After clearing out the weak man, we were on our way up the long flight of stairs.

　Aurelian is close.
　Perhaps we would finally see him at the top of these stairs.

'Hey, hey, Kurt,'

　Lara spoke up.

'Riley and the others, are you all right?　Are you sure you're not being hit?　Looks like there were quite a few enemies...
Don't worry about it.

　I dismissed Lara's fears with a single word.

''We've been layering physical enhancements and warding magic on top of each other. I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this. Of course, every single one of them.
A dragon!　You can do that!

　Lara's eyes widen.

　There's no need to be so surprised.
　I also had to put that much buffing magic on other people, it was quite a magical burden, but.......it can't be helped.
　If I'm reading it right, this battle isn't something that can be resolved by simply defeating Aurelian.
　The key to this will be the success of Riley and his team.

''But I have a feeling Kurt could do it........Kurt's a hack.......''
'Haha, Cynthia. You know it well.

　Of course, I'm not saying I'm overreacting.

While I'm at it I'm here.

　The stairs ended.

　Then we walked down the corridor for a while, and when we opened the door, there was.......a man.
　The man had his back to us and seemed to be looking out the window at the scenery of the royal capital.


''-- History will change.''


　Without looking back at us, the man continued, "The history of this was a mistake.

"In the first place, this history was a mistake. Don't you think so?
What do you mean?

　A man's voice that sounded drunk with himself.

　I asked the man's back.

I was just trying to fix the wrong thing. "I'm just trying to fix what's wrong. 'Acknowledge diversity,' this wrong world.
'Wrong world?　What's wrong with being diverse?
You don't know what you're talking about.
　There is no need for diversity in this world for it to be unique. That's just a trick. That's what gives birth to thoughts and worries. Do you know?　'Unhappiness' is the inferiority complex of being inferior to others.

　The man speaks with powerful words.
　He seems to have a firm belief, even if it's wrong.

''Then ... why don't we all become equals?　There will be no more misery in this world. There will be no tragedy. I was just trying to get rid of the needless sorrow in this world.
Is the consequence of that to shut down culture - books, plays, paintings?

　The man nodded silently.

　Entertainment such as books and plays - culture - is nurtured by the diversity of people.
　And exposure to culture may cause people to think differently.
　That means, in other words, that it gives birth to the 'diversity' that men hated.

'So that's why you've blocked out culture - O Foolish King Aurelian.

　I called out to him, and the man ... Aurelian's body slowly turned to face us.
　Aurelian looks straight at us and the corners of his mouth are fished up in a grin.

'How. Great idea, right?　I was just trying to make everyone equal and happy. What's wrong with that?
It sounds to me like you're just afraid of a mutiny.

　With diversity, some might have the idea to "avenge Aurelian".
　Just like Riley, who was a member of the Aurelian family.

"After all, you can't understand the noble idea of me?

　Aurelian moves his mouth, as if in disgust.

　That's what I'm going to do.

'It's boring. Diversity is what makes this world so interesting. The strong and the weak the good and the stupid. We can all be in this world. Being superior does not prove that you can live, nor does being inferior prove that you can be excluded.

　I laughed.

　I love stories, books and plays.
　No matter how much I master my magic, it's doubtful that I can create the stories they spun.
　That kind of interesting stuff must have come about because the world has allowed for diversity.

"Huh, can't we understand each other?

　Aurelian held out his hand.

"Then let us decide who is the stronger. For with those who cannot understand each other, we shall have no choice but to join hands.

　The magic formula is deployed.

'Kurt, Kurt!　What's this magic formula?
That's a lot of... magic...

　Seeing this, Lara and Cynthia took up a battle stance.

''Hmm, looks like they were ready to go by the time I got here.

　When Aurelian passed his magic power through it, the magic circles densely marked throughout the room emitted light.

　The number of them ... about a hundred.
　All of them interfere with each other. That's how they are trying to connect magic power and create a stronger magic formula.
　When I look back, the door that I came in here is gone. Does this mean that the retreat is also blocked?

''To put it simply, you're teaming up with a hundred people with combined magic... and you're doing it all by yourself,''

　When I said that, Aurelian gave me a victorious look.

''Do you understand that much? Knowing that, it's still hard to stop the magic from being activated, isn't it?　Gahahaha!　From the moment you enter this room, you are bound to lose. I'm going to die!

　As Aurelian chanted, a ray of light shot out of the magic circle and tried to come towards us.

　Hmm, an absolute ray.
　It's quite a troublesome spell if you're doing it normally, with a single shot, an instant-death grade ray of light is released in a thousand consecutive shots.

　But.....


The moment you meet me, you're bound to lose.


　A thousand rays of light are emitted in a small space.
　In the meantime, I create a magical formula with him.
　The rays of light collide with each other.

The only thing that matters is the fact that they're all in the same boat.

　Aurelian's eyes widen in astonishment.
　The rays of light I shot out hit the rays coming towards us one after another, absorbing the impact.

　Eventually, the 1,000 rays of light that Aurelian fired stopped.
　But I'm 1(⋅)0(⋅)0(⋅)1(⋅(⋅)1(⋅(⋅)1(⋅) shots.

''Guaaaaaaaah!''

　The ray of light that was left for one shot pierced Aurelian's chest.
　He was squeezed by the impact and slammed his body hard against the back wall.
　The entire castle shakes.

''Hmph.''

　I looked down at Aurelian and continued.

'You didn't think you were going to beat me at this level this is real magic.