Nea had died—slain by Spatial Severance.
A heavy silence settled over the battlefield.
From among the soldiers, stunned voices began to rise.
「Eh…?」
「No way… Nea-sama?」
「Nea-sama is dead… That’s… that’s impossible…」
「This has to be a joke. Spirits can’t die… right?」
「Nea-sama! Please wake up! Nea-sama!!」
The Holy Knights were thrown into chaos.
The spirit who had ruled as their absolute sovereign.
The object of worship in the Riesberg Theocracy.
A being they had always placed above even their own lives.
That very Nea… was now dead.
No one could accept it.
No one could recognize it as truth.
Surely, this had to be a mistake.
Surely, this was a dream.
They clung to that comforting illusion.
That was why I decided—I had to make them confront reality.
「The spirit Nea Riesberg is dead!」
I shouted.
「And I’ll show you. I’ll make it impossible for you soldiers of the Theocracy to deny it!!」
Using psychokinesis, I lifted Nea’s severed head from where it lay on the ground.
I brought it to me, then raised it high—about five meters into the air.
High enough that no one could look away.
Then, right there—
I used Spatial Compression.
And in the next moment—
Nea’s severed head was crushed flat.
The soldiers stared, dazed and blank, at the grotesque scene.
And I said:
「The dream you called faith is over. Stop hiding in the comfort of fantasy. The spirit—was slain by me, Henry Yudelheit!!」
I wasn’t trying to tell them not to run from reality, not really.
This was provocation.
I wanted them to know without a doubt—I was the one who killed Nea.
That I was the one who had destroyed the master of their nation.
And I had a clear reason for it.
Even if I let them live now, they would eventually come after me.
They’d try to kill me in Nea’s name.
So I decided, I would kill them all here and now.
——But at the very least.
I thought I should give the warriors of the Theocracy some dignity.
If I slaughtered them while they were still stunned and hollow from grief, their souls would never find peace.
As knights, as soldiers, they had lived and died for the spirit.
Let them at least believe that in the afterlife.
I would give them a battle they could meet with pride.
「―――――――――」
The Holy Knights finally began to understand Nea was truly dead.
At first, their faces were filled with loss and emptiness.
But gradually, those emotions were swallowed whole—by a fury beyond imagining.
「「「「UAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!」」」」
The Holy Knights roared.
A scream of hatred, shaking the very air itself—
Directed at me and me alone.
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