Chapter 363 - Believe In Me

Above them, the colossal sky of branches and verdant leaves shook violently in the storm that focused around Excalibur. 

"You wouldn't happen to have anything that can deal with that, do you?"

Ren forced his words out through the suffocating gathering of wind, barely holding himself in place as the sharp wind violently fiddled with his cloak. 

"...I was going to ask you that." 

Iris replied with an answer that left them both without any present options but to witness the birth of such vast magecraft. 

"...But, if it's a blast of wind, I might be able to stop it…! Hyperion: Protection!"

Placing her hands in front of herself, Iris shouted as she manifested a dense, golden shield of radiant magic between the violent wind and themselves. 

"Nice thinking!--Wait a second."

--Something caught Ren's attention once more; a droplet of cold, clear water fell onto his cheek. It wouldn't have been such an unusual concept if they weren't standing under a high-stretching ceiling of leaves. 

"Ren?"

Matching his lifted gaze, Iris muttered his name before looking up as well--greeted by a few brisk rain drops. 

It was parting. The bed of endless leaves parted in way of the gathering wind, allowing in an enigmatic array of somber clouds that stretched themselves across the newly opened sky. 

This is all...one spell? Is this what the high-end of magic looks like in this world?...Ren thought. 

Cementing in the imposing magecraft, thunder roared out with a boom that sent a tremor through both the air and the dirt they stood on. 

As commonly known, regretfully to Ren, thunder wasn't one to travel alone with only hollow threats; flashing through the newly arriving clouds, dormant lightning surged through the stormy clouds. 

An ungodly tempest; all born from the tall-standing, hollow king who remained wordless in his grand endeavor to annihilate his challengers with one, fell swoop. 

"Sorry, but we have to move!"

Without warning, he scooped the young woman up with one arm as she froze for a moment from the sudden, unexpected action. He didn't say a single word before beginning to run with Iris in his hold, moving away from the stationary king as to avoid the finale of the crescendoing tempest. 

"Ren, what're you--!"

--Before she could even muster a sentence while looking up at the white-haired young man, her question was quenched by an azure smiting that crashed down upon the world directly behind them. 

The heat grazed Ren's heel, pushing him to move faster as the heated wind that followed the lightning strike pushed him forth. 

Gotta keep moving! Gotta keep moving…! He thought. 

Not a second later, the once magnificent, vibrant stretch of flower-filled fields was inhabited by a valley of lightning, each second, dozens of the malicious roars of the heavens crashed down--razing the world below. 

There's too many--it's impossible to dodge this much, Ren thought. 

"Cover our top!"

"Got it!"

Holding one arm up towards the dread-inducing sky above, Iris manifested her barrier of light above them like a holy umbrella. 

While he did his best to dance around the malicious bolts of azure lightning that crashed down, Iris defended against the ones he couldn't as they roughly pelted against the barrier. 

"Nnghh…!"

She winced as even defending against the abrasive smiting with a barrier still allowed her to feel the strength of it surge through her body. 

I won't stop…! Even if it's not much, I'll do what I can! Iris thought. 

It felt endless; as many droplets fell in a nightly storm, the same army of bolts shot down--though Ren managed to evade most of them through his heightened senses and physical prowess. 

Even as he maneuvered swiftly with the girl in his arm, he held his blade tightly, glancing at the stationary, storm-shrouded king as often as he could. 

I'm not just running around without a plan; I can feel it--you're about to unleash something pretty damn crazy, aren't you, king? Ren thought, well, I'll be ready for it. Give me your best shot; I'll accept it as your parting gift. 

At last, the flurry of lightning bolts seized as the thunder seemed to coalesce in the spiraling formation of clouds above the upheld, radiant sword. 

It was a sight that brought the two to a halt as sunlight began to pour in through the somber clouds; the massive tempest combined into a pillar extended from the king's origin. A storm born from the king's call, loyal to the divinity of his treasured blade, Excalibur--the gathered, condensed storm, filled with roaring, flashing thunder, exhibited a size able to rival mountains. 

Cascading down, the grace of the long since absent morning star illuminated over the hollow king. 

There was no escaping it, this was a fact Ren knew well from one look at the immaculate display of grandiose magic. 

Something that big...it could swallow an entire region; he's really going all-out, isn't he? Ren thought. 

Setting the girl down, Ren stepped forward despite his senses urging him to flee before the unmatched, divine tempest. 

"Iris, we have to meet it head on. There's no way around it." 

"...I know, but how? Something like that...it's too much. Just standing in front of it, I can feel how powerful it is: magecraft on this level could destroy Grandeuve...how're we supposed to fight against something like that, Ren?" 

As Iris asked this with a look in her eyes that sat between dread and awe, he remained silent for a moment as he looked down before taking in a deep breath. Looking at his own two hands, they trembled a bit; whether it was by the fearsome wind or his plaguing thoughts, he chose not to think about the answer. 

"I have something. It could work...it has to work. There's really

no other choice; you understand, right, Iris?"

Ren looked back at the young woman as her lips fell agape for a moment as her eyes glistened, reluctantly nodding her head. 

"Just stay behind me and believe in me. Even if it looks bad, promise that you'll stay back." 

"..."

"Iris!" 

There wasn't any time for doubt; if we was going to move forward and commit to this action that meant life-or-death for him, but more important Iris, he needed no doubts to be shared. 

As he looked at her for her answer while she shut her eyes tightly, keeping her hands close to her chest, he felt the shift in wind that signified a subtle change from the king--a shift from dormancy to taking action. 

"Iris! Promise me!"

"I promise…!" 

"Good. Thank you…" 

Ren held a trembling smile as he looked up at the roaring tempest that gathered in the rough outline of a blade, looming over them with an unavoidable, almighty shadow. 

"Leave it to me."