Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Evil Cannot Overcome Righteousness

"Ha...haah...!"

A pale yellow flame burned in the darkness.

"Ugh...waaaaa!!!"

Screams filled with pain echoed, filling the cave.

And a man, running while relying on that pale yellow flame, was internally cursing nonstop.

'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! It's over! An illuminated beast. An illuminated beast came!'

Vividly imprinted in the man's mind was the image of an illuminated beast charging, drawing a blue line through the void.

Blue pupils emitting a baleful aura incomparable to the pale yellow flame.

The eyes of a being emitting a sharp energy from its entire body, as if wielding a sword.

Feeling as if his entire body was being sliced to pieces just by it standing still, the man chose to flee.

'Havria. I must go to Havria! She is still an illuminated beast, she must have the power to stop it!'

The man ran and ran, following the pale yellow flame to reach the only being he could rely on in this situation.

Running like that, the man suddenly looked back.

And he sensed something was off.

'Strange... An illuminated beast that took down 20 men in under 5 seconds isn't even in sight? How?'

A foreboding feeling settled on his shoulders, weighing him down, but the man shook off his thoughts and focused solely on running.

"Huh? What, you. Why are you here... Wait, who...?"

"Shut up and run...!"

When his comrades, looking over his shoulder, didn't recognize him, the man ignored them and ran past.

"Gyaaaak!"

"Kahak?!"

The sound of his comrades falling over could be heard.

'Hee, heeek! I'm caught! I'm caught! I must run faster...!'

The man ran even while feeling the strain in his legs.

Running and running.

Crossing water.

Entering a path to the right.

This time, entering a left path.

And then entering another right passage.

Perhaps because he was getting closer to the god, the light grew brighter.

Pale yellow light filled the corridor, casting the man's shadow on the ground.

The man noticed his shadow was unusually large today.

But thinking it was due to anxiety, he ran and ran.

And finally, the man entered a cavern.

"Ha, Lady Havria...!"

Inside the cavern, a beautiful white-haired woman was sitting on a small chair, drinking tea.

"An illuminated beast...! An illuminated beast has invaded!!!"

"An illuminated beast? What do you mean."

The white-haired woman turned her gaze to the man, saw him, and flinched in surprise.

The man, flustered, looked back.

But behind him, there was no one.

"Lady Havria...?"

"......."

The Illuminated Beast of Salt, Havria's gaze slowly rose.

To the man's shoulder.

To the man's head.

Above the man's head.

Only then did the man notice his shoulder was a little heavier than usual.

Slowly.

Very slowly, he raised his head.

There.

A pair of blue pupils shone ominously.

And.

"Thanks for the guide. As a reward, I'll send you off painlessly."

The being opened its mouth.

The man's possible action was one.

"Ugh, uh, uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!"

To scream at the sight of a fist approaching at tremendous speed.

---------------

Hmm. I almost got lost not knowing the way. Using the subtlety of Void-Treading Steps, I could ride along unnoticed.

I jumped off the man's shoulder, who was falling in slow motion, and firmly held onto Ganyu.

"Hee, heek?!"

Holding her waist, she reacted as if bouncing, grabbing my head, and when I landed on the ground, she got off my shoulder at an incredible speed.

"S-sorry, Gawain! Was I heavy?!"

"Ah, no. You weren't heavy."

"Ugh...I've been eating a lot of flowers lately...I'm sorryyy...!"

No. You really weren't heavy.

I've even trained in the cave swinging rocks as heavy as my own weight.

How could an adeptus raised on flowers and dew be heavy?

"...Who are you, to treat my people like this?"

A beautiful voice resonated through the cavern.

I turned my gaze towards the source of the voice.

A white-haired woman, white as salt, was looking at me.

"My apologies. I was late with the greetings."

I knelt, making a martial salute, and Ganyu awkwardly followed my posture, also making a salute.

"This lowly one is named Gawain. And the lady here is Ganyu. We serve under our lord."

"...An adeptus?"

"She is indeed an adeptus, but I am not."

"......You speak falsehoods."

?

...Guizhong and Morax recognized me as human...?

"I am human. Born human, lived as human, and will die human."

"...Enough. Fine. So what business brings you here? I hope... there is a reason severe enough to treat my people so harshly."

Whew. Good.

Now is the time for persuasion, excluding force.

"We have come here because we need the help of the Illuminated Beast of Salt. Your people... I apologize. They intended to harm us. We had no choice."

"......."

Havria silently looked at me for a moment, then let out a small sigh.

"Leave."

As expected. But I did not come here to hear such an answer.

"That is not possible."

"?"

Havria looked at me with an expression full of doubt.

"What... did you just say?"

"I said it is not possible."

"...I told you to leave."

"Not possible."

Havria's red lips twisted.

"I do not wish to say it a third time."

"Not possible."

"...Did I not tell you to leave!!!"

A wind laden with saltiness blew fiercely, but as I released my energy to meet it, the wind stopped immediately.

Havria flinched and looked at me.

I opened my mouth.

"Illuminated Beast of Salt. Do you wish to protect your people?"

"...What?"

I raised my head and looked directly at Havria's face.

A face far, far removed from the psychology of battle, war, and bloodletting.

"Do you love peace?"

"...What on earth are you...!"

"Is that why you chose neutrality?"

Havria's mouth clenched shut.

"Neutrality. It's good. Peace? Even better. However."

Blue sparks leaped from my pupils.

"Who guarantees such neutrality? Such peace?"

"......."

I continued.

"The world where humans live is a truly paradoxical one, Illuminated Beast of Salt. Without war, there is no peace; without spilled blood, there is no freedom."

I recalled Liyue and Mondstadt.

Liyue, as the greatest battleground of the Archon War, finally obtained sweet peace after dozens of wars.

Mondstadt could break free from the tyranny of Decarabian and the Lawrence clan and seize freedom by sacrificing the blood that flowed countless times to form rivers.

Their common point is one.

They obtained these things through a mountain of sacrifice piled with their own blood and flesh.

"Moreover. The sentence 'powerless neutrality' cannot be established. The subject of what I'm saying is 'power'. Only with power does neutrality finally become established."

Blood began to flow from Havria's red lips, bitten by her white teeth.

"Neutrality? It's good. It's wonderful! But what if that neutrality is trampled by the strong? To whom will you appeal? Will you appeal to the heavens? To the gods?!"

My voice had unknowingly gained strength.

I recalled the people turned into salt pillars.

I recalled the illuminated beast who died at the hands of the very people she tried so hard to protect, turning into a handful of salt.

Being weak is not a sin.

But not facing it and moving forward.

Is a clear sin.

Just as I was about to open my mouth to shout again.

"Then what do you want me to do!"

Havria, her eyes tightly shut, screamed.

"Me! What on earth do you want me to do!"

........

For a moment, I was at a loss for words and just stared blankly at Havria.

"I know! I know it too! I'm weak! Weaker than any of the illuminated beasts lurking out there! I know that too!"

A single teardrop fell from Havria's eyes.

"I must protect my people. But if I entrust myself to them."

Havria's reddened eyes glared at me.

"What will become of my people?"

...!

Could it be that now...

She is worried that the people who serve her will be discriminated against and ignored?

"I know that feeling better. Being weak. Being different. That feeling of being ignored!"

Another teardrop fell.

"Leave."

"...I cannot. Do that."

「I said leave!」

...!

From where Havria's tears fell, salt began to gush forth.

Oh no...!

I, who had drawn my sword at incredible speed, took a stance.

Ganyu is with me. If I were alone, being buried wouldn't be a problem, but...

I gripped my sword and channeled inner energy into its tip.

Thrust.

Three Realms Sword Art.

First Technique.

Morale Piercing the Heavens!

Dozens of sword forces blooming from the sword tip push the salt aside to the left and right as they shoot forth.

Damn it. They're salt, so even if cut, they merge back like water.

"P-please stop, Illuminated Beast of Salt!"

「Get out!」

The shock therapy worked too well!

No. Rather, it's good.

"Lady Ganyu!"

"Ye, yes?!"

"Please freeze the salt! It seems we must fight!"

"W-with an illuminated beast?!?!"

It's a chance to fight a relatively safe illuminated beast.

I might gain enlightenment!

But...

I glanced back at Ganyu.

Protecting Ganyu comes first. For now, the goal is to subdue quickly!

"Ugh...ugh...!"

Ganyu had already taken out her bow and aimed at the sea of salt.

In response, I took a stance, preparing to leap forward.

"Form of, the Frostflake Arrow!"

An arrow condensed with elemental energy was shot.

As the arrow was shot, my body also leaped forward.

When the arrow condensed with Cryo met the salt wave.

It bloomed.

An ice lotus.

The Cryo elements scattering in all directions caused the salt to clump together.

And I extended my sword.

Three Realms Sword Art.

First Technique.

Morale Piercing the Heavens!

This time, hundreds of sword forces spread out widely in all directions, shooting forth as if splitting the sea.

The sea of salt was severed.

Stepping on the bare ground, I shot forward at a monstrous speed.

"Hee, heek?!"

Seeing me reach her in an instant, a flustered Havria tried to swing a condensed salt pillar like a sword.

And.

An anomaly occurred.

The pale yellow flame made of salt, placed on the table holding fire, transferred to the salt pillar in Havria's hand.

And the salt ignited.

And I saw.

With my eyes burning blue with inner energy.

Enlightenment.

I saw it!

While panicking, I grabbed the black worms of thought rising in my mind.

It was common sense I thought was very obvious.

When salt catches fire, it spits out all the impurities it has attracted, reducing its particles.

Spitting out its unnecessary parts in the fire, leaving only itself behind.

Through this process, salt pushes away the unrighteous and gathers only the righteous.

That is salt.

Black lightning stormed through my mind.

The pale yellow flame was sparking and approaching my face.

But I was pouring all my spirit into embodying this enlightenment.

I see the salt fragments sparking and leaping from the salt pillar Havria is swinging.

Salt is different from sugar.

Salt spits out the unnecessary by popping and sparking, while sugar melts even itself and turns black.

That is salt.

Moreover, perhaps because that salt was created directly by an illuminated beast, as it burned, it was emitting a powerful energy of Evil Cannot Overcome Righteousness.

Before that energy, demons would likely melt away.

Then, can this subtle principle also be infused into the sword?

Pushing away the unrighteous and gathering only the righteous.

Can I contain the subtle principle of Evil Cannot Overcome Righteousness?

...Let's try.

Looking at the slowly approaching salt pillar.

I drew out a sword force about 4 meters long.

But this sword force is turbid.

It cannot contain the subtle principle of Evil Cannot Overcome Righteousness like the salt created by a god.

So. Compress it.

Following my will, the sword force began to compress as if shrinking.

But the sword force, a materialized enlightenment, reached its limit while being compressed like that.

Then. Explode it.

Like that salt.

The unnecessary parts. Endlessly explode and push them away!

Bang!

With a small explosion, one side of the sword force burst apart, scattering dozens of blue particles.

And. It continues to explode.

It was like salt.

And like clean stars.

The sword force continues to compress.

The sword force containing only the pure energy of Evil Cannot Overcome Righteousness.

Melted into the sword!

And.

Black lightning fell into my mind.

It was the mnemonic for the technique.

Repel Mountainous Evil, Sever with Profound Righteousness.

Repel evil like a mountain, and sever it with the sword to make it right.

It was a mnemonic perfectly suited to the subtle principle of Evil Cannot Overcome Righteousness.

Smiling, I lifted the compressed sword force resembling salt.

Cut!

Three Realms Sword Art.

Second Technique.

Repel Mountainous Evil, Sever with Profound Righteousness.

Evil Cannot Overcome Righteousness!

The sword force infused with the subtle principle of Evil Cannot Overcome Righteousness was swung, shattering the giant salt pillar into hundreds of pieces.

A sword force scattering blue particles like stars, like salt, was swung.

Completed.

Completed!

The second technique of the Three Realms Sword Art!

As I laughed joyfully, the fallen Havria gritted her teeth and glared at me.

Ah. This is not the time.

She is the being who gave me enlightenment.

I should properly express my gratitude.

I knelt.

Seeing my appearance, Havria's eyes widened, but.

I did not stop there.

Crack.

Stabbing my sword into the ground.

Placing my hands on the sword's hilt and bowing my head.

Offering a salute while one's own weapon is stabbed into the ground is the utmost respect a martial artist can show.

"...What... are you doing?"

"I offer my deepest gratitude for granting me enlightenment."

I could feel even Ganyu was flustered seeing me like that.

"My lack of eloquence led to your misunderstanding, Illuminated Beast. So I will say it again."

Murmuring voices could be heard.

It seems Havria's people have woken up.

Even so, maintaining that posture, I opened my mouth.

"Please come to Guili. I will surely. Show them your indescribable value, Illuminated Beast of Salt."

Being able to pour out salt indefinitely is already immense.

Moreover, simply by burning it, you can produce special salt that can drive away demons with the subtle principle of Evil Cannot Overcome Righteousness.

A truly immense value.

"Gawain. By my name, which seeks to fathom the martial path."

I looked up at Havria.

To those who follow and revere Havria. It must look like the being who knocked them down is worshipping their god.

"I will surely. Show it."

Havria stared at me blankly.

"...Re...ally?"

"Of course. Surely."

I stretched out my right hand and offered it to the god.

"Will you accept it?"

And. The Illuminated Beast of Salt.

Looked at her people.

I also glanced at them with my blue-glowing pupils.

In their eyes.

There was a respect and awe not seen before.

"...Fine."

Havria, holding back tears so others wouldn't see, spoke.

The illuminated beast takes my hand.

"Surely... show it then."

I smiled and nodded.