Chapter 91

As communication requests came in rapid succession, Serge stood before the Arrogant that Leon had boarded.

"Even if you board it now, do you think it will make a difference? You lost to me, didn't you?"

He taunted, but Leon didn't respond.

"What, are you trembling so much you can't even speak? Maybe you should have just run away with the girl?"

Ignoring the calls from his allies, Serge faced the Arrogant.

On the other side, Ideal was also facing Luxion, and it didn't seem like he could expect any help.

It was more troublesome than he had anticipated.

(Calm down. I've beaten him once before. So there's no problem.)

No matter how much he taunted, there was no response.

Perhaps because of this, Serge was a bit tense.

"Our performance is superior. You're going to lose to me again!"

Geeah moved, raising his spear in the air and immediately accelerating to its maximum speed to thrust the spear into the Arrogant's chest.

The Arrogant didn't move.

(See, you can't even react!)

Serge's body enhancement technology, which he had acquired in this world, had further improved the performance of his machine.

Serge had also worked hard.

He had been immersed in the world of swords and magic, and with the environment, he had plenty of time to train. He had learned in the best possible environment, but—

"What!?"

As the tip of the spear was about to pierce the Arrogant's chest—it shattered.

There wasn't even a scratch on the Arrogant's chest.

‘I forgot to mention, but it's the same as before. There was an old man who was ridiculously strong. He pierced this spot. So, I made it extra tough.’

The chest armor covers the pilot's head.

When Leon's chest was pierced, he changed the material of the chest armor during repairs.

From the beginning, Serge's spear couldn't reach Leon.

"Damn it!"

As he tried to put some distance, the Arrogant moved and approached him.

Firing the machine gun from his left arm, he chipped away at the Arrogant's armor—removing the surface armor.

But even without the surface armor, the same armor appeared underneath.

The Arrogant's hand extended and grabbed Geeah's left arm.

‘That's additional armor. It was one of the performances to attract you guys, but you couldn't chip it away.’

The left arm that the Arrogant grabbed was forcibly purged by Geeah.

White smoke billowed from the shoulder as Geeah put some distance between himself and the Arrogant.

Immediately after, his left arm was shattered by a shockwave.

"Don't get cocky, you bastard!"

Discarding the broken spear, Serge held a laser blade in his right hand and charged at the Arrogant.

However, the Arrogant anticipated the move and dodged.

He was then kicked away by the Arrogant.

‘I've already collected your data. I can mostly handle you on autopilot.’

In other words, it didn't matter how skilled Leon was.

"What! So you're relying on a machine because you can't win!"

Leon's tone was the same as usual.

And he was calm.

‘So what? You're only that strong. The reason you've been winning so far is because of Luxion's performance. How about that? Isn’t it amazing?’

Serge, irritated by those words, charged at the Arrogant with a slash.

He continued to attack even when dodged and hit.

"It's not your skill! With this—"

‘Are you happy to win? You'd say that right away. You're the same as Chris and Gregg, brainless types. But they were better. I saw them grow and work well with their team. Unlike you, who is still a kid even after reincarnation.’

"——!"

Serge deployed drones he had never used before.

‘Listen, this isn't a fight. It's a war.’

The Arrogant deployed the same number of drones and blocked the attack.

The drones attacked each other and were destroyed, falling to the ground.

‘You don't understand anything. No matter how much you try to beat me, it's meaningless. I have Luxion, and you have Ideal. In that sense, individual skill doesn't matter.’

"Meaningless?"

‘Yes, that's right. Sure, you're stronger than me. But that small difference is meaningless in front of Luxion. The difference between you and me is negligible in front of Luxion. Do you understand? It's meaningless.’

Serge, who had fallen to the ground after being hit by the Arrogant, clenched his teeth in frustration.

Everything he had done was negated, and he was angry at Ideal for not helping.

"Then, you weren't serious back then?"

‘Of course not. You don't know what happens when armor battles in the city, do you? You don't know, so—this kind of thing is easy for you to do.’

The Arrogant pointed towards the Sacred Tree.

When Serge looked in that direction with caution—

"What!?"

—multiple explosions were occurring at the Sacred Tree.

Leon said,

‘I could have let this place go, but I stopped. I'll fight you seriously here, in this place, so you can understand the meaning of what you've done before you die.’

The burning Sacred Tree.

As Serge opened his mouth, he heard Ideal's scream.

At the same time, his chest began to hurt.

"What is this pain?"

◇

‘qawserdrtfgyふじこlp!!!!!!’

Luxion heard Ideal's scream.

After confirming Ideal's confused reaction, Luxion calculated the amount of explosives Leon had set at the Sacred Tree.

‘The positions where they were set are no good. Besides, there's simply not enough gunpowder. But, there wasn't much time, so this is enough.’

However, it was unclear why Ideal was so fixated on the Sacred Tree.

It seemed to have a value beyond just being a tool for supplying energy.

‘How dare you—how dare you to the Sacred Tree! You, a ship that only runs away, could never understand the true meaning of that tree! You were right to destroy it! You fool!’

Luxion responded to the enraged Ideal.

‘—You seem to be fixated on the Sacred Tree. If so, you shouldn't have angered your Master. Even if I lost to you in performance, I win in the quality of my Master. My Master, once he makes a decision, will see it through. It was a mistake to compare you to my Master.’

Ideal was in an excited state.

It was similar to when Luxion found the new human weapon.

‘The quality of the Master? You're evaluating a mediocre person highly. Indeed, the AI of the immigrant ship is useless. There's no way my Master or everyone else could lose to a Master of that caliber.’

‘Everyone?’

From the conversation, Luxion realized that Ideal did not recognize Serge as a Master.

He was comparing Leon to someone else—multiple people.

‘So, Serge was just a puppet, then?’

‘I needed a Master registration to activate. I evaluated that man, but he is insufficient to be my Master. My Master is—my Master is still only those people.’

There seemed to be some background, but Ideal had no intention of explaining from the beginning.

Luxion was wary of Ideal.

The heat output was increasing.

‘That output will blow everything around you away. You were suppressing it until now, is that okay?’

Even after the warning, Ideal didn't seem to care.

‘I don't care if the new humans disappear. Serge in the Geeah will survive. You—will be defeated here.’

Realizing that Ideal's hostility was also directed at Leon, Luxion increased his output.

‘I don't care if the new humans disappear? I agree. Then, I will prioritize my Master's survival.’

As they cut off communication, the battle intensified.

Leon's communication came in.

‘Don't cause too much damage to the surroundings.’

‘You're asking too much. Is Olivia safe?’

‘Just in time. I'll comfort her when I get back—whether it's Ideal or Serge, I couldn't get to the sapling. I could easily infiltrate the mansion, though.’

The sapling of the Sacred Tree couldn't be retrieved.

Leon didn't seem to feel regret about it.

‘Then, I'll blow up the mansion. Did Ideal react?’

‘No. He's reacting strangely to the Sacred Tree, though.’

‘I see—then, I'll count on Claire.’

Leon, who seemed busy, cut off the communication.

‘I think the one who needs comforting is the Master, not Olivia. Well, let me do my job.’

Luxion prepared to deal with Ideal.

The old civilization's spaceships—the cheat warships—began to clash seriously.

The aftereffects spread throughout the Republic.

◇

On the deck of the Einhorn, away from the battlefield, Livia was looking in the direction of the Sacred Tree.

Part of the Sacred Tree was burning.

The people of the Republic seemed to have noticed, as the ground was very bright despite the dark night.

Holding onto the railing, she watched the intense light from the clashes.

"That's—Leon's seriousness."

Large airships were exchanging optical weapons, missiles, and real bullets, enveloped in light and explosions.

The Republic's airships in the battlefield had been blown away.

Blown away, burning, and falling to the ground.

There was a significant difference in power.

Chris got out of his armor and came to Livia's side.

"Not a partner? The shapes are clearly different. Baltofalt must have been hiding more power."

Brad was also there.

"I'd be silent too. But, using such a trump card means—how much he was angered, right?"

Everyone's gaze was on Livia.

Realizing that the reason for using such a powerful trump card was because of her, Livia sat down on the spot.

"Because of me."

Zirk had a face like he had bitten a bitter bug.

"——Hiding such power is not at all amusing. Were we being mocked?"

Everyone seemed to share the same feeling, finding it not amusing at all.

Among them, Erek had a different opinion.

"Are you guys idiots? That person is someone Marrie recognized as a brother. Don't compare him to you guys."

"What!?"

Gregg grabbed Erek by the collar, but Erek didn't back down.

"That person—If you think he held back and didn't get serious, then you're that level! —Don't make the same mistake I did."

Livia looked up.

"Eh? That—Eh? Ah, brother—Eh?"

The sibling suspicion between Leon and Marrie, which had been misunderstood by Erek, came up.

"That person could have easily dealt with any problem. But why didn't he? I've been by Marrie's side and seen many things. In a short time, I've learned something. I—We relied too much on the Sacred Tree's great power. But, they were different!’

Erek and the other nobles of the Republic had been given great power by the Sacred Tree's blessing.

This led to them becoming arrogant.

There was no losing if they stayed in their hometown.

The Sacred Tree provided endless magic and magic stones, so they didn't lack energy or economy.

Relying too much, they became useless.

"Look. Serge blew away his allies. If that ship went all out, the continent would be a wasteland. That person didn't get serious to avoid involving innocent people."

Brad looked down after being told.

Watching the battle in front of him, there was a scale of destruction that he couldn't use normally—shouldn't use.

"——Indeed, this is a situation where you can't get serious. If we keep fighting, the continent might sink."

Chris took off his glasses.

"Baltofalt was very careful at the beginning of the war with the Principality."

Gregg spat and released Erek.

"I know that. But—couldn't you say something?"

Zirk looked up at the sky,

"Saying something would cause a conflict. The Kingdom can't ignore him. Knowing this, Baltofalt used his full power here—"

From Zirk's perspective, since they didn't just take Livia back and run, it looked like they were fighting for the Kingdom.

Watching the battlefield, Zirk noticed something strange.

"Wait. Something's wrong."

The Sacred Tree seemed to be moving.

The ground was shaking, and there were screams and fires below.

Livia looked down.

"An earthquake? Why—could the Sacred Tree be moving?"

The earth connected to the Sacred Tree was shaking.

Then, her chest began to hurt.

Pressing her chest, she heard the suffering voices of people and—cries of the Sacred Tree.

"This—It's not human? There's a big voice—saying it's in pain and angry?"

Erek, with a pale face, looked at Livia.

"You can understand it? I can barely hear it."

Losing the blessing, Erek could faintly understand the Sacred Tree's suffering—finding it unbelievable that Livia, who hadn't received the blessing, could feel the Sacred Tree's suffering.

◇

At the port, the masked knight—Julius—was sitting on a wooden box on the deck of the Recorn.

"—While everyone is fighting, I can't participate. It's pathetic."

One might say to take off the mask, but this was Julius's unyielding part.

He wore the mask because he couldn't go to the battlefield as a prince.

Honestly, even if he took it off, he couldn't go to the battlefield.

That was his original position.

Watching the dejected Julius from a distance was Nix, who had come to the Recorn.

"Who is he?"

Asking the Recorn's crew, they all shrugged their shoulders.

Ange came out on the deck.

"Brother-in-law, how are the others?"

"Yes! The transformation is complete! That white and round thing said 'I have work to do' and flew into the sky!"

The duke's daughter had become a younger sister-in-law, and Nix, unsure of how to respond, had a stomachache.

Daniel and Raymond also didn't know how to approach Ange, so they didn't come to this place.

"I see. I want to leave as soon as possible—"

Then, the airship began to shake.

Nix panicked.

"What is it?"

Ange looked around and saw that not only the airship but also the surrounding buildings were shaking.

"Is this an earthquake?"

As they panicked, the masked knight stood up and gave orders to the surroundings.

"Get the airship out! If we stay tied, we'll be caught in it!"

Nix complained, "What a bossy guy," but followed the correct judgment.

Rushing to his own ship from the Recorn, he told the crew to board and cut the ropes tying the airship.

As the Recorn floated, the surrounding allied ships also floated.

Ange held onto the railing and looked outside.

The Sacred Tree, visible in the distance,