Audin looked inward to examine the bindings on his body. An image rose in his mind: golden chains wound tightly around his entire body. The thin strips of cloth covering them appeared to have frayed and vanished from the little divine power he had drawn on over time, but the chains remained intact.

The chains were bindings he had imposed himself. The cloth covering them represented those imposed by others.

Examining his bindings for the first time in a long while brought memories flooding back. Moments he had deliberately refused to face.

["Defending a heretic! Is that what you think an Inquisitor should do?"]

First came the corrupt bishop, bellowing in anger.

["We entrusted you with important work because you worship the God of War. Unbelievable!"]

He remembered another priest's words as well.

["What will you do?"]

There was also the man who had taught him and led him this far. The former pope, who was blind but said to glimpse people's futures. He had stepped down exactly ten days after becoming pope.

["This is not where I belong, brothers and sisters."]

After throwing away his authority, he had confided in Audin.

["I did it because I didn't think I'd live long in that seat."]

An absurd reason, though he added that he had reached that conclusion by divining his own future.

The memories tangled together. But when the man who had given him a father's love when he had no family of his own asked that question, Audin had struggled to answer.

He had just been branded a sinner for failing to fulfill his duties as an Inquisitor.

["You don't know what to do?"]

["No. I have lost my way."]

Audin spoke on his knees.

["There is only one place for a shepherd who has lost his way."]

The former pope, the man who was like a father to him, spoke sternly.

["I must go to that place beneath the earth, shrouded in darkness."]

Audin answered again.

It was the God of the Scales, ruler of the sun and moon, who weighed sins. Those who sinned would go before the God of War for judgment, and those he punished would be confined in the prison beneath the earth.

That was part of the doctrine. It was written in the scriptures.

Audin worshipped the God of War, while the former pope served a god with two faces. One was the jailer of the prison the god had made, and the god of love. The other was the god of judgment, symbolizing Radiance and holy light.

The scriptures said that these two divine powers, though seemingly opposed in every way, were originally one.

There had been a god who descended to the prison deep beneath the earth solely to bestow love. He left the light within his body aboveground to illuminate the world.

Thus one became the jailer of the underground prison, embracing sinners as the embodiment of darkness and love. The other became their punisher through Radiance and holy light.

["You are meant to lead the light of Radiance."]

Those words had led Audin to become a punisher of heretics. The God of War had granted him an exceptional body.

As a novice priest, he had immediately switched to training as a martial priest. Naturally, he had distinguished himself there too.

["You may be the first to delve so deeply into Balaf-style martial arts and achieve such understanding."]

His exceptional talent soon led him to divine power. The light of Radiance and holy light descended upon his body through the god of battle and war.

["A miracle!"]

No one held back such praise. Everyone blessed him.

While training to become a paladin, Audin was appointed an Inquisitor.

["Pray there, and hone your body and mind there."]

Those were the words of none other than an archbishop. With his unusually slanted eyes and unsavory appearance, the archbishop told Audin to become a judge who punished heretics.

Audin obeyed. As an Inquisitor, he would punish people with the light of Radiance and holy light.

Then, in the course of his duties, he punished a bishop's secret son for his sins and took his life.

He was carrying out several other assignments afterward when doubt took hold of him in a small city he had visited on the bishop's orders.

A man accused of heresy set himself on fire, declaring that he would prove his innocence. Watching the man burn, Audin instinctively felt that this was wrong.

Then what was at fault?

Him, for believing in his god?

The rotten temple?

The archbishop, drunk on power?

The man who had abandoned the papacy, claiming to have glimpsed the future?

Or else...

'Must I blame the god who gave strength to someone as inadequate as me?'

Surely not. He simply failed to understand the Lord Father's will.

He began to wander. His faith wavered. The foundations that made him who he was cracked and crumbled, down to the cornerstones.

His dream of becoming a paladin who led the charge against evil, sending fiends to the Lord to vanquish their wickedness—a dream of subduing demons and destroying evil—shattered.

The tower built of faith collapsed.

["If you do not wish to punish with Radiance, go into darkness and hide yourself."]

Following the words of the man he considered his father—or, honestly, simply because he no longer wanted to do anything—Audin imposed bindings on himself.

Apparently that was not enough. Several wielders of divine power placed further bindings upon his body.

["I'm sorry, brother."]

Among them was a brother who would have given his life for him.

["Why did you do it?"]

There was a sister who had laughed with him just the day before, now looking at him with hatred.

Audin accepted the bindings without a word in his defense, relinquished his position, and left the temple.

He still vividly remembered what the bishop he called Father had said as he left.

["The day your path becomes clear, you will step forward of your own accord."]

["Is that a prophecy?"]

["Prophecy? I'll be honest with you. I can't prophesy anything. I guess and predict. In a temple where more people hate me than follow me, it was obvious someone would try to kill me if I became pope."]

It was Father Bishop's confession.

["I cannot know everything in a person's heart, but I have watched you all this time, and I know part of yours. If it makes you more comfortable to consider it a prophecy, you may. It makes no difference. I am merely speaking of the little I know. The day you step forward of your own accord, our god will gain the strongest shield to protect his child."]

Father Bishop turned away with those words. Half a year later, he was accused of heresy and stoned to death. His divine power had afforded him only simple healing.

Audin heard the news another half year after that.

The moment he heard, he could not contain his rising fury. He wanted to rush to the temple and slaughter them all.

But he could not. That would mean tearing out his last remaining root, burning it, and pouring water over it until not even ash remained. Nor would Father Bishop have wanted it.

'Lord, must I simply die quietly like this?'

He knew he was here because he had killed the bishop's secret son. He knew he was here because, despite becoming an Inquisitor, he had refused to punish someone the temple had declared a heretic.

Audin knew it all.

But he took no action. He could not. His hands were only good for striking and breaking.

After wandering that way, he settled in the troublemaker squad.

Having given up everything, he met someone who had given up nothing.

That man had faced a knight and survived, weathered war, led a civil war to victory, and refused to stop even when confronted with a demon. He had drawn the King of the East to visit him in person.

Audin pondered. Could he refuse to "give up" without undoing his bindings?

He sought to dream his old dream again: to become the shield and blade of Radiance that destroyed evil, the fist that acted in his god's stead.

He wished to fulfill his duty once more and walk the path laid before him, but a problem remained unresolved.

He had sworn to uphold his bindings and could not break that oath at whim. Nor would anyone currently in the temple approve of his undoing them.

The tangled threads of his past ultimately reached the question he had always asked himself.

A monastery in a remote corner of Legion, the holy city. He had been without parents from birth.

["Why was I born?"]

Audin had asked countless times. What was this uselessly enormous body for?

The question remained even after he gained divine power. Was he meant to kill the temple's enemies, those it called heretics? Surely not.

He would become a fist that destroyed evil. That had been his goal, but there had been a time when he could not become one.

He cast that time behind him. For a moment, he forgot the past and looked toward a new sun—not the today that had passed, but the tomorrow to come.

["What did you say you would do once you became a knight?"]

Audin asked, and Encrid answered.

["Battlefields where children don't have to fight. Knights who uphold chivalry. A world that honors what is right. That's what I want to create."]

Ah, Audin had wept the day he heard that answer. He had prayed and wept in a secluded corner behind the barracks, trying not to let anyone see him.

Jaxon and a few others saw, but ignored it. It was not the first time Audin had cried while praying.

As he prayed, Teresa approached. She waited patiently until he finished before speaking.

["I feel that my body and talents amount to very little. I tried learning to sing to discipline my mind, but it hasn't been easy."]

["Why do you wish to go further?"]

["I want to try walking a path I believe is right. I think that path lies beside that man. Above all, I want with all my heart to keep my place here."]

["Is that so?"]

["Yes. I want to test myself against him, prove myself, and help him along the path he walks."]

To set a purpose and act upon it: that is humanity's greatest light.

It may not be holy, but it is a light that will not fade.

Reciting the scriptures, Audin nodded.

["I hear you have selected a few recruits. We shall begin earnest training together."]

At Audin's words, Teresa briefly regretted sharing her concerns. The mere phrase "earnest training" told her what was coming.

Training that might make confinement in the underground prison seem preferable.

This happened while she was following his instructions to form a unit of large, strong, devout recruits.

And Audin realized that one of the bindings constricting his mind had broken.

'The temple is always right. Do not defy it.'

Then he would have to go to the temple and change its notion of right a little. Because if necessary, he would have to undo his bindings.

But until he had permission, he would not undo them at will. His faith forbade it.

Even if he died, he would not release all his bindings. That would come only after he had told the temple what was right. Even if doing so proved difficult enough to cost him his life, he would see it through.

One man's dream, shown in its entirety, had changed another man's life.

* * *

Ragna recognized the change as soon as he awoke from sleep.

'Cold air.'

Breaths drawn in and released. A fallen leaf. Drifting dust.

Everything felt several times more distinct and tangible than before.

He felt as though he could reach out and take the axe from that ignorant barbarian sitting far away. The man was nearly twenty paces off, but it seemed possible.

Ragna projected his determination and closed his hand on empty air.

Naturally, without magic or a supernatural ability, a distant axe was not about to leap into his hand.

But just as he reached out and made a grabbing motion, Rem tightened his grip on the axe handle. It happened almost simultaneously.

Having reacted to Ragna's gesture, Rem looked at the crazy layabout.

"You crazy bastard. Fuck off, will you?"

It was as though he had read what Ragna wished to do. Still, it had not actually happened.

'That doesn't work.'

He felt capable of anything, yet there was much he could not do. He had gained an insight and crossed a wall, but there were far too many things to investigate one by one.

Ragna recalled the King of the East sparring with Encrid. Encrid resisting knightly might without retreating a single step.

The king had held back considerably. It was not quite an instructional spar, but he had helped his opponent bring every last bit of strength to bear.

Ragna could see it all. He had even seen the power flowing from the king's weapon accumulate on Encrid's sword. No, he had felt it.

'Can I gather my determination and give it form in reality?'

For instance, could he take Rem's axe as he had tried earlier, disregarding the physical distance?

'I can.'

Though he would have to move his feet and close the distance. He had failed only because he had reached out without taking a step.

Naturally, he also grasped the principle behind intimidation. It was not simply a matter of glaring at an opponent with fighting spirit and killing intent.

It meant manifesting one's determination as a phenomenon. In other words, speaking to the opponent through Will.

A sword at one's waist, a spear across one's back, a fork used to eat steak. Whatever one held, it meant letting the opponent know it could kill them.

'No, even the edge of my hand would do.'

Imagine the motion and subtly convey it to the opponent. Their survival instinct would then constrict their hands, feet, and heart.

That was intimidation.

Before he knew it, Ragna was sitting in the dining hall, experimenting with a fork. First, on Rem.

"Has this bastard lost his mind?"

Rem glared ferociously, displaying a barbarian's characteristic temper.

"Restrain yourself, brother."

Audin smiled as he spoke, but a small vein stood out on his forehead.

Dunbachel sprang back with a sharp yelp. Teresa frowned and quietly recited a passage from the scriptures, subtly drawing her tray closer to use as a shield.

The fellow called Roford endured it right beside him, trembling all over. Cold sweat dripped onto his tray.

"You'll kill the boy at this rate."

That was the fellow from the Shepherds of the Wastes. He eased his sword a little way out of its sheath.

A black blade showed. The sword called Idol Slayer. Ragna could also see something gathered upon it.

They said it ate away at souls, but it was a sword that cut through a being's determination. He could sense a presence, though he could not tell exactly what it contained. To find out, he would need to hold it and swing it.

Next was that Big-eyes fellow. Oblivious, Krais asked whether it felt chilly today.

'If some people react keenly...'

Others did not.

Could he use this to gauge skill or talent? It seemed possible.

Outside of eating and sleeping, Ragna devoted himself to swinging his sword.

The King of the East had been right before he left. Ragna needed to set himself on the right path now. He felt omnipotent, capable of anything, but actually accomplishing something required a process.

Could he cleave a mountain with his sword? No single swing could split a mountain, but...

'I can kill a mage trying to split that mountain with magic.'

He distinguished what he could do from what he could not, and recognized each. To that end, he drilled his fundamentals day after day.

He kept moving without rest until his entire body was drenched in sweat. That was why he had begun snoring in his sleep at night.

After several days of this, Encrid asked him a question while unwinding the bandages wrapped tightly around his hands.

"When will you be ready?"

He meant to fight.

Ragna looked inward for a moment before answering.

"Two days will be enough."

That seemed about right. He struggled even to control his strength now, but two days would suffice.

His talent was insane.

Even after crossing the wall and setting a foot into the realm of knights, people ordinarily needed at least three months, or as long as six, to bring their bodies back under control. Not Ragna.

For him, even fifteen days was too long.