Sion.

An orphan with no noble background or origin.

But now, there’s not a single person in the Empire who doesn’t know that name.

The youngest Swordmaster of the Empire.

Having gained enormous power thanks to the favor of the Second Prince, he simultaneously serves as a confidant to the Third Princess.

He truly was the very definition of an irregular.

‘So, I need to deal with this somehow.’

Heinrich, more accurately the Pope of the Holy Church disguised under Heinrich’s name, thought so.

Tomorrow was finally the execution day of their planned scheme.

The end of the world. The corruption of light. The arrival of the apocalypse. The day revenge against the gods would unfold.

However, having such an unpredictable human near the center of the Saintess was not an option.

Naturally, keeping variables to a minimum is just common sense.

For some reason, a nagging sense of unease kept creeping in.

If the plan goes awry, it’ll surely be because of that boy. That ominous feeling just wouldn’t go away.

‘…Maybe I’m worrying too much.’

Though Renya is a saint chosen by the goddess of victory, it’s quite clear that he, like Yuli, has likely lost most of his memories and powers.

Just because Renya showers affection on him doesn’t guarantee that he’ll win this contest.

Besides, he’s up against a young genius.

No matter how strong that fighting power is, the gap in experience cannot be closed overnight.

Furthermore, that type usually tends to be brimming with arrogance. There’s no easier target to deal with than a kid whose ego has inflated due to sudden success.

It probably wouldn’t take even ten minutes to handle him.

He sincerely believed that.

So….

“Heinrich… Is that you? I’m sorry. Your face seems a bit different from what I remember.”

That was before his hidden identity got exposed less than three seconds after their meeting.

The Pope’s face flushed with embarrassment.

If he hadn’t had prior experience of acting and wearing a mask, he would’ve probably let out a bewildered groan.

After all, that was beyond what could be explained with “just a really good guess.”

Killing Heinrich and taking his place had involved help from friends.

A worldwide change of perception.

Despite such measures, he had even gone as far as altering his actual appearance because he didn’t feel secure.

But to be figured out in an instant?

In less than three seconds of encountering him?

Such a thing should be impossible. Truly, it should be impossible… and yet, this boy just pulled it off.

“Sorry for the random remark, but I remember you had a mole on your left hand and seemed a bit shorter from the pictures I’ve seen before….”

No, he was even pointing out details that he hadn’t realized he’d passed over.

‘How on earth?’

That question filled the Pope’s mind.

He had no real photos left, so if someone could identify facts like that without ever having met Heinrich, it must mean that boy had somehow nullified his friend’s altered perceptions.

Even that was an overpowering force that was hard to resist.

The mere fact that he had broken that control meant that… at the very least, that boy possessed power equal to his own. No, he should be considered even stronger.

‘If we fight head-on… I’ll lose.’

The overwhelming divine power emanating from that boy.

However, his ability to wield that power seemed immature, so he intended to use that fact to provoke it to go berserk for a self-destructive gambit.

What a foolish misconception.

There’s no way someone with such strength wouldn’t know how to wield their own divine power effectively.

The inability to skillfully handle overflowing divine power was, at first glance, a kind of camouflage. It was a scheme intentionally exposing a weakness to keep the opponent off guard.

He was about to fall into the trap that boy had set.

He misjudged the opponent’s level. He had to accept that.

And then what started bothering him even more was…

‘Why on earth did that boy say such things to me?’

There was no way he just casually threw that out there.

Had he hinted that he knew the Pope’s secret? There had to be some hidden intent behind it.

It was certain that something lay behind it…

‘Damn it.’

He couldn’t see through it at all.

His face twisted with a sense of defeat.

In over 60 years, he had never felt such a profound powerlessness. He had always taken pride in his scheming and mind games….

Yet he couldn’t grasp what that boy was planning.

Was it just some thoughtless comment thrown out? That was the only pathetic conjecture that came to mind.

He anxiously broke the statue he had been holding in his pocket. The item he’d prepared as a last resort.

A corrupted relic made by ‘reversing’ a holy artifact.

The blessings accumulated over thousands of years had turned into curses directed at that boy.

Originally intended for ritual use, he wanted to keep it safe. However, if he could eliminate that boy, it would be no loss at all.

The absence of this sacred object was far less threatening than the presence of that boy. That was the conclusion he had reached.

But….

‘What the hell is this….’

Black miasma.

Corrupted divine power circled around the boy, attempting to form a barrier… but then froze. The chaotic energy scattered across the area.

No, it wasn’t scattering randomly…

‘It’s absorbing!?’

What a foolish act.

That shouldn’t even be possible.

Not even a demon could manage such a thing.

It was both magical and divine power. There shouldn’t be an existence capable of handling that.

Yet it was happening right before his eyes.

The boy was calmly nullifying the curse to the point of absorbing it. Even after being attacked face-on, his expression didn’t even twitch.

The only sign was a brief grimace as if there was something in his eye.

This was the ultimate method, intended to use one of the finest holy artifacts he had brought along when leaving the Holy Church.

It readily nullified even this without a fight and flashed a nonchalant smile.

‘This is…….’

Naturally, cold sweat rolled down his neck.

He did have a contingency plan for situations like this. Although he didn’t really expect such an event to actually occur.

The way to handle an opponent one couldn’t engage directly was rather simple.

If you can’t touch the opponent, just go after their associates. He had planted an assassin near a figure closely linked to that boy.

With Luvia as a target, he could execute a command at any time to take her out.

However….

‘Does that really hold any meaning?’

He knew nothing about that boy.

Yet Sion was fully aware of everything, starting from his secrets to the little schemes he just executed.

He was pretending not to know while mocking him.

A crack formed in his pride, but he had to accept that in both strength and strategy, that boy was definitely above him.

But could such a monster really be unaware that he had been investigating him secretly?

No, there’s absolutely no way.

In other words, Luvia was just bait.

Or that boy didn’t care about her at all.

Simply keeping an assassin attached would waste both time and resources. It would be better to abandon the plan of using her as a hostage.

‘…In the end, there’s only one method left.’

There was nothing good about touching an existence clearly beyond his capabilities. Yet separating the Saintess from that boy became crucial.

Thus, there was only one solution.

Well, it wasn’t a complicated story.

If it’s impossible to touch that boy, why not just go after the Saintess instead?