”

  “We’re going.”

  “Okay…”

  With her ears tucked down and her tail rolled up between her legs, Delta scampers after Alpha.

  “Lady Alpha! Hurry! The exit is this way! Quickly!” Epsilon waves her hands and repeatedly urges them on. Her two mounds of slime jiggle.

  After everyone has entered the slit of light, led by Epsilon, silence descends upon the Sanctuary once more.

  Nelson sits down and breathes a sigh of relief.

  “W-well, no matter. Now I know that Alpha woman’s face. With her blood, we’ll get even closer to completion. This is all according to plan,” he grunts. “F-first, I should report to the bosses. I can say I lured them into the Sanctuary, sprung my trap, and discovered Alpha’s true nature.”

  Describing it like that, he’ll be able to cover his ass.

  “Then, I’ll… Hmm?”

  Suddenly, Nelson notices something off about his surroundings.

  “Strange… It seems a little mouse has slipped into the center of the Sanctuary.”

  He glances around, and a wicked smile curls at his lips.

  “Heh, tormenting it will prove a welcome distraction. Come along, Olivier.”

  With that, Nelson and Olivier vanish from the scene.

  Chapter 3

  When Things Get Boring, It’s Time for Explosives!

&
nbsp; It feels like we’re in an archaeological ruin.

  There’s no longer that dreamlike sensation that permeated all the places we’d been in up until now, and the cool air brings me back to reality.

  The ceiling is high, and magic illuminates our surroundings.

  “This must be the center.” Violet turns, surveying the area.

  “So what do I need to smash?”

  I’m not seeing anything that looks like a magical core. Just a massive door off to the side.

  “It’s probably beyond that door.” Violet treads atop the stone floor as she heads for it.

  “Makes sense.” I follow her.

  The door is so big, it could probably let a hundred people through at once. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration.

  Anyway, it’s still a big-ass door.

  It looks old as hell, and its surface is covered in dark bloodstains and densely packed with ancient letters. Several chains, each link wider than a human body, are wrapped around it, keeping it sealed.

  “We can probably make it through if we cut the chain.”

  “Seems plausible.”

  I grab one of the links and give it a yank.

  No dice.

  “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

  I might be strong enough to win a magicless tournament, but tearing these chains is physically impossible.

  And if I try chopping through them with my sword, my weapon will probably break before the links do.

  “You know, there must be a key somewhere,” offers Violet.

  “Ooh, yeah, checks out.”

  It takes all of three seconds to find.

  There’s a pedestal next to the door with some sort of fancy sword stuck in it.

  “This is clearly it.”

  “It clearly is.”

  As expected, the pedestal is covered in tiny ancient letters, too.

  “This sword should be able to break the chains,” says Violet as she reads the inscription.

  But I know better. A sword stuck in a pedestal? This ain’t my first rodeo.

  “But I won’t be able to draw it out…”

  “I beg your pardon…?”

  “I know these things…”

  With that, I grab the sword by the handle and try pulling it out, but sure enough, it doesn’t budge an inch.

  “As I thought… I get it now…,” I murmur suggestively. “This blade can only be drawn by the chosen one…”