"Of course." Princess of the Black slowly raised her head, tilted it, and lightly bit her nail. "You killed Brad, one of my most loyal knights."
"You killed White Knight Brad?" Vissera abruptly looked up, disbelief written across his face. "Then our target was..."
"Me." Rimuru slowly extended a hand to the side. Bat wings unfurled behind him, and wisps of thick green mist began to rise.
He had to prove who he was so he could stand with the Church.
If Princess of the Black was out for revenge, then the enemy of his enemy was his friend. He thought the Church should understand that.
Of course, he had no intention of fighting Princess of the Black to the death, either. As usual, he planned to have Vissera hold her off while he looked for another chance to escape—
Survival always came first!
"So you really did inherit Brad's power..."
"I took it from him. So... are you going to avenge him?"
"Avenge him? Perhaps." Princess of the Black tilted her head the other way, her voice growing more cheerful. Then she abruptly added, "Unless you refuse."
"I... refuse?" Rimuru frowned slightly, unable to figure out what Princess of the Black was up to.
But Vissera suddenly looked up, as though he had realized something, and immediately ordered, "This is bad. Attack!"
"Boom!"
Before the words had left his mouth, Vissera charged first, only to be stopped by the Black Knight's Magic Blade, which came crashing down to block him!
"What do you mean?" Seeing the Church's extreme reaction, Rimuru seemed to understand. He asked in a low voice, "You don't mean... you're planning to recruit me?"
"Not recruit you. Bring you back." Princess of the Black smiled softly. "The position of White Knight belongs to you."
"..."
"His final curse showed that he acknowledged you. He wanted you to take his place and become my knight."
Rimuru was stunned. "Are you joking? I killed him..."
"You destroyed his Communication Rune at the end, didn't you?" Seeing Rimuru's doubtful expression, Princess of the Black suddenly stepped forward and held out her hand. "His final message to me wasn't about revenge or tracking you down."
"It was..."
"'If it were him, he would surely help you achieve an unparalleled feat.'"
"That was praise of the highest order."
"After saying that, all he did with the last of his power was curse you with the Blood-Sucking Impulse. He didn't try to kill you."
"Isn't that enough to make everything clear?"
Princess of the Black took another step forward. Vissera couldn't help shouting in alarm, "Don't trust her! I'm sure you know better than I do what Dead Apostles are like."
"Oh? And what are Dead Apostles like?" Princess of the Black's lips curved in a cool smile. Beneath her exquisite beauty, her voice remained unhurried. "I admit you may have some misconceptions about us, but... what you said to that boy showed me that you see Dead Apostles differently."
"You met that child..." Rimuru stared straight at her. "You didn't hurt him, did you?"
"Of course not. We're not the Church..."
That remark nearly made Vissera, who was fighting the Black Knight, choke with rage.
But his attacks only grew fiercer. He had already figured out what the other side wanted: to have an unknown, powerful mage inherit the position of White Knight Brad, a Dead Apostle!
They couldn't let them succeed! That was all the Executors could think.
"Then what are these Executors doing here?" Rimuru looked at Princess of the Black and the slender hand she held out to him. He quickly understood her plan. "If all you wanted was to invite me to join you, there'd be no need to involve them."
"They..." Princess of the Black wiggled her chin with a troubled expression, her waterfall of silky hair fluttering in the breeze. "I was going to reveal your whereabouts to them so they could come to your rescue in a heroic fashion..."
Her voice drifted on the wind. The Executors froze in astonishment, only to be driven back by the Black Knight. Princess of the Black's voice grew colder still.
"But those fools chose to investigate me instead of looking into your whereabouts—"
"Which led to you discovering where I was..."
Princess of the Black didn't go on, but Rimuru understood. She had been tracking him for some time. Though his injuries had left him weak, Brad had been exceptionally skilled at speed, tracking, and countertracking. If Rimuru had truly run for his life, Princess of the Black might not have been able to catch him. So she had planned to use the information about his whereabouts to lure the retreating Executors back, then stage a rescue to win his favor.
But the Executors had gotten on her trail first. They had alerted him, forcing her to show herself ahead of schedule—
Once he understood what had happened, Rimuru's expression became strangely odd. Until now, he had always thought of himself as the player who won over NPCs—in other words, characters from the original story. Honestly... he had never expected one of those characters to try to win his favor.
To everyone else, Rimuru's expression was unmistakably a sign that he was wavering.
Vissera grew even more anxious. "Mage, Dead Apostles can't be trusted! The Blood-Sucking Impulse isn't a serious problem..."
"Trust me..." Princess of the Black took another step forward, reaching out as she spoke softly. "I need you."
"Rimuru Tempest."
"So you did recognize me—or rather, you investigated me..."
At the sound of his name, Rimuru gave a bitter smile. Vissera and the others were dumbstruck, then erupted in anger. "Princess of the Black, you really are as despicable as the rumors say!"
By now, they had realized that they had been used as unwitting accomplices.
Princess of the Black had revealed Rimuru's true identity, and Vissera immediately recognized where that identity came from. Along with his fear, he understood that he could no longer get Rimuru on his side.
Even if Rimuru refused Princess of the Black, she wouldn't let him leave alive.
Rimuru Tempest.
That surname, that name, belonged only to the heir of one of the Twelve Lords of the Clock Tower, a family that had been wiped out. He was now known as the brightest rising star in the mage world, the Blue Lecturer with tremendous influence.
So it was him... With an identity like that, he absolutely couldn't let anyone find out he'd had dealings with Princess of the Black—not to mention his Blood-Sucking Impulse, a dangerous condition that would certainly get him placed under a Sealing Designation.
"Honestly... I don't like being manipulated into winning your favor, or the fact that you investigated me."
Looking at the tense faces around him, Rimuru spoke softly. "But I can guess what you're going to use to threaten me next."
Rimuru glanced back at the nun, who still had no idea what was going on.
Then he turned around again. "Was all of this part of your plan, Princess of the Black?"
"No." Princess of the Black was slightly taken aback by Rimuru's unnaturally calm gaze. She shook her head gently. "You guessed wrong. I wasn't planning to use that nun to threaten you. I told you, my original plan was to rescue you in a heroic fashion."
"And by that point, you would have already said goodbye to her."
"I may be despicable, but I'm not that bad." She leaned close to Rimuru's ear. "I told you, you have a lot of misconceptions about us, Rimuru."
"Why not come with me and open your eyes to the real world?"
"I have no interest in seeing this world, and I don't care what you originally intended." Rimuru calmly shook his head at Princess of the Black's invitation. He looked around at the others and spoke coldly. "Because things have gone too far. Whether or not you threaten me with her, if word of this gets out, she'll be punished."
"But she's innocent."
"Then what will you do?" Princess of the Black asked softly. "I won't use her to threaten you, but I can promise that if you join me, I'll take full responsibility. I'll tell the world that I was behind this attack, and I'll make sure not a word of what happened here gets out."
Because everyone here except the nun would die!
Princess of the Black watched Rimuru quietly. Rimuru, meanwhile, turned to the nun and asked, in a voice utterly unfamiliar to her:
"There's guilt in refusing to save the innocent, and there's guilt in dragging the innocent into danger."
"But if I commit a crime to protect the innocent—"
"Tell me, Sister."
"Am I... guilty... now?"
The White Knight, Rimuru Tempest
Beneath the crimson blood moon, dark clouds slowly veiled the silver and eerie red light.
Rimuru's voice drifted through the mist, filling the area. As he looked at the silent nun, a chill and killing intent gradually settled on Vissera and the others.
"Please." Princess of the Black smiled, delicately lifting the hem of her skirt before gracefully stepping aside.
Then she watched Rimuru's back, resting her hands together beneath her delicate chin. "White Knight... Rimuru."
Rimuru paused at her words. Vissera stared at him in disbelief. "You're really going to join the Dead Apostles? Rimuru Tempest, have you forgotten the honor you represent?"
"I never said I was going to join them. But whether I join or refuse, that can wait until after I kill you, can't it?" At this point, even Rimuru, who had always been inclined toward the Church, was growing annoyed with this noisy Inquisitor. The man hadn't said a word about humanity, yet his contempt for Dead Apostles and vampires, along with the condescending tone he used when loudly proclaiming honor, made Rimuru increasingly impatient.
Negotiations required real bargaining chips and benefits, sweetheart.
Princess of the Black knew what I wanted and what mattered to me. She was willing to help keep my secret and protect others.
But what about you?
He looked at them, his voice finally taking on a trace of lazy mockery. "You've also forgotten that the Tempest family is a union of Phantasmal Species and humans, haven't you? Forgotten? Your Church calls my family heretics... What honor has it ever had?"
Princess of the Black might not be a friend. She might even be the culprit who had schemed against him and gotten him into this mess. But at least their interests and methods could align. The same couldn't be said of the Church. Ask them to keep his Blood-Sucking Impulse a secret?
They might agree, but Vissera could never decide that on his own. It would have to go to his superiors for a ruling, and the information might leak along the way. Even if it didn't, neither the Church nor the Mage's Association was ruled by a single authority. Their competing interests would inevitably lead to negotiations and something like the Grand Council.
Would you rather work with the king or one of his ministers?
The choice was obvious.
"I'd planned to use you as a bargaining chip against Princess of the Black, but..." A breeze swept past. The mist didn't disperse; if anything, it grew thicker. Suddenly, the sound of ocean waves rang out...
Everyone looked up in shock. The area around them had been completely overtaken by seawater. The entire courtyard was like a tiny boat floating in the ocean, surrounded by Ghost Ships gleaming with emerald flames.
"Unfortunately, I can't let my identity be exposed."
As Rimuru sighed, a tsunami surged up. A vast whirlpool and endless storm began to form in the water, swallowing everyone in an enormous, crashing wave. Vissera's uniform was soaked through, revealing faint holy light. He gritted his teeth and desperately summoned something like a barrier, barely managing to withstand the endless assault of the sea.
Princess of the Black sat suspended in midair, making sure to protect the nun as well. Watching the scene, she suddenly understood how Brad had lost.
Rimuru was said to be a Color Rank mage who specialized in water magecraft. For a mage at that level, the ocean was practically a natural Magecraft Workshop!
Princess of the Black's smile deepened. Having devoured Brad and gained a Reality Marble so perfectly suited to his domain, Rimuru was without a doubt the most promising mage she had ever seen. He might even reach Grand.
"Damn it..." Vissera watched the endless tsunami and had no choice but to retreat a few steps and join his subordinates. He drew a golden streak of light, and the group of Executors began a baptismal chant in unison.
A joint chant?
Rimuru stared at them for a moment, then shook his head regretfully. Executors were indeed skilled at combat, and their Reinforcement Magecraft and engravings designed to counter magecraft traps meant they could fight their way out of a Magecraft Workshop.
But... this was a Reality Marble.
The Executors' style of taking their individual abilities to the limit couldn't stand against... an entire world.
The most troublesome Executor Rimuru could think of was Kotomine Kirei, who relied on Command Spells to ward off most magecraft. What chance did an unknown man have against him?
Rimuru had been hunted before because he was gravely injured. But now, with less than one injury out of ten remaining, these people...
Were all just small fry!!
Die. Be buried beneath the sea and become my nourishment.
Thinking this with cold indifference, Rimuru raised his hand without hesitation and drew on nearly half of the vast magic power within him. This time, he didn't overexert himself. He simply let one Magecraft Crest after another convert his magic power, causing one magical formation after another to light up across the sea!
He had to keep half his strength in reserve so he could continue fighting and negotiate with Princess of the Black. Just as he'd said, he wasn't going to let her get her way so easily. If she'd schemed against him so thoroughly and wanted him to submit or cooperate, she had to pay something in return, didn't she?
He knew that if she really threatened him with the nun, he would have to give in. But that didn't stop him from trying to raise the stakes—and from placing a little trust in Princess of the Black's promise not to use the nun as leverage.
One blue formation after another lit up across the sea. Vissera watched helplessly as the island beneath his feet was torn apart by the storm. His legs nearly buckled, and he had no choice but to spend some of his magic power on a spell that let him walk on water. The other Executors weren't so lucky. Several of them lacked any similar magecraft. Those unlucky few slipped into the sea, and the water swallowed them whole—
In an instant, they seemed to be shredded by countless blades of water, turning into a cloud of blood that dyed the dim, dark sea a brilliant red.
The entire ocean had become a meat grinder!
"Just as Brad said, I suppose." Rimuru stretched out his arm. His already-shabby clothes had been completely eaten away by his magic power, leaving only the surging magical energy and countless magic circuits radiating immense power. "When the creatures on land lose the ground beneath their feet—"
"All they can do is struggle, can't they?"
"Even if you can withstand the world's power for a time..."
"So what?"
Rimuru clenched his fist. Boom! The blue formations activated, and the water within the Reality Marble erupted. Hundreds-of-feet-high waves surged in from every direction, forming a world-ending torrent that swallowed everyone like a ravenous maw.
The Executors were wiped out.
A long while later, Rimuru slowly lowered his arm. The clouds parted, and the sea grew calm.
The drizzle left by the tsunami fell on Princess of the Black, soaking her hair, but she didn't care. Her eyes curved like two crescent moons as she smiled. "That was incredible magecraft. Does it have a name?"
"Unfortunately, not yet." Rimuru raised an eyebrow and looked back at her. "But I'm thinking of calling it Leviathan's Welcome. What do you think?"
"That's a lovely welcome." Princess of the Black opened her blood-red eyes and nodded with a soft laugh. She couldn't help looking toward where those people had been.
The scenery was already beginning to return. After Rimuru dispelled his Reality Marble, not even a corpse remained. Truly... Leviathan. It had swallowed them without leaving a trace.
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