The Crucible

Clang.

The flash of light crashed into the iron hammer once more, sending Kaylar flying backward.

“...Kaylar... Are you okay...?”

Eladia's voice was very soft, carrying a trace of panic.

“I'm fine.”

Kaylar pushed herself off the ground and raised her iron hammer once again.

Her hands were still trembling, blood seeping from the web of her thumb and trickling down.

She just had to endure it, just like before.

“Hey, who are you? Why are you attacking Eladia?”

Her gaze fell upon the flash of light in front of her, which had finally come to a halt.

“Landon Colen. You might have heard of my name, or maybe you haven't. But that doesn't matter. You're not my target anyway.”

The man stood in place, hands tucked into the sleeves of his robe.

His face was incredibly ordinary—the kind you would immediately lose in a crowd. His short hair was messy, and his eyes were calm and lifeless, making him look like an overworked salaryman who had been busy for ages but still had to work overtime.

He carried no weapon, but standing there, he himself resembled one.

Kaylar tightened her grip on the hammer's handle.

Landon tilted his head slightly, his gaze passing over Kaylar to land on the blue-haired figure behind her.

“First of all, she can heal, which is very annoying. Second, if she dies, Beatrice will lose a useful card. And third, the thing inside her would be very troublesome for us. For you, too.”

Hearing Beatrice's name, Eladia unconsciously clenched her hands.

“You know the Pope?”

Kaylar asked in a low voice.

“I don't. But I've studied her method of producing holy water. It's not very creative. She just slices off her own flesh and blood piece by piece, stores them, and waits for them to grow back before slicing again. But this business model can be run indefinitely, yielding massive returns on zero capital. The profits are quite good; I'm actually rather envious.”

His tone was like that of an experienced chef discussing a common recipe, even carrying a faint hint of approval.

Meanwhile, Eladia's breath hitched for a moment. Her expression didn't change, but her grip on her robe grew tighter and tighter.

Kaylar ground her teeth so hard they clicked.

“What are you talking about, you bastard...? Is that supposed to be funny...?!”

“It certainly isn't funny. Like I said, it's not very creative.”

Landon shrugged indifferently, reaching into his sleeve to pull something out.

“Well, I originally planned to beat her to near-death while you weren't looking before using this. But I suppose using it directly works just as well.”

It was a pitch-black heart.

Its shape was no different from a human heart, but its surface was covered in a charred black shell, resembling resin that had hardened after being scorched by intense fire.

Countless fine cracks radiated outward from its surface, with a faint dark-red light pulsing deep within them, flickering like the breathing of some sleeping creature.

He squeezed his hand with force.

Cracks spread across the hard shell, covering the entire surface.

The heart shattered. Before the fragments could even hit the ground, they dissolved into wisps of black mist, diffusing in all directions with Landon at the center.

The mist twisted, swirled, and sank in midair, spreading across the ground like a living shadow.

The air changed.

Eladia's chest suddenly tightened. The holy light that had always enveloped her body, diffusing like morning mist, began to contract the moment it touched the black mist. It was as if something was squeezing it from the outside, forcing it back into her body bit by bit.

“...What is this? Are you one of the death marchers?”

Kaylar glanced at Eladia out of the corner of her eye, her voice much deeper than usual when she turned back.

“Yes, pretty much like you.”

“Who's anything like you!”

Landon did not respond to Kaylar's roar.

“This heart is a tool developed by those researchers recently to counter the Holy Spirit Knights. It can simulate the Abyss environment to suppress holy light.”

He brushed off the remaining debris from his hands.

“Don't worry, the effect only lasts for a little while. You should be feeling your body get heavier now? That's normal. The holy light inside you will lose most of its activity during this time, and your self-healing speed and recovery abilities will slow down. Still, it's quite annoying. After all, you wouldn't die even if I beat your brains out and crushed your heart. But if you sustain a lethal amount of damage in this state, even you would take a very long time to regain consciousness.”

He spoke very calmly, as if explaining the procedure of some experiment.

“I'll just take you away then.”

Kaylar stood between Eladia and Landon, her grip on the hammer handle tightening even further.

“Kaylar... leave me be...”

Eladia's voice came from behind her, very soft.

“He came to kill me... there's no need for you to fight him... when the time comes... please tell Esper for me...”

“Shut up.”

Kaylar's tone was completely different from usual.

Usually, she would complain, sass, and talk endlessly in that loud, dramatic tone of hers, but now, all of that was gone.

Her voice sank.

“What kind of bullshit are you talking? What do you expect me to do? Leave you to get beaten into mincemeat? Dust off my pants and walk away while he's hitting you? And then tell Esper, ‘Oh, sorry, I just let Eladia get dragged away’?”

Kaylar spat out each word, emphasizing every single one.

“Just who on earth do you take me for?”

Eladia's lips parted, but she said nothing.

Standing in the center of the black mist, Landon tilted his head as he watched them.

His gaze lingered on Kaylar for two seconds, shifted to Eladia behind her, and then returned to Kaylar.

“You are more human than I thought, 『Twelve』.”

Kaylar's body froze.

“Twelve...?”

Eladia asked softly.

Kaylar didn't answer her.

“Twelve, huh? You just repeat whatever other people call me? Are you a dog?”

She adjusted her grip on the hammer, lowering her center of gravity and slightly bending her knees.

Landon's brow twitched.

“Quite a foul mouth.”

“Of course.”

She took a step forward.

Her breathing pattern abruptly shifted as her foot landed, changing from slow, steady inhalations to short, heavy surges. Air flooded her lungs, rushing into her limbs along specific pathways.

Her skeleton emitted a faint clicking sound at that moment, her muscle lines tensing into more pronounced contours beneath her worn sleeves. A paper-thin, dark-red aura rose over her skin, making her look like a piece of iron freshly pulled from a forge.

Landon nodded.

“...Oh. Your mastery of Blacksmithing Techniques is quite decent. Do you know anything else besides that? Cooling Technique? Material Ascension?”

“None of your business.”

Kaylar lunged forward.

Being short with a low center of gravity, her charge was almost flush with the ground. She swung her iron hammer from her waist, striking toward Landon's flank with explosive force boosted by her breathing technique.

Landon took a half-step back with his right leg, letting the face of the hammer brush past his old robe.

A step, a swing. A second step, another swing.

Kaylar's attacks never stopped.

Strike after strike, each one heavy and powerful, utilizing the momentum of the previous blow to transition seamlessly into the next.

Her breathing grew heavier, but not a single strike hit Landon.

His strides were tiny, his movements incredibly minimal. Sometimes a half-step back, sometimes an inch to the side, each adjustment just enough to let the hammer face skim past him. It was as if he knew exactly where her next strike would land beforehand.

“It doesn't matter to me if you want to play a game of attrition. But if you don't go all out, the Hero over there might not survive.”

Kaylar's expression grew even darker.

“Even that isn't enough to make you change your mind? Well then—”

He rotated his shoulders, his joints cracking softly.

“—I'll just have to force you.”

He moved.

At first, Kaylar could still track his movements—a standard step followed by a forward dash.

But in the next instant, all she could see was a flash of light.

His right fist shot out from his waist. He didn't build up power; it was driven purely by momentum.

Kaylar brought the face of her hammer in front of her to block.

This time, the sound of the fist striking the hammer face was incredibly muffled.

The force traveled down the handle, numbing her hands. It was even stronger than before.

The nearly damaged hammer restored itself after a flash of light. She grit her teeth to stabilize her center of gravity, spinning the handle in her palm to counterattack using the rotational momentum.

Landon sidestepped to avoid the trajectory of the hammerhead, his upper body shifting by less than a fist's width. Meanwhile, his right knee had already risen.

His toes kicked upward toward her abdomen at a tricky angle, moving even faster than his punch just now.

She had no time to block.

The kick landed squarely on her stomach. Piercing through the tattered fabric and bypassing the tough resilience forged by her Blacksmithing Techniques, it caved her abdomen inward.

The impact exploded from around her navel, violently rattling her stomach and sending her flying backward.

Her back slammed into an old pine tree. The trunk, as thick as a person's waist, began to crack from the impact, and pine needles rained down all over the ground.

The iron hammer nearly slipped from her grasp, but at the last moment, she forced her wrist to twist back, keeping her hold.

Landon didn't follow up. He stood in place, looking down at his foot.

“Is that all? Is this really the extent of your abilities when you don't go all out? How about I fight you with one hand tied behind my back?”

“...”

Kaylar knelt on one knee, clutching her stomach with her left hand while supporting herself with the iron hammer in her right.

Her stomach was still churning, feeling as if it had been stirred by an iron rod. More blood seeped from her fingers, staining the hammer's handle red.

Her breathing rhythm faltered for several beats, but she quickly re-adjusted. Her eyes flickered repeatedly behind her messy hair.

She wasn't crying; she just felt immense pain.

Then, she used the hammer handle to push herself up. Her knees trembled as she stood, a detail only she was aware of.

“You'll fight me with one hand?”

Her voice was slightly steadier, though her final words still carried a slight tremor.

“Fine then. Don't go crying when you lose.”

Then, a faint sound began to hum.

Landon frowned, his gaze passing over Kaylar's shoulder to land on Eladia.

The Saintess had her fingers clasped and eyes tightly shut, her mouth muttering something unintelligible.

A golden stigmata in the shape of a blazing sun emerged from Kaylar's lower abdomen, embedding itself into her flesh as if branded.

The edges of the stigmata were extremely distinct, with twelve rays of light radiating outward. Even in the Abyss environment that suppressed holy light, it still rotated slowly. With every inch it turned, a faint ring of golden light rippled outward from the center, spreading throughout Kaylar's entire body.

The dull pain lingering in her abdomen from the kick began to fade. The bleeding from the web of her thumb stopped, and her body returned to the state it was in before the ambush.

“...Whoa?”

Kaylar was dazed for a moment, then touched her lower abdomen. The stigmata was still radiating warmth through her tattered clothes.

『Prayer: Holy Healing』

A prayer capable of healing severe injuries and continuously blessing others with holy healing to provide ongoing recovery.

The suppression of holy light by the Abyss environment could be described as terrifyingly severe, yet for Eladia, a single prayer was still enough to completely restore Kaylar's injuries.

It even granted a continuous healing buff afterward.

The corner of Kaylar's mouth twitched, as if she wanted to smile but couldn't quite manage it.

“Tsk. Even in an Abyss environment, it has this level of healing? That's fucking ridiculous.”

Landon cursed under his breath, widening his stance and planting his feet, formally taking a combat posture.

“No more holding back. It's boring.”

He curled the fingers of his right hand, thrusting the knuckle of his middle finger forward like a spearhead locked onto its target.

At this moment, Landon's breathing shifted from natural nasal breaths to a deeper form of inhalation. Contrary to Kaylar's Blacksmithing Techniques, it was more like a precision machine undergoing final calibration.

He took a step forward, snapping a dead branch underfoot.

The instant the cracking sound echoed in the clearing, his middle knuckle struck the face of the hammer before Kaylar.

The sound was like a hammer striking a nail—dull, brief, because all the force was concentrated into a single point.

And so, the hammer face cracked. A fine fracture radiated outward from the point of impact, spreading to the edge of the hammerhead.

The iron hammer shattered.

Landon grabbed the broken half of the hammer and leaped backward. Holding the hammerhead like a javelin, he raised it to his shoulder.

Then, twisting his waist and hips, he channeled his entire body's strength into the broken hammer, throwing it like a spear straight toward the left of Kaylar—aimed directly at Eladia's head.

The instant the hammer left his hand, a brief wail tore through the air.

It spun violently as it advanced through the air, each rotation accompanied by a hissing sound as it sheared through the wind.

If this hit lands, Eladia's head will probably explode, Kaylar thought.

Brains would scatter across the ground like fireworks reaching the end of the sky, exploding with a loud bang into a brilliant display of colors.

In the instant after the hammer was thrown, Landon himself dashed violently toward Kaylar's right.

The direction was the same—Eladia.

“Eladia!”

Just as she threw the remaining half of the hammer handle to knock away the incoming projectile, Landon used that split-second opening to brush past her.

His fist was already clenched.

“...Fine. You're all forcing my hand, aren't you?”

Kaylar's voice turned cold.

BOOM!!!

Then, an explosion rang out.

The rings of runes around her neck detonated the instant the words left her mouth.

Before Landon's fist could land, the heatwave from behind pushed him forward, causing him to stumble.

He turned his head. Kaylar was standing where she had been.

Her fingers were curled inward, forming hollow claws. Within her eyes, something extremely bright was beginning to take shape.

『Presence of "■■" not detected. Activating incomplete Authority』

『Authority Manifestation: I ■ All Things ■■』

『Presence of "■■" not detected. Activating incomplete Authority』

『Authority Manifestation: ■ Destroy ■』

『Presence of "■■" not detected. Activating incomplete Authority』

『Authority Manifestation: Beginning ■』

『"Abyss" invasion detected. Requesting permission from "Human Ancestor: ■■■■■"』

『Request approved』

『Era of Covenants Tendency: ■■■■■·χωνευτήριον』”