Yu Na-gyeong found herself thinking how cruel Limon could be. Without the slightest attempt to soften the blow, his blunt words were every bit as sharp as a Sword Master's blade.

Above all, the sight of Karl looking as though he had lost his very soul stirred her pity.

'Well, it must be quite a shock.'

He must have spent half his life pursuing revenge, treating the Misty hours as his daughter's mortal enemy. Having someone point out that it had all been an enormous waste of effort—or merely an escape from reality to shake off his guilt—was enough to send anyone's soul packing.

"I cannot believe it."

But the instant Karl slowly raised his head like a broken marionette and she met his eyes, Yu Na-gyeong froze.

"How can I know this isn't some cunning witch's trick to deceive me?"

His icy voice betrayed none of the emotional shock or agitation he had shown moments before. Yet his eyes, gleaming with an even stranger light, made Yu Na-gyeong swallow hard. Rose answered calmly.

"I can swear on my honor that everything we have told you is true."

"No, I cannot believe it. Who is to say the witches haven't deceived you as well?"

At Karl's adamant reply, Rose asked quietly, "Then what would it take for you to believe us?"

"There is a very simple way."

As though he had been waiting for that very question, Karl gave his usual good-natured, hearty laugh and continued.

"Let us imprison all the witches so they can play no more tricks, and destroy the Great Barrier of London once again."

"..."

"If those monsters still do not disappear, surely we can trust the witches then?"

Surely this much was only natural if they were to place their trust in witches, creatures inherently cunning and skilled in deception. Rose fell silent as Karl spoke with a smile. With her expression utterly grave, it was Cir who spoke in her stead.

"Now there's an argument I've heard many times before."

As though she found it unsurprising—or even nostalgic—the legendary Great Witch chuckled and continued with a languid smile.

"They used that reasoning quite often in a book called The Hammer of Witches (Malleus Maleficarum)."

Children, grown women, old crones—any of them might be a witch in disguise, so suspect them first.

Then imprison them and extract a confession. No torture inflicted upon a witch shall be a sin.

If she refuses to confess to the very end, burn her or drown her. If she dies, she was an innocent woman. If she survives, she is an evil witch who has defied God's order.

From the Silver Age to the Age of Heroes, people had found every possible excuse to blame witches and kill them, then congratulated themselves on upholding justice. His eyes were no different from theirs. Karl smiled at Cir, whose eyes remained cold despite her smile.

"Isn't the very existence of such reasoning historical proof of how untrustworthy witches are?"

Surely they ought to learn from and follow the fine teachings of the sages. Watching Karl speak with a warm smile, Rose answered stiffly.

"Lord Karl, if destroying the Great Barrier of London does not eliminate those monsters, countless citizens of London will be in danger."

"You needn't worry about that. I shall take full responsibility."

His confident reply even carried the resolve of a man willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. That was precisely why Limon twisted his lips at those words.

"Take responsibility? You? How?"

"What do you mean, how?"

Limon let out a derisive chuckle at Karl's undisguised bewilderment, as though he had never expected such a question. Indeed, if an absolute being of this age promised to take responsibility, others would simply have let it pass.

But Limon did not. He knew better than anyone that even an absolute being had limits to what he could answer for. Above all, there was no reason now that he absolutely could not let Karl's words pass.

"Five people."

"Five people what?"

"The number who died because of the fog that rose in the night during the ball on the first day of Walpurgis Night."

"...!"

When that sudden fog had plunged London into chaos, the Blue Dragon Clan's swift response had prevented mass casualties. But that did not mean there had been no casualties at all. Five people had died in accidents while fleeing the fog or been crushed beneath the crowds, and hundreds more had suffered minor injuries.

"How do you intend to take responsibility for their lives?"

Perhaps he had not expected that to be brought up now, or perhaps he had never spared the casualties a thought. Whatever the reason, Karl flinched, but his agitation lasted only an instant. Regaining his composure, he spoke in a low voice.

"That was a disaster caused by the Great Barrier of London running out of control. If anyone is to be held responsible, surely it should be the witches?"

"... Is that so."

The original sin lay entirely with the witches who had created that mist in the first place. He bore no responsibility whatsoever. Limon watched Karl make that declaration without a moment's hesitation, his eyes cold. Then he spoke languidly.

"You're already a monster."

"A monster? Me?"

"Yes. When absolute beings can no longer take responsibility for their own sins, they become monsters like you."

Anyone who invented someone to resent, foisted every sin and responsibility onto them, and followed that resentment as though it were conviction was already no different from a monster. Having said this quietly, Limon added coldly, "Just like Joan of Arc, the Sword Flower."

"... Are you saying I am no different from that butcher?"

"No. You're worse."

Perhaps he resented being compared to the Sword Master recorded as the worst butcher in the British Empire's history. Karl even forgot his masklike smile, his expression turning icy. Limon spoke dispassionately.

"Joan of Arc became a monster because her conviction to protect her country turned into obsession. You're just planning some senile madness because you can't stand having your life invalidated."

"Senile madness..."

Karl gave a hollow laugh at the blatant condemnation, then smiled again and spoke.

"Very well. Suppose I have become a monster, as you say. What will you do about it?"

Right or wrong did not matter. The barrier had to be destroyed regardless. The witches, too, had to disappear.

"Can you stop me? Countess Rose, who cannot even control her own psionics properly, and some ancient witch with nothing but antiquated magic?"

And he would forgive no one who stood in his way. Yu Na-gyeong shuddered as she looked at Karl speaking with that easy smile.

Once again, she understood why Limon had always called such beings monsters: absolute beings who wielded power no one could stop, ignored law, reason, and conviction, and acted solely on their own stubbornness and whims, declaring their enemies evil. In that moment, Karl's smiling face looked that horrifying, that frightening.

Yet even as Rose struggled to conceal her tension, Limon showed no trace of agitation. He merely answered Karl's question calmly.

"Of course I can."

"Can you? Then do try."

Karl nodded, as though admiring his spirit. Then he raised his staff with a smile.

"If you can survive this, that is... 『Great Elemental Break: Higher-Order Elemental Decomposition』."

At once, a brilliant radiance appeared at the tip of his staff. It was a ninth-class spell that decomposed every substance and mystery in the world, one he could use because he commanded every element. And his incantation did not end there.

"『Spell Rank Up: Spell Hierarchy Enhancement』, 『Triple Spell』, 『Great Elemental Break: Higher-Order Elemental Decomposition』, 『Great Elemental Break: Higher-Order Elemental Decomposition』."

The instant the three spheres of light at the tip of his staff overlapped in midair, he said, "【World Break】."

Its mere aftershock shook the fog filling London, and scores upon scores of nearby shadow monsters and Avalon's ghosts melted away. Even the Great Sage's Staff, a Monarch-class item, trembled as though it would shatter, while smoke rose from Karl's own body. But he paid it no heed. He merely spoke in an icy voice.

"Regret your foolishness in letting witches deceive you—in hell."

BOOOM!

As the mass of light, brilliant as the sun, shot from the tip of his staff toward the pillar where Cir, Rose, and Limon stood, Karl was certain. This would kill them and destroy the magic circle at the heart of the Great Barrier of London. After all, this 【World Break】 was the ultimate magic he had created through his obsession with eliminating the mist of the Misty hours, surpassing the ninth-class limit.

'... I can't stop it.'

Rose's face went pale.

Karl's full-power 【World Break】 was a skill capable of obliterating an entire city. Stopping it would require linking at least six supreme techniques of the Seventy-Two Martial Schools—perhaps seven or more.

But within this mist, which twisted the flow of space-time and restricted her space-controlling psionics, the Four Supreme Techniques were her limit. Even if she risked internal injury to unleash the Fifth Supreme Technique, its power would be halved, nowhere near enough to stop the attack.

Nor did it seem possible for the witches' souls, whose forms had faded from the aftershock alone, or Cir, who had her hands full maintaining the Great Barrier of London, to stop it for her.

Perhaps that was why Rose's instincts whispered that she must not die here, before she had finished preparing to inherit the dragon's pure blood. She had to flee immediately. It was her foremost duty as a princess of the Seven Dragons Society, an instinct she could never refuse. And if she fled alone, escape was indeed possible.

'But...'

Even so, Rose hesitated, unable to leave. The citizens of London who would be endangered if she left, her honor and pride, and above all, the young man who would die if she fled—all of it threw her into turmoil.

At last, biting her lip until it bled, she raised her sword and stepped forward.

"Stay back."

A hand suddenly landed firmly on her shoulder. Rather than advancing, Rose found herself pulled backward. Bewildered, she looked at the black-haired young man who had stepped in front of her before she knew it.

"What are you doing? It's dangerous...!"

Rose reached out with one arm to grab Limon. The young man confronting that destructive beam, which even she could not stop without risking her life, looked recklessly foolhardy. His sword slid smoothly into motion.

But the next instant, she froze with her hand outstretched. She had seen the path traced in the air by the sword now held in his hand. Like a single flower petal fluttering in the wind, its movement was exquisitely soft and fleeting—and all the more beautiful and noble for it.

Before she was the Blue Dragon Princess, Rose was a knight. She lost herself in that wondrous sword trajectory, unable to tear her eyes away. Then the radiance of 【World Break】 touched the sword tip moving with that fluttering grace.

『Demon-Cleaving Dragon-Slaying Sword, Sword Dance

Demon-Cleaving Dragon-Slaying Sword, Sword Dance

The Flowers of France Bloom in Wild Profusion.

The Flowers of France Bloom in Wild Profusion.』

The world ceased to move. The oncoming light froze in place.

"... What?"

Karl blinked. Behind Limon, Rose unconsciously held her breath, and Yu Na-gyeong's beak fell wide open.

As though time itself had stopped, the radiance of 【World Break】, with enough power to obliterate a city, remained motionless against Limon's sword tip. Not an arrow, a blade, or a cannonball, but light itself had been impaled on that point. The sight robbed them of their sense of reality.

Unconcerned by their astonishment, Limon continued moving his sword. Gently, as though dancing. Quietly, as though soothing a child. The radiance followed the flowing tip, gradually scattering until it finally dissolved peacefully into the air.

Only after completing the sword dance did Limon finally stop. Cir, the only one still smiling, gave a little chuckle as she watched him.

'Honestly. Who is the real monster calling a monster?'

While everyone but Cir still stared, utterly stunned, Limon slowly raised his head.

"Monarch of Magic."

He gazed coldly at the old man hovering in the air—the man who had disowned his own sins, succumbed entirely to stubborn obsession, and attempted to threaten ten million lives. Then he continued languidly.

"You've crossed the line."

"...!"

Immediately afterward, Karl shot high into the air. The instincts he had honed as a Monarch through countless fierce battles in dungeons—and above all, the spine-chilling sensation Limon's voice had sent through him—made him reflexively reinforce his shields and put distance between them.

Limon made no attempt to chase him in haste. He merely stepped forward slowly.

One step to leave the ground.

One step to turn his body.

One step to cut through the shields with his sword.

Karl stared in horror at Limon, who had appeared before him and shattered his layered shields in just three steps.

"H-how did you teleport...?!"

"This isn't Teleportation."

Perhaps Karl could not believe Limon had crossed space within this mist, where even Rose, the Blue Dragon Princess, faced restrictions on Teleportation. His face looked as though he were witnessing a nightmare. Limon told him quietly, "It's sword drawing."

『Demon-Cleaving Dragon-Slaying Sword, Outer Form

Demon-Cleaving Dragon-Slaying Sword, Outer Form

To Cut the World, No Blade Is Needed.

To Cut the World, No Blade Is Needed.』

Taking a step, drawing and swinging the sword, then cutting down the opponent: sword drawing reduced every movement to the absolute minimum. Pursued to its ultimate limit, it came to cut not the enemy, but the very process of cutting the enemy. The instant that intent, transcending even causality, was reproduced—however imperfectly—

SLASH!

A streak of light pierced the body of the great Monarch of Magic, Karl Amadeus, whose eyes were wide with horror.